ON LOVE; PART CCCLXVI

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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.

(14) Jesus said to them: “‘If you fast, you will bring forth sin for yourselves. And if you pray, you will be condemned. And if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. And if you go into any land and wander from place to place, (and) if they take you in, (then) eat what they will set before you. Heal the sick among them! For what goes into your mouth will not defile you. Rather, what comes out of your mouth will defile you.“

(15) Jesus says: “When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your face (and) worship him. That one is your Father.”

(16) Jesus says: “Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the earth. But they do not know that I have come to cast dissension upon the earth: fire, sword, war. For there will be five in one house: there will be three against two and two against three, father against son and son against father. And they will stand as solitary ones.“

(17) Jesus says: “I will give you what no eye has seen, and what no ear has heard, and what no hand has touched, and what has not occurred to the human mind.” ¹⁴

In the last essay we began our look at the fourteenth saying above and we tried to establish a parallel with the ideas of the Master from the Sermon of the Mount. This is of course an easy task if one can envision He is referring to these sayings of what NOT to do in prayer, in fasting and in giving and we explored this instruction regarding the part of this saying on alms giving. Here, we tried to tie the whole of this saying together using the instructions given above regarding the actions of the disciple who is out among the people and we tied this part of this saying to the Master’s instructions to the Twelve and to the Seventy as He sent them forth to teach on the Kingdom of God. From this view we can see a reality in this saying; using the assumption that these disciples KNOW the Sermon on the Mount and that they ARE the ones who are sent as the Twelve or the Seventy, this can be seen then as a reminder which we can assemble together from two of the three perspectives, fasting and giving, as related to this particular saying.

As we closed in the last post we reminded ourselves that the Master’s teaching is in parable and proverb regarding many of the hidden meanings that can unlock the mysteries of Life and of discipleship and we should understand that this method of teaching IS to be considered in Thomas’ Gospel as well as these are purported to be the words of the Master. We should note as well our own ideas regarding our own facts; that much of the Master’s words are related to us in clear and straightforward language which generally ARE NOT seen in the way that they are presented, and that many of the parables themselves are misunderstood and taken as literal stories rather than the deeper meaning that is hidden beneath. To this we must add the numerous sayings that are not called parables but which at the same time contain parabolic sayings that hide deeper meanings and in this regard the apostle tells us “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them” (Matthew 13:34). This is of course in regard to the multitudes and the intent here should be understood to include most ALL that He said to them and we should remember as well the Master’s own words regarding His teaching to His own disciples as He tells us; “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh , when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” (John 16:25). These ideas are clear to any who read the Gospels with an open understanding and we should note that the apostles take on the Master’s style as well; many sayings in the epistles are in similar confounding language. Finally, there are several parables and sayings in the accepted gospels that we do not yet Truly understand and we are continually finding greater Truths even in the ones that we think we KNOW.

All of this is to say that there are likely hidden meanings in this fourteenth saying which may or may not be found in tying these ideas to like ideas from the accepted gospels and keeping all of these words and verses together as a single thought. With this in mind we look again at our thought from the last essay; in the instruction on alms giving, that while they should not offer any under for the reasons cited in the Sermon, to be seen of men and acknowledged, they should not accept any either to not expose to the public view their acceptance of the offers of those who may take them in. In this regard the general instructions to the disciples on going and teaching can apply to this dilemma where they have naught with them as we read that: “they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats” (Mark 6:8) and, if we are reading this right, that they should not accept alms. The key is likely in the idea that we left yesterday saying: “the workman is worthy of his meat” (Matthew 10:10) or, as it is alternately phrased “the labourer is worthy of his hire” (Luke 10:7). In this, whatever is accepted is no longer alms but pay for the services rendered…..the teaching, the peace and the healing. And we should note here that the Master goes further saying to them that they should “Go not from house to house” and this idea He offers to dissuade from seeking the better accommodations or food. And we read this in the three synoptics worded a bit differently but to the same end:

• “Go not from house to house” (Luke 10:7).
• “And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence” (Matthew 10:11).
• “In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place” (Mark 6:10).
• “And whatsoever  house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart” (Luke 9:4).

Can we understand here the Master’s intent and can we see how this idea of alms can be seen in the light that it is presented, that “you will do harm to your spirits” and not yours only but to others in the acceptance of such? And, can we see how in the previous instruction to the disciples, to stay in the house to which they first come, that the tendency to strive among the people for the company of the disciples is eliminated and the glamour of alms giving in this instance is diffused.

To the idea of fasting we can have here a similar drama unfolding; in the original instructions there are no words on eating as there are in this instruction from Thomas’ Gospel were the disciples are specifically instructed to “eat what they will set before you“. In the original instruction they are simply told that “the workman is worthy of his meat” and that “the labourer is worthy of his hire” and in these perhaps the Master assumes that they will understand this as the room and board. In this from Thomas however it is explicit and since we do not KNOW when this occurs in relation to the other sayings, we could premise that  perhaps there were some who fasted and did not accept the offer of food from those who took them in during a previous such outing. Here we should be able to see the reality of the Master’s words then on fasting as they apply to this particular topic, that in fasting the disciple will “give rise to sin for yourselves” as Layton renders this or “you will put a sin to your charge” as Blatz does. Each of these is a better rendering in our understanding of sin than that above where we read “you will bring forth sin for yourselves“. Remembering our understanding of sin as focus in the world which in this case we can likely see as carnal thoughts, the rendering of Blatz is likely the closer to the interlinear versions words which says that the Coptic translates into “beget to yourselves a sin”. We should understand here that the Master never tells us that we should fast and that He never answers the question posed on fasting in the sixth saying; the closest Jesus comes to telling any thing on fasting is in this exchange:

“And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles” (Mark 2:18-22).

While many may see this a the Master’s instruction on fasting, it seems more a prediction or a statement of fact regarding His own disciples and, when this idea on fasting is carried through to the two parabolic ideas of new cloth and new wine, a totally different picture is painted. While some commentators see the Pharisee’s as the old cloth and old bottle, the reality is much more than this; it is a matter of tradition, which here is affiliated with the idea of fasting but which could as well stretch forth into the praying and alms giving, that the Master seems to speak against above. The point of the Master here is simply that the disciples of John and the Pharisees are fasting in the traditions of the faith; this IS the old cloth and the old bottle; the Master’s teachings however are revealing the NEW and the BETTER WAY and this newer and better CAN NOT be simply placed into the old as an addendum but the whole must become the NEW. Hence the new bottle for the new wine and, without saying, the old patch for the old cloth. This IS the Master’s position on fasting, that this old tradition should not be continued save by those who remain in it; the follower of the NEW should not try to use their NEW understanding of Life and of God as a patch upon the old tradition nor, as the NEW wine, should the try to be in those old traditions any longer. And, as we said, this can likely be seen for ALL the traditions of the OLD. To this we can add from our own words above that fasting is a carnal endeavor; it has no spiritual profit in its own right and whatsoever spiritual profit one may assume can just as easily be achieved without the fasting and this by keeping His words. In regard to our particular saying above from Thomas’ Gospel we should add here that to be taken in by one as the Master says, there is instruction to eat what is offered and here we can add to the ideas on fasting above the idea that the one offering the food to the disciple can be offended at the disciple’s refusal due to fasting and, while this is not likely the reason for the first saying regarding the sin in fasting, it is likely the reason for the second that tells the disciple to eat what is offered.

As for prayer; we can look at this against the Master’s saying on fasting as a tradition and see similar regarding prayer and likely alms giving as well and we should note here that there is another reality in the Master’s words. There is no mention of who will condemn the disciple if he prays and, as we said in the last post, the interlinear version words this as “they will condemn you“; we should understand that this CAN NOT  be God condemning as He does not condemn and in saying this we of course include the Master. Here then the condemnation comes from others who may see one pray and if we tie this together with the rest of the saying, we do get a Truer picture of the intent. The Master’s injunction is that they should “Heal the sick among them! For what goes into your mouth will not defile you. Rather, what comes out of your mouth will defile you” Here, if we can see the natural continuation of the thought, we should see that Jesus comment about “what comes out of your mouth will defile you” is a direct reference to prayer. Again, we must see the Master’s words from the Sermon on prayer that “when thou prayest, enter into thy closet” and that one should “use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them“; can we see in this the admonition to NOT use prayer in the way for healing and that to try to heal in this way is contrary to this teaching as well as the following part from the Sermon that gives us the Lord’s Prayer as the way in which we should pray. And can we see here how the Master’s words all work together from Thomas Gospel in this regard; “Heal the sick among them” is a command, “what goes into your mouth will not defile you” are words of assurance that one can eat whatsoever is offered, and “what comes out of your mouth will defile you” is a reference to the praying aloud and the unnecessary praying aloud for healing. The Master DOES NOT say to pray for the sick, He says to HEAL THEM.

And this should not take aught away from prayer when it is done in accordance with the Truths that the Master teaches, not even that saying that tells the disciples that there are some things that will only be cured “by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). He DOES NOT say to pray first and He DOES say to only pray in “thy closet” and in relation to this fourteenth saying He DOES NOT say to pray at all nor does He tell them to fast; just the opposite to be sure, telling them that they should eat whatsoever is offered. While this may not seem a complete understanding of the fourteenth saying, this is rather close to it and we will fill in some of the missing ideas in our summary in the next essay.

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.

Today’s quote of the day is a repeat of the Mantram of Unification which is an affirmation of the Oneness of the human family from the perspective of the disciple and the aspirant and any who hold these ideals as important. In this we find the essence of the two ideas that we have discussed from Values to Live By and that these are firmly grounded in the desire to Love not hate; to serve and not exact due service and to heal and not to hurt. It is Love shown as Truth and justice that is at the heart of this mantram.

Mantram of Unification

The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.

Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.

Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.

The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.

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/