THE GOLDEN RULE – 12TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – JUNE 22- Tuesday (MT 7:6, 12-14)

Doggie: My Master is becoming insane you know; instead of pouring milk in my bowl he pours Red-Bull the energy drink and says it is expensive! By the way what makes you sad today dude?

Piggy: That’s better! I think my master is planning to slaughter me; He chained my neck yesterday using a yellow colour chain and tells me that it is a golden-necklace!


1. Under Mosaic Law dogs and swine were unclean animals and here the terms are used to denote wicked people. When we meet vicious people who treat divine truth with utter contempt we are not obligated to do continue to share the gospel with them.

2. The Golden Rule had been expressed in negative terms at least one hundred years by Rabbi Hillel but Jesus goes beyond passive restraint to active benevolence. To be a Christian is not just abstain from sin but to show positive goodness.

3. In practice Golden rule says several things
• We should not treat people the way they treat us; good for good, evil for evil.
• We should not treat people the way they think they should be treated.
• We should not treat people the way we think they should be treated.
• We should people the way we want them to treat us.
4. Jesus is saying that to follow Him would require faith, discipline and endurance. But this difficult life is the only life worth living. If you choose the easy way, your will have plenty of company, but you will miss God’s best for you.
5. The narrow gate is the way of personal faith in Christ. The true servant of the kingdom will always be in the minority. The idea of kingdom is not wholly futuristic, therefore the saying need not be entirely eschatological.
To receive anything worthily one needs to go through a time of preparation or a period of formation. If one does not realize the worth of the gift, the gift loses its significance. For a land to yield one needs to plough and water the land, to hit powerfully one needs to season the bat so also the individual to whom we preach gospel need some sort of preparation to receive the message. We cannot fill the cup which is already full or which is broken. Those who are ready to receive the kingdom values will be perhaps a minority who has knowingly chosen the narrower path that demands them to be compassionate with others.


New Century Bible
Holman New Testament Commentary
Believer’s Bible Commentary
Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible