IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1139

ON LOVE; PART DCCXXVIII

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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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.

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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).

In the last essay we continued with our review of the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John which we began discussing many days ago as this shows for us  the relationship between the concept of grace as this IS used in the New Testament and the Holy Spirit….the rather nebulously defined Spirit of God. Our review has taken us through the ideas presented by Jesus regarding His Presence and how that He IS preparing the Eleven for the continued Presence of God and Christ in their lives as this IS stated in those most misunderstood ideas that are rendered as mansions and places. While these ideas are understood by many as that these mansions are actual places where one will go after death so long as one IS saved according to some particular doctrine, the greater reality IS found in the Master’s words which follow as His teaching steadily progresses to show the relationships of God and Christ and then of God and man. In our view of Jesus’ words here in the beginning of this chapter we find the idea of His Presence and the Presence of God which we should see as One but which remain separate in the minds of many. We should try to understand that rather that His preparing a place for them, that He IS preparing them for a place, the Kingdom of God, which place IS but a state of being and a condition of Life in this world. And there ARE two parts of this that we should repeat here again; first that He tells them that they already KNOW these things, they KNOW where He IS going and they KNOW how it IS that they can be there too. Secondly we should look again at the idea of abode, a word that IS our understanding of His Presence and which IS rendered as mansions, dwelling places and rooms by others.

On the first point we are reminded that these Eleven have been with the Master for some time and that they KNOW the reality of Jesus Life, His message and His destiny in a most intimate way but which perhaps DOES NOT register in their minds as the end approaches. We get this sense from the questions of Thomas and Philip, and later by Judas, and in the tone of the Master’s answers as He says to Thomas “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also” and then to Philip that “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip” (John 14:7, 9). Perhaps the apostles’ uncertainty IS tied to their sense of remorse here at the end of the Master’s journey in this world, or perhaps it IS just plain doubt regarding these matters of faith, of plainly KNOWING the Truth; but regardless of the reasons, they clearly DO NOT KNOW as men in this world at this time. Against this doubt we have the Master’s words that they KNOW and we should try to see this as that they have seen these things in the revelations and realizations that come to their consciousness from their own Souls, their own Christ Within, but that they ARE NOT allowing these to overcome the carnal thoughts and attitudes that they still have; thoughts and attitudes that are fixed for a time on His immanent departure and their loss of His Presence. And this IS the point of Jesus’ words, that He IS NOT leaving them but that He is preparing them for the Presence of God and Christ which will continue in His absence from them in the flesh. This IS not dissimilar to our own sense of doubt which can afflict us at every turn and make those things that we KNOW today a bit more hazy tomorrow…this IS a part of the nature of Life in this world.

The second point IS in regard to the idea of His Presence and the source of this idea in John’s use of the Greek word mone which IS rendered here as both mansions and abode with the latter showing us that it IS God that comes into the Life of the man in this world. While the idea of the God Within IS unspoken, this IS the underlying reality of the totality of the Master’s words that show us first that the Father IS in Him and it IS He that “doeth the works” and then that they too, and us through through them, can DO the same as He says “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:10, 12). It IS here that we should see the God Within the Master and it IS here that we should see God Within us as well. As it IS the God Within the Life of Jesus that “doeth the works“, so it IS the God Within the Eleven and the God Within us that shall DO them as well. And this IS the Presence that He tells them of; He tells them that they have a place in the “Father’s House“, the Kingdom of God and that this place IS in the Presence of God must naturally follow. And we can connect the dots to His other use of this word in this same chapter as we remember that the ideas behind these Greek words ofttimes have NO direct English equivalent. When we read the Master’s words saying that “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” we should get the same idea of His Presence and the Presence of the Christ Within as well. Here perhaps we can more clearly see the idea of Presence in the Greek word mone which the lexicon defines for us as: a staying, abiding, dwelling, abode; to make an (one’s) abode; metaph. of the God the Holy Spirit indwelling believers ². There are several Greek words that are used in the context of place, abode and abiding but this one, mone, IS used only twice and both by the Apostle John in this chapter. It IS doctrines that separate the idea behind mone into two different contexts but these are reconciled in the right view of the intent of the Master’s words which are rendered as mansions or rooms or dwelling places but which should be rendered to connote this same idea of His Presence.

And this sense of Presence IS offered to us in the previous verse from our selection below as the Master, in the same understanding of Love for Him and keeping His words, tells them that He will manifest Himself to them. Repeating our selection:

“At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 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. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:20-26).

While parabolic, we should see this same idea of Presence in this word that IS rendered as manifest and this IS understood by the apostles as we can see in the nature of the Apostle Judas’ question; a question which the Master answers in the words that we discuss above. The Presence of the Father and the Son, the God and the Christ Within, ARE found in the realization of their abiding in the Life of the man who keeps His words. And this IS the greater reality of grace. The idea here of manifest IS better understood through the apostle’s question and the subsequent answer; here we should see that the disciple will see the Master and we should understand this as the the disciple will realize His Presence. It should be clear that those who DO NOT Love Him as evidenced by keeping His words will NOT have this realization of God and we should try to see here that this works out in Life by degree. To these Eleven who DO keep His words this IS black and white but for the rest of us this realization IS the product of our striving and our degree of focus upon the things of God. We should understand here as well that this IS grace.

And we should NOT forget the relationship of our keeping His words to the idea of our Love for Him and we must try to understand the nature of this Love IS that we see Him as the Master of our little lives in this world and that we DO as it IS that He says. We should try to also see the deeper realities here; that the Christ Within IS the Christ from the perspective of the individual in this world; it IS the Christ Within that the man must follow and it IS the nature of the Christ Within that the man in the world must express. As we have said in previous essays, there IS little or NO difference between the idea portrayed by Luke saying “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) and the words here from John which begin with the straightforward saying that “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Here we should take the idea that to see the Master as Lord IS to DO as He instructs and perhaps here we can see the deeper value of John’s often used phrase that IS rendered as believe on or believe in; that this too IS that same quality of Love. In this we can see how that Vincent’s comments on this idea of believing upon Him can be our expression of this Love that we have for Him….that this IS: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life ⁴. Then, if we can relate this idea of binding upon the life to the reality of the Great Commandments above, we can have a clearer picture of our own True responsibility in keeping His words and of our focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True…upon the things of God.

And we ARE reminded that the words of the Master ARE the words of God, of the Spirit of God that flows through the Life of Jesus and which flows as grace through the Life of everyman in proportion to the measure of his focus upon Him. This IS the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that IS God that “doeth the works” and this IS the Holy Spirit that speaks through the Life of the Master who says “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s“. From our own perspective this Spirit of God IS His Presence within each man as the God Within and the Christ Within and, while these are difficult ideas to comprehend for some, they ARE nonetheless the teaching of the Master here in this part of the Gospel of John. This IS the reality of the Soul, the Inner and True man that IS living for a time through this body of flesh, a body that ALL too often is identified as the True self. It IS in this sense of illusion that we should try to see the doubts of the apostles…that as they see themselves as the carnal man in the world, their realizations and their revelations become less clear but, as the focus again upon the Master’s words, the clarity returns and they come again into a greater fullness of grace.

We ended our review of the fourteenth chapter with this idea that ties us to Him, His words that show us that the God, “the Father that dwelleth in me” as He tells us, IS the same Power of Spirit that He tells us “dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:17), and in this we should understand “IS in you“. There IS NO real way to separate the idea of God from His Spirit especially when we view this in the context of the Master’s words that say “God is a spirit” which we KNOW IS better rendered as “God is spirit” as most translations offer them. If we can see the Master’s idea as that they show the conditions of this Presence as “If ye love me, keep my commandments“, we can better understand the complexity of the idea that the Spirit IS with them but IS unrealized by the man “that loveth me not“….the man that “keepeth not my sayings“, and we should note this sayings IS the same word, logos, that is generally rendered as word. While we CAN NOT KNOW why Jesus frames His words, or better why John reflects them this way, as to say that Jesus will pray or ask for this Holy Spirit, we should understand the reality of the parabolic nature of His speech; that most ALL that He IS saying here IS ONLY to be grasped and understood by those who can see past the doctrinal ideas of those times. His words are ever framed to reflect the idea that “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 14:35). We should note here that neither these words nor the specific idea behind them are used by John in His Gospel; we should try to see however that they ARE implied in the idea of Love for Him and in keeping His words.

And this IS the plight of men yet today; they believe that they KNOW and understand the reality and the Truth of the Master’s words and the amplification and clarification offered by His apostles while at the same time they DO NOT keep His words.  And more, many men, according to their various doctrines, dilute His word and His intent to fit the nature of men so that they may think that they ARE DOING as He says. This IS the ultimate reality of His rhetorical question that we repeat again: “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?“; and this IS the ultimate Truth of John’s view of this idea as he recalls the Master’s words saying “If ye love me, keep my commandments“. So many believe that by their doctrines that they are saved and few see the implications of the Master’s words regarding those who DO NOT Truly see; He tells us: “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15). It IS in seeing Life from the perspective of the man in the world that “their ears are dull of hearing” as regards spiritual Truths and it IS in the view of oneself and the interests of the self as the prime directive of Life that He says “their eyes they have closed” to spiritual things….to the Wisdom from above. In this we should also see the idea that Jesus is correcting the view of His apostles who hear and see but at the same time doubt and it IS here that He emphasizes the relationship between Love and keeping His words and these both as the price of that grace which IS the Presence of God.

We close today by repeating the Master’s words that ARE recorded by Matthew, words that give us the same ideas of DOING and Loving Him because He IS our Lord, our spiritual leader and our view of God in man. We read:

“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. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came , and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:21-27).

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

We repeat here again a saying that is from the Bhagavad Gita, which goes well with our theme of the God Within, the Soul, which we see as the Christ Within and while this is good in the Christian world and is True based upon our understanding of the Christ as the manifestation of God, we should also see in these words below that it does not matter what these divine ideas are called; that it matters not what we call this Inner Man, that he is the same in ALL, he is the Soul.

Thou carriest within thee a sublime Friend whom thou knowest not. For God dwells in the inner part of every man, but few know how to find Him. The man who sacrifices his desires and his works to the Beings from whom the principles of everything stem, and by whom the Universe was formed, through this sacrifice attains perfection. For one who finds his happiness and joy within himself, and also his wisdom within himself is one with God. And, mark well, the soul which has found God is freed from rebirth and death, from old age and pain, and drinks the water of Immortality.—Bhagavad-Gita

It is difficult to tell just what verses of the Bhagavad Gita the above is from; whether it is a paraphrase or a combination. It is from the book “The Great Initiates” by Édouard Schuré which was originally published in French in 1889 and perhaps it is in the translation of the verses that they become hard to recognize. However, the sheer beauty of the presentation caught my attention and so I share it with you. The Path to the Kingdom is the same no matter what religion one professes.

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