Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCCXIV
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•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•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
“A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said , How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found . And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:11-32).
We noted that today is the third time we have written a essay on the Fourth of July which means that we have been writing this blog for more than two years now; the first installment of In the Words of Jesus was on June 29, 2011 and this being Part 725 shows that we have missed writing about ten days over two years in what we had intended as a daily blog. Of note here in saying this is that our message has not changed; while our writing style may have improved and the level of revelation may have increased, the importance of the Truth of the Master’s words and those of His apostles remain the primary impetus to our writing on His message of Love. Of greater importance is that some do read this blog though we do not KNOW how many, and that we are putting out into ‘world thought’ these words that we see as the Truth for living the Life of the disciple from the perspective of an aspirant and the reality that the entirety of the Master’s message IS that we ALL become disciples as He Himself defines that High Calling. In our own phrasing of the command He gives His apostles at the end and which is called the Great Commission by many in the churches, we see a different dynamic than does much of the church which see this as doctrinal evangelizing around the world in order to convert others to the doctrine that each evangelizing group may espouse. We see this, based in our King James Version’s rendition, as “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of (not teach according to Vincent and an accepted rendering by many bible translations) ALL men, (the whole human race according to Vincent), immersing them, (an accepted understanding of the doctrinal term baptize), into the Truth of, (as name implies the expression of the sum total of the divine Being), the Trinity of God: Teaching them, (a different Greek word than teach in the previous verse), to keep, (as in to keep His words), ALL things that I have commanded you: (we add here as disciples), and behold, I am with you ALL the days, (the literal translation of alway according to Vincent), even unto the consummation of the age (again the literal translation according to Vincent)”.4
- Without the parenthetical interruptions the Master says to us: “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of ALL men, immersing them into the Truth of the Trinity of God: Teaching them to keep ALL things that I have commanded you as disciples: and, behold, I am with you ALL the days, even unto the consummation of the age“
- Our original King James Version renders this as: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:19-20).
- Young’s Literal Translation renders this way: “having gone, then, disciple all the nations, (baptizing them — to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all, whatever I did command you,) and lo, I am with you all the days — till the full end of the age“
Seeing clearly as we believe that we do, we should see here that the Great Commission IS NOT to evangelize in the doctrinal way but to TEACH what these apostles had learned from the Master which IS the Truth of His message…..Love and the way of the disciple. And, this has become our message as well.
In the last essay we continued with our look at the Parable of the Prodigal Son and noted how that the elder brother is also found focused in himself and his self in the world and that the Master DOES NOT give us an apparent moral for this part of the story as He does for the way of the Prodigal. This IS NOT an oversight of course but it more likely that the Master leaves this to the reader and the hearer to discover and while there are many views on the elder brother as well as the True meaning of this parable overall, much is missed by many, including those who see that the ways of the Prodigal who “wasted his substance with riotous living“and of whom his brother says to his father that he “hath devoured thy living with harlots” (Luke 15:13, 30) are the extent of the Prodigal’s sin. This part IS the story that covers the Truth that this son had chosen the ways of the world over the ways of God and we should see that in most ALL of the Master’s parables this IS True, that there is a hidden reality behind the apparent one and that it IS the hidden part that IS of moment to us yet today. As we noted in the last essay, this IS also the sin of the elder brother who, although he stays at home, at what he sees as the Father’s house so to speak, he is yet a man in the world who exhibits worldliness, not only in the pride and jealousy that he exhibits upon the return of his brother but in the sense that he had, that because he stayed at home he was entitled to more. We should remember that the Master gives us this parable immediately after those two that show the JOY in heaven at the Repentance of one man and here we should see the elder brother as the antithesis of the Master’s words and that these come immediately after those other two short parables on this same idea of finding what was lost or, rather, who was lost. The Master teaches in terms that are appropriate to the day but which with a little pondering we can bring forward to our times; He says:
- “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth , more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance” (Luke 15:4-6).
- “Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:8-10).
It is the last verse of each of these that we have used to exemplify the importance of Repentance from the Master’s perspective in the last posts and we should note here that the Master IS addressing the Pharisees and the scribes in His answer to their murmurings regarding who it was that He speaking with. In these ideas we should also see the reality of the elder brother who, like a Pharisee or a scribe in those days could not understand the reality that the Father would take this care for a son who “hath devoured thy living with harlots“. Here we should understand as well the Master’s saying to the “chief priests and the elders” that “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him” (Matthew 21:23, 32) which, in the context of the above, should be seen in the reality that these men, these that represent the religious rulers as do the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the scribes, who believe that they ARE righteous are called out by the Master as NOT. We should see in ALL of this that reality that ALL these men who see others as being in need of Repentance, need that same Repentance for themselves and this dynamic has continued for over 2000 years and yet to today.
However, just as it was an unrealized Truth for the Pharisee and the scribe, for the chief priests and the elders, for the Sadducees and for whosoever else believed in their own righteousness in that day, who believed that they were right in their sometimes conflicting beliefs, we should see this same dynamic at work yet today as many of the world’s religious leaders believe these same things and teach them to their flocks. For us then who see the Truer Light, we must forebear and work towards that time when we can count our selves among the disciples of the Lord which we will accomplish by our continued and growing focus upon the things of the Lord and not on the things of the Earth. We who better understand the reality that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) understand as well that Truth that the Master tells us; that we should “take no thought” (Luke 12:22) for the things of the world, that we should not hold to the things and the ways of the world but rather we should realize the Truth in His words saying “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath , he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). And we should not fall into the ways of the Pharisees and the other religious rulers in Jesus day but we should understand the depth of the Apostle Paul’s words “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours” (1 Corinthians 3:18-21). We read in may places of this self-deception and most always it IS in this context of a man’s believing that what he IS or what he thinks to be so IS of some importance even when these things that he believes ARE of the world and are of the conventions of men. And this moves forward to us as well if we should think ourselves Wise, we are nothing either. It is only in the Light of day and in the Light of the Soul and that Wisdom from above that we can be Wise and, in Truth, we fool no one because the Soul, the Christ Within, as the Lord, Knows ALL things and catches us in our error; but only if we can stand and admit to the Truth and, to stand and admit, one’s focus CAN NOT be on the self or the self in the world.
We should try to see that this IS ALL a part of that Repentance and that it IS NOT only those murderers and adulterers and thieves that need to Repent. And we must understand that there IS a fullness to this Repentance as it IS noted in the words of the Master in the gospels and in the words of His apostles as we read in this saying from Paul as he tells King Agrippa of his mission from Christ: “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:19-20). In these words we should be able to see our own reality of Repentance, that it IS that decision to change one’s focus from the things of the self in the world to the things of God; here Paul says the same as he tells of his own preaching that men “should repent and turn to God“. Here in Paul’s usage the Repentance is separate from the turning which we see as deciding and then beginning that process of Transformation as the steady change of one’s focus onto the things of God and in this focus is the reality of “works meet for repentance” which we can understand simply as keeping His words. Paul tells us also “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and here we should understand here again that he does not mean only those specific things which are commanded as wrong; rather we should try to see this in the reality of his words that tell us that ALL have “come short of the glory of God“. It IS in the ‘falling short’ of His glory that we should see our sense of focus and to say this in our language we would state that “ALL have focused their lives, at least in part, upon the self and the things of the world and ALL have NOT DONE their necessary part to achieve this righteousness of God”. And this thought should bring to mind that saying of the Master regarding the Kingdom of God as He tells us “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33) which He tells us as He instructs us to “take no thought“.
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.
O Thou Who givest sustenance to the universe,
From Whom all things proceed,
To Whom all things return,
Unveil to us the face of the true Spiritual Sun
Hidden by a disc of golden Light
That we may know the Truth And do our whole duty
As we journey to Thy sacred feet.
As with any ancient manuscript from a foreign land, there are many interpretations and translations of The Gayatri available. The version that appears here comes to us in every day English and without the need to have a Sanskrit reference as a key; it is constructed so that all can understand it and use it.
The Gayatri is really quite simple and straightforward in the form that we have here. It begins, as does the Lord’s Prayer, with an acknowledgement of the Majesty of God as the Giver of all Life and as our Source of all things. We ask only one thing in this prayer; that the true spiritual light of God be unveiled to us so that we may see it clearly. The Sun is the giver of light and life to our planet and all that is on it and, just as each of our forms veils the Spirit within, we ask to see and to know the Light that is behind the Sun that which we see.
In saying this we believe that by seeing the true Spiritual Light that we will be able to see and to know the Truth that is in that light. This is the Light that the Buddha and then the Christ brought to us through their lives on Earth. This is the Light that shines in our hearts from our own spiritual selves, the Christ Within.
We close by acknowledging that we have a duty to God, to our brothers and to His Plan and it is this duty that we will perform when we realize the truth as we journey back to God.
Others have said about this prayer that “The Gayatri is one of the oldest invocations, or mantrams, know to man. It carries the power of purpose, the plan of love and the light of truth. It reveals human relationships as vertical alignment with the source of all Energy and horizontal service in the right use of energy. It is a potent tool for use with the inflow of new age energies” (from The Gayatri prayer card of World Goodwill; NY, NY).
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888