Thursday 10 March 2022
Esther 4:17. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me – Psalm 137(138):1-3, 7-8. Matthew 7:7-12.
Recognising the dignity of others
Towards the conclusion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount we encounter the purposeful action verbs: ask, search, knock. Those who ask will not be deceived but receive from God what they seek with honesty and generosity. The passage is rounded off with the well-known golden rule, ‘do to others as you would have them do to you’. Importantly, these are not new ideas, but flow from the law and the prophets. Matthew places Jesus’ teaching and preaching for his largely Jewish audience within the Jewish tradition.
At times, witnessing unkind behaviour, I muse, ‘how would you like it if it happened to you?’ The mantra of ‘do unto others’ asks us to be compassionate. It takes effort and is a more assertive, loving stance than simply ‘do no harm’. It asks me, while believing in my own innate dignity, to see the dignity of others in this same receptive light. To see each person as loved and lovable, made in the image and likeness of God.
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