ON LOVE; PART MXIV
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “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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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
We ended the last essay with story of the centurion from the Gospel of the Apostle Matthew. This IS a story of a faith that IS NOT nebulous but which IS, from the perspective of the centurion, the reality of his KNOWING that if Jesus would say that He would heal the servant, that He would certainly DO so. We should see in this how that the centurion expected his servant to be healed based upon Jesus’ words and His words of Truth were his assurance. It should be obvious that the centurion DID recognize the Divine Power of the Master as he called Him Lord and we should see here as well the degree of Love, the measure of Love, that this man had for his servant; here, from the perspective of the average centurion, there might NOT be such Love for one who IS hired or who IS the bond-servant….here we DO NOT KNOW which one this IS.
While the Greek word pais that IS rendered here as servant can also be rendered as child, the Apostle Luke’s version of this story tells us that this IS the “centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him” (Luke 7:2); here the Greek word doulos which IS always servant IS used. Perhaps Matthew’s use of pais IS intended to indicate the same closeness of the centurion and his servant that Luke puts into words and in this sense we should see the folly of some interpretations that show this centurion and his servant as a gay couple. Our point here IS that there IS a Love relationship between the centurion and his servant and in this we should try to see the idea of agape, of Love, for one that there need NOT be such a relationship. In both of these ideas, the Love and the KNOWING attitude, we have True Christian principals being expressed and we should see here that despite his being a gentile, the centurion IS a man of faith. The story differs in Luke’s telling which we read saying:
“And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue. Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about , and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick” (Luke 7:2-10).
The larger difference here IS that while Matthew has the centurion coming to Jesus, Luke has him sending “the elders of the Jews” but this IS NOT the importance of the story itself. What IS important IS the sense of faith, the sense of KNOWING, and the Love that ARE expressed by the centurion who DOES NOT “think of himself more highly than he ought to think” (Romans 12:3), a trait that IS apparent in both texts. While the homosexual interpretations offered in regard to this story ARE folly, there IS the reality that Jesus would NOT hold back His healing grace from any and it IS this that we should see in the Apostle Paul’s words saying that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). The essence of this story IS faith, it IS the KNOWING heart of the centurion. He KNOWS without doubt that Jesus will heal his servant if He says that this IS what he will DO. And this faith stretches far; in it IS the centurion’s KNOWING the spiritual Power of the Master and it IS perhaps his own Power of KNOWING without doubt that DOES heal the servant.
Luke DOES NOT reflect upon the actual action of healing the servant other than to say that “they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick“. Matthew on the other hand DOES show us this healing in Jesus words to the centurion saying: “Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee“. We should see in this those words on faith and believing from the Apostle Mark’s Gospel saying that the man who “shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23). Can we see how that there IS a deeper point here that IS missed by most; how that here in this story the Master IS showing us the very Power of True faith in the hearts of men.
This IS the same idea that we take from Matthew’s version of this saying which shows us the very same point; that “If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done” (Matthew 21:21). Here we should try to see a different form of measure than we have been discussing. If we can look at the deeper ideas of the words, we may be able to see how that this sense of KNOWING can come to a man who IS yet trapped in a carnal existence as IS this centurion; his very profession requires that he live the Life of a man in this world while his thoughts here ARE on the more spiritual ideas of faith and Love.
Perhaps we can see in this story how that the lives of men can be changed without the fullness of leaving off of Life as a man in this world and how that this approach to the spiritual brings forth a measure of the grace of God which should be understood as one’s striving. Nonetheless, it IS the fullness of measure that men DO seek as they begin to strive and while this may NOT be accomplished in this Life, the forward progress that each man achieves IS surely “accounted to him for righteousness” (Galatians 3:6). And this IS the reality that we should see in the trifecta; that while this idea of keeping His words seems far distant and illusive, there IS a reality of achievement in striving, a reality that IS found in Jesus words on the growth of the Kingdom Within. We read Jesus’ words which ARE our trifecta again:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“ (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
There IS fullness and there IS measure and in the reality that it IS by measure that one reaches fullness we find the Truth of the striving toward which the Master points us saying: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). In the story of the centurion we have a man who IS a Roman soldier, a leader of other men according to the wishes of his own commanders, but this DOES NOT preclude him from faith….from KNOWING that Jesus IS Lord and in this KNOWING IS his assurance that his servant will be healed. This IS what he expects in the same way as he expects that the soldier under him and his servants will comply based upon his authority. Again we DO NOT KNOW whether it IS the Master who heals the servant or if it IS the centurion himself through His own believing without doubt; we DO KNOW however that in the promise of this Truth that “If ye have faith, and doubt not“, IS the reality that “all things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23).
In these ideas we should be able to see and to understand how that faith IS a “fruit of the Spirit“, how that faith IS the expression of KNOWING by the man in this world. Faith IS the expression of the certainty in which the man who has such fruit lives, a certainty that IS based in his assurance and expectation that the Master’s words ARE the Truth by which one should live, and that to DO so IS to KNOW the Truth and the mysteries of Life and of the Kingdom. Here we should try to see how that this KNOWING IS the reward, the wages, and the grace that comes to the man who will keep His words and in this we should see the reality of these other words on faith from the Book of Hebrews: “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is , and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
And this IS our view of faith which we have been discussing, and our view of believing: that if one DOES KNOW that He IS God he will keep His words and this unlike those who feign such belief, those who consciously or unconsciously profess belief yet fail to act in this assurance and in the expectation that it IS His word that IS Truth. From the earliest of Judaeo-Christian times the teaching has been to DO the word of God and to keep His commandments and we should try to see that the sin of the Jews IS NOT in piddly carnal endeavors but in the reality that they DID NOT obey the words of the Lord….they went after “other gods” which IS the embodiment of turning one’s focus to the things of the self and of the self in the world. And such IS the sin of men yet today whose attention IS NOT upon God as we see in the first of the Great Commandments but IS rather upon their own little lives and their own little achievements.
And here IS the rub: it IS through the doctrines of men that this reality IS NOT seen as men have come to believe that their own little lives and their own little achievements are founded in the word of God. This IS to the exclusion of the Great Commandments which ARE deemed impossible despite His words that “all things are possible to him that believeth“; that IS ALL things ARE possible to him that KNOWS the Truth. So it IS with this idea from the writer of Hebrews which tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1); when we can see in this the reality of KNOWING, in fullness and in measure, we can then understand the reality that it IS in the firm conviction, in the assurance and in the firm expectation that “all things are possible to him that believeth“, that we find the Truth of the story of the centurion. It IS in the firmness of his trust in the Lord, his KNOWING that the Master’s word IS Truth, that his servant IS healed and in this it matters NOT that the Lord performed this or that the centurion DID this in his own measure of believing.
From the perspective of Jesus words “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” and “as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee” we should see what IS the effect of measure, of one’s measure of faith and one’s measure of fruit, be it thirtyfold, sixty or an hundred (Mark 4:24). Such measure IS determined by one’s measure of striving toward the Kingdom of God….which IS striving to keep His words. To understand that faith IS more that than those nebulous ideas provided by the doctrines of men IS to understand the idea of KNOWING, spiritual KNOWING, which IS so much more than the mental and emotional approach of most ALL religion. It IS this KNOWING that IS the realization of the man, it IS this KNOWING that IS the grace of God and we should understand here that this KNOWING IS what we receive according to His words from our trifecta saying “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“.
And much of what we can say here about the centurion we can say about the “woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years” and others to whom the gist of the Master’s parting words ARE “thy faith hath made thee whole” (Matthew 9:20, 22). In these instances of healing Jesus implies that it IS the faith of the healed or of the one desiring healing for another that IS responsible for the miracle and in this we should try to see the action of KNOWING that IS enabled in the heart of the one who sees the Truth; the one who realizes the Presence of God from whence the Truth of KNOWING flows. We close today with our subject words from Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians which show us that this faith, this KNOWING of the Truth and its expression, IS that faith which IS a “fruit of the Spirit “; Paul tells us:
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:17-24).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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 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.
