ON LOVE; PART CMV

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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 last essay we discussed our view of some of the deeper ideas that can be taken from the death and the resurrection of the Master and how that there ARE many lessons to be learned by His actions which ARE NOT seen by most ALL doctrinal views. One of the clearest of these ideas IS found in how that He shows us by example the reality of “Take no thought for your life” (Matthew 6:25); this we can most clearly see in the way, as the Prophet Isaiah predicts, that Jesus “is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). As we said in the last essay, there IS NO complaint and NO offer of defense as the Master faces Pontius Pilate, and He DID NOT react as “they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe” nor as they “platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head” (Matthew 27:28-29). The Master DID “take no thought” as they “spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head” and He steadfastly accepted His fate as they “crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots” (Matthew 27:30, 35).

Jesus showed us the deepest reality of “Take no thought for your life” (Luke 12:22) as He willingly gave His mortal Life in His own show of the utter importance of the message that He brought to the world…the message of Love and the reality of the Kingdom of God. And by His example He shows us the True meaning of being meek; but NOT in the common idea that meek IS: overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame ⁷. And while the older ideas on meek are more appropriate as we read from Webster’s 1828 dictionary saying: Mild of temper; soft; gentle; not easily provoked or irritated; yielding; given to forbearance under injuries ¹, these still DO not rise to the greater idea behind the gospel’s intent which IS more that He refrains from reaction in the Spirit of Love. We should remember that Jesus addresses this idea to His disciples as they ask “Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did” when they sensed that the people had offended the Master. It IS in His reply to James and John, where He “rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (Luke 9:54-56), that we find a greater meaning for this idea of meekness. Here the Master could “command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them” but He DOES NOT.

We should understand here that the idea IS NOT that He COULD NOT; we must understand that He certainly COULD by His own move the mountain Power which we can glimpse as He “rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still . And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 5:39). Here, as tries to quiet the fears of the disciples, we should see His idea of “take no thought” as well as the point which we ARE making here as we note the disciples reaction saying “What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him” (Luke 8:25). We should see here that as He IS able to “commandeth even the winds and water“, that He IS able to stop the Jews and the Romans actions against Him; it IS in his refraining from DOING so that we find the deeper ideas of meekness. And this meekness that the Master displays as He IS arrested, tried, convicted and crucified should be clearly seen in His teaching to us; we should try to see that this spirit of meekness IS founded in Love and in the deeper understanding of Life….that it IS NOT this body. It IS in His precepts from the Sermon on the Mount that we should clearly see how that men should look past this carnal existence and look toward the Truth of His words on Love and on the relationship of man to man in the reality of this Love, this agape, which IS so much more that the emotional and mental attractions and attachments that most men believe Love to be.

It IS in this sense of Love that Jesus remains meek, it IS in this sense of Love that Jesus ‘turns the other cheek’ and it IS in Love that Jesus willingly gives ALL that He has in this worldly Life, even to that very Life itself. We read these ideas as they ARE simply stated by Luke saying: “Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also” (Luke 6:27-29). It IS ALL of this in mind that we should see in Jesus reaction to Pilate and to those who participate in His crucifixion….this IS His great example of Love. And the Apostle Matthew offers us similar ideas in a broader sense which we read as:

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment….Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:21-22, 38-44).

While these things ARE rather clear, they ARE NOT seen by most men as they ARE intended….as commandments. And while Jesus sayings here ARE easy to understand, most DO NOT see the Master’s example of these in His own Life and especially in the time from His arrest to His death. It IS in the reality that He shows us saying “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19) which He tells us earlier in the Sermon, that we should see the reality of His words and the deep Truths of His own example. In this idea of called as this IS rendered in the King James Bible, we should see the greater idea of named or simply as KNOWN as and when we can understand that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), we can better understand the whole of the Master’s intent.

It IS in the reality of Life that we should see the Master’s teachings, and His example at the end IS His own Life according to His words which should show men the relative unimportance of the physical and mortal body. We DO NOT of course see the whole of His meaning in His death alone as it IS in His resurrection that the fullness of the spiritual reality of Life IS portrayed. In death Jesus surrenders the physical body for the sake of the spiritual message that He brings to the world and it IS this same reality that we should see in His other words to us from the Sermon; we read: “if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out , and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish , and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off , and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish , and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30). Can we see the point here as the same point we should take from His example and can we see here how that the eye and the hand are but symbolic examples of the thoughts and the attitudes of the man in the world? When we can apply these ideas in Love; when we can apply these to the thoughts of hate,  the thoughts of revenge, the thoughts of NOT giving, and understand that Jesus’ reference IS toward ALL men, then we can better understand one’s own responsibility in His words and better understand the nature of His sacrifice in death.

The more that we should study on the death and the resurrection of the Master, the more we can find in the deeper ideas that His great sacrifice represents. That He died for our sins IS but a doctrinal assertion which misses these deeper ideas and the counting of His death as an atonement fails to recognize the Truth of His message and His example in death. The Master DID DO ALL of those things that He instructs us to DO; He shows us the greater Truths of Life and, as we can combine His example and His words, we can begin to see the Truths and we can begin to see past the mysteries of Life and of the Kingdom of God. In Jesus words saying that “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love” (John 15:10) we should be able to see and to understand how that the Master DID “abide in his love“, that He abides in the Love of the Father, and it IS in this reality that we should see His death. It IS in the reality that Jesus presents to us saying that “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:24) that we should see the singleness of the ideas which include the expanded ideas from the Sermon that Jesus gives us and the basic reality of the commandments of God….”the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

In Jesus’ death we have the reality of His own way that He “kept my Father’s commandments” which IS further exemplified by His words saying “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down , and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17-18). And this IS yet another deeper reality of His example which shows us His own obedience to “the will of my Father which is in heaven“; it IS in this example that we should see the deeper reality of DOING and understand that as the Presence of God remained with the Master because He “kept my Father’s commandments“, so the Presence of God comes to and remains with ALL men according to this same precept. This brings us back again to the Master’s words to His Eleven, and to us through them, regarding the reality of the Presence of God in one’s Life, the same Presence we see above in the Master’s words saying “I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love“; we repeat the Master’s words 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).

Do we see the point here? Do we see how that the spiritual reality of Life IS the same for ALL men? Jesus gave us His words on Life and on the Kingdom of God and He showed us how that He to must live according to the same laws of Truth; this unfortunately IS NOT seen by most men and especially NOT seen in relation to His death on the cross. We should try to understand the whole of His Life and Death according to His words and while many of His sayings are confounded and diluted by the various doctrines of the world, the Truths of them can be found in each man’s individual sense of grace, in each man’s own spiritual discernment. This brings us to these next words which Jesus offers us as He begins His walk to the Garden at Gethsemane and to His death, words that have been the subject of much dispute and which we see in the reality of the ideas we show above; we read: “that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise , let us go hence” (John 14:31).

There is much theological dispute regarding these words which only serves to take one’s attention away from the reality which IS that it IS exactly as He was commanded to DO that Jesus DID DO. In the varying translations of these words there is dispute regarding the topic which follows upon the idea that many doctrines seize regarding the idea that “the prince of this world cometh“; some offer the doctrinal view that this prince IS Satan the Master’s words are seen as that it IS he, Satan, that cometh, that “he comes so that the world will know that I love the Father” (Common English Bible). Others add a variety ideas to the Master’s words that tend to show that the subject IS still in the idea that He IS leaving them as we read in “On the contrary, [I am going away] so that the world may know that I love the Father” (Holman Christian Standard Bible) and still others offer some combination of these ideas as we read in “rather, this is happening so that the world may know that I love the Father” (The Complete Jewish Bible).

We should add to this that there IS additional dispute regarding the very end of our saying; in the simple idea of “Arise , let us go hence” there is controversy regarding where the Master and His apostles ARE and here, while this DOES NOT matter, attention IS taken away from the most simple Truth that says “as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do“. In this show of Jesus keeping the word of God as His sign “that the world may know that I love the Father” we should see the reality of the Master’s words to us which we so often repeat; the simple idea that “If a man love me, he will keep my words” which IS spoken in the Spirit of Truth, that “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30).

And we should try to see here how that this commandment that He should “lay down my life, that I might take it again” IS NOT found in a written word that Jesus reads or as we read the commandments given by Moses. This commandment IS found in that sense of KNOWING which comes in the fullness of the Presence of God for the man who keeps His words. And for us the same idea holds; the reality of keeping His words IS NOT so much in DOING as the written word shows us, it IS found in the revelations and the realizations of Truth that come from our own Souls, our own God Within. His words ARE our guide, they ARE NOT our limitation and it IS in this view that we should understand the reality of the “fruit of the Spirit” that this IS “all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9), and the “wisdom that IS from above“, that this IS “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17).

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

HAPPY EASTER

Aspect of God	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.

Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate.
Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted.
Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled.
Live in joy, without possessions.
Like the shining ones.

The winner sows hatred because the loser suffers.
Let go of winning and losing and find joy.
There is no fire like passion, no crime like hatred,
No sorrow like separation, no sickness like hunger,
And no joy like the joy of freedom.

Today’s Quote of the Day is from the Dhammapada (on JOY)⁵; a collection of the sayings of the Buddha. These words and ideas ARE much the same as those we discuss in our In the Words of Jesus essays. And what is this freedom but the release of our hearts and minds from loving this life in this world and attaining the Presence of God. This word Joy has many meanings as DOES the idea of Love, but in the context that it IS used here we should see the idea that Joy IS Love, Joy IS health, Joy IS peace and that Joy IS without the burdens placed on a man by the illusion and the glamour of the ways of the world. We should try to see that it IS the antithesis of these ideas in hate, in affliction and in troubles that ARE among the possessions of the carnal man, that ARE among the “evil treasure of his heart” (Luke 6:45) according to the Master.

And it IS in the second stanza above that we see the basic psychic ideas that can eliminate the harm caused by such “evil treasure” as a man looks past himself and at the welfare of others which IS the greater reality of Love as the Master teaches us. It IS in losing such possessions, losing such carnal thoughts and attitudes, that one can truly find the “joy of freedom“….this IS the Truth of deliverance.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ⁵ The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
• ⁷ Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011