Of Judgment and Noble Intent

Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there. 

The saying didn’t start in my workplace, but we’ve fully embraced it: Assume noble intent. It means that

when someone rips you apart for a presentation or a view expressed, you respond as if the person truly meant to help. Maybe he or she didn’t say it the right way. Or maybe you’ve crossed swords with this person time and time again, but this is the occasion that he or she really is attempting to assist you. It’s great in theory, challenging in practice. But we’re all making progress.

The chief priests and elders with whom Jesus shares the parable of the two sons and their work or lack thereof in the vineyard (Matthew 21) weren’t much into assuming noble intent. They judged everyone by a very rigid ruler. If you didn’t measure up, you weren’t part of the group. Never mind about their own mistakes. Never mind about the progress the tax collectors and prostitutes might have made in the past week, month, or year. What mattered was how well one outwardly lived by the rules. That was all.

We shake our heads over this judgmental attitude of the religious leaders of Jesus’s time. And yet… we quickly turn the other way when that annoying person seems to be approaching us. We guard ourselves against the colleague who has taken credit for our work, over and over again. We assume anyone who speaks or dresses different from us is bad, is not to be trusted. We cast noble intent aside. And when we do, we also cast aside one of the very most important rules Jesus gave us: Love your neighbor as yourself.