The Golden Rule. It's something that every one of us hears from the time we can understand words. We hear it so much that it has become a platitude along with, "Everything happens for a reason" or "Nobody's perfect".
The unfortunate thing is that The Golden Rule shouldn't be a platitude. It should be the essence of every choice, big or small, that we make in our life.
The Golden Rule has been a part of us since the formation of the written word. Some scholars trace the phrase's origin back to early Confucian times (551-479 BCE), while others trace its origin as far back as the Middle Kingdom of the Egyptian Empire (2040-1650 BCE). Either way, it's been around a long time.
A fascinating aspect that hardly ever gets mentioned when we talk about The Golden Rule is that it has been an essential tenet of every major religion from Buddhism to Wicca. In a world where so much separates us, it appears that The Golden Rule is one of the few things that unites us.
But if the Golden Rule is such a universally accepted way to live, why do we treat it like just another phrase? Is it because it's an easy phrase to say, but a hard rule to follow?
Whether you believe in Jesus as God or as a wise teacher, one thing we can all agree on is that he lived his life according to the rule.
Jesus mentions the Golden Rule near the end of his most famous teaching, "The Sermon On The Mount".
"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
When we read through the life of Jesus, we can see that Jesus reached out and ministered to everybody. His closest followers (the disciples) were a team of rivals who in any other circumstance had no business being in a room together, let alone starting one of the largest religions in the world.
Jesus’ disciples were a mix of fishermen, a tax collector, and a religious zealot. Today they would probably be small business owners, financiers, and political activists. Could you see a group like that today working together for the benefit of all society?
Yet, Jesus found a way to show them how to all work together and it wasn't just by what he taught them, it was the way he lived his actual life.
Jesus' interactions with other people are a fascinating portion of his life. And it's not just how he interacted with the people he came into contact with, it was who he was interacting with. Jesus loved everyone no matter their gender, class, religion, or race. From a Samaritan Woman (one of the most oppressed people in the early 1st Century ), to a Roman Centurion (one of the people doing a majority of the oppressing) and everyone in between.
The shocking thing is that he treated them equally. He treated them with empathy. He took the time to treat them as if he was in their position. He valued the person over their actions. He valued the person equal to himself.
Jesus met the needs of many during his time on Earth. But for most of us, we focus on his birth and his death. But, what he should most be remembered for is his actions because they equaled his message.
When Jesus was being put to death, he looked around at those executing him and forgave them. Not just a sentimental forgiveness, but true forgiveness. Supernatural forgiveness.
In the context of Jesus’ death, we may focus on the people executing him, but if you look at the larger picture, not a single person helped him. People who saw and felt his love, people whose lives were physically, emotionally, and spiritually changed. Not a single person Jesus interacted with came to his aid. And he was dying for them.
It's an incredible demonstration of going above what you are teaching.
Jesus knew the Golden Rule was hard. He immediately followed teaching it with the sobering message that there are two roads: the narrow, which is hard, and the wide, which is easy. He was letting us know the journey it would take to achieve this rule, it would be like building a house inside of a rock.
The world we live in is not easy. Our instinct is to focus on ourselves just so we feel that we can survive. When we focus on ourselves, all it does is drive us towards isolation and that’s the last thing we need. If the Golden Rule is the essence of every major spiritual movement and religion, then maybe it's time we learn how to treat each other as we would want to be treated. It will take a lot of humility and grace, but if we spend our time learning how to live that way, maybe we'll be filled with love rather than fear.