ON LOVE; PART DIX
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 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).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).
We are reminded this morning about the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. This story told by the Master is considered as a a parable by some and as a real Life event by others. Some believe that it shows the nature of heaven and hell while others, who believe that there is no hell experience until the ‘day of judgement’ so called, disagree with this and see this as a picture of some afterlife where Souls are held until that time. As a parable there are also different understandings of the meaning; some see this generally about the Pharisees others that it IS about the Sadducee while others attribute yet other fanciful ideas. We of course understand this as a parable, as a Truth that is found hidden in the Master’s words and we have always maintained that this IS NOT about heaven and hell but that it depicted the afterlife of man as it is based upon his Life in the world. Today we had the thought that this parable IS not about the death at all; it IS about the way of Life of these two men against the backdrop of the Master’s words and, to be sure, we KNOW very little about these two men other than their social status. The parable goes thus:
“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:19-31)
What wrongs did this man commit that he IS not comforted in his death but finds himself in the lower regions of Hades which is the Greek word that is here rendered as hell. And similarly, what right did this poor beggar do that he finds himself in the bosom of Abraham and while we do not KNOW what this exactly means, we are given the picture that it is a place of comfort. Now we can see this as heaven and hell or we can see this as the upper and lower regions of the afterlife but it does not Truly matter in the reality of this story where we find the rich man longing and the beggar rather satisfied. Now we can say that the rich man is guilty of not ‘giving’ to the poor man but we DO NOT KNOW that this IS so and we also DO NOT KNOW that they even know each other. We only know of the idea that the beggar desired to be fed with the crumbs of the rich mans table and in this any rich man can likely be the reference; this should not be seen as in another story where “the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27) as we do not speak here of dogs but of men. The only thing that we KNOW for sure is that the rich man had ALL the comforts of living in the world and by the tone of the Master’s words we should be able to see that this man relished in this state; he fared sumptuously. Can we relate this to the idea from a few posts back where we looked at the word uncleanness from the Apostle Paul’s words on the “works of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19) and how the Greek word that is rendered as uncleanness can also mean luxurious, profligate living 2?
Seeing then how this ALL works together, we should be able to see the idea of forsaking in this parable and understand that it IS in shedding one’s attachments and attractions to the world that one can find the Kingdom of God. We should remember there the final words that Paul offers at the end of this list of the “works of the flesh” where he says that “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:20). Here we should remember as well those ideas that we discussed recently on the parabolic story of the rich young man who could NOT do as the Master instructs him; he could not understand the Master’s Truth as He tells 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 links between having riches in the world and the Kingdom of God are solidly stated by the Master and we should ever understand that the idea of riches IS NOT only possessions and wealth but that it encompasses ALL things that become the treasure of one’s heart, the focus of his Life.
Here then in this parable we have this same dynamic as we find in the “works of the flesh” and which we related to Paul’s saying to the Romans that we will continue with below: that the man who IS “led by the Spirit” is the one who does “mortify the deeds of the body“. This in turn we related to yet another saying regarding the man that IS Christ’s, the man that has that sense of Unity with the Master and his own Christ Within, and, of course, we must see this as the man who IS accounted worthy of the Kingdom as well; Paul says that “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24). Can we see the difference here between the idea of the man who “fared sumptuously“, which is rendered in other translations as “spent his days in magnificent luxury” and as “joyously living in splendor every day“, and the man who has overcome the “works of the flesh” and indeed mortified “the deeds of the body“; the man who has “crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts“. We should note here that there are some bible translations that render this idea of “fared sumptuously” as though it pertains to food only but there is no foundation for this in the Master’s words.
We should try to see here that the greater reality of this story IS in this idea of riches and poorness although both of these should be understood for what they may represent in one’s Life rather than the having or not having physically. Here, while the beatitude does say “Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20) in Luke’s version, we still CAN NOT see how the act of being poor entitles one to any such blessing as the Kingdom of God, we can perhaps see some reality of this idea of poor as it CAN effect the nature of the afterlife and this IS as we believe the parable reflects. We should remember that the words on this from Matthew’s Gospel are framed differently and the idea there is not the man who IS destitute; Matthew says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). We can only use our own insight here, our own revelation and realization, and when we compound this idea of attaining the Kingdom along with the Master’s other words on the Kingdom, we are quite certain that this does not say that merely being poor entitles one to the Kingdom of God. And, when we compound this with our own sense of reality we can see the same thing as so many of the poor struggle much in the world and the greater part of their focus in Life centers around not being poor any longer. Our other point here however is the idea of the afterlife and the poor beggar who does not die with such great attachment to those things of the world as he has none; no possessions, no wealth and likely little or no attachment to thoughts and ideas of such; he dies free from these things that can bind a man to his sense of Life in the world.
Perhaps the point here is that the rich man and the poor man have different destinies in the afterlife and we would tend to see this as more than just the possessions and the wealth as the poor man IS likely alone and unburdened by even the ideas of family and staunch views. If we can see the afterlife as we have depicted it; that the attractions and attachments of the personality during Life in the world persist into this next state of being, then we can see the idea behind this parable and why the rich man IS found in the lower regions of Hades and, as the Master tells us, “in torments“; in the burning torments of wanting and NOT being able to have, in the longings for what one previously had that CAN NOT be fulfilled. And we should likely see here that the rich man in this story understands these things as he wants this poor beggar sent to his warn his brothers who likely are living in much the same way. The Master’s reply however IS simple as He says that they have the words of Moses and the prophets who for centuries had told them to keep their focus on God and on the things of God and to NOT go off in search of the idols of the world of men which we should see as more than those idols of religious value in that day.
In the end we should see here our current theme of forsaking and our current understanding that we must leave this Life in form with as little baggage an we can and. KNOWING the words Ecclesiastes, that “As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand” (Ecclesiastes 5:15) as an undeniable Truth, we should look to that other baggage, the psychological toll of one’s thoughts, attitudes and actions. Here in this parable perhaps we can see that the less that one has in possessions and wealth, in attachment to persons and places and strong ideological positions, the easier it IS to let go of these things when one IS ready to Truly cross over that line that separates man from God, and we MUST remember that this line IS ONLY crossed during one’s Life in this world. Returning to our discussion on the words of Paul to the Romans, we repeat them again for clarity:
“For 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. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:13-23).
Relating this back to the parable above we should be able to see who IS clearly living after the flesh and who is at least closer to being able to “mortify the deeds of the body“. Here the apostle tells us of the idea of living spiritually as being directly related to this mortification and in this idea we should be able to see the Truth of forsaking and being “led by the Spirit of God” and we would add here that this IS a two way street. In addition to the idea that the one who mortifies IS seen as led by the Spirit, it is in being “led by the Spirit” one IS able to discern the Path and there find the wherewithal to forsake and to Love and this in one’s striving toward that ultimate goal. This idea of being a son of God is a realization that comes to a man at some point along this Path of Life and we should look at the apostles words as depicting for us both a process and the endpoint where a man DOES KNOW the Truth. ALL of this IS the process of becoming; becoming the disciple, becoming awakened, becoming Transformed, and becoming ONE with the Father which IS the essence of this idea of adoption. Man has this “Spirit of adoption“; this is the statement of the apostle which is offered without criteria and we can understand this by the testimony of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit that IS God, as He communes with our own Spirit. Here we should try to understand that this communion IS ever happening but it IS ONLY realized when one’s focus IS upon such spiritual ideas; when the conscious focus of the man IS in the world, he IS NOT free from any of the “deeds of the body“. The purpose this entire part of this group of sayings is to show us these realities, the Truth of our nature in the world and what must be done to fully realize; what must be accomplished before we can become fully aware of our True relationship to the Lord.
And what IS this relationship? It is first that we are “children of God” as spiritual beings; in our “Spirit of adoption” we are ONE with God and this IS realized in the conscious awareness of the man in the world as he comes to be “led by the Spirit of God“; it IS here that he IS been able to “mortify the deeds of the body“. And the apostle goes on then to tell us this reality of being His children, in the adoptive sense of Unity and in the natural sense of spiritual Life, as he tells us that we ARE also heirs and it is in this word that we should see that whatsoever God has IS ours. Then, to be yet more profound, the apostle tells us that this relationship IS no different that the relationship of the Christ as we have joint claim with Him to ALL things. We must understand here that this IS a revelation and a realization that will only come to a man as he acknowledges the Truth by way of keeping His words which IS how one comes to be “led by the Spirit of God” and here we should remember that this IS a two way street. The next part here can be viewed two ways; as part of the previous saying, as qualification for the idea of being “joint-heirs with Christ” as many view this, or this can be seen as a separate saying that stands alone and says that if one suffers with Christ that he will be glorified with him as well.
Understanding as we do that we are spiritually “joint-heirs with Christ” already, we would lean toward the latter idea that this IS a separate statement. We could look as this as that from the perspective of realization, some suffering may be required but this would likely require us to see that the idea of suffering and the idea of being “led by the Spirit of God“, along with the necessary mortification, are synonymous; this IS NOT however the suffering of the Master and any other ideas such as the crucifixion would not include us as men. In our view these words “if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” are not attached to the previous words but to the following words that continue this idea of suffering which we should NOT see in the common understanding. This next thought leads us into the the realm of Life in this world and here, from the perspective of the Soul, we can perhaps have that sense of suffering by taking the divine Life and subjecting it to the illusion and the glamour of the world which we do endure with the Master; reading these words together we would see: “if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us“. Here we would relate this idea of suffering with Him to the idea of the “sufferings of this present time“.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also 1 John 4:16-21
Today’s Quote of the Day from the First Epistle of John is his reflection on God and on Love. John tells us that God is Love and, as we have discussed, Love is certainly as aspect and an attribute of the Godhead and one which is supremely represented by the Christ. John tells us further that without Love there is no relationship with God and likens the Truth of dwelling in Love to being in His Kingdom and in His Presence. He draws for us the idea of Love for ones fellowman being the prime prerequisite for Love of God for although one may say that he Loves God, it cannot be True unless he first Loves his fellowman. In John’s words the equation is certain: “he who loveth God love his brother also“. And, lest we forget that the idea of Love that the Master teaches in not the emotional attraction that we live with daily, we repeat again: LOVE is….
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’. To this we add the ever important High Ideal as taught by the Christ: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
