Bishop Rueben P. Job wrote a little book about 15 years ago called “Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living.” It is a sort of more modern version of John Wesley’s guidelines for his organized groups of Methodists in the early 1740s, “The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies in London, Bristol, Kingswood, and Newcastle Upon Tyne.” Wesley used a bunch more words than Bishop Job, obviously, so we’ll use Bishop Job’s version of the Three Simple Rules for the next three weeks of sermons. They are 1. Do No Harm, 2. Do Good, and 3. Stay in Love With God.
“Do no harm” seems like a “no brainer”. When living as someone whose guidelines, given by Jesus, are to love God and love neighbor, obviously you wouldn’t seek to harm anyone. Why inflict harm on someone else if we are meant to live in love, to live in “harm-ony”? Even the last five of the Ten Commandments—as Paul points out to the church in Rome in Romans 13:9-10—are about what not to do in relation to others, and a quick run-though makes it clear that if we do what they say not to do then we’ll inflict harm (murder, adultery, theft, lying about someone else, coveting what someone else has). It seems so clear, and so simple. Maybe this is why Bishop Job “translates” these three as “simple” rules.
But it’s not that simple, is it? Because we are human. Because we do get jealous, and are insecure, and feel left out and ignored and disregarded. Sometimes those feelings are warranted—sometimes we DO get left out and ignored and disregarded. And so we want to retaliate. We want to get revenge—even if the focus of our retaliation and revenge doesn’t realize they are the target, or that it’s retaliation or revenge. And so we do harm because we are “getting back” at someone who doesn’t even realize that they have, in our eyes, caused US harm.
And that’s the other tricky part. Sometimes we can cause harm without even knowing that we’re doing it. Something we say may upset someone and we don’t realize it. Something works out for us and we’re happy about it—but because it worked out for us, it didn’t work out for someone else. You get the job; the other person doesn’t. The other person feels harmed—and you didn’t try for the job so as to deprive the other person of it, but it feels like it feels to them, and you’re complicit in that. (That was one of the arguments used by those who didn’t want Jackie Robinson to play in Major League Baseball—this black guy is taking a job from a white guy—and versions of that have been used in any number of other situations to reinforce systemic racism.) It’s not always simple, this rule—it can be complicated, this doing no harm, when we find harm has been done unwittingly.
Clearly we can’t completely avoid doing harm. But we can be intentional about TRYING to avoid doing harm. Considering others when we choose to do something. Recognizing that we don’t live in a vacuum and our decisions are not only personal. As Galatians 5:13 points out in, even our individual freedom in Christ has a social and corporate component: “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.” Seek intentionally to do no harm by being concerned for others.
NEW TESTAMENT Romans 13:8-10
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
NEW TESTAMENT Galatians 5:13-15
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
GOSPEL Matthew 25:31-40
31 ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 37 Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 40 And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”