{"id":8622,"date":"2013-12-20T18:30:09","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T23:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/?p=8622"},"modified":"2013-12-20T16:42:01","modified_gmt":"2013-12-20T21:42:01","slug":"in-the-words-of-jesus-part-892","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/2013\/12\/20\/in-the-words-of-jesus-part-892\/","title":{"rendered":"IN THE WORDS OF JESUS\u2013Part 892"},"content":{"rendered":"

ON LOVE; PART\u00a0CDLXXXI<\/span><\/h2>\n
\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391<\/span><\/h6>\n

GoodWill\u00a0IS Love in Action<\/span><\/h2>\n
\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391<\/span><\/h6>\n

The Gospel of Thomas<\/span><\/h2>\n

These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas<\/em>\u00a0wrote\u00a0them down.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

(109) Jesus says:\u00a0“The kingdom is like a person who has a hidden treasure in his field, (of which) he knows nothing.\u00a0And [after] he had died, he left it to his [son]. (But) the son did not know (about it either).\u00a0He took over that field (and) sold [it].\u00a0And the one who had bought it came, and while he was ploughing [he found] the treasure.\u00a0He began to lend money at interest to whom he wished.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(110) Jesus says:\u00a0“The one who has found the world (and) has become wealthy should renounce the world.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(111) Jesus says:\u00a0“The heavens will roll up before you, and the earth.\u00a0And whoever is living from the living one will not see death.”\u00a0Does not Jesus say: “Whoever has found himself, of him the world is not worthy<\/em>“?<\/span><\/p>\n

(112) Jesus says:\u00a0“Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul.\u00a0Woe to the soul that depends on the flesh.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(113)\u00a0His disciples said to him: “The kingdom \u2013 on what day will it come?”\u00a0“It will not come by watching (and waiting for) it.\u00a0They will not say: \u2018Look, here!\u2019 or \u2018Look, there!\u2019\u00a0Rather, the kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(114)\u00a0Simon Peter said to them: “Let Mary go away from us, for women are not worthy of life.”\u00a0Jesus said: “Look, I will draw her in so as to make her male,\u00a0so that she too may become a living male spirit, similar to you.”\u00a0(But I say to you): “Every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.<\/em>”\u00a014<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In our last essay we discussed the our ideas on the similarity between the one hundred eighth saying from Thomas Gospel and the ideas set forth by the Master in His dissertation on ‘eating His flesh’ and ‘drinking His blood’ as we find this in the Gospel of John. The few available commentaries on this saying related this to the “rivers of living water<\/em>” \u00a0that the Master tells us of saying that “out of his belly shall flow<\/em>” (John 7:38)\u00a0for the man who believes on<\/em> Him; here of course we must remember the Truth of this believing<\/em> which IS in a word that we keep His words<\/em>. This link can be made but here we should see that this water flows from the disciple and not from the Master as one would understand from this saying which we read as:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Whoever-drinks out of-my-mouth,\u00a0he-will-come-to-be in-my-way;>I also(I), I-will-come-to-be\u00a0as-he is,>and those-hidden will-appear to-him” (Interlinear Version; original).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Other commentary linked this to the words that the Master speaks to the Samaritan woman at the well; here Jesus is explaining to the woman who He is that she is speaking with; the dialogue goes thus:<\/span><\/p>\n

“There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink . (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink ; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof \u00a0himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever \u00a0drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw<\/em>” (John 4:7-15).<\/span><\/p>\n

There is much unnoticed depth in this exchange where we can see the universality of the Master’s message and His teaching; that while He is born into Judaism He IS NOT of the same mind as the Jews regarding the Samaritans and through this we should see that He regarded ALL men. In this simple exchange we see the very Nature of the Master in His own words, that He IS “the gift of God<\/em>“, the Love of God made manifest to men, and the reality of this Gift is yet to be fully realized. Here again the idea of the commentary on the Gospel of Thomas leaves us short as there is no direct relation to the Samaritan woman’s asking and the ideas from our current saying but this IS closer than was the former idea. In our view we see this differently and we relate this saying to that other revelation<\/strong><\/em> by the Master that must be understood in the same way as IS this from Thomas’ Gospel; that one must partake of the Master and here there is little difference between “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him<\/em>” and our saying above that tells us that it IS he who drinks from the mouth of the Master shall have this same Unity, that he will be one with the Master and that the Master will be ONE with him. This IS the reality of this saying; this Unity and this ONENESS that is found by partaking of the Life of the Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

And here is where the doctrines fail as they see this in the reality of the body of the man and not in the Truth of the Christ and by extension the Christ Within who IS part and parcel<\/em> of that same Christ that dwells in the body of the Master Jesus. In both these sayings, from Thomas and from John, we must see the parabolic value and while the doctrines seek to relate this to the physicality of the crucifixion or the tenets of the Last Supper, we should see the Truth and the reality of partaking in the Nature and the Life of the Master. And, if we study His words overall, we will find this partaking at the heart<\/strong><\/em> of most ALL of His sayings. This saying from Thomas’ Gospel then IS NO more strange or obscure than are these words from the Gospel of John and NO more parabolic than those ideas nor the ideas above on the “rivers of living water<\/em>” flowing from the belly of the man who keeps His words<\/em> nor the\u00a0“living water<\/em>” offered to the Samaritan woman at the well. This IS of course the same idea that is offered in the Master’s words at the Last Supper. While this has been ritualized by the various doctrines of the denominations, this was surely NOT His intent. Jesus IS offering the sharing of bread and of the wine in a solemn gesture of reminding them ALL and us as well that we should partake of the bread and the wine in the Spirit of His offering and as He sacrificed His own mortal Life in service<\/em> to His brethren, in service<\/em> to mankind, so should they and in this we can see the ultimate of His teaching on forsaking and the Truth in His words, His admonition, that we “take no thought<\/em>” (Matthew 6:24, Luke 12:22). The established rituals and their various meanings are secondary to these ideas for us as aspirants to discipleship, for those that would Truly follow Him, and the reality here is the same that IS found in these ideas above from the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of John; partake in the nature and in the Life of the Christ and of course one’s own Christ Within.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our final group of sayings from the Gospel of Thomas is listed above and the first one is a sort of expansion upon one that we find in the Gospel of Matthew where is it found in a series of simple statements regarding the nature of the Kingdom of God. Thomas however gives us an expanded version that shows that the Kingdom itself has hidden this treasure<\/em> in the field. We must of course remember that this IS a parable and in this one there are again differences in translation that can alter one’s understanding. We discussed this idea of interest<\/em> and the various ways of viewing this saying in our essay on the ninety fifth saying and we repeat here the two translations that we cited then:<\/span><\/p>\n