Abba Poemen’s Lap
[Jesus said,] “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own? Hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s.” – Matthew 7:1-5 abridged (NRSV)
Abba Poemen (340-450 CE) was a desert monk renowned for his wisdom. In a famous story about him, some older monks approach him for advice. How should they treat the rookie monks who doze off during community prayer?
They wanted those novices to learn the discipline necessary for a life of prayer, step one of which is being conscious. Their inclination was to give them a hard poke in the ribs, to startle and embarrass them into wakefulness. What does Abba think?
“When I see a brother dozing,” Poemen replies, “I put his head on my knees and let him rest.” The old man had acquired what his concerned brothers, for all their years of observant rigor, had not: a visceral tenderness that cannot bear to judge the frailty of another.
The judgmentalism Jesus calls out in his saying about the speck and the log is not simply a matter of self-righteousness. It’s a failure of sympathetic imagination, the inability to feel someone else’s frailty as your own and to muster the tenderness our one frail heart requires.
In the Gospels, some of Jesus’s harshest words are reserved for those who have no patience with the weaknesses of others. Every sin is forgivable eventually, but the sin of judgment makes the divine mercy work overtime.
Prayer
Put my head on your knees and let me sleep, Holy One. My neighbor’s, too. Better to snooze in mercy than judge and be judged.
About the AuthorMary Luti is a long time seminary educator and pastor, author of Teresa of Avila’s Way and numerous articles, and founding member of The Daughters of Abraham, a national network of interfaith women’s book groups.