Do not judge, so that you may not be judged

The following story by an unknown author is a great application of Jesus’ instruction, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.” (Matthew 7:1)

“The nerve of some people!” snorted a man standing behind me in the long line at the grocery store. “Why doesn’t the manager open up another line?”

I looked to the front of the line to see what was the problem. A well-dressed, young woman was trying to get the machine to accept her credit card. No matter how often she swiped it, the machine kept rejecting it.

“It’s probably one of those welfare cards. Those kind of people need to get a job like everyone else,” said the man standing behind me.

The young woman turned around to see who had made the comment. “It was me,” he said pointing to himself.

The young lady’s face began to change expression. Almost in tears, she dropped the welfare card onto the counter and quickly walked out of the store.

Everyone in the checkout line watched as she began running to her car and drove away.

After developing cancer in 1977 and having had to use food stamps, I had learned never to judge anyone, without knowing the circumstances of their life.

Several minutes later, a young man walked into the store.

He went up to the cashier and asked if she had seen the woman. After describing her, the cashier told him that she had run out of the store, gotten into her car and driven away.

“Why would she do that?” asked the man. Everyone in the line looked around at the fellow who had spoken.

“I made a stupid comment about the welfare card she was using. I’m sorry,” said the man.

“Well, that’s sad, really sad. Her brother was killed in Afghanistan two years ago. He had three young children and she has taken on responsibility of raising them. She’s 20 years old, single, and now has three children to support,” he said in a very firm voice.

“I’m really truly sorry. I didn’t know,” the man replied, obviously embarrassed.

The young man asked, “Are these paid for?” pointing to the shopping cart full of groceries.

“It wouldn’t take her card,” the clerk replied.

“Do you know where she lives?” asked the man who had made the rude comment.

“Yes, she goes to our church.”

“Excuse me,” he said as he made his way to the front of the line. He pulled out his wallet, took out his credit card and told the cashier, “Please use my card.”

The clerk took his credit card and began to ring up the young woman’s groceries.

“Hold on,” said the gentleman. He walked back to his shopping cart and began loading his own groceries onto the belt to be included. “Come on people. We got three kids to help raise!” he told everyone in line.

Everyone began to place their groceries onto the fast-moving belt. A few customers began bagging the food and placing it into separate carts.

“Go back and get two big turkeys,” yelled a heavyset woman.

“No,” yelled the man. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. The entire store became quiet for several seconds. “Four turkeys,” yelled the man.

Everyone began laughing and went back to work.

The groceries totaled $1,646.57. He then walked over to the side and began to write a check. He turned around and handed the check to the young man.

“She will need a freezer and a few other things as well,” he told the man.

The young man looked at the check and said, “This is really very generous of you.”

“No,” said the man. “Her brother was the generous one.” Everyone in the store began to clap.