And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
"As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them." Most people already agree with this in principle — it just tends to arrive with an asterisk. Do unto others, unless they've wronged you first. Unless they don't deserve it. Unless it costs too much. Jesus doesn't leave room for the asterisk.
What makes this line land differently is what it's not asking. It doesn't ask you to figure out whether someone deserves kindness before extending it. It skips the deserving question entirely and starts somewhere else: what do you actually wish for yourself? Start there, then move outward.
That's a simple sentence with an enormous amount packed into it, because most of us are far more generous in our imagination of what we deserve than in what we're willing to extend. If you've ever wondered whether Jesus's ethics are complicated or abstract, this one is neither — it's just difficult to actually live.
If you've measured your kindness by what people deserve, this verse asks you to try a completely different starting point.
A short video on this is coming soon — for now, read on.