IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 145

YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

I intended to address another parable that was related to our discussions of the last two posts and which contains additional ideas about the bridegroom. However, ending as we did yesterday with Quote of the Day from the Apostle Paul’s writings to the Romans and the comment found in Vincent’s writings, I decided to continue on this theme and come back to the Parable of the Ten Virgins another day.

We ended yesterday with that comment that I came across in Vincent’s writings by a man named Saint John Chrysostom (c 347-407). John was a Greek and a contemporary of Jerome and Augustine and became the reluctant Archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic sensibilities and he is said to have been an influence in Christian antisemitism⁹. He was a prolific writer who wrote much on the Old Testament and on the writings of the Paul which is how the comment, repeated below, was found. The purpose for the history lesson, for both me and you, is to show the use of the terms in which we so often speak being firmly implanted in same Christian minds in John’s time. These terms are basic to the teachings of the Master, they are the way to the Kingdom which no degree of Faith or Believing nor our ideas about Grace will get us to. There is but one way and the Master clearly tells us what it is and it is epitomized in this saying by Saint John Chrysostom. John tells us that:

“How can the body become a sacrifice? Let the eye look on no evil, and it is a sacrifice. Let the tongue utter nothing base, and it is an offering. Let the hand work no sin, and it is a holocaust. But more, this suffices not, but besides we must actively exert ourselves for good; the hand giving alms, the mouth blessing them that curse us, the ear ever at leisure for listening to God” (Chrysostom)⁴.

Now this saying is clear to the idea of turning away from the carnal nature and following the ways of the Master; this is the teaching of the entire New Testament. These teachings are not about how to get what we want or how to be successful in this life on Earth; there is not teaching that says that we need to tithe and in so doing we will reap many fold. These are the writings of men who popularize faith and religion and not the ways of the Master. Do not misunderstand the point here as it is not against any of these; it is just that, for us who would become His disciples, these teachings of men are not sufficient, we need the actual understanding of the teachings of our Master. These teachings of men regarding the Lord and the world are good for those people whom they may attract and any amount of good in one’s life in beneficial; nothing good is ever wasted in the long life of the Soul of man.

We look today at a saying that we have seen before; one that is ever so necessary in our journey on the Path to God and to communion with Christ through the Christ Within. It is written similarly in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke insofar as the parable itself goes which we will call the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders. The lead up to the parable is also similar except in the one gospel the lead is said in a single phrase and in the other there is critical explanation. Here are both versions:

• “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:46-49).
• “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 note that in Luke’s version there is a single line that says it all and which is in many ways the purpose of this entire blog. This saying was also our very first Quote of the Day. Millions call Him Lord and millions know what it is that He says and millions interpret these sayings so as to fit them into their everyday lives and, in effect, change their understanding of the Master’s words rather than change the way that they live. Nary a one of us does not fit into this mold. In Matthew’s version there is some explanation (there is further explanation on the same theme in other verses as well) as well as the understanding given that doing His word is also the way to the Kingdom. The Master here makes it clear that we may think that we are doing the will of the Father but that we are not. He says that just because we are prophesying in His name, casting our devils and are doing wonderful works, it does not matter because we do not do the will of the Father. We could dispute here what is the will of the Father but this would be a senseless endeavor; we must see the will of the Father in all the words of the Master who told us that “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 14:24).

So then the Master has made a division between those who do what it is that He says, the will of God, and those who do not. In Matthew He gives example so that we do not spend undo time thinking we are doing right by doing the outwardly religious things; it is only the will of the Father that matters. This division then is twofold, it divides the doers from the non-doers and it divides those accounted worthy of the Kingdom from those that are not. Saying these things, as clear as they are presented by the Master, does not do well in the world today; hence the proliferation of ‘feel good’ churches and ‘feel good’ sermons and books. Again, these are good things for those who accept them and one will do better with this teaching than if he were without it as it will keep them closer.

Going on with the Master’s message we come to the actual parable  which compares those who do His word with those who do not. Remember that Jesus’ words are clear saying that “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them” in the one version and “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them” in the other. You can see that the only difference here is in the words “cometh to me” which brings us back to the sayings by the Master in the Gospel of John (see In the Words of Jesus parts 63-69):

• “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” (John 6:44).
• “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37)
• “…I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35)

These sayings should show the synthesis of the ideas of the Father and of the Son in Jesus’ teachings. Earlier we saw that the words of the Master are the will of the Father and here we see the idea that coming to Christ is the result of one being drawn by the Father. These are for us to be understood as inseparable. We should understand then that we are being told here that if we come to Him and hear His sayings and do them….we are wise. If we do otherwise, if we do hear and we do not His sayings, we are fools. What then is the parable here? it is not one of architectural design is is one of life. If one hears and does his lire will be stable on this Earth and he will be moving, striving and seeking His Kingdom. If one hears and does not then his life is found in the opposite; he lives with fear and anguish and torment. He may think that he is doing well and this is a problem in all the world. The Apostle James puts it clearly for us saying: “ But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22); and this is a deception that is hard to overcome.

How does one know that he are doing right, living in righteousness and hearing and doing His word? Simply by self examination against His words and not against the words of the preacher that he reads or listens to. Most important in all this are the Master’s words on Love and how one is to treat his fellow man; most all of what He says can be taken back to these simple tenets:

• “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” (Matthew 22:37-39).
• “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” (John 14:21).
• “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12)

In these three sayings we have it all. Love God and your neighbour as yourself. Ones Love of God is shown by keeping the commandments of the Master. And, do unto others as you would have others do unto you which defines both one’s love for himself and his responsibility to others. If we can do these three things, we have done it all; the Kingdom is ours.

We have not discussed the individual effect of these saying from the perspective of the Soul as we are prone to do with all of the sayings of the Master. The idea of all of this insofar as the parable is concerned is summed up in this saying from Paul which we recently used as a Quote of the Day. He says: “But 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). If one is hearing and doing the words of the Master then he can consider himself as wise and it is this wisdom that flows into his conscious personality from the Soul, the Christ Within. In this state he has spiritual discernment, he is hearing from God, from his Spirit, though his Inner Man. View our saying here through Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians that we recently discussed over several days.

This is the wise man building his house on the rock. The foolish man is, according to the Master, hearing but not doing; he remains a natural man, a man living life in the flesh and not heeding the call of the Soul. He hears the word perhaps in church but more importantly he hears the word from his own Soul as his conscience and as the promptings to do good and to do right in a spiritual light. He does not however do anything but what he desires in his carnal mind; this need not be anything evil or bad and may even be good from a worldly perspective, but it is not doing the words of the Master and this Jesus tells us is foolishness. So, putting away thoughts of good and evil, we should see the Master’s point is that the wise are doing those things that will enable a man to be accounted worthy; he is following the words of the Master and the promptings of his Soul. The fool on the other hand is hearing the same word from the Master and from his Soul but he is so entwined in the world of flesh that he thinks only of that and lives his life apart from the true sense of God.

The catch here is in the Master’s introductory words from the Gospel of Matthew regarding those who think that they are doing His word. They have convinced themselves based on what they have been taught and, more importantly they have not seen nor heard the reality in the Master’s words. These are those that fall into the saying from James above. These are they that are deceived. They hear from their Inner Man but they change what they hear, through the filter of their personalities, into something more convenient to their particular lifestyle which is enhanced by the teachings of the particular denomination that they profess.

In the next post we will get back to the line in parables that we were covering with the idea of the bridegroom.

Note on the Quote of the Day