Don't Do or Do? Confucius and Christ

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"Do unto others what you would have them to unto you." Jesus. Matthew 7:12

"Do not do to others what you would not have them to to you." Confucius

Some people claim Confucius originated the Golden Rule before Christ, but he was merely echoing the entire message of the Old Testament, which largely warned people against doing evil. For example, nine of the Ten Commandments were "Don't do's" (the one exception was "Keep the Sabbath", but it to was a "Don't": don't work).

A few centuries after Moses Confucius admirably summarized this ethic with "Do not do to others...." This had a powerful positive influence on China, but it also helped build walls around people, and stymied the impulse for benevolence and charity beyond one's own circle of family and friends (which the New China government has tried to overcome by promoting such programs as "Hope Project," "Helping Hands," etc.).

Jesus transcended the "it is wrong to do wrong" mentality by teaching that it is also wrong not to do right. Meyer, in his "Our Daily Homily," gives examples:

"The priest and Levite that did not go to the help of the wounded traveller; the servant who simply did not use the Lord's money; the nations that did not feed, clothe, or visit Him in the persons of the distressed; the virgins who had not oil in their vessels; the trees that did not bear--these Christ held up to shame and everlasting contempt. We cannot ignore the evil around us, and say we are not responsible for it. We cannot shut our eyes and avert our faces from wrongdoing, and tyranny, and oppression. We cannot profess that it is not our business, whosever else's it may be, without it becoming known to the Searcher of all hearts, who will certainly reckon it against us on the day of account. Not to do is to incur Christ'a displeasure.

Meyer sums it up by quoting Mordecai's response to Esther when she hesitate to save the Jews:

'Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all Jews will escape. For it you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?'" Exther 4: 12-14 (NIV)

We too are here, now, for a reason Who knows why you and I are here now at such a time as this? Our Father knows. There is a reason you and I were not born 100 years ago or 1000 years ago, in another country. We are here and now for a purpose--and that purpose is not simply to avoid evil but to also do good. Look around today and see what good begs to be done in your life.