Luke 6:27-38
The Seventh Sunday After Epiphany
Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday, February 23, 2025
“Jesus’ Golden Rule for Christians”
It’s so simple, and yet so profound. If there can be one rule that would summarize what we need to know about living with others, one rule to explain ethics that can apply to nearly any situation in which we find ourselves, perhaps every situation. It’s not a rule that was invented by philosophers. It’s not something that human reason has determined. It’s the rule Jesus shares in his sermon, a rule that many have heard without even knowing where it came from. It’s the Golden Rule. “Do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12 NIV). Or, as Luke records it in chapter 6, “Treat others just as you would want them to treat you.”
It’s so simple. You can put yourself in someone else’s shoes, consider how you would want to be treated in that situation, and that’s how you treat someone else. It’s so profound because other than the behaviors that are really just between us and God, the Golden Rule deals with any questions we have about what we should do. Simple and profound, but we just don’t follow it.
We don’t follow it at least in part because its not what comes naturally to us. If you were here last week, you heard how Jesus introduced this Sermon on the Plain. He spoke to his disciples about the blessings of following God, even if in the moment things don’t seem so blessed. And he talked about the curse over those who don’t have faith but are enjoying the things of the world right now. And that’s often how Jesus speaks. He takes our expectations and he takes our understanding, and he overturns it completely. So his sermon continues by upending our expectations and telling us to do what does not come naturally. He says, “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.” And naturally, we want to change that. Wouldn’t we want to hate those who hate us, hate our enemies? That seems to make sense. That’s not what Jesus teaches, though.
He goes on. “Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.” Jesus is calling his people to disregard what others deserve. He is asking us to treat them better than they treat us. Take the evil that they do and respond with blessing. Everything gets turned upside-down.
He even tells us to turn the other cheek. That’s another phrase that has made its way into casual conversation. But how many do you suppose know that it comes from Jesus? Turn the other cheek literally means that when someone strikes you in the cheek you should allow them to strike the other side, too, when you would naturally protect yourself. If they take your coat, give them more of your clothing instead of demanding it back. Be ready to give and not to take.
What amazing results would come of it if people treated us this way! We know it. We recognize it, but we fall so far short of living the way Jesus directs. We want to be treated better than what we deserve, but we are so hesitant to treat others how we would want to be treated. The Golden Rule is simple and profound and condemning.
This is a lifelong struggle. Not long ago, I heard someone comment that teenagers are really just big toddlers. I don’t want to pick on toddlers or teenagers, but it seems that even as adults we have some toddler in us. When we are mean to someone, we say, “He started it!” When we pick on someone, we say, “She deserved it!” As a parent, I work hard to teach my kids how to deescalate a situation instead of making it worse. It doesn’t matter what someone has done to you. You still treat that person nicely. We try to train up with the Golden Rule in mind, and then we end up breaking it just like everyone else.
Speaking of everyone else, Jesus tells us it is not enough to do what others do. He talks about how even sinners love people who love them. Even unbelievers do good to those who are good to them. If someone is going to borrow from you and definitely pay you back, you don’t risk anything when you lend to them. Jesus is calling us to something higher and more noble and, yes, riskier when he tells us to treat others not the way they treat us but the way we would want to be treated.
So it doesn’t come naturally to us, it’s not the way people tend to behave, but Jesus still teaches that Christians ought to love their enemies and treat others as they would want to be treated. See, that’s the key. Jesus is talking to believers. He is talking about Christians. Christians know that they have a merciful Father in heaven. Christians know that they have a God—Jesus uses the term the Most High— God who is kind to the unthankful and the evil. He doesn’t withhold his blessing on those who hate him. He sends sun and rain on believers and unbelievers alike. He controls the world according to specific patterns for the sake of all who live in it.
And that’s not all. To a world that had rebelled against him, God promised a Savior. To people who enter that world as his enemies, God sent the Savior. To people who this side of heaven never lose their sinful natures and constantly rebel in some way, God sent forgiveness and love and hope.
Just think about the life of Jesus Christ and how he exemplified the words he preached in Luke 6. Love those who hate you? Right to the moment of being nailed to a cross, a device of torture and death, Jesus was loving the enemies who were doing that to him. Do good to those who hate you? All along Jesus, Jesus pursued salvation not for people who had convinced him of their worth but for people who kept on rejecting and cursing and mistreating and hating. Turn the other cheek? Jesus endured beatings and mockery and kept silent until he was nailed to that cross.
That’s the only way that we can love and forgive: because he did it first. His forgiveness moves us to withhold judgment and condemnation. His generosity that poured out to all of us when he called us to faith leads us to generously serve and love and forgive others, even those who mistreat us. Even those who hate us. Even our enemies.
That’s the spirit in which Joseph forgave his brothers. Can you imagine being sold into slavery and shipped to a foreign nation? Can you imagine being jailed just for doing what is right and being forgotten for years? Can you imagine after God put you into a position of extreme power in a wealthy nation your brothers who had been so scummy toward you came to you begging for food? All you would have to do is say a word, and you could have the most extreme revenge you could imagine. And no one would think twice about it. They deserved it. But Joseph knew God’s promise. He had seen God’s love. He overcame evil with good. He witnessed to his brothers about the grace and mercy of God. He changed the path of their relationships and their lives. And we can say that and at the same time remember that God is behind all of it, working all things out for the eternal spiritual good of his people.
That’s the spirit in which the Apostle Paul echoed the words of Jesus from this sermon in his letter to the Romans. Leave vengeance up to God and instead maintain peace with everyone. Feed the hungry enemy. Give him a drink when he is thirsty. Let him see that even though he deserves your anger you have grace and forgiveness.
Dear friends, the Golden Rule that Jesus gives to Christians is profoundly applicable in so many situations of our lives. And it is so simple. Stop and think when you are about to react in anger. Don’t respond just because someone wronged you. It doesn’t matter if that person spread lies about you. It doesn’t matter if they voted for someone you can’t stand. It doesn’t matter if their hatred feels relentless. Don’t do what comes naturally. Don’t do what everyone else would do. Don’t respond in anger. Remember how Jesus treated you. Treat others as you would want to be treated.
Some would tell us that the Golden Rule is not original to Jesus. They point to some rather ancient writings and find some things that on the surface sound very similar. Interestingly, though, these ideas are always framed in the negative. “Don’t do to others the things that you hate.” “Don’t do the things that you don’t want done to you.” But Jesus says it bigger and bolder. He says, generously give and serve and love your enemies. Do for them what you would want done for you. And he lived it. That’s the real difference between him and anyone who only tries to teach morality. So when he calls us to live it, too, we can trust in his forgiveness and his power and love to help us carry out his Golden Rule.
27“But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. 28Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other too. If someone takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes away your things, do not demand them back.
31“Treat others just as you would want them to treat you. 32If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? To be sure, even the sinners love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners do the same thing. 34If you lend to those from whom you expect to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners lend to sinners in order to be paid back in full. 35Instead, love your enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the unthankful and the evil. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
37“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”