ON LOVE; PART DCCXX
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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).
As we continue our discussion of the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John, we should remember that it IS here that the reality of the lack of understanding by at least some of Jesus disciples becomes most evident. We read here about the confusion based questions of Thomas, Philip and of Judas which they ask the Master regarding the greater reality of the very nature of Christ and His relationship to the Father. We should note that heretofore the Master had taught them by parable and while some of them may have understood some of the parables, NOT ALL did. The importance of this point IS that the Master answers their questions in an equally parabolic manner as was His first statement which was questioned and that He DOES confirm to them that His overall tone IS such, that it IS parabolic or, as John phrases this, that Jesus is teaching them by proverb. The Master tells the Eleven “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” and this after a discussion with them about asking “in my name“; and, while some may think that this idea of proverbial speech IS limited to this topic, it IS the Master’s own words that should suffice to show that it IS ALL things concerning the Father. In the way that this IS played out in John’s recollection of the Master’s words, we should see the idea that even after this saying by Jesus that points to a future time, the apostles make claim that they DO understand in the present time. We should see as well that the greater Truth IS that they DO NOT Truly understand and this IS evident in the written record of His arrest, crucifixion and resurrection where ALL are confused and bewildered by the events of those days.
The point here IS in their confusion and the Master continued parabolic language there IS little certainty in the hearts of the Eleven and yet men of succeeding generations believe that they DO KNOW the reality of the words that He uses, words that those who were closest to Him DO NOT understand until the revelations and the realizations of Truth come into their individual consciousness. The lesson here for the True follower of the Lord IS that it IS extremely difficult to break away from those things that one has KNOWN and held as True and this difficulty, expressed in doubt and uncertainty, afflicts us ALL. The reality here IS that the Truth of the Christ and of God are so far removed from carnal Life that it IS difficult to even imagine oneself standing in the True Light of the Soul, standing in the fullness of grace. It IS in context that we should view the Truths that the Master offers us, the Truth of Repentance, the Truth of striving and the Truth of the growth of the Kingdom of God Within. And it IS these things that we should see in this progressive teaching that begins with the Master’s words at the Passover Supper and continues through His time with them in the Garden at Gethsemane. This IS the teaching of this fourteenth chapter and of the current selection which we repeat again:
“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).
In this teaching about the Kingdom where ALL have a place, this teaching about the Oneness of the Father and the Son, and the teaching that tells us that we too are as He is in this world, that we can DO the “greater works” that in Him ARE the works of the Father, we should get the greater ideas that He IS presenting to us. And so much of this greater idea IS presented for us in the words of the Apostle John in his own epistle as he tells us that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17); this should be for us a clarification and an amplification of Jesus own words which we have been discussing. If we can see through the parabolic tone and see the reality that it IS the Christ who speaks to us, the Inner man that dwelt in the body of Jesus, we can perhaps better understand these spiritual ideas….and perhaps it IS this failure to see that plagued the apostles’ understanding of His words. In our view here there are but two things missing for the proper understanding of the Master’s teaching; first is the understanding of the Truth that we ARE created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27) as Souls, or better as the same Trinity that IS God, and NOT as this body of flesh and its carnally oriented personality. Second IS the spiritual approach to the Master’s words, an approach that requires us to look past the carnal sense and to see His Truths as that they ARE pure, that they are free from the corruption of this world of self and the desires and glamour of the self. It IS with these ideas that we should look at the Apostle Paul’s words saying: “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Can we see how that the ideas of forsaking ALL and seeking ONLY the “treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20) and how that we should “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) ARE the True KEYS to the Kingdom of God. This IS the reality that the focus of one’s Life must be upon the things of God and that one’s expression of that Life must be the “fruit of the spirit” which begins and ends in that Love that IS expressed for us in the Great Commandments which we post daily at the top of our essays.
And this IS the essential message of the words of the Master in our current selection as well; that we come to understand the intimate relationships that we have with the Christ and with the Father. As we can see the Christ IS in us as the Christ Within, the anointing of God, and as we can understand the Oneness of the Father and the Son, of God and the Christ, so can we see our our own Oneness with the Father. This IS His essential message but there IS more that we must see in order to understand His words and this IS the same reality that the apostles had to come to realize: it IS in one’s spiritual reality that these ideas come to the consciousness of the man in the world, a spiritual reality that comes to the apostles after the death and the resurrection of the Christ. It IS here that they see the Truth of His divine nature and come to understand the words that He had said. We get a look at this reality in the story of the two disciples who were walking to Emmaus and how that they are joined by the Master who speaks to them about their confusion regarding the events of the day. We break this rather lengthy story into three parts; first we have the setting of the stage as the women bring the news of Jesus’ resurrection to His disciples who DO NOT believe and this after ALL that the Master had told them including in the private conversations with Peter, John and James.
“It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass“
We see here that Peter DOES NOT yet believe the fullness of what has happened which we read in these last words above from Luke; in this wonderment IS doubt and uncertainty. Now “two of them” go to Emmaus and it IS uncertain who the second disciple IS; here there are many opinions. The Commentary Critical and Explanatory of the Whole Bible tells us that: two of them–One was Cleopas ( Luke 24:18 ); who the other was is mere conjecture. Emmaus–about seven and a half miles from Jerusalem. They probably lived there and were going home after the Passover 8. While the first note here IS True, the second IS their own conjecture as there IS NO reason given for this journey. John Gill on the other hand has a more firm opinion of the two as he tells us that: And behold two of them went that same day; Two of the disciples, as the Persic version reads; not of the eleven apostles, for it is certain that one of them was not an apostle; but two of the seventy disciples, or of the society of the hundred and twenty that were together: one of these was Cleophas or Alphaeus, as appears from ( Luke 24:18 )8. Mr. Gill does offer us some additional idea as to the beliefs of others as he tells us: the other is, by some, thought to be Luke the Evangelist, as Theophylact on the place observes, who, out of modesty, mentions not his name; others have thought that Nathanael was the other person; and Dr. Lightfoot seems very confident, from ( Luke 24:34 ) ( 1 Corinthians 15:5 ) that the Apostle Peter was the other; but it is not certain who he was 8. The main part of the story goes thus:
“And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said : but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?“
If the second disciple IS Peter, it gives ALL the more meaning to this story of two disciples that walk miles with the Master without KNOWING that it IS Him and in this we should try to see the idea that His appearance IS NOT the same as which was as He was beaten and crucified. And this IS our point, that it IS the Christ that IS resurrected and that the body that He chooses to use is incidental; He can take on any appearance that He may choose. This idea IS confirmed in Mark’s Gospel as we read that “he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked , and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them” (Mark 16:12-13) and here again is the suggestion that this may have been Peter. We should try to see as well that this idea of changing appearances, appearing and disappearing and other like events show to us the reality of the Life of the Soul, the Christ, and the Christ Within as opposed to the Life of the phenomenal form. There IS a reason that this story IS told’ it IS NOT just idle words but a sign for us of the Divine Power of the Christ and the added strength that this evidence of Divine Power should give His disciples to whom He says “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12). In the third part of the story below we find the obscure language that may point to Peter as the second disciple according to Lightfoot but the greater point IS that the Master appears to them…He simply “stood in the midst of them” and spoke. This appearing is shown us by Mark in the end of the saying that we have above and which may be this same story without the story itself; we read: “Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen” (Mark 16:14). The text from Luke goes thus:
“And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit” (Luke 24:13-37).
What we should see here IS that even after the teaching of the Master, His Presence with them daily, His prediction of His own arrest and death and the actual occurrence, as well as His resurrection as He also predicted, there IS still fear and there IS still uncertainty…there IS still “their unbelief and hardness of heart” and in this idea we should try to see their own difficulty in looking past the carnal view of Life and into the spiritual.
In this ALL is the challenge for the aspirant and the disciple of the Lord. Any man can see the carnal value of His words and construct his own compliance according to his own terms. Doctrines accomplish this on a larger scale as they mollify the stark Truths in the words of Jesus and His apostles to become more in line with worldly living and they create their varied versions of dogma to accommodate their views. The reality of His words IS to be found in interpreting His words, and those of His apostles, according to the spiritual view. To be sure, the apostles who write the gospels and the epistles of the New Testament DO largely see the greater reality and the Truth of His words and they reflect these ideas for us in a similar parabolic tone as DOES the Master; we should ever understand however that their individual reflection IS through the facility of their personalities which, until that time of perfection, IS likely still afflicted with some degree of carnal thought.
The Master’s words however are rather clear in regard to our being able to see the Presence of God in our Lives. He tells us that it IS to the man who IS keeping His words that He “will manifest myself to him“. This IS the greater point of the importance of this fourteenth chapter; here He tells us that a man must “believeth on me” in order to see the grace that allows for the “greater works” (John 14:12) and in this we should understand that the depth of His meaning IS that we keep His words which we find painted for us by Vincent as: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4. The Master goes on to show this same idea as it reflects the Love that we should have for Him and for God, a Love that IS expressed for us in the Great Commandments that we have at the top of our essay; He says simply: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) and in this we should understand that the context IS in relation to our asking in His Name and our realization of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus goes on to clarify the point as He shows the intimate relationship that we can have with the Christ and with the Father, a relationship that IS one of realization and revelation, a relationship founded in the grace that flows into Life from our own view of the Christ and the God Within; we read “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“. This IS ALL the great KEY of keeping His words which IS our ONLY sign of Love for God and our return to focus upon the things of God.
And this IS where we began, in the idea that the disciples DO NOT understand His words….not about keeping his words for this they DO, but about realizing the grace that comes from this and understanding the dynamics of the spiritual Life that He IS showing them. Here He tells them “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” and the import here IS that this IS the realization of God in man, a realization and a revelation that is easily missed when one’s view of Life IS wholly or in part on the things of the world. We close today by reprising some of the New Testament ideas that show us how that these ideas of the things of God and the things of the world are diametrically opposed:
- The Apostle John tells us: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:5).
- The Apostle James tells us: “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
- The Apostle Paul tells us: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).
- The Apostle Paul also tells us: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
- The Apostle Peter tells us: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).
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.
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!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
