Do Unto Others

My husband Ken joins me for this post in which we offer some reflections on what it means to “do unto others”.

It seems to us that the world has become less “kinder and gentler” in recent years. It’s not only wars going on in the world and violence in our own streets, but harsh, ugly words being spoken in our universities, corporations, government, and churches. Quite frankly, we’re tired of seeing and hearing almost daily showings of hatred towards our neighbors.  Just because someone is a little different from you, does not make them wrong and you right.

          Perhaps it’s time to get back to some of the basics of our faith and remind ourselves of what Jesus taught. Here are some translations of a couple of key Bible passages for reflection. Notice how they all say the same thing, just with different words.

NRSV

Luke 6:31 – “Do to others as you would have them do to you”

Matthew 7:12 – “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets”.

The Cotton Patch Gospel

Luke 6:31 – “Just as you want people to act towards you, You act the same way towards them”.

Matthew 7:12 – “Therefore, in all your dealings with people, treat them as you want to be treated.  This, in a

                               nutshell, is the essence of all our moral and religious principles”.

First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation

Luke 6:31 – “Help others in the same way you want them to help you.”

Matthew 7:12 – “Whatever good you want others to do for you is what you should do for them.  This is the

                              whole purpose of the instructions from Drawn from the Water (Moses) and the words spoken

                               by the prophets.

Ken: A wise pastor friend of mine once told me, “We can’t learn anything from anyone if, first: we don’t communicate with them and second: we don’t treat them with the respect and dignity we want to get from them”.  WOW!!  What a concept.  Treat someone with the respect and dignity you want to get from them.  If only it were that simple in daily life!

Nothing is accomplished by brandishing a weapon, heading into a school, post office, place of worship, etc., then shooting up the place because you have some dumb ax to grind, or because someone doesn’t look or worship the way you think they should.  If you just took the time to sit and talk with them, then maybe, just maybe you’d see we are all human beings loved by God and created in God’s image.

Linda: It seems we’ve gotten away from the notion of “live and let live.” I heard this a lot in the small town I grew up in. Not that we didn’t have our problems, but in general folks respected one another and when anyone needed anything, we worked together to help as we could. Life wasn’t idyllic, but there was a sense of peace and dignity about it.

Something seems to have changed in recent years. There is, to me, a sense that everyone must look after themselves and less and less sense of interdependence and community. I see and hear calls to some ideal of “rugged individualism” instead of the ideal of loving one another as Jesus taught.

Ken: I see that in Political hatred, which is a big concern of mine.  It’s not just our own government, there are other countries with this problem, as well. Since I’m familiar with ours, I’ll use that for this point.

Does anyone remember the days in which political parties worked together?  Crossing the aisle to pass legislation was a daily occurrence, as was compromise and civility.  Now people with differing political viewpoints can’t stand to be in the same room with each other.  Instead, they get in each other’s faces and yelling and screaming is the norm.  Passing legislation for the good of the country seems to be the farthest thing from their minds.  All legislators care about is finding a camera to stand in front of so they can blame the other party for everything that’s wrong with the government.

Linda: It’s a sad situation, especially when I remember that not all that long ago, we were fond of saying that there wasn’t much difference between each party’s viewpoints. Now one hesitates to express one’s views lest an argument break out. Having been a pastor, I see how much political and religious differences are splitting apart families, churches and communities.

We can go on and on talking about racism, religious intolerance, the emergence of hate groups whose members feel entitled to spew blatant lies, but we won’t.  Instead, we’re going to take the time to stop, meditate and pray more people finally wake up to what is going on. As followers of Jesus, we’re committed to treating everyone with the respect and dignity we want to get from them. We’re going to take the time to get to know them, listen and learn.  We just may find we have more in common than we once thought. A Native American friend of Ken’s once told him, “The best way to defeat your enemy is to make them your friend”.  That is our heartfelt prayer.  Join us, please.