Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CXC
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren” (James 1:12-16).
In the last post we discussed again the relationship between one’s attainment of the Kingdom of God and the attainment of discipleship and the Master’s words on both as we understand them. A few posts back we covered the attainment of the Kingdom in some detail while elucidating the equality of ALL of the Paths that the Master gives us from the requirement that we do the Will of the Father which we consider the same as keeping His words, to the need to forsake ALL which we find in the Master’s words telling us “Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). Our consideration of this saying as the reality of forsaking is based upon the entirety of His sayings on the Kingdom which include His words to the rich young man to whom Jesus says: “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me” (Matthew 19:21). Here we find two of the Master’s requirements for the Kingdom; first is in being perfect and the second is in giving up ALL. To understand this ALL the way that we are presenting it, one must be able to join together the Master’s panoply of terms that for us ALL mean the same things albeit from differing perspectives. To the rich young man the Master speaks of eternal Life as this is the nature of question that he asked; we should however see the Master’s answer is distinctly regarding this as the Kingdom of God as He tells him that “thou shalt have treasure in heaven” if he will “keep the commandments” referring to those of the Old Testament and the Will of the Father, and then that he “be perfect” by forsaking ALL or, as Jesus says it, “go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor“. Of course we must remember here that we do count perfect as one of the equal ways of attaining the Kingdom for if one can do as the Master admonishes us to do saying, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), what other result can there be?
Understanding that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) is an important part of our understanding of the Master’s words and to this we can add today that we should understand discipleship as the expression of one’s presence in the Kingdom of God (or better, the Presence of the Kingdom in one), to the world. Here we have supplanted our idea of our expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul and the expression of the Christ Within with the expression of the Kingdom as the eventual expression of a Son of God to the world of men. In this we can see the relative equality of these ideas as well; we can express the Kingdom or the Love and Power of the Soul or we can express the Christ Within and KNOW that these are ALL the same. This understanding also helps us to see the relationship of our attainment of the Kingdom of God with our becoming His disciples or, as we can also state this, disciples of the Kingdom. To properly realize these things we must take away the human component, that is that we must see the True Life of the True man as spiritual and not of this form that we use upon the Earth. Seeing then our understanding as we say it here: that discipleship IS a man’s expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul as it emanates from the Kingdom that IS WITHIN and seeing as well that this same expression IS of the Christ Within, we can then see as well the our reality that attaining the Kingdom and attaining discipleship are the same if effect and differ only in the point of view by which they are seen. Being accounted worthy then is the SAME whether we call it worthy of the Kingdom or worthy of discipleship or, as we will see in our next saying, worthy of Him. Moving the last point in our list from yesterday up to the top we read:
- “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37-38). As we KNOW, this is the rendition of the Master’s saying that Matthew saw in the words that the Master spoke. When viewing these apparent inconsistencies we should remember that the words and phrases spoken in one language do not always have equivalent words available in another and many times there can be what we call today idioms for which there may be no adequate match at all. To this we must add, as we say above, that this is what the apostle saw in the words that he heard and for each of us, our sense of interpretation can depend upon our own emotional and mental makeup and of course our perspective. The most ready difference between this version and that of the Apostle Luke that we discussed in the last essay is the use of Luke’s word hate versus Matthew’s idea of Loving less. As we discussed yesterday there is no real way for any of us to clearly see how the Master could speak in terms of hate in the way that we understand the word and especially as it relates to mothers and fathers as this would be in total disregard of the Commandments of the Lord. In the last post we tried to show a choice given in Luke’s rendition that is not unlike the choice between God and mammon, a saying in which the Master also uses the word translated as hate, here He is saying that a man can hate one or the other of two Masters and here He is referring to God and the world. We should see that the idea of hate does not properly work in this saying either and that there is more to understanding the intent of the words than we can see. We left this idea of hate in this way and with the further understanding that there is NO THING that can come before God in the heart of the man who is Truly seeking discipleship. The other difference in these sayings is the result of doing what is instructed, either hating or Loving less, which we must see in the same Light. In the one version, Luke’s, the result is clear and it is discipleship while in the other, Matthew’s, the result is to be worthy of Him. It is here that we get that added understanding of the relationship of ALL these terms and ideas as we have been presenting them. Worthy of Him is here, by the relationship of these sayings, seen as the same as becoming His disciple and, since we have already found that being accounted worthy of the Kingdom and discipleship are equal, we can easily see how this fits neatly into our understanding. Further to this, we now also can see that discipleship IS the expression of the Soul, and of the Christ Within and, because of the equality of ALL our terms, discipleship is also the expression of the Kingdom of God on the Earth.
We come next to the idea of the cross; worded here as “he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me” and in Luke’s Gospel as “whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me” and we should of course see these as being equal and the same. The idea of the cross is thought by many to the Master’s forethought regarding His crucifixion but this idea would be rather meaningless to those who are hearing His words; for them this is an instruction on discipleship and one that is intended to be meaningful in that time. Vincent holds this view with which we disagree for the reason stated; he says: His cross (ton stauron autou). This was no Jewish proverb, crucifixion not being a Jewish punishment; so that Jesus uses the phrase anticipatively, in view of the death which he himself was to die. This was one of those sayings described in John xii. 16, which the disciples understood not at the first, but the meaning of which was revealed in the light of later events. The figure itself was borrowed from the practice which compelled criminals to bear their own cross to the place of execution. His cross: his own. All are not alike. There are different crosses for different disciples. The English proverb runs: “Every cross hath its inscription” – the name of him for whom it is shaped 4. Vincent’s point regarding one’s own cross however is likely a valid understanding of the intent of the Master as for each man those things that tie him to this carnal Life on Earth will differ and are among those things that the apostles give us in these sayings, things that we must hate, or forsake. Let us look as some of the Master’s other sayings that include this idea of one’s cross and others that are similar as in doing this we can gain a greater understanding of His intent. We read that the Master: “had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34) where we see the relationship between denying oneself and taking up one’s cross with the idea that this IS necessary if one is to follow Him. Looking again at our saying from yesterday, the Master tells us the rich young man “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me” (Matthew 19:21) and in this we see the same intent of following Him and this in relation to attaining the Kingdom which we see as the same as attaining discipleship. Here, in place of taking up his cross the young man is told to “go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor” and here we should see the relationship of giving up ALL with taking up one’s cross. In the version of this same event from the Gospel of the Apostle Mark we read a combination of these ideas as the Master says: “Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me” (Mark 10:21). The relationships here are dynamic as we see the cross as the culmination of giving up what one has and we see also that the idea of being perfect is here referred to as such thing as the young man lacks. Running through ALL of these sayings and thoughts is the common thread of “follow me” and in this idea we should be able to see the firmly implanted intent of discipleship.
Perhaps the real key here is given by the Apostle Paul who talks of crucifixion as the way of accomplishment for the man in the world who would be a True follower of the Master. We have often said that the role of the apostles writings is to amplify and to clarify the words of the Master and that their words should not be understood in a way that is deemed contrary to the words of Jesus and, when they are seen this way we should acknowledge that we are missing something. Paul tells us: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed , that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6); in this we should see the Truth of the disciple who forsakes ALL as he crucifies the “old man” and he chooses to serve God. We also read that “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24) and this saying we have studied from the perspective of desire and lust; today however we see again the idea of the cross that we must bear in crucifying ALL that ties us to the world which ARE, in this saying, “the affections and lusts“. The point taken should be that if one IS Christ’s that he IS a disciple and has taken up his cross and crucified ALL things that keep his focus upon the world. In these ideas on crucifixion we should try to see the Master’s intent on bearing one’s cross. Can we see the relevance of the cross here in the apostles writings? and can we understand that in seeing the cross as a reference to the eventual crucifixion of the Master does naught for the understanding of the disciple either then or now? The common idea in the Master’s words are in following Him which we should see as becoming His disciple which is possible only by way of taking up the cross and sacrificing ALL that keeps us tied to the world and the things of the world. We should see the cumulative effect of ALL that the Master says being a man’s cross by degree which is to say that not ALL things afflict ALL men. Then from hating one’s family, one’s s father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also (Luke 14:26) , to going to “sell that thou hast, and give to the poor“, there can be seen a reflection of the cross and in this reflection the need to give up ALL, to forsake ALL and that “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” (Mark 12:30).
In our discussion of the verse from Luke in the last post we neglected to address the idea of one hating “his own life also” and we will pick up with this in the next post before continuing on to our final sayings by the Master on discipleship. As we move on to these we should try to keep in mind the synergy of ALL these ideas and terms and ways of attaining the Kingdom of God and discipleship in that Kingdom, as well as the reality of the cross and crucifixion as forsaking ALL.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31).
- “Herein is my Father glorified , that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).
| 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:
Leaving again the Great Invocation, we encourage ALL to read and reread it and our comments as in these words can be found the keys to our spiritual reality.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132
The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.
Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.
The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should seen as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 3 Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
