WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.020 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:03.020 --> 00:00:09.759 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The idea of the so 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:14.759 -called Golden Rule isn't unique to Christianity 00:00:14.759 --> 00:00:20.940 per se. The maxim was not unique to Jesus, but 00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:24.359 in fact ubiquitous throughout all of antiquity, 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:28.899 from China, Confucius, to Greece, Homer, and 00:00:28.899 --> 00:00:32.939 Isocrates. to Rome, Seneca, to the Holy Land, 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:36.740 ranging from Tobit in the Septuagint to Rabbi 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:40.579 Hillel and Rabbi Akiva, contemporaries of Jesus, 00:00:40.780 --> 00:00:43.460 whose memories are preserved in the Mishnah and 00:00:43.460 --> 00:00:49.770 Talmud. More recently, the maxim was recast as 00:00:49.770 --> 00:00:55.049 the interpretive lens to understand Homer's Odyssey 00:00:55.049 --> 00:00:59.609 in Christopher Nolan's latest film. through the 00:00:59.609 --> 00:01:05.150 category of Xenia, or what the film calls, what 00:01:05.150 --> 00:01:09.370 Christopher Nolan coins, Zeus's Law. The idea 00:01:09.370 --> 00:01:14.469 that we should remember to treat others and host 00:01:14.469 --> 00:01:20.480 them as we wanted to be treated and hosted, in 00:01:20.510 --> 00:01:25.170 the case that they might be gods. Something similar 00:01:25.170 --> 00:01:30.069 appears in the book of Genesis. practices hospitality 00:01:30.069 --> 00:01:34.810 to the Lord in the form of three angelic powers. 00:01:35.290 --> 00:01:39.390 The letter to the Hebrews even uses the same 00:01:39.390 --> 00:01:44.269 Greek word that some have entertained angels 00:01:44.430 --> 00:01:50.069 unawares. For Homer, however, the maxim has to 00:01:50.069 --> 00:01:55.980 do with not making the gods potentially angry 00:01:55.980 --> 00:02:01.439 and stirring up their wrath. Be kind. and hospitable 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:04.819 to everyone, in case the person you're dealing 00:02:04.819 --> 00:02:10.139 with is a god and will be your undoing and demise. 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:16.729 So please them. I suspect that some of us actually 00:02:17.819 --> 00:02:24.020 subconsciously live our life this way, relating 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:27.000 to Christ as if he were more like a Greek god, 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:33.439 more like Zeus or Poseidon. than the God of Israel, 00:02:33.830 --> 00:02:39.430 ready to punish, ready to strike us down, that 00:02:39.430 --> 00:02:43.250 he might fly off the handle at any moment if 00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:46.870 we make the wrong move, likely why so many of 00:02:46.870 --> 00:02:53.780 us struggle with anger. So then, what is it that 00:02:53.780 --> 00:02:57.599 makes Christ's words to us this morning unique? 00:02:58.460 --> 00:03:03.849 What marks his version of the golden rule? As 00:03:03.849 --> 00:03:08.090 different, just as you want others to do to you, 00:03:08.169 --> 00:03:13.330 you also do to them likewise. The difference 00:03:13.330 --> 00:03:18.469 is in what Christ grounds the maxim, or rather 00:03:18.469 --> 00:03:24.009 in whom he grounds the maxim. In the person of 00:03:24.009 --> 00:03:29.360 God the Father, depending on his very character, 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:33.960 the very character of God. Be merciful then. 00:03:34.509 --> 00:03:40.490 just as your father also is merciful. That sounds 00:03:40.490 --> 00:03:45.270 palpably different from Homer. The word here 00:03:45.270 --> 00:03:51.210 is actually closer to compassion. We say it every 00:03:51.210 --> 00:03:53.669 morning and evening, actually, in our prayers, 00:03:53.689 --> 00:03:57.229 if we say this prayer, as we unite ourselves 00:03:57.229 --> 00:04:01.229 to the prayer of King David. Have mercy on me, 00:04:01.289 --> 00:04:04.419 O God. According to thy great mercy. And according 00:04:04.419 --> 00:04:09.719 to the multitude of thy. That is of thy compassion. 00:04:11.300 --> 00:04:16.540 Compassion. The concern for another's misfortune. 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:23.060 To better it. To elevate it. To remedy it. To 00:04:23.060 --> 00:04:28.540 intervene into it. A reality fundamental to God's 00:04:28.540 --> 00:04:32.879 very character. We sing it every Lord's Day liturgy. 00:04:33.180 --> 00:04:35.959 when we sing the psalm, that he sets upright 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:39.939 those cast down, that he takes care of the widow 00:04:39.939 --> 00:04:44.660 and the fatherless, and on and on. As the Lord 00:04:44.660 --> 00:04:52.040 puts it this morning, God is kind. God is kind. 00:04:52.519 --> 00:05:00.240 We should let that sink in. God is kind. God 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:05.420 is kind, even to the ungrateful, or perhaps better. 00:05:05.949 --> 00:05:13.009 the graceless, and the wicked. It is God's philanthropia, 00:05:13.009 --> 00:05:18.660 what we say all the time in our services. The 00:05:18.660 --> 00:05:21.939 priest exclaims all the time that he is the lover 00:05:21.939 --> 00:05:27.300 of mankind that grounds Christ's golden rule. 00:05:28.939 --> 00:05:32.819 For Christ, brothers and sisters, the problem 00:05:32.819 --> 00:05:36.779 for us is not that God might strike us down or 00:05:36.779 --> 00:05:40.829 punish us. or doesn't love us, but rather it's 00:05:40.829 --> 00:05:45.079 the question Christ asks us. Some versions render 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:48.680 the question like this, what credit is that to 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:52.670 you? This is a little more of a Western interpretative 00:05:52.670 --> 00:05:56.189 reading. The King James puts it as this, what 00:05:56.189 --> 00:06:00.879 thank have ye? The word haris can certainly be 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:05.279 rendered as thank, like the word evharistia. 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:10.540 What we gather here to do, to commune, to Eucharist, 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:15.579 to give thanks. But Christ's words here should 00:06:15.579 --> 00:06:20.420 be taken more simply and much more straightforwardly. 00:06:20.500 --> 00:06:25.699 The word means grace. If you do these things, 00:06:25.980 --> 00:06:32.199 love, do good. That means bring things to a working 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:35.850 order. that God actually intended them to be 00:06:35.850 --> 00:06:38.389 in creation, right? When he declares things good, 00:06:38.509 --> 00:06:42.269 they work according to his intended design, which 00:06:42.269 --> 00:06:45.250 we get to participate in. If you do these things, 00:06:45.370 --> 00:06:50.209 love, do good, and lend in the way that the world 00:06:50.209 --> 00:06:53.550 does them, according to how Homer would have 00:06:53.550 --> 00:06:56.870 you do it, or maybe today some billionaire out 00:06:56.870 --> 00:06:59.589 of Silicon Valley talking about righteousness 00:06:59.589 --> 00:07:04.569 and justice would have you do them. What grace, 00:07:04.889 --> 00:07:11.439 what grace is that to you? You see, God wants 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:18.439 to give grace. God wants to give us grace. As 00:07:18.439 --> 00:07:21.899 St. James puts it in his letter, God opposes 00:07:21.899 --> 00:07:25.160 the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:31.189 he always gives more grace. God is ready to shower 00:07:31.189 --> 00:07:35.350 us with his grace. God is ready to shower us 00:07:35.350 --> 00:07:40.329 with his divine life. Grace is that life. It's 00:07:40.329 --> 00:07:45.290 his own divine activity, life and energy, coursing 00:07:45.290 --> 00:07:49.449 from him through us, into us, the life and activity 00:07:49.449 --> 00:07:53.810 of the Holy Spirit, Christ born, Christ formed, 00:07:54.009 --> 00:07:58.430 Christ dwelling in our hearts, the hope of glory. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:03.509 Like I mentioned last week, St. Luke again configures 00:08:03.509 --> 00:08:07.209 his points intentionally around Mary, the mother 00:08:07.209 --> 00:08:12.810 of God, who underlies so much of his entire gospel, 00:08:12.990 --> 00:08:16.410 who figures so many of the right categories in 00:08:16.410 --> 00:08:19.689 his gospel. This is one of the main reasons Luke 00:08:19.689 --> 00:08:24.209 is so heavily associated with the icon of the 00:08:24.209 --> 00:08:29.769 Theotokos, what Gabriel says to her. Rejoice, 00:08:29.769 --> 00:08:35.019 O full of grace. You have found grace, you will 00:08:35.019 --> 00:08:39.779 bear a son and he will be great and will be called 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:46.750 son, child, son of the most high. That sounds 00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:51.830 so similar to what Christ says here. What grace 00:08:51.830 --> 00:08:55.830 is that to you? How will you receive the grace 00:08:55.830 --> 00:08:59.669 that only God can fill you with, change you with, 00:08:59.789 --> 00:09:03.610 and heal you with? But if you do receive it, 00:09:04.539 --> 00:09:08.740 your reward will be great. He will be great. 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:14.240 And you will be sons of the Most High, children 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:17.919 of the Most High. At the spiritual level, the 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:21.440 same thing will happen to you as happened to 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:24.480 the Mother of God, which is what we celebrate 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:29.639 in every single one of her feast days. You will 00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:33.370 bear grace in your bodies and souls. and you 00:09:33.370 --> 00:09:36.929 will manifest the same sonship as Christ her 00:09:36.929 --> 00:09:41.330 Son, and thus manifest that you are indeed sons 00:09:41.330 --> 00:09:46.230 of the Most High, God the Father, he who is merciful, 00:09:46.529 --> 00:09:53.029 kind, and the lover of mankind. When we love 00:09:53.029 --> 00:09:57.169 others, do good and lend, because we don't want 00:09:57.169 --> 00:10:00.409 to be punished by God, or more positively put, 00:10:00.590 --> 00:10:03.870 we want to be approbated. We want to be spoken 00:10:03.870 --> 00:10:06.529 highly about by others. We want to be recognized 00:10:06.529 --> 00:10:11.590 or rewarded by men or even God. We close ourselves 00:10:11.590 --> 00:10:16.450 off to the grace of God. Not because God doesn't 00:10:16.450 --> 00:10:19.470 want to give us that grace. Not because God doesn't 00:10:19.470 --> 00:10:22.669 want to dispense it upon us. No, he always does. 00:10:22.830 --> 00:10:26.350 But because we have robbed ourselves of his grace. 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:30.700 We haven't truly opened ourselves up in mercy 00:10:30.700 --> 00:10:35.159 and compassion. We haven't prepared to receive 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:38.580 that grace. Our hearts are not in the right state 00:10:38.580 --> 00:10:42.429 or context to receive it. Rather, as St. James 00:10:42.429 --> 00:10:47.110 puts it in his letter, again, we have an ulterior 00:10:47.110 --> 00:10:52.700 and sinful motive. Or, as St. Paul puts it in 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:55.600 the epistle reading this morning, we have sown 00:10:55.600 --> 00:11:00.100 sparingly. and thus we will also reap sparingly. 00:11:00.580 --> 00:11:05.620 We have thought about God as meager, as stingy, 00:11:05.639 --> 00:11:12.879 as small, as mean in the classic sense, as miserly 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:17.909 toward us. And so we do things as his image, 00:11:18.049 --> 00:11:20.649 as being made in his image, reflecting what we 00:11:20.649 --> 00:11:24.740 believe to be true about God. Our beliefs actually 00:11:24.740 --> 00:11:27.820 manifest. What we believe about God actually 00:11:27.820 --> 00:11:30.519 manifests in how we live our lives as Christians. 00:11:31.970 --> 00:11:35.970 And so we do things, what? Grudgingly, as St. 00:11:36.029 --> 00:11:39.309 Paul puts it, out of necessity, not out of mercy, 00:11:39.649 --> 00:11:43.049 not out of compassion, not out of kindness. Not 00:11:43.049 --> 00:11:48.190 really. We might smile, but we don't do it like 00:11:48.190 --> 00:11:51.889 that. God loves the one who cheerfully gives 00:11:51.889 --> 00:11:56.769 himself or herself. And to that person, God is 00:11:56.769 --> 00:12:00.730 able to make all grace about, St. Paul says. 00:12:01.710 --> 00:12:08.179 But where are we at? Brothers and sisters, to 00:12:08.179 --> 00:12:11.100 be motivated by this kind of compassion, mercy, 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:14.899 and kindness, we have to remember that our own 00:12:14.899 --> 00:12:19.600 lives are an outworking of God's compassion on 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:23.340 us. St. Peter so often puts it, you are all over 00:12:23.340 --> 00:12:27.059 the place because you have forgotten. you need 00:12:27.059 --> 00:12:32.759 to remember again God becoming human, God emptying 00:12:32.759 --> 00:12:36.259 himself for us, God filling us with his life, 00:12:36.379 --> 00:12:41.480 God drawing near to us in love. Even when we 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:45.039 don't want it, he is still doing it, even if 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:50.460 we can't receive it. God isn't like a begrudging 00:12:50.460 --> 00:12:55.409 parent, father or mother, that guilts us for 00:12:55.409 --> 00:13:01.210 things we do. Or don't do. God isn't stingy. 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:04.970 God isn't withholding grace, waiting for us to 00:13:04.970 --> 00:13:07.909 prove something to him. No, he opens grace even 00:13:07.909 --> 00:13:11.490 to those who don't want to receive it. Maybe 00:13:11.490 --> 00:13:16.820 deep down, we don't like prodigals. We don't 00:13:16.820 --> 00:13:22.080 like those who are reckless. Those who are squanderers 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:25.159 of their lives. Those who are squanderers of 00:13:25.159 --> 00:13:31.080 grace and our compassion. And the idea of loving, 00:13:31.509 --> 00:13:34.570 doing good and lending without reciprocity, it 00:13:34.570 --> 00:13:37.769 sounds more like a sham. It sounds really like 00:13:37.769 --> 00:13:39.830 a waste of time, if we're going to be honest. 00:13:40.230 --> 00:13:46.870 What good is it going to do? Or maybe we flock 00:13:46.870 --> 00:13:49.789 towards the needy, those who seem like they're 00:13:49.789 --> 00:13:52.110 a little bit marginalized, to use the popular 00:13:52.110 --> 00:13:55.129 word today, those who look like they're a little 00:13:55.129 --> 00:13:58.250 on the fringes, so they can be a project for 00:13:58.250 --> 00:14:01.250 us. To make us feel better about ourselves and 00:14:01.250 --> 00:14:04.629 superior as if we were the dispensers of grace 00:14:04.629 --> 00:14:08.929 when we ourselves don't even receive grace. And 00:14:08.929 --> 00:14:12.409 we are hollow and dried up inside like no one 00:14:12.409 --> 00:14:19.720 knows. Guilt, fear, shame, the fear of punishment, 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:23.000 pride. Brothers and sisters, these things are 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:27.929 not from God. And sure, we can live our lives 00:14:27.929 --> 00:14:31.090 that way according to these things and let them 00:14:31.090 --> 00:14:35.370 motivate us. Go for it. But what grace is that 00:14:35.370 --> 00:14:43.200 to us? What grace is it? See, it's not that Christ 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.519 doesn't care about other people. He does. But 00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:50.019 his point to us this morning isn't actually about 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:53.080 them. It's not about doing things for other people. 00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:56.659 It's about whether we will get out of the way 00:14:56.659 --> 00:15:00.860 of ourselves and receive God's grace or not. 00:15:02.580 --> 00:15:05.679 As St. Paul puts it in the letter to the Corinthians, 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:10.000 can we open our hearts? Can we enlarge them? 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:17.100 Can we make space for God? I think most of our 00:15:17.100 --> 00:15:21.659 problems have to do with that. That over time, 00:15:21.779 --> 00:15:24.659 through all the circumstances of our life, our 00:15:24.659 --> 00:15:27.259 life experiences, things we've maybe experienced 00:15:27.259 --> 00:15:31.220 with our parents, with our kids, things we've 00:15:31.220 --> 00:15:36.080 experienced at work, through our lives, disappointments, 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:41.820 failures, dreams that never materialized, the 00:15:41.850 --> 00:15:44.710 difficulty of coming to terms with the reality 00:15:44.710 --> 00:15:48.129 of our lives, what they actually are. Through 00:15:48.129 --> 00:15:50.129 all these things, we have clogged our hearts 00:15:50.129 --> 00:15:55.250 with the world, that we are actually, by doing 00:15:55.250 --> 00:15:59.190 that, we have become, we have put ourselves in 00:15:59.190 --> 00:16:03.970 Christ's way and desperately need to get out 00:16:03.970 --> 00:16:07.649 of the way of ourselves and Christ. so that he 00:16:07.649 --> 00:16:12.149 can do his work in us. Therefore, be merciful, 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:16.840 even as your Father also is merciful. Amen.