Shades of Gray: The Ethics of Jesus
Luke 10:25-37
January 19, 2014
Today we continue our series of Shades of Gray. Our world today seems to be about polarities and extremes, and we may
see a little bit of truth on both sides of the issues. But standing in the center is not always the easiest place to be, however
being a thinking people of God we can see partial truth on both sides of issues and bridge the gap through faith. We try to
be a place for exploration and questions of life issues and how to live them out in an often distorted and disjointed world.
As people of faith we believe in morality, in which there are some standards for right and wrong. These decisions which are
based on right and wrong or what is moral or immoral is also called ethics.
How do you determine what is right and wrong? What is the basis of your decision making? How does the life of Jesus and
faith affect the views of our day and the decision which you make daily?
A couple of key ways people do ethics, which could be viewed as the ends of the spectrum. On the one end is the rules, a
rules based ethic. We decided what is right and wrong based on rules an authority figure has given us. As people of faith, the
authority figure we would say is God. We determine what is right and wrong based upon what God has told us. Now there
are a number of commandments given to us by God, and the degree to which we faithfully obey those commandments
determines our morality in a rules based ethics. If we follow them we are moral, and if we move away from them we are
immoral.
However, we know we all fall short of the being who God called us to be and are grateful to call upon God’s grace again and
again. God’s forgiveness and grace continually calls us back into relationship and gives us a love that will not let us go.
Living a rules based faith, tell me the rules and I am going to try and follow them. For many that seems to make sense. We
know the 10 commandments and all the other commandments in the Bible. But this form of ethics by itself doesn’t always
seem to work. Let’s say we follow all 613 commandments in the Old Testament. Well of course if we follow all of those, then
there are the 800 commands in the New Testament, so we are now up to 1413. So just follow all of them and you are a
moral person.
But if you start digging into the rules, you will find challenges. For instance there is a commandment in the Old Testament
that says if children are disobedient, you should stone them to death. As a parent of a teenager I have thought maybe that is
not so bad sometimes. But if we were actually to live that commandment out we would be considered immoral today. We’d
be arrested. We realize the rules need interpreting before acting.
The problem is there are not quite enough rules for every situation in life. So we then create rules to address the situations.
In the Hebrew tradition these were the additional oral laws to be followed called the Talmud.
For example let’s take the fourth commandment, honor the sabbath and keep it holy. “Observe the sabbath day and keep it
holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath
to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work – you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or you ox
or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as
well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a
mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
So don’t work on the sabbath was the rule, neither you, nor your servants, nor your beasts. Keep it holy. That seems pretty
straightforward doesn’t it? What does it mean to honor the sabbath? Specifically what do I do to honor it? What does it
mean to keep it holy? Specifically what do I do to keep it holy? You say I am not to work on the sabbath, but in a day and age
before watches and clocks, when does the sabbath start exactly? What time? And then when can I go back to work?
Then what constitutes work? This led to additional rules and regulations in the Talmud and the oral law and traditions that
guided it. One was not allowed to walk more than so many yards, because if you walked farther than that it is working on the
sabbath. If you are a cook, you cannot cook on the sabbath, if you are a tailor, you cannot even carry your needle on the
sabbath. For to do so, constitutes work. I remember when touring the Holy Land, on the sabbath the elevators were preprogrammed to all the floors for to push a button was considered work.
We can get stuck on the rules. With teens you know or you remember you cannot create enough rules to control every
situation. You think you have done the best you can as a parent, and then they do something you never imagined. And you
have that conversation, about it and inevitably you will hear, well you never told me not to do that. Do I have to tell you
everything? Yes, you do! It is a rule based ethic.
Jesus was almost driven crazy by all the rules. Remember the woman caught in adultery we spoke about last week? Rules
said she should be stoned to death. Jesus said we are not going to do that, we are going to show grace. Jesus was continually
getting into trouble with the Pharisees as breaking the rules. He did not wash ceremonially before meals and that irritated
them. He violated the sabbath rules all the time. He picked and ate grain on the sabbath. He healed on the sabbath. He
basically said, I don’t give a rip, the sabbath was made for people, not people for the sabbath.
So if someone is sick and hurting, I am going to heal or help them. It is not just about following rules, let’s be reasonable
here.
So we then have the opposite view of the ethics spectrum, a consequence based ethics or outcome based ethics. Nothing is
moral or immoral, but its outcome that determines whether it is moral or immoral. So if I do something that hurts someone
else, the outcome was immoral because it hurt someone. But if I do the same thing in another situation, but it helps people
then it is considered moral. There is a lot to be commended in outcome based ethics. Jesus was often looking at outcomes
with the sabbath. It was not the rule. And today this continues to be a popular way of doing ethics.
It does have its problems too, though. In the 1960s this idea taken to extreme was …If it feels good, do it! We know that
should not be the standard as some things feel good or taste good, but are not good for us in large amounts.
Another view on the spectrum was the utilitarian view of ethics. This was one that said the ends justify the means. Yet we
struggle with this as there are some means that are so evil that it is not right to utilize them. If I were to say, hey we could
save 100 people’s lives with one reasonably healthy person. I pick you and say oaky you will now die so we can harvest your
organs and tissue to save all these in need, you would say hold on wait a minute. The end does not justify the means.
Jesus has his own ethics. He did not give up on the rules, but he also looked at outcomes. Somewhere in between is this gray
area. Some have called it a virtues based ethics. Jesus lived out virtues like being compassionate, being a servant, loving,
forgiving, showing mercy, even loving your enemies.
Everything we do or say are a backdrop for ethics. Story of a church that wanted to rent a whole theater out to view a movie
on Martin Luther King Day. One theater manager said no, we have a rule we cannot allow that on a holiday weekend. Even
though theater would not be full on a Monday night, our rule is no. So called another theater, where manager was not rule
based, but outcome based and said heck yeah come on our theater would not be full that night so we will sell you all the
tickets you want, what size theater will you need? Here was an example of the difference between rules and utilitarian
ethics.
Jesus teaching was three simple rules. To be a Christian means to trust in Christ. To know him as your savior, to know that he
forgives you of all your past and to follow him as Lord of one’s life, or in other words to do what Jesus calls you to do and be.
To live by the precepts and examples of Jesus is what being a Christian means.
A central ethical principle to follow Jesus would be to wake every morning in prayer. To ask God to help you live your life, to
make choices today that follow the precepts and examples of Jesus love.
The three simple rules are one to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with
all your strength.” So in all I do, am I honoring God and showing love? Second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Jesus even said to love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. Let the world know who you are by how you live.
Good Samaritan, a despised race in Jesus day was the one showing love and compassion living the ethics of Jesus. Leviticus
19:11 if you touched a dead person unclean for seven days. Priest passed by on other side. What would you risk not being
able to earn your lively hood for seven days?
In every situation, I hope you might think what is the loving thing to do? To think do unto others as you would have them do
unto you. Golden Rule. Walk in another’s shoes, try to understand situations from other perspectives. Then lovingly respond.
AMEN.