VOICE OF THE LOGOS: REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER, YEAR 1

These days, it has become a kind of spiritual reflex: whenever someone calls out sin, challenges moral confusion, or speaks the truth plainly, the quickest comeback is, “Don’t judge me. Only God can judge.” It seems to be the most quoted Bible verse that doesn’t actually exist the way people think it does. What they mean is: “Leave me alone and let me live how I want.” But here’s the irony. The same people who say only God can judge are the ones who close their ears when His Word tries to speak. They ignore the Scriptures, reject Church teaching, and mock anything that scents like divine direction. If God is truly the only Judge, then why silence His verdict when it comes through His Word, His Church, and His Spirit?

The first reading today, from Acts 16:22 to 34, puts us right in front of this tension. The context is a Roman colony where political stability was prized more than truth, and religious novelty was frowned upon unless it served Roman interests. Here, Paul and Silas are dragged before the authorities in Philippi, falsely accused, stripped, beaten, and imprisoned. Why? Because they cast out a spirit of divination from a slave girl, and her owners saw their business crumble. They dared to speak a word that judged the evil of exploitation. Their prophetic act disturbed the peace of sin, and society punished them for it. The key word resounding in this context is “krisis” (κρίσις), the Greek term for “judgment.” In Scripture, “krisis” refers not merely to condemnation, but to divine evaluation and decision. Paul and Silas, filled with the Spirit, were acting as channels of “krisis” (judgement) in a culture that hated being exposed. And just like today, they were told in actions, if not in words: “Keep quiet. Let God judge. Not you.” But the irony is that God was judging, through Paul and Silas.

That same divine judgment is mirrored in Psalm 138, our responsorial psalm. The psalmist declares that he gives thanks to God for His “faithfulness and love,” and boldly affirms, “When I called, you answered me.” Here, we do not see the voice of a man hiding from divine judgment but one embracing it with joy. He welcomes God’s truth. He praises God’s name “because of your kindness and your truth.” The psalm connects power and truth, showing us that God’s judgment is not merely to condemn but to set things right. When the psalmist says, “Your right hand saves me,” he is speaking of divine intervention that evaluates the human condition and acts accordingly. Again, we see the thread of “krisis” in action, not as harsh punishment, but as a rescuing clarity that comes when we let God’s voice break into our darkness.

Then comes the Gospel reading from John 16:5 to 11. Jesus, preparing His disciples for His departure, tells them that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, will come. And He gives a specific mission to the Spirit: to convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment. The same Greek word “krisis” appears here in verse 11: “because the ruler of this world has been judged.” The “sitz im leben” (context) is the Last Supper discourse, a moment of vulnerability and confusion. The disciples are disturbed, fearful, unsure of what lies ahead. Jesus assures them that the Spirit will not come to comfort them with illusions but to bring the hard truth. This includes judgment, not just of the world’s ruler, but of the world’s lies. So the next time someone says, “Only God can judge,” they need to realize that God is judging through His Word, through the Spirit, and through the witness of those who speak truth in season and out of season. Judgment is not always a thunderbolt from the sky. Sometimes it comes quietly, through a verse that pierces your conscience, a sermon that unsettles your peace, or a fellow believer who calls you to repentance.

Now, what does all this mean for our lives? First, we must stop hiding behind that lazy phrase, “Only God can judge,” especially if we’re not even listening to Him. That excuse will not save anyone on the Last Day. If God’s judgment matters, then His Word must matter. If we say He alone can judge, we must be ready to accept the judgments He has already spoken. That includes His commandments, His teachings through the Church, and His moral order written into creation. The Holy Spirit doesn’t wait till heaven to do His work. He starts it now, in time, calling hearts to truth. Ignoring Him today is already a kind of self-judgment.

Second, Christians must reclaim the courage to speak hard truths in love. Speaking truth is not condemnation. It’s charity. The early Church never separated love from truth. Paul wrote to Timothy that Scripture is “profitable for teaching, for reproof (elenchō), for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). That same word is used again. The Holy Spirit convicts through the Word, and when Christians act in line with that Word, their correction is not theirs alone but God’s. Paul and Silas didn’t say, “Well, let the girl remain possessed, we don’t want to offend anyone.” No. They acted. They knew God was speaking through them. And for that, they suffered, but their suffering became the door through which others, like the jailer and his family, found salvation. If we fear the label “judgmental” so much that we keep silent while others perish, we’ve missed the point of discipleship. The world needs Christians who care enough to speak when it’s uncomfortable. We must stop misusing Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge,” without reading the context. That same chapter tells us to remove the plank in our eye so we can help our brother remove the speck in his. It’s not a ban on correction, it’s a call to self-purification before correction.

Above all, let’s remember that judgment begins in the house of God. 1 Peter 4:17 says, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.” If we are not open to God’s Word, we have no right to claim immunity. If the Spirit is truly at work, then our lives should be under constant refining. The same Spirit that convicts the world must first convict the Church. And if we refuse that work, then the judgment we feared in others is already happening in our neglect of God’s voice. So the next time someone says, “Only God can judge me,” maybe the response should be: “Yes, and that’s exactly why you should take His Word seriously.”