The Golden Rule
Living by the Golden Rule Means Rejecting the Spiritual Ivory Tower
This is one of the rules that defines Christianity. What is this rule? Jesus makes it very simple for us. In Matthew Chapter 7:12, Jesus declares that:
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.
This idea is reinforced in Luke Chapter 6:31 where it’s stated that:
And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
This rule was stated in the Old Testament in Leviticus Chapter 19:18 where the following is stated:
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
In Leviticus Chapter 19:34, it notes the following:
But treat them just as you treat your own citizens. Love foreigners as you love yourselves, because you were foreigners one time in Egypt. I am the Lord your God
What does all of this mean? How does this translate in our spiritual walk? How does this apply within the modern context? Things are simple enough to understand. Treat others as you treat yourself. If you demonstrate love to others, then people will demonstrate love in return. If you demonstrate respect to others, they will be respectful in return. If you’re dismissive of the situations of others, then these people will be dismissive of your situations. If you have no sympathy for people, then people won’t have any sympathy for you. This idea is reflected in both an individual and collective manner.
Jesus constantly demonstrated love and compassion throughout his ministry. This ministry went out to spread God’s Salvation far and wide. There is no scope or limitation in this ministry, and it’s opened to all. Jesus offered outreach and hope to those who felt that they were beyond Salvation. This included those with leprosy and other horrible diseases. Among those who were recipients of his love included the poor who were often looked down upon by many in their day, as now.
Those who were reached out to were often discriminated and marginalized by society for various reasons. Jesus’s ministry made the bold declaration that nobody was beyond Salvation. The ministry reached out those that were perceived to be outcast by the political establishments held in place by the Pharisees; like the Samaritans for example. Jesus shared his ministry with the Samaritan woman as noted in John Chapter 4. From here, the ministry made efforts to evangelize to the Samaritans, a group often resented and rejected by a Pharisees.
The Pharisees wanted nothing to do with the Samaritans. As such, the Samaritans showed no interest to the needs of the Pharisees. The Pharisees constructed a spiritual ivory tower. In their eyes, they were too good for the Samaritans. In their narrow perspective, they were better than the Samaritans in every way, shape, and form.
There were two paths that one could take when passing through Galilee from Jerusalem. The shorter path was through Samaria while the longer path avoided the territory. The Pharisees often took the longer route as they wanted nothing to do with Samaritans. One could make the safe assumption that Jesus knew of this path as well. However, he opted to take the route less taken by the Pharisees, a route taken by the traveling Messiah. Jesus made the effort to receive the Samaritans with respect. As such, the Samaritans devoted time and effort to receive the message that Jesus had to share in return. Jesus responded to the Samaritans with love, and thus, they responded in kind.
Jesus didn’t compromise on his beliefs. At the same time, Jesus knew how to reach to those suffering from personal issues with love. Also, Jesus didn’t let the barriers constructed by the various institutions to constrict or define his ministry. This love was even demonstrated to the criminal nailed next to him on the cross. Criminals are not beyond Salvation either; their not doomed to Hell as Jesus extended his love to them. The criminal who was nailed next to Jesus asked him to remember him in paradise. The criminal demonstrated remorse and compassion to Jesus, and thus, Jesus returned his love to the criminal in kind. Even when conditions didn’t warrant Jesus to return forgiveness, he did it anyway. He asked his Father to forgive those nailing him to the cross for they knew not what they were doing.
A person’s spiritual walk is defined by their actions. A person with compassion would recognize that people dealing with personal issues need guidance if sought out, and that love must be demonstrated in kind. They would take the time to understand the situation that those suffering were going through. Often, even when the situation appears black-and-white, there is a lot more than what meets the eye. There are unforeseen circumstances that often elude eyeshot observation.
The reason why Jesus became human in the first place was that in order to die for the sins of humanity, he must have become human first. He had to relate to the personal struggles that people were going through. This was why an angel couldn’t make the sacrifice. An angel, as a spiritual creation of God, couldn’t relate to the pain and suffering of humanity. An angel couldn’t understand that people, by nature, are destructive creatures that often wallow in their own pity and misery.Jesus felt the pain, temptation, love, joy, and rejection that humanity offered. He took the time to understand the struggles of people in order to reach out to them in a loving manner. Jesus didn’t construct a spiritual ivory tower to stand on and look down on others and disparage them while gloating about his own miracles and successes. And if there was anyone who had every reason to do this, it would have been God’s Son.
Jesus came as an equal to humanity, but yet, provides that gift that humanity couldn’t offer: Salvation. The only other reason why he could offer this gift in the first place, over than being God’s Son, was because he got the full human experience, from being born to a human mother to dying on the cross. His compassion continued, even offering forgiveness to those nailing him to that cross.
The Spiritual Ivory Tower
I decided to look up the phrase “Ivory Tower” in the dictionary. Most might be familiar with this somewhat universal term. If not, don’t despair. As noted from Google, the phrase “ivory tower” means: a state of privileged seclusion or separation from the facts and practicalities of the real world.
Often many Christians begin to feel a state of privileged separation from others. Not that of spiritual enlightenment, but of social and moral piety that caters to their personal belief that their now “better” than other mere mortals, despite them still being prone to the same moral and ethical shortcomings as others. In time for many, Salvation is taken for granted, and thus, forgetting their struggles, several Christians feel not as new, but better than others. The sense of spiritual outreach on an equal, relatable basis is lost. This mindset isn’t used to reach out to others, but to boast and project their own image to uplift themselves while making others feel bad.
Many of these Christians began to feel that respect and love should be demanded from others. People are supposed to be sympathetic to their issues of interest without not giving anything back in return. They don’t need to exercise the Golden Rule because the attributes of love, kindness, and compassion can be demanded from others, and not earned. People are supposed to know of who they are. If they don’t, then that’s their problem. Those with this mindset tend to forget two things:
A:Many of these Christians take their witness for granted
B: Respect from others has to be earned, not demanded. Even Jesus knew this. This is why the Golden Rule exists in the first place. Jesus, as a human, knew he had to earn the love and respect from others in order to carry on with his ministry.
As being separated, they start to forget about the teachings of Jesus, and create their own mental image of what a Christian is. For those living in their spiritual ivory towers, Christianity isn’t defined by the teachings of Jesus, but by what their mental image of what Christianity is now. Being comfortable with their settings, many of those who constructed these metaphorical “ivory towers” leads them to believe that they can see far and wide, not realizing that because these towers often conform to their prejudices, biases, and stereotypes; these towers often provide a narrow perspective instead. Thus, instead of displaying compassion, we provide our own metaphorical snakes as refereced in Matthew.
These towers weren’t intended to spot those who were suffering spiritually or physically and in need of guidance, but to dismiss their struggles and pain. These towers offer no benefit to the Christian walk in general, but serve as destructive monuments that exist to make themselves look good, gloat about their perceived successes while making others feel bad in the process. Instead of understanding with love and compassion and deep insight, many will make a quick face-value observation from the tower, throw in a quick catch saying that has no meaning, and then go on with life without regard to those suffering.
Many of those who built these “ivory towers” have often reduced Christianity down to labels. They feel that if they conform to what their mental picture of what a “Christian” is: come to church on Sunday, give money to some random Televangelist, quote scripture, vote a certain way, and embrace whatever outlandish claim as seen on Facebook; then their Christian. Oh, I forgot, theirs’s some Jesus stuff in their too. You know that “Love My neighbor” banter.
For those living in the ivory towers, showing love and kindness, trademarks of Christianity, become a sign of weakness. Those that constructed their ivory towers to look down upon people do not often see their own shortcomings. Unaware of the plank in their own eye, and not wanting to acknowledge their own moral and ethical shortcomings, they would rather just blame “the world” and secularism.
A person’s witness is compromised when they view situations in a judgmental way. As noted earlier, when the criminal nailed next to Jesus asked him to be remembered in paradise, Jesus had compassion on him and welcomed him because he acknowledged that he sinned and sought Jesus’s gift of Salvation. Jesus didn’t embrace a callous attitude, declaring “You’re a criminal and you’re going to Hell now. No repentance or Salvation for your sorry soul. Sucks to be you now!” Things would not go well for Christians if Jesus embraced that attitude.
We are called to stand up for what we believe in. On the other side of the coin though is demonstrating God’s love to those that feel that they aren’t recipients of that love, regardless of circumstance.
That’s not to say that we give sin a free pass. Self-righteousness takes hold though. Righteousness is the pursuit of living by a strong moral and ethical code as a demonstration to others for the betterment of the community and self-improvement as a whole. Self-righteousness though is when a person uses their perceived moral and ethical image to elevate themselves at the expense of others. This is done not for self-improvement, but for self-promotion. This is counterproductive to a person’s spiritual walk.
If one is quick to dismiss someone’s struggles, then God’s love had been written off. The equivalents to this is when someone in suffering is quickly told to “Find Jesus” by a passerby just throwing a quick response without insight of the situation, and then quickly darts of without any lack of consideration afterwards. For those in need of spiritual guidance, an insincere catch phrase is just an empty platitude that offers no real value.
Sometimes, those dealing with personal issues simply want an ear that will listen to them. The stories are told so that those listening can relate to them. They’re telling their tale not looking for quick fixes or advice, simply just an ear that will receive them and relate in return. They want understanding and compassion.
I’m not one for catch phrases, as they often trivialize Christianity. Reducing the teachings of Jesus to simple catch phrases causes those teachings to lose their meaning rapidly. Teachings are reduced to empty platitudes. For those responding to those suffering, just throwing around those declarations without the weight of love or compassion is just exactly that to those suffering: words.
The Golden Rule is reflected here too: if one feels that the response to their suffering is insincere, then why should they display sincerity in kind when the one that lacked compassion begins to suffer. Those who embrace a pious, self-righteous mindset forgot that they are sinners like everybody else, and that they aren’t better than the other next to them.
Being judgmental is not a healthy state of mind. For one, if one is consumed by this state, they’re not truly happy, from both a mental and spiritual perspective. Also, one who assumes this mindset isn’t often in the position to pass off judgement anyway, as they often have their own moral and ethical shortcomings as well. It would be the spiritual equivalent of the “Pot calling the Kettle Black”.
Those that often make judgmental statements often have their own spiritual planks in their eyes that they’re unaware of, but yet, quick point out the shortcomings of others. The plank that Jesus referenced in the Beatitudes is the spiritual ivory tower in this sermon. The personal attributes of being judgmental, pious, and self-righteous are the complete polar opposites of love, kindness, and compassion. These attributes are counter-productive in the Christian walk and tend to cause for more harm and damage to a person’s witness.
Reject Those Ivory Towers
As noted in scriptures, because Jesus was a man, he felt the prejudices that those around him embraced. He felt the feelings of those who disliked anything that was Samaritan, Greek, or Roman. He witnessed the dislike for the foreigners in the land, along with the poor, women, and those with horrible diseases. He knew that many chose to be defined by their prejudice. Jesus didn’t conform to the vices or shortcomings of those around him. He and his ministry made a valiant effort to reach out to those in need. The man who had every reason in the world to construct an ivory tower rejected them instead and condemned those that metaphorically built them.
Many Christians who build these ivory towers have forgotten that. These Christians have forgotten that they are the same among others, prone to the same moral and ethical shortcomings and they had to earn and maintain Salvation like everybody else. When Salvation is taken for granted they forgot that it’s a gift and sees it as a personal enhancement that makes them better than others. Respect and love is something that has to be earned, not demanded.
The ministry of Jesus calls on us to demonstrate the attributes of love, kindness, and compassion for those who are going through their personal issues. Attributes that are then put into practice when we spread God’s Salvation to everyone who is either want or need of it, regardless of their background or circumstance. Nobody is beyond Salvation.
Jesus was crucified along with the criminals. The one that realized that he had fallen short in the glory of God and knew of the innocence of Jesus asked to be remembered by him in paradise. Jesus, as God’s son, could have proclaimed the criminal as a reject who was going to feel the full wrath, anger, and torment of God’s anger. Instead, Jesus embraced the criminal as a child of God. Jesus presented the criminal with the love, kindness, and compassion that a father could bestow upon a child. The person who asks for Salvation receives it. It’s a gift that when sought out, it’s provided with loving compassion.
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