The Tribune. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1951-19??, 1955-11-12
Sunday School
Lesson
Luke 6:27-38

Altr spending q MgnC IN prayer
on the mountaintop. Jesus was
sought out by group of his dis
cip,es. To them, he announced his
choice of disciples and then the
group proceeded down the mount
ainside. Before reaching the valley,
they were met by a multitude of
people and, reaching a level spot
on the side of the mountain, Jesus
sat down to teach these people.
What followed is Luke's account of
what we have come to know as the
Sermon on the Mount The theme of
of the sermon might be the title of
our lesson today, Jesus Teaches
How To Live"
Luke gives us twenty-nine verses
as against one hundred and e,even
by Matthew, but, scattered else
where throughout I.uke's gospel are
thirty-four verses also, which are
very similar to those given by Matt
hew. Luke's account begins with
four beatitudes concerning the poor,
hungry, sad and hated, and follows
with four woes-to the rich, salts
fled, glad and popular.
In his teaching, Jesus always held
up the highest possible ideals for
mankind. No love can be greater
than love for ones enemies. No
deed of kindness can exceed that
done for one whom one hates. To
understand fully the revolutionary
character of this teaching, it must
be remembered that the Old Test
ament emphasized hating ones
enemies, although there are one or
two selections otherwise
In framing his doctrine, Jesus was
stating an ideal, and not promul-
eating regulation to be literally
observed. Loving ones enemies does
not mean tolearting an injustice nor
does the rule of generosity require
the abandonment of all wisdom and
Judgment in giving.
Our golden text is the familiar
Golden Rule" of Christianity. Con-
fucius, the Chinese SPIRITUAL leader,
framed negative doctrine, as fol-
lows: do not to others what you
would not wish done to yourself"
The rule" existent today seems to
be do what you can unto others
before they have a chance to do
what they can to you,' or "Take.
what you can from others before
they take what they want from
you"
There are those who say the
Golden Rule will not work in the
world today. They don't know
whether it will work or not be-
cause they have never tried it. The
Golden Rule requires the putting of
oneself in the others shoes and then
doing for that person what we be-
lieve will be best for him. The higher
the demand that we make for our
own best, trueSt good, the less
danger there will be of our doing a
thoughtless deed to another.
Golden Rule
If the world would carefully con-
slider and act upon the Golden Rule,
much of its problems would dis
appear. Putting ourselves in the
place of the other man would make
us more tolerant and more SYM
pathetic. If one could only realize
the position of other men with
whom he came in contact and then
visualize himself in their place, he
would be certain to be more con-
siderate and generous.
Jesus advised his followers to be
as merciful as the Heavenly Father
is. Passing censurious judgment
upon others ne discouraged, al
though love and reason sometimes
require us to condemn the acts of
others. In all things ne advised ex-
IRENE honesty and straightforward
ness. urging the giving of good
measure, piled up rather than
scraped down flat.
In these days, let us remember
the words of Jesus, Love your
enemies and do good to them that
hate you, bless them that curse you
pray for them that despitefully ust
YOU" Hard words, you say. Yes, the!
are hard, but they are command
ments from Jesus himself. 1t is easy
enough to love those who art
agreeable and kind to us, but to low,
our er1ernfas seems almost i'm
possible, unless we are filled will
the love of God. We can love thei
souls but hate their deeds of wick
edness. We should pray for then
and do whatever we can to hell
them.
The Golden Rule is q rule o
good will and positive action. IT
practice it, we must do more thai
not mistreat others, or take revenge
upon those who have wronged us, O.
whose lives are controlled by sin
We must do something about ii
helping with frienoliness, with JUS
tice, and above all, by sharing will
them the great love of God which
prompts us to practice the Colder
Rule.