ON LOVE; PART CCCLXXV

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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The Gospel of Thomas

These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.

(18)  The disciples said to Jesus: “Tell us how our end will be.”  Jesus said: “Have you already discovered the beginning that you are now asking about the end? For where the beginning is, there the end will be too. Blessed is he who will stand at the beginning. And he will know the end, and he will not taste death.”

(19) Jesus says: “Blessed is he who was, before he came into being. If you become disciples of mine (and) listen to my words, these stones will serve you.  For you have five trees in Paradise that do not change during summer (and) winter, and their leaves do not fall. Whoever comes to know them will not taste death.”

(20)  The disciples said to Jesus: “Tell us whom the kingdom of heaven is like!”  He said to them: “It is like a mustard seed.  <It> is the smallest of all seeds.  But when it falls on cultivated soil, it produces a large branch (and) becomes shelter for the birds of the sky.”

(21)  Mary said to Jesus: “Whom are your disciples like?” He said: “They are like servants who are entrusted with a field that is not theirs. When the owners of the field arrive, they will say: ‘Let us have our field.’ (But) they are naked in their presence so as to let them have it (and thus) to give them their field.” “That is why I say: ‘When the master of the house learns that the thief is about to come, he will be on guard before he comes (and) will not let him break into his house, his domain, to carry away his possessions.’ (But) you, be on guard against the world! Gird your loins with great strength, so that the robbers will not find a way to get to you.” “For the necessities for which you wait (with longing) will be found. There ought to be a wise person among you! When the fruit was ripe, he came quickly with his sickle in his hand, (and) he harvested it. Whoever has ears to hear should hear.” ¹⁴

Having missed yesterday’s post because of some business that had to be tended to, we continue today where we left off on this twenty first saying of the Master according to the Gospel of Thomas. In the last essay we saw the various commentaries on this saying and we noted how that there are several translation differences such as one calling the little children as servants and the various references to the idea of being naked. We have adopted the Blatz approach to the idea of being naked which is also within the scope of the interlinear and that is that they are naked before the lord of the field, Our approach here has been that the disciples, being as little children insofar as their being humble and innocent, which are the qualities of the child and the disciple as put forth in the ideas of the Master who tells us  “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” (Mark 10:15) and in this idea of the Kingdom we can be sure that the disciple is among them. The Master here does not expound here on the qualities of the little child but elsewhere we read:

• In the Apostle Matthew’s version of this we find the idea of humbleness and we find the emphasis upon this in the Master’s words; He says: “And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:2-4).
• To further exemplify His point the Master later tells His disciple and other to: “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14). Here we should be able to see this link between the Kingdom and the nature of the little child and these both with discipleship.
• Completing the thought started above from the Apostle Mark’s Gospel we read the whole encounter as: “And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” (Mark 10:13-15). Here again we see the reality of the continued learning of the disciples regarding their own role and the nature of the disciple in the Kingdom of God. The ideas from Luke’s Gospel are largely the same as above.
• In the Apostle John’s Gospel we do not have this same encounter but we do have the Master’s addressing His disciples as little children near the end of His time with them. Various reasons are offered for this but the key is from our perspective is that this IS the nature of the disciple and the way of the man who desires the Kingdom of God. The Master says: “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:33-34).

This idea of little children is much misunderstood by the doctrines and the commentators; John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible ⁸ tell us this regarding this last saying from John’s Gospel: whom he addresses in the most kind, tender, and affectionate manner, “little children”, expressing the relation which subsisted between them, of which he was not unmindful; his great affection for them, his consideration of their weakness, and sympathy with them on that account; who were very ill able to bear his departure ⁸. Here Mr. Gill is of course speaking of the disciples and from our perspective totally misses the point of the Master’s addressing them in this way. He does however see the idea of the little child more properly as he tells us this of the quotation above from Matthew: and become as little children: the Arabic renders it, “as this child”; that is, unless ye learn to entertain an humble, and modest opinion of yourselves, are not envious at one another, and drop all contentions about primacy and pre-eminence, and all your ambitious views of one being greater than another, in a vainly expected temporal kingdom; things which are not to be found in little children, though not free from sin in other respects ⁸. Although this is couched in doctrine, this is a more proper assessment of the nature of the little child and of the disciple and it IS this latter recognition that appears to be missing and which plays a key role in the words from Thomas’ Gospel above where His answer IS that His disciples “are like little children who have settled in a field which does not belong to them“. This is again the nature of the disciple from the perspective of the little child and the Master tells us such of His own nature as well as He says: “for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29) and the further part of His description of the disciples is that they are in dwelling in a field that is not theirs.

This is their work as we saw in the last essay and in our understanding that Jesus sends them forth into the field which is the world, or better, the consciousness of the world, and which we can see in these words: that the lords of the fields are the individual men whose hearts are focused in the self and the self in the world. Here in the Master’s words that say: “When the owners of the field come, they will say: Leave us our field. They are naked before them, in order to leave it to them and give them (back) their field“, we can see the effect of those that will not or can not change; those who do not Repent in response to the disciples’s message with which they are sent and which we read as “they went out, and preached that men should repent” (Mark 6:12). And in this idea of naked we should try to see that they are before these lords of their fields as humble men, as disciples who are as little children, with naught to hide….with ALL in the light of day. In the last post we likened these who can not or will not Repent as those found among the thorns or as the thorny ground in the Parable of the Sower and to whom the disciples reckon the Master’s words that “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9).

The rest of this saying follows upon these ideas above; it is to the lord of the field that the first part about the thief is most likely addressed as the disciple is already in the right understanding on this. In the accepted gospels there are similar sayings that teach the man that he should be ready at ALL times and there we find this parabolic saying framed differently. We read in Matthew these words from the Master: “But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come , he would have watched , and would not have suffered his house to be broken up“; here we have this framed as if the lord “had known in what watch the thief would come” that he would have acted and in the reality of the parable we should see this to be in relation to the Kingdom and the teaching. The Master confirms this saying to His disciples “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Mathtew 24:43-44) so as they also KNOW that they must ever be ready. The first point however is a general statement regarding man, that he will not likely address his own salvation if he can not see the reality of the necessity to do so now; a man does not see his own demise. We have similar ideas in the words from Thomas’ Gospel however they are framed differently; here it is played out as “If the master of the house knows that the thief is coming” (Blatz) or “When the master of the house learns that the thief is about to come” as we read above and we should see here the idea that it IS then that he will take action and we should see the reference here to ALL those who demanded back their fields, those who say to the disciples ‘leave me alone’. Here we should read that in the if and the when, that the man will then address his spiritual needs.

And, as we read in Matthew where there is the generalized saying and then the saying directed to the disciples, we have the same dynamic here. After telling them about the man who will not heed the call, the Master tells them that they too must be careful although not in the same context as we read in the synoptic gospels. Here the message is to the disciples to be careful for their own well being as they work in the field which IS the world and this is likely not physical harm only but rather the push back of those who do not see what they see; the point is that the disciples should be ever strong that they should gird themselves and be prepared for ALL and this likely includes the idea from Matthew that they should be ever ready for their own demise or the coming of the Lord; that they should not be caught falling back into worldly ways.

The next part here is a bit confused among the translations; we read:

• “For the advantage for which you look, they will find” (Blatz).
• “for the trouble that you expect will come” (Layton).
• “for they will find any place you fail to watch” (Doresse).
• “for the difficulty which you expect will (surely) materialize” (Lambdin)
• “For the necessities for which you wait (with longing) will be found” (Patterson and Robinson).
• “for the trouble you expect will come” (Patterson and Meyer)
• “because the help which you look outward for her, they will fall on her” (Interlinear Version)

Here again we also have some confusion as to whether this is a separate saying or a continuation of the last thought. The interlinear shows this a continuation and reveals a different dynamic than do the translated versions. Overall the thought seems to be that they should be strong and be ready for an attack by the ways of the world; from those who oppose them, from those who are pushing back against their teaching of Repentance, and against the temptations that may try to lure them back into the world of men; and then this is followed by our saying that we have these many views on above. From our perspective, based upon how we read the preceding words, we see the interlinear version as the better understanding as the Master says that they will receive no help, they will be on their own. In the saying from John’s Gospel above the Master tells His disciples “ yet a little while I am with you” while here in Thomas He tells them that the help that they have now they will not have as these same powers of the world will fall upon Him who offers it now. In John’s Gospel we see also the Master’s words of caution and encouragement as He tells them: “Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light” (John 12:35-36). The similarities here to the intent of the accepted gospels are valid, the differences are not in intent but in context and in the perception of the hearer and the reporter and we can see the words from Thomas as a combination of several sayings that are independent in the accepted gospels.

The last part is more unique and we can think of only one place that there is some similarity as the Master tells Peter that “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32). Can we see same message her but from different perspectives? in the one the Master is telling Peter that he should be the help to the rest and in Thomas He is saying to the rest that they should pick one who in understanding will be able to offer them strength and help them to stay the course as disciples of the Lord. In the whole of the saying this does make a suitable conclusion and in the ending words we can clearly see the parabolic nature of these sayings:

“Whoever has ears to hear should hear“

While these words from Thomas are different in perspective and context, all of the sayings from this group can easily be seen as being those of the Master and while they may not agree with the accepted doctrines of the churches, they do agree with our vision and our understanding of the teachings of the Master. Our next group of sayings are:

(22)  Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples: “These little ones being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom.”  They said to him: “Then will we enter the kingdom as little ones?” Jesus said to them: “When you make the two into one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside and the above like the below – that is, to make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female will not be female – and when you make eyes instead of an eye and a hand instead of a hand and a foot instead of a foot, an image instead of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom].“

(23) Jesus says: “I will choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand. And they will stand as a single one.”

(24) His disciples said: “Show us the place where you are, because it is necessary for us to seek it. He said to them: “Whoever has ears should hear! Light exists inside a person of light, and he shines on the whole world. If he does not shine, there is darkness.”

(25) Jesus says: “Love your brother like your life! Protect him like the apple of your eye!”

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.

Today’s quote of the day is a repeat of the Mantram of Unification which is an affirmation of the Oneness of the human family from the perspective of the disciple and the aspirant and any who hold these ideals as important. In this we find the essence of the two ideas that we have discussed from Values to Live By and that these are firmly grounded in the desire to Love not hate; to serve and not exact due service and to heal and not to hurt. It is Love shown as Truth and justice that is at the heart of this mantram.

Mantram of Unification

The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.

Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.

Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.

The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
• ¹⁴ The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/