IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 941

ON LOVE; PART DXXX

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 first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).

In the last post we continued our discussion on the Sermon on the Mount where we noted that there are some in the Christian community that DO NOT believe that these words are intended for the average man but rather for disciples only and while it IS True that they are addressed to His disciples, the Master DOES NOT speak to them in private as He sometimes does but in this open forum of which we read:

• “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying” (Matthew 5:1-2).
• “And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said” (Luke 6:17-20).

It IS from both of these words from the apostles that the common understanding that Jesus us speaking to ALL has been formulated but this has been altered by the doctrines of some who perhaps seek cover from the need to accomplish these things. The greater reality IS that these are fundamental instructions to the people, ALL of the people, regarding the Kingdom of God and discipleship and while the Beatitudes may be addressed to the disciple who is blessed in being among those cited, they ARE at the same time the promise to ALL men who can so achieve the stated ideas of meekness, thirsting after righteousness, being a peacemaker and expressing mercy and purity of heart which should be interpreted as expressing Love for ALL. We noted that there are some that think that this Sermon IS NOT intended to have social implications or to bring an end to wars and suffering, but this is a short sighted approach to these ideas, ideals and Truths regarding that same Love that the Master teaches in the Great Commandments that we are carrying at the head of our essay and the Golden Rule. The reality of the precepts of this Sermon IS that the Master is amplifying the words of the law and how a man should approach the law as opposed to traditions and Jewish doctrine; to this the Master corrects the mistaken position of doing ALL for the benefit of Life in this world and shows how a man ought to have his focus upon the things of God and His Kingdom rather that worldly gain and the uplifting of one’s own position. And we should note that the Master speaks not only against the Pharisees and rulers of the day but against ALL men who interpret the law as to their own benefit.

We should be careful here in understanding the Truths of the law as offered by Moses and remember that this IS recorded by men and according to their own understanding and vision and this IS not unlike the recording of the Master’s words in the New Testament. In saying this we are making a statement about the ideas of long Life and prosperity that are offered to the man who keeps the law and the word of God through the words of Moses where we should try to understand that there IS a parabolic value that is missed in this much the same as it is missed in much of what the Master says. From Jesus words most have a very limited vision of His ideas on treasure and riches and on sin and evil; the scope of these words escape many and this is likely as True in regard to the long Life and the prosperity offered to the ancient Jew. And we should note as well that in the Old Testament the words of the Lord are promises and curses which are addressed to the nation and not to the individual and while there may be some individual flexibility, we should see that the righteous and the unrighteous went into captivity together and that they ALL suffered as a nation. The Jew takes from the law what he sees as a benefit to himself just as the followers of most every religion do and their attitude yet today IS tied to the national mindset that was formulated centuries ago as God’s chosen people, an idea that IS wholly misunderstood and which we may someday have the True vision to discuss.

Today we will offer this: The reality of God speaks to men through a spiritual being of advanced vision and understanding of the Plan and of the very nature of God. It IS these most Spiritual Beings that manifest to the world of men and who operate as His Divine Representatives, and in His Name, bringing with them a view of what must be done for ALL to move closer to the Lord . This IS in the past done in parts, by culture if you will, but the time appears to be coming when there will be a more universal approach which IS made possible by the evolution of mind, our rapidly shrinking world and our more homogenized humanity. This of course IS my own vision based in what I see and understand about the Truth of God and our relationship to Him and the reality that there are those more advanced beings that DO guide the race of men, who stand in the background of human events, and whose representatives come among us individually. Their role is to influence men to see the Greater Reality of God and to move the evolution of mind on the more desired paths. In this world where the limited free will of humanity reigns, the options are limited from a spiritual perspective as it IS each Soul as an individual who must come to be able to awaken his own consciousness to the Good, the Beautiful and the True of the things of God. In these end IS the reality of the Apostle Paul’s words which we so often cite; our promise for the future that ALL: “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

Returning to our topic, we should try to see the picture that we painted in the last post, the picture of the Pharisee and other religious rulers of Jesus’ day as men who believe in those doctrines and traditions that they follow and know them to be what the Lord intended many centuries earlier; these men DO NOT see that they are deluded by their own doctrines and traditions as this IS ALL that they KNOW. These doctrines and traditions have replaced the Truth of the words of Jehovah as given through Moses; they are what IS taught and they are the interpreted value of the word of God. Here by example we should look at the idea from yesterday regarding a man’s parents; the Master asks “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death“. Here we should see that this IS one of the Ten Commandments and likely one that should be kept above the many that ARE NOT on this short list and to be sure the Pharisees and the scribes believe that they ARE keeping this commandment despite their doctrine that allows them to free themselves from the burden of ongoing care. The do so by the idea of the gift and while this may have even had virtuous meanings in times past it had deteriorated to a ploy by Jesus measure. In this they Jewish religious leaders set a cover for themselves against having to perform this commandment and this IS NOT unlike what happens in Christian doctrine yet today. The Master tells them the Truth saying “Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition” (Matthew 15:3-4, 6). It IS in this vein that the Master tells us that we must be more righteous than the Pharisee and the scribe as in their doing they DO believe that they are righteous and the people who follow them believe that they ARE as well…again, this IS ALL that they KNOW; they DO NOT see the reality as the Master paints it for them.

Our lesson in this is that we should be Truly righteous if we intend to enter into the Kingdom and while we are instructed to see that the Pharisee’s sense of righteousness IS false, ours own must be True. Not True to doctrine as the Pharisee and his teaching but True to the word of God and the words of the Master. This IS the reality to His words saying “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20) and this follows upon His words on keeping and teaching the Truths of the law, the True meaning of the commandments and not the interpretations that are for the convenience of men. From here the Master begins to discuss the law as it is interpreted by the doctrines and the traditions of the Jews in that day and the reality of the law as it should have been seen and as the Master Himself sees them. the first is one of the Ten Commandments:

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5:21-22).

The commandment itself is simple and says clearly “thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17); the latter part here is a matter of doctrine and not the commandment as it was given by the Lord. In this there are two views from doctrine; the one is kill as some versions render this and the other is murder which is used by others. Killing is of course a more open term than murder which gives the impression of intent to kill while the the idea of killing could be by most any means including accident and carelessness. In the Old Testament the word is rendered similarly by the various translations but here there is the added reality of allowances being make for unintentional killing and there are many verses dedicated to somewhat protecting the unintentional killer in refuge cities and in laws controlling how an avenger can operate and how the law can intercede. In our view here the idea of killing is the more accurate as this takes away even the feigning of accident and the offers the idea that to take a Life in any way IS wrong and subject to the appropriate punishment. Even in today’s laws the idea of murder and killing are separated as so that NOT ALL killing IS murder but ALL murder IS killing.

The Master’s words here are somewhat obscure but the first part, the part on anger, should be seen in the way that this IS offered which IS that anger has a causal relationship with killing and, in this case more specifically murder. Here the Master tells us that reality of “thou shalt not kill” goes to the reality of not putting oneself in a position where one could kill and to the generality that it IS anger that plays a role. Now there are degrees of anger and here in this Greek word we DO NOT KNOW if there is a degree implied but, if we look at the whole of the Master’s teaching, we can see that ALL anger is a worldly emotional response that should be avoided. The next part is also intended to be a point where one can stop short of killing by not saying this word Raca; a word that is of unclear meaning. The lexicon tells us that this is: a term of reproach used among the Jews and that it has the meaning of empty ². Now this make little sense from the perspective of empty as there IS NO relation here to killing or the potential to kill unless calling one empty-headed as considered as a reason to kill. However, if we look at this plainly as a term of reproach or as Strong’s tells us that Raca is: a term of abuse ³, perhaps we can make better sense of this. If we are to look at this in the same way as anger, there should be the potential in this to incite one to kill. The next part is yet more bewildering as is seems to say that calling another as a fool qualifies one for “hell fire“. Here this Greek word moros does translate to fool and foolish but this certainly can’t be the idea intended as the Master Himself calls men such and implies the foolishness of others. We should remember that these words from the Master can be parabolic and in our view this is the case here; or else there are other meanings attached to these words that we do not yet see.

In this saying we should try to see that the original commandment and the doctrinal interpretations ARE NOT enough and that a man must not put himself into a position where he could do such a thing as to kill which in this idea would be murder and perhaps in these ideas of Raca and “thou fool” there is a connection to other forms of killing and what can put a man into a position to do these. Perhaps it is the man who should not be a fool who can kill in his carelessness and perhaps the Raca has similar implications.

In the end sayings like this must make sense and the idea of one calling another empty-headed or a fool warranting such ideas in judgement and “hell fire” DO NOT and this especially when the Master uses this term Himself calling the Pharisees such. We should note here that these term  judgement and “hell fire” also require a degree of insight as we understand them; that judgement is a purely personal thing and that “hell fire” here refers to that dump outside of Jerusalem.

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 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!

• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ³ Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001