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Judging According to Appearance

The Gospel of John shows that Jesus observed the Feast of Tabernacles, and even taught during this feast. This was after he delayed his attending the Feast because Jesus was concerned for his life. He knew it was not yet his time to die, so Jesus opted to delay attending the Feast of Tabernacles. When he did attend the Feast, he went to the temple to teach. The context shows this most likely occurred on the weekly Sabbath, though the passage in John is not definitive.

John 7:14-24
Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the Sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

How would we judge a person who delayed their attending the Feast? Would we judge this person by the appearance of not attending the Feast, or would we judge this person because they made a decision to delay their arrival in light of information that provided them reason to fear for their life? In the passage from the Gospel of John, Jesus said that those who seek their own glory speak of themselves, and then went on through the dialog with the people to prove his point and this passage provides an important example of how we should interact with others. The difference between the words of Jesus and the words of the people are clear to see. When Jesus confronted the people, Jesus generally used rhetorical questions, so that the individual person had the opportunity to self examine themselves, and then made a judgment. On the other hand, the people first made a judgment, and then asked questions to support their judgment. The difference between the two approaches is that by asking questions first before ever making a judgment, this gives us the opportunity to understand motivation and reasons behind the visible actions. This is why Jesus said not to judge according to appearance. Why do some then still judge actions without first understanding motivation and reasons? These people have a variety of reasons, and in time will come to understand the need to judge actions only after first understanding motivation and reasons. In the end we have this truth from Jesus. Those who judge according to appearance, do not practice righteous judgment. In all of the decisions we make, in all that we see about us, we must judge righteous judgment.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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