ON LOVE; PART CCCXCVI
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 Gospel of Thomas
These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(35) Jesus says: “It is not possible for someone to enter the house of a strong (person) (and) take it by force unless he binds his hands. Then he will loot his house.“
(36) Jesus says: “Do not worry from morning to evening and from evening to morning about what you will wear.“
(37) His disciples said: “When will you appear to us, and when will we see you?” Jesus said: “When you undress without being ashamed and take your clothes (and) put them under your feet like little children (and) trample on them, then [you] will see the son of the Living One, and you will not be afraid.“
(38) Jesus says: “Many times have you desired to hear these words, these that I am speaking to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them. There will be days when you will seek me (and) you will not find me.“
(39) Jesus says: “The Pharisees and the scribes have received the keys of knowledge, (but) they have hidden them. Neither have they entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves!“.14
In the last post we looked at the thirty seventh saying from the Gospel of Thomas and we noted that all of the Coptic translations do say the same thing but use different words to express the ideas of disrobing and of trampling. The Greek on the other hand does not include this part about the trampling of the clothing like little children and it does not appear to us that this is a missing piece but rather that it was not included by the writer. In the Greek we see that the idea of little children is assumed by the use of the idea of not being ashamed and this based upon Thomas use of this idea of little children in previous sayings and the Master’s overall teaching in the accepted gospels of the need to be like little children in order to gain the Kingdom. It is thought that the Greek preceded the Coptic and in this we could try to see that in the translation to Coptic, and some believe that there was an intermediate Syriac version, the extra words are added for the clarity of the saying. They are unnecessary for the right understanding of the Master’s intent if the assumption of the unashamed is rightly understood.
And we see this simply as it is presented; a question asked and a parabolic answer given. The answer must be discerned by the man with some understanding of the mystery presented and not by those who CAN NOT yet receive revelation from his own Soul, his own Christ Within. The answer is of course that when one can be naked and unashamed, a trait not found in the average man, that they one can see the Master, realize Him in his heart which is the realization of the Christ Within. Now we must be careful here to rightly understand that this is not the man whose mind is perverted or the who can stand naked without care based in his own emotional and mental makeup; this is spoken to disciples who we must assume are not of these two types. Perhaps in this we can see a reason for the added part of the little children and the trampling in the Coptic version, so that the reader who is not a disciple will not think that one can see the Lord merely by not being ashamed. The crux of this for the disciple IS of course the idea of being as a little child and one should add this idea of not being ashamed to the other ideas that we have from this and the accepted gospels, that the man who desires the Kingdom must be humble and meek, unassuming and unashamed.
Going back for a moment to the essays that we recently wrote regarding the idea of “take no thought” (Matthew 6:25, Luke 12:22) we should note that this IS a very important part of one’e journey on the Path to the strait gate which opens into the Kingdom of God. This very thought is an integral part of that sense of striving that we experience as we traverse the Path and it IS an aspect of that journey and that striving that grow slowly in one’s heart even while he does not consciously think about it. This is a rather natural occurrence as when the man in the world changes his focus from the self and the self in the world to the Soul and the things of God, he will naturally spend less and less effort in thinking about the carnal Life and by example what he will eat and wear. This does not so much mean that it will not cross a man’s mind whether to have this or that to eat or what he should wear today or tomorrow, it is more in accordance with the Parable of the Rich Fool who plans and schemes for his future, that he will have enough to eat and the wherewithal to obtain things to wear. There is no worry or concern here, there is only the planning and the scheming as we read in this parable that immediately precedes the admonition to “take no thought“:
“And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided ? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life” (Luke 12:16-22).
The point here should be seen as that in this planing and this scheming a man CAN NOT focus upon the things of God; his mind is consumed with the thoughts of the self and the betterment of the self in the world. This is the depth of the idea that we should “take no thought“, that we should not be consumed with the thoughts of Life in the world but rather spend that attention on the things of God. Simply, this is the reality of the saying that precedes the Master’s words from Matthew’s Gospel which we posted in the last essay and which conclude with the Master’s saying that “Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life” (Matthew 6:24-25). Here in Matthew the idea is presented as a part of the Master’s dissertation on not regarding and chasing after the “treasures upon earth” but that one should “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19, 20). This ability of the man in the world to lose sight of his own thoughts of the self and the self in the world comes in the growth of the Kingdom Within which is achieved as a part of the Repentance through which a man changes his point of focus to the things of God. While this IS NOT an easy task, it IS one that comes naturally as one’s focus increases.
The next saying, the thirty eighth appears to us to be two separate thoughts combined by the writer into one saying:
- “Many times have you desired to hear these words, these that I am speaking to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them“.
- “There will be days when you will seek me (and) you will not find me“.
Both of these thoughts are found in the accepted gospels although here we see the Master speaking of hearing and in the accepted we see him speaking about seeing and hearing both and from a different perceptive. The seeking and the finding are more similar to what we find in John’s Gospel although here in Thomas without any explanatory words. The sayings from the accepted gospels are:
- “And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them” (Luke 10:23-24).
- “But blessed are your eyes, for they see : and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them” (Matthew 13:16-17).
- “Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come” (John 7:34).
- “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot come; so now I say to you” (John 13:33).
The available commentary for this saying from Thomas tells us little of the meanings for this presentation:
- Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: “The second-century Marcosians, according to Irenaeus (Adv. haer., 1, 20, 2), quoted this saying in a slightly different form. ‘Many times they desired to hear on of these words, and they had no one to tell them.’ The saying may be based on Luke 17:22: ‘The days will come when you desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see.’ As usual, Thomas – or a predecessor – changes what is future in the gospels to present and past. ‘The days will come’ (Luke) when ‘you will seek me and will not find me’ (John 7:34). Here the gospel picture of something future is retained, perhaps because to Gnosticism the eschatological emphasis of Christianity could not be entirely dropped.” (The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 153-154).
- Manichaean Psalm Book 187:28-29 states: “I have something to say, I have no one to whom to say it.”
- Acts of John 98 states: “John, there must be one person to hear these things from me, for I need one who is going to hear.”
- Cyprian in Three Books of Testimonies to Quirinius 3.29 states: “For a time will come and you will seek me, both you and those who will come after, to hear a word of wisdom and understanding, and you will not find (me).”
- Funk and Hoover write: “In v. 1, Jesus speaks as the redeemer who has descended to earth and ascended to heaven, a scenario central to gnostic myth and speculative wisdom theology. This saying indicates that at a very early date followers of Jesus began to think of him in higly developed mythological terms. The judgment of the Fellows about Thom 38:1 was a unanimous black designation.” (The Five Gospels, p. 494).
- Gerd Ludemann writes: “Verse 1 has an approximate parallel in Matt. 13.16-17/Luke 10.23-24 (=Q). For v. 2 cf. John 7.34. The logion triest to cope with the absence of Jesus (v. 2) and the disciples’ wish to hear the words of the living Jesus (cf. Prologue; 2; 92.1). It fits the situation of the Thomas community well.” (Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 609).
While some do translate a Greek fragment for this saying we should note that Doresse tells us this as his translation: “(only a few letters of this passage remain)”. Others however have translated this Greek fragment based upon the Coptic and this while there is no record of it in our source documents nor our interlinear version. Apparently the surviving discernible words are limited to “said, the word rendered as and, and days; and here any translation is a stretch and can be misleading to the average reader. The Coptic translations of this saying are all much the same and the sayings themselves are rather simple to understand.
The first verse or part tells the disciples that what they are hearing they have often desired to hear which seems to say that they relish whatsoever it IS that the Master IS saying and that there is NO where else that they can go to hear these things except to Him. We must assume here that these are either comforting words or that Jesus is expounding the mysteries to them which the Apostle Mark tells us of saying: “and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples” (Mark 4:34). We of course would lean to the latter as it is the work of the disciple that they are learning and not the comfort of the disciple. In the synoptic gospels we read this as how blessed the disciples are to hear these things that they hear and that both prophets and kings were not so blessed. It is from the disciples perspective that we should understand this idea that they are hearing, that they are blessed in such hearing above all others and that there is no where else that they can go to hear these things save Jesus Himself as the Source. We read about this last idea in the Apostle John’s Gospel where, when the disciples and aspirants were leaving the Master because of His mysterious speech regarding the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood, He says to the Twelve: “Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:67-68). It is the special nature of the Master[‘s teaching that resonates in the disciples consciousness and which is given Life as Wisdom from above by their own Souls and this they desire ever more of. In Thomas we can read this as the Master is here acknowledging this and reminding them that it IS from Him only and His counterpart, the Christ Within each of them. Can we see here that those disciples that leave the Master do not have such revelation nor realization of the Truth the Jesus speaks and that they desire to hear.
The next part is the simpler to understand if we look at this as that the disciples do not yet understand the True nature of the Master’s death and His resurrection and this we KNOW from the accepted gospels as we read that He tells them several times but that they do not get it. Some examples of this are:
- “Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken” (Luke 18:31-34).
- “Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying” (Luke 9:44-45).
- “For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him” (Mark 9:31-32).
There are several times that the Master tells his disciples of His arrest, crucifixion and resurrection and the time of the first point above from Luke is as they are going to Jerusalem just before these things are to happen. We can see that even at this late date they DO NOT understand this matter and we read similar about their understanding even after Jesus crucifixion: “For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead” (John 20:9). Can we see here in Thomas Gospel as in John’s above that the Master is continually telling them these things but they never quiet get it and this is because there is no precedent for these things, that although He tells them clearly, they have no basis against which to measure His words. One may point to the raising of Jairus daughter and to the raising of Lazarus or even to the raising of the young man on the road as examples of the Power of the Master but they still CAN NOT see Him raising Himself from the dead. It is only after ALL is done and that He is Ascended that the disciples Truly come into their own, that the Christ Within begins to speak loudly through their hearts; they can no longer rely upon His presence with them.
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.
We repeat here a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.
My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.
I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.
My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.
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/
