We have in the past heard this old saying when someone has gotten themselves in a bad situation by their own efforts; “Let him stew in his own juice”.
It makes us feel that justice has been done and we feel “he had it coming”. If indeed the person was getting an unfair advantage by their efforts and gets in trouble we tend to feel satisfied that he got “what was coming to him or her.” This certainly indicates that there is an idea of conduct that we think is right or wrong. If we are treated what we think is unfair, we want the person responsible to be punished or neutralized in some way, and we are happy when the person runs into trouble after taking what we think is that unfair advantage. After all, we did not personally retaliate against the offender, so we really feel pretty good about ourselves.
Based on this way of thinking, we surely wouldn’t want to help the offender to get out of the trouble they had gotten themselves into. However, we need to remember that we are all fellow travelers in this world and we all make mistakes that cause us problems that we can sure use some help solving. So this brings us to the Golden Rule as Jesus stated in Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
And to the people of former times, God said in Leviticus 19:18. “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.”
Maybe we should not be so happy when we see our fellow man in trouble or “stewing in his own juice”, and think about how we would like to be rescued from the trouble if it were us in the same situation.
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