IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 948

ON LOVE; PART DXXXVII

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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).

As we discussed in the last essay, this end part of the fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel IS the culmination of Jesus words in this first third of the Sermon on the Mount and while it IS True that men created the chapter and verse layout of the Gospels, there is a definite high point here at the end and then a new and different set of ideas that follow. Here in this first third we have the Beatitudes which ARE likely intended to tell the disciples about the result of their qualities as well as to offer a vision of discipleship to the listening multitudes. This IS followed by Jesus’ admonition that the disciple use his Light, to let ALL men see it by their works, which we should understand as ALL that they may do and say; here the words are clear to ALL saying:

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

This IS a most important part of being a disciple and here, even if one does not actively go out and preach as we find in the Master’s later admonitions to his apostles, we can yet let that “light so shine before men” in every thing that we do and say; He does tell us later that it is “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20) and in this fruit we should understand the same idea as works. In our view this commandment from the Lord to disciples and those who would be disciples, aspirants such as we are, shows us the reality that we should not hide away nor take ourselves out of the world but that we should remain an active part and thus be that display of Light as we are told to be. Before this the Master tells us about salt, about that quality of the disciple that he CAN NOT lose, and we place this second here because it IS in the display of Light that we can keep ourselves focused upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True, on the things of God. His message here that “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour , wherewith shall it be salted ? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men” (Matthew 5:13) is His parabolic way of telling us this Truth. The disciple IS the Truth of Life in the world, the expression of divinity which IS that Light that we “shine before men“, the disciple IS “the salt of the earth” and our understanding here should be that if the disciple falls back into the world, that he becomes as one whose focus ISagain carnal and the idea of the disciple having his role to play in the Life of men IS diminished and disappears. And what IS the role of the disciple in regard to salt? It IS to awaken the flavor of Truth in others in the world of men.

There are many opinions on the Master’s True meaning of this parabolic saying and many of them take the idea of the salt literally; in our view here and in our previous post we look at the disciple as representative of that salt. It IS the disciple that offers the savor of what IS the Good, the Beautiful and the True to ALL; this IS his role in Life and he CAN NOT lose this savoriness as without this he falls back in to the world of the unsavored. This idea of savor can be see as the quality of the salt and of the disciple, that which defines him; losing this quality is the gist of the Master’s words here and in the idea that “it is thenceforth good for nothing” we should see a spiritual reality….that spiritually the disciple IS NO longer of any use. In the comparison here of the disciple with salt we should see as well the purpose of salt, that it awakens the flavor, or the savor of those foods to which it IS added, it intensifies and it preserves. These are both important lessons for the disciple and those who would be disciples; in the salt we have the admonition to endure and to maintain that quality and in the Light the admonition to express that quality in ALL that we do.

The Master goes on to teach the disciples and those listening about the nature of the law, that the law endures; not in the doctrinal sense nor in the sense of the words alone however, the law endures in the Truth of its intent.  Jesus goes on to discuss and to expand upon the essential Truths and the differences between the Truth of the law and those words from Moses that were in an effort to govern the people and Moses words on divorce are shown in this Light in later chapters. Perhaps here we should look at the duality of the law again and understand that those parts of the law that are in regard to the interactions of men with each other and their interactions with the Truth of God are those that do endure while those that were for the governance of the men in Moses day are the more temporal. We have discussed this in previous posts as we noted that the dietary laws are changed by the Master’s words on what it IS that can defile a man and the laws regarding sacrifice were abandoned by the prophets centuries earlier but the Jewish rulers DID NOT see this. And we should note here as well that the totaltity of the doctrines and traditions is seen by the Master as the “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” by the religious leaders of the day. These are the changes that are made apparent in the Master’s words that follow but first, with this doctrinal view in mind, the Master tells the disciples and those listening 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). Here, while the Pharisees and the scribes believe that they are righteous and the people under their doctrine believe that they are righteous, they ARE NOT of the degree of righteousness that IS needed to be accounted worthy of the Kingdom. Their righteousness IS founded in their own doctrines and pronouncements which ARE formulated to the convenience of the men in those days rather than True righteousness that IS grounded in Truth and Love.

From here the Master goes on to expound upon the law as it should be understood and as it likely was always meant be be. In the more barbarous and superstitious times of Moses, the ideas of the law were seen by most ONLY in the physical way and the doctrines invented to explain and convey them to the people were filled with ideas that would make observing the law a more convenient thing. It IS in this realm of doctrinal Truth that the idea of sacrifice became the way to alleviate sin and to appease God and while Moses did set up an elaborate ritual of sacrifices and holy days, the intent was to bring men closer to God and NOT to be a substitute for that closeness while many of those who were chosen to be closest, the priest and the Levites, took advantage of their positions to their own benefit creating the hierarchy that still existed in Jesus day. This IS not intended to be a historical perspective but only to show the state of the religious rulers about whom the Master tells us an over whose the seeker of Truth’s “righteousness shall exceed“. So the Master tells us of the reality of anger and its equality to killing and NOT ONLY because anger can lead to killing but because it afflicts the heart of man and keeps him from the Lord. He tells us about the reality of adultery, on how it begins in the heart and that the adulterous heart is no different than the physical act as it pollutes the a marriage much the same. Jesus tells us about the reality of marriage and how the intent is not that this is a temporary state but that it is a permanent one and we should try to see that in these vows of Love and commitment there is much Power whether they are verbalized or merely implied by the act of copulation. Here perhaps we can see the intent of His later words that: “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches” (Luke 16:11). And so divorce IS NOT the way of Life for the man who is faithful and neither IS adultery which remains as the valid way to dissolve a marriage and which puts the onus upon the other party.

The Master then tells us about vows and oaths and how that they do not work to the benefit of man because he does not have the wherewithal to assure that his vow will be kept; in this we see the powerlessness of the man in the world against tomorrow’s accidents and the limited free will of others; while we see the marriage vow in this as well, most do not. Our view is that the forming of the bond of marriage and the acknowledgement of this bond by both parties IS sufficient and was sufficient in Jesus day regardless of how it IS that one came to be married. We should see here that any unfaithfulness in this arena of marriage is difficult for the True seeker to overcome and that in today’s thoughts on marriage in many parts of the world the whole of the Master’s words have been strongly diluted. We lay this off on evolution, the evolution of emotional response and the evolution of mind, and we understand that the fixation of these personality attributes sees ONLY the self for so many. And the reality IS here for ALL affirmations, that they are the word of the man and should be his Truth and understood as such by others; here a man’s word is his bond.

Then we have the Master’s teaching on retribution and on vengeance and here again we see that the ideas commanded by Moses are not seen in the context that they were offered nor in the complexity that they deserve. Most believe that the ideas of vengeance and recompense in the law is directed only at other nations and that the ideas of eye for eye are for the people but the Master tells us that this IS wrong and while Moses may have presented it in this way, it IS the law of Love that comes first and the law of mercy. These old ideas of eye for eye are for the governance of the nation, to prevent lawlessness and while these are acceptable notions for that governance, the Master tells us that one should never come to this and that those times are over; this IS a very difficult idea to understand so long as the self is the focus of one’s Life. The message for the new day, for the new dispensation of Love, is that a man “resist not evil“; turn the other cheek and willingly give and let go of those things that another wants to take. This IS the way of the disciple and the man who would be one; this man must come to understand the Truth of forsaking in Love. And the Master, having built His teaching up to this point then continues with the ever more important Truths of Life beginning again with the idea of giving of ones possessions and ending in the Truth of giving of one’s True self; we read:

“Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:42-48).

In these first ideas of giving IS the ultimate reality of Love and of forsaking. Love because we give willingly and forsaking because those things that we give play no part in our own spiritual endeavors. Here in the Master’s words we should see that the whole of the idea of borrowing is tied together and “him that asketh” can be asking either for a loan or a gift; the reality IS the same….give. Luke makes these ideas a bit clearer for us saying:

“Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:30-36).

While the structure of Luke’s sayings is a bit different, the intent IS the same; while Luke uses different ideas to express the Truth, the Truth IS the same and we can try to see this in the ultimate reality of mercy and perfection, as these two apostles use different words to express that same Love of God that the Master expresses and that we MUST as well. In Luke’s words we have the same idea on giving to those that ask; Luke goes on to those who take which is covered by Matthew in the previous verses but Luke DOES NOT ignore the idea of borrowing; rather he expands upon it saying “lend, hoping for nothing again” which IS in essence the same as giving. Here then we can lend but our attitude should be that of giving and if what we lend IS returned well and good but if not, it was a gift anyway. Here in these ideas Luke also firms up for us the idea of one who takes which we discussed in the last post from Matthew’s words; there the idea was that we should give more and extra; the cloak with the coat and the two miles for the one. We showed the idea from commentary regarding “resist not evil” which some lay off to seeking ‘justice’ through the law and this idea likely would pertain to all evil including another taking one’s goods; here however we should look at Luke’s version of the Master’s words that tell us that this IS NOT the intent as the Master says that when another takes one’s goods that he should “ask them not again“. Here we should see that when one takes from you that this IS equivalent to asking and even borrowing; we let go of these worldly things willingly and in Love. These ARE NOT easy things for the man in the world. 

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!