05-02-2010
Sermon for 5-2-10
Occasionally I come across comparisons of what is commonly called the “Golden Rule” in religions. Now, Christians often think of this saying as one of our own, Jesus said it, right. Well, yes and no. Jesus gives a new commandment in our reading from the gospel according to John; but it isn’t the usual Golden Rule! Reading and listening carefully, Jesus says in today’s gospel “…Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Uh oh, did you hear that? Jesus says, “Just as I have loved you”. He doesn’t say “as yourself” he says, “Just as I have loved you” and all of a sudden this Golden Rule which everyone loves to say though occasionally practice, the golden rule which seems so universal in religions, is no longer about, “Yourself”, the new Commandment is about God, and how God/ Spirit/ Jesus loved you first. the new Commandment is that now we have to think about Jesus, and how God/ Jesus loved you first. In fact, we are not born with love, Love first comes from without, Love comes from God before it moves within and to each other- “Just as I have loved you,” Jesus says.
For comparison, here are a few versions of what is usually called the Golden Rule… Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” (Udana-Varga 5:18) 560 BC, Judaism: 1300 BC, from the Old Testament, Leviticus 19:18- “Thou shalt Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Or from a version of the golden rule put into modern, non-religious terms that some people live by- called Commonsensism:, “Treat people the way you’d like to be treated”- all righty then. And actually, that’s not far off from Hinduism: 3200 BC, From the Hitopadesa- “One should always treat others as they themselves wish to be treated. Or how about Zoroastrianism: 600 BC, From the Shast-na-shayast 13:29- “Whatever is disagreeable to yourself, do not do unto others.” Or, from another religion from the Middle East, The Farewell Sermon of Muhammad says for Islam: “Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.” The extremists aren’t quoting that one?
As they are commonly compared, hardly any of these I’ve read are really about love- in fact, most only mention want or wishes, not love…
In the gospels we can find both the Jewish and the Christian Golden Rule’s on the lips of Jesus; but quite frankly, we have misunderstood these Golden Rule’s and combined them into one- the wrong one. We have actually mixed up the sayings, and now if we look around for comparisons of the golden rule among religions we will find the wrong one quoted for Christians. Instead of the incorrect “Love your neighbor as yourself”, today’s gospel has the correct one, “…Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another.”
Oddly enough, the difference is quite clear in the gospels. In fact today’s text is the only place in the gospels where Jesus gives the New Commandment- the actual Golden Rule for Christians. The difference is as important as a New Heaven and a New Earth, meaning the difference is important, it’s new, the new Commandment… How then have we so mixed up the sayings, how come we’ve let other people convince us that the Christian Golden Rule says something different than what Jesus Christ, in fact says, very very clearly, right here?
Well, perhaps the gospel according to Matthew is to blame, or is it the people who read it wrong, I don’t know one way or the other??? “Teacher, Teacher,” a lawyer who wants to know, shouts, “which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”” Mt 22:34-40.. but not the gospel!
This is not yet the gospel, because the gospel tells us what we aren’t able to do for ourselves, the gospel tells us what God has done for us in our place. The gospel is not “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” this is not the Golden Rule of Jesus, this is not the correct Christian Golden Rule, it’s only a repetition of the commandments of the Israelites; it is not yet the New Commandment. And what is the new commandment?
What is the Christian Golden Rule? “…Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” The Gospel always reminds of how God has loved us as an example.
According to Jesus- we are not supposed to simply love our neighbors as ourselves, but rather- to love each other as God has loved us. We must take Jesus’ correction to the rule seriously, the Bible says we can’t love the whole world a new by ourselves, we need help, we need God’s help, God’s love and so it’s a good thing that God’s kind of love is down to earth…Down to earth through Jesus, God’s love remains with us… “See, the throne of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them;”
So what does this all mean if we are to love all people of earth, of different religions from our own. First it means, the pressures off- Jesus is really the one who is loving here… But it also means we are limited to loving people in the way that Jesus loved. Jesus has an exclusive claim to showing us how to love, because everyone will have to think back to Jesus, if we want to see if we are truly loving each other.
In fact, Bible says, we are not loving God, or our neighbor, if we are basing our love on ourselves rather than on Jesus Christ. Perhaps this is why we don’t find the Golden Rule of Jesus so often in the comparison line with world religions…
Does all this mean we should disdain other religions? No, and in fact fighting one another, various religions, and even our enemies is the opposite of Jesus’ new commandment. In the gospel according to Matthew, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” Mt 5:43-45
Not only are we to love one another, our neighbors, our fellow religions, but also our enemies- as God has loved us… God help us! God love us, and them.
God love us and them, so that one day in the new city of neighbors in the New Jerusalem where the religious fighting has ended, with Saint Peter we too will go with the spirit, and there will not be a distinction between them and us… If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”! And that gift from Jesus, is the true Christian Golden Rule, God’s love as a gift, showing us how it is possible to love one another, as Jesus loves us, and this we know, for the Bible tells us so!
“…Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Amen
