ON LOVE; PART DCXXV
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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“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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“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).
In the last essay we cited some of the Master’s words regarding the idea of the disciple as the one who serves and that it IS by one’s service that his greatness will depend. We noted at the same time that the Master’s same words reflected His instruction that the disciple NOT strive for greatness except by service and the underlying idea here IS that one DOES not compete in serving for the award of any greatness; the disciple serves because this IS a basic reality of discipleship. We noted as well the Master’s admonition that one should NOT seek the upper room or the upper seat and while this IS addressed as a worldly affair, the idea should be seen as that this reflects on ALL of Life and plays a large role in the overall idea of being humble. The Master combines these ideas of greatness and being humble in much the same way as he combines service and being humble and, in the Truth of His intent regarding the word rendered as humble, Jesus also ties the Kingdom of God. We read again His words saying: “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:1-4).
In these words and ideas we should be able to see a relationship between being humble and serving as we also read that “he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:11-12). Perhaps we can see, from the perspective of the aspirant and the disciple, that the ‘virtue’ of being humble IS reflected on one’s ‘desire’ to serve and that overriding the ideas of virtue and desire we simply have the Way of the disciple….that he IS humble and that he DOES serve. James tells us in this regard that the aspirant and the disciple should “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” and that “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:10, 6). He tells us these things just before our current sayings:
“Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say , If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:11-17).
Our closing question yesterday was to ask if we can see the interrelationship of ALL these ideas from the Master and from the apostle and how James positions being humble into the idea of “speaking against” another and how that this “speaking against” IS in reality judgment and how it IS found in lifting oneself up. This lifting, or exalting as the Master tells us, IS in reality no different than “speaking against” as in this a man IS setting himself as better and greater than others and this IS what the apostle and the Master are speaking against. We should be able to see in this idea of exalting the pride that must be shed and we should be able to see the depth of these words in the Life of the man who Truly seeks God. The word that IS used by James and rendered as humble IS the same word that IS rendered as lowly which IS used by the Master who tells us that “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29) and we should see this as the very nature of the Master. The lexicon offers us these definitions of this idea of humble; from the Greek word tapeinos which is used in the Master’s words here regarding Himself; we read: not rising far from the ground; metaph. as a condition, lowly, of low degree; brought low with grief, depressed; lowly in spirit, humble; in a bad sense, deporting one’s self abjectly, deferring servilely to others 2. The kindred word tapeinoo is defined as: to make low, bring low to level, reduce to a plain; metaph. to bring into a humble condition, reduce to meaner circumstances to assign a lower rank or place to; to abase; to be ranked below others who are honoured or rewarded; to humble or abase myself by humble living; to lower, depress of one’s soul bring down one’s pride; to have a modest opinion of one’s self; to behave in an unassuming manner; devoid of all haughtiness 2. While ALL of these ideas may be True, NONE Truly express the intent of the Master nor of James; from their perspective the idea that this world conveys IS not an action or an activity found in abasement nor in depression and it IS NOT lowly in the idea of being less that another; this idea of humble IS a state of mind, an attitude of Life and it IS the Way of the disciple. It IS that he KNOWS that he IS NO better than any, that ALL men are essentially equal, and that any who have faltered and appear lower ARE in need of whatsoever can be done to lift them up.
We should try to see here that the better definition of humble can be seen in the Truth of the idea of service and that this IS a lesson that the Master offers yet again as He washes the disciple’s feet; an act that IS likely seen as a thing that a disciple would not DO and certainly a vile thing that the Master should not DO as we see in the Apostle Peter’s reaction to this in the Gospel of John. Perhaps there IS no English word that properly reaches the intended meaning of these Greek words and this especially when one enters into this the idea of the little children who have no thought for any of the ideas that are opposite of humble; and neither DO they serve; they simply ARE in our presence and without any special feeling about themselves. In this light then we can see that selfless attitude which IS the reality of the single-minded disciple of the Lord who sees naught for the self and seeks NO greatness; this man ONLY seeks to serve and this service then can be understood as the result of this humble state of being and as an expression of the Soul in the world.
Our point here should be seen in the idea presented by James regarding judgment where we should try to see ALL of these ideas coming together. That to “speak against” IS to judge and to judge IS contrary to the idea intended in the word rendered as humble and that in the combination of these ideas there IS that necessary sense of looking past oneself; seeing oneself as ALL men and as everyman and in the same Light as the Master sees Himself as He says: “I am meek and lowly in heart“; we can add to this the reality of His own role as He says that “I am among you as he that serveth” (Luke 22:27). And this IS what He tells us as well saying: “whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:27). ALL of these ideas are intimately interconnected.
The apostle goes on from this thought to show us the divine nature of these ideas of judging others and we should remember here that we must calculate into this the idea of one’s lifting himself up as in this idea of exalting oneself IS the greater reality of such “speaking against” as this IS NOT a thing that a disciple would generally DO. Exalting oneself and thinking too highly of one’s own position IS however a thing against which the aspirant and the disciple must guard and this we see in the interactions between the Master and the disciples that we have been discussing; how that this was a trap that the apostles of the Lord fell into and likely without ever seeing that it was wrong.
We should understand here that these ideas are taken rather literally by doctrines and related to the ideas from the previous chapter regarding the tongue; while there may some link here in the apostle’s intent, it IS NOT in the realm of words only as commentary posits. ALL of these ideas should be seen in the totality of a man’s expression and in the reality of the aspirant and the disciple, much of the carnal approach IS already beyond them…it IS the deeper ideas that are the apostle’s intent. And doctrine continues with the literal ideas as we proceed into the next verse which reads as an answer to the rhetorical question that the same saying asks; we read: “There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?“. The Commentary Critical and Explanatory of the Whole Bible tells us this regarding this verse: There is one lawgiver—The best authorities read in addition, “and judge.” Translate, “There is One (alone) who is (at once) Lawgiver and Judge, (namely) He who is able to save and destroy.” Implying, God alone is Lawgiver and therefore Judge, since it is He alone who can execute His judgments; our inability in this respect shows our presumption in trying to act as judges, as though we were God 8. Vincent 4 DOES NOT agree with the addition of “and judge” and offers no commentary aside from the idea of James’ emphatic idea of “one lawgiver”.
We should see that their idea of judgment IS NOT what ours IS; they see this along the normal ideas of judging rather than a lesson on being humble and they see the idea of one’s judging others actions rather than seeing a way by which we can measure ourselves or, better, that we DO NOT measure ourselves. There IS a reason for these verses to follow along the way that they DO; contrary to the opinion of some, James words are NOT a haphazard series of thoughts and this we have seen our our own reading and discussion to this point. The idea of our current verse, when reversed to read the question first, can shed some additional light onto the apostle’s thoughts; he says “who art thou that judgest another?” and the reality here IS the same that he faced himself and that the apostles faced in judging themselves to be the greater. Doctrine and most men automatically see the idea of judging wrongs that another commits and in the world of men this IS likely how this works out; here however the apostle IS NOT speaking to men in the world….he IS speaking to aspirants and to disciples who already KNOW that side of judgment but who, like himself, may NOT have realized this other form that it can take. Much can be made of the idea of God being that “one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy” but this IS NOT the point here; the point IS that by comparison to this Awesome Power, who ARE you?
We can get an inkling of the apostle’s intent from a previous saying: “So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:11). This saying sets forth for us the idea of judgment by the law, “the law of liberty” and the reality of this IS NOT the Ten Commandments nor the words of the Master but the essence of the Way of the disciple, the Way of Love. This law IS simply the Way that ALL things should be seen as one Truly focuses upon God; it IS this Way that IS the words of the Master; this law IS the essence of what Jesus calls for us “the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). And so the lawgiver in James’ words IS the Will of God as this IS KNOWN by the True Man, the Soul, and which IS the perfection of the disciple who can express this in the world of men. In James’ words ALL is resolved in the expression of the man, the expression of “pure religion” and the reality of being a “doer of the word” which he frames in our current sayings as “a doer of the law“. And this IS James injunction in this idea on “the law of liberty” as well; that the aspirant and the disciple come to express themselves in ALL things as they that are so judged by this unspoken law of Truth and Love. Speak and DO as one that will be so judged; as one who KNOWS and who understands these things.
Who shall be judged under “the law of liberty” but those who live under this law. Those who KNOW and understand it ARE the Souls of men and it IS the Souls of men that are judged although not in the way that IS painted for us by doctrine. It IS the Souls of men who benefit by their ability to express the Love and the Truth of the Plan and the law and the reality of this benefit IS in one’s greater ability to serve his brothers in the world. If we can ponder this idea we can likely see the reality of the Master’s words above and from the last post regarding greatness and service. There IS NO THING for the self in the Truth of discipleship and for any who may think that there IS, this thought IS but an illusion. It IS to the aspirant and the disciple who may still hold some of these ideas on Life and on the self in the world that James writes and it IS to these that his words here should show the reality of the heart and the ultimate Truth of the Master’s words saying “For where your treasure is , there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21, Luke 12:34).
This IS ever our struggle and our goal, to free ourselves from the attractions of and the attachment to the ways of the personality in the world; to free ourselves from the duality of vision which IS reflected in our own view or ourselves and it IS this that the apostle is teaching us.
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.
As we approach the Wesak Festival at the Full Moon of May, it seems appropriate that we post the Great Invocation as our Quote of the Day. Wesak IS the Festival of the Buddha and it IS said that on this day the Buddha returns to us and stands with the Christ to help to focus the attention of men of GoodWill on the Truth of the Plan of God, the Plan that can come to fruition in the expression of the Light and Love and Power in the world of men.
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!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
