IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 844

ON LOVE; PART XDXXXIII

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.

(63) Jesus says: “There was a rich person who had many possessions. He said: ‘I will use my possessions so that I might sow, reap, plant, (and) fill my storehouses with fruit so that I will not lack anything.’ This was what he was thinking in his heart. And in that night he died. Whoever has ears should hear.“

(64) Jesus says: “A person had guests. And when he had prepared the dinner, he sent his servant, so that he might invite the guests. He came to the first (and) said to him: ‘My master invites you.’ He said: ‘I have bills for some merchants. There are coming to me this evening. I will go (and) give instructions to them. Excuse me from the dinner.’ He came to another (and) said to him: ‘My master has invited you.’ He said to him: ‘I have bought a house, and I have been called (away) for a day. I will not have time.’ He went to another (and) said to him: ‘My master invites you.’ He said to him: ‘My friend is going to marry, and I am the one who is going to prepare the meal. I will not be able to come. Excuse me from the dinner.’ He came up to another (and) said to him: ‘My master invites you.’ He said to him: ‘I have bought a village. Since I am going to collect the rent, I will not be able to come. Excuse me.’ The servant went away. He said to his master: ‘Those whom you invited to the dinner have asked to be excused.’ The master said to his servant: ‘Go out on the roads. Bring (back) whomever you find, so that they might have dinner.’ Dealers and merchants (will) not enter the places of my Father.“

(65) He said: “A [usurer] owned a vineyard. He gave it to some farmers so that they would work it (and) he might receive its fruit from them. He sent his servant so that the farmers might give him the fruit of the vineyard. They seized his servant, beat him, (and) almost killed him. The servant went (back and) told his master. His master said: ‘Perhaps <they> did not recognize <him>.’ He sent another servant, (and) the farmers beat that other one as well. Then the master sent his son (and) said: ‘Perhaps they will show respect for my son.’ (But) those farmers, since they knew that he was the heir of the vineyard, seized him (and) killed him. Whoever has ears should hear.“

(66) Jesus says: “Show me the stone that the builders have rejected. It is the cornerstone.“

(67) Jesus says: “Whoever knows all, if he is lacking one thing, he is (already) lacking everything.“

In the last post we began our discussion of the rather lengthy, by Thomas standards, sixty fourth saying from his Gospel. This IS Thomas version of the Master’s words from the Parable of the Great Feast or, as it is otherwise known, the Parable of the Wedding Feast as in Matthew’s version the setting IS a wedding. In this parable we have perhaps the most profound example of the writing style and recollection differences among the Apostles who have written about this story and this we can clearly see from the three versions that we posted as a part of the last essay. Only Matthew sees this as a wedding feast and only Matthew cites the Master’s words that give some the idea of the eschatological bent of this story and Matthew adds as well the rather obscure ideas regarding the wedding garment. And, where Matthew cites the invited guests as merely making light of the invitation, Luke and Thomas go into detail about the actual nature of the excuses used. We should note as well that in Thomas version the invitations are given and declined on the spot and at the time of the invitation which is also at the time of the feast while in Luke they were invited in advance and called for at the time of the feast, at which time they make their excuse.

Now it does not matter what the excuses are nor does it matter how many the story cites as those refusing the invitation, what matters IS that they are invited and that they decline because of worldly concerns and it matters not that these are real concerns, real things that one must do, or if these are but excuses not to have to go which would work with Matthew’s thought that “they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise” (Matthew 22:5). What matters here is that they are invited to what Matthew tells us IS the Kingdom of God which we see in his telling us in the opening line of the story that  “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come” (Matthew 22:2-3). Now while it can depend upon how one would read this insofar as understanding what the Kingdom IS like, it should not as the story is about the feast of the wedding which is the culmination of  “a certain king, which made a marriage for his son” and hence we see this as the reality of the story, that the invitation IS to the Kingdom of heaven. Commentary from John Gill on this is typical of much of the doctrine and this particular commentary on the version from Matthew is very lengthy; while we will not repeat it here, we will  lay out the premise that Mr. Gill takes by looking at the very first part: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king; The Gospel dispensation which had now taken place, the methods of divine grace in it, and the behaviour of men under it, may be fitly illustrated by the following simile, or parable; the design of which is to express the great love of God the Father, who is represented by this certain king, in espousing any of the children of men to his own son: as, that he a king, who is the King of kings, and Lord of Lords, should concern himself in this manner; and especially, that he should espouse such mean and unworthy creatures to his own…..⁸. The full text of this is available on-line for any who wish to read it.

Our point here is that again the commentary is on the outward appearance of the parable as Mr. Gill is trying to relate the actual happenings of the story to some spiritual end when the greater Truth is to be found in seeking out the hidden meanings that are apart from the outer story. In the whole of the sentence, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son” we should be able to see that this marriage feast is the relation to the Kingdom and to this the invitees are called. Here perhaps we should try to see that while Matthew deems it necessary to relate this, as the Master likely did, to the Kingdom of God, Luke and Thomas see this part as being assumed by the tone of the story itself. Similarly while Matthew sees the displeasure of the master of the feast as a harsh rebuke and relates that to us in his story, Luke and Thomas do not see the need for this in their relating of the story with Luke making a point of the anger and Thomas bypassing this altogether. Perhaps Luke and Thomas better understand the dynamics of the whole of the event, that the Truth of the Kingdom is personal to the man as the True man, the Soul, and it is this aspect of the man that would show the spiritual frustration as the anger of the outer story. If we are speaking about God here we must remember that “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and that in this dispensation of the Christ, this dispensation of Love, the anger of Jehovah as God is long past and any idea of divine anger as we can try to understand this is long past as well; if we are speaking of the Christ as the Master we should have the same ideas regarding Love and the absence of anger. And, if we are speaking about the Kingdom itself as the representation of the king and the feast that the gives, then this anger is found in the inner turmoil from the lost opportunity of those invited which the Soul, the Kingdom Within, realizes but the outer form that found so much else to do DOES NOT.

From our perspective this IS the primary lesson to the disciple and to the aspirant who KNOW of their invitation to the feast, their invitation into the Kingdom of God; that they should not let any worldly event, or lack of motivation based in being caught for a time in the world, deter one from attending to the things of the Kingdom; this IS for us the overriding message of the Master in this story and this regardless of which version we view. There is another way to look at this as well and this from the perspective of the Jews that we KNOW ARE a part of the audience in both Matthew and Luke and which we can assume are there in Thomas’ verion; to them the idea of the first part is the same, the invitation to join in the Kingdom is given and we should understand here that this invitation IS always given, it is an open invitation to ALL. Here however we need to see the reality of the storyline from the perspective of the average person, including the average religious person, who is ever finding worldly things to keep his attention and in this he ignores the ongoing prompting, the ongoing invitation from his own Soul. For these Jews there is yet an additional message which IS that if they who believe that they ARE the elect of God choose to allow worldly things to take up their focus, then this opportunity that is brought by the Master, this invitation that is offered by the Lord, will be offered to others and these others will become the focus of the Kingdom in the world as the Master and His disciples move to preach to them. We can see here as well that the nature of the conflict in Matthew where some of the invitees slew the representatives of the king and that there is great retribution, has a specific relationship to the Jews and while we do not Truly understand this, there could be some link here to the sacking of Jerusalem in AD 70. We DO NOT however see this as a reality but rather see this as the Master’s telling us that there ARE those who are so against their invitation to the wedding, which IS their invitation to the Kingdom, that it is so alien to them as it comes in the person of the Christ in whom they only see One contrary to their own beliefs, that they DO NOT even make excuse and in return, they are shut out by the very nature of their own refusal. ALL this is within the man; the Kingdom makes the invitation, the carnal man refuses it and pushes off the Kingdom in favor of his worldly Life and, in so doing, he is shut out by the very actions of the carnal man.

These ideas work well in each of the versions of this parable except we can discount the conflict and just assume that this rejection is of the same nature and that Luke and Thomas do not see the need to expand upon the anger of the Lord, who IS the Soul, who IS the Kingdom; here in these versions the Kingdom moves on to others as the Master and His disciples move on to teach others the Truth. The idea of the wedding garment IS however still perplexing and as we have in the past, we can try to see this in relation to the final thought of the Master in the version from Matthew which says “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). Here we can try to see that this one without the wedding garment has come to the feast, has come to the Kingdom, without a clear heart; that he comes to the Kingdom with those worldly ideas still in his heart and perhaps thinking that he can have both worlds. This is however not possible and the wedding garment is perhaps meant to signify the purity of focus that one MUST have to enter into the Kingdom of God and we should understand here that those who are finally brought into the feast, those who were from the highways, from the roads and from the hedges, were men of different religious views and that among them were some good and some bad, as Matthew tells us, which are such from the same perspective as we see the man without the wedding garment above and here we should see that the bad ARE those without the wedding garment and that it is these who are expelled from the feast.

Perhaps in that day where the Jews were rejecting the message and the Presence of the Master this latter part is of greater importance; to us today however there is no longer this dynamic at play and we should focus on and understand the reality of the first part, the Truth of the invitation and the tendency of the man in the world to ignore this and to continue in his ways in the world as he allows the carnal self to refuse to enter into the feast. This part is apparent to the aspirant and to the disciple and for him this IS a caution and a warning that one not allow the ways of the world to interfere with one’s quest for the Kingdom and, for the average man in the world this understanding should be that there IS ever an invitation, a prompting from his own Soul, and that the average man IS ever refusing it in favor of the things of the world. And, in continuing in this action, one moves further and further from the Kingdom and to where he perhaps will no longer hear the invitation at all.

In the end of this parable in Thomas Gospel we find the same end as in the synoptics, that there are others that are brought into the feast as we speak of above and again we should try to remember that this IS a parable and that the meanings are intentionally not apparent. And again here we can try to see this part as more appropriate to the times while the first part of the invitation and the refusal is timeless and universal. Thomas then adds one more part in his version and that is that “Buyers and merchants will not enter the places of my Father” and this should not be misunderstood but should be seen in the context of the parable itself. Here in Thomas we have the “Buyers and merchants” as those who refuse the invitation; those who were TOO busy to make the time for the Lord and His Kingdom. We must ever remember that the Kingdom IS a special place, a place for those who keep His words and whose focus IS upon the things of God and if per chance there is a buyer or a trader who is among these special persons, then he would have forsaken whatsoever he had to do for the Kingdom of God and here again IS the essence of “take no thought” (Matthew 6:25).

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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 present here again what we call the Lord’s Prayer and do so as it relates to our ideas above on the Millennium Development Goals. One could say that it is the responsibility of God to take care of these billions of people but this one would be short sighted and unawares of the Truth of the Master’s words and the Word of God. In the Truth that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) we should see that He did not do this to these people, it is the natural way of the Plan of God that puts men where they can best progress and in this time of much escalated population growth we find the situations that we find. From the Master’s words on Love and in sayings like that from John which clearly tells us that: “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18); we should be able to see our own role here and, for those of us who can believe that we are aspirants to discipleship, we should be able to see it ever clearer in this prayer as we pray that His Kingdom would come, the Kingdom that is within us ALL, and that His Will be done which IS our Will if we are among those who DO keep His words and strive toward the realization of the Kingdom of God for He does tell us clearly that “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). And, we should note that the ideas of us and we in the rest of this prayer are in reference to ALL men, ALL of the nearly 7.2 billion that are here in this Earth today….and so IS the idea of OUR.

Our Father, which art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come;

thy will be done,

in earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive them that trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil.

[For thine is the kingdom,

the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever.]

Amen.†

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
• ¹⁴ The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
• † From the Gospels of Matthew and Luke; this version is from the Book of Common Prayer of 1662