ON LOVE; PART MCDXXI
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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).
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We ended our last essay with our final comments on our selection from Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. To properly close out this discussion, we repeat our ides from the last essay saying that: In simple Truth men must eschew “the works of the flesh” which ARE NOW manifest in him according to Paul’s words and embrace the “the fruit of the Spirit” through the manifestation of agape, of Love, in his mortal Life. It IS the manifestation and expression of agape in one’s Life that IS the ONLY sign that the Christ IS manifest according to Jesus’ words that tell us that it IS “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them” that will have NOT ONLY the manifestation of the Christ but also the Father as we read that “my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” from our trifecta. The “works of the flesh” ARE part and parcel of the vanity into which ALL men ARE born and this IS True on several levels as we discussed over the last several essays. On a strictly carnal level, the level that the church sees in the apostle’s words, these “works of the flesh” ARE carnal behaviors, thoughts and attitudes while on a more spiritual level, the level that Paul IS addressing to the Galatians, these ARE thoughts, attitudes and actions that that tend to embrace the tenets of “another gospel” and which can and DO keep men bound to them. There IS of course a broad interaction between these poles of carnal and spiritual through which men try to be doctrinally spiritual while yet embracing a relatively carnally motivated Life. This brings to Light the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual of which Paul tells us “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” (Galatians 5:17). We should try to see that “the works of the flesh” ARE the reality of DOING “the things that ye would” as men in this world on these several levels and this begins in the carnal mind. Paul shows us this saying “they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:5-7). The idea here IS that on ALL levels: when one IS motivated by the things of the world which perforce includes doctrinal religion, they ARE “not subject to the law of God” but ARE living carnally.
Our example of this IS in the lives of the Jews in Jesus’ day; from the High Priest, to the Pharisees, scribes and then their followers, ALL thought that they were living in the will of God, that they were DOING the commandments of the Lord. The Master shows us how that they were not, how that the whole concept of agape, which existed from the beginning, was ignored in favor of their mitzvah, their doctrinal approach to God. We often say that the Christian doctrinal approaches to God ARE really NO different and that the Master’s words saying “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:6,7) IS as much addressed to the Christian in the coming generations as it was to the Jews. This reality however has NOT been accepted nor even entertained by the Christian world which IS just as self-righteous as were the Jews. The cure for this IS agape which idea leads Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit” and it IS in men’s acceptance and expression of True agape that they can be Truly “led by the Spirit of God” according to Paul’s words saying “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:14, 13). We should understand here that “the deeds of the body” which must be mortified ARE NO different than “the works of the flesh” and we should try to see that this whole approach, offered by Paul in whose words the church centers their doctrines, IS fully discounted and dismissed out of hand.
From our perspective it IS an important reality that should the Christ come as the church expects that He would NOT be, and surely IS NOT now, pleased with the state of the religion that bears His name which should be Jesus the Christ. Most ALL doctrines of men ignore the most basic tenets of their own religious texts in favor of their own mitzvah, their own doctrinal approach to the Lord. Again we should add that while the Jews DID have Moses ancillary laws to call a part of the commandments of God, ancillary laws that they chose to follow in place of the deeper Truths that the Master reminds them of, the Christian world has NO such ‘luxury’. The Christian world was left with the Truth of the Master’s words and the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles but chose to ‘invent’ their own reality through doctrines that ARE based in misunderstood, misapplied and out of context ideas taken from the apostles’ writings. And, while Paul IS the greatest contributor to the doctrinal path of the church, in the fullness of his words there ARE the same Truths that the Master brought to this world. We should understand that most ALL Christians ARE so embedded in their doctrinal idea of Truth that there IS little chance that any could convince them of their error but we should understand as well that there ARE many ‘pseudo’ Christians, many in whom the doctrinal ideas ARE NOT so embedded, that can be reached by alternate ideas as those that we post in our blog. Meanwhile the church, with ALL its faults, has been given authority by the people and by the governments of the world to be the arbiters of spirituality as they continually lead men past the Truth and into their separative nebulous worlds. We should note that this IS NOT ONLY the way of Christianity but of ALL religions that substitute the “commandments of men” for the Truth that flows into men’s Souls from the Godhead of which each IS part and parcel. It IS men’s inner sense, the prompting of their own Souls if you will, that IS blocked by their own doctrines which ARE most often contrary to the Truth save for the adages and axioms that ARE ofttimes spoken of but never taken to heart. A great example of this IS found in the commandment that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“; words that ARE little understood against the common and doctrinal view of agape.
We should remember several things here; first that that these words ARE a part of what Jesus calls the Great Commandments for which He says “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets“. The text of the Great Commandments IS the Master’s response to the question “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:40, 36) and in this we should see the importance of His words. We should remember as well that these words ARE a part of the complex series of laws offered by Moses and that the dividing line between the reality of the law and Moses ancillary additions regarding mundane things IS in fact the idea of agape, of Love. Those commandments that embrace agape as an inter-personal ideal and those that show agape in regard to the Lord ARE those that ARE the product of what Jesus later acknowledges as the Great Commandments. This IS an important point to remember and one that IS curiously handled by church doctrines which ignore most of the mundane laws without applying such reasoning. Finally we should remember that the Master DOES give us some clarity in regard to the second of these Great Commandments by giving us what has come to be called the Golden Rule saying “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12). Despite this clarification by the Master, the idea of DOING this IS become an alien concept in the church; again from the perspective of a sheer lack of understanding of just what agape IS; this Golden Rule has also become but a trite saying, one that sounds good in a sermon but has NO real effect in the lives of most ALL men. Luke shows us Jesus’ words in a slightly different manner but one that should have the same effect on the human family; he reports the Master’s words as “as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31).
With these things in mind we begin today a new discussion on agape; on what this idea of Love IS and how it must work out in this world. Most of what we have to say we have said before and here we will try to focus ONLY upon the idea of agape as that Love that we must express, that Love that can cure ALL of the worlds’ ills. We begin with the apostles’ words on agape that should have brought the idea to the forefront of Christian thought centuries ago but DID NOT as most of the early church ‘authorities’ chose to carve out their own doctrinal philosophies despite the way that the Master addressed the Jews’ way of DOING the same. We should note that both Mark and Matthew write about Jesus’ railing against the Jews’ hypocrisy in words that we should see as covering the past, Isaiah’s time; the present, 2000 years ago as the Master addresses the Jews; and the future for ALL that attempt to DO the same thing by replacing the Truth with the doctrinal precepts of men. Mark’s words ARE above and Matthew’s ARE largely the same saying to the Jews “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15;7-9). That their examples ARE NOT exactly the same should cause us to see that they ARE but examples of the ideas covered by the saying’s own meaning. We should understand that the “commandments of men” ARE NOT the doctrines that should have come from Moses and the law. Here we should extend the idea to reflect the various ‘commandments of Christianity’ formulated over centuries by the early church fathers and extended into newer realms of doctrine by the reformers and others. The example that men should “Honour thy father and mother” reflects one of the Ten Commandments and we should try to see that these words DO encompass more than that simple relationship while Jesus’ words on washing reflect the traditions of the Jews, doctrinal assertions if you will, that ARE based in the ancillary ideas that Moses put forth. Together the examples embrace both sides of the law, those parts that ARE the heart of the law and those parts that Moses ‘cobbled’ together to control an unruly, superstitious and barbarous people. Our point here IS that the “commandments of men” have always reflected the ideas of men and NOT the spiritual ideas that stream from the Godhead and this dynamic IS NO where more evident that the resultant interpretations of men regarding the whole idea of agape. The Apostle Paul tells us twice about the Way of Love; about the way that it IS through agape that we can accomplish the tenets of the law. Here we should draw that line again between the heart of the law and the ancillary ideas of Moses so that ALL that IS written in regard to the relationships of men with men and men with God ARE an the side of the Truth of the law; and ALL of the mundane ideas that DO NOT regard such relationships ARE the ancillary ideas of sabbaths, sacrifices, dietary rules and even circumcision to name a few. Simply, those Jewish ideas that were dropped from the Christian view of the reality of the law ARE among those that ARE the ancillary and here we should remember that in Paul’s day this was NOT so; the whole law was yet in ‘effect’ for the Jews who concentrated their efforts on the mundane. It IS this mundane approach to God that Paul rails against as works; he IS citing the Jews reliance upon those works that will NOT result in the ‘salvation‘ of the Jew or the Christian.
This reality has been missed by the Christian world from the beginning as the whole body of the law, the spiritual and the mundane, were ‘lumped’ together into their interpretations of Paul’s use of the idea of works. While the apostle IS referencing the practice of the Jews whose doctrinal ideas included their interpretations of conduct on the sabbath, circumcision, sacrifice, dietary rules and the various ideas regarding the unclean things and persons as “the works of the law“, the Christian interpretation has been to see the whole law, including those related to the relationships of men with men and with their God. Add to this the Christian lack of understanding regarding the ideas of pistis and pisteuo which ARE rendered as faith and believing and we can then see the state of the church that professes strongly that NO works can save a man. The church’s nebulous ideas of faith and believing ARE in many ways the church’s crutch against the Truth that it IS ONLY by such works as we recently studied as the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) ARE men Truly saved; and here we have yet another doctrinal distortion in their idea of ‘salvation‘. In the end there IS NO substitute for our expression of agape which IS Paul’s point in saying such things as “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14) and “For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:9-10). Perhaps the dividing line IS between Paul’s reference to the law as cited in this excerpt from Romans and the idea of “the works of the law” as such were practiced by the Jews. We should try to see here that Paul IS NOT condemning Jesus’ words as “works of the law“, words that amplify and clarify many of the ideas that were manipulated by the Jews from Moses time on. It IS when we can understand the depth of that KNOWING that IS the underlying idea of the rendered word faith that we can better understand Paul’s aversion to “the works of the law” found in such sayings as “Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone” (Romans 9:31-32). Should we understand that the use of pistis, here rendered as faith, IS based in that KNOWING that comes to us according to the first part of our trifecta, KNOWING some measure of the Truth, we could then see the idea as “Because they sought it not by faith KNOWING” the Truth of the law rather that practicing the mundane. It IS the Jews practice of the mundane according to their traditions that IS the stumblingstone.
In a way we should be able to understand that the idea of works DOES NOT Truly apply to the spiritual parts of the law and this because there IS NOT a conscious effort to accomplish such. We cannot work to practice agape because it IS the natural flow of Truth that motivates the man whose focus has moved off of the mundane and onto the spiritual Truths that we KNOW through that focus. Granted that this change of focus IS a conscious undertaking by men, an undertaking that IS the reality of our Repentance, it IS here that the idea of works should end as the Repentant man begins his Transformation with little effort other than maintaining that focus. ALL else IS the result of this focus upon the things of God rather than the things of the self. It IS this point that we should perhaps see in the Apostle James words on works which follow upon his words on agape and its proper function for the Repentant man. James words, while thought by some to be contradictory to Paul’s words on works, show us the result of pistis, the result of our KNOWING some measure of the Truth as he cites some Old Testament examples. We read in James that:
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also“
James 2:14-26)
We should try to see that it IS in this KNOWING that agape resides and from this perspective our discussion here IS one regarding that sense of Love that IS so desperately needed in this world. Agape IS the natural result of KNOWING which IS the natural result of our focus upon the things of God. It IS in this focus that we attend to the Master’s words and strive to DO them and we should note here that this striving IS also a natural effect. Once begun, the whole process of our Repentance, Transformation and Redemption takes on a Life of its own which overwhelms the heretofore carnal mind and the motivations of a man. Perhaps what we should try to see in James’ words IS the difference between our KOWING the Truth and our carnal belief that we KNOW; perhaps what we should see IS yet another defining idea for pistis as that KNOWING that flows from the Soul, the Christ Within. The point IS that for a man to “say he hath faith” IS a meaningless saying in the absence of works, in the absence of actually DOING those things that our KNOWING dictates we should DO. And so the examples; “Abraham believed God“, he KNEW from the “still small voice” that he should offer “Isaac his son upon the altar” and he DID his part according to that inner voice which, in the story of Elijah, was the Presence of God. James also tells us of “Rahab the harlot” and here there ARE two things to consider; first that she too was obeying that “still small voice” that told her who “the messengers” were and what should be DONE as she “sent them out another way” and second that the appellation of Rahab as “the harlot” DID NOT stop her from hearing the “still small voice” and complying. Both of these example involve DOING that which one KNOWS to DO and we should understand that regardless of the accuracy of these stories, they ARE stories that ARE understood by the converted Jews to whom James IS writing. In the end James tells us a guiding Truth saying that “faith without works is dead“, a Truth that IS NOT understood nor accepted because it flies counter to their interpretations of Paul’s many words against “the works of the law“. We should try to see that in many of Paul’s references to “the works of the law” substituting the idea of KNOWING for the Greek word pistis instead of faith can make a large difference in understanding what the apostle IS intending for us to see.
Most ALL of Paul’s references to “the works of the law” ARE found in his Epistle to the Galatians and with reason. In Galatians the apostle IS trying to bring the people back from “another gospel” and it IS likely that many versions of this “another gospel: Which is not another” were teaching men to return to their roots in the law or to embrace them. This IS NOT necessarily because they were all Jews but rather because of the Jewish roots of those who were teaching them, those who would “pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6, 7) as Paul states this. While the common understanding IS that Paul IS pitting “the works of the law” against the doctrinal interpretation of pistis, the greater reality can be seen in understanding pistis as we should, as that KNOWING which IS framed for us in the King James Bible as “the faith of Christ“; this we would see as KNOWLEDGE of Christ and KNOWING God. Later he refers to this same idea as “the hearing of faith” (Galatians 2:16, 3:2, 5) and if we can see this hearing as that “still small voice” by which we KNOW some measure of the Truth, we can better understand the apostles message. Again we must remember that the idea of “the works of the law” should be restricted to the Jews’ practice of their religion and NOT the spiritual components of the law which Jesus reinforced in His teachings, those components that relate to our relationships with God and with others in this world. It IS unfortunate that after 2000 years of doctrinal interpretations, 2000 years of “another gospel“, that it IS so difficult to convince any that their interpretations have been in error and that, as James tells us, “faith, if it hath not works, is dead” (James 2:17). This brings us back to a focus on our main topic which IS agape and we should understand here that there IS NO real separation between that KNOWING that IS pistis and pisteuo and that agape that flows into the hearts of men who DO what IS necessary to KNOW. What IS necessary IS shown us by the Master in our trifecta which we repeat saying:
- “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).
Jesus shows us that there IS but one Way to “know the truth” which IS to stay in His word. While this IS a spiritual fact, it IS NOT seen nor understood by the mainstream church, much of which sees keeping His words in terms of those works that their doctrines erroneously eschew. We should note however that ALL of His words, His commandments if you will, ARE embodied in the Great Commandments where the expression of agape IS of paramount importance. Paul shows us this importance in those sayings from Galatians and Romans that we cite above; sayings that tell us that ALL IS fulfilled in our expression of this unique form of Love. We should remember that when Paul tells us that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” that this idea of the law IS NOT “the works of the law” which ARE the doctrinal machinations of men, but the heart of the law as outlined in the Ten Commandments and other amplifying and clarifying ideas of Truth. The idea here IS that when one can express this agape Love then ALL of the other components of the law ARE already addressed and accomplished; this IS a very powerful spiritual idea. However, few if any DO express this agape as it IS shown to us by the Master and much of this because there IS little understanding of what agape IS in human terms; it IS most always confused with the common ideas of Love. What IS needed IS a separation between this common understanding of Love and agape, a separation that enables us to define agape also in human terms. We should note that this understanding IS NOT so difficult as the Master and His apostles lay out for us the dynamics of agape in ways that we should be able to easily understand. We DO NOT understand however because we DO NOT accept the plain Truths that ARE the defining ideas of agape even as we DO NOT accept the plain Truths of our trifecta which lead us to the Truth, to the True Presence of God in our lives and to our real entry into the Kingdom of God. So let us begin here with an outline of the reality of agape, what it IS and how it works. We begin with the Great Commandments because the Master tells us that “There is none other commandment greater than these“.
While these Great Commandments ARE clearly stated, they ARE become but trite sayings rather than precepts that should be followed. And while these ideas ARE similarly shown to us by the synoptic writers, it IS Marks that we use as the heading of our essays because it IS the most complete citation of the Master’s intent. In Jesus words saying “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” (Mark 12:29-30) we have the whole reality of agape which has been hidden from the beginning. In Mark’s Gospel these words ARE offered by the Master while in Luke’s Gospel they ARE offered by “a certain lawyer” and then agreed to by Jesus and, while these may have been two separate incidents, we view them as one seen from different perspectives. Luke’s perspective IS shown us by his added comment that the lawyer “tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25), an idea that IS found in Matthew but NOT in Mark. We have often pointed out that through this exchange between the Master and the scribe or lawyer we can see that the Jews, certain religious Jews to be sure, KNOW this value of agape and of these commandments much as today’s religious authorities should KNOW the Master’s intent in repeating these ideas from the laws that Moses gave to the Jews. KNOWING these things and practicing them ARE of course very different and from the Master’s words spoken against the Jews religious practices we can see this rather clearly. Similarly, with the Christian churches, the ideas ARE KNOWN but, as we have ofttimes saying, they have become but trite sayings that lack a doctrinal understanding. Perhaps it IS for this reason that the Master speaks so clearly on the expression of agape as He instructs men in the Way that they should act and react to others. Using Luke’s Gospel first we will lay out the Master’s words along with our commentary as we normally DO as we try to see how that many of His words ARE in regard to agape without saying such. And, as a basis for our understanding we should try to see agape through James amplifying and clarifying words saying “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:8:10). It IS this idea of having NO “respect to persons” that IS the guiding Light for our understanding and, according to the other realities in the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule, we should see that this precept rules over ALL persons and that everyone, including those close to us and ourselves, ARE the subject.
The apostle’s words above reflect upon the depth of this idea of NO “respect to persons” from the Master’s words of the Great Commandments. In these commandments we have the epitome of agape in two forms; first in the idea that NOTHING should come before our Love for the Lord which IS shown according to our trifecta in the Way that we ARE among those that “hath my commandments, and keepeth them“. Again, these ideas have become by trite ideas in the doctrinal church. The second form of agape IS found in the reality of keeping His words through the timeless precept saying that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“; it IS in this expression of agape that we Truly have NO “respect to persons” as we see ALL in equal terms; as we see ALL as our neighbor, an idea that the Master aptly defines for us in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We should understand here that it IS these ideas that the apostles promote in their writings as they try to amplify and clarify the Master’s words on Love; an expression of agape where the effectiveness of our Love for God IS measured through our expression of agape toward ALL men. This IS the reality of another parable, one that ends its positive with part with the words “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). While this parable IS called the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46) and IS viewed most always in eschatological terms, the reality IS that it IS an example of how we should “love thy neighbour as thyself” and through this “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength“. While the parabolic ideas offered by the Master ARE NOT clearly seen by men who claim to follow the Lord as this idea IS intended, these ARE but amplifiers of the original messages found mostly in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We close today with a part of Luke’s version of this Sermon which will begin our discussion in our next post. Luke gives us the Master’s words as:
“I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. 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 6:27-36)
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
