Luke 6:27-36 (CEB)
27 “But I say to you who are willing to hear: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other one as well. If someone takes your coat, don’t withhold your shirt either. 30 Give to everyone who asks and don’t demand your things back from those who take them. 31 Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you.

32 “If you love those who love you, why should you be commended? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, why should you be commended? Even sinners do that. 34 If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, why should you be commended? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be paid back in full. 35 Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return. If you do, you will have a great reward. You will be acting the way children of the Most High act, for he is kind to ungrateful and wicked people. 36 Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.

Reflection:
Many of us have been out of the grade school rhythms of summer ending and going back to school, but we are still impacted by the Back-to-School season. Anyone can benefit from the back to school sales, and traffic certainly picks back up as the buses get back on the road. This year, back to school season is different, like everything else, but we still can sense the end of summer coming. And even though things look very different this year, God is with us.

God is at work in and among us. The creator of the universe could have come to us in many different forms, but God came to be with us in the person of Jesus Christ. Fully God and fully human. And Jesus became a Rabbi, a teacher. And if God is the teacher, then we are the students.

The posture we take as Christians is that of a life-long learner. By taking this posture, we admit that we don’t know it all. We don’t have it all together. God declared us very good, and yet we stand in need of grace. By humbling ourselves in this way, we say with all that we are that there is a God and we am not it. We posture ourselves as learners at the feet of our Rabbi.

And it’s interesting in this passage that Jesus introduces a rule that you might not have known was from the Bible the first time you heard it: The Golden Rule. Oh, that age-old phrase that echoes in your mind with a bit of chagrin as you remember your mother repeating this to you as a child.

I find that the Golden Rule rolls off the tongue so smoothly, and yet it may be the most difficult thing to actually do. We never graduate, do we? You mean I have to give people a second chance? Even if it means they get to be mean and imperfect again? Do you mean I have to love and serve others even when they don’t deserve it? That I have to forgive debts that don’t necessarily need to be forgiven? The temptation in this rule is to get caught up in the details of the “what-ifs.” But still, the Golden Rule stands at the end of this paragraph. This Rule helps us to back up and ask a bigger question: “how would I want to be treated in this situation?”

Friends, I would want the second chance. I’d want the grace. I’d want to be forgiven.

The Golden Rule is one lesson that challenges the natural way we relate to one another. The Rabbi teaches us a new way here. We are learners. Jesus is the teacher. Jesus is clearly showing me that I am still a novice – still a learner. School is always in session for us with the Master Teacher.

Prayer:
Jesus,

Thank you for being such a wonderful teacher- one who is compassionate, wise and loving. In this moment, right now, I intentionally posture myself as your student – knowing there is much for me to learn from you. Guide me. Lead me. Teach me. Amen.