Should a Christian judge another person? After all, in the Gospel passage today Jesus warns us against judging others. Yet, what do we do when we see a Christian brother or sister commit a wrong doing or act in a way that contradicts the teachings of Christ? Are we to ignore his or her action or behave as though nothing wrong is taking place?

Jesus did not say that we should do nothing. Infact, Jesus tells us that we must do something to correct the problem. That is, we must exercise fraternal correction instead of judgement. But what does this mean?

To judge someone means to condemn them harshly. We have to keep in mind that the saying of Jesus was in the context of his warning to the scribes and Pharisees. They tended to judge people, whom they considered to be less righteous than them, as sinners or as condemned by God. Jesus does not want Christians to become guilty of the failings he sees in the scribes and Pharisees.

Instead, we are to offer fraternal correction. This demands that we be conscious of two things. Firstly, we have to regard the one we wish to correct as our brother or sister. We should not think ourselves as more righteous than him or her. Secondly, we have to realise that our own faults requires our attention first. In other words, such correction must be carried out with love and with an awareness of our own failings and prejudices.