Living the golden rule may completely fall short of Jesus’ command for his followers. Jesus loved his betrayer, Judas. Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of those who crucified him. And he commanded his followers to love the world that much. Do you think you can do it?!?
12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.
Matthew 7:12 NLT
34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
John 13:34-35 NLT
The golden rule from Matthew 7:12 was not new to Jesus’ audience at the sermon on the mount. They had heard it many times in their teaching in the Law and the prophets. Leviticus 19:18 taught them to love their neighbour as themselves. Treat others as good as you treat yourself. View others as you view yourself. If you follow this principle, you will find that you get along very well with the world around you.
Later in Jesus’ ministry, he ups the ante. Up until this point, he recited some old commandments and clarified teaching of the past to elevate the standards (murder vs. anger, adultery vs. lust). This time, he would drop a bomb. In John 13:34, Jesus added a new commandment. That’s not what we were expecting…
It turns out that it is a bit of a play on the old golden rule. The twist is, however, that if we want to be known as disciples of Jesus, we have to amp it up. Lots of people might embrace the golden rule. There are good people in my neighbourhood and yours who do that. They don’t know Jesus, but they have heard the rule and it makes sense to them.
Jesus says we can go further. And if we are his disciples, we are actually commanded to do this. Love each other as Jesus has loved us. The golden rule is to do to others what we would like them to do to us. Jesus’ new commandment is to love people like he loves people. Uh-oh. That’s much more difficult than the golden rule.
The trouble with Jesus’ command is that it doesn’t matter what our rules of engagement are. Under the golden rule, believe or not, you might find someone who says, “An eye for an eye is how I expect you to treat me. It’s tit for tat. So if I have it coming, feel free. Let me have it!” That’s the golden rule fulfilled. That does not however, satisfy Jesus’ command.
Jesus loved his betrayer, Judas. Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of those who crucified him. His love for others was disconnected from how he expected to be treated. His love was based on your value to him as God’s son who came to die for you. If we love the world like that, based on God’s value on each life, the way Jesus loved, we will change the world in ways we cannot even fathom.
Forget the golden rule and live the Jesus command…
Amen.
Marc Kinna
marckinna 