IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 943

ON LOVE; PART DXXXII

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“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).

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“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 essay we were able to see the relationship between the first three of the sayings found in the Sermon on the Mount. In the idea that these ARE NOT isolated sayings there can be seen a steady flow of reality in regard to the relationship of a one man with another and here in these sayings the Master uses the word brother which should be taken to be any fellow or man or the ever clearer all men as find in the lexicon ². The lexicon also lists other defining terms for this Greek word adelphos which include: a brother, whether born of the same two parents or only of the same father or mother; having the same national ancestor, belonging to the same people, or countryman; a fellow believer, united to another by the bond of affection; an associate in employment or office; brethren in Christ his brothers by blood; apostles; Christians, as those who are exalted to the same heavenly place ². In these ideas we have the broadest view and then the narrower view but here in this time there IS NOT this full list to choose from; there ARE NO Christians, there ARE NO apostles, the idea of associate IS NOT practical; there ARE NOT yet fellow believers; and the idea of brothers of the same parents is too limited to cause the Master to offer these ideas to ALL as the rifts among this type of brother is not the normal occurrence. This leaves us with our broader ideas of any fellow or man or all men which are in essence the same plus the notion of countrymen and those of the same national ancestry which ARE themselves covered by the commandments that say that any man, any stranger in one’s presence is an equal in most ALL ways. This we read in the words of Moses which tell us clearly that:

• “One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you” (Exodus 12:49).
• “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.  But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:33-34).
• “For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:17-19).

We should remember that the Master IS speaking mostly to Jews who somewhat understand the law as in this day the religious law was the common law as well in the minds of the people and their rulers and it IS their interpretation of these laws that the Pharisees hold against the Master and it IS the Truth of the law that the Master holds against them. In this then we should see the Truth of brotherhood from a Jewish perspective and in our words above we should see that any of the other ideas except those that say ALL men are of no consequence in the context of these sayings from the Sermon. Despite these rather clear ideas above there ARE yet some that position this idea of brother as a fellow believer in their bible translation as we cited in the last post and there are many others who believe that this IS the case every time they see the word brother in the New Testament. Of course not ALL see these words this way but in the most prevalent ideas on Love, there is a dire shortage of Love for those who are not family or close friend and the degree of potential Love diminishes as one moves further away as to other religions, countries, cultures and races. Is this human nature or learned behavior? we CAN NOT say as there are personal hatreds and religious, there are national and cultural hatreds and there certainly are racial hatreds and whether we call them as hatred or as prejudice, the results are largely the same in relation to the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule.

As regards our three sayings, we must understand the reality of brother in the broadest sense and see these ideas in the same way as we should see neighbor; the reality of the Love that the Master teaches IS that we Love ALL men and that we Love them as He teaches and NOT in that emotional and somewhat mental type of Love that IS commonly found in the world. Repeating our first three commandments from the Sermon for clarity:

“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. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing” (Matthew 5:21-26).

In these we have the Master’s words on the carnal relationships between men and a teaching on the way that a disciple and an aspirant should perceive his brother. The ideas here ARE reciprocal in nature, that IS there IS NO determination of who may be right or who may be wrong involved; there IS only the mutual forgiveness and the Truth that neither party can Truly approach God if he IS angry or if another IS angry with him and, in this anger we should see the equanimity that the Master creates with killing. Perhaps this equanimity is best explained by the Apostle James who tells us: “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:10-11). This IS a reality that IS NOT appreciated in Christian doctrine which maintain that some sins are worse than others but this IS not what the apostle says nor IS this what the Master says as He compares killing with anger and whatsoever IS truly meant in the ideas of Raca and “thou fool“. While the idea of anger can be seen as a precursor to killing, this IS NOT necessarily so and in this the deeper idea that they are equivalent comes forth; for us this IS NO surprise as we understand sin to be ALL things that are for the self in the world. There are degrees of sin but ALL IS sin; ALL focus that IS NOT on the things of God IS focus that IS upon the self and IS contrary to the ways of God. And this IS the purpose of the rest of the words in this group of sayings: that there be nothing amiss between one man and another…the one will not get angry and the one who KNOWS that another is angry or displeased will reach out in reconciliation as without this a man CAN NOT approach God. To this the Master adds the reality that if men do not reconcile, that matters only can get worse and He puts forth the ideas of court and prison and uttermost cost as examples to show the reality of consequence for allowing anger and bad feelings to continue.

Now these things are difficult from the carnal point of view; it IS NOT easy for a man to apologize and make things right or even to admit that he IS wrong and, at the same time it IS NOT easy for a man to accept being wronged without focusing himself on retribution. And we should see that these ideas concern most ALL interrelationships that a man can have with another; this IS killing and this IS anger and, again, whatever IS implied in Raca and “thou fool“. We should see behind these ideas ALL causative actions that can bring men to these states and understand that there IS an equivalency. The Master continues this idea of equivalence in His next words where we find that thinking about an act IS the same as performing that act and again in this we should take the broadest of interpretations; Jesus says: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). Here again we have one of the Ten Commandments and one that is little understood and one that cuts both ways; in an adulterous relationship both parties are equally guilty. Here we find first an offense against ones own personal values and second the offense that one projects upon his wife or husband. In these words the Master IS speaking about the marriage relationship and not some metaphorical reference and this can be seen in the second part regarding lusting after another. We should understand here as well that while the Master is speaking to men about this, that this also works in both directions; if a woman looks upon a man “to lust after” him, the situation IS the same and it is likely framed like this as this is the predominant way that it would occur and especially in those days where the man was most always the aggressor; today this is likely not as True in much of the world.

The point here however is that adultery IS sin and that lusting after another so to have such a relationship IS equally wrong. In this and in the combination above of killing and anger, we should be able to see the trend of the Masters teaching; that whatsoever one creates in his heart, his consciousness, is equal to doing such. Here we should see the further idea that looking at a thing so as to steal it IS the same as actually taking in as it IS the consciousness that commits sin, it is the consciousness that first steals, the consciousness that first commits adultery, the consciousness that first angers; these ARE become the thoughts and the attitudes of the man in the world which then become the actions or, if the man is strong enough to resist, they remain as thoughts and attitudes. The next group of sayings is a part of this idea which the Master begins with adultery and then goes on to explain His point, that it IS the heart that must come against these things. We read: “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30).

This part of the Master’s words is parabolic to be sure as He IS not advocating cutting off limbs nor plucking out eyes but the Truth that lies behind these ideas in principal…that one IS better off in such a condition than to remain in sin. And while these words are directed at ALL men they are particularly directed to the man who aspires to His Kingdom and to the man who believes that he is IS on the spiritual Path. While it IS the eye that allows the man to “looketh on a woman to lust after her“, it IS the consciousness that sees through the eye and moves it toward her, it IS the heart, that Truly offends and while it IS the hand that takes such action in the commission of adultery, this is but the action engendered by the consciousness which “looketh on a woman to lust after her” and which uses the hand to commit the offence. Much of the world still today protects the man from this looking and longing to touch by religious dress codes and the code in these days is likely similar with long robes and head coverings on most ALL women. This IS quite unlike the intentionally revealing mode of dress in the more secular societies. In this however the Master still sees the need to speak about adultery in this time and to use this as His example of the way that the consciousness, the heart of the man, IS that part which offends but this too is a lesson that IS NOT easily learned.

The Master’s message in both of these themes; killing and anger, and adultery and lust, IS the same, it is the heart that one must tame, it is the consciousness that uses the thoughts and the emotions and converts them into actions and while it IS the personality that acts using the eye and the hand, it is the consciousness which IS grounded in the things of the world who commits ALL acts. These ARE the Truths behind these words which, while they ARE NOT ALL clear as day, there IS enough clarity spoken to show off the meaning that killing and anger, and adultery and lust, are equal in the eyes of the Lord for most ALL men; and there is the deeper meanings; that of the role of the heart, the consciousness, and to understand that these are but examples of the whole. We close today with John Gill’s doctrinal understanding of these ideas from the Master as a contrast against our own; Mr. Gill tells us in part:

And if thy right eye offend thee; Or “cause thee to offend”, to stumble, and fall into sin. Our Lord has no regard here to near and dear relations seeking to alienate us from God and Christ, and hinder us in the pursuit of divine things; whose solicitations are to be rejected with the utmost indignation, and they themselves to be parted with, and forsaken, rather than complied with; which is the sense some give of the words: for both in this, and the following verse, respect is had only to the law of adultery; and to such members of the body, which often are the means of leading persons on to the breach of it; particularly the eye and hand. The eye is often the instrument of ensnaring the heart this way: hence the Jews have a saying, `whoever looks upon women, at the end comes into the hands of transgression’…..And if thy right hand offend thee; Or “cause thee to offend”; that is, is the means of ensnaring thine heart; and of drawing thee into either mental, or actual adultery; for, as before, all unchaste looks, so here, all unchaste touches, embraces are condemned. As adultery may be committed in the heart, and by the eye, so with the hand ⁸.

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
• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com