THE GOLDEN RULE
INTRODUCTION: A rather legalistic Seminary student wanted to have a Scriptural basis for everything he did. He felt he was on solid ground if he could quote the Bible, book, chapter and verse to okay his actions. He did all right with that until he began to fall in love with a beautiful co-ed. He wanted very much to kiss her, but he just couldn’t find a scripture to okay it. So, true to his conscience, he would simply walk her to the dormitory each night, look at her longingly, and then say "Good night." This went on for several weeks, and all the time he was searching the Bible, trying to find some Scripture to okay kissing her good night. But, one evening, as he walked her to the dormitory and once again started to bid her "Good night”, she grabbed him, pulled him toward her, and planted a ten-second kiss right on his lips. At the end of the kiss, the Seminary student gasped for air, and stammered, "Bible verse, Bible verse." The girl grabbed him a second time, and just before kissing him again, said, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Okay, this might not be the best application of the Golden Rule but it’s pretty creative. The Golden Rule has always been popular. In fact, the reason it’s called the Golden Rule is because a Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, had this saying of Jesus engraved on his wall in gold. So, let’s take a look at this saying of Jesus called, ‘the Golden Rule’.
1) The Golden Rule fulfils the law of love.
Mt 7:7-12, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
At first glance it doesn’t look like verse 12 goes with the previous verses. Jesus is talking about God giving good gifts to those who ask and then finishes with the golden rule. What’s the connection?
Jesus is highlighting God’s love and generosity. I believe he is also highlighting God’s grace and mercy because how often have we received these things from God when we’ve messed up?
Then Jesus points out that we are already implementing this to a degree when it comes to our children. We show them love and generosity; we show them grace and mercy. We don’t give them everything they want just like God doesn’t give us everything we want. God does what’s in our best interest and we, out of love, do likewise for our children.
But then Jesus takes it a step further by challenging us to show that kind of love to others. Treat others the way you are treated by God. Show God’s love to others; show God’s generosity to others. Show God’s grace and mercy to others. These are the things you would want done to you so therefore go and do them for your fellow man.
The Golden Rule sums up the law and the prophets because it was all about love. Loving God and loving others. That’s what Jesus said the two greatest commandments were. The Golden Rule has love as the driving force.
Rom. 13:8-10, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
“In March of 1943, Bulgaria, which had aligned with the Nazis, received orders from Berlin that they were to begin implementing the Final Solution, the extermination of the Jewish people in Bulgaria and deport them to Treblinka. The King of Bulgaria and the Parliament did not want to fulfill this order, but they passed it on nonetheless. The people of Bulgaria began to wonder what would happen to their Jewish neighbors and friends. The railroad cars were lined up 100’s long and the Jewish people in 3 towns were to be gathered at the local elementary school and then placed on the trains. Plodda was one of those towns. The Jewish people were told to bring only what they could carry. They were placed behind a chain-link fence at the school and they knew what was going to happen. They began to cry out to their neighbors and tell them goodbye with tears streaming down their faces.
When he had heard the news an Orthodox Bishop named Curel came to investigate. When he saw it to be true he cried out, "Children, the Christians of this country will not allow this to happen to you. I will not allow this to happen to you. I will lay my body on these tracks and they will have to run over my body. This will not happen to you." He and the people of that town began to speak out. Others began to speak out. Several members of Parliament stood up and spoke but they were relieved of their offices and never served again in politics. But the people refused to let the trains leave.
Months later, on June 7, 1943, the German Ambassador to Bulgaria wrote this back to Berlin: "I am firmly convinced that the Ambassador and the Parliament wish and strive for a radical final solution to the Jewish problem. However they are hindered by the mentality of the Bulgarian people who lack the ideological enlightenment we have."
Indeed. Instead they were enlightened by the teachings of Jesus who said, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. During the Nazi regime 6 million Jews were killed. However, because the Christians of Bulgaria took seriously the Golden Rule and had the love and moral courage to stand up for what they believed, every one of the 49,000 Jews of Bulgaria were saved; not a single one of them was killed.” Curel was willing to lay down his life in order to try and save the lives of others. The Golden Rule fulfils the law of sacrificial love.
2) To the fullest extent.
One misinterpretation of the Golden Rule is: Do unto others as they do unto you. What someone does to you, respond in kind. There are a couple of things wrong with this. One-you are never the initiator, only the responder. You aren’t kind to anyone unless they are kind to you. If you’re nice to me I’ll be nice to you. It’s easy to be a fan of the golden rule when we’re the recipients but how often are we quick to want to initiate the golden rule? Quote: “The Golden Rule is of no use to you whatsoever unless you realize that it’s your move.”
Another problem with this is that you have support for revenge. If someone wrongs me, I now have the justification to wrong them. In Luke 6 we see Jesus dismantling these misconceptions. Luke 6:27-36, “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
This is pretty extreme. I don’t think Jesus is saying we should be looking for opportunities to be taken advantage of or that if we are, especially on a continual basis just suck it up and deal with it. Wisdom would say if you can avoid such circumstances then do it. What Jesus is teaching is radical and downright impossible without him. We are programmed to not put up with mistreatment without a fight; without retaliating in some way. But we know that Jesus didn’t just teach it-he lived it. He dealt with mistreatment without retaliating. People abused him but he didn’t even come out of character. You might say, “Well, that was Jesus”. The power than enabled Jesus to do it empowers you too, born-again believer.
And Jesus highlights that we need to be different. The non-believer knows how to be nice to those who are nice to him but we are called to a higher standard. And living by the Golden Rule is that higher standard. And what kind of impact does it have when we do the uncommon? Some may think of us as crazy or weak (like how some thought of Jesus) but there will also be those who see the nobility in it. And that’s what it’s about; drawing people in so they can have the opportunity to be drawn to Jesus.
Another lesser variation of the Golden Rule is: “do not do to others what you don’t want done to you”. This is good but it’s limited. If I don’t want to be stolen from I won’t steal. If I don’t want to get punched in the face then I won’t punch anyone else in the face. But this is about restraint not about being proactive. Jesus is talking about initiation. ‘Do’ not just, ‘refrain from doing’. Restraint is good but initiation goes further.
“Four men were sitting down discussing what is called “the Golden Rule,” and how it is understood. The first speaks his mind. “Well, my ‘golden rule’ is: he who has the most gold, makes the rules.” After a brief chuckle, the second man speaks up. “Leviticus 19 says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But who is my neighbor? The great rabbi Hillel, who is one of the main teachers 100 years before Jesus, and is the source of much of modern Judaism, said the way that this is put into practice, is that you “do not do unto others what is hateful to yourself.” So, this forbids me from harming another person, but does not require me to do anything to help them. If I do – that is mitzvah – a good work.”
The third spoke. “What you call the golden rule is not found in the Koran. But there is the Hadith that is the general practice based on the life of the great prophet, The 13th Hadith of Imam al-Nawawi is: “None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” Truly we are told to do everything to help our brother.” He is asked – who is your brother? And he says, “I am a brother to all other true Muslims. Infidels, non-believers, and those who are not my Muslim brother, I have absolutely no obligation toward. Then the fourth guy had his turn. “I am sorry to say, we have not always lived up to the way Jesus spoke of ‘The Golden Rule’. When he told us to “do unto others as you would have them do to you,” he went on to explain, that it’s not only to our fellow believers, but also to all people. We are to go out of our way to help others.”
There are other religions and teachings that have variations of the Golden Rule but none come close to what Jesus called us to do. When asked, “Who is my neighbor”, Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Jews hated the Samaritans. So basically Jesus was saying that everyone’s your neighbor-even your enemy.
3) Put yourself in their shoes.
James 2:8, “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.”
As yourself. That’s what it’s about. The care and concern we have for ourselves we impart on someone else. It’s so easy to have the “better you than me” attitude when someone’s facing trouble or a difficult situation. But how often do we have the attitude of “I wouldn’t like it if this were happening to me so I’m going to help this person”?
The Golden rule is about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. It’s thinking about what you would want someone to do for you if you were in their place. “There is a guy named Shane Claiborne who sees the Golden Rule as a radical call to a radical way of living. When he was in college at Eastern University near Philly, the newspaper had a headline about some homeless families that were being evicted from an old, abandoned cathedral. There were forty families (children included) that had no place to call home. There were numerous buildings in this area that had been abandoned and the housing opportunities by the government started with a long wait on a long list. So these families took up residence in this old cathedral that did not have heat or electricity or any utilities. They were ordered to vacate the premises or be arrested. So Shane and his friends wrestled with what it means to love others as yourself and soon found themselves in a car headed to the “badlands.”
The building took up an entire block and someone had strung a banner across the front that said, “How can we worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday?” Shane and his friends knocked the door and were invited in and embraced without hesitation. The families gave them tour while the kids jumped on their backs. They poured out their hearts, their struggles, and their dreams. Shane went back to school and hung up flyers that said, “Jesus is getting kicked out of church in North Philly. Come hear about it: Kea Lounge, 10 pm.” They thought maybe a dozen people would show up but over a hundred people packed the lounge.
The next day dozens of students poured into the cathedral saying, “If they come for you, they’ll have to take us too.” Nearing the final hour, when the eviction was to come, the people gathered to sing, pray, and break bread. Whoever will stay when the officials come and risk arrest, raise your hand. As Shane raised his hand, a little girl named Destiny sitting on his lap asked why he was raising his hand. “Do you want to stay here?” he asked. Destiny said, “Yes, this is my home.” “That’s why I’m raising my hand.” She hugged Shane and slowly raised her hand. The media jumped all over it. And when the officials showed up, they took two steps, saw the crowd, and got back in the car without saying a word.
But the fight wasn’t done because if the students diminished, the police and officials would come and evict the families. A cell phone and air horn was purchased so that whenever the officials showed a smaller group of students that rotated would call the rest and the horn would blow and the people would pile into cars heading to Philly. The archdiocese eventually got the fire marshal involved because they could come and evict the families saying that they were acting in the best interests of the families since things were safe.
The night before the inspection two firefighters showed up at midnight. In a panic they tried to talk their way out of it thinking that this was a veiled attempt at a midnight eviction but the two fire fighters said that they were not here to evict but against orders they were here to help prepare the building for inspection. The fire fighters took them to the fire station where they were given boxes of smoke detectors, exit signs, and fire extinguishers. When the fire marshal showed up, there were no citations and no reason for eviction. Eventually the families held a press conference and everyone got housing. Lastly, they marched to the mayor’s office to ask that he might try looking through their eyes and walking in their shoes. Then they took off their shoes and left them in a pile outside his office.” The Golden Rule is about looking at the other person as if he were you.
CONCLUSION: “Chad was in 2nd grade. He was a little slower than the other children and that made them shun Chad. A couple of weeks before Valentines’ Day, Chad came home and told his mother that he wanted to make cards for everyone in his class. She knew how they treated her son, but she went and purchased the paper & glue & crayons. Night & day, Chad painstakingly made 35 valentines. Valentine’s Day came & Chad was beside himself with Excitement. He carefully stacked them up, put them in a Bag & ran out the door. His mother decided to bake him his Favorite Cookies & Serve them up warm when he got home. She just knew that Chad would be disappointed. It hurt her to think that he worked so hard on all of those Valentines & he might not get any in return.
That afternoon when she heard the School Bus, she looked out the Window, waiting for Chad. Sue enough here they came, laughing & having the best time. And as always, there was Chad in the rear. He was walking a little faster than usual. She fully expected him to burst through the door with tears because his arms were Empty. When the doors opened, she chocked back the tears. “Mommy has some warm cookies & milk for you Chad.” But he hardly heard her words. He just marched right on by & all he could say was; “Not a one...not a one.” Her heart began to sink until he said, with his face all aglow, “I didn’t forget a single person in my class mom; not one.”
Chad’s focus was not on getting one but on not forgetting one. That’s what living out the Golden Rule looks like. It means when I give or help, I’m not looking for anything in return. It means I will live by this principle regardless if anyone else does. I think I would call this little boy Golden Chad. What about us? How golden are we?
