YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)
Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
From our perspective we should never assume that the meaning of anything that Jesus says lies on the surface; we should always know that there is, and we should look for, a deeper and more spiritual meaning. The very nature of His time with us tells us that this should be so. He is our spiritual teacher, He is known in esoteric circles as the Teacher of Men and Angels. When we take what He says in an Earthly way we can miss the entire point of His saying. There are many who insist that Jesus teaches prosperity and that He teaches healing but this is not so; He teaches the way to the Kingdom of God and should we find this, prosperity and healing will find us. This is not to say money and goods, though some of this may come, but this is to say spiritual richness in our everyday lives fed by the Christ Within. This is not to say that our bodies will be healthy and right but it is to say that, through the power of the Spirit within us, we will be at peace and in harmony with all, which may bring to us physical healing in its wake.
In our journey through the parables we have tried to stay focused on the spiritual side of life and on bringing that spiritual power of the Christ Within to bear on our everyday personality consciousness. We have related the Soul which is the Christ Within, our Inner Man, to God in our interpretation of these parables and in so doing we have successfully shined new light on each of the parables that we have discussed. In these we see that our communication with God is through our own Souls, our own Christ; through this Higher Self, this Inner Man we come to be in the Presence of God and bring that Presence to bear on our everyday consciousness where it must be found if we are to experience the Kingdom of God here and now. Thus, the True Self, the Soul as our spiritual presence, functions through our outer appearance in the world. This of course is accomplished through focusing on the True Self and not on the conscious personality’s Earthly life and by letting that Soul Light shine through and work through our daily lives. We are here in this form but we are not this form; we are the True Self, the Life within this form.
Continuing on with our interpretation of the Parables of Jesus, we now come to the Parable of the Rich Fool. This parable is found only in the Gospel of Luke and has acquired a number of everyday interpretations; most of which address the story line and not the deeper spiritual significance. The Parable goes thus: “…..The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying , What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21).
Who is the rich man? In that day he was a successful farmer and land owner, today he is the successful entrepenuer, the banker, the investor or the CEO of a large corporation. He is the sport’s star, the recording artist and the featured entertainer. He is also the heir to fortunes and the ever so lucky winner and, as we will see further on he is any man who believes that he is rich. This story is about a rich man; any rich man. Jesus cites one who has much for his time, in fact more than he could keep and store in his facilities. Some commentaries depict this man as foolish in his wealth and perhaps he is but is this not every man who values riches; is this not the man that Jesus in another parable says is commended “because he had done wisely“. The man who is seen as “faithful in the unrighteous mammon“; in that day and today the world goes after the things of the flesh; some wholeheartedly and they find their varied success. Some half heartedly, who fall also into that same parable’s saying of “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:1-13). Either way, this man is neither good nor evil, for the most part he is just a man doing what he knows to do.
Jesus speaks much about riches and how they affect the man and we should know that it is not the riches themselves that matter but the thoughts that the man gives to his fortune, whatever it may be. He speaks of riches in saying:
- “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in , choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful” (Mark 4:19).
- “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23-24)
- “But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation” (Luke 6:24).
And let us not forget this very parable that we are discussing today. We should wee here that, by the ways of the world, we spend our days doing what is needed to earn a living, to care for our families and to build our future and in doing so we may find ourselves fitting into the Master’s saying “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God”. In this parable this man gave no thought to God and, in this particular case, this is both the lower and the higher meaning. The effect of this on us however is measurable only by us individually. Here the Master talks of one who is rich and from the conversation he is having with himself, we should read this that he is rich in his own eyes. So for the deeper meaning to us we need to understand that the idea of rich is relative and that the reality of this parable is more in how we conduct ourselves in our idea of rich than it is in the quantity or the amount that we have. What matters in each of the Master’s sayings above as well as this parable is how we react to and treat our riches. What is important to us is of paramount importance in our struggle to achieve the Kingdom of God and this thought brings us back again to focus; where is the focus of our lives?
Millions upon millions of people strive for the things of this world much like the rich man in Jesus story. We awake each day and go to a job where our focus is on doing it and getting ahead. We see the job as our source of supply to take care of ourselves and our families. If we are successful we are likely paying much attention to what we are doing and the more success we have the more we may desire. We want the house and the Mercedes in the driveway. We want successful investments and funds for the future. These things and more do we strive for and perchance, if we are so inclined, we give the Lord a bit of time. We strive for happiness and contentment in this life much like the rich man; we strive to build our future much like the rich man; we make facility for our excess much like the rich man. The story goes on here to say that after we have done all this and we feel satisfied we look forward to ‘kicking back’ and ‘taking it easy’; we have built up our fortune based on our own idea of fortune.
The rich man, after he has done all and has gained all, now hears from the Lord. In the story it is a matter of getting the point across. For us it is more likely a matter of hearing our Inner Voice which speaks to us through all this that we have been doing up to any given point in our lives. The rich man listens and hears in this story and, for many of us, we will eventually hear the voice as well. When and if we do we too will take stock of the reality that we are mortal and that the end can come at any time and “then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” We leave wills and give to our family but the simple fact is that all that we built in life we must leave behind; we can take nothing with us except those thoughts and feelings and that Love that we exhibited while we were here on Earth. All else is lost. Here we should see that when we live a life in a state where there is ardent desire for things and more things and for love and for relationships with people; when these things are our focus, then these are the thoughts and the Love that we bring out of life with us. If our lives are full of desire and greed we will bring those out with us. If our lives are full of lusts for things and pleasures and anger then we bring those thoughts and feelings out with us. Put any words into this that you wish; worry, anxiety over things and children, resentment, jealousy. If we live here with these things we will leave here with these things. Conversely, if our lives are full of Love and Joy and Peace and Brotherhood then it is these things that we will take with us.
So we should see that it is not only riches that we build here in this life; we should see that it is also what we focus on that defines our lives. We have taken the Master’s points about riches and what we can take with us from this parable and have expanded them to show that by this example we can see any part of life in this light; both the positive and the negative. We should see that what it is that we focus on in our hearts is that which we bring out of life with us and not the things that we have that are physically here and ours. The rich man leaves life with the built up thoughts and feelings of all he had done to accumulate his wealth but with no wealth. Likewise we all leave with the thoughts and the feelings and no wealth and no way to satisfy whatever wants we may have.
Let us not look at these things as eternity however for in the continuum of eternity we are not trapped in the feelings and thoughts of this life but we should understand that this is likely to be how it is that we leave. It is only the physical body that dies here on Earth.
The Master’s words are clear and they are True and from them all we should see that His instruction to us is that we focus on the spiritual side of life and not on the carnal. This is the path to the Kingdom of God. The rich man focused on the carnal the Lord can only say to him: “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?“
And He says to us that: “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God“
We close this with the Quote of the Day from a few days ago. We have the counsel from our Inner Man and from His word: Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand (Proverbs 19:20-21).
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.
I may not be able to get back to my desk today and in that event we will have yesterday’s Quote of the Day for another day.
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty(1 Corinthians 1:26-27).
Here in this Quote of the Day we can see some of the dynamics that play in today’s parable. The wise and mighty and noble after the flesh may hear and heed the call but it is difficult for them, because of their stature in the world, to let it go and follow the Lord. Who is left then but the foolish and the weak? That is, the foolish and the weak according to the standards of the world.
