MacGyver and the Golden Rule

To begin with, I'll say that one of the things that first attracted me to MacGyver was the action and adventure. I'll admit it, I love the death-defying, last-second escapes. I love the MacGyverisms. But I also love the fact that MacGyver is such a great hero who sets a great role model for people. One quality I think that has always been a trademark value of his is keeping the Golden Rule. He's always been quick to help others and be nice to them because it's what he'd want to be done for him.
For those who may not know, the Golden Rule goes like this: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Sounds pretty simple, huh? :-) If everyone could do that, the world would be a much better place! Now this is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot, and I know people will tell you that many different religions say the same thing and they pretty much all agree on this one. However, I would like to point out that that is not necessarily the case. For example, look at what Confuscious says, "Don't do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you." So, you basically have the "Live and Let Die" principle there. Jesus Christ took it a step further. In Luke 6:31, Jesus tells us to "Do to others as you would have them do to you." (That's the New International Version, if you're wondering.) Anyway, the point is that Confuscious presents the general feeling of a lot of people, put quite well by Rex in 1995's "Toy Story", "I don't like confrontations!" Jesus Christ commands us to get involved. It's not just a matter of not stealing someone's cookies from their lunch at school because you wouldn't want them to do it to you. Jesus says we should give our cookies to someone else at lunch because we would want someone to share with us. I know this one can be a toughie, but hey, if Cookie Monster can do it, that should give us hope!
I think this is a core principle that MacGyver always followed. That's why he could never refuse a case that either the government or DXS (in the first season) or Pete at the Phoenix Foundation (for the rest of the show) gave him. Granted, he'd berate the fact that he had had no vacation time and needed rest, just as anyone would get tired after a while. But ultimately, he gives in because he knows it's the right thing to do. That's the same reason why he can never refuse Jack Dalton or Penny Parker or really, whoever, any time they ask him to do something, much as he might want to. Deep down, he knows they really need his help and he feels a responsibility to help them. And to be fair, MacGyver has also gotten returns on his investments. In "On a Wing and a Prayer", MacGyver came to Jack Dalton for help! (Now there's a switch!) And Jack was elated to help MacGyver out after all the many times Mac had helped him.
I could keep naming examples, like MacGyver helping Zoey Ryan in "Legend of the Holy Rose" (Parts 1 and 2), MacGyver helping Jack Dalton numerous times, ("The Odd Triple" and "The Mountain of Youth" spring to mind- even though Mac was dead tired and pretty tired of Jack as well! :-), and MacGyver helping any stray that came along. "Never could say no to a stray, could you?" Cynthia Wilson said to MacGyver in "Runners" and how true it is. Mac helped reform Jenny Reiner. MacGyver helped reunite Lisa Woodman with her parents. In both cases, they are two complete strangers that MacGyver felt compelled to help. This is not only just an admirable Boy Scout quality, but also definitely a very Christian quality. It's most certainly a Christ-like attitude. Jesus always came to the aid (and still does!) of whoever called on Him. A Roman centurion who got his servant healed, Jairus who got his daughter raised from the dead, Mary and Martha who got their brother Lazarus raised from the dead, and many deaf, mute, blind and demon-possessed people who got healed are some of the many examples. Just read the four Gospels- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. (If you don't have a Bible, well first of all, I highly recommend you get one and read it. Hey, according to Mark Daniel's "MacGyver on Ice" novel, MacGyver has a Bible! :-) But it's also cool that you can read the Bible online at http://www.Biblegateway.com in like, a few dozen or so languages and translations! It's an awesome Web site.)
Well, I think to sum up, I'll say that MacGyver definitely espouses the very Christ-like attribute of thinking of others before himself (also part of the Cub Scout law, by the way. Wonder where they got that from? :-) and doing for others what he'd want done for himself. I think this is why Jesus tells us that the 2nd. greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves. (And to clarify, your neighbor is anyone in need.) And of course, when asked about the greatest commandment, in Matthew 22:37-40, "Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Really, if we can love God with all we've got and love everyone else just as much as we love ourselves, Jesus says that these are the two main things. If we're really keeping those two, then keeping The Ten Commandments and all the other laws will fall into place. Here's one last perfect example. Check out Matthew 20:29-34. Jesus has just healed two blind beggars and restored their sight. They persistently kept crying out for Jesus to have mercy on them. The crowd following Jesus told them to shut up, but they kept yelling even louder. Jesus stopped what He was doing and asked them what they wanted Him to do for them. They said they wanted to see. Now especially check verse 34 here, "Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed Him." I love that verse. The phrase is used many times throughout the Gospels. Jesus had compassion on the beggars and healed them. He's a great God whose mercies are new every morning, as Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us. I think MacGyver has modeled that same picture many times. In fact, "Jack in the Box" comes to mind as a good example. Pete specifically told MacGyver not to get caught up with helping Jack because of all the times that he'd got Mac mixed up in trouble before. However, MacGyver had to help him out and did because as he told Pete in "Partners", "He's a good friend." But it wouldn't have made much difference who it was once MacGyver knew they really were in trouble and needed help. MacGyver had compassion on Jack and his situation and helped him out. This is definitely an enduring quality that MacGyver continually carries about him. It's also a very much Christ-like quality. And as Jesus tells us in the Beattitudes, during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:7, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

Okay, that's all for this time. If you want to send me any comments about it, use the Feedback page.