In Matthew 7:12 Jesus said, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this the law and the prophets.” This is called “The Golden Rule” and is the most universal teaching in all the world’s religions. Thus Jesus says, “for this is the law and the prophets.” In Leviticus 19:18 the law says this about dealings with your acquaintances, “Do not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And in Leviticus 19:34 the law says this about dealings with strangers, “But the stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
The basis for the Golden Rule is found in Jesus’ statement in Matthew 22:34 when he was asked what is the greatest commandment. His reply was “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Jesus once told a story about a man who went down to Jericho and was attacked by robbers who both robbed him and beat him so that he was left helpless along the side of the road. After a little while a priest came by who walked around the injured man and went on his way. Still later a Levite walked right by without lifting a finger to help. But a Samaritan saw the situation and had compassion on the man, bound up his wounds, transported him to the nearest town, and paid for lodging for as long as it would take the man to recover. When the Samaritan came upon the helpless robbery victim, did he consciously think “what would I want if our roles were reversed?” Maybe not. Jesus pointedly says that the Samaritan had compassion for the man along the side of the road. But whether consciously or by instinct, the Samaritan was following the Golden Rule. He made the ethically right choice by simply doing for the wounded man what he would want done for himself if he were attacked by robbers on that same road.
This world would be a much better place if everyone would practice the Golden Rule. Political discourse would be much more civil if people would stop to ask whether they would like to have the circumstances of their birth questioned or pranks from their high school days brought up. The sports world could avoid scandal if someone would simply ask if they would like to have a bounty paid to someone who physically injured them to the extent that they had to leave the game. Families would be more harmonious if each and every member treated others as kindly as they would like to be treated. Civil rights for all citizens would not be questioned if everyone would simply try to imagine themselves as one of the minority groups among us and ponder how they would like to be treated.
The Golden Rule is so simple to say and so easy to remember and yet so profound. As you encounter people today just keep these wise words of Jesus in mind as you decide how to treat the people you meet. You won’t go wrong if you do.
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