ON LOVE; PART CCCLX
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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The Gospel of Thomas
These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(11) Jesus says: “This heaven will pass away, and the (heaven) above it will pass away. And the dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what was dead, you made it alive. When you are in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?“
(12) The disciples said to Jesus: “We know that you will depart from us. Who (then) will rule [lit., ‘be great’] over us?” Jesus said to them: “No matter where you came from, you should go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being“
(13) Jesus said to his disciples: “Compare me, and tell me whom I am like.” Simon Peter said to him: “You are like a just messenger.” Matthew said to him: “You are like an (especially) wise philosopher.” Thomas said to him: “Teacher, my mouth will not bear at all to say whom you are like.” Jesus said: “I am not your teacher. For you have drunk, you have become intoxicated at the bubbling spring that I have measured out.” And he took him, (and) withdrew, (and) he said three words to him. But when Thomas came back to his companions, they asked him: “What did Jesus say to you?” Thomas said to them: “If I tell you one of the words he said to me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me, and fire will come out of the stones (and) burn you up.”
After summarizing our thoughts on the tenth saying from the Gospel of Thomas, we began our look at this eleventh saying above which is appeared an equally obscure saying for which we are trying to find meaning within our own concept of the teachings of the Master and away from the established doctrines which do not reflect the Truth of the Master’s intent nor His uncompromising concept of Love. We took on the first two sentences from the Patterson and Robinson translation which we have chosen for this project and we should note here that in this saying there are but minor differences in wording among all our available translations except that the interlinear version renders the word heaven as sky and that most other translations leave out the parenthetical second reference to heaven above calling it merely the one above. Now in our view here neither of these differences matter as we see the whole of the idea of the Master’s saying as ALL things will pass away and this it is likely this same intent that should be applied to this saying from the synoptic gospels: “Heaven and earth shall pass away : but my words shall not pass away” (Luke 21:33, Matthew 24:35). This idea is seen only in an eschatologic perspective in many church doctrines and, while this whole section in Matthew’s Gospel is dark and mysterious and speaks of what appears to be the end of the age, there is also reference to the current time frame as the Master says: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass , till * all these things be fulfilled” (Matthew 24:34) in the preceding verse. And, the whole of this is more muted in the similar sayings from Luke’s Gospel where, while still dark and mysterious, there is the certain idea that He is speaking about the sacking of Jerusalem not to many years hence and here the reality of the idea of “this generation” keeps these two presentations together in this sense. Now it is not our intent to get into the realm of eschatology here as the whole of that discussion is rather profitless especially from the perspective of the symbolism presented in the gospels, the epistles and the Book of Revelation; symbolism that is deemed as the reality by many.
In our view the overall message of the Gospels is that we keep His words, follow the Master’s example and Love as He teaches us and in this view it matters not when the end may come and this reality he offers us in parables and in straightforward words like “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is” (Mark 13:33). And this is His point and ours as well, that we be ready and the only readiness IS in doing the Will of the Father; ALL of the time spent discussing the end times in sermons and teaching is but speculation as to the what, the where, the why, the how and especially the when, ALL this is but a diversion that men likely use to alleviate their ‘failure’ to understand the Truths of His word and His reminders by parable and saying that we should: “Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Luke 12:40). And in regard to the speculation we should ever KNOW the impact of this saying: “of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” which tells us clearly that the Christ does not KNOW, that the Christ Within does not KNOW, and this should say to us ALL that these Truths are reserved for those who have not only achieved discipleship and the Kingdom but rather for those who have advanced to a yet purer spiritual state of being of which we CAN NOT speak as we DO NOT KNOW but can say with some confidence that nothing is static in Life and there is always a journey forward into this Cosmic Infinity and Eternity.
All of this from the simple saying that we are looking at and which for us should mean that ALL things as we KNOW them will end, all will pass away both individually and corporately, but the words of the Master WILL NOT pass away as they ARE Truth and Truth can be seen as an integral part, and intimate aspect of the Life of God who tells us through Jehovah that “I AM THAT I AM” in answer to Moses question of who IS our God. Our understanding here is simply that God IS and that He IS ALL things that are of the Good, the Beautiful and the True and the Master tells us this in regard to the Third Aspect of God, the Holy Spirit, that He IS “the Spirit of truth” (John 16:13); the Apostle John tells us also that Truth IS a part of the essence of the Son, of the Christ, and speaking of the Christ, he says: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). And we should not forget that much misrepresented saying from the Master, His picture of the nature of the Christ and the Christ Within, that: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:16).
So then our premise is that ALL things will end; this is the saying of the Master in both the accepted gospels and in that of Thomas and there is no need to regard the meanings of heaven or sky nor whatever else, from the many defining ideas that we see in the last essay, as this does not matter in the simplicity of ‘ALL things’. The next sayings on death are pretty much straightforward from the perspective of the disciple; those dead in sin are not alive in the Spirit, the flow of Love and Power from the Soul does not reach the man who is focused in the world or it does not reach in the needed consistent way; these men ARE dead or partially dead but the greater point is that they ARE NOT alive, they are not awakened nor are they Transformed which would be the state of the disciple. They may be awakening or Transforming as we consider ourselves as aspirants, but they are not completed in this work and they stand among those who ARE NOT alive in this sense. On the other side of this saying we should see the disciple, the one Truly alive, awakened and Transformed, by His expression of the Truth and the Love and the Power of the Soul through Life in the world, we should see him as one who has attained the Kingdom and has realized his True eternal nature….he will not die. Now we understand that this is contrary to most all doctrine but these Truths are much spoken of by the Master and His apostles but no more profoundly as they ARE in this saying that we recently discussed: “they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God” (Luke 20:35-36).
These next parts we will look at as a group that says: “In the days when you consumed what was dead, you made it alive. When you are in the light, what will you do?“. Again, there is no critical stop between these ideas in the interlinear version and they are very much related and a continuation of sorts from the preceding ideas about being dead in sin or alive as the disciple. We should note that the interlinear also renders consumed as eat and some of the other translators do as well but these words are wholly misunderstood; one version (Layton) renders this as “In the days when you (plur.) used to ingest dead (elements), you made them alive.” which rendering removes the reality of the many ways that eating and consuming can be understood. Some examples:
- “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3).
- “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another” (Galations 5:15).
- “For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).
- “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you” (John 6:53).
- “But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker” (2 Timothy 2:16-17).
- “Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days” (James 5:3).
With these ideas on eating and consuming set, let us look at our saying. The first part here, that part on the dead and the alive, was a statement of fact; here now we have the practical import. As speaking to a disciple or an aspirant this message is clearest as there were days when the man consumed the pleasures of the world, upon his lusts as James frames it, and in doing so he made ALL these things of the world as if they were alive. How are they alive? the Master tells us that we serve them as mammon and that they become the treasures of our hearts. Can we see the idea of consuming here in this parabolic saying? can we understand how we can make these things of the world as though they are alive? This is the reality of this saying as it continues from the earlier part in complete synergy in our view. Then the question to the man who is in that day, in that day as he consumes the pleasures of the world thereby giving them Life: “When you are in the light, what will you do?“. The Light is of course the Light of the Soul, it is that Light that the Master refers to as He tells His disciples and any that follow in His words that “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5: 14-16). When this Light flows through the man in the world it makes of him the aspirant and the disciple and here the question, perhaps rhetorical, “what will you do?” And the Master answers this for us in John’s Gospel as He tells us: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12); we are in the Light because we follow Him or strive to do so and in this we stay in the Light so long as we continue in His words.
This seems to be simple and clear then and not confounding as the way it originally appeared to us in our writing. This last part however is yet a bit perplexing as to be changing most all that we said above and in the last essay so that it speaks to the aspirant alone, the one who yet strives. Here the question of “what will you do?” makes yet more sense than if it is offered to the disciple and the aspirant as the disciple is already doing and has already passed through the first part of this saying and, here as Jesus says “On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?” we can better understand this in our context of the aspirant, the one who strives toward the strait gate but who has not yet arrived at the fulfillment of the criteria of discipleship. Here in this view we can see the meaning of the whole saying and see the meaning as well of this ending which reflects that day when we were in the world, consuming the pleasures of it to the satisfaction of the self in the world; here we were one, one with the world. And then comes the Light and in the Light we see the duality of Life as we are in the world yet we see the Truth and strive toward it; so we were one and now we are two and this is the reality of the first question as we are in the Light, will we strive toward it? will we Repent and change our focus away from the self and onto the things of God? And so we choose to strive, to continue on the chosen Path, the Way of the disciple, KNOWING the many trials and tribulations of living in such duality and hence then the second question; when you become two, what will you do?” Again this is likely rhetorical as the answer is in the Light; we do see it and we do KNOW the way that we SHOULD go but the pull of the world, the power of the forces of illusion and glamour, are strong and this weighs heavy upon the man in the world who would at one moment continue in the way and in the next be pulled back into the consumption of the pleasures of Life. Here, KNOWING that we CAN NOT serve two masters we must constantly choose and it is here perhaps that we come full around to the understanding at the beginning; in the one way IS Life and in the other is death and we pray that we are stronger that the illusions that kill.
This is our understanding of these words of the Master from the Gospel of Thomas and we believe that we have done these words well in our interpretation which we could likely shorten to a paragraph or two. Here you should note that this came along as we wrote it and we had never read this before the writing nor did we study it; hence the length and the seemingly changing directions of our comments.
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.
Repeating a Quote of the Day from the past that has some significance in relation to what we are discussing here, that the Kingdom of God and therefore God is within us ALL. Here Lord Tennyson poetically tells us just how close God Truly IS and how it is that we touch Him
Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809–1892)
From the poem The Higher Pantheism which puts forth the authors spiritual belief. Whether we agree with him or not, the quote if spiritually perfect for all of Christianity as well as any other world religion.
For us today this saying shows us the closeness of the spiritual self to the Father and then too the closeness of the spiritual self with the personality of man. We may like to think of God as something outside and above but the reality, as we have seen in so many of the sayings of the Master, is that God is with us and in us and we need only to let ourselves be drawn. And, if we can use these words from the Gospel of Thomas here we can perhaps see much: “When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father.“
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 14 The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
