Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCXV
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
In our first two Easter Week posts we discussed the Master’s arrival in Jerusalem as it is presented to us in the four gospels; we spent much of this time on the fact that the Master does speak to His disciples about those things that are about to happen and we found that none understood what it was He was saying and this idea is captured for us by both Luke and John who tell us that:
- Luke tells us this after the Master’s words as they were travelling to Jerusalem: “And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken” (Luke 18:34).
- John tells us this regarding the Master’s entrance into Jerusalem: “These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him” (John 12:16).
In both of these sayings by the apostles we should see that reality that they DID NOT Truly understand what was about to happen and we can glean from this that His disciples are still in many ways involved more with their journey with the Lord in the flesh than they are of those heavenly things that the Master is telling them of. However, we should expect that this IS true based upon the nature of the Master’s speaking in parable and proverb as well as the newness of this ALL to the disciples; that although they had witnessed GREAT THINGS from healings, to raising the dead, to the Transfiguration, they were not yet totally under the influence of their own Souls who we can say KNOW the Christ intimately and understand ALL things. This Soul Light can not at this time however penetrate the illusion and the glamour, the vanity, in which we ALL live and which MUST be overcome by ALL in order to see clearly the realities of Life. We should make no mistake, these disciples and apostles are walking in the Light of the Soul, they ARE disciples and thereby accounted worthy of Him and the Kingdom but they have not yet progressed to that point in their carnal Life, or rather that state of being, where they can say with the Master “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
And here perhaps a revision in our thinking is required as it effects our understanding of discipleship and of the Kingdom of God, both of which we generally speak about in concrete and single terms. As we see in our words above, there are stages and degrees of both the Kingdom and of discipleship and we have in the lives of His disciples in His day a look at this from their own perspective. We have often spoken about the growing of the Kingdom within a man but at the same time we have appointed him a position in the Kingdom at that point where he fulfills the criteria as the Master presents it and here we should reconcile these thoughts with the reality that there are stages and degrees contained in ALL of this; there are degrees of righteousness, degrees of perfection, or one’s sense of perfection that depend on one’s perspective and the relative degree of these, as well as the other criteria, depend upon many things including one’s predetermined role as we believe that the apostles have and which may exist in our own lives. How to better explain this is difficult but we will premise here that the basic criteria is that one keep His words; this is our essential starting point and this brings us to the Kingdom and to discipleship and we should here understand that in this are included ALL his words. This idea is clarified for us by the Apostle James who tells us that “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). This is our starting point and within this idea of keeping His words is included ALL of the commandments of God and their enhancement by the Master as well as those things that He tells us are required for the Kingdom and discipleship….these ARE ALL a part of His words. If this IS our starting point we should be able to see that the disciples are somewhere in this range, they have accomplished this and greater, but they still have thoughts and feelings that tend toward the self and the world which is the subject of the chastisement of the Apostle Peter and the scene with the Apostles James and John as they seek greater glory. We should be able to see that these men are representative of ALL disciples and aspirants and that while being in this state, this class of being His disciple, they still have some mental and emotional baggage to deal with. We should note as well that we are in a different position than were these men in that day; for them, while they had their presence with the Master, they had as well all things new and a great unknown. For us, although we do not have the presence of the Master in the flesh, we have the writings of the Apostles who did as our ready aid to understanding and we should be able to do this quicker and easier than they because we have their words.
Can we see here the differences and the effect of the idea of degree? These disciples ARE keeping His words as regards their Life in the world insofar as the sense of the commandments and the edicts of the Master on Love and on forsaking and ALL those other ideals that are peculiar to the teaching of the Master and which were perhaps left a bit less clear in the law. In this state the Light of the Soul is the Light of Life for each of the disciples; it is their guiding Light but they ARE still in the world, they are not totally free from the effects of the illusion and the glamour and although they may not act upon these effects, they are present as we read in the gospels and especially in the story of Peter who we see as our example. They have thoughts and they have feelings that they are yet working to overcome yet they have achieved; they have achieved righteousness by keeping His words, they have achieved perfection insofar as their ability to control the flesh and what the man in form will do, and in this we should see that they have achieved the Kingdom of God by this way of Life, and they ARE born again in the context that we understand these words as they no longer live the carnal Life of the man but rather the divine Life of the Soul. These are disciples and these are Souls living through form which we see as the Presence of the Kingdom in the worldly Life of man and his expression of this. However, at the same time they are not yet capable of moving the mountain as we often discuss. This IS of course that state of being where there IS one’s KNOWING without a doubt who and what one IS and what one can do in the Earth and this IS the state that we see Peter growing to after the Master’s departure, that state where he IS so KNOWING and so without doubt that it is written of him that “…believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women. Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one” (Acts 5:14:16). This IS the Power of KNOWING and, from our perspective as men in the world, the ultimate of discipleship….this IS where one CAN move the mountain.
Moving on in our Easter presentation we come now to the Master’s presence in the Temple at Jerusalem and while it is unclear how often the Master had been there, it is clear that this IS the first place that He goes as this is the center of the Jewish religion which is the very thing that Jesus sought to change from the coldness with which men had come to see the law to the living law within the hearts of men. In the three synoptic gospels we find that this is where the Master takes his first real stand against the ways of men in this day and perhaps in a way more purposeful that we heretofore believed; we read these accounts of His visit:
- “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:12-13).
- “And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written , My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Mark 11:11-17).
- “And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Luke 19:45-46).
- “And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (John 2:13-17).
We should note here again that the version of this that is in John’s Gospel seems to take place early in Jesus ministry but this is not for certain as we have no time reference to the individual things here save that the Master was at Jerusalem at the time of the Passover, yet we do not KNOW what Passover, what year. This is not made clear except that from the view that the Master did such boldly visible things early is not seen in the other gospels where the tone is more that the word of His deeds should not be spread. We read in the synoptic gospels that the Master tells one healed that he should “See thou tell no man; but go thy way , shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them” (Matthew 8:4-5) and this after the Sermon on the Mount. We read as well that “And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak” (Mark 7:36-37); and this is at the healing of a deaf man which is done chronologically after the death of the Baptist. We read also in Luke’s Gospel how the Master, after raising again Jairus’ daughter, “charged them that they should tell no man what was done” (Luke 8:56). Can we see the point here, how uncertain we can be as to the real chronology; but this does not really matter and similarly it does not matter if we believe Jesus was at Jerusalem many times as we might take from John’s Gospel or if we believe that He was there but the one time as an adult. Our reality here today is that He IS at Jerusalem and He IS at the temple.
In the above sayings on the ‘cleansing of the Temple, we find some other variance in the way that this is implemented aside from the presentation that we have from John. In Mark’s Gospel we find that the Master went to the Temple the first time after His arrival in Jerusalem and then leaves and comes back “on the morrow“ and ‘cleanses the Temple’. The fig tree episode in found as the Master’s returns while in Matthew’s Gospel the Master ‘cleanses the Temple’ first and the episode with the fig tree happens a day later. The fig tree part of this story does not appear in Luke’s Gospel and the remainder of the Temple story from three synoptic gospels more or less agree. Of course we cannot tell why there is this difference and viewing this from our perspective we can premise that Matthew’s account is likely the more accurate as he is definitely there and we cannot confidently say the same about Mark. Aside from showing again how the personalities of the apostles and their specific recollections influence the way that these things are told, these differences are rather meaningless. Of importance is the Master’s reaction in the Temple and we should see this from His perspective, the most Spiritual Man on the Earth in whom the fullness of the expression of the Christ was manifest and here we refer to the fullness of the Second Aspect of the Trinity of God. Here the Master sees the pretense of the organized religion of the Jews in full effect and He takes this opportunity to accomplish two things. First to show how hypocritical the whole affair had become and while there is no prohibition of this in the law there was the common reasoning that is lacking in the traditions and the ways of the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders. So much of the Jewish law and the pronouncements of the Lord through Moses were in regard to the original Temple, how it was to be built and who could go to what part and what one could do there. In this time long past when the ritual of sacrifice was done by the Word of God given by Moses, we can see that it is continued to this day when the Master goes to the Temple and while we cannot see when or where the rituals of sacrifice were deemed unnecessary we can see the pronouncements of the prophets regarding them.
We can look to the Prophet Isaiah for some guidance here as he brought to the Jewish people an earlier version of the teachings of the Master and at the same time refutes the need for sacrifice from the perspective of God. Isaiah tells us:
“Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth : they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear : your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together , saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient , ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel , ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 1:10-20).
There is much that we do not understand about the Jewish religion in the days of Isaiah or in the days of the Master, nor do we understand the ways that the traditions of the Jews and the doctrinal pronouncements had changed the way that they approached both their religion and God. The Jewish religion in Christ’s day was vastly different from the Jewish religion as it was before the Babylonian captivity which is likely where the more modern Rabbinical era begins. But this is not our point, we are addressing the Master’s ‘cleansing of the Temple’ upon His arrival in Jerusalem and the lesson that should be found in this for them, and for us yet today. The idea here can be seen in the reality of the the “house of prayer” and its meaning to the Jews which is largely different than it is to us today and this for two reasons. First that in Jewish times the Temple was created for the Presence of the Lord and for the orderly conducting of Temple business according to the words of Moses and we must remember that in these times the Jewish nation was being established from the remnants of an culture that lived in Egypt 400 years and was well indoctrinated in their religious ways and superstitions. In the words of the Books of Moses we find this establishment of religion and the hardness of the ways of Jehovah through Moses and we find the evolution of the culture through the Books of Kings and Chronicles; and there is much here that we do not understand and which is contorted by the Christian doctrines that attempt to understand Life in these ancient days. This evolution is moved forward in the words and the actions of the prophets who not only make predictions but also interpret and reinterpret the words of God from earlier times and one of these reinterpretations is found above in the words of the Prophet Isaiah who also gives us the words that the Master uses as He ‘cleanses the Temple’; the prophet says this as the Lord: “for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people” (Isaiah 56:7). So we can see here that the end result of the Master’s words and actions in the Temple is only referenced as “an house of prayer for all people” and that from the perspective of the people there is in the “house of prayer” the Presence of the Lord. And this is the hypocrisy; that the perception was the Temple was a “house of prayer” and that the Presence of the Lord is there and yet they were conducting business to the profit of both the vendors and the rulers. Our second point here is more to the reality of this in the Christian era which we should see as beginning with the understanding that we get from the Apostle Paul who tells us these things:
- “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things…….Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device” (Acts 17:24-25, 29).
- “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Corinthians 6:16).
Can we see here the more modern way of viewing this idea of temples and churches and elaborate structures filled with religious art and things created in the minds of men for God who neither wants nor needs any of these things? For the Jew in Jesus time and especially for the Pharisee and the other rulers what is happening at the Temple is intended as a lesson for the Jew, it is in the hypocrisy of believing that the Temple IS the House of God and then proceeding to allow the goings on of buying and selling for profit and convenience. While we KNOW from the apostle’s words above that God “dwelleth not in temples made with hands“, we should understand that the general conception of a church is that it is the House of God and with this in mind the same ideas as the Master is railing against should apply; we would guess that this is adhered to in most places. This however is not our point here as there is no enduring lesson in this for us other than that business for profit should not be conducted in those places that one believes is a House of God or that one can believe has the Presence of the Lord. Our lesson is in the further teaching as Paul writes to the Corinthians and that is also in part from the Old Testament; here the apostle tells us that we ARE “the temple of the living God” and in this we should see the reality of the God within from a different perspective than we usually see. It is here that we should try to see the words and the actions of the Master as He ‘cleanses the Temple’, how they can be parabolically applied to our own lives also, how they can create for us that line of demarcation between what profits the man in the world versus the Presence of God in his own temple.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment:
Leaving again the Great Invocation, we encourage ALL to read and reread it and our comments as in these words can be found the keys to our spiritual reality.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132
The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.
Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.
The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should see them as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit albeit on a much smaller, microcosmic, scale.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
