ON LOVE; PART CDXLV
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•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•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
The Gospel of Thomas
These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(68) Jesus says: “Blessed are you when(ever) they hate you (and) persecute you. But they (themselves) will find no place there where they have persecuted you.“
(69) Jesus says: “Blessed are those who have been persecuted in their heart. They are the ones who have truly come to know the Father. Blessed are those who suffer from hunger so that the belly of the one who wishes (it) will be satisfied.“
(70) Jesus says: “If you bring it into being within you, (then) that which you have will save you. If you do not have it within you, (then) that which you do not have within you [will] kill you.“
(71) Jesus says: “I will [destroy this] house, and no one will be able to build it [again].“
(72) A [person said] to him: “Tell my brothers that they have to divide my father’s possessions with me.” He said to him: “Man, who has made me a divider?” He turned to his disciples (and) said to them: “I am not a divider, am I?“
(73) Jesus says: “The harvest is plentiful, but there are few workers. But beg the Lord that he may send workers into the harvest.“
(74) He said: “Lord, there are many around the well, but there is nothing in the <well>.“
(75) Jesus says: “Many are standing before the door, but it is the solitary ones who will enter the wedding hall.“
In the last essay we discussed the ideas presented by the Master in the seventy fourth saying from the Gospel of Thomas. If we are to presume that this gospel is the Master’s words as recalled and understood by the Apostle Thomas then we must discount the idea that this saying is the same as that which is presented by Celsus, who lived in the second century, or we must believe that Celsus, who does not appear to be a Gnostic, may have taken these words from Thomas or some other source….that they are not his original idea. This idea of Celsus origin was presented for us by both of the commentaries in the last post and we should add here that these very words from Celsus as quoted by Origen are not the same as the interpreted words from Thomas’ Gospel and we should remind here that the manuscript here uses Coptic words that are of questionable translation. As we noted this word that is rendered around as well as the second rendering of well above are not straight forward ideas; while this around is rendered as around and about in this saying, it was rendered as stalking, as around and as sort of what to do in the translations of the sixtieth saying and some chose not to render this word at all in that context. To this we add that the word is rendered parenthetically as around in the Interlinear in both sayings which in itself lends an air of uncertainty. The second rendering of the word well in our translation above is not the same Coptic word as is used in the first word that is rendered as well and this IS True in several translations; here the Interlinear renders this with a parenthetical cistern which shows the uncertainty and we could get the impression here this is rendered such as to make sense of the saying.
Further we have the problem of the rendering of last part where some call it as a person in the well while others imply that one would be looking for water which IS what one would generally find in a well. Perhaps those who render this as it is a person are influenced by the saying from Celsus. There is also the matter of who it is that IS speaking as this remains undefined as well. Using the Interlinear as our guide we would see this rendered as “()Lord, there-are-many (around) the-fountain; no-thing, hwvr, in-the-(cistern)” and with this any ideas that we would have about the meaning of this saying are but a guess. As we closed the last essay we did leave off with the words from the Apostle John’s Gospel which are a part of the encounter of the Master with the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar and we noted that this IS the only reference to a well in the accepted gospels. If we could link these ideas we could perhaps have some better understanding of the intent here. In our story about the Samaritan woman we find that the Master IS at the well looking for drink and He asks this woman who has come to draw water. Generally this is but a story about the Master and the woman and the way that the entire village comes to believe in the Master but can we, with the help of Thomas’ words, discover a deeper meaning. If so, it IS in these words from the Master to the woman saying: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water” (John 4:10). In this relationship can we see how perhaps this is the words of the woman at the well speaking as a part of this conversation with the Master and noting that in the idea of His living water, the water of Life, that she could make such a comment? Can we see this as her saying there are always persons around or at the well looking for water but of the living water there IS NONE?
To see this we must see as well the remainder of the conversation which ends with the woman’s affirmation and request of Jesus to “give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw“; and in this we can see her saying that she would no longer be among those many that are around the well. The conversation goes thus:
“Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw” (John 4:5-15).
We should note here that the apostle shows us the ‘holy’ nature of the well, that it IS Jacob’s well, but, at the same time, in the dialogue we find that this well contains but ordinary water. Here the Master introduces the woman to the spiritual import of the living water which He offers and while this IS NOT defined we should understand that this living water IS His word. We should see as well that this woman affirms that with this living water from the Master, she need not look for the ‘holy’ aspect of the water from Jacob’s well any longer. Could this be a True understanding of this saying from Thomas? That this is Jacob’s well and those coming to it and being around it are seeking some of that ‘holy’ aspect from the water drawn from the well given them by one of the Patriarchs of Judaism and that here this woman finds and acknowledges that there IS NO ‘holy’ in this water after all. Can we see this in this saying from Thomas’ Gospel? And, while it may be a coincidence, we should note that the last saying from Thomas’ Gospel had its deeper meaning in this same sequence of events from John’s Gospel as when Jesus’ disciples return to Him IS when He tells them about the harvest and the field.
Our next saying, the seventy fifth, is similar to this last one in that we have men standing before the door where in the last they were around well and here perhaps we can get the idea that this may be Jesus’ answer to the one who make that statement about the well. There is nothing similar to this saying in the accepted gospels although there are sayings regarding one at the door and others about weddings. We will pursue our idea of this relationship as we proceed. Again we present the various translations as there are a number of points that differ:
- Jesus said: “There are many standing at the door, but it is the solitary who will enter the bridal chamber” (Blatz).
- Jesus said, “There are many standing at the door, but it is the solitaries who will enter the bridal chamber” (Layton).
- Jesus says: “Many stand outside at the door, but it is only the solitaries who will enter into the bridal chamber” (Doresse).
- Jesus said, “Many are standing at the door, but it is the solitary who will enter the bridal chamber” (Lambdin).
- Jesus says: “Many are standing before the door, but it is the solitary ones who will enter the wedding hall” (Patterson and Robinson).
- Jesus said, “There are many standing at the door, but those who are alone will enter the bridal suite” (Patterson and Meyer).
- Said-JS68 (this) “there-are-many standing () at-the-door; but the-single-ones (are) those-who-will-go in to-the-place of-marriage” (Interlinear Version).
We have in these ideas three things of note; first is the arbitrary nature of this word that is rendered as solitary and this we have previously discussed from other sayings where we find the spiritual import to be along the lines of the Interlinear which renders this as single ones and in which we see the reality of single mindedness as it IS in single mindedness that one IS accounted worthy of the Kingdom…it is here that one conquers his duality. Next is the very idea of the bridal chamber versus the wedding hall and the bridal suite; on the one hand this can be as it is worded, the chamber that contains the wedding bed and on the other it can be the place where the ceremony takes place and perhaps the celebration as well which we can see in the rendering of wedding hall. In the True sense it make little sense to us to have many standing at the door of the bridal bedroom and so the place of the wedding makes more literal sense. We should recognize also that there is a parabolic nature here in this saying and as such, the outer story should make some common sense and in this light we would lean to the understanding of the bridechamber, as it is worded in the accepted gospels, as being that place where the wedding takes place and where there would normally be people seeking to enter rather than the place of consummation which is ultimately private.
The idea of weddings and grooms and their relation to the Master and the church are much a part of various Christian doctrines but this too should be seen in a more parabolic sense than in the reality that is at times painted. We must look always for the spiritual idea behind the words. There are several comments on this saying, these include:
- R. McL. Wilson writes: “The use of the word MONACOS in logion 75 and other sayings has led some of the scholars who first discussed the new document to the conclusion that it must be a late work, at least in its present form, since this seemed to imply monasticism. This view, however, seems now generally abandoned, and the word is taken in the sense of ‘solitary’ or ‘single one.'” (Studies in the Gospel of Thomas, p. 33).
- Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: “The many who stood before the door are probably the foolish virgins of Matthew 25:1-13; they have no oil for their lamps, and hence no light. Only the wise virgins enter in with the Bridegroom.” (The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 176).
- F. F. Bruce writes: “This is another variation on the theme ‘Many are called but few are chosen’ (Matthew 22.14). The ‘bridal chamber’ figures in several Gnostic texts as the place where the soul is reunited with its proper element; it is accessible only to the ‘single’ (in the sense of 4, 49). [The Valentinian Gnostics observed a sacrament of the bridal chamber, through which light was received. According to the Gospel of Philip (a Velentinian collection of sayings identified, like the Gospel of Thomas, among the Nag Hammadi papyri), ‘if any one becomes a son of the bridal chamber, he will receive the light; if any one does not receive it while he is in this place, he will not receive it in the other place’ (Saying 127).] There is a superficial resemblance to the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25.1-13), but it is to the wedding feast, not to the bridal chamber, that the wise virgins are admitted.” (Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament, pp. 141-142).
- Funk and Hoover write: “In later practice among some gnostic groups, the ‘wedding suite’ appears to refer to an established ritual, although the procedures and significance attached to it are not known. In the Gospel of Philip, a Christian gnostic instruction manual of the third century C.E., the ‘bridal suite’ plays an important role. Only ‘free men’ and ‘virgins’ can enter it; ‘animals’ (in human form), ‘slaves’ (those who commit sin), ‘and defiled women’ (those who have participated in sexual intercourse), may not. Since the Gospel of Philip is oriented to sacremental practice, it is likely that the ‘bridal suite’ falls into this category. There is another reference to the bridal suite in Thom 104:3.” (The Five Gospels, p. 514)
- Stevan Davies writes: “The comments found in several sayings that advocate people ‘make the two one’ or celebrate the solitary monachos may refer to the union of the sexes characterizing humanity in Gen 1:27 and Gos. Thom. 22. References to a bridal chamber in sayings 75 and 104 may also be references to this primordial union of the sexes. There are no grounds in Thomas to presume that the references are to an actual bridal chamber ritual.”
(http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/thomas/jblprot.htm)
That there may or may not have been some relationship to the bridal chamber of weddings in Gnostic ritual is of no importance to us here and we can find no similarity with the idea of the ten virgins. We should understand here that if this IS a saying from the Master that there IS a meaning and if there IS NO like saying in the accepted gospels to guide us, we must seek out the meaning in His words or in some relationship of the deeper meaning to some other scripture. If we can look past the idea of the wedding and the bridal chamber and just see the idea of many at the door seeking to enter, we can likely find an easy resolution and a rather simple saying. Mr. Bruce suggest some relationship with the ideas from the accepted gospels that tell us that “Many are called but few are chosen” (Matthew 22.14) and this we can see in this saying as we could see the many at the door the invited guests, invited to the Kingdom of God, but that it is only those who have achieved this idea of being a single one who can enter. This does of course make sense in our view of the Kingdom and of discipleship and can be seen regardless of the idea of the wedding or the marriage which can be read as that it IS only the outer story. In the end then it matters not how one interprets the chamber or the room, it is only the door that matters and while there is still some lack of clarity regarding the single ones which is rendered as solitary, we do understand this as the required single mindedness as an attribute of the chosen, the disciple and the man accounted worthy of the Kingdom.
Our next group of sayings from the Gospel of Thomas are:
(76) Jesus says: “The kingdom of the Father is like a merchant who had merchandise and found a pearl. That merchant is prudent. He sold the goods (and) bought for himself the pearl alone. You too look for his treasure, which does not perish, (and) which stays where no moth can reach it to eat it, and no worm destroys it.“
(77) Jesus says: “I am the light that is over all. I am the All. The All came forth out of me. And to me the All has come.” “Split a piece of wood – I am there. Lift the stone, and you will find me there.“
(78) Jesus says: “Why did you go out to the countryside? To see a reed shaken by the wind, and to see a person dressed in soft clothing [like your] kings and your great/powerful persons? They are dressed in soft clothing and will not be able to recognize the truth.“
(79) A woman in the crowd said to him: “Hail to the womb that carried you and to the breasts that fed you.” He said to [her]: “Hail to those who have heard the word of the Father (and) have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say: ‘Hail to the womb that has not conceived and to the breasts that have not given milk.’”
(80) Jesus says: “Whoever has come to know the world has found the (dead) body. But whoever has found the (dead) body, of him the world is not worthy.“
(81) Jesus says: “Whoever has become rich should be king. And the one who has power should renounce (it).“
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| 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.
As the Lord’s Prayer is given to us by the Christ for our use 2000 years ago, the Great Invocation, according to esoteric sources, was give from Him as well and whether we believe that this IS True or not we should look at this prayer as containing the same selfless invocative style as does the Lord’s Prayer and then any that are modeled after their style. We again encourage ALL to read and reread this Great Invocation and our comments as in these words can be found 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!
- 14 The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
