Monthly Archives: January 2012

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

The Miracles of Jesus (continued; part vii)

We should see in Peter the idea of everyman insofar as discipleship goes. Not that any of us are as ready for or as prepared to overcome as he did for, as we said, his presence in this Great Drama was not by accident but was rather a carefully orchestrated part of the Great Plan to bring the teachings of the Christ to fruition on Earth. At the same time, he can be for us an example of an man who, while living his Life in the world, encounters the Christ and sets about to follow Him. The expressed portrait that we have of Peter from the Gospels and the Book of Acts is so much more than any other gospel personality and, perhaps we should also see that this picture that we have is not incidental nor accidental but a part of the orchestration of this Great Drama that was put in motion for our benefit. In Peter’s Life we see the struggle to come to that point where he could “not doubt in his heart, but shall believe” to that point that we call KNOWING and from which point one need never go back. We should see also that it is not merely a matter of Faith on the part of a disciple of the Master but rather it is a concentrated effort to bring the reality of the Christ Within into expression through the conscious personality and that at every point of doubt and at every point of falling back, we allow our Inner Man, our Soul, to catch us and bring us back to that reality.

The Master tells us of the difficulty of giving up our attraction to the things of the world and He tells us also of the difficulty of being accounted worthy to enter in at the strait gate. He tells us too of the bliss and the joy of His Presence and we see, from our posts and the gospel story, the awesome power involved in attaining to this freedom; it is because of this awesome power that we should recognize the reasons for the difficulty. So many of the Master’s actual parables and His sayings that contain parabolic messages are aimed at the heart of man, to change it so as to comply with the purity and perfection of the Kingdom of God. Men have however diluted the message to suit the needs of worldly life and many miss those things that the Master tells us are His criteria for seeing the Kingdom. In the Life of Peter and the other disciples we should see that they understood their purpose going in; they knew that to follow the Master had to be done single minded. This is the advantage that they have over us who come into Life without such a dedicated purpose as they and we should see from our study of Peter’s Life over the last few posts, that even with with sense of purpose there is still struggle. We, as men in form, possessing ‘free will’ have to move ourselves to that position of purpose and then, once there, we have to work out our salvation as did the Apostle Peter and likely the others as well.

All of the Master’s teachings from the Sermon on the Mount culminate in this saying from near the end of it: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). The entirety of the Sermon is a treatise on right living and on the contrast between what men think is right versus what God thinks is right. From the point of this saying on  to the end of the Sermon, the Master gives us insight into who it is that we can trust based on the fruit that each person bears followed then by His caution to all that although they may think that they are living righteous and they may think that they are keeping the words of the Master, many there are that are not. He ends with the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders, a parable which revolves around those that keep His word and those that do not (In the Words of Jesus part 145). Encapsulated within this saying with which the Sermon culminates is the simple statement of the difficulty of attaining the Kingdom; the reasons for the difficulty? they are contained in the Sermon itself. In the Sermon are the basic rules which are expanded upon and expounded by His parables and sayings throughout the gospels. The teachings of the Sermon were received by the disciples early on in their walk with the Master and, since we see no writings telling us of any who act contrary to these ideals, we must assume that they  were well received, perhaps as a part of that sense of dedicated purpose with which they arrived. Because we as men do not come into Life with such dedication, or we just don’t see it, we need to also work out these details in our lives. For us then we should see that we as men must first come to a sense of purpose, and then to the reality of keeping His words, and then we may find ourselves as Peter, with only doubt and uncertainty and that sense of doing things as men left  to conquer before we too can overcome in this world.

Although it is not our intention to discuss the depths of the Master’s cautions and warnings regarding the difficulty which we all face in achieving His Kingdom, we will look at one other idea and that is the idea of treasure and where it is that our hearts may be at any given time. This idea is of course found in the Sermon on the Mount but it is expanded upon in what is called the story of the Rich Young Ruler or Man as well as in other places. We will work this idea through this story which is found in the three synoptic gospels which begins with the man asking the Master what he must do the have eternal life. Jesus’ answer varies slightly among the gospels but the essence is that the man must keep the commandments and, when he affirms that he has, Jesus adds just one more thing saying that: “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). While we should see here that what the Master is actually telling this young man, we tend to see only the outer meaning which is give it all to the poor and follow the Master. However, as the verses go on the message becomes increasingly clear; first there is the discussion on riches which follows as the young man “…was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions“. The Master then “….looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!”  (Mark 10:22-23). When we look at this word translated as riches we should see more than money; we should see the totality of what it is that we have come to possess. We should also see that the measure of riches is not a fixed idea; it means different things to different people in that time as well as now. Some are rich with a few hundred thousand dollars or even less; others require to have in the millions to feel that same way and, today, some even in the billions. Is this all that the Master means? other scripture tells us that it is not and the next sayings in Mark’s Gospel help explain as well:

“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 10:24). Although his verse only appears in Mark’s Gospel, it is, as we said, implied in several other places through all the gospels. The idea of “trust in riches” should not be viewed as trust in money only but in the more general way of putting ones Faith in the things of this world and calling them valuable, calling them one’s treasure. This is a key idea in our journey to the Path and unless we can overcome this we likely cannot be on that Path. This is one idea that blocks us from entering at the strait gate. We have said before that the interpretation is that one must be willing to give up all, one must relinquish all attachment to the things of this worlds and this is largely true but, in the Masters words the idea is much more determined and complete; He tells us to give up all as is repeated in Luke’s Gospel this way: “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). Short of giving all that we have away which would leave one destitute in this rather economic world, we should see this as a combination of what it is that the actual words do mean along with the many other words that the Master gives us. Regardless of how we view this however we can definitively say that the ideas embedded in this and in Jesus’ other sayings are not that we should go about planing and plotting and scheming to accumulate wealth, we should be focused on the Kingdom. So, we have what we have and we use it prudently without attachment and without spending our time and our energy to accumulate more. We take what we need to live modestly, we give of what we have to the poor and the needy and we focus our attention on the Master, the Christ Within and His Kingdom and not on any selfish worldly pursuits. If we are to come of age and if we are to find that Path we must per force accept these realities which are not for everyone except those who profess to be or, like us, who aspire to be, Disciples of the Christ. Overcoming these two difficulties which we have here discussed will put us in that place where Peter was, having then only to overcome the doubt and uncertainty and the accumulated habits developed through years of Life in form.

The Master adds two more things in this series of sayings that amplify His ideas on riches and on one’s treasure. First is the thought of the camel and the eye of the needle; He says: “It is easier for a camel to got hrough the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25). We have discussed this before (In the Words of Jesus parts 52, 181) and approached it as the common idea of the camel entering in at the low and odd shaped entryway into a city; along with this is the idea that the camel must be unloaded before it can enter. There is much validity in the ideas of this approach but we should look as well at the way this is presented in Luke’s Gospel where the words that are translated as “eye of a needle” actually refer to a surgeons needle and it is likely that Luke understood that this is what the Master meant for us to see. This vies is not so much that one must unload the camel so as it could pass through but more that it just cannot pass through the eye of the real needle. In either understanding we should see the burden of riches and, per Mark’s Gospel, the trust one may put in them. Remember that “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13). The second thing added by the Master here is in the continuing dialogue; it is in answer to a question by our subject apostle, Peter; the dialogue goes thus: “And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible. Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last first“. (Mark 10:26-31).

There is much in these sayings, the most striking of which comes in the rendition from the Gospel of Matthew. Here in Mark we find that “they were astonished” as an undefined they and in Luke the words are regarding “they who heard it” (Luke 18:26) but Matthew tells us that “When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved ?” (Matthew 19:25). Here we have the disciples of the Master who have been with Him now for some time being “exceedingly amazed” at these sayings and perhaps the severity of them. This causes Peter to ask about their own forsaking of all that they had which likely included all that is on the list and here the Master responds with the idea of what Vincent tells us should be translated as manifold return⁴. For many in the world, the key idea here is in the Master’s telling them “hundredfold now in this time” but is this not contrary to all else that He says here? especially if we think of it all as material possessions and we fail to continue the thought to include “houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands”? There can be no reality in thinking about this return in a material way yet this is how many do see it. What is the reality then? simply in the idea that you will have what you need from the variety of places that you will come to; in many houses you will find rest and in your many brethren and sisters and mothers and children you will find your nourishment regardless of to whom these actually belong and you will find comfort in all of their lands. Is this not the oneness of the brotherhood of man? Is this not in accord with the Master’s own saying about His own mother and brethren when they come to see Him: “Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:47-50). The same is true for us also!

As we said at the beginning of this, it is likely that Peter and the other apostles and disciples who had instrumental parts in this Great Drama came into Life with a greater understanding of their mission and their dedication. They did not  have to come to the realization of the need of coming to Christ; upon being called by Him personally, they followed and, as we know from the gospels, they forsook all which brings them to this place in their lives; a place where one can can work out the final ideal of be able to “not doubt in his heart, but shall believe“, and to come to that point that we call KNOWING and from which point one need never go back. If we desire to we can join them in this Great Drama; however, we should know and understand that to achieve as they did we need to come to the same point as they, the point where we are keeping His words. From there the task is, as Peter shows us, to overcome the world. So, in this view, we have a twofold journey. First to come to the point of acceptance and obedience and then to overcome the lingering doubt and habit.

Peter’s struggles with doubt and uncertainty are ours as well. For us however the struggle begins in an earlier part of the journey; it begins as we begin to sense the prompting of our own Christ Within and we begin to respond. We find doubt an uncertainty as we move away from the ways of the world, away from what the ‘others’ are doing, the ‘fun’ that they are having, the ‘wealth’ that they are accumulating and so on. Our only certainty in found in the constant call of our Souls and it is to this we must listen and this we must follow even when those who claim that they know the way disagree with what we think and say. The Apostle John helps us some here with his saying that: “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27). This tells us that as we are ready to accept a Truth, that the Soul, the Christ Within, will inform us of it and so long as we can satisfy ourselves that what we believe is Truly in line with the words of the Master and not with man’s reconstructions of them, we should have the confidence for the certainty of our Wisdom. This is the working of revelation and it is only achieved by our focus.

Note on the Quote of the Day