We have often heard that we should not judge and people will quote Matthew 7:1-3. They understand the quote from Christ but think that is the end on the subject of judgement. Jesus says "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you." This is from the sermon on the mount and then goes in to the practice of unrighteous judgement where we see specks of dust in one person's eye and overlook the plank sticking out of our own eye. Jesus was not saying never judge.
In John 7 we see the subject of judgment come up again. Jesus is confronting those who think he has a demon in him and thought he was paranoid about him knowing that the rulers wanted to kill him for healing a man on the Sabbath. Jesus gives them an example of their false judgment. He said that people would ensure that the law of Moses was fulfilled by circumcising people even on the Sabbath, but they look at Jesus's miracle of healing a man on the Sabbath as sinful. They put their man interpretation of laws over what's God's will is. Jesus told them in verse 24 that they judge by appearances and not by righteous judgment. In other words, is what you are judging in accordance with what God's will is?
Lastly, there was division among the Pharisees, chief priests and officers. The Pharisees and chief priests wanted the officers to capture Jesus but the officers did not. There were discussions/arguments about whether a prophet could ever come from Galilee. Nicodemus (from John 3:1-15) tried to warn the religious leaders about judging Jesus wrongly. He said in verse 51, "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" In other words, if our human law gives people a chance to explain themselves, then why is it that they weren't applying the same thinking to Jesus.
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