ON LOVE; PART CCCXCIX
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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.
(40) Jesus says: “A grapevine was planted outside (the vineyard) of the Father. And since it is not supported, it will be pulled up by its roots (and) will perish.“
(41) Jesus says: “Whoever has (something) in his hand, (something more) will be given to him. And whoever has nothing, even the little he has will be taken from him.“
(42) Jesus says: “Become passers-by.“
(43) His disciples said to him: “Who are you to say this to us?”….”Do you not realized from what I say to you who I am? But you have become like the Jews! They love the tree, (but) they hate its fruit. Or they love the fruit, (but) they hate the tree.”
(44) Jesus says: “Whoever blasphemes against the Father, it will be forgiven him. And whoever blasphemes against the Son, it will be forgiven him. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither on earth nor in heaven.“
(45) Jesus says: “Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs picked from thistles, for they do not produce fruit. A good person brings forth good from his treasure. A bad person brings (forth) evil from the bad treasure that is in his heart, and (in fact) he speaks evil. For out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth evil.“14
In the last essay we discussed the fortieth saying from Thomas’ Gospel and contrary to the available commentary which see this as aligned to the Master’s saying in Matthew that “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up“, we see this as being similar in intent to the sayings from John’s Gospel about the vine and the branches. In Matthew the referenced saying is against the Pharisees and is a part of the Master’s words against their hypocritical doctrinal practices while here in Thomas this is framed as a teaching to His disciples as ARE the words from John’s Gospel. In John we have the lesson that so long as the man in the world, the branch, is focused upon, abides in, the Master and His word, the vine, then he will receive that spiritual sustenance which is nourishment for his divine expression in the Earth which IS to keep His word. It is His word that sustains the spiritual Life of the man and it is the nourishment from His word that enables a man to produce fruit and that fruit is to keep His words, to DO them. And, His word is also that which prunes the branch, eliminating the old ways as old growth on the branch and preparing the man so “that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:2); this is the growth of the man, the growth of the Kingdom Within.
Thomas’ gives us the same thoughts from a different perspective and in a much shorter form as he reports the Master’s words as that the grapevine, the Soul of man, is planted outside of the vineyard, the Kingdom, and from our perspective this IS the reality of Life in the world. Here Jesus does not go into the reality of what happens when the grapevine IS nourished but only reflects on what happens when it IS NOT and here it is left to the disciple to whom Jesus is speaking to discern that part the Truth. We noted that the Interlinear offers the word fortified as the rendering of the Coptic word that we read above as supported and while both of these suffice for our understanding some to the other renderings, not established, being unsound, and did not grow strong, address the result and not the cause. In fortified and in supported we have the cause for the failure of the grapevine which is that the nourishment and the sustenance afforded by being in the Kingdom is not available to the vine, the man, that is growing outside of the Kingdom. Unsaid is the reality for the disciple and the aspirant that if the grapevine, the man, so chooses to spread its roots into the the Kingdom, the Fathers vineyard, that it too will be sustained and nourished. Again, we must see these words here and from John’s Gospel as a parable and understand that it is by identifying what the component parts of the story represent that we can discern meaning and that there are likely several ways to view each of these as well as ALL the parables of the Master and so many of the allusions of His apostles.
Our approach to John 15 is practical and it is personal and in it each man can determine for himself what sort of branch he may be and we should remember here that the Master is speaking to disciples and instructing them and those who would follow them in the Truth of bearing fruit and the reality that one must stay the course by their individual focus upon Him; and this through that Inner divinity that each man IS, to let this be his expression to the world which is the reality of what IS meant by abiding in Him. The caution and the warning is that if one should NOT continue in His word, that this divine expression will cease and that he will return to the ranks of the unproductive who bear little or no fruit and, as we discussed in the last post, this is done as the natural action in the Life of the man in the world who, if he is not focused upon the Christ and the Christ Within, is per force focused on that other part of Life, the self and the world. Conversely, the man who does focus upon the Christ and the Christ Within is nourished by such focus as the Love and the Power flow through him and this becomes and remains his expression to the world; this expression IS the fruit and it is by this focus and this expression that he is pruned and whatsoever old is on the branch is stripped away allowing for ever new growth of spiritual expression and ever more fruit; this too is the natural action in the Life of the man who chooses God.
Our next saying is the forty first and this is similar to a number of sayings in the accepted gospels which are used in a number of different contexts and which we have discussed several times in this blog. The nuances of Thomas’ presentation are a bit different but the reality IS much the same; we read: “Whoever has (something) in his hand, (something more) will be given to him. And whoever has nothing, even the little he has will be taken from him” (Thomas 40). There are several different renderings of this saying which we post here to make the point that there need not be a reference to any ‘thing’ as is inserted here in the Patterson and Robinson version:
- Jesus said: “He who has in his hand, to him shall be given; and he who has not, from him shall be taken even the little that he has” (Blatz).
- Jesus said, “The person who possesses will be given more. And the person who does not have will be deprived of even the little that that person has” (Layton).
- Jesus says: “To him who has in his hand, <more> will be given. But from him who has not, <even> the little he has will be taken away!” (Doresse).
- Jesus said, “Whoever has something in his hand will receive more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little he has” (Lambdin).
- Jesus said, “Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little they have” (Patterson and Meyer).
- Said Jesus this: “He who has he in his hand, it will be given to him, and he who has not he, the other little bit which has he, will be taken from his hand” (Interlinear Version).
In the sense we get from the Interlinear and which is carried forward by Blatz we can have a better understanding of the gist of this saying as we see it, that this is not a material or even a worldly thing that one possesses but rather a spiritual effect in one’s Life and in this we can find greater relationship to the words from the accepted gospels as well. Before we look at these however let us look at the available commentary for these words from Thomas:
- Gerd Ludemann writes: “These verses have parllels in Mark 4.25 and Matt. 25.29/Luke 19.26 (= Q). Thomas diverges from them in two points: (a) in v. 1 he reads ‘in his hand’ (cf. 9.1; 17; 21.10; 22.6; 35.1; 98.2) and (b) in v. 2 ‘the little’. The saying is a common proverb. How it was read by Gnostics is shown for example by Gospel of Philip 105: ‘Is it not fitting for all who have all this also to know themselves? But some, if they do not know themselves, will not enjoy what they have. The others, who have come to know themselves, will enjoy them (= their possessions).'” (Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 610).
- J. D. Crossan writes: “The addition of ‘in his hand’ may be redactional, since Thomas seems to have a particular liking for ‘hand’ (17, 21c, 22b, 35, 98; see Menard, 1975: 142). The other change is of more significance. The negative stich is again qualified: ‘even the little he has.’ It is also possible that Gos. Thom. 70 is a much more gnostic version of this saying (Grant and Freedman: 147).” (In Fragments, p. 201).
- Funk and Hoover write: “This saying in Thomas betrays no dependence on the canonical gospels; it represents an independent tradition. The Q form is recorded by Luke at the conclusion of the parable of the money in trust (Luke 19:26): ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given; and from those who don’t have, even what they do have will be taken away.’ Mark has a slightly different version in Mark 4:25: ‘In fact, to those who have, more will be given, and from those who don’t have, even what they do have will be taken away!’ Thomas exhibits two minor additions: the words ‘in hand’ in the first line, and the phrase ‘the little’ in the last line are unique to Thomas. The additional words do not help clarify the original context of the saying, if indeed it is more than a general maxim that was universally applicable.” (The Five Gospels, p. 496).
Here this commentary does not help in understanding this saying and we do not agree with their assessment on the use by Thomas of the word hand here which we see as that it is either used by the Master in this unknown context or that it is Thomas’ own particular style which is apparent in his writing and in the writing of the other apostles’ gospels as well. Perhaps there us too much emphasis given by these commentators to the how similar these sayings should be to the accepted and their ideas on Q. The sayings from the accepted gospels with their contexts:
- “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath” (Matthew 13:11-12).
- “Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given , and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:28-30); and similar in Luke 19.
- “For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath” (Mark 4:22-25); and similar from Luke 8.
In the first instance above the context is in the ability of the disciple to KNOW the mysteries and in this is a clue to the overall use of this saying; the disciple has spiritual Power and in this Power he can KNOW these spiritual ideas. Conversely, those who are not disciples and who DO NOT have their focus on the things of God will, as we also note above in the last saying from Thomas, per force be focused on the self and the self in the world and in this focus of his Life the man will lose whatsoever he may have spiritually had. We must note here that this is said to the disciple and we can extend this to the man that IS striving toward this goal; these have somewhat and we should tie to this the idea of doing as merely having bears no fruit. The second saying above is a part of a The Parable of the Talents of Minas and should not be related to money as one of the commentaries above discusses but should be related to the meaning of the parable. In this parable is the teaching that one must use what it is that he has, his spiritual talents if you will, in the service of the Lord so that he may gain more talents and that the man who does not use what he has in service to the Lord will lose what he has by its non use. There is naught here about money as this parable uses this thought as the example for the spiritual wherewithal of the man in the world; whatsoever value one has should be used to gain more and in this again we can see the idea from the previous saying from Thomas as we expounded it, that the fruitful branch or vine becomes ever more so. The reality of the subject saying as part of the parable in this context IS the explanation of the parable itself and this falls squarely in the same place as the previous saying where it is the disciple who has the revelation of the mysteries.
The final saying is offered in the context again of the mysteries, that all will be revealed and we should take from the earlier idea that this revelation IS NOT to the ordinary man who is focused in the world. Here we come to the idea of hearing but, as we KNOW, this is not the physical hearing only, this IS the perception of what is revealed through what we may hear and this not only through ear. We KNOW this by the reality that ALL men do have ears but NOT ALL men hear as the Master intends. Here again the idea is the same; that whosoever is receiving revelation is Truly hearing and to him more revelation will flow. Conversely to those who have none, those who ARE NOT on the spiritual Path, they will not receive and whatsoever little they may have will be lost; again by its non use. The Master gives us this same Truth from a different perspective in another parable, the Parable of the Faithful Servant which ends in these words: “And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:47-48). Ponder on this.
In the saying at hand from Thomas’ Gospel we have the same reality that we find in the three references above where the saying is similar and while there is no context in Thomas’ version, we should not that the overall meaning of all these is the same despite the context. From a spiritual perspective which IS the only perspective of the Master we should understand that if we have spiritual wherewithal and are using it as instructed in His word, we will receive yet more; however, if we have little or none and are not using what we may have we will lose even that by our lack of use, our lack of focus on the Truth. Again, the Master is speaking to disciples and by extension to aspirants who do have in some degree and we should see that in this having is seen in the using, the doing and the keeping of His word and it is by such that we grow and get ever more.
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/
