Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCXIII
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
“And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon . And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there” (Matthew 21:1-17).
There is likely much to the written accounts of the last days of the Master in form as Jesus on this Earth that goes unnoticed, misunderstood and misinterpreted. And there are difficulties as well in accepting the reality that His death was a large part of His mission and this is something that was even misunderstood by the Apostle Peter as they journeyed to the end together. We have often said that in the accounts of Peter’s Life as we read them in the gospels and the Book of Acts, there are many lessons for the aspirant and the disciple as the Master used him to exemplify the difficulty of discipleship and the reality that even in his leadership role, his role as the most advanced of the disciples, he is several times chastised for his thoughts, his remarks and his actions that were not, according to the Master, of discipleship quality and this is never more evident than in the exchange that follows immediately after Peter’s exaltation by the Master. We read in the gospels these accounts:
- “And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:18-23). In these words from Luke’s Gospel we have several things to note. First there is no exaltation of Peter and there is no chastisement and this either because Luke does not believe that this is important or perhaps he is telling the story as Peter told it to him in a humble and impersonal fashion. Second we have the unique term, that the Master IS “The Christ of God” and in this we may have the single best description of the Master as the personality that IS Jesus and the anointing (The Christ) that is “all the fulness of the Godhead” (Colossians 2:9) working divinely through that form and personality. And, finally, we have the apostles words regarding the idea of the cross as it pertains to the aspirant and the disciple and on this subject we have recently made our understanding clear saying in response to some thoughts from John Gill which say: of his death the cross; it signifies whatever is trying and disagreeable to flesh and blood 8. On this we say: This is of course the doctrinal approach on which we would say that the cross IS NOT about what is disagreeable to flesh and blood but rather what IS agreeable, it IS what IS a man’s ”affections and lusts” that must be borne on the cross and crucified in order for the man to be counted among His disciples. We should also note here in this relation the wording of the apostle saying “and take up his cross daily“ and in this we should try to see the consistency that is required; we should note as well that the Master IS speaking to His disciples and is saying that these things that He predicts WILL happen. He is telling them that they must be strong and not allow worldly thoughts and motivations to encroach upon their hearts as in these trying times, the easy and more agreeable thing could be to just walk away. And this is a lesson for us as aspirants as well, that we each “take up his cross daily“.
- In the Apostle Matthew’s version of this we find the timing such that it follows upon the Master’s chastisement of the disciples a a group as they did not understand the Master’s words; he says here: “O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?” (Matthew 16:8-11). In this we should see yet more for our understanding of the total focus on the things of God that IS required of the True disciple and, as we have discussed this requirement IS self imposed by the Soul whose working in the Life of the man in form creates the disciple in the world. Next comes our subject text saying: “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said , Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou , Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 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. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:13-24). Here in these many words we see the exaltation of Peter in such a way that he is pronounced not only the leader of the group but the foundation for the church and while there is much disagreement on this, it is more because of doctrinal selfishness, that the Catholics have Peter and the Protestants resist, than any of the translation reasons given. And, just after this exaltation by the Master we find His chastisement of the apostle and for reasons that we cannot Truly see in any other Light than Peter was not thinking and acting as a True disciple should….apart from the world. Again we should note the apostles answer to the Master in the question of who He IS in the disciples hearts is phrased in that way that we often use calling Him The Christ. We should also see the clarification of the concept of taking up one’s cross as the disciples here are told as well that they must deny themselves and in this we should see in a single word our understanding from the point above.
- Mark’s version is largely the same as Matthew’s except that there is the healing of a blind man after the chastisement about bread and before our text saying: “And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed , and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:27-37). Here we have added the ending sayings regarding the attitude of the disciple insofar as his view of his Life both in form and of the True man which sayings appear as well in Matthew and which we have discussed from another verse a few posts back. Again we should note the relationship between The Master’s telling His disciples that each must “take up his cross” and that each must “deny himself” and perhaps here we can see the combination of what we say above on the first point and those other things that we read from Mr. Gill in a prior essay: Whosoever doth not bear his cross All reproach, afflictions, persecutions, and death itself, cheerfully and patiently 8.
Our point here is not necessarily in our comments above on these sayings which are consistent in the fact that the Master is direct and specific in defining for His disciples what was going to happen: that He “must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed , and after three days rise again” but this they cannot see and, because of their lack of understanding here, there happens this episode with Peter as we read it in Matthew’s version; we must assume here that none understood the Master’s intent and this is made clear for us in other places. We should remember here that these men are qualified as His disciples and in this we must assume that they meet the criteria as we have been discussing. That they do not understand is perhaps the Master’s motivation to tell these men who have followed Him throughout His ministry that each must “him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me“. These are things that they already KNOW but perhaps they do not understand that this denial and this crucifying of their own flesh must apply to ALL things including this acceptance of the Master’s divine message regarding His fate. And so also in the end part of Matthew’s and Mark’s versions where the Master tells them that they must not look to their Earthly ways but to the ways of God; again, the situation is changed from when we last visited this type of saying where we applied it more generally to Life in form versus the True Life of the Soul as regards forsaking ALL. Here there is a different dynamic, these men have already forsaken ALL comforts and pleasures and things of the world but are they are still in possession of their thoughts and their motivations which also must be given up if one is desirous of having the Life of the True man, the Soul, become completely the Life that the disciple is living in the world? Jesus then adds one more thing here which IS of great importance as He says: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” We should take care here to understand that the words rendered as Life and as Soul and sometimes as Spirit can be confusing and here in these few words from Mark’s Gospel we have the Greek word psuche rendered as both Life and Soul. The intent however should be clear for us who can somewhat understand these things and this is that there is a conflict of focus and this is the Master’s point; if they focus upon or save their carnal Life, they will lose out on bringing their True Life into expression in the world. Conversely if they give up ALL of the carnal Life, bear their own crosses and deny themselves, then they can keep or save the True Life as their expression in form. This is perhaps a convoluted way of saying this but here again words do not allow greater clarity and this same is evident in the words of the Master.
Returning then to our point which is that the Master forewarns His disciples of the impending events that will happen and here above they do not understand and, by Peter’s example, we can see that they reacted as men in the world and not as Jesus KNOWS that the disciple should act. Here Peter attempts to intercede and this is to the dismay of the Master who calls him Satan and an offense to Him which word is better rendered as a stumbling block; also, we should see in this not the devil nor the personality of Satan but rather the meaning behind the word which is adversary. Thus the Master IS calling Peter an adversary in this context and a stumbling block to the predetermined end; what we do not KNOW is what manner of rebuke the apostle had offered. The reality that they do not understand is apparent and the reality that they ARE disciples IS KNOWN and so they go on and the next concrete thing that we read about which is His taking James, John and Peter to the mountain to witness His Transfiguration and here we can likely see yet another attempt by the Master to make His three KEY apostles better understand the reality of what it is that they are involved in. This above is the first time that the Master openly discusses the end and speaks of the future where He “must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed , and after three days rise again“; there is a second in the three synoptic gospels:
- In Matthew’s Gospel we read: “And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again” (Matthew 20:17-19). Here the dialogue is about the same but the reaction is different; according to Matthew this is where the mother of James and John comes to the Master to ask for special treatment for her sons and this could be because the sense of what Jesus IS saying is having effect and the mother and her sons are concerned about their own status. Here, although they are not rebuked by the Master we should see that there is still the sense of self in the way of the mother and her sons.
- Mark’s Gospel paints this similarly saying: “And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again” (Mark 10:32-34). Here we cannot tell the source of the apostles amazement nor their fear as they followed Him but sans this the rendition is basically the same. However, in Mark’s version the reaction does not include the mother of James and John but James and John themselves who ask the same of the Master, special or deferential treatment. Can we surmise in these two treatments of this that the disciples do not yet Truly understand?
- Luke give us some additional insight here saying: “Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken” (Luke 18:31-34). Here Luke is telling us this same thing that we are saying, that they do not understand and this even though they ARE the twelve and are closest to Him.
And so this has been our objective, to establish that the death and resurrection of the Master are a part of the Plan of God and in this we should understand that those persons and things necessary to make this a reality have been put in place by this same Plan of God, there is noting left to chance. On both sides, that of the Master and His people and that of Pilate and people, this is ALL choreographed to happen according to the Plan which includes the KNOWING of the hearts and the ways of the Pharisee and the other rulers of the Jews. And, we should remember here that an integral part of this plan is the action of Judas Iscariot who we will discuss more as Easter Week proceeds.
As we close today we should try to see that in all of these versions of the first time that the Master tells His disciples of these predictions that there is the distinct flavor of reincarnation in the words of the disciples. This is likely because either there was a belief in this in that day which is disputed by most or that the Master’s teaching on reincarnation is a part of the separate instruction that the Master gives His disciples.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| 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:
Leaving again the Great Invocation, we encourage ALL to read and reread it and our comments as in these words can be found the keys to our spiritual reality.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132
The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.
Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.
The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should see them as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit albeit on a much smaller, microcosmic, scale.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
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8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
