In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
What, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, would we have had the Apostles do for us? To remain in Jerusalem “working out their own salvation”? What would we have had them do? To go only to their own people, to the children of Judah? To have made a quiet religion, an inward focused philosophical system, a self-help group for those who sought them out? What would we have had them do for us?
“As you wish that men would do to you,” says the Lord, “do so to them.” The Apostles were to be sent out into the world, preaching the death and Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, “Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.” (Luke 10:3) And to protect themselves they may well have made a quiet witness, a humble presence, “people will come,” they could have reasoned to themselves, “if we are here, if we hold services: if we silently pray the Lord will send to us people; He is here with us, ‘For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them,’ (Matthew 18:20) He has promised.”
“As you wish that men would do to you,” says the Lord, “do so to them.” Since if we would have the Apostles deliver to us the Gospel of Christ—teaching others, who taught others, who taught others, who taught us—so must we be. If we believe the Truth of the Resurrection, not that the Resurrection is merely our opinion but that the entirety of our lives is centred on faithfulness and fidelity to Christ and His Resurrection, then how could we be satisfied to be the end of the line, the last in the chain, the completion of the Christian Gospel. Because if any before us dropped the baton or gave up the Message, we would not have received the Gospel: we have a duty, therefore, to carry it on, pass it onwards, that others may receive the joy we have received, that others may have Life.
“As you wish that men would do to you,” says the Lord, “do so to them.” So we pass on the Gospel. We pass it on through living a changed life, a life of repentance, a life of loving others.
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
This is our calling, to go above and beyond what is expected in this age. We are called to love those who hate us—even those who persecute us—because this is the demonstration of the Gospel to the world. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts,” says the Apostle Peter,
and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
First Peter 3:15–17
having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
Let us then, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, be proclaiming the Gospel through our love for our neighbours—especially towards those who, in a worldly sense, do not deserve it—that we may not be the point of breakage in the Chain but a firm link bringing the joy of the Resurrection and eternal Life into the world. Let us be what we claim to be, let us be Christians.
That we may offer true praise, glory and honour to our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, you are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.
— Second Corinthians 6:16–18, 7:1
The Lord said, “As you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
— Luke 6:31–36