Does anyone out there know what Matthew 7:12 says? How about Luke 6:31? It’s in there twice: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” It’s even the words of Jesus. It’s how we’re supposed to live, and it requires some empathy. Before we take an action, we’re to imagine ourselves having the same thing happen to us. Would we be okay with that? Would we be happy? If so, then it might be the right action to take. I’d still say there are a few more things to consider – is it God’s Will? Does it follow God’s love? Just to name a few. But the Golden Rule stands as one important check for our actions.

               There are many professed Christians in this country as well as many others who are not using our Golden Rule as a litmus test for their actions. Deporting people of Venezuelan origin, whether or not they have legal status to be here, and sending them to prison in El Salvador surely doesn’t pass the litmus test of the Golden Rule. Raising up one man and his crew to decide what happens to any given American, regardless of our laws and justice system, doesn’t pass the litmus test. Firing people using poor performance as an excuse doesn’t pass the litmus test. There are many other examples of things happening today that don’t pass the test of the Golden Rule.

               In our time, the Golden Rule has become somewhat trite. We’ve felt protected and safe, and so we trot it out when we want to make a point, but I think we may forget about it otherwise. We just assume that people will do the right thing, and that if they don’t, justice will follow. We’re living in what happens when we take those things for granted.

               Many people speak of Mahatma Gandhi with reverence, and his way of life certainly abided by this Golden Rule. There’s a scene in the movie Gandhi that has stayed with me for a long time. A great mass of poor people in India chase British appointed police officers into a house, where they lock the door so that they are safe. The mass of people then does something the officers never expect – they set the house on fire, burning the police officers to death, unless they emerge to be beaten by the crowd. Triumphant in their success in striking back against their oppressors, the people expect Gandhi’s approval. Yet what he tells his advisors and eventually the people is this: ‘An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.’ They did evil against evil, and there is no glory in it.

               What Gandhi professes is the truth of Scripture – that no matter what is done to us, we can resist, we can stand for what is right, but we are not to turn the evil back on those who do it to us. The Golden Rule still stands, even if everyone around us is violating it. We are now living in surprising surroundings, ones we thought would never come our way, but they do when we lose our rootedness. Perhaps the greatest surprise for us is that many of those who have lost their way profess our faith. However, if we’re students of Scripture, that should never surprise us. The Israelites turned to other gods frequently while still saying they worshipped Yahweh. Jesus’ biggest opponents were the Pharisees, the leaders of his Jewish faith, who were so fixated on the rules that they forgot how to be compassionate towards humanity.
               Gandhi was a huge believer in non-violent resistance, standing up for what is right without doing evil towards others. He died for that belief, but not before professing that if the people of India would stand up in non-violent resistance against their British oppressors, the British would not be able to hold India. Indeed, the people of India did win their freedom.

               What we learn from Scripture, especially in the Old Testament, is that in every era when most of the people turned away from Yahweh and followed other gods, there was always a faithful remnant, starting with Noah and his family, continuing through with many others, including those living as slaves in Egypt. There were years of suffering and crying out to God, and God always listened to those faithful and came to rescue them.  The key word for me is FAITHFUL remnant.

               It is clear that we will have to live through these times, like it or not. We have been sliding down this slope for a while, not because we have admitted immigrants to this country, many of whom are more faithful in the practice of their faith than we are, but because we have turned to other gods – money, capitalism, individual success and status, etc. We have come to rely on those as our stability instead of on God. We have forgotten how connected we all are, how the well-being of one affects the well-being of others. We have abandoned each other so that we can stand on our own. How well is it working? If we stand on our own, who will rescue us?

For those of us who realize where we are, our call is to work on being faithful followers of Christ. Follow the Golden Rule, seek God’s Will, serve those in need and oppressed, just like Jesus did. Do not condone or be complicit in the actions of those who do evil, but resist. Keep praying consistently. Try to avoid hypocrisy by living the way you would want to be treated. Live so that when we come out of the other end of this, you will not be ashamed.

 

                                                            United with you as we seek to live Christ’s words,

                                                            Pastor Kimberly