IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 552

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CXLI

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:22-24).

In the last post we said that there were but two distinctions in the Master’s teachings, for His disciples and for the multitudes and we should understand this from the perspective of the saying that we were discussing at the time: “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 13:34-35) plus the previous point that: “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see , and hearing they might not understand” (Luke 8:10). This is His stated direction of teaching; parable for those who are not focused upon the Lord and realization for those who are so focused.

In saying this we should remember that there is but ONE teaching generally and that is the parable or the proverb that He speaks and we should understand that it IS NOT only those things that are declared as such that are parables and proverbs as the scripture clearly tells us that “without a parable spake he not unto them“. We may wonder then what is the distinction and this is our starting topic for today. The distinction is in the hearer and not in the speaker and save those times that the Master explains the parable to His disciples, there is but ONE speech…..heard the same but understood differently as based upon the focus of the hearer. We read in Mark’s Gospel, at the end of the Master’s explanation of the Parable of the Sower, and after His words about disciples and parables and a selection of other parables that: “And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples” (Mark 4:33-34). Now we should not conclude here that the Master must explain every parable as this is not really what the scripture says; it does say that “he expounded all things to his disciples” and this should be understood as He taught them ALL things alone with them and this is not particularly the parables, And, based upon another saying, “Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?” (Mark 4:13), we should likely see that He expected that they would KNOW. This KNOWING is of course based upon the focus of the disciple and we could venture to say that as men came to greater focus upon the things of God in those days, that their individual realizations were expanded so they too could KNOW.

This same dynamic is what creates the differences in men today as well as there are millions who hear the words of the Master from a preacher or a teacher or by reading and who are among the ‘multitudes’ of whom the Master speaks saying “to others in parables; that seeing they might not see , and hearing they might not understand“. And, as we noted yesterday many of the ‘explanations’ offered by the myriad of preachers and teachers are conflicting and many have not seen the Truth in a parable although they may be convinced that they have the KEY. We should add here that many of the explanations offered that are correct and right discernment of the meaning intended by the Master are then not completely understood nor accepted by the hearer; for many even the explanation remains a parable.

Now while the teaching of the Master in parables worked out this way in His day and still yet today, we should not see the realization of the man in form as black and white nor the focus as either on or off; in ALL things there is that range of degrees upon which a man moves and the Master’s admonishment that we strive can be seen as his movement along this scale of ranges. There are poles and opposites and we can see in the Master’s telling us that “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13, Matthew 6:24) that these are the two poles regarding the focus of the consciousnesses as a man in the world. It is in the preceding sentence of this same verse however that we see the reasons why and also the range of possibilities for each individual. Jesus tells us “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other”  (Matthew 6:24) and in this we should see the idea that we cannot focus on both God and mammon as the two masters. While the Truth here is that “No man can“, the reality is that no man can do so successfully. Looking at our own selves and around the world we can see clearly that people do try to serve both and this is likely the cause of much personal dismay for those who are inclined to strive and seek His Kingdom. In this state a man will alternate his attention from the one pole to the other, from mammon to God, and it is in so doing with the right objective of striving that one can make progress as he may move less and less toward mammon and more and more toward God as his Life progresses. We should see in this that although a man is trying to cover both ends he serves neither fully as thoughts of God and the Good, the Beautiful and the True will inhibit Life in the world and prevent a man from overly selfish actions and attitudes and conversely thoughts of the things “in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16) will inhibit his ability to properly focus and to strive.

This is the rationale for an ascetic lifestyle and any of the ritualistic separation of the man desiring God from the things of the world. This is a path that is followed by many and it built upon a devotional approach to God and one where all other thoughts and motivations are absent in the daily life when done successfully. Here we see a reality of the idea of God and mammon as these men choose God and do so to the exclusion of most ALL else. This approach however is not for ALL to follow and can be likened to the Master telling us about the eunuch as He does in regard to marriage;  He says: “For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it” (Matthew 19:12). We should likely look at this saying as that it is in regard to a man’s actions and attitudes in the world that are intended to make “themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake“….which making is not limited to the sexual part. Our understanding of this direction in Life is tied to the purpose of the Soul coming into incarnation as when rightly done this whole idea must come from the Soul, the God Within.

For the man whose Life is centered in the things of the world none of this matters as that man is somewhere on the side of mammon on our scale of ranges and, as we can see in the world there are degrees of this attitude in the Life of man as well. We speak above of the man who is inclined to strive and to seek and from our perspective, it is the right way for our time that this is done IN the world and not as the ascetic or the eunuch. This is also the center point of the teachings of the Master as He never encourages such action but teaches us that we must achieve discipleship living and acting in the world of men, we must do as He did and be able to stand forth and say with Him that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). It is in this accomplishment that the full spectrum of divinity as the Master expresses it can be expressed by the man in the world and it is here that the reality of Love is so important.

Looking again at our ranges of degree which we can see as going from God to mammon or from man’s focus upon the things of the world to his focus upon the things of God, we should see the conscious choice that is made for the direction of the Life. This direction can change at any time and the scale of ranges is very fluid allowing for one’s movement along it at will and we can say here that the closer that one gets to the God pole of the scale and the more steadily focused he is upon that pole, the greater the revelations that he will receive. This is the greater sensibility in the Master’s saying that one should “Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given” (Mark 4:24) and other related sayings which tell us that it is whatever we are focused upon with sincerity that will enable us for greater focus upon it. We can also cite here the Master’s words regarding those that are so focused upon the things of the world saying: “the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8).

In the above we have a picture of the journey of the man who is striving and seeking God as he moves along the scale of Life alternating his perspective and his focus and in none of this do we have the disciple although the state of discipleship is likely reached at some point in one’s journey to the end of the scale; where this point is is unknown and perhaps a purely personal thing. The personal perspective of this is due to the overlapping of the various scales of Life as in addition to the way of focus  from mammon to God there are also different approaches to this end. This is a complicated idea of which we can only speak loosely; just as we have the devotional approach above which lies upon emotional lines, there is also a mental approach and likely an intuitional approach as well and each of these is modified by an individual Soul’s ability to function through the physical apparatus and personality tendencies as well. In short, there are ranges of ability and ranges of function and ranges of focus and they are ALL in play in our journey to our goal of the Kingdom of God. So the disciple can be at some segment along this line toward perfection which we can say is the end point and this is borne out in the words of the Master who tells us that:

• “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
• “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast , and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me” (Matthew 19:21).
• “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40).
• “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” (John 17:23).

There are other references to this idea of perfection in the words of the apostles and one is referenced in Paul’s words which are in our Quote of the Day and it is this perfection that we can place as our end point in the journey along our scale from mammon to God. We say this because of our KNOWLEDGE and understanding of the lives of the apostles and other disciples of the Master. We see their doubts and we see their uncertainty as they go though their time with the Master and, as we said yesterday, it is not until after His resurrection that they can be seen to Truly KNOW and understand. We have oft pointed to the Life of the Apostle Peter as it is portrayed for us in the Gospels and the Book of Acts, how he is singled out in the Gospel stories so that we can see the trials and the tribulations of the disciple. We see him admonished by the Master for things that ARE NOT wrong from the perspective of the man in the world but which ARE NOT right from the perspective of the Master and the Christ Within. Peter occasionally let his humanity show and this is his error; he was sliding a bit back into the ways and the thoughts of the world and caring about things that the perfect disciple should not care about. And yet in this Peter is lifted up by the Lord as the best of disciples and we can only surmise what were the shortcomings of the others.

Our point here is not Peter nor perfection per se but rather the scale upon which the idea of discipleship lies and the understanding that although these men are not perfect during their time with the Master, they are disciples and in this we should be able to see that we to can find discipleship and the revelation of the Truths and the mysteries that are covered by parable and proverb for the multitudes. This is our Truth and our reality; that the further along this scale we can go in this Life, the greater the revelation that we can receive and, we should understand that this revelation comes from within, from the Christ Within. At what point we move from aspirant to disciple is not a totally unknown thing as we do have the words of the Master to guide us and our own inner self to interpret His teachings which we repeat here:

• “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple“
• “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple“
• “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple“

(Luke  14:26-27, 33)

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post and again try to get back on point regarding the Tree of Life and our saying below.

• “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.  And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died” (Genesis 5:1-5) .

Aspect of God	Potency	Expressed as Fire	Aspect of Man	In Relation to the Christ
GOD, The Father	Will or Power	Electric Fire	Spirit or Life	Life
Son, The Christ	Love and Wisdom	Solar Fire	Soul or Christ Within	Truth
Holy Spirit	Light or Activity	Fire by Friction	Life Within the Form	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:

Having touched upon the thoughts of Paul regarding Love and his relationship of this to what we can see today as illusion and then to his reality of Truth insofar as perception, we post his words again as the Quote of the Day along with our previous comments.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13) (New King James Version)

Regardless of our daily theme, the underlying theme of our posts and of this entire blog is Love. In these words from Paul we should be able to see the overriding importance of Love in the Life of each of us. This is a common theme throughout the gospels and the other writings of the apostles and a theme that is not nearly understood. In our theme today regarding Paul’s writings to the Romans and in the previous discussions on them we seek to impart the better understanding of the reality of Life, the Life of the True man as the Christ Within, the Soul, as it is from this perspective that we can gain that revelation of Truth and, as Paul says above, be free from the condemnation and the vanity of Life in form, free from the illusion and the glamour. We repeat here what we said about these verses in a prior post:

Today’s Quote of the Day from the Apostle Paul is his testimony to the power of Love. After speaking at length about the gifts of the Spirit that one should desire in order to be of service to the Lord, he says plainly that Love is a more excellent way. Love in the context of these verses is not the sentimental or affectionate kind that we ordinarily think of but rather 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. This defining of Love is covered in some depth in a previous post; In the Words of Jesus part 47.