In the 1960s, the Milgram Experiment revealed a terrifying truth about human behavior: how easily people override their moral compasses to defer to authority figures or crowds. We often wait for consensus before taking a stand. Many of us encounter the bystander effect firsthand in college projects, where individuals withhold effort, assuming someone else will carry the burden. They always have an excuse, yet still receive credit for the final outcome. People are statistically less likely to act when responsibility feels shared. This dynamic sits at the heart of Jesus’ follow-up question.
“And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?”
~Luke 12:57
Kingdom maturity requires moving beyond external rules and social pressure to exercise personal, God-given moral judgment.
Jesus has already called the crowd hypocrites; now He presses the point. He’s challenging the crowd to stop hiding behind the ‘collective opinion’ of religious authorities and traditions that have paralyzed their own moral agency. He’s confronting them about lack of discernment, urgency, and resolve, but also teaching them that hesitation to reach a conclusion after evidence is presented is, in fact, hypocrisy. He expects them to use their own initiative, the fundamental capacity to recognize truth when it stands before them and act on it. Instead, as in the bystander effect, responsibility feels diluted in a crowd, Jesus reminds them that spiritual accountability remains individual, regardless of the size of the audience. The issue here was not a lack of clarity but a lack of resolve.
Scripture calls us to examine everything carefully and hold fast to what is good. The kingdom principle here reveals that God expects moral discernment to lead to personal responsibility. Spiritual autonomy is essential to genuine worship. God doesn’t want robots; He wants individuals who have analyzed the Truth and chosen it. Moral initiative is the bridge between being a hearer and a doer of God’s word. Failure to judge rightly leads to spiritual drift and delayed obedience. Jesus was clear: that passivity is not neutrality, it’s a choice.
The word “judge” means to conclude, decide, and assign. Our resolve must include being willing to think for ourselves and stand alone on truth if we must. Have you ever seen a group of bystanders on a subway when a fight breaks out? At first, everyone pulls out their phones and records as they look on, while one person in the crowd steps forward to try to stop the altercation. Our culture equates moral clarity with intolerance, pressuring believers to suspend their judgment entirely. God never calls people to abandon discernment. We were never meant to outsource moral judgment to the crowd. We cannot afford to delegate our moral judgment to influencers and algorithms.
This verse challenges us to take ownership of discernment rather than deferring responsibility. We cannot hide behind silence when God has made the truth clear. Judging what is right requires humility, courage, and submission to scripture. It means allowing God’s Word to shape our conscience rather than cultural comfort. Refusing to judge rightly isn’t just a lack of opinion; it is a delay of obedience. Faithfulness requires decisiveness grounded in truth. Jesus is calling us to maturity, not avoidance.
Time of Reflection:
** Lord, help me judge what is right according to Your truth, not my own.
** Give me the courage to act on truth, not conform to culture.
Heart-Probe question:
Where have I avoided making a righteous decision that God has already clarified?
References:
Luke 12:57
Rom 12:14-15
The Thomas Nelson Chronological bible places this as Question #57
Closing prayer:
Heavenly Father, help us not to hide our conscience in the crowd as cowardice. Allow us the grace to use the brilliant minds you gave us to decide and not return them to You unused. Wherever we are waiting for permission from the crowd to do something we know is right, I pray we will stop waiting and step out in faith with action, in Jesus’ name. Amen
