Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12
On January 7, 2010, as the morning work shift began, an employee of the ABB electrical transformer factory in St. Louis, Missouri, pulled out a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, and began shooting his fellow-workers. He killed three and injured several others before killing himself. Identified as 51-year-old Timothy Hendron, the shooter had been involved in a legal dispute with the company and its pension review committee. Apparently, he felt he was being treated wrongfully, so he struck back. His behaviour is exactly the opposite of what the Golden Rule, as described in today’s text, tells us we are to do.
Note that the Lord Jesus is not telling us to respond to others in the same way that they treat us. No, that is the eye-for-an-eye approach that the world understands, and that Mr. Hendron was trying to apply. You and I have been given a higher standard. We are to respond to others in the way that we would want them to treat us. The Lord Jesus followed that standard Himself. And he is telling us that, although the letter of the law allowed the eye-for-an-eye approach, the true fulfillment of the law lies in the Golden Rule approach. All of the Word of God would have us follow the Golden Rule, and Jesus’ example is set before us. The first Adam failed to follow the Rule, as his descendants have proved, but the Last Adam fulfilled all the law and the prophets by observing the Golden Rule perfectly.
There are some objections to following the Golden Rule. Some will say that we will be treated unfairly. Maybe so. Was anybody ever treated more unfairly than the Lord Jesus? Others will worry that we will be taken advantage of. Likely so. Our Saviour was. And yet, knowing all that would befall him, he gave us this Rule. It contains no exceptions and offers no loopholes. Often mocked and ridiculed, the Rule offers the only true way to be happy in our relationship with others – by placing the responsibility on ourselves alone.
My sister Bev abbreviated the Rule: Do as you would be did by. Whatever works, learn the Golden Rule, and fulfill the law and the prophets. -Jim MacIntosh