"Who Made You a Judge?"

If you get sued, you have business in the courts. If you get charged with a crime, you have business with the courts. If you are a district attorney you have business in the courts for the people and the state. If you're a judge, you have business in the courts. If you're called to be on a jury, you have business in the courts.

"And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?"

Luke 12:13-4. Jesus said that. The perfect human, the perfect judge. He considered it none of his business that this man might have been cheated by his brother. He left the question in the hands of fallible, sinful men and addressed the more important issue - the problem of covetousness that may have been in this man's heart. The man judged only outwardly regarding his brother's alleged wrongdoing. He was blind to the sin in his own heart - the more important problem. We find it so easy to see the errors in others, but we need someone objective to judge our claims, even if they are a fallible human.

Yet today, we have people with little knowledge of cases, about which they hear in the media, making vast pronouncements about a defendant's guilt or innocence. You'll see these cases covered on the TV news, read about them on facebook, and hear about them at the water cooler at work. People can have the strongest opinions on a case even though they've read one comment or heard a two minute (perhaps as long as 30 minutes) news story. You can even have street wars, riots over such cases. Yet, the jury is ignored or vilified, even though they may have spent days, even weeks, agonizing over their decision, a decision based on much more information than the public can get from the media.

There's no judge on these news stories telling people that a particular fact is valid or not. There's a serious question as to whether the other side even gets one sentence in as a counter to what you're hearing from the news. The newsroom lawyers for each side (if they even present both sides) aren't held in check by a judge the lawyers in the courtroom In other words, without a judge, there's no guard upon what can be said.

These people on the news and commenting on facebook have no business making a decision about a person's guilt or innocence. The only legitimate, authoritative, trustworthy source of information on the case is the jury. They are there to see what the lawyers present as evidence and what they attempt to present. They hear the judge's instructions about the law, they see the witnesses - their mannerisms, their tone, their hesitation, the lilt of tone when they aren't sure, the strength and confidence when they're positive about something. Words on a page can't give as much meaning as a sentence you see and hear from a person's mouth.

"He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him." Proverbs 18:17. This is cross examination, this is hearing both sides out. Only a judge can't keep extraneous and irrelevant, prejudicial information from the jury. Only the jury, who sees a witness testifying under oath, can determine how trustworthy that witness is.

Facebook justice, our modern equivalent of mob justice, is not reliable. However, it seems to titillate some type of justice gossip in our hearts. We apparently want to believe the worst because if favors our view of the state, of our particular favorite group, or our hated disfavored group. We like to think we have the inside scoop on somebody who "got the shaft" or was "done wrong by the system."

Yet, to judge based on incomplete information, when it is not your duty to judge, is sin. Jesus said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Matthew 7:1. He didn't mean we shouldn't have judges, but he was rebuking this sinful tendency in us to think we know better. It's our pride talking. It's the love of claiming to have it over on our neighbor or on those we want to be fallible - the folks in charge. And they are fallible. But they have been given the responsibility of judging, directly by the voters or another civil authority and indirectly by delegation from God Himself. See Psalm 82.

However, unless we are there in the courtroom like the jury, we can never be right, even if our judgment ends up being the same as that of the jury. Because if those two judgments are the same - ours and the jury's - then we agreed by accident. They jury got it right because they were there and have more information than anyone else.