ON LOVE; PART DCCCXX
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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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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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 Master’s speaking to the Eleven regarding His immanent departure from them there IS much that they ARE told that IS NOT in accordance with the Jewish traditions and doctrines that they had be nurtured in. As the Master tries to explain in carnal terms the very nature of God and of the God Within, the apostles ARE left with little in concrete understanding regarding His words. And, in His words from our next selection from the sixteenth chapter regarding the idea of His parabolic speech to them, we should try to see that in addition to the idea that Jesus intentionally clouds the ideas, there IS the reality of using carnal thoughts that men can understand to divulge spiritual things for which there ARE NOT adequate words. While the synoptic gospels all show us that the Master DOES tell His disciples of the reality of what will happen, the deeper Truths are found in His words from John’s Gospel that tells them the very nature of what IS happening. In sayings like “The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day” the Master gives them the physical Truth, that He will be arrested and killed and that He “shall rise the third day“, but neither IS this understood as we read in their reaction according to the Apostle Mark who tells us “But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him” (Mark 9:31-32).
Similarly we find Jesus telling His disciples of His death in this from the Gospel of the Apostle Matthew who writes of Jesus’s words and adds his own comments and the Apostle Peter’s response: “Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matthew 16:20-23). In these words from the synoptic gospels we should see that Jesus apostles DO NOT understand even the physical perspective of His telling them of His death save from the perspective of Peter’s vocal attempt to prevent it. They DO NOT understand the significance but they ARE aware according to the gospels, before the Supper and the Master’s words according to John. However, while the more spiritual approach that we read in John’s words perhaps should have supplemented Jesus’ previous comments, the Eleven ARE still confused by His words as we read in our current selection:
“A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come : but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs:c but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” (John 16:16-25)
And this IS the difficulty of men yet today as there IS little help for any in understanding spiritual ideas through the carnal mind. The Eleven KNOW of His words on His death but they DO NOT realize the significance even as He IS arrested in the garden, and we KNOW that they DO NOT understand the idea that He “shall rise the third day” even after His resurrection, perhaps because these ideas ARE unheard of in that day even in the view of the Master’s own works in raising Lazarus and the young girl. And so we KNOW historically what happens to Jesus as we read about these things in the accounts of the apostles but we DO NOT have any better idea of the Truth than DO the Eleven in that day where the Master says: “A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father“. In the confusion between His words and the traditions and doctrines of the Jews, the greater Truths ARE lost and these greater Truths are missed by the early church despite the confirming and the amplifying words of the apostles. Most ALL things are interpreted according to the traditions of the Jews so that men believe that the Master has gone somewhere, to that mystical and nebulous heaven that IS somewhere in the sky perhaps, even though His own words tell us that “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).
Trapped in the idea of seeing which IS the English rendering of the Greek word theoreo we find the current sense of religious doctrines. When we can view this word in its deeper meanings which ARE reflected even in English, we can better understand that this sense of seeing DOES NOT necessarily require the eyes. Here again we should try to see the idea of realization and revelation as what IS revealed to the mind and realized by the man in the world IS Truly seen. That this IS likely NOT the way that the apostles understand the Master’s intent however as we can see that they DO NOT Truly see His meaning which begins in the deeper Truths of grace, the deeper Truths of the Presence of God in the Life of the man who will keep His words. It IS in the context of the whole of the Master’s words to the Eleven that we must look in order to discern His meanings in any particular saying but this IS NOT generally done as it has been the tendency of religion to take the individual sayings of Jesus and His apostles out to the context in which they are offered and to interpret them according to one’s own beliefs. We should try to see His words saying “A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father” in the context of His previous sayings which can be summed up in these words from the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel which we repeat again:
“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” (John 14:21-24).
It IS this message and the Truth of the Holy Spirit as the reality of the Presence of God that should be seen in His subsequent words which lead up to our current selection above. As we discussed in the last posts, His words saying “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:7-13) should be seen as the culmination of His prior teaching on the Presence of God. It IS this same Presence that IS the parakletos which IS rendered as the Comforter here and which Jesus tells us IS the Holy Spirit and IS the Spirit of Truth. In the plurality of the ideas that we find in the English word see as this IS rendered from the Greek theoreo, we should try to discern Jesus meaning in the whole of the ideas presented; first He tells them “I go to my Father, and ye see me no more” as He speaks of righteousness and then He tells them that “A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father” as we have in our selection above. Can we see here how that the same ideas behind the word theoreo ARE used differently and seemingly in a contradicting way?
While we can discern the difference here between the carnal implications and the spiritual, most doctrines DO NOT; many have difficulty with these sayings which we can see in John Gill’s interpretation saying of the first instance that: and ye see me no more; not but that the disciples were to see Christ, and did see him after his resurrection, and will with the rest of the saints see him at his second coming: but the meaning is, that they should see him no more, in a mean and despicable condition on earth, in a state of humiliation, in the form of a servant 8. Comparing this to the second instance we read: And again, a little while and ye shall see me; referring either to his rising again the third day from his death, as was prophesied of, ( Hosea 6:2 ) ; and was typified by Jonah’s lying three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, when he appeared to, and was seen by his disciples, to their great joy; or else to the short time in which he was to be, and was seen by them; namely, forty days between his resurrection and ascension 8. While most commentators in our library DO NOT address this idea as we ARE DOING and as Mr. Gill DOES, we can glean the doctrinal ideas from his words. Our own view here IS more complete however when we can see the reality of “ye shall see me, because I go to the Father” in relationship to the reality of the Presence of God that Jesus shows us will come to the man who keeps His words.
When we can see this and understand the former saying in the more physical terms as we discussed two posts back where we read Mark’s words saying that “After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked , and went into the country” (Mark 16:12), we can better see the deeper realities that ARE later presented. Here in the reality that His own disciples DO NOT KNOW Him by His appearance and in the idea that Mary IS “supposing him to be the gardener” (John 20:15), we should be able to understand Jesus meaning as He says “because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more“. In this idea we should try to understand that the man Jesus IS NOT who they ARE seeing in the resurrection, they ARE seeing the spiritual man who lived as Jesus in this Earth, they are seeing the Christ as the Aspect of God which dwelt in the form of the man Jesus giving Him “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). It IS in the fullness of the realized Power of the Christ in the world that the Master CAN and DOES appear to men in “in another form“; it IS in the realized Power of the Christ that the Master CAN and DOES appear and disappear from their Presence; and it IS in the realized Power of the Christ Within that we too can free ourselves from “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). This IS the ultimate goal of ALL Souls that ARE in this Earth as men and, in the constant evolution of mind in the race of men, there has never been a time where these ideas could be made clearer to us than they can be today. It IS in the sense of our goal that we should see the reality of the “greater works” that the Master speaks of as He tells us that it IS in keeping His words, the essence of believing on Him, that “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12).
The Apostle John is rather graphic in his portrayal of the lack of understanding which the Eleven have as we read in his saying that “Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith“. Can we see the Master’s likely frustration here? Can we see that after ALL His words that they still DO NOT understand what He is saying to them as men in this world? How that the realization of Truth IS NOT yet theirs? It IS in this context that we should understand the idea that He tells them saying “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you” as He KNOWS that they will NOT see their own reality, that they will NOT have their individual realization of the Presence of God, so long as He IS present with them.
IS it in the spiritual context that Jesus tells them of their sorrow and their joy and offers them the ideas behind His words on the woman bearing a child? It IS likely in a combined view that we should see these ideas as the emotional response of sorrow and of joy ARE carnal, they are attributes of the body nature, of the flesh, in this we see the worldly view. We should understand however that in the reality of our spiritual focus our body nature, our flesh, becomes the expression of the spiritual man and that while there would be NO sorrow here, there may well be joy, a joy that IS founded in reality of the Presence of God in one’s Life. We should try to see here that the sorrow IS real and in the understanding that they will NOT see Jesus any more there will be sorrow; a sorrow founded in their inability to understand the deeper ideas that Jesus IS presenting to them. We should try to see also the sense of joy that comes in their seeing Him after the resurrection and, while they may be confused by His appearance and by the way that He comes and goes, they KNOW that this IS essentially Him and they ARE glad. The greater reality here IS in their final realization of the Presence of God in their own lives; this IS the spiritual joy which IS, in the Life of the man in the world, a component of the “fruit of the Spirit“
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.
Repeating a Quote of the Day from the past that has some significance in relation to what we are discussing here, that the Kingdom of God and therefore God is within us ALL and that it IS His Presence which a man realizes by measure as he begins his journey to the Kingdom of God. Here Lord Tennyson poetically tells us just how close God Truly IS and how it is that we touch Him
Speak to Him, thou, for He hears,
and Spirit with Spirit can meet
Closer is He than breathing,
and nearer than hands and feet.
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809–1892)
From the poem The Higher Pantheism which puts forth the authors spiritual belief. Whether we agree with him or not, the quote if spiritually perfect for all of Christianity as well as any other world religion.
The thought behind the idea above IS NOT unlike that which we have been carrying as our Quote of the Day for many essays; It IS in the closeness that Lord Tennyson shows us that we should see the idea that “God dwells in the inner part of every man” which we read in the previous Quote of the Day. For us this saying and the previous one show us the closeness of the spiritual self to the Father and then too the closeness of the spiritual self with the personality of man. Men may like to think of God as something outside and above but the reality, as we have seen in so many of the sayings of the Master, is that God is with us and in us and we need only to let ourselves be drawn and to focus upon Him. And, if we can use these words from the Gospel of Thomas here we can perhaps see much: “When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father“
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
