Three Simple Rules-Do No Harm
The first rule from John Wesley but it's not what you think
Sunday began a new sermon series, Three Simple Rules. This was also the Catholic celebration of Saint Francis and the blessing of the animals. However, Pastor Kristen involved the kids by making it a blessing of the STUFFED animals. If you want to learn more about St. Francis and the Catholic tradition, you can find it HERE.
The scripture for the message comes from Luke 13:10-17.
10And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
11And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all.
12When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”
13And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God.
14But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”
15But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?
16“And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
17As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.
Luke 13:10–17 (NASB95)
Several words stuck out to me, and I decided I needed to look up the Greek words behind them to see if they shed any additional light on the passage. I was not disappointed. First, let’s look at the word behind “sickness” or “infirmity” in the King James. This is from verse eleven and describes the woman approaching Jesus. The passage clearly tells us she has a physical element to this ailment, but the Greek hints that there might be more. Let’s look at that definition now.
Greek Strong’s Number: 769
Greek Word: ἀσθένεια
Transliteration: astheneia
Phonetic Pronunciation: as-then’-i-ah
Root: from <G772>
Cross Reference: TDNT - 1:490,83
Part of Speech: n f
Vine’s Words: Disease, Diseased, Infirmity, Sick, Sickly, Sickness, Weak, Weakened, Weaker, Weakness
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
infirmity 17
weakness 5
disease 1
sickness 1
[Total Count: 24]
from <G772> (asthenes); feebleness (of body or mind); by implication malady; moral frailty:- disease, infirmity, sickness, weakness.
James Strong, “Ἀσθένεια,” Strong’s Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (WORDsearch, 2020).
“Feebleness” of body or mind by implication, a malady, a moral frailty. I absolutely am not saying people with physical problems are that way because of a moral frailty. What I am saying is the Greek word used in the text has a coloration that implies a spiritual component to the physical problem. I am also decidedly not saying that physical problems are caused by or cured by a lack of faith or having a stronger faith. What I am saying is that the use of this particular Greek word suggests a spiritual side of the woman’s problem in some fashion.
The other two words were “ought” in verse 16 and “adversaries” in verse 17, but they were exactly as you would expect. Nothing enlightening struck me about those words. I did find verse 15 intriguing, where Jesus points out that all the “religious leaders” would do some work on the Sabbath, work they didn’t want to do but was necessary. If the ox or the ass weren’t watered, it would grow weak and not be ready to do what was needed the following day. In some cases, the animal might die depending on the heat. Jesus’ point was that people do what is necessary, required, and needed even on the Sabbath. God should not restrict that action, nor should the worldly “religious leaders.”
The three simple rules of John Wesley were listed. They really are very simple. They are as follows:
1 - Do no harm (the title of Sunday’s sermon).
2 - Do good.
3 - Attend upon all the ordinances of God.
I find it very interesting that there was a subtle difference in the service. The graphic put up on the screen rendered the third rule a little differently. It was never mentioned, and Pastor Kristen stated the third rule, as I have. The graphic said, “Stay in love with God.” I wonder why that was changed? If you’d like to read more about John Wesley’s three simple rules, you can find an article on them HERE.
Pastor Kristen related that John Wesley’s concern was that Methodists would “lose their way.” Given the current state of things in the United Methodist Church connection, his worry seems very well founded. However, that was not the focus of the message. The concern was the first rule: Do No Harm.
Pastor Kristen pointed out that the first rule we should do is really something we should not do. In this case, it is a call to show restraint. John Wesley’s way of doing no harm was to avoid evil of every kind. As Pastor Lee talked about this point, she related that this all came from a 2007 book called Do No Harm. I missed the author’s name in the service and can’t find it online. I’ll have to get that and post it later.
Pastor Lee’s point about the book and what it said was that it called us to trust in God and be obedient to His calling on our life over what the World seems to ask of us. She expanded on this idea in that we are called to a spiritual awareness of other people. That awareness allows us to see God in those other people. This awareness isn’t something we have to be lucky to get. It is something we actively do when we look critically at others. We are to impose over our judgment the idea that these people are children of the Most High just as we are. We should grant to them the same mercy we want from God when He looks upon us. It should be how Jesus looked at other people as to how we model our behavior when we try to decide how to treat people we interact with daily.
The sermon began examining the healing of the infirmed woman from today’s passage and how Jesus treated her. The message also suggested we examine all of Jesus’ healing interactions because it shows us unique aspects of who Christ is and who God is. From those examples, we can also learn how Christians should act in our daily lives.
This particular healing story is about the Sabbath Day and serving God.
The connection Pastor Lee made was interesting in that both the “religious leaders” and Jesus were striving to serve God in what they did. The “religious leaders” were trying to keep to the absolute letter of the law by stopping Jesus from doing what they saw as work on God’s holy day. The interesting thing I find here is that Jesus, as God made flesh, knows God’s Word better than anyone, including what God meant when He had whoever wrote a particular passage write it the way it was written. In this case, Jesus makes the example that healing someone in need is more important than adhering to the letter of the law.
The message went into a little bit of an unspoken setting. The passage does not say the woman requested Jesus’ healing. It doesn’t tell us why the woman was there at all. It doesn’t tell us how anyone reacted to or treated her other than Jesus and, by implication, the “religious leaders.” In this case, the implication is that the ‘religious leaders” ignored the woman and Jesus, without being asked, approached her to heal her. If we take that reading at face value it implies the “religious leaders” didn’t think they could do anything about her condition and that they thought it was work to even attempt it. Jesus didn’t see it that way. He saw it as something necessary, easily accomplishable, and more important than the observance of God’s commandment to “keep the Sabbath Day holy."
Let’s look at the commandments for a minute and what they are.
God’s Law, His commandments are God telling His children what are the good things in life and what are the bad things in life. He explains what we should do to have a good life and what we should avoid to avoid having a life viewed as bad. Scripture tells us that teaching people to do other than God's commands does not have a good end.
17“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
18“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
19“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:17–19 (NASB95)
These are Jesus’ words, too. Clearly, we are not to teach people to break God’s Law. That means we are not to teach people just to ignore the Sabbath Day or other aspects of God’s Law, so how do we reconcile Jesus' healing on the Sabbath with Jesus telling us not to teach people to break God’s Laws? Simple. It’s about the heart-position, not the legalism of the strict wording of the Law. Why are you doing what you’re doing?
7“You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:
8‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.
9‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ ”
10After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand.
11“It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
Matthew 15:7–11 (NASB95)
Isaiah 29:17
This gets very problematic for us humans who cannot see into the hearts of our fellow human beings. We have no idea what is truly motivating a person. So, how do we do it if the heart-position is more important? That lesson was covered in our small group lesson on Sunday.
13“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
14“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
15“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
16“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?
17“So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
18“A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20“So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Matthew 7:13–20 (NASB95)
We will know them by their fruit, by their actions, by what they do. People can say anything. Words are just words. Should we believe what people say? Yes, until such time as their actions contradict their words. Then, we must believe what we see as the truth of what they really mean.
Why is it important to understand and admit actions are more important than words? Because the actions are absolutely explanatory of what people find important. We need to support the people who are trying their best to grow closer to God and His Ways. Why? Because all His children are very valuable to Him, and they should be valuable to us, too.
25“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
Matthew 6:25–26 (NASB95)
The Children of God are very valuable to God. They should be valuable to us, too. We should learn to act towards God’s Children as though we recognize that value, even when we can’t see it. How do we do that? By following John Wesley’s advice, do no harm by avoiding evil of every kind.
How does “avoiding evil of every kind” translate to treating God’s children as though they are valuable? Simple. We begin with ourselves. We live a life demonstrating we believe in doing no harm by ourselves, and avoiding evil of every kind. Don’t support people whose fruit doesn’t reflect they are trying to “do no harm by avoiding evil of every kind.” In all cases. Don’t support causes where the fruit demonstrates those causes support people who are the opposite of those who “do no harm by avoiding evil of every kind.” How do we know what “evil of every kind” is? Again, that is simple. Read the Bible. Study God’s Word. Learn about His Ways, and follow Jesus Christ’s lead.
Pastor Kristen closed with a question and a statement in her prayer. The question is this: How can we say we love God and persist in causing harm to God’s people? The statement in her closing prayer was this: we look to repent of our ways we cause harm to God’s people and his creation.
If we can answer that question and then follow her statement in the prayer, we can move closer to doing no harm. God bless and Godspeed.