ON LOVE; PART CDLXXXV

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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.

(109) Jesus says: “The kingdom is like a person who has a hidden treasure in his field, (of which) he knows nothing. And [after] he had died, he left it to his [son]. (But) the son did not know (about it either). He took over that field (and) sold [it]. And the one who had bought it came, and while he was ploughing [he found] the treasure. He began to lend money at interest to whom he wished.“

(110) Jesus says: “The one who has found the world (and) has become wealthy should renounce the world.“

(111) Jesus says: “The heavens will roll up before you, and the earth. And whoever is living from the living one will not see death.” Does not Jesus say: “Whoever has found himself, of him the world is not worthy“?

(112) Jesus says: “Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul. Woe to the soul that depends on the flesh.“

(113) His disciples said to him: “The kingdom – on what day will it come?” “It will not come by watching (and waiting for) it. They will not say: ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Rather, the kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it.“

(114) Simon Peter said to them: “Let Mary go away from us, for women are not worthy of life.” Jesus said: “Look, I will draw her in so as to make her male, so that she too may become a living male spirit, similar to you.” (But I say to you): “Every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.” ¹⁴

Today is Christmas Eve and while our words yesterday can be seen as against Christmas to some, this IS certainly not the case; our words were only against what Christmas has become in both commercialism and in its use by some as a wedge to further separate an already splintered world society. Christmas IS a time to come together in the Spirit of Christ and in that Truth of Love that He brought to us 2000 years ago; it is not a time for further separation based in age old religious, cultural or racial animosities. Christmas IS a time for Love, Unity, Harmony and the like and a time for ALL of humanity to stand together, not as Christians but as the children of the ONE God, as the ONE Humanity in this ONE World. This IS what He brought to us, this Love for ALL IS His gift to the WHOLE EARTH; He DID NOT bring us a religion, He brought us a way of Life and it IS when this idea can be realized that the barriers that the Christian has created in His Name will fall.

Christmas is the celebration of the Birth of the Christ which IS so much more than a historical event; it was a world changing event and there are few aspects of Life that ARE NOT effected by His Advent. In His coming, living among us in Love for ALL and dying as that grand example of Life itself, He left us many things and it IS unfortunate that most are not yet realized through the interactions of men in the world; the whole of time began again in this world and ALL who recognize what year we are in can realize this as a lasting legacy. This new beginning was born in Him, or as it is framed by most, this new beginning was born in His death, and in the nearly 2000 years that have come and gone since, there IS little evidence of His Truths in the world except as a rather fanciful dream of Peace, Love and harmony; He has become but a religion and a much splintered one that interprets His words to man’s convenience instead of the Truths that He pronounced. But as we approach yet another new age we can find hope; hope in the realities of an ever shrinking world; hope in our ability to see our brothers and better understand them even in the still somewhat closed societies across our globe. Hope in the simmering sense of Love  and Justice for ALL; simmering in the hearts of men like us around the world; hope in the sometimes fleeting international cooperation and hope in the anticipated success of the True mission of the United Nations. Hope that there can finally be that Peace on Earth, GoodWill toward men that was the clarion call of the angel and the heavenly host in the pronouncement of the Birth of the Christ in this world of men.

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men“ (Luke 2:7-14).

And so the Master IS born and He is called here a Saviour which is a word that defines His Name in the Hebrew; Vincent tells us of the full name Jehoshua, that it means: Jehovah (our )Salvation ⁴. It IS from this word savior that much of the Christian confusion comes and we would be better seeing this as deliverer as He brought to us the gospel, the good news of the Kingdom of God, its Truth, its reality and our BEST instructions for attaining that High Calling of being accounted worthy. And He brought us the message of Love in a new and progressive way as He brought us the Truth of Life in His Life of example and His death on the cross. He brought us  ALL the Truth of  hope in His misunderstood crucifixion and His equally misunderstood resurrection.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We return now to our discussion of the one hundred twelfth saying from the Gospel of Thomas where we had compared this saying with several others of a similar nature and found that ALL of them have this same reality; that in Life in this world there IS found the journey of the Soul, the journey of the True man through time and space in as he seeks his return to the fullness of his own realization of divinity. In the twenty ninth and the eighty seventy sayings from Thomas’ Gospel we find the reality of Life in the world in the Master’s parabolic way of speaking:

• (29) Jesus says: “If the flesh came into being because of the spirit, it is a wonder. But if the spirit (came into being) because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has taken up residence in this poverty“
• (87) Jesus says: “Wretched is the body that depends on a body. And wretched is the soul that depends on these two.“

Here we see the idea of the relationship between the flesh, the combined idea of the body and the personality, and the Soul or the Spirit and the Master’s comments on the converse of this as “a wonder of wonders” as He marvels on how the Soul can become so lost in the carnal Life. This IS of course our own reality here and in understanding that the Master would not marvel as we understand this plus the ideas from the Interlinear which frames this as  that the treasure, the Soul,  “was placed in this-poverty” we find the sense in our own statement that the True man is lost for a time in the carnal Life. In the other saying we find our clue to how to get out of this sense of being lost, how that this CAN NOT be done carnally; neither by the body for the body nor by the body for the Soul, but it must be an action where the Soul uses the body nature for the fullness of his own realization of divinity. And so with our current saying where we see our caution expressed as the idea of woe to those who try to accomplish these things:  “Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul. Woe to the soul that depends on the flesh“.

Here in His parabolic language we can see the reality that neither can accomplish his own salvation; neither the body and personality, the flesh, nor the Soul; neither can wait for the other to DO. The effort is one that MUST be accomplished together, that the body must become the vehicle of expression for the Soul in the world and that the Soul must express this same fullness of his own realization of divinity through his body in the world. Here we can see that it IS through Repentance that these heretofore separate aspect of Life in the world find each other; that it IS through Transformation that the carnal life of the flesh is slowly made to come under the Love and the Power of the Soul and to see the reality and the Truth of the spiritual Life. And it IS in Redemption that the process is complete, the phenomenal body of the man in the world, the flesh, takes on his True role as the vehicle for the expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul. This IS the journey of the Soul through time and space and it IS against the separate attempts by the flesh or by the Soul that the caution is offered by the Lord.

Our next saying, the one hundred thirteenth, is a different way of saying and understanding that most important saying from the Gospel of Luke, that saying that tells us of our own True reality. Comparing these can give the argument of doctrine some presumed evidence that the Kingdom is in the midst or among us as this from Luke is ofttimes read by those who DO NOT understand:

“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21).

It IS in the doctrinal refusal to see the idea that the Kingdom could be in the heart of the Pharisee that the idea of its being in the midst of or among us is created and preferred but this IS NOT what this Truly means as we see it. This IS the Kingdom Within the man and this is synonymous with the ideas of the Christ Within and God Within and both of these are testified to by the apostles albeit in their own parabolic way. The saying from Thomas IS NOT contrary to this as we read:

“The kingdom – on what day will it come?” “It will not come by watching (and waiting for) it. They will not say: ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Rather, the kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it” (Thomas 113).

From our perspective, the only way to Truly understand these ideas is to understand that the Father IS in the Kingdom; the Kingdom IS His place, His abode if you will, and if there IS a God Within or a Christ Within, then the Kingdom must be Within and, being Within it MUST per force be Within this world as well, “spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it“. We should try here to understand that the essence of a man IS not this body but he IS rather the psychic creature that uses this body; first the carnal nature of the mind and the emotions and then the divine nature of the Soul. There are several comments on this saying and these include:

• Marvin Meyer quotes Gospel of Mary 8,11-22 for comparison: “When the blessed one had said these things, he greeted them all, saying, ‘Peace be with you. Acquire my peace for yourselves. Watch that no one mislead you, saying, “Look, here,” or “Look, there,” for the child of humankind is within you. Follow him. Those who seek him will find him. Go, then, and preach the gospel of the kingdom.'” (The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 108).
• Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: “Once more, as in Sayings 2 and 52, Thomas turns to the favorite text of the Naassenes, Luke 17:20-21 (cf. Hippolytus, Ref., 5, 7, 20-21; 5, 8, 8). This time, however, his emphasis is not on the inwardness of the kingdom but on its presence among men. It is ‘spread out upon the earth,’ just as in Saying 2 it is both within men and outside them (Coptic; Greek has ‘within’ only). It may be that Thomas has in mind the mysterious ‘sign of extension’ mentioned in the second-century Didache (16, 6) as destined to come in the sky before the end of the world. Other second-century writers (e.g., Justin) find the ‘sign of extension’ (the shape of the cross) present in nature. Perhaps this is what Thomas has in view.” (The Secret Sayings of Jesus, pp. 196-197).
• J. D. Crossan writes: “The first unit [3] is an implicit dialogue but an explicit antagonism. Jesus and his unspecified hearers are on one side, and ‘your leaders’ are on the other side. Those hearers can hear from their leaders incorrectly but from Jesus correctly. The second unit is an explicit dialogue but an implicit antagonism. Presumably those who ‘do not see’ the kingdom’s presence fail because they are ‘watching/looking’ for its advent. But 113:1-4 taken even by itself implies that ‘the disciples’ are among those ‘people’ who cannot see the kingdom’s presence; otherwise, they would not have asked that question.”  “In 113:1-4 there is a double ‘behold/here’ and ‘behold/there,’ followed by a contrasting alternative ‘rather [or: but].’ In 3:1-3 that structure appears as a single but unbalanced ‘behold/heaven’ and ‘-/sea’ followed by ‘rather [or: but].’ Is that common construction just coincidence, or are both those sayings diversified versions of the same basic unit? I answer tentatively in the affirmative because of the delicate parallels in form and structure just mentioned. Furthermore, the move seems to be from 113:1-4 toward 3:1-4 – that is, from criticism of ‘people’ to criticism of ‘leaders’ and from the somewhat clearer ‘the kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth’ to the somewhat more enigmatic ‘the kingdom is within you and it is outside you.'” (The Birth of Christianity, p. 314).
• J. D. Crossan concludes: “In terms of content, it is possible that 3:1-3 and 113:1-4 are two totally separate sayings making, each in its own way, a similar point. But I think it is more probably that they are two versions of the same structural unit: the kingdom of God is not here or there in the future but here and now in the present. But some, be they ‘people’ or ‘leaders,’ do not accept that position.” (The Birth of Christianity, p. 315).
• Funk and Hoover write: “There are other echoes [besides Thom 113 and Luke 17:20-21] of this way of putting the arrival of God’s imperial rule. In Thom 3:3, Jesus says, ‘The <Father’s> imperial rule is within you and it is outside you.’ Thom 51:2 is closer to Thom 113:4, ‘What you are looking forward to has come, but you don’t know it.’ In the Gospel of Mary, there is this admonition: ‘Be on guard so that no one deceives you by saying, ‘Look over here!’ or ‘Look over there!’ For the seed of true humanity exists within you.’ All these echoes reinforce the conclusion that a cluster of sayings that departed from the customary apocalyptic view was known to emanate from Jesus. It is fortunate for the quest of the historical Jesus that the gospel tradition vacuumed up a great many items that were not entirely congenial to the evangelists and communities that preserved these traditions. The contradictions and disagreements provide the historian with the elementary means of sorting the gospels out.” (The Five Gospels, p. 531).
• Gerd Ludemann writes: “Like 3.1-3, this logion, which echoes Luke 17.20-21, is concerned with the coming of the kingdom of God. It rejects all speculation about the date of its arrival, giving the reason that the kingdom of God is already spread out over the earth, but is not seen by people. Other passages in which Thomas speaks of the presence of the kingdom of God are 46.2; 51, etc.” (Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 644).

The noted similarity to the third saying, which is called the second by some, can help to make out of these ideas a single set for our better understanding but this should not be necessary in the view of the relationship between the Father and His Kingdom. The third saying does offer us this unique set by combining the thoughts of Luke with the thoughts of this current saying as we read:

Jesus says: “If those who lead you say to you: ‘Look, the kingdom is in the sky!’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you: ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fishes will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father. But if you do not come to know yourselves, then you exist in poverty, and you are poverty” (Thomas 3).

Here the combined idea that “the kingdom is inside of you, and outside of you” not only offers us this better understanding of this combination but a view as well of the combined Transcendence and Immanence of God. However, this may not be the way that this IS intended in our current saying which may well be just a different approach to the idea of the Kingdom Within. This reasoning of course does not matter as BOTH of these ideas ARE True. We should note above in the comments that some try to push off Thomas writings to the second century and this IS NOT unusual while others compare this to the Gospel of Mary with which we are not familiar. Mr. Crossan, in the second part of his commentary, gives us what we see as a great Truth; not in the separation of the sayings but rather in his words that: the kingdom of God is not here or there in the future but here and now in the present. But some, be they ‘people’ or ‘leaders,’ do not accept that position. We do KNOW that doctrine does not agree with these ideas and most doctrines are among those that do not accept this as a valid position; in our view however these ARE the words of the Master, from both Luke and Thomas, and these ARE the words of Life.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

We make note again that the prayer below as the Quote of the Day, the prayer that is attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, IS Truly a Christmas Prayer and a Christmas invocation addressed to the Inner man, to the Christ Within, that we can ALL practice and affirm in our lives and which can bring out our Love as our expression to others in this Season of Christ-mas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

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.

This is the Prayer of Saint Francis which we repeat again from a previous post as our Quote of the Day. If we were all to accept these ideas as guiding Lights in our lives, we would be expressing the Love and the Faith that the Master teaches. It is attributed to the 13th-century saint Francis of Assisi, although the prayer in its present form cannot be traced back further than 1912*. Regardless of the True authorship, the sentiments revealed in this prayer are genuine and are in keeping the intent of the teachings of the Master and His apostles. We should note here that the dying is not necessarily the death of the body but the death of the carnal man in the world when one is born again. In this context we read this about Saint Francis: Francis was the son of a wealthy foreign cloth merchant in Assisi, and he lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi. While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life**. Here is the antithesis of the rich young man of the gospels. While he may not have authored this prayer, many do attribute it to him and in reading about his Life one can easily see these ideas in his heart.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

This is a prayer that is Truly in line with the teachings of the Master and the ideals encapsulated in this should be those that govern our lives and our prayer should be that ALL can see Life in this same way. We should try to see the reality of these words in the verses above regarding feeding and visiting the least of His and our brethren; in these words is a deeper meaning, as clearer expression of Love and, we should look at the Master’s words above as an expression of Love and not merely in the terms that He presents as this is the intent of the entirety of His teachings.

Additional background information on Saint Francis of Assisi can be found in a rather lengthy article in the Catholic Encyclopedia; a link to this is provided below.†

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ⁴  Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ¹⁴ The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
• †  Link to New Advent http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06221a.htm*
• *  Wikipedia contributors. “Prayer of Saint Francis.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Jan. 2013.
• **Wikipedia contributors. “Francis of Assisi.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Jan. 2013.