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 wrongdoing or act in a way that contradicts the teachings of Christ? Are we to ignore their action or behave as though nothing wrong is happening?

Jesus did not say that we should do nothing. In fact, 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 they considered less righteous than them as sinners or 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 must regard the one we wish to correct as our brother or sister. We should not think of ourselves as more righteous than him or her. Secondly, we must realise that our own faults require our attention first. In other words, such correction must be carried out with love and with an awareness of our own failings and prejudices.