ON LOVE; PART DCII

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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).

Today IS Easter Sunday, the day of the celebration of the resurrection of the Christ nearly 2000 years ago. This is a day marked by many different types of celebration around the world and most importantly a day that brings to mind the purpose of it which, even if it IS ONLY a fleeting thought, IS a thought in reference to God and to the ‘miracle’ that the Christ performs. As we said in the last post, the Christ DID NOT die on Good Friday; Jesus died; and while many see this differently, while many see Jesus and the Christ as one and the same, there IS the deeper story that NOT only effects Christ and Easter but every man born in this Earth. That deeper story IS tied to the reality of Life itself; it IS tied to the reality that this phenomenal appearance of Jesus in the Earth IS NO different than the appearance of everyman. The form Life that we have come to KNOW as Jesus IS but the body that expressed the divine nature of the Christ; the name that we have given to that Great Soul who came among us as the Son of God and IS our teacher and our guide who says to us ALL:

• “Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).
• “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
• “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
• “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried , saying , If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37).

This IS His invitation to men, to be His disciples and to follow in His words and in His ways; this IS the message of the Christ while He was with us in the body that we call Jesus and this message to follow Him IS given in full knowledge that He will give up His Life in a most brutal fashion. His invitation however IS NOT that we follow Him to a brutal death; His message IS that we follow Him to Life, to our realization of the True meaning of eternal Life as we turn away from the selfish attitudes of the ways of men in the world. And this IS what He shows us, this IS the deeper story: the body of Jesus is hung on the cross and dies and this releases the Soul who IS the Christ from the burden of that form and from any attachment that he may have had to the world. It IS the Christ that expressed the Way, the Truth and the Life through the body of Jesus and it IS the resurrected Christ who expresses the same through whatsoever form He chooses and this because He IS able to say “I have overcome the world” (John 16;33).

And there IS a yet deeper story that IS told in parable and parabolic sayings. The story of His death and resurrection show us that there IS NO end to Life in death and, while doctrine has accepted this idea, they have colored it in religious terms and conditions that the Master never offered and have created stories regarding His ‘time’ in the tomb based upon misunderstood words from the epistles. It IS in these ideas that we find the doctrinal teaching of heaven and hell and the strange assumption that He Himself went to hell to lead out the saints or believers of old. This latter part IS even a verse of the Apostle’s Creed saying that Jesus Christ “was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell. The third day he arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven“; most ALL who attend any kind of religious schooling are made to memorize this. The greater and deeper ideas are lost in the dogma of the churches which tell us also in this same Creed that He “sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead“, which IS in contradiction to His own words saying: “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20) and in this we should see that He never left us.

In His parables and His parabolic sayings, the Master tells us of the Kingdom of God, that it IS. He says early in His ministry that men should “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17) and while doctrine makes this so that this IS a new dynamic introduced by Jesus, we should try to see that in this teaching men should come to realize the presence of the Kingdom, a presence that the Old Testament teachings DO NOT make clear but which showed forth in the lives of the prophets and holy men. The Master teaches us on the growth of the Kingdom within by parable and these also are not properly understood by most yet today and it IS in these parabolic sayings that one can glimpse the Truth of His more direct words saying “behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). This IS NOT understood as it IS intended by most doctrinal Christians as doctrine seems to go out of the way to deny these Truths by changing the rendering and the intent of the Master. This IS His message and the deeper meaning of His own death and resurrection which show us that in His presence as a Son of God, as one in whom “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9), that “the kingdom of God is come unto you” (Matthew 12:28). Most ALL of this is parabolic and most ALL of this IS NOT yet properly understood by the man in the doctrinal churches.

In His presence as Jesus the Master is expressing the Truth of the Kingdom in ALL that He says and does and in the lives of the apostles there is much the same as they display the Love and the Power of the Soul through their lives. This reality IS seen as Jesus sends them out as recorded in the gospels and we should not think that these ideas are isolated into a few days; we KNOW very little of the totality of what any of them did for most of the Master’s ministry; we read Jesus instructions saying: “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:7-8). It IS in the Power of the Kingdom of God Within each of these disciples that they ARE able to do these things; it IS by the Love and the Power of the Soul, the Christ Within, in the Kingdom of God. No where does the Master say anything regarding having to experience death to see the Kingdom, most ALL is based in the misunderstood and out of context sayings of the epistles; there are several ideas that have been construed to show this idea of death and heaven in doctrine and the closest IS likely in Jesus words saying:

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am , there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know” (John 14:1-4).

This IS the beginning of a long dissertation on the relationship of the Master to His disciples and to the Father as well as the Master’s introduction of the Holy Spirit as a concept, as the Comforter and the Spirit of Truth in their lives. There IS a reality to these words which IS NOT in relation to the apostles’ death nor to His second coming and Vincent gives us some insightful ideas regarding this; he says: I will come again (πάλιν ἔρχομαι); The present tense; I come, so Rev. Not to be limited to the Lord’s second and glorious coming at the last day, nor to any special coming, such as Pentecost, though these are all included in the expression; rather to be taken of His continual coming and presence by the Holy Spirit. “Christ is, in fact, from the moment of His resurrection, ever coming into the world and to the Church, and to men as the risen Lord” (Westcott) . There IS a perhaps a point here that must be taken and seen properly by disciples ONLY and in the Twelve we find the first of those whose relationship with the Master should continue; here we should understand that place IS NOT a physical place as we ARE speaking about the Kingdom which has NO physical presence as we can understand this. The place IS perhaps a station, a new role in the Plan of God for each of them and for those who follow as well; and we should try to understand that when we can say with the Master that “I have overcome the world” that we are then ready for such a new role and new station.

Jesus preaches the Kingdom as it IS here and now and we should try to see this same dynamic embedded in His crucifixion and His resurrection, both of which are completely in His control as a fully functional Son of God. We close today with some of the Gospel writers depiction of the Master after His resurrection; after the resurrection of the Christ in the world, after the death of the physical form of Jesus. In these three depictions of this glorious event we should try to see the lesson of the Master regarding the Life of the man who IS has overcome the world and who has developed such certainty, such KNOWING, that he KNOWS who and what he IS and who can move that mountain to the sea; we should see clearly that death IS but a new beginning.

• Mark offers us this version: “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled  and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid. Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen” (Mark 16:1-14).

• Luke tells us “And, behold, two of them went  that same day to a village called  Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together  of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there  in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in  deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside  all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and  all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.  And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished  out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.  And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (Luke 24:13-36). Now while doctrine may hold to the simple words that “their eyes were holden that they should not know him” to show why the Master is not recognized, our reality is very different and includes our Truth that the changing forms as reported here and above in Mark’s Gospel are a part of His intent that we should understand the reality of Life if we can discern it from His words. We should also see that “he vanished  out of their sight” and that in the words from Luke above “as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them” we see Him in the form of Jesus which we read as well in Mark above that “he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat”.

• In John’s version of the resurrection story we read this account of Mary’s encounter with the Master: “And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master” (John 20:14-16). Here again we have a one who KNOWS Jesus yet cannot recognize Him after the resurrection because He has a different appearance and not as some may believe saying that she is afraid and confused. Here again in John’s Gospel we get an understanding of the Master’s use of form as we are told “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (John 20:19).

We should try to see the overwhelming effort of the apostles to show forth the Truth that it IS the Christ who IS resurrected and that His appearance as the form of Jesus that was KNOWN by those close to Him need not be the form that the Master assumes and we should see as well the display of His Power to control that nature of that world that He had overcome.

 

HAPPY EASTER

 

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

This is called by some of the church the Great Commission and so it is. It is however hardly understood and at times grossly misapplied. Somewhere in the centuries that have passed since the Master left us we have come to think that the meaning of this is just to preach the word through any particular doctrine and baptize according to any particular belief. Vincent tells us that the word translated as teach here should be seen as make disciples of ⁴ and the lexicon bears this out. There is nowhere in scripture an actual defining understanding of the concept of baptism and we generally think of it as the immersion into or the pouring on of water and that somehow this clears us of sin. This is but an outward sign however of real spiritual undertaking by the conscious man and it is only when a man is ready to commit to the Master that a baptism can be considered real. We will leave this as the Quote of the Day for a few days and try to find in it some true meaning. Keeping in mind our four points, we should ponder on this.

The Master is speaking to disciples and not the multitudes and these are those that do believe on Him and follow Him and keep His words. Hard sayings for man in the world but claimed by many nonetheless. There IS a reality in the idea that the disciple should be “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” which IS His words that ARE to be kept and in this light we add these ideas from the Buddha: “Love yourself and watch – today, tomorrow, always. First establish yourself in the way, Then teach, and so defeat sorrow. To straighten the crooked you must first do a harder thing – straighten yourself” (Dhammapada; on Yourself)⁵.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

 

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888