Luke 6:27-38
“One word which sums up the basis of all good conduct…loving kindness. Do
not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.”[1]
Sounds familiar, yes? Sounds like Jesus’ words before us this morning, yet they
were spoken over five centuries and thousands of miles away from Jesus. The
Chinese philosopher Confucius spoke these words, which were included in a
compilation of his teachings after his death called the Analects. Over five hundred years before Jesus… around the time of Confucius, another Asian spiritual
leader spoke these words, “Treat not others in ways that you yourself would
find hurtful.”[2]
His name was Siddhartha Guatama; you may know him better as The Buddha. Of
course, it wasn’t just the sages of ancient Asia who shared these ways of
thinking: Chief Dan George, chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in Canada for
most of the twentieth century said, “We are as much alive as we keep the earth
alive.” Even the prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam is quoted in the Hadith saying, “Not one of you truly
believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself.” This
philosophy, this ethical imperative is shared across the major religions of our
world and has been for centuries. In fact, religious scholar (and former nun),
Karen Armstrong has called for a revival of this “Golden Rule” in recent years.
She won the TED prize in 2008 for her Charter for Compassion. In the year prior
to receiving that prize she spoke these words:
What we need is a
new kind of religious discourse that goes back to the core values of the
religion: every single one is based on compassion and on the golden rule, first
propounded by Confucius 500 years before Christ: do not do to others what you
would not like them to do to you. Look into your own heart, discover what it is
that gives you pain, and then refuse under any circumstance to inflict that
pain on anybody else... This is civilization. The golden rule is the basis of civilization.[3]
The Golden Rule. All of the major
religions of the world are based upon it. Karen Armstrong argues that is it the
basis of civilization. Just about everyone seems to agree that it’s a good
idea. So, why in the world was Jesus crucified for preaching it? It wasn’t even
a new idea for the people around Jesus, for the Jewish people of the first
century: Hillel the Elder, a Jewish rabbi who lived in the century prior to
Jesus’ birth, was known for saying, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your
neighbor; this is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.[4]”
Jesus didn’t say anything new, shocking, or even all that radical really, so
why were they so bent on killing him? Why did they try to throw him off a cliff
in his hometown? Why do the Pharisees and Sadducees plot against him? If he’s
not saying anything so wildly outlandish and crazy, why does he wind up
executed (and don’t brush off such a question with the trite phrase “It was
part of God’s plan”)? He was executed by a mob of religious folks and
politically provoked people. But why? What is it about Jesus’ particular take
on the Golden Rule that upsets folks so much, even today? I have a hunch…
When I was in college, most of my
coursework involved writing papers. Now, I know everyone writes papers in
college, but we almost exclusively wrote papers; I can only recall a handful of
actual exams, quizzes, etc., and most of those were in other classes outside of
my major. It didn’t matter, though, how many papers we had written, there was
always someone in the class who would say the same thing every time an
assignment was given. The syllabus might say something like, “Write an
8-10-page paper discussing Jurgen Moltmann’s view of the Trinity in relation to
the broader theological perspectives of his contemporaries.,” and inevitably,
someone would raise their hand and ask, “Prof, is it ok if we just get it onto
page eight, or does it need to be eight full
pages? Does it matter what font we use? Just 1” margins, right?” You know why
they were asking, don’t you? It wasn’t because they were concerned that all of
their knowledge on the subject couldn’t be contained within the parameters of
the assignment; it was because they wanted to get away with as much as they
could and do as little as possible (even if that meant cheating a bit on the
margins and the font).
Aren’t we all a bit guilty of
that? When the rules are laid out before us, we tweak them just a bit to fit
our comfort. Surely none of you go 55 in a 45 mile-per-hour zone right? We
fudge stuff just enough to make it fit our expectations, like the woman at the
restaurant who says, “I know the menu only says for kids twelve and under, but
could I get the grilled chicken and fries?” Oh sure, most of that stuff is
harmless, doesn’t have any real effect on the rotation of the earth or the
well-being of another soul, but this proclivity of humankind isn’t relegated to
just the page limit of term papers and whether or not one can order off the
kids’ menu.
How many times in your life has
someone bent the rules for you, held the door open just a bit longer, wound the
clock back a few minutes, put your resume on the top of the pile even though
yours was the last to come in? How many times were doors locked to keep brown
faces from coming in during business hours? How many times has someone been
pulled out of line for a “random” search at the airport? How may times have the
rules been so clearly stated, so publicly displayed only to have them ignored
for the advantage of one and enforced for the disadvantage of another? How many
times have we backed our way out of the obvious implications of something so
direct, so clear by muddying the waters with our own so-called interpretations?
For hundreds of years, religious
traditions, their leaders, and their scriptures held the Golden Rule as the
standard for human, moral practices, yet Jesus and is crucified, executed by
the government at the insistence of the religious majority, because he too
preached a gospel grounded in the Golden Rule. So, what was so different when
it came to Jesus? Jesus erased the room for our self-centered commentary on the
rule itself.
With Jesus’s teaching of the Golden Rule, there is no room to carry on in
the seemingly unending cycle of retributive violence that has defined humanity
from the beginning—and sadly, still does! “But I say to you that listen, Love your
enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for
those who abuse you…” Now, I’m not that old, and I can remember being
taught by folks that I highly admired and respected that the way a man has to
operate in this world is if someone hits you, hurts you, abuses you, cuts you
off—you give it right back and a bit more to show them where they belong! Why,
I have even heard some Christians say
things like, “Sometimes, the best way to show someone you love them is to tell
them what they do wrong and punish them.” That’s part of that interpretation we
wedge in there, but Jesus takes all the air out of it: “If anyone strikes you on the
cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not
withhold even your shirt.” Jesus says, “Love even your enemies, even to
the point of being beaten and stripped naked.”
Jesus’s teaching of the Golden Rule clearly calls for us to widen our
circle of concern, to understand that it is a universal principle, applied to
all of humanity, not just those down the road and around the corner. “Give
to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do
not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” There
it is, plain as day: the Golden Rule, but given in the context of giving to
everyone. And, in case there is any confusion on the matter, Jesus says, “If
you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love
those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is
that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you
hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to
receive as much again.” I get the feeling Jesus could already hear their
conversations, already see their self-centered interpretations coming: “We do
love our neighbors, our families; we take care of our own, right here in this
house, in this community, in this area.” Jesus calls to draw the circle ever
wider, to love those outside of our comfort zones, outside of our families,
communities, and culture, to understand that every man, woman, and child is a
child of God and our brother or sister, just as deserving of the love of God as
us, and just as deserving and in need of our love and care as those who already
love us.
Jesus’ Golden Rule is one that creates within us a divine dependency, a
trust in God grounded in our selfless outpouring of love—the very same
outpouring from God unto us! “[F]rom anyone who takes away your coat do
not withhold even your shirt…Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone
takes away your goods, do not ask for them again…lend, expecting nothing in
return…” If you give away your coat and your shirt enough times, you’ll
be left stark naked! If you give to everyone who begs from you, you’ll join
them with your own cardboard sign and tin can! If you lend without expecting
anything in return, you’ll go broke replacing every item that walks out the
backdoor! GOOD! Because when your feet are cold and your stomach’s empty,
you’ll pray for someone to give you their coat and a hot meal without asking,
because you’ll be dependent on the kindness of strangers, those who will
hopefully expect nothing form you in return, because you’ve got nothing left to
give, because when you’ve loaned everything you have to those who will never
give it back, you’ll have to rely on the generosity of others who will lend to
you, without question or expectation of return, because then you’ll really see
where your faith lies, and if you can truly depend on God.
You see, Jesus paints us into a holy corner with his Golden Rule: there’s
not much room in it for us to stretch it, bend it, twist it to make us more
comfortable. Even with a word of reward attached to it, Jesus still calls us to
a wider, unconditional way of love: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do
not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;
give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together,
running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the
measure you get back.” Most of the folks I know (myself included)
rather enjoy judging and condemning, especially folks we think are outside of
what we believe to be right, of our interpretations of what it means to be
“good people,” and I’m personally a big fan of forgiveness—well, my
forgiveness, but I’m not so sure how I feel about forgiving others, especially
those who have shown no sign of remorse or admitting they are wrong. Of course,
I’m all for giving too, provided it’s after I’ve paid my bills, set things in
order, and verified that every penny I give will go towards causes and people I
fully agree with (and that I’ll get a receipt come tax season).
See? Already trying to wriggle out of Jesus’ words, but we can’t. We just
can’t. We may try, and we’ll quote every verse of Scripture we can find to back
us up. We’ll site every anecdote we’ve heard or read; we’ll work out the logic
and build ourselves a pretty good case as to why we just can’t live exactly as Jesus calls us. But, friends,
every single time we quote scripture to protect ourselves, every single time
site some story that proves our point, every single time we work out the
logic—there’s Christ, with arms stretched out upon a cross, naked, bleeding,
and dying, haven given it all without getting anything in return, speaking love
and forgiveness to the very ones who put him there. There’s Christ, the living
and dying embodiment of the Golden Rule, calling us to come and follow. Amen.
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