Back in the 1970s I was in seminary at Yale Divinity School, hoping to get ordained a priest in the Episcopal church. The very first required course was Old Testament. I took copious notes. I only wondered why the “Golden Rule” was standard for all good Christian people to obey when it came from the Old Testament. I thought Jesus invented it. And yet here it was in the Old Testament.
Of course I learned all the linguistics, the differing versions, who wrote what and why. All this and my four children at home riding bikes to school while their parents worked, dad to make money and mom to study God and get ordained priest. I was young, well, midlife. I aspired to just about everything and anything that caught my zealous eye.
One question lingered and nagged. I knew the academic answer, the scholarly one, and yet………..I was embarrassed to ask, let’s say, to admit I didn’t know: how come Jesus’ own rule, the one we called “golden” was in the Old Testament first? We weren’t told exactly, or I hadn’t listened well enough, or I just needed an expert.
One day I spotted the campus rabbi and impulsively ran after him. He moved very fast, like a rabbit on the run, and I pursued and cornered him as he went into his office where he sat down. He did not invite me in but I went in, myself quite breathless by now. I stood facing the rabbi, and of course had no idea what exactly I wanted, so I stammered: What is the Golden Rule and why is it golden?
I waited, imagining that I would miss or be late for my next class, because he of course would have a longer speech than all of Job.
“I can tell you the whole thing while I stand on one foot,” the rabbi grinned. I laughed and relaxed. Then he stood on one foot and clearly recited, yes, The Golden Rule.
WHAT YOU HATE DO NOT DO TO ANYONE ELSE.
IT’S GOLD BECAUSE IT HAS THE HIGHEST VALUE IN ALL EARTH OR HEAVEN, NEVER TARNISHES, AND LASTS FOREVER FOR EVERYONE.
I thanked him. As he stood, he reached for my hand with both of his, he winked and said: "All that includes animals and plants, by the way."
