This is a very edited version of a sermon I gave at Christ Church United this past Sunday, October 26th 2014.
Matthew 22:37+39
So he said:
you will love the Lord your
God
with your whole heart
and with your whole self (life/soul)
and with your whole mind (understanding/thought)
and the second, is just as
great
you will love your fellow-human
just like yourself
This is
Jesus’ answer to the question; what is the greatest commandment?
Do unto
others as you would want them to do for you.
Compassion is
central to many, if not all of our world’s religions, and even many of our
human philosophies. Many religions have their own variation of what is sometimes
called the Golden Rule, and I thought I would share some of these with you.
I thought we
should start with Judaism, for this would have been known by Jesus. It is from
the Talmud, which is a Jewish holy book that would have been familiar to Jesus.
The Talmud says; “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is
the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.”
Unconditional love is not black and white
love, it’s more complicated than that.
Love them as if they are your very own,
means to love them as if they were your family. Now in family there comes a
time for some tough love. It is an important part of growing. Also, just as
within a biological family, abuse, whether emotional or physical, is simply
unacceptable. You see it is not always straight forward when trying to figure
out what would be the good for another, but we do know what we would not want
to suffer ourselves.
Our Muslim
brothers and sisters have their own version, growing out of both the Hebrew and
Christian idea; they have this to add to the conversation “No one of you is a
believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” I am surprised at how often I still hear people
saying that Islam is violent and therefore Muslims are dangerous. My response,
No, their religion is not violent, for their practice, just like all other
pious religious practices, is centered on compassion.
But fundamentalism, extremism, does exists
in Islam, just as it does in Christianity. Hitler claimed himself a Christian,
made sure his army had “god is with us” on their belts; the KKK was a Christian
organization doing the will of god; and my Christianity, being a lesbian
minister, is nowhere close to the
Christianity professed by the Westboro Baptist Church.
Fundamentalism, extremism, is not pious
practice.
The second thing that surprises me is hearing:
“you see they are indoctrinating our
youth.” If they are our youth, then it is our responsibility to share the depth
of our Gospel message with them; in their own language; on their own terms;
within their own context. For if they find meaning for their lives within our
stories then they will not go elsewhere looking for Gospel. ‘Hope for others,
as you hope for yourself.’ This is Islam, this is Good News.
Now back to the Gospel according to Matthew.
I would like to share with you my version of this Golden rule, it include my
interpretation which is based on text (translation) and context (Exegesis).
Love our Creator God, Serve the
universe that God creates,
with all that we are, all that we
hope, and with all of our special and unique selves
Just as you
Love the stranger, the one who is
different than you,
Love them as if they are your
very own.
And I would argue that we don’t need to
believe in God to believe that humankind is compassionate. Here is an
explanation of the Golden rule by a Humanist Philosopher.
“Trying to live according to the Golden Rule means trying to empathize
with other people, including those who may be very different from us. Empathy
is at the root of kindness, compassion, understanding and respect –
qualities that we all appreciate being shown, whoever we are, whatever we think
and wherever we come from. And although it isn’t possible to know what it
really feels like to be a different person or live in different circumstances
and have different life experiences, it isn’t difficult for most of us to
imagine what would cause us suffering and to try to avoid causing suffering to
others. For this reason many people find the Golden Rule’s corollary – “do
not treat people in a way you would not wish to be treated yourself” –
more pragmatic.”
Saying it in the negative is the way most eastern religions say
it. I think this gets at something that the positive can’t. We do not always
know what the other would like done to them, but we do know what we don’t want
done to us.
Don’t do to someone what you wouldn’t want done to you, don’t say
something about someone else that you wouldn’t want to be said about you… don’t
even think things about someone that you wouldn’t want thought about you.
I couldn’t find a direct golden rule in
Sikhism, but I thought these two sentences would do, just fine.
“Whom should I despise, since the one Lord
made us all.”
“I
am a stranger to no one, and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend
to all.”
When you believe that God is one, when you
believe in one Creator, you therefore believe that every living being is made
by God, whether plant, animal, fish, bird, or human. There is no us and them
within humanity, all division is created by man… we are One in God.
Love our Creator God, Serve the
universe that God creates,
with all that we are, all that we
hope, and with all of our special and unique selves
Just as you
Love the stranger, the one who is
different than you,
Love them as if they are your
very own.
You see, there is no more us and them, no
other. We are one humankind.
Do not do to someone what you wouldn’t want
done to you,
Love the stranger as if they are your own,
And Hope for the other as you hope for
yourself.
This is compassion, this is pious practice,
this is religion, and to me… this is Gospel.
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