IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 183

YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

We have completed our look at the Birth of Christ as it appears in the gospels of Matthew and of Luke and hopefully we have uncovered some pearls of understanding that are not apparent in the outward reading of the stories. As we discussed there is little agreement and little understanding of the time lines involved but this matters not to us as there is a deeper message encapsulated within the whole of the gospel stories. From the conception and birth of John the Baptist and Jesus through the Life of the Baptist, and his meaning to the whole  of what was happening, to the beginnings of the ministry of the Master, we have found a treasure of enlightenment. In retrospect we should see the working out of the Great Divine Plan in the interactions of the Souls that were called to participate and how they, by their actions, helped to both encourage others and ensure the success of the Plan. We should here appreciate the awesome magnitude of the preparations for the Reappearance of the Christ in this day and age and we should be, as aspiring disciples, playing our part in helping to bring this about. This help starts with our undeterred fixation on the Master, on His Words and on His Work and our utmost striving toward His Kingdom.

We should see, in all that we have discussed in these posts, that this is His admonishment toward those who seek His Kingdom or seek to become His disciple, both of which, we will find in the end, are the same. There is never a ‘half way’ in His terms of engagement toward us though we should not see this as a detriment to any attempt that we may make. In the long journey of the Life of the Soul there is ever the need for some advancement in each Life phase on this Earth and toward this end any movement on our behalf to ‘meet’ Him spiritually benefits all. This being said, let us not forget the staunch lines that the Master draws regarding the Kingdom of God; the requirements for entry and the responsibilities of being there.

When the gospels speak the words of the Master we need to ever realize that every word is intended for us all and that at all levels of consciousness there is a pertinent message; this is true for the strictly carnally conscious man as well as for those that are the fully Soul conscious. This however does not help those of us who, in living our daily lives, deceive ourselves or others by changing the message of the Master from one of spiritual achievement into one of carnal success. For the ordinary citizen we should see the working out of the Plan of God in the hearts of men who, not being ready for the idea of discipleship, still desire some degree of closeness to the Master and to the Father. Attending church, giving and serving as best they know, these persons do move along with the ever-moving flow of Life toward the more spiritual. This of course need not be evident in the church environment which to many appears to be falling away but rather it should be evident in the surge of mutual respect found today between groups that were once at great odds. Racial prejudices are probably the best example of this and, although these prejudices do hold on in the depths of the carnal mind, they are quickly waning. It is interesting to note that some of the most prejudiced people; not necessarily in race alone but in regard to religion and way of life as well, are people who profess to be good Christians; ‘saved’ people and people destined to His Kingdom.

We know however that unless we are in accord with His word we are not accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God; and this is from His words in the gospels that we study daily. It is always interesting that so many different approaches come from the same gospels and epistles; thousands of denominations and sects are sprung up form the differing interpretations of these words. The majority of the reason behind this is that His words are interpreted from the perspective of the carnal man and his carnal life and not in the Light of the True and spiritual message of the Master. To this we must add that there are those among us that are not yet equipped by way of emotion and mind to accept the deeper message and for these the path of devotion is likely better suited; in this Light, we should be better trained to promote Right Human Relations to those who would only accept it as the pronouncement of God. To this we must also note that the ideal of Right Human Relations is necessary as well for those of us who approach the Lord from the perspective of mind for it is we who know His words “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15) most intimately and it is we who know that in the hearing is not only the words on the fabric of our minds but the understanding of His intent as well.

We have not used the words Right Human Relations often in our posts; they appear in the first Welcome edition and just one other time in In the Words of Jesus part 151. We also see it as a part of the fabric of  and the intent of this blog; in our tag line (which appears at the bottom of our pages and internet header)  saying ‘Dedicated to Truth, Goodwill and Right Human Relations. The essence of this saying is the essence of the teachings of the Master and are found at the root of most all of the teachings of the world religions.

GoodWill and Right Human Relations are the effective working out of the Love that the Master teaches; They are the very working out of the Plan of God and they are not only “rooted and grounded in Love” and evidence “that Christ…..dwell in your hearts” (Ephesians 3:17) but are the very nature of the Love of God as we should express it. This of course brings us again to the sayings of the Master regarding His Greatest Commandment and His guide post for right living, the Golden Rule, that, should we follow them, will result in our being accounted worthy; we need no other commandments or rules. The Master tells us this in response to the question of “which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36):

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets“

(Matthew 22:37-40)

Can there be any doubt that this is what He meant; GoodWill and Right Human Relations? In Mark’s Gospel the Master says that “There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31) which further clarifies this for any who cannot understand the idea of “all the law and the prophets” hanging on His saying. To this we always tie another of the sayings of the Master; not for convenience but because it is a natural addition to these ideas. It is also a saying that we have said gives us the practical understanding of the second part of the above and also should be seen as the practical instruction on how this saying can be accomplished. Let us look at this is a bit more detail; first there is this by the Master:

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them“

(Matthew 7:12)

Or the alternate reading in the Gospel of Luke which says: “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31).

While we should have the idea of neighbour already firmly planted in our consciousness, a review of this cannot hurt. To the question asked of Jesus in relation to the His saying of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“, the Master defined neighbour by telling the Parable of the Good Samaritan (In the Words of Jesus parts 84, 89) and in this we see the idea of a stranger helping a stranger and, to make it yet more appealing to the reader, a Samaritan helping a Jew. The text in John’s Gospel tells us that “the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9)  and Vincent tells us, commenting on this same passage about the Samaritan woman, that they are despised by the Jews ⁴. Despite this, this Good Samaritan comes to the aid of the Jew, his neighbour, in a setting where the priest and the Levite, kinsmen if you will, walked on by. The importance here in this parable for us today is the final words of the Master to the questioner who acknowledges properly that the Samaritan is the neighbour to the injured man; the Master says: Go, and do thou likewise. (Luke 10:37). There should be no question in the Master’s explanation of the idea of neighbour but yet there are millions of well meaning Christians who just do not get it and this is much the fault of the church teachings that tend to separate Christians from other denominations, sects and other religions. The Master erected no such boundaries.

Without going as much into it as we have in the past let us look at the appropriate defining terms for the word neighbour. First Webster’s tells us that a neighbour is One entitled to, or exhibiting, neighborly kindness; hence, one of the human race; a fellow being¹. This is from the 1913 edition; it is a bit more watered down in today’s dictionaries but we still do find this idea:  one’s fellow human being⁷. The lexicon tells us, among other things, that a neighbour is according to Christ, any other man irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet²  and in these ideas we should have enough to understand properly the intent of the Master in His sayings.

Back then to what has become our main theme here which is “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“. Can we see here the universal Love that goes across all boundaries? Can we see here also that it matters not who a person is in relationship to ourselves by remembering Jesus other saying that we should “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Can there be any question as to the Master’s intent? We take up now the Golden Rule of which we say that it can give to us the practical understanding of how this “love thy neighbour as thyself“ can work out in our lives and at the same time give to us practical instruction on how this can be accomplished. The answer is found hidden in plain sight in the Master’s saying “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise“.

We all know how it is that we want to be treated by others, the respect we believe we deserve and the fairness what we deem is due to us. This is a reflection of the Love that we have for ourselves. Whatever it is that we want for ourselves can be seen in this same reflection of self Love which we can see working more in the carnal lifestyle than in the spiritual; in this is the harder part to realize. So long as the carnal nature reigns in one’s life, it will be exceedingly difficult to show, or to even understand, the intent of the Master’s saying and this is true concerning both one’s ability to “love thy neighbour as thyself” and the Golden Rule. Can we see in this Golden Rule the practical understanding of the idea of loving one’s self as it is defined by what it is that we want for ourselves on all levels? Here too is the practical instruction on how to “love thy neighbour as thyself“; it is found embedded in this same idea of doing unto others. Giving  to our neighbour the respect we think that we deserve and the fairness that we think is due to us is, as we will find, the fulfillment of His words. As much as these are a reflection of the Love we have for ourselves, they are also the expression of the Love we have for our neighbour. These two sayings are, as we can see from the ideas above, inseparable.

We close here today with a reminder of the definition of Love that we have established in our blog and with a final saying of our own that: Right Human Relations is the outward expression of Love towards ones neighbour; it is reflected in our expression of GoodWill and GoodWill is LOVE IN ACTION.

LOVE:

‘In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men’. To this we add the ever important High Ideal as taught by the Christ: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).

Note on the Quote of the Day