After Pentecost Devotional - Day 64

“Listen carefully to what you hear! The way you treat others will be the way you will be treated—and even worse.” Mark 4:24

This is Mark's version of Jesus' “Golden Rule.” Mark does not set up Jesus giving the more famous “Sermon on the Mount.” Instead, he takes an assortment of Jesus' sayings and places them in a unit as a summary of the things that Jesus taught over the course of his ministry. The initial setting for the passage is Jesus teaching on the shore of Lake Galilee, but we are not being led to believe that Mark is transcribing specific words spoken at a specific time. We would understand from Mark that Jesus repeated himself on many occasions. Mark is just giving us a smattering of those teachings.

While Jesus is talking about generosity, the CEV's translation provides a sense in which Jesus' words have a broader meaning. The specific context of the giving or treating others here is tied to a reciprocal action, ostensibly from God. The surface point here is that one cannot out give God's generosity of grace. On the other hand, Jesus is talking about how we treat one another beyond issues of generosity and hospitality. He casts a reminder that we sow in our actions the reactions we will reap from others.

How we treat others lays a framework for the treatment we can expect from others. As we meet the needs of people around us, we prepare a framework for assistance when the time comes that we face needs. As we speak to others in love, peace, graciousness, friendship, and acceptance, we lay a framework for being treated in like manner. The caveat Jesus tacks on at the end is that we cannot expect to be treated better than we treat others.

This is not a guarantee that we will be treated as well or better than we treat others. It is more basic than that. We cannot expect to be treated better than the way we treat those around us. Human nature is not sufficiently generous, loving, and kind that we can simply expect others to treat us better than we are willing to treat those around us. There will always be those who take advantage of love, friendship, and generosity. The best option for us, however, is to the be one who treats others with respect, dignity, generosity, compassion, and love. It builds the best structure for being treated the way we would like to be treated.

Many would like to portray Jesus as meaning that God will treat us worse than we treat others, but his words are much more directed at human relationships in the here and now. Sure, Jesus spoke about eternity, but the majority of his words were directed at living on the earth on this side of eternity. It is in this life that we prepare for the rest of eternity. He did not want us waiting to get to heaven to live heavenly lives. That kind of thinking misses the point of salvation. It is about becoming the people God created us to be. It is about living the life of the ages in the here and now in preparation for eternity.

Pie in the sky by and by fails to address the ways Jesus called us to live in the present. It fails to address our relationship, the love by which we are to be known, and the difficult process of forgiving one another our debts, failures, and lack of treating one another as we should. The best we can expect is that others follow our own examples.

Take note of the quality of your actions and reactions toward others.


"Lord, help me understand the implications of my actions on the lives of others."

—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin

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