“What God Desires From TEMC: The Silver and Golden Rules”
Jesus gives us a positive rule to live by
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Text: Matthew 7:1-12
The great art of advertising, I think, is in taking up a very complex, multi-facetted product that is difficult to explain and capturing an image or an idea, or even a word to explain it. In other words, to summarize or to bring down to a common denominator one idea or one image that people will be able to take away with them and be reminded of the product that you are trying to sell. Good advertising that is able to do that is a very powerful thing.
I realized that this week as I was lining up in an electronics store to pick up some CDs. In front of me was a young man with his father, buying a new iPod. He couldn't contain himself with excitement, and then he said something that made me realize the power of advertising. He looked at his dad, and with a wink he said, “Dad, this iPod is steeped!” Now, you see, you all know, don't you? You have seen the ads by a certain coffee shop and you have seen that this word is already finding its way into the vernacular as an adjective - now to describe an iPod, of all things! That is powerful advertising!
How many conferences did you go to in the 1980s where presentations by business people who wanted to capture the essence of going to the heart of the matter would use this phrase ad nauseam: “Where's the beef?” The phrase conjures up images of a certain chain of hamburger makers, and you never forget it. Or, that word that is still incomprehensible, fahrvergnügen. Every time I hear it, I whatever it means, whenever I hear it, I remember a certain German automobile company.
Very good advertising can go right to the heart of the matter and conjure up in a phrase or an idea a representation of a product that you never forget. Now, in biblical times, particularly in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament, the prophets and theologians and wandering preachers often tried to encapsulate the whole of the biblical message in a simple phrase or an idea. When you think of it, the Christian faith and the Bible and the literature that surrounds it is very complex and sometimes very difficult to understand. You can understand why people want to have a singular phrase that they can remember to capture the essence of the faith.
In Judaism, in the Book of Deuteronomy, there is the famous “Sh'ma of Israel” for example, that says, “Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord, is One.” In remembering the oneness of God, you capture the whole of the biblical message. The most popular phrase, which Jesus himself quoted later on in his ministry, is “Love the Lord.”
“Love your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, but love your neighbour as yourself,” is a summary, an encapsulation really, something by which to remember the whole of the faith. Now Jesus, as a wandering prophet in the midst of a society that was very theologically oriented and interested in getting to the heart of the matter, which was knowing and understanding the coming of the Kingdom of God, used a phrase to conclude his Sermon on the Mount that summarized some very complex ideas. Listen to what Jesus had to say and notice the language: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the law and the prophets.” It's worth repeating. Here, then, is where Jesus concluded his great Sermon on the Mount, and he did it in simple and clear and profound words.
Some of you might be saying, “But don't we find these words in other religious texts? Was there not something similar in the teaching of the great Rabbi Hillel, hundreds of years before Jesus was born? Do we not find it in other particular religions or texts?”
Well, the answer is, “yes and no.” Something very similar - but not the same -is found elsewhere. I like to call those other phrases, not the Golden Rule, which is how we refer to this teaching of Jesus, but more like the “Silver Rule,” not quite hitting the bull's-eye in the same way. Don't misunderstand me: All of these are legitimate on their own, all of these are profound statements on their own, but they are a little different from Jesus' teaching.
For example, listen to the words of Confucius: “Do not do to others what you would not like yourself, then there will be no resentment against you either in the family or in the state.” Or, for example, in the Udanabagha of Buddhism, where it says the following: “Hurt not others in ways in which you yourself would find hurtful.” Or, in Hinduism, these words, “This is the sum of duty: do naught unto others what you would not have them do unto you.” And, in the Talmud, under Shabbat, it says, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow man. This is the entire law; all the rest is commentary!”
All of these phrases are very powerful. They all talk about not doing something in order that something will not be done to you. In our world there is something very meaningful and powerful to be learned from other faiths and to share with other faiths in a common idea and a common ideal. There is what I call the morality or the ethics of reciprocity. In other words, there is this sense that if you do something to someone else to harm them, be careful, because this might come back to harm you. I call this the “Silver Rule” as opposed to the “Golden Rule,” because it seems to me entirely negative. It is almost based on fear of hurting you in case you, in return, hurt me. It is a “do not.” You can see this in the way the world often operates. For example, during the Cold War, we had the policy of deterrence, where we had our weapons, and the Soviet Union had their weapons. It was a deterrent, because if I did something to you, then you could do something in return to me, and I would be destroyed.
Therefore, the “Silver Rule” - don't do to anyone what you don't want them to do to you - is a perfectly understandable way of maintaining a sense of order. The only problem with it is it comes from fear: It is totally negative. It does not produce anything good. William Barclay, in commentating on this very passage, used an important illustration. He said that it was just like driving. You can have the rules of the road, which tell you to drive on the right side, or if you are British, the left side. You are supposed to drive on the prescribed side of the road so you don't cause havoc or an accident with somebody else. In other words, you can lay down the law to make sure people abide by the rules of the road, because if they don't, they will have an accident. If they go through a stop sign, they better hope everyone else is also frightened of going through a stop sign as well.
His point is that if you find somebody broken down on the side of the road, is there anything in those prohibitive laws to make you stop and get out of your car and actively help that person? No! You can have all the “do nots,” all the prohibitions in the world, and they might contain society, they might keep a degree of law and order, but they do not generate within us an ethic of compassion; they do not lead us to be kind - and Lord knows, here in Ontario, we need to learn to be kind!
I do not know if any of you read the Wheels section of the Toronto Star yesterday, but I do draw your attention to it, on page G4 in the bottom left-hand corner. You can imagine how, after having read these Scriptures this week, this hit me like a sledgehammer. Ontarians, it says, are not good Samaritans. It continues that Ontarians - us - are found by an organization that deals with car safety to be less likely to pull over to help than anywhere else in Canada. This hurts, you know! Only one in five or 20 per cent would do so, according to a poll of 1,500 motorists. This is shameful! And it goes on. Ontarians also demonstrate, and here I feel a little guilty, the highest horn usage in Canada, with only 39 per cent reporting that they hadn't used the horn in the past year. For Albertans that figure was 54 per cent. Well, we all know Albertans are better than us anyway, so that is not news, nevertheless, we can in this province prevent by law the ill-treatment of others, but the negative does not seem to produce the positive.
Listen to the words of Jesus again: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the law and the prophets.” This is the “Golden Rule.” This is a positive rule based on having a transformed heart and life. This is not the prohibition that stops us from doing wrong, but rather the promotion of doing something good. Look at the ministry and the life of Jesus. For example, he uses the parable of the good Samaritan. We talk about it many times, and we learn lessons from it that are deep, and we all know the story very well, but look at it in the terms of the two rules. The men who saw the injured man on the side of the road and walked by, the priest and the Levite, didn't do anything wrong. They did not bludgeon the man; they did not rob him or cause him to be at the side of the road. They obeyed the law completely. They did not do to anyone anything that they would not have done to themselves - but nor did they help.
It was the Samaritan who did something, who actively cared for the man at the side of the road. It was he who went out of his way and gave of himself and supported someone who was in need. He took the words of Jesus much more seriously, and that is why Jesus used the term in the first place. Do to others what you would have them do to you. Don't be frightened or prohibited from doing things as your personal source ethic, but be moved to be positive in the way in which you deal with people.
Jesus, in telling this particular story, was doing so in the light of judging others. He was very clear about this. He did not want people going around judging one another by a standard they themselves would not be judged. He wanted people to be loving and kind and generous with one another, and this was at the heart of his message of what God was like towards us.
The great Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote the following phrase, which I have always loved:
Judgment is the forbidden objectification of the other person, which destroys single-minded love. I am not forbidden to have my own thoughts about other persons, to realize their shortcomings, but only to the extent that it offers to me an occasion for forgiveness and unconditional love as Jesus proves to me. If I withhold my judgment, I am not indulging in ”˜Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner' and confirm the other person in his bad ways. Neither am I right, nor the other person right, but God is always right, and shall proclaim both his grace and his judgment. Judging others makes us blind; whereas love is illuminating.
That is why Jesus goes out of his way to show that he loves the sinner. That is why we go out of our way to be gracious and to be kind to others, because that is the way we understand that God acts towards us. Notice, then, that this is a positive thing. It is not a fear of divine retribution; it is recognition of divine grace.
I read a lovely story of a man who was riding on a train in London. Often, in England, you find some of the clerks and supervisors who work on the trains are snippy once in a while. I have experienced that. This one man was being told off by one of the supervisors one day for some minor infraction, like not having his ticket stamped in the right place. He got a real telling-off for this. A passenger was sitting by this man, and he said to him, “Aren't you going to get mad? Who is this man to tell you off and to give you such a difficult time? Why are you just standing by and allowing him to treat you like this?”
The man responded, “Well, this man has to live with himself every single day of his life; surely I can live with him for just five minutes.” A somewhat more positive view, then, on how we treat and how we judge. Do to others what you would have them do to you; do not do so out of fear, but do so out of compassion.
Nowhere is this more clearly seen than when Jesus repeats exactly the Golden Rule a little later on, but in another Gospel - in Luke. This is what he said in that context:
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 of 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.
It seems to me that both this passage from Luke and the Golden Rule from Matthew 7:12 surely illustrate the means whereby God is going to judge the world. How we live and carry out that command is a sign of whether we truly have the compassion of Christ in our lives. “Do to others as you would have them do unto you” is the ultimate test of our discipleship and our fidelity to Christ. It really is.
Which brings me to the one big question that this three-part series has been asking: What does God want, from Timothy Eaton Memorial Church? What kind of a congregation should we be in the light of the Golden Rule? Two weeks ago I suggested we should be a worshipping community that puts our faith in God and our worship first and foremost. Last week, I suggested that God wants us to be of service to others; to live out God's call in Christ to us. Well, I think that this message to do to others as God would do to us is a profound call to stewardship.
Many of you may not realize this, but this congregation over the last year, gave $246,000 in total to 37 other organizations, charities and missions. The figure was up by $21,000, or 9.5 per cent. Even though we are spending money on our building, we still care for others and reach out. My friends, to support a ministry that promotes the Golden Rule, to promote a ministry that proclaims the very Gospel on which the rule is based, to advocate for the very message of the One who delivered it, Jesus Christ, in this city, in this province, in this world, is a tremendous calling for a tremendous need. That is why I hope you will continue to support the ministry of a church that seeks to live out the Golden Rule, and to do so with the profound understanding that we do this on the basis of what God, in Christ, has already done for and given to us.
A number of years ago, I was very privileged to visit a shelter in Boston, Massachusetts, where the poorest of the poor go - just outside of Roxbury. I met the superintendent, a well-dressed, articulate man. As I sat down and started to have a conversation with him, I realized that he was extremely well educated. He had gone on to have a successful career in business, had made a great deal of money, and was renowned in his own particular profession. He was really an amazing man. I asked him how he had arrived there, and why he was working with the dirtiest outcasts and the alcoholics and the crack addicts who come in from the streets of Boston every night.
He said:
Because 40 years ago, I was one of them. 40 years ago, as a young man, I came in here on a cold night looking for a bowl of chili and I was given that bowl of chili. A minister came and sat next to me, and started to talk to me about Jesus Christ, and told me in a non-judgmental way that I was loved, and that I could change, that I didn't have to be the way I was. When I heard this word of love, I heard the compassion that was given, and I realized, by grace, I had to make a change in my life: I couldn't come back in here again for another bowl of chili. It was by grace that I ended up not being there permanently. It was by grace that I finished high school. It was by grace that I went to Harvard University, and got my MBA. It was by grace that I got my business. It was by grace that I had my family. It was by grace that I had been successful. And it was by grace that I am back precisely where I started.
The words of Jesus, you see, ring true: Do to others what you would have them do to you. Show the love and compassion and the grace of Christ, and let that be your message. Give that love, and it will be returned to you, and once you have received it, give it to someone else. That is why it is Jesus' words that are the Golden Rule, and why we should support a ministry that proclaims it. Amen.
This is a verbatim transcription of the original sermon.