THE GOSPEL OF GNOSIS

A New Gospel for a New Age

An interpretation of The Gospel Of Thomas

by

Dr. Randall E. Wilson

 January 2004

Unless otherwise noted all quotations from

The Gospel of Thomas and other Nag Hammadi texts are from The Nag Hammadi Library in English,

James M. Robinson, General Editor

Harper & Row

1988

All Bible quotes are from

The Revised English Bible with the Apocrypha

Oxford University Press

Cambridge University Press

1989

For an online source to both Nag Hammadi and other Gnostic texts, see The Gnostic Society Library

http://www.gnosis.org/library.html

I would like to express my thanks to all the members of the Gospel of Thomas online discussion group

who acted as my sounding board throughout this project.  This is the e-group that asks the question: 

“What does this saying mean to you?”  Because a few of my interpretations are based on original works

of other group members, I feel that these group members have co-authored portions of this work

with me. Special thanks to Sam, John, Ron, Joe, Christel, Isabella, Scotty, Jef, Judas, Roger, Felix, Ulli,

Mike, Monica, Tiffani, Christian, Dave, A.K.A., Staats, Ted, Tom, Richard and Jerry B.  

For more information or to join this group, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GospelofThomas/join

I do not seek financial gain from writing this book, but would like to see it read by as many interested parties

 as possible. If anyone has information on publishing, printing, or posting to other sites, please contact me

 via e-mail, docgroove1017@aol.com

This book is not really intended for those who are comfortable in traditional Christianity, but it is for

those who are attracted to Jesus’ teachings but yet repelled by a church that insists they believe the unbelievable.

Found in Egypt in 1945, having been successfully hidden in a clay jar inside a cave for over 1700 years,

The Nag Hammadi Library was finally translated into English in 1977. It contains 114 sayings attributed to Jesus in The Gospel of Thomas.

I believe The Gospel of Thomas is the most important archeological record to date for authentic teachings of the early Jesus movement, predating Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I believe it was designed to be used as a study guide for the select few initiated

into the inner mysteries of the Jesus movement.

As interesting as the sayings themselves can be,

the most interesting part may be what Thomas does not say.

It does not contain a supernatural virgin birth

in a manger.  It does not promote a doctrine of

original sin.  It does not mention Jesus’ crucifixion

or a supernatural bodily resurrection.  It does not interpret Jesus’ death as payment of a debt to “atone” for our sins.  It does not include any supernatural healings.  It does not exclude, but

goes out of its way to include women.

Gnosis is the Greek word for “Knowledge” used

by the early Christian sect known as “Gnostics”.

The Gospel of Thomas invites all who hear it to

look within themselves to find the “Knowledge”

that God is within them and they are within God.

Jeremiah 32:14

“Take these (documents) and

deposit them in an earthenware jar

so that they may be preserved

for a long time to come.”

Once hidden,

now I am revealed.

Once lost,

now I am found.

Once rejected,

now I am the cornerstone.

Once buried treasure,

now I emerge from the tomb, alive!

Once imprisoned in Egypt,

now I declare freedom

to all who hear my words,

which have been resurrected

to bring you Life.

These are the secret sayings

which the living Jesus spoke and

which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.
(1) And he said,
"Whoever finds the interpretation

of these sayings

will not experience death."

 Isaiah 55:3

"Come to me and listen to my words,

hear me and you will have life."

 

John 6:68

"Your words are words of eternal life"

 

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654

"whoever hears these words

shall not taste death"

 

John 8:52

"if anyone keeps my word,

he will not taste death
for all eternity"

 

John 6:63

"The words I have spoken to you

are both Spirit and Life"

 

from Pseudo-Dionysius The Complete Works

Translation by Colm Luibheld,1987, Paulist Press

 “He grants the highest measure of existence to those more exalted beings described in scripture

as eternal. But beings are never without being

which, in turn, comes from the Preexistent.

He is not a facet of being.

Rather, being is as facet of him.  …

He is the eternity of being,

the source and the measure of being.”

Life is a verb.

Become a human being.

Excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS,

A new version based on its inner meaning

by Andrew Phillip Smith, Ulysses Books, 2003

“The Gospel of Thomas …tells us that if we find the inner meaning of these sayings, we shall not taste death. This death is both the fact of mortality, that each one of us will die, and the spiritual death in which we live our everyday lives. Throughout its sayings, parables and dialogues, the Gospel of Thomas presents mankind as being in a fallen state. We are dead, we are blind and drunk, we do not know the truth, are impoverished, divided and in darkness. But there is another state. In the new state we will be alive, will be able to see, will be intoxicated rather than drunk, will know the truth, have real wealth, and be in the light. We will go into the kingdom and we will have unity. The Gospel of Thomas tells us of these two states and how we may change our state from the former to the latter.”

(2)

Jesus said,
"Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds.
When he finds, he will become troubled.
When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished,
and he will rule over the All."

 

Luke 12:57
"Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?" 

The Buddha said,

"But believe only what you yourself judge to be true"
 

SEEKING God,

we often find but a thread.
But this one FIND,

will lead to two excited states.
The first is being TROUBLED,
because the thread is often difficult to follow,
but eventually, you will be ASTONISHED,
because, following the thread,

it leads within, where we learn,

we can judge for ourselves what is true.
When we learn there is no outside judge

waiting to judge us, we are no longer a slave,

but master of our own demons;
we RULE ourselves.
 

(2) cont.

GREEK VERSION
Jesus said,

“Let not him who seeks, cease until he finds,
and when he finds he will be astonished;
when he is astonished, he will reign;
when he reigns he will rest."

GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS
"He who seeks will not cease until he finds;
when he finds he will be astonished,
when he is astonished, he will reign;
when he reigns, he will rest."
 

SEEK, first by "wiping the slate clean"

of any preconceived notions.
Wash them all away

in the flowing waters of BAPTISM.

FIND the spark that will ignite the blaze.
Anoint your head with the fire of CHRISM.

You will be ASTONISHED as you consume

words of Wisdom, which the Mother of All

has concealed within the bread of Life (96),

and as you drink fruit of the true Vine (40),

which contains Knowledge of the Father,

celebrating the EUCHARIST.

You will REIGN

after you declare your freedom from false gods

and rulers who seek to imprison your soul.
This is a rite of passage;

this is your REDEMPTION.

Next, you must make the two into One;
this will transform your soul into a living Spirit.
The pairs are joined together

in the BRIDAL CHAMBER.
There you will finally have a place

to lay your head and REST (86). 

(3) Jesus said,
"If those who lead you say to you,

'See, the kingdom is in the sky,'
then the birds of the sky will precede you.

If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,'
then the fish will precede you.

Rather, the kingdom is inside of you,
and it is outside of you.

When you come to know yourselves,
then you will become known,

and you will realize that it is you who are
the sons of the living father.

But if you will not know yourselves,
you dwell in poverty and

it is you who are that poverty."

Deuteronomy 30:11-14
”This commandment …

is not in the heavens …

Nor is it beyond the sea, ...
it is …on your lips

and in your heart"

Beware of leaders

who point you this way and that.
You can search high and low,
but it is within yourself

that you must make the two into One,
so that there no longer is

an inside or an outside.
This is both Knowledge of your self
and Knowledge that there is no self.
Recognizing your kinship with

Life, Knowledge and Spirit
results in unimaginable riches.
Ignorance, however, is poverty,

and you, alone, are responsible
if you believe that to be your destiny.
 

(4)

Jesus said,

"The man old in days

will not hesitate to ask

a small child seven days old

about the place of life,

and he will live.
For many who are first will become last,
and they will become one and the same."

The following quote is from Andrew Phillip Smith’s

The Gospel of Thomas, 2003, Ulysses Books:

“Having the male and female exist as two and not being united as one is the state of being dead.

Biologically, the union of male and female results in

a child, and this is also what happens when we bring the male and female together esoterically. Instead of the old man who is born of woman, the fallen Adam, we get a little seven-day-old child, who is living from the Sabbath, the day of Rest, naked without being ashamed. This new thing is as small and as precious as a pearl, with as much potential as a mustard seed. If we bring it to birth within ourselves it will save us. If we don’t, it will kill us, since we shall continue to be dead.”

The fact that the seven-day old child remembers

the “place of life”, while the man “old in days” has forgotten it, is reminiscent of the Gnostic myth,

The Hymn of the Pearl, where although you are from another place and your mission is to eventually return there, shortly after your arrival into this (foreign) world, you tend to forget where you came from.

(5)

Jesus said,
"Recognize what is in your sight,
and that which is hidden from you

will become plain to you.
For there is nothing hidden

which will not become manifest."

 

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654.31

Jesus said:  [everything not] before your sight and [what is hidden] from you will be revealed [to you. Nothing] hidden will not [become] manifest and buried which will not be [raised].

While traveling down the highway of life,
don't worry about things so far off

that you cannot yet see them clearly.
Pay attention to what lies right in front of you now.
As you roll on down the road,
the distant objects, which were unclear,
will come into sharper focus.
Some things, you get on a "need to know" basis.

I think the phrase in the Greek version:  

"And there is nothing buried that will not be raised"
was a deliberate misinterpretation by

those who wanted to promote the idea

of an end-time "bodily resurrection".

 

(6)

His disciples questioned him and said to him,
"Do you want us to fast?
How shall we pray?
Shall we give alms?
What diet shall we observe?"

 

(14)

Jesus said to them,
"If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves;
and if you pray, you will be condemned;
and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits.
When you go into any land

and walk about in the districts,
if they receive you,

eat what they will set before you,
and heal the sick among them.
For what goes into your mouth will not defile you,
but that which issues from your mouth
-it is that which will defile you."

 

(6 cont.)

Jesus said,
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of heaven.
For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered."
 

There is no standard "cookbook recipe" or

"regimen" to acquire Knowledge. This differs

from a school where devotees must all follow

the same prescribed path to Enlightenment.

Joseph Campbell points out that this idea of

everyone finding their own way, appears in

the search for the Holy Grail, as told by

Wolfram von Eschenbach, where everyone

must "enter the forest" at a different point,

which they, themselves, must choose.

 

This obviously differs from following a specified "path". As J.C. would say:  "Follow your bliss".

 

from Reflections on the Art of Living

A Joseph Campbell Companion 

Selected and Edited by Diane K. Osbon,

1991, HarperCollins

“When the world seems to be falling apart,

the rule is to hang onto your own bliss. 

It’s that life that survives.”


 

(7)

Jesus said,
"Blessed is the lion

which becomes man

when consumed by man;
and cursed is the man

whom the lion consumes,
and the lion becomes man."

 

The Apocryphon of John

“a lion-faced serpent … called … Yaltabaoth”

On the Origin of the World

"he called himself Yaldabaoth.

But Ariael is what the perfect call him,

for he was like a lion."

The Apocryphon of John

“the rest of the powers become jealous, because

 … his (Man’s) intelligence was greater

 … than that of the chief archon.”

Blessed is the lion

who becomes Man,

when Man consumes

this mythical god of good and evil

in the Spiritual fire

that melds all into One.

Cursed is the man,
consumed by the lion-faced archon
of jealousy and greed, who thereby allows
this evil archon to gain a human form.

 

(8) And he said,
"The man is like a wise fisherman
who cast his net into the sea
and drew it up from the sea full of small fish.

Among them the wise fisherman found

a fine large fish.
He threw all the small fish back into the sea
and chose the large fish without difficulty.
Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."

This saying is not about final judgment;
it is not about sorting out goats and sheep;
it is about discerning the truly best option
to assist you on your spiritual journey.

 

When faced with so many religious sects,
spiritual gurus and cults,
you must select one that will satisfy your hunger.
Finding the Jesus of The Gospel of Thomas,
I feel I have found "a fine large fish" (8).

 

Contrast Matthew’s apocalyptic interpretation based on good vs. evil.

Matthew 13:47-50

Again the kingdom of Heaven is like a net cast into the sea, where it caught fish of every kind. When it was full, it was hauled ashore. Then the men sat down and collected the good fish into baskets and threw the worthless away. That is how it will be at the end of time. The angels will go out, and they will separate the wicked from the good, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

(9)

Jesus said,
"Now the sower went out,
took a handful (of seeds),
and scattered them.

Some fell on the road;
the birds came

and gathered them up.

Others fell on the rock,
did not take root in the soil,
and did not produce ears.

And others fell on thorns;
they choked the seed(s)

and worms ate them.

And others fell on the good soil

and it produced good fruit:
it bore sixty per measure and

a hundred and twenty per measure."

 

Compare

Mark 4:2-9

Matthew 13:3-8

Luke 8:5-8

In this parable, it seems that the "seeds" are not really intended for those already on the wide path.  Falling in the road, they are trampled underfoot or eaten by "birds". To the “birds”, the seeds are just a snack, an interesting tidbit, perhaps, but they derive nothing substantial from them. These seeds do not take root. Furthermore, this crazy farmer does not try to seek out only good soil for planting. He scatters his seeds everywhere, notably "off-road” among rocks and weeds!  I believe Jesus perceived his mission as being not for those on "the path" of organized religion, but to those by the wayside, those ignored and overlooked by the scribes and priests, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37).

Although it is possible for seeds to sprout and grow within any given path, it seems to me that most the well-known "paths" have way too many "birds" and

not enough Good Earth.

The phrase:  ”bore sixty per measure and a hundred and twenty per measure." may refer to each of the twelve disciples receiving FIVE measures, as in the five Gnostic sacraments.                       12 x  5 =  60 

If they each doubled what they were given, as in the parable of the “talents” in Matthew 25:14-29, that would be TEN measures each.               12 x 10 = 120

 (10)

Jesus said,
"I have cast fire upon the world,

and see,

I am guarding it until it blazes."

 

The following quotes are from:
Your Word Is Fire,

The Hasidic Masters

On Contemplative Prayer
Edited and translated by Arthur Green

and Barry W. Holtz, 1977, Schocken Books

 

"When God is seated upon His throne,
a fire of silence falls upon
the heavenly beings."

When a person says the words of prayer
so that they become a throne for God
an awesome silent fire takes hold of him.
Then he knows not where he is;
he cannot see, he cannot hear.
All this happens in the flash of an instant-
as he ascends beyond the world of time.

Or Ha-Emet 2b.
(Merkavah mysticism)


 

A person at prayer is like a bed of coals,
As long as a single spark remains,
a great fire can again be kindled.
But without that spark there can be no fire.

 

Always remain attached to God,
even in those times
when you feel unable to ascend to Him.
You must preserve that single spark-
lest the fire of your soul be extinguished.

Liqqutim Yeqarim 15b; Keter Shem Tov 37b-38a.

 

(11)

Jesus said,
"This heaven will pass away,
and the one above it will pass away.
The dead are not alive,
and the living will not die.
In the days when you consumed what is dead,
you made it what is alive.
When you come to dwell in the light,
what will you do?
On the day when you were one
you became two.
But when you become two,
what will you do?"

 

"when all are One and one is All"
Stairway to Heaven

Led Zeppelin

 

Heaven is not in this sky,
nor in the realm of the archons.
Those who die without Knowledge  

were dead even when alive,  

but those who have found Life will not die,
their Spirits are eternal.
By reinterpreting the dusty works of the prophets,
you breathe new Life into their words,

but where you once saw only dimly,

now you will have a clear Vision.

When you were born,
already age one*,
you entered the world of matter,
made of two dueling opposites,
but when you "make the two into One",
and Live on purpose,

you will Light up the whole world.

* Jewish tradition holds that a

newborn infant is one year old at birth.


 

(12)

The disciples said to Jesus,
"We know that you will depart from us.

Who is to be our leader?"
Jesus said to them,
"Wherever you are,

you are to go to James the righteous,
for whose sake heaven and earth came into being."

 

John 6:68,70

Simon Peter answered him,

“Lord, to whom shall we go?
Your words are words of eternal life.”

Jesus answered,

“Have I not chosen the twelve of you?

 

(3) Jesus said,
"If those who lead you say to you,

'See, the kingdom is in the sky,'
then the birds of the sky will precede you.

If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,'
then the fish will precede you.

Rather, the kingdom is inside of you,
and it is outside of you.

When you come to know yourselves,
then you will become known,

and you will realize that it is you who are
the sons of the living father.

But if you will not know yourselves,
you dwell in poverty and

it is you who are that poverty."

It has been suggested that Jesus is using sarcasm in his reference to James, “for whose sake heaven and earth came into being”.   Jesus warns his disciples about “leaders” in Saying (3).

I believe James, Jesus’ brother, represented a rival movement in Jerusalem, still obsessed with keeping the Law, and that “James the Just” may even have been considered "the Teacher of Righteousness" or a “Messiah” in his own right.

 

When heaven and earth remain separate,

leaders may be needed to uphold the Law,

however,

when the two are made One,

“on earth as it is in heaven”,

the Law is no longer needed. 

 

Matthew 5:18

“Truly I tell you: so long as heaven and earth endure,

not a letter, not a dot, will disappear from the law

until all that must happen has happened.

(13)

Jesus said to his disciples,
"Compare me to someone and tell me whom I am like."
Simon Peter said to him,

"You are like a righteous angel."
Matthew said to him,

"You are like a wise philosopher."
Thomas said to him, "Master, my mouth is

wholly incapable of saying whom you are like."
Jesus said, "I am not your master.
Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated
from the bubbling spring which I have measured out."
And he took him and withdrew and told him three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?"
Thomas said to them,
"If I tell you one of the things which he told me,
you will pick up stones and throw them at me;
a fire will come out of the stones and burn you up."

 

I believe Jesus is quoting Isaiah

when he asks the disciples to:

"Compare me to someone and tell me whom I am like."

 

Isaiah 46:5

"To whom will you liken me?
Who is my equal?
With whom can you compare me?
Where is my like?”

 

(13) cont.

Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a righteous angel."
Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher."
Thomas said to him,
"Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like."


 

Matthew 16:13-19

Jesus asked his disciples,

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They answered,

“Some say John the Baptist,

others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
”And you,” he asked, “who do you say I am?“
Simon Peter answered: “You are the Messiah,

the Son of the living God.”

Then Jesus said:

“Simon son of Jonah, you are favoured indeed!
You did not learn that from any human being;

it was revealed to you by my heavenly Father.

And I say to you; you are Peter, the Rock;

and on this rock I will build my church,

and the powers of death shall never conquer it.

I will give you the keys of

the kingdom of Heaven"

Luke 9:18-20
One day, when he had been praying by himself

in the company of his disciples, he asked them,

“Who do the people say I am?”

They answered, “Some say John the Baptist,

others Elijah, others that one of the prophets

of old has come back to life.”
”And you,” he said, “who do you say I am?’
Peter answered, “God's Messiah."

Thomas has a profoundly different set of responses than those found in Matthew and Luke, where Peter is promoted as having the correct answer, which is that Jesus is "the Messiah".

I prefer Thomas's answer because he basically says, "there is no answer to that question"!

Matthew's version promotes Peter as the leader

of the "church". This is again quite different than Thomas’ Saying (12), where those disciples worried about who will be their leader, are told (sarcastically?) to go to James, “the Righteous”.
 

(13) cont.

Jesus said, "I am not your master.
Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated
from the bubbling spring which I have measured out."

(108)
"Jesus said, 'He who will drink from my mouth will become like me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him.'"

 

Odes of Solomon

Ode 30:1,2,5,7
"Fill ye waters for yourselves from the living fountain

of the Lord, for it is opened to you.
And come all ye thirsty, and take the draught;

and rest by the fountain of the Lord.
For it flows forth from the lips of the Lord
Blessed are they who have drunk therefrom and

have found rest thereby.

Hallelujah”

This portion of Saying (13) is related to Saying (108)
and is also related to the “Living Water” sayings of John and Jeremiah.

 

John 7:37-38

"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as scripture says

"Streams of living water shall flow from within him."
 
John 4:14

"Whoever drinks the water I shall give will

never again be thirsty. The water that I shall give

will be a spring of water within him, welling up and bringing eternal life."

 

Jeremiah 17:13

"Lord…all...who forsake you will be inscribed in the dust, for they have rejected the source of living water"
 
Jeremiah 2:13

"My people have committed two sins:

they have rejected me, a source of living water,

and they have hewn out for themselves cisterns,

cracked cisterns which hold no water."
 
 

 (13) cont.

And he took him and withdrew and told him three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?"
Thomas said to them,
"If I tell you one of the things which he told me,
you will pick up stones and throw them at me;
a fire will come out of the stones and burn you up."

 

Ecclesiasticus 27:25,27

“Throw a stone in the air and

you throw it on your own head …

The wrong anyone does recoils on him,

and he has no idea where it comes from.”

John 8:7

“Let whichever of you is free from sin

throw the first stone …”

Although Jesus’ exact message must remain

a mystery, I believe the key to understanding

this portion of (13) involves a play-on-words

involving “stone” as a representation of the

Law of Moses, handed down in the stone tablets

of the 10 Commandments, and “stoning” as a

punishment for blasphemy, speaking against the

“God” of Moses and thus breaking one of these

same 10 Commandments.

 

Attempting to hurl “Commandments” at others

will cause the “Law”

you attempt to impose upon others

to consume you.

 

The secret blasphemous messages might be:

God is within you,

God is within me,

YHWH (the angry god of the sky) is not the true God,

and/or

You no longer need to keep the “Law”.

(14) Jesus said to them,
"If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves;

and if you pray, you will be condemned; 

and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits.
When you go into any land and walk about in the districts, if they receive you, eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them.
For what goes into your mouth will not defile you,
but that which issues from your mouth - it is that which will defile you."

Saying (14) answers the four

questions posed in Saying (6).
"Do you want us to fast?
How shall we pray?
Shall we give alms?
What diet shall we observe?"

 

The answer to the fourth question about diet also
appears in Mark, Matthew, and Luke.

Mark 7:15 "nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him; no, it is the things that come out of a person that defile him."

Matthew 15:11 "No one is defiled by what goes

into his mouth; only by what comes out of it."

 

Luke 10:8 "When you enter a town and you are made welcome, eat the food provided for you"

 

Note that Mark's version is the most generic and open to several interpretations. What "goes into a person" could mean ideas, food, or it could mean sexual intercourse.  Likewise, "the things that come out of a person" could be words from the mouth or

they might be excrement or other contaminated bodily fluids.

Both Thomas and Matthew narrow the field to what goes into and comes out of the mouth. This seems to go along with Matthew 12:37
"For out of your own mouth you will be acquitted; out of your own mouth you will be condemned."

This saying, which places more importance on words than on diet, seems to point out the importance of

keeping tight reigns on your tongue.

(15)

Jesus said,
"When you see one who was not born of woman,
prostrate yourselves on your faces and worship him.
That one is your father."

 

The umbilicus is the physical mark

of being "born of woman".

 

I think the goal of the Gnostics "ascents" into

the heavens was to "ascend" to the level of the Father. They will know they have arrived when

they encounter a Being without this mark.

This reminds me of the question:
”Did Adam have a belly button?”
If so, why?
pure aesthetics?
so he could have it pierced?

If the Father created Adam, then he would

be created, not born, thus Adam would also

share the title, “one who was not born of woman”.

However, if Sophia, a woman, created the

Universe of matter, and everything within it,

then only that which transcends this world

of opposites is “not born of woman".

 

That means your earthly body and your

genetically inherited instincts are "born of woman".

That which is “not born of woman" would include:

the twin souls of heart and mind united

through Knowledge to produce a living Spirit.

 

 (16)

Jesus said,
"Men think, perhaps, that it is peace
which I have come to cast upon the world.
They do not know that it is dissension
which I have come to cast upon the earth:
fire, sword, and war.
For there will be five in a house:
three will be against two,
and two against three,
the father against the son,
and the son against the father.
And they will stand solitary."
 

The peace Jesus brings is not to the world,
but to the solitary individual.
It is the individual,

who must find Unity within themselves,
but this will not necessarily

bring Harmony to the entire earth.
The individual finds Rest only after
seeking, then becoming "troubled", etc.
The borders of the new Kingdom will not

necessarily fall along family lines.
In fact, Jesus claims to stir the pot,
creating "fire, sword, and war",
turning family members against each other,
turning one family against another,
and turning nation against nation.

 

(17)

Jesus said, "I shall give you
what no eye has seen and
what no ear has heard and
what no hand has touched and
what has never occurred to the human mind."

 

 I Corinthians 2:9
"What eye has never seen, nor ear heard,
what has never entered the mind of man,
God has prepared for those who love him."

The Prayer of the Apostle Paul

"Grant what no angel eye has seen and
no archon ear has heard and
what has not entered into the human heart."

The Second Apocalypse of James: 56
"my beloved, Behold I shall reveal to you
those things that neither the heavens
nor the archons have known."

John 5:37
"the Father...
His voice you have never heard,
his form you have never seen."
 

Isaiah 48:6-8
"From now on I show you new things,
hidden things you did not know before.
They were not created long ago,
but in this very hour;
before today you had never heard of them.
You cannot claim, ‘I know them already.' “

 

 Isaiah 52:15

"They see what they had never been told and

their minds are full of things unheard before."

 
What Jesus is offering to give is
beyond the 5 senses,
and it is beyond intellect.
It transcends space, time, matter, and reason.
It is found by uniting the heart and mind

into one Spirit.

(18)

The disciples said to Jesus,
"Tell us how our end will be."
Jesus said,

"Have you discovered, then, the beginning,
that you look for the end?
For where the beginning is,

there will the end be.
Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning;
he will know the end and will not experience death."

 

 (4)

Jesus said,

"The man old in days will not hesitate

to ask a small child seven days old

about the place of life, and he will live.

For many who are first will become last,

and they will become one and the same."

 

Matthew 19:30
"But many who are first will be last,

and the last first."

 

Confucius said,

“If we do not yet know about life,
how can we know about death?"

Analects


 

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

"As the end of a thing

corresponds to its beginning,

so it is not possible to be ignorant

of the end of things
if we know their beginning."
 

(18) cont.

This is again the idea of pre-existent souls,

which occupy these bodies as a spacesuit

for a time, then return back to their origin.


 

(19)

Jesus said,

"Blessed is he who came into being
before he came into being."

The Gospel of Philip
The Lord said,

"Blessed is he who is before he came into being.
For who is, has been and shall be."

 

The following except is from

The Operator's Manual For Planet Earth
by D. Trinidad Hunt, 1996, Hyperion,

and is reminiscent of The Hymn of the Pearl.

 

Principles of Planetary Purpose
1. Planet Earth is a classroom.
2. In order to enter Earth's classroom

each of you must wear a body suit.
3. When you receive you body, amnesia

will set in and you will forget who you really are.
4. Earth's curriculum centers around remembering the spirit and the love that you already are.
5. When you do begin to remember the love that

you are, you intention to fully manifest that love

will be challenged.
6. This is because each of you will also receive

a Pesonal Ego and Free Will along with you body

when you are born.
7. All learning and growth centers around the challenge of rising above the ego to manifest

the love that you are.
8. Graduation from Earth's classroom depends on fully becoming love in action.

(19)

Jesus said,
"Blessed is he who came into being

before he came into being.
If you become my disciples

and listen to my words,
these stones will minister to you.
For there are five trees for you in Paradise which remain undisturbed summer and winter and whose leaves do not fall.
Whoever becomes acquainted with them

will not experience death."

 

Pistis Sophia

“he had not told them in which places

the five trees are spread”

The Works of Philo, Yonge, 1993

from Allegorical Interpretation

“the trees of virtue…he plants in the soul”

“the tree of life is that most general virtue

which some people call goodness; from which

the particular virtues are derived, and of

which they are composed.”

from On Husbandry

“I will implant in those souls which are of

a childlike age, young shoots, whose fruits

shall nourish them…I will implant…

the tree of prudence,

the tree of courage,

the tree of temperance,

the tree of justice,

the tree of every respective virtue.”

Eating the fruit of the tree of good and evil

produced “the fall”, because it brought about

the myth that duality is reality.
The truth is, good and evil are One,

therefore that tree is not
one of these five trees.

 

from Philo’s Allegorical Interpretation:

“the tree of life…Moses expressly says, that it is placed in the middle of the paradise; but as to the other tree, that namely of the knowledge of good and evil, he has not specified whether it is within or outside of the Paradise.”

I believe the five trees are the five Gnostic rites and may have been associated with actual plants as were the Greek gods and goddesses.

1.) BAPTISM = LILY (WATER) = JUNO
    [goddess of childbirth- “born again”]
2.) EUCHARIST = VINE (WINE) = BACCHUS
    [another dying and resurrecting god-man]

& WHEAT=DEMETER/MOTHER EARTH

    [Goddess nourishing wheat from below]
3.) CHRISM = OLIVE (OIL) = MINERVA
    [goddess of Wisdom/Sophia, “Spirit”]

4.)REDEMPTION = OAK = JUPITER

    [god of the sky]

    [meeting archons in ascent through heavens]
5.)BRIDAL CHAMBER = LINDEN

    = PHILEMON & BAUCIS
    [the eternal couple representing mutual love]

 

(19) cont.

In the Pistis Sophia, Jesus augments all twelve of the standard-issue souls in his twelve chosen ones with special supercharged “powers”.

Pistis Sophia: Chapter 7

“when I entered the world I brought twelve powers with me, …which I took from the Twelve saviors of the Treasury of Light, …These now I cast into the wombs of your mothers when I came into the world,

and it is these which are in your bodies today. 

For these powers have been given to you above the whole world, for you are those who are able to save the whole world, so that you should be able to withstand the threat of the archons of the world, …

and all their persecutions which the archons of the height will bring upon you.”

“the power which is within you I have brought from the twelve saviors…For this reason …you are not from the world; I also am not from it. For all men who are in the world have received souls from (the power) of the archon of the aeons. The power, however, which is in you, is from me but you souls belong to the height.”

John 6:68,70

Simon Peter answered him,

“Lord, to whom shall we go?”
Jesus answered,

“Have I not chosen the twelve of you?

 

Jesus’ choosing of the twelve disciples takes place after being baptized in the Jordan and going into

the desert for forty days and forty nights. This is analogous to Joshua’s choosing of the twelve men to represent the twelve tribes after coming out of the desert for forty years and then crossing the Jordan on dry land.

Joshua 4:2-8

“Choose twelve men from the people, one from each tribe, and order them to take up twelve stones from this place in the middle of the Jordan, …They are to carry the stones across and place them in the camp …

These stones are to stand as a memorial among you.”

I can’t help but picture Jesus standing among these twelve stones, arranged like a zodiac wheel, when he says:

(19) cont.

If you become my disciples

and listen to my words,

these stones will minister to you.

The stones represent the power of the 12 tribes,

present within the 12 disciples,

now transformed into 12 saviors

capable of saving “the whole world”.

(20)

The disciples said to Jesus,
"Tell us what 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 tilled soil,

it produces a great plant and

becomes a shelter for birds of the sky."


 

Mark 4:31-32

“It is like a mustard seed; when sown in the ground it is smaller than any other seed, but

once sown, it springs up and grows taller than

any other plant, and forms branches so large

that birds can roost in its shade.”

Matthew 13:31-32

“The kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Mustard is smaller than any other seed, but when it has grown it is taller than other plants; it becomes a tree, big enough for the birds to come and roost among its branches.”

also see

Luke 13:18-19

Chadogya Upanishad 800 B.C.
"There is a spirit that is mind and life, light, and truth and vast spaces. He enfolds the whole universe and in silence is loving all.  This is the spirit that is in my heart, smaller than a grain of
mustard seed, greater that the earth, greater than the heavens."

 

The Jesus Seminar's book, The Five Gospels

by Robert W. Funk, et al, has the following interpretation of Saying (20):
"The birds stand for those irritating

'toll collectors and sinners'
(the followers of Jesus)

who are attracted to a noxious plant
(God's domain),

and God's empire thus sprouts up

in Israel’s ordered field

as an unwanted intrusion."

Like a raging fire started with just a spark,

the Kingdom grows from something very small

into something "greater than the heavens".
In his popular book, Richard Carlson, PHD tells us

"Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff",

but sometimes the smallest details do matter. There is another book title by Bruce & Stan

which reads,

"God Is In The Small Stuff

And It All Matters”!
 

(21)

v.1 Mary said to Jesus,

     "Whom are your disciples like?"
v.2 He said,
     "They are like children

      who have settled in a field which is not theirs.
v.3 When the owners of the field come,

      they will say, 'Let us have back our field.'
v.4 They will undress in their presence

      in order to let them have back their field,

      and to give it back to them.
v.5 Therefore I say,

      if the owner of a house

      knows that the thief is coming,

      he will begin his vigil before he comes

      and will not let him dig through into his house

      of his domain to carry away his goods.
v.6 You (pl.), then, be on your guard against the world.
v.7 Arm yourselves with great strength

      lest the robbers find a way to come to you,

      for the difficulty which you expect will (surely)

      materialize.
v.8 Let there be among you a man of understanding.
v.9 When the grain ripened, he came quickly

      with his sickle in his hand and reaped it.

v.10 Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

 

translation by Lambdin

division into verses ala “The Jesus Seminar”

Verses 1-4 seem to be part of a lost parable,

possibly a more original version of

"The Wicked Tenants", Saying (65).
This new parable would go something like this:

 

Some young children (the Gnostics) settle in a field

(a vineyard?)  which is not their own (this world).

The owner of the field (Yaldabaoth) sends representatives (archons) to collect his due.
These collection agents attempt to seize the children, but they are only able to take what already belongs to them, the empty shells of body and soul, which the children leave behind.  They cannot harm the children’s eternal Spirits.

 

In this Gnostic parable, rather than identifying

"the owner" as God, and the owner's "son" with Jesus, as in the traditional interpretation of

“The Wicked Tenants”, we would identify the squatters as the Gnostics and the owners of the

field as Yaldabaoth and his archons.

 

Within this context, Yaldabaoth also corresponds

to the "thief" (verse 5) and “robber” (verse 7)

trying to overpower the unarmed weakling.

Yaldabaoth could also be "The Grim Reaper"(verse 9) trying to steal some unfortunate's soul who was caught unprepared.

 

(22)

Jesus saw infants being suckled.
He said to his disciples,
"These infants being suckled

are like those who enter the kingdom."
They said to him,

"Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?"
Jesus said to them,
"When you make the two one,

and when you make the inside like the outside
and the outside like the inside,

and the above like the below, and when you

make the male and the female one and the same,

so that the male not be male

nor the female female;

and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye,
and a hand in place of a hand,

and a foot in place of a foot,

and a likeness in place of a likeness;

then will you enter the kingdom."

 

The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky, 1999, Arkana

“Every child has known God,

Not the God of names,

Not the God of don’t,

Not the God who ever does anything weird,

But the God who only knows four words

And keeps repeating them, saying:

‘Come dance with Me.’

Come dance.”

The following quote is from Jesus In Blue Jeans

by Laurie Beth Jones, 1997, Hyperion

Luke 18:17 (paraphrased)

Jesus said, "Unless you become like a little child,

you cannot even enter the kingdom of Heaven."

"What is implied is that the kingdom of heaven is really for beginners. Those who think themselves full of knowledge about it won't even get in. My friend and minister Wendy Craig Purcell once said that she would rather be a beginner in a field that held her interest then remain a master doing work she no longer cared about. Considering the fact that most of us never utilize more than 10 percent of our total mental capacities in any endeavor, the opportunities we have to be beginners is limitless. Yet often as we
grow up we quit asking question. Once we decide that we must pretend to know, rather that ask, we have cut off any chance for advancing ourselves.”

 

(22) cont.

“when you make the inside like the outside“
This recurring theme in Thomas seems to be about integrity, not putting up false fronts, being genuine. It's about restoring Unity, not creating divisions.
(22) cont.
”and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye,
… and a likeness in place of a likeness”
This section of the saying seems to deal with

the Gnostic rite of the mirrored bridal chamber,

in which the Gnostic initiate is to acquire the resurrection body made of Spirit rather than flesh.

 

(23) Jesus said,

“I shall choose you,

one out of a thousand,

and two out of ten thousand,

and they shall stand as a single one.”

Matthew 22:14

“For many are called, but few are chosen”

 Gospel of the Hebrews 

“I choose for myself the best

that my Father who is in heaven gives me.”

It has been calculated that:

1 per 1,000        =     .0010

+                              +

                                 .0012

Twelve disciples per 10,000 people

With today’s world population at over 6,000,000,000, this no longer amounts to an elite few. There should be many who are “chosen”. I think the term “chosen” must be viewed as a figure of speech, alluding to

the time when Jesus walked the earth “choosing” disciples. In the modern world, it is the individual

who does the choosing. They must choose whether

or not to listen to the voice of Jesus, which says, “Follow me”. Then the real question becomes which “Jesus” do you follow? In saying (8), the wise fisherman chooses the fine large fish without difficulty. Likewise, today’s Jesus-seeker must choose the proper “Jesus” or they risk being left spiritually hungry.

 (24) His disciples said to him,

“Show us the place where you are,

since it is necessary for us to seek it.”

He said to them,

“Whoever has ears, let him hear.

There is light within a man of light,

and he lights up the whole world.

If he does not shine, he is darkness.”

(24) His disciples said to him,

“Show us the place where you are,

since it is necessary for us to seek it.”

Matthew 6:33

“Seek first the Kingdom of heaven”

Luke 17:21

“the Kingdom is within you”

(24) cont.

There is light within a man of light,

and he lights up the whole world.

If he does not shine, he is darkness.”

(61) “Therefore I say,

if he (duality?) is destroyed

he will be filled with light,

but if he is divided,

he will be filled with darkness.”

The Dialogue of the Savior (8) “The Savior said…

‘As long as the things inside you are set in order, …

your bodies are luminous.’”

(25) Jesus said,

“Love you brother like your soul,

guard him like the pupil of your eye.”

Matthew 5:44,47

“Love your enemies…

If you greet only your brothers,

what is there extraordinary about that?”

Contrast Saying (55)

“And whoever does not hate his brothers…

will not be worthy of me.”

In Saying (25), the “brothers” Jesus refers to are “brothers” in the Spirit, not necessarily biological siblings or “kinsfolk”. In Saying (55), however, “brothers” represent those we are to separate ourselves from. These are our biological siblings who try to bind us to the old ways. Although we are told to love even our enemies, we are to give extra protection to those who share our “vision”.

I believe Saying (25) is related to the rites

of  “redemption” and the “bridal chamber”. 

To “love you brother like your soul” is a

reminder to guard your soul from the thievery

of the evil archons of the false-god, Yaldabaoth.

The redemption ritual is the catechism recited

to declare your freedom from him.

To “guard him like the pupil of your eye” is a reminder to place top priority on the gift of “sight” as the medium through which you see God “eye to eye” in

the mirrored “bridal chamber”.

As Meister Eckhart (1260-1328) put it:

“The eye with which I see God

is the same as that with which he sees me.

My eye and the eye of God are one…”

If your eye is one with the eye of God, and your “brother’s” eye is also the eye of God, then you should be able to see God in your brother’s eyes!

(26) Jesus said,

“You see the mote in your brother’s eye,

but you do not see the beam in your own eye.

When you cast the beam out of your own eye,

then you will see clearly

to cast the mote from your brother’s eye.”

Matthew 7:3-5  (also Luke 6:41,42)

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye, with never a thought for the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own? You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s.”

Man In The Mirror

by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett

“I’m gonna make a change, …

gonna make a difference,

gonna make it right. …

I’m starting with the man in the mirror,

I’m asking him to change his ways.

And no message could have been any clearer:

If you wanna make the world a better place,

Take a look at yourself and then make a change.”

You need to clean out your own house

before attempting to clean up your neighbor’s yard!

I think Michael Jackson may have been looking

to plastic surgery to make a “skin deep” change,

but the lyrics of the song, Man In The Mirror,

express the same sentiment as Saying (26);

you need to start with yourself.

This is similar to Saying (98), where in order to kill the powerful man, the would-be killer had to start

“in his own house”.

In Saying (69), it is those “who have been persecuted within themselves” who have “truly come to know the Father”.

And in Saying (70), our salvation comes from within.

 “That which you have will save you

if you bring it forth from yourselves.

That which you do not have within you will kill you

if you do not have it within you.”

Thomas A. Kempis (1380-1471)

Imitation of Christ

“First keep the peace within yourself,

then you can also bring peace to others.”

(27) Jesus said,

“If you do not fast from the world,

you will not find the Kingdom of God, and

if you do not keep the Sabbath for the whole week,

you will not see the Father.”

(Greek version)

(110) Jesus said,

“Whoever finds the world and becomes rich,

let him renounce the world.”

(111) Jesus said, …

“Whoever finds himself is superior to the world.”

Mark 2:27

“The sabbath was made for Man,

not man for the Sabbath”

(capitalization for emphasis, mine)

Matthew 5:17,18

“Do not suppose that I have come

to abolish the law and the prophets;

I did not come to abolish, but complete.

Truly I tell you: so long as heaven and earth endure,

not a letter, not a dot, will disappear from the law

until all that must happen has happened.

In Gnostic thought, “the world” is to be considered inferior to both the realm of the soul and the realm of the Spirit. Although Thomas does not appear to be radically ascetic, the disciples are to be on their guard against becoming too deeply infatuated with material possessions.

The Sabbath is one day of physical rest per week,

but the Gnostic’s goal is to achieve a mental state

of repose “24 / 7”.  Although Matthew 5:17,18 is traditionally interpreted as referring to a future apocalyptic messiah, what if “so long as heaven and earth endure,” means as long as heaven and earth are separate, as long as they are two?  Once the two are made into One, “on earth as it is in heaven”, then you become free of the law!

(28) Jesus said,

"I took my place in the midst of the world,

and I appeared to them in flesh.

I found all of them intoxicated;

I found none of them thirsty.

And my soul became afflicted for the sons of men,

Because they are blind in their hearts

And do not have sight;

for empty they came into the world,

and empty too they seek to leave the world.

But for the moment they are intoxicated.

When they shake off their wine,

then they will repent."

"I took my place in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in flesh“,

This phrase expresses the Christian idea of “God incarnate”.  I believe this must be re-interpreted as a metaphor or myth, otherwise Christians will continue to believe that their religion supercedes all others.

The following quotes are from John Hick’s book,

The Metaphor Of God Incarnate

Christology in a Pluralistic Age

1993, Westminster/John Knox Press

“A theology … stipulating that Jesus has been and will be the ONLY divine incarnation…means that Christ is in a category distinct from all other forms of revelation; the divine manifestation in him is thus both exclusive and final; it is qualitatively superior to all others, and it can never be surpassed.”

“The doctrine … is inherently liable to dangerous misuse”

“The Christian superiority complex in relation to the peoples of other faiths (has been) defended by appeal to the idea of Jesus’ deity “

Hick offers an alternate view of incarnation as

a METAPHOR, freeing Christians from a literal interpretation, which would promote bigotry by

ruling out other faiths as necessarily inferior.

“In the case of the metaphor of divine incarnation, …Jesus was a human being exceptionally open and responsive to the divine presence…In so far as Jesus was doing God’s will, God was acting through him on earth and was in this respect ‘incarnate’ in Jesus’ life”

(28) cont.

"I found all of them intoxicated;

I found none of them thirsty. …
But for the moment they are intoxicated.
When they shake off their wine,

then they will repent"

 

(47) No man drinks old wine

and immediately desires to drink new wine. 

Here in (28), “intoxication” with wine is used as a negative to contrast with "thirsty". This metaphor of being “intoxicated” is similar to (47), where Jesus' words are "new wine", but his audience is still quite content with the old wine they've just consumed to excess. 

(13) Jesus said, "I am not your master.
Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated
from the bubbling spring which I have measured out."

 

In contrast, Thomas is “intoxicated” with Living Water in (13), not “drunk” with wine and that "intoxication" is to be praised; it makes him equal with Jesus.

 

(28) cont.

"And my soul became afflicted for the sons of men,
because they are blind in their hearts and do not have sight;
for empty they came into the world,
and empty too they seek to leave the world."

Here again, there seems to be a sense of urgency

in this call for those with "eyes to see" to

gather Knowledge and Wisdom while they can.

(29)

Jesus said,

“If the flesh came into being because of spirit,

it is a wonder.

But if spirit came into being because of the body,

it is a wonder of wonders.

Indeed, I am amazed

at how this great wealth

has made its home in this poverty.”

To a mystical Spirit of pure mind/imagination,

being confined to a body would be quite limiting.

Just as cinematography without special effects

or digital editing would seem limiting to someone

used to doing animation. 

To be pure mind/imagination would be like doing animation, where if you can imagine it, you can do it.

If you can dream it, then all you need to do is draw it!

With live action footage or live theatre, however,

you must work within the limits of what is physically possible.

In the children's movie: Warriors Of Virtue,

a bizarre Taoist “Wizard of Oz”, the hero is physically handicapped until he awakens in a parallel dream world of kangaroo Ninjas. Once inside this dream world, he is no longer handicapped and realizes

that he never really was; the limits of his body cannot limit his mind once he has found “The Way”.

In this world,

physical limits may impoverish your perceived reality, but never your dreams.

 (30)

Jesus said,
"Where there are three gods,

they are gods.
Where there are two or one,

I am with him."

"Two's a party, three's a crowd"
The theme in Thomas seems to be

making the two into One,

you and your heavenly "twin".
There is no need for a "third wheel"

in the bridal chamber.
 

Where there are three,

although I am everywhere,

I remain hidden.

Where there are two,

I am with you,

I stand beside you.

Where there is One,

I am within you,

I am You.

Of the three Gnostic divisions

(hylic, psychic, and pneumatic),

only two (psychic and pneumatic)

are considered “worthy” of consideration.

Hylics identify with the BODY and mistake

God’s identity with the outer representation

of an icon or idol. Their “god” is contained

within this outer shell. They are “three”:

BODY, a soul bound to the earth,

and a hidden spark of Spirit.

Psychics identify with the SOUL and worship

a “Higher Power”. Their “God” is outside themselves

and judges good and evil. Because they no longer identify God with the body,

they are “two”: 

SOUL and an external Spirit.

Pneumatics identify with the SPIRIT and

have found God within themselves.  They are

no longer concerned with an external judge;

they judge for themselves what is true.

They have made the two into One.

They are pure SPIRIT.

(31)

Jesus said,

"No prophet is accepted in his own village;

no physician heals those who know him."

Mark 6:4

"A prophet never lacks honour

except in his home town,

among his relations

and his own family."

Matthew 13:57

"A prophet never lacks honour,

except in his home town

and in his own family."

Luke 4:24

"Truly I tell you,

no prophet is recognized in his own country."

John 4:44

"a prophet is without honour in his own country"

In both Mark and Matthew

this saying goes against family,

a familiar theme in Thomas.

 

Those who know you well enough

to have smelled your farts

will have a hard time believing

there is anything extraordinary

about your insights or abilities.

(32)

Jesus said,

“ A city being built on a high mountain

and fortified cannot fall,

nor can it be hidden.”

Matthew 5:14

“You are a light for all the world.

A town that stands on a hill cannot be hidden.”

Camelot is under construction

inside of you and in this world.

While under construction,

it must be protected

from those who would tear it down.

Once completed, however,

the Kingdom‘s radiance

does not allow it to be hidden

from those who seek it.

It is to be a beacon

for anyone who becomes lost,

a safe haven

where people can live

without fear.

(33) Jesus said,

“Preach from your housetops

that which you will hear in your ear. 

For no one lights a lamp

and puts it under a bushel,

nor does he put it in a hidden place,

but rather he sets it on a lampstand

so that everyone who enters and leaves

will see its light.”

Matthew 10:27 “What I say to you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight; what you hear whispered you must shout from the housetops.”

Matthew 5:14-16 “You are light for all the world. … 

When a lamp is lit, it is not put under the meal-tub, but on the lampstand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. Like the lamp, you must shed light among your fellows”

Luke 11:33-35  “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who come in may see the light.  The lamp of your body is the eye.  When your eyes are sound, you have light for your whole body; but when they are bad, your body is darkness.  See to it then that the light you have is not darkness.” 

Once mature,

you can no longer stay in your chrysalis,

you must break free

and fly throughout the world without fear.

You have become a new creation

and by showing your self,

you show others the way.

(34)

Jesus said,

“If a blind man leads a blind man,

they will both fall into a pit.”

Matthew 15: 12-14

Then the disciples came to him and said,

“Do you know that the Pharisees have taken

great offence at what you have been saying?”

He answered:

“Leave them alone; they are blind guides,

and if one blind man guides another

they will both fall into the ditch.”

Religious teachers who try to lead “sight-seekers”

to experience God, while they themselves

have closed their own eyes to the truth,

will lead all to false conclusions.

These “teachers” will cling to false doctrines,

professing to believe in things

that they know don’t ring true,

all because they are ruled by fear of an angry god.

The world’s major religions remind me of the ancient Indian fable, The Blind Men & The Elephant where all the blind seekers discover different

partial truths, extrapolate false conclusions,

then argue about who is correct!

The moral of that story is:

“Knowing in part may make a fine tale,

but wisdom comes from seeing the whole.”

quote from Seven Blind Mice

by Ed Young, 1992, Philomel books

 (35) Jesus said, “It is not possible for anyone to enter the house of a strong man and take it by force unless he binds his hands; then he will be able to ransack his house.

Isaiah 49:24-25 “Can spoil be snatched from the strong man…? Yes, says the Lord,”

Mark 3:27  “On the other hand, no one can break into a strong man’s house and make off with his goods unless he has first tied up the strong man; then he can ransack the house.”

Matthew 11:12 “Since the time of John the Baptist the kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence and violent men are taking it by force.”

Luke 11:21 “When a strong man fully armed is on guard over his palace, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he carries off the arms and armour on which the man had relied and distributes the spoil.”

Thomas (21) … Therefore I say, if the owner of a house knows that the thief is coming, he will begin his vigil before he comes and will not let him dig through into his house of his domain to carry away his goods. You then, be on your guard against the world. Arm yourselves with great strength lest the robbers find a way to come to you,  …”

The phrase “unless he binds his hands” always seemed ambiguous to me. Although I always assumed it meant to bind the hands of the “strong man”, it might also mean,  “bind your own hands”, even though you are

the same one entering the house by force!

   Matthew 11:12 claims violent men are taking the kingdom by force; I believe we are to identify with these violent men. I read (35) as being related to (98), “Slayer of the powerful man”, in that it promotes violence, ransacking and killing when necessary. I also believe the “house” to be ransacked and the “person” to be killed reside within us.

Built from lies and fear,

we fabricate a false illusion of ourselves,

piling them up like a house of cards.

This false self must die

and the house (soul) it resides in must be ransacked in order to free our true Spirit.

Note that Luke has softened this Saying.  We are

not to identify with the attacker, but should be defending ourselves with armor against attack. 

This makes it less violent and brings it in line with Saying (21)’s  “thief” who is trying to rob us. 

Luke’s idea of armor may have been influenced by

Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:8

“but we, who belong to the daylight, must keep sober, armed with the breastplate of faith and love, and the hope of salvation for a helmet.”

(36)

Jesus said,

“Do not be concerned

from morning until evening

and

from evening until morning

about what you will wear.”

Matthew 6:28-30,34

“And why be anxious about clothes?

Consider how the lilies grow in the fields;

they do not work,

they do not spin;

yet I tell you,

even Solomon in all his splendour

was not attired like one of them.

If that is how God clothes the grass in the fields,

which is there today

and tomorrow is thrown on the stove,

will he not all the more clothe you?”

“So do not be anxious about tomorrow;

Tomorrow will look after itself.

Each day has troubles enough of its own.”

Luke 12:25

“Can anxious thought add a day to your life?

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 655.1-17

Jesus says, “Do not worry, from morning to evening nor from evening to morning, either about you food, what you will eat, or about your clothing, what you will wear.  You are much better than the lilies, which do not card or spin. As for you, when you have no garment, what will you put on? Who might add to your stature? That very one will give you your garment.”

To those with “eyes to see”,

New clothing is like the Emperor’s,

It can’t hide the naked truth.

True colors shine through.

As in The Hymn Of The Pearl, the “garment” is the earthly body, which is “poverty” when compared with the “robe” worn in the Kingdom where we originated and to which we are to return.

(29)

“Indeed, I am amazed at how this great wealth

has made its home in this poverty.”

(37)

His disciples said,

“When will you become revealed to us

and when shall we see you?”

Jesus said,

“When you disrobe without being ashamed

and take up your garments

and place them under you feet

like little children and tread on them,

then will you see the son of the living one,

and you will not be afraid.”

The Letter of Peter to Philip:

“When you strip off from yourselves

what is corrupted,

then you will become illuminators

in the midst of mortal men.”

The Second Apocalypse of James:

“For just as you are first

having clothed yourself,

you are also the first who will strip himself,

and you shall become as you were

before you were stripped.”

The Dialogue of the Savior:

“when you rid yourselves of jealousy,

then you will clothe yourselves in light

and enter the bridal chamber.”

Authoritative Teaching:

“And she learns about her light,

as she goes about stripping off this world,

while her true garment clothes her within,

and her bridal clothing is placed upon her

in beauty of mind, not in pride of flesh.”

The so-called “Gospel of the Egyptians”

cited in Patristic literature:  

“When Salome inquired when the things

about which she had asked would be known,

the master said,

‘When you have trampled on the garment of shame

and when the two become one’ “

(Note:  this is not the NHL tractate also known

as “The Gospel of the Egyptians”)

To Gnostics, “clothing” and “garments” had another deeper meaning. They signified things belonging to the dead outer world of the body.  They were to discard these earthly “garments” in order to gain

the return of their Spiritual robe of light. This robe was originally theirs, before they “came into being” as related in the Gnostic myth, The Hymn of the Pearl.

I believe the ‘son of the living one’ represents

the mirrored reflection of your Spiritual twin

looking back at you, naked, inside the mirrored

bridal chamber.

(38) Jesus said,

“Many times have you desired to hear

these words which I am saying to you,

and you have no one else to hear them from.

There will be days when you will look for me

and will not find me.”

(92) Jesus said,

“Seek and you will find.

Yet, what you asked me about in former times

and which I did not tell you then,

now I do desire to tell,

but you do not inquire after it.”

Wisdom of Solomon 6:11

“be eager to hear me;

long for my teaching,

and you will learn.”

Isaiah 55:6

“Seek the Lord while he is present,

call to him while he is close at hand.”

John 7:33,34

“For a little longer I shall be with you; then I am going away to him who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

Proverbs 1:20,21,24,28

“Wisdom cries aloud in the open air,

and raises her voice in public places.

She calls at the top of the bustling streets …”

“But because you refused to listen to my call …”

“ When (you) call to me, I shall not answer;

when (you) seek, (you) will not find me.”

In saying (38),

Jesus speaks as if he is the voice of Wisdom.

The keys that are to be obtained

are again found by hearing Jesus’ words.

The idea that you might miss your opportunity

and seek and yet not find or as in Saying (92),

not ask at the appropriate time, reminds me of the parable of “The Banquet”, Saying (64), where the invitation arrives at a most inopportune moment.

I see this as advice to jump through the transitory “windows of opportunity” as they present themselves on your journey to find Wisdom. “Reap the grain when it’s ripe” as it says in Saying (21).

(39) Jesus said, “The pharisees and the scribes

have taken the keys of knowledge (gnosis)

and hidden them. They have not entered,

nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to.  You, however, be as wise as serpents

and as innocent as doves.”

Greek version:

“They took the key of knowledge and hid it.”

Luke 11:52

“Alas for you lawyers! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not go in yourselves, and those who were trying to go in, you prevented.”

Matthew 23:13

“Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces; you do not enter yourselves, and when others try to enter, you stop them.”

(102) Jesus said, “Woe to the pharisees, for they are like a dog sleeping in the manger of oxen, for neither does he eat nor does he let the oxen eat.”

Matthew 10:16

“I send you out like sheep among wolves;

be wary as serpents, innocent as doves.”

The key to Gnosis is hidden.

It’s not supposed to be hard to find,

but someone buried the key in horse manure,

then put superglue in the keyhole.

Knowledge and Wisdom

will always find a way,

to come to those who seek them.

Truth is cunning,

the Spirit will be released.

(40) Jesus said, “A grapevine has been planted

outside of the father, but being unsound,

it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed.”

Matthew 15:13

“Any plant that is not of my heavenly Father’s planting will be rooted up.”

Isaiah 5:1,2

“My beloved had a vineyard …

 He planted it with choice red vines; …

 He expected it to yield choice grapes,

but all it yielded was a crop of wild grapes.”

Jeremiah 5:10

“Go along her rows of vines;

destroy them,

make an end of them.

Lop off her green branches,

For they are not the LORD’S.”

Matthew 3:10 (John the Baptist said to them)

“The axe lies ready at the roots of the trees;

every tree that fails to produce good fruit

is cut down and thrown on the fire

John 15:5,6

“I am the vine: you are the branches,

Anyone who dwells in me, as I dwell in him,

bears much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Anyone who does not dwell in me is thrown away

like a withered branch. The withered branches are gathered up, thrown on the fire, and burnt.”

Although the grapevine was commonly used as a metaphor for the Jewish nation, I believe the true vine of Knowledge does not necessarily follow any family tree. You cannot inherit you father’s sin or your father’s Knowledge. You, alone, are responsible for your own actions and you must acquire Knowledge for yourself.

   Gnostics were originally “born” from a kiss,

passing the sayings along in an oral transmission;

thus, they were not “born of flesh and blood”,

but born of the true Spirit.

   Phillip, who promotes actively pruning within ourselves, is in stark contrast with John, who says passive connection to Jesus is the one and only way

to avoid a fiery end.

   In The Gospel of Philip, it is within ourselves that the root of evil must be rooted out:

 “For so long as the root of wickedness is hidden,

it is strong. But when it is recognized it is dissolved.

When it is revealed it perishes. That is why the word says, ‘Already the ax is laid at the root of the trees’.

 It will not merely cut–what is cut sprouts again–but the ax penetrates deeply until it brings up the root.”  

“As for ourselves, let each one of us dig down after the root of evil which is within one, and let one pluck it out of one’s heart from the root. It will be plucked out if we recognize it. But if we are ignorant of it, it takes root in us and produces its fruit in our heart. It masters us. We are its slaves. It takes us captive, to make us do what we do not want; and what we do want we do not do. It is powerful because we have not recognized it. … Ignorance is the mother of all evil. … Ignorance is a slave. Knowledge is freedom.”

 (41)

Jesus said,

“Whoever has something in his hand

will receive more,

and whoever has nothing

will be deprived of even the little he has.”

Matthew 13:10-13

“The disciples came to him and asked,

‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’

He replied, ‘To you it has been granted to know

the secrets of the kingdom of Heaven,

but not to them.

For those who have will be given more,

till they have enough and to spare;

and those who have not

will forfeit even what they have.

That is why I speak to them in parables;

for they look without seeing,

and listen without understanding.”

After reading this saying I couldn’t help but

wonder if the Kingdom operated like binary code,

all or nothing.

But I think a better model would be:
right plus left equals One.
one plus one equals One.

One plus infinity equals One.
But, right plus right equals zero
and left plus left equals zero.

Whoever has created One whole, 

will receive infinitely more,

but whoever has zero,

will be deprived of even

the incomplete parts he has.

(41) cont.

Matthew 25:14-29              [also see Luke 19:11-27]

“It is like a man going abroad, who called his servants and entrusted his capital to them; to one he gave five bags of gold, to another two, to another one, each according to his ability. Then he left the country. The man who had the five bags went at once and employed them in business, and made a profit of five bags, and the man who had the two bags made two. But the man who had been given one bag of gold went off and dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money. A long time afterwards their master returned, and proceeded to settle accounts with them. The man who had been given the five bags of gold came and produced the five he had made;  “Master,” he said, “you left five bags with me; look, I have made five more.”  “Well done, good and faithful servant!” said the master. “You have proved trustworthy in a small matter; I will now put you in charge of something big. Come and share your master’s joy.” The man with the two bags then came and said, “Master, you left two bags with me; look I have made two more.”  “Well done, good and faithful servant!” said the master.  “You have proved trustworthy in a small matter; I will now put you in charge of something big.  Come and share your master’s joy.”  Then the man who had been given one bag came and said, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man: you reap where you have not sown, you gather where you have not scattered; so I was afraid, and I went and hid you gold in the ground.  Here it is – you have what belongs to you.”  “You worthless, lazy servant!” said the master.  “You knew, did you, that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered?  Then you ought to have put my money on deposit, and on my return I should have got it back with interest.  Take the bag of gold from him, and give it to the one with the ten bags.”

The parable concludes with:

“For everyone who has

will be given more,

till he has enough to spare;

and everyone who has nothing

will forfeit even what he has.”

I would like to offer a Gnostic reading of Matthew’s parable of the “talents” or “pounds”.

The servant given FIVE bags of gold represents one who has undergone all five rites of initiation into the mystery of Gnosis: baptism, chrism, eucharist, redemption, and bridal chamber.

This is the person of Spirit, the pneumatic.

The servant given TWO bags of gold represents a novice who has received only the elementary lessons.

He has yet to “make the two into One”, thus he is two. Ruled by a soul, which focuses on dualism, judging good and evil, this is the psychic.

The servant given only ONE bag of gold still identifies only with an earthly body.  He is ignorant of the presence of a soul or Spirit. His body ends up buried in a hole in the ground, where he waits for an angry god to come and “take what is theirs” (88).

This is the hylic.

(42)

Jesus said,

“Become passers-by.”

 “Jesus, on whom be peace, has said:

‘This world is a bridge.

Pass over it.

Build not your dwelling there.’ ”

Arabic inscription at Fateh-pur-Sikri commemorating triumphal return Moghul Emperor Akbar in 1601

As we used to say,

back in the day,

“Keep on truckin’ ” and

“Just passin’ thru”

Do not be anxious about things of this world,

Here, all things must pass.

Seek within for inner truth.

Find peace that lasts.

(43)

His disciples said to him,

“Who are you,

that you should say these things to us?”

Jesus said to them,

“’You do not realize who I am from what I say to you, but you have become like the Jews,

for they either love the tree and hate its fruit

or love the fruit and hate the tree.”

I remember when I first bought my house, how much I loved all the large mature trees on the property. After one year of mowing, raking and maintaining the yard, however, I realized what a mess most of those trees made: prickly Sweetgum balls that kept you from going barefoot, Black Walnuts that stained your hands and turned the swimming pool the color of iced tea, Wild Cherries for the birds to eat and then stain your car with their droppings, Maple tree “whirligigs” that clogged all the gutters, an English Linden that produced a mist of powdery seeds and seemed to attract Japanese beetles from the entire city, seed cones from the Magnolia and Pine trees and huge acorns and Buckeyes that even the best mulching mower couldn’t mulch.  

I guess, I too, loved the trees but hated the fruit.

Many people seem to have this same

relationship with work and money.

Either they love their art,

but hate the fact that they

don’t produce an income from it,

or

they love their salary,

but hate their job.

(44)

Jesus said, “Whoever blasphemes against the father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven either on earth or in heaven.”

Mark 3:28,29

“Truly I tell you:  every sin and every slander can be forgiven; but whoever slanders the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”

Matthew 12:31,32

“So I tell you this: every sin and every slander can

be forgiven, except slander spoken against the Spirit; that will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, for him there will be no forgiveness, either in this age or in the age to come.”

Luke 12:10

“Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but for him who slanders the Holy Spirit there will be no forgiveness.”

The “Holy Spirit”

represents the divine’s feminine side,

the Mother of the Universe,

the source of Life,

the one capable of bringing forth new birth.

So in effect, Jesus was saying,

“Don’t you talk about our Momma that way! ”

I think of the “Holy Spirit” as Wisdom/Sophia

and also as Mother Earth.

To blaspheme against Mother Earth would be

to commit a crime against the Planet.

This could be an incident like

the Exxon Valdese oil spill

or just failing to recycle.

(45) Jesus said,

“Grapes are not harvested from thorns,

nor are figs gathered from thistles,

for they do not produce fruit. 

A good man brings forth good from his storehouse;

and evil man brings forth evil things from his evil storehouse, which is in his heart, and says evil things. 

For out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth evil things.”

Luke 6:43-45

“There is no such thing as a good tree producing bad fruit, nor yet a bad tree producing good fruit. Each tree is known by its own fruit:  you do not gather figs from brambles or pick grapes from thistles.  Good people produce good from the store of good within themselves, and evil people produce evil from the evil within them.  For the words that the mouth utters come from the overflowing of the heart.”

Matthew 7:15-20

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you dressed up as sheep while underneath they are savage wolves.  You will recognize them by their fruit.  Can grapes be picked from briars, or figs from thistles?  A good tree always yields sound fruit, and a poor tree bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, or a poor tree sound fruit.  A tree that does not yield sound fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire.  That is why I say you will recognize them by their fruit.

also see

Mark 13:28-29

James 3:10,12 

“Out of the same mouth come praise and curses.

This should not be so”

“can a fig tree produce olives,

or a grape vine produce figs?”

Isaiah 27:2-4

“On that day sing of the pleasant vineyard.

I, the LORD am its keeper, … 

Night and day I tend it, but I get no wine,

I would as soon have briars and thorns.” 

The following quote is from

THE KINGDOM WITHIN 

The Inner Meaning of Jesus’ Sayings

by John A. Sanford, 1987, HarperSanFrancisco

“The kingdom of God requires that the outer person and the inner person correspond to each other. It

is of no avail to cultivate an outer personality if it

is not founded upon awareness of our inner selves,

for no matter what we strive to accomplish

outwardly in our lives, no matter what pretensions

we make to righteousness, the actual fruit of our lives will be brought into existence from what is within our hearts.”

(46)

Jesus said,

“Among those born of women,

from Adam until John the Baptist,

there is no one so superior to John the Baptist

that his eyes should not be lowered before him.

Yet I have said,

whichever one of you comes to be a child

will be acquainted with the kingdom

and will become superior to John.”

Matthew 11:11

“Truly I tell you:

among all who have ever been born,

no one has been greater than John the Baptist,

and yet the least in the kingdom of Heaven

is greater than he.”

Luke 7:28

“I tell you,

among all who have been born,

no one has been greater than John;

yet the least in the kingdom of God

is greater than he is.”

John 1:30

(John replied,)

“After me there comes a man

who ranks ahead of me.”

This saying suggests an ongoing evolution of mankind, with the newly emerging “child of the Kingdom” as the next evolutionary step up the ladder.  Although John attempted to bring the apocalyptic ax crashing down via repentance, baptism and stark asceticism, he succeeded only in bringing it down on his own head.  John’s violently apocalyptic rally cry was replaced by Jesus’ cryptic parables of an upside-down “Kingdom” where you were to “love your enemies”. John’s prophetic message to repent now and cleanse your soul of sin by baptism in water or risk provoking God’s wrath and burning in eternal hell-fire was replaced by Jesus’ call to make the inside and the outside one and the same and to enter the bridal chamber.  Although Jesus’ message is often portrayed as complementary to John’s, Jesus’ teaching should be considered a new beginning with the “first” of the new order greater than the “last” of the old.  John’s “fire and brimstone” preaching colors the canonical gospel writers’ elaborations on Jesus’ sayings, but John’s influence seems to have been “watered-down” by the Gnostics. John’s legacy, however, lives on within mainstream Christianity.  The altar call of  “Sinner, Repent!” can still be heard every Sunday morning all around the world; so unfortunately, John’s message does not face extinction any time soon.

(47) Jesus said, “It is impossible for a man

to mount two horses or to stretch two bows.

And it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters; otherwise, he will honor the one and treat the other contemptuously.  No man drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine. And new wine is not put into old wineskins, lest they burst;

nor is old wine put into a new wineskin, lest it spoil it. An old patch is not sewn into a new garment, because a tear would result.”

TWO HORSES

Although you can’t mount two horses, by using

a double yoke, you can make the two into One, transforming the two halves of the soul,

heart and mind, into one Spirit

TWO BOWS

Attempting to stretch two bows will result in two divergent trajectories. Unable to sight down both bows, at least one arrow, if not both, will miss the mark. Even a small degree of separation initially

will be magnified as the distance to the target increases.

TWO MASTERS

Working in a dental office where several dental assistants were expected to work for two different doctors, I can attest to the truth of this saying. They never treated both doctors equally; usually, they loved one and hated the other.

OLD WINE

Those comfortably numb, high on self-righteousness, have no desire to give up their seniority in the old regime in order to join a new one. 

NEW WINESKINS

I helped plan a worship service for a brand new church entitled “Leave Your Baggage At The Door”. We piled up old suitcases on the doorstep, and encouraged others to (figuratively) do the same.   This was to be a new beginning and required leaving bad feelings, old prejudices, past hurts, previous issues with other churches, and other “baggage” outside, in order to “let them go” and make a fresh start. I think Jesus must have felt the same way when starting his own ministry and abandoning John the Baptist’s.  John’s movement was “old wine”, but Jesus’ was brewing something so new that attempting to pour it into the old container would cause the old container to be “rent from top to bottom”!  John and Jesus also represent the two horses, two bows and two masters. 

NEW GARMENT

I believe Thomas intentionally reverses the new and old cloth in the old proverb, which normally states,

“a new patch is not sewn into an old garment”.

The focus here is on a new garment, which results from metamorphosis into a new life. The old parts are not compatible with this new equipment. Here again, John the Baptist was of the “old cloth”.

 (48) Jesus said,

“If two make peace with each other in this one house,

they will say to the mountain, ‘ Move away,’

and it will move away.”

(106) Jesus said,

“When you make the two one,

you will become the sons of man,

and when you say, ‘Mountain, move away,’

it will move away.”

Mark 11:23

“Truly I tell you:

if anyone says to this mountain,

‘Be lifted from your place

and hurled into the sea,’

and has no inward doubts,

but believes that what he says will happen,

it will be done for him.”

Matthew 17:20-21

“He answered, ‘Your faith is too small.

Truly I tell you:  if you have faith

no bigger than a mustard seed,

you will say to this mountain,

“Move from here to there!”

and it will move;

nothing will be impossible for you.’

I Corinthians 13:2

“I may have faith enough to move mountains;

but if I have no love, I am nothing.”

The “mountain” is a physical barrier

separating God and man.

Whoever makes the two into One,

reunites God and man,

thus removing the barrier.

 (49)

Jesus said,

“Blessed are the solitary and elect,

for you will find the kingdom.

For you are from it,

and to it you will return.”

(19)

Blessed is he

who came into being

before he came into being

It is only the solitary

who can enter the bridal chamber.

It is an individual,

not a group, experience.

The “elect” are those

who existed before they were born.

They are from the Kingdom;

they are princes and princesses,

sent here with the sole purpose

of learning to live on purpose !

(50)

Jesus said,

"If they say to you,

'Where did you come from?',
say to them,

'We came from the light,

the place where the light came into being

on its own accord and established [itself]

and became manifest through their image.'

If they say to you,

'Is it you?',

say,

'We are its children,

we are the elect of the Living Father.'

If they ask you,

'What is the sign of your father in you?',

say to them,

'It is movement and repose.'"
 

The First Apocalypse of James
"James, behold,

I shall reveal to you your redemption.
When...you undergo these sufferings...

three of them will seize you...

Not only do they demand toll,

but they also take away souls by theft. ...

one...will say to you,

'Who are you or where are you from?
You are to say to him,

'I am a son, and I am from the Father.'

He will say to you,

'What sort of son are you,

and to what father do you belong?'

You are to say to him,

'I am from the Pre-existent Father,
and a son in the Pre-existent One.'...
When he also says to you,

'Where will you go?',

you are to say to him,

'To the place from which I have come,

there shall I return',

and if you say these things,

you will escape their attacks."
 

(50) cont.

The Letter of Peter to Philip: 137

"It is because of this that you are being detained, because you belong to me.”

”And this is the reason that you will fight against the powers, because they do not have rest like you, since they do not wish that you be saved.”

(60) "look for a place for yourself within repose”

(90) Jesus said, "find repose for yourselves"
(2) Jesus said, …“when he reigns he will rest."

 

The Odes Of Solomon
"I went up into the light of Truth as on a chariot,
and the Truth led me and brought me...
And I stretched out my hands

in the ascent of my soul
and directed myself toward the Most High
and I was redeemed by him."

 

quote from Kurt Rudolph’s book

Gnosis, HarperSanFrancisco, 1987
"Only rarely is the ascent of the soul accomplished automatically, but requires help and support. The reason for this lies in the existence of the powers which rule the world, the Archons, who try to
impede the soul's return in order to prevent the perfecting of the world of light and thus protract the world process. The description of the menace to be encountered on the journey is a central theme in
numerous Gnostic traditions, as is also that of the overcoming of these obstacles. “

The "redemption” ritual consists of a catechism, reciting answers to questions posed by archon gatekeepers in the “ascent” of your soul. You are to declare your freedom from the false creator-god, Yaldabaoth, and his archons.

 

This "sacrament" consists of repeating a saying, something to the effect of, "I am not your slave,

I am a child of the Living Father".

 

The rite of "redemption" was originally part of the
initiation into the Jesus mystery cult. It may have consisted of a series of three questions asked to the initiate by three cult elders acting out the roles of the three menacing archons.

 

#1 Q: Who are you?

     A:  A son of the Living Father.
#2 Q: Where are you going?

      A:  Back to the light, where I'm from.
#3 Q:  What's the sign of the Father in you?

      A:  movement and rest.

 

”Movement and rest” have been described as the characteristics of a child in its mother’s womb,

sometimes moving, other times resting.  

You are to become “pregnant” with Knowledge!          

(51)

His disciples said to him,

"When will the repose of the dead come about,

and when will the new world come?"

He said to them,

"What you look forward to has already come,

but you do not recognize it"

 

(91)

“you have not recognized the one who is before you, and you do not know how to read this moment."

The Treatise On The Resurrection

“the resurrection …

is the truth which stands firm.

It is the revelation of what is,

and the transformation of things,

and a transition into newness.”

 “flee from the divisions and the fetters,

and already you have the resurrection.”

“why not consider yourself as risen

and already brought to this?”

The Gospel of Philip:73

“Those who say they will die first

and then rise are in error.

If they do not first receive

the resurrection while they live,

when they die they will receive nothing.”

Although many of Jesus’ disciples were expecting

an apocalyptic end to the world at any moment,

Jesus taught a “realized eschatology” where you could move across an invisible barrier from this perishable world into the eternal realm of the “Kingdom” merely by changing your outlook! 

Because this change occurred at different times 

for each individual, as they “realized” their immortality, this did not produce an apocalyptic

“end-time” destruction of the planet. It resulted

in the “end of time”, only in the sense that eternal life had now begun, they had already ”put on” the resurrection. 

Excerpt from The First Coming

by Thomas Sheehan, Random House, 1986

“The reigning orthodoxy held out the promise of a future apocalyptic triumph in return for strict observance of the Law:  the hard bread of obedience in this life, but an eschatological victory in the near future.  The Baptist, on the other hand, preached a threatening judge who offered to save those who repented and changed:  some existential anguish at first, but then the conviction that one was justified in God’s sight.  But Jesus proclaimed a loving Father who was already arriving among his people, bringing peace and freedom and joy.  One simply had to let him in, for the kingdom of God had begun.” “in Jesus’ message the offer was the presence of the Father, and the required response was mercy toward one’s neighbor.” “a radically personal eschatology that was fulfilled in a new interpersonal ethic.”

(52)

His disciples said to Him,

"Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel,

and all of them spoke in You."
He said to them,

"You have omitted the one living in your presence

and have spoken (only) of the dead."
 

The use of the number 24 is symbolic of the completion of a 24-hour daily cycle, signifying 

"end-times", but trying to make Jesus fit into a

mold of  “Messiah” or end-time prophet is incorrect.

"The one living" (the new wine) is contrasted with “the dead” (old wineskins). Jesus' message was eschatological but not apocalyptic. He advocated a "realized eschatology" where the Kingdom becomes present for that individual when "those with ears to hear" are transformed by his words.

I think Jesus would be more likely to associate himself with the number 13, which symbolizes a

new beginning, a new order. The 12 disciples plus Jesus equals 13, which is not necessarily “bad luck”

as many would believe.

(53)

His disciples said to Him,

“Is circumcision beneficial or not?”
He said to them,

“If it were beneficial, their father would beget

them already circumcised from their mother.

Rather, the true circumcision in spirit

has become completely profitable.”

 

Deuteronomy 30:6

“The LORD your GOD

will circumcise your hearts...

so that you will love him

with all your heart and soul

and you will live.”

 

Jeremiah 4:4

“circumcise your hearts”

 

Jeremiah 9:25,26

“The time is coming, says the LORD,

when I shall punish all the circumcised...

for all alike, the nations and Israel
are uncircumcised in heart.”

 

To paraphrase:

“It ain’t what’s on the outside that matters.”

I believe “true circumcision in Spirit” was Jesus’

re-interpretation of Deuteronomy and Jeremiah’s “circumcision of the heart”.
 
This saying is about making a new covenant with God. Jesus’ message was that it is no longer necessary to keep the whole law or even the 10 commandments

but merely to “love the Lord your God with all your

heart, with all your soul” and to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18

as quoted by Jesus in Matthew 22:37,39)

(54)

Jesus said,

"Blessed are the poor,

for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven."

 

William Barclay,

Ethics In A Permissive Society

“There was nothing of inverted snobbery

in the attitude of Jesus to wealth.

He did not glorify poverty as such.

He had friends in every walk of life. ...

Even if we insist on the dangers of riches,

we cannot fly to the other extreme,

and make poverty a virtue.”

Jesus provided more than just hope

to those helplessly entrenched in poverty.

He provided them with the full expectation

of a royal Kingdom. He told them they were blessed by God and would achieve fulfillment. Some would debate whether this fulfillment was to happen in this world or the next, but I believe this fulfillment occurs within a separate inner reality.

This saying may also have had an underlying

tongue-in-cheek meaning if "the Poor" also

meant those members of a religious group that

shared a common purse as Jesus' followers did.

(55)

Jesus said,

"Whoever does not hate his father and his mother
cannot become a disciple to me.

And whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters

and take up his cross in my way

will not be worthy of me."

The Gospel of Philip: 73

"Philip the apostle said

'Joseph the carpenter planted a garden

because he needed wood for his trade.

It was he who made the cross

from the trees he planted.

His own offspring

hung on that which he planted.

His offspring was Jesus

and the planting was the cross.”

The Gospel of Philip: 63

“for Jesus came to crucify the world”

You will always be a child to your mother and father. Your sisters and brothers will always be jealous of anything you alone possess, so don't look to them for confirmation of what is right, but look within yourself to the Wisdom and Knowledge of your true Mother and Father.

 

If Niks Kazantzakis got it right in his book,

Last Temptation Of Christ, where he depicts Jesus working as a Jewish carpenter, building crosses for the Romans, then in that context, “take up his cross in my way” could mean, “perform your daily tasks with pride, accept the paradoxical nature of this world, the transformation which will allow the Kingdom to come takes place within you and only from there can

it spread to others, which must each give birth to it from within themselves”.  Kazantzakis's idea of Jesus as a cross builder seems to come from the allegory

in The Gospel Of Philip: 73.

Also in The Gospel of Philip: 63, Jesus is said to have come “to crucify the world”.  By crucifying duality, two become One, and unity is restored.

 (56)

Jesus said,

"Whoever has come to understand the world

has found (only) a corpse,

and whoever has found a corpse

is superior to the world."

 

(80)

Jesus said,
"He who has recognized the world

has found the body,
but he who has found the body

is superior to the world."

 

(110)

Jesus said,
"Whoever finds the world and becomes rich,
let him renounce the world."

 

(81)

Jesus said,
"Let him who has grown rich be king,
and let him who possesses power renounce it."
 

Things of this world are not eternal,

but if you understand this, YOU ARE,

and you are therefore superior to it.

We are told to find the world, grow rich and powerful, but then to renounce the power, and renounce the world.  These things are not eternal.

The somewhat derogatory mention of the world as

a carcass or corpse troubles me, because I believe the Earth is Holy. The Gnostic view of the “creator” (demiurge) being corrupt makes for an interesting mythology, but bad planetary ecology.

It is important to note that I do not associate Yaldabaoth with the Creator, but consider him only

as a "pretender".  I consider Sophia as the true Mother of All. I think of Yaldabaoth as the “blind” god who mistakenly thinks he is God because he can "see" no one greater than himself.
 

(57) Jesus said, "The Kingdom of the Father is like a man who had [good] seed. His enemy came by night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The man did not allow them to pull up the weeds; he said to them, 'I am afraid that you will go intending to pull up the weeds and pull up the wheat along with them.' For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be plainly visible, and they will be pulled up and burned."

Compare Matthew 13:24-30

I now have a garden and through gardening this parable has become a little more real for me. While away on vacation recently, we made arrangements for some friends to water our garden. When we returned my daughter was upset that all her carrot plants, which had begun sprouting prior to our trip, were gone. We later learned that our friends had not only watered but also decided to do some "weeding" and pulled up all her carrots!

 

You can blame your enemy, "the evil one", for the weeds in your garden if you want to, but don't go out uprooting the plantings when only God can tell the wheat from the weeds.  Be patient and time will reveal the true nature of each plant.

The weeds or "tares" here, refers to a variety of weed that so closely resembles the growing wheat plant, that they are virtually indistinguishable from the wheat until the plants have matured.

I do not believe this saying should be interpreted

as judgment day where the bad will be separated from the good.   “Christel”, a member of the online discussion group, has more recently interpreted this as an admonition to ”wait until you are mature enough to try weeding out the ideas which have been planted in your mind, as being beneficial and true or as useless patterns of thought and behavior that lead nowhere”.

 

While I think "burning" of the weeds is an

appropriate demise for "weeds", it is still hard not

to think of hellfire. It seems "Matthew" liked this fiery ending so well he appended it to the parable

of the Great Net, Matthew 13:47–48 / Saying (8),

so that rather than having the leftover fish being thrown back as in Gospel of Thomas, they too are "burned up" by Angels. What a pyromaniac, that Matthew!
 

(58)

Jesus said,

"Blessed is the man

who has suffered

and found life."

Mahatma Gandhi said:

"patience means self-suffering"...

"vindication of truth,

not by the infliction of suffering on the opponent,

but on one's self."...

"pursuit of truth (does) not permit violence

(to be) inflicted on one's opponent,

but … he must be weaned from error

by patience and sympathy."

True Patriotism - 1939

(59)

Jesus said,

"Take heed of the Living One

while you are alive,

lest you die

and seek to see Him

and be unable to do so."

 

The Gospel Of Philip: 66

“And so he dwells either in this world

or in the resurrection or in the middle place.

God forbid that I be found there!

In this world there is good and evil …

But there is evil after this world

which is truly evil –

what is called “the middle.”

It is death.

While we are in this world it is fitting

for us to acquire the resurrection,

so that when we strip off the flesh

we may be found in rest

and not walk in the middle.

For many go astray on the way."

 

Speaking of "walking in the middle" reminds me of Philip Pullman's fictional trilogy, The Golden Compass-The Subtle Knife-The Amber Spyglass, in which there is a scene where the heroes go to the "land of the dead", a hell-like underworld where the dead, separated from their souls, are detained indefinitely. This, it seems, is a fate worse than death, because while stuck in this “land of the dead” it seems you could seek forever and yet never find your lost soul,

or find a way out of the darkness.

(60)
<He saw> a Samaritan who was trying to steal

a lamb while he was on his way to Judea.
He said to his disciples:

"That (person) is stalking the lamb."
They said to him:

"So that he may kill it (and) eat it."
He said to them:

"As long as it is alive he will not eat it,

but (only) when he has killed it

(and) it has become a corpse."
They said to him:

"Otherwise he cannot do it."
He said to them:

"You, too, look for a place for your repose

so that you may not become a corpse

(and) get eaten."
Translation by Hans-Gebhard Bethge et al.

from The Fifth Gospel, 1998

I believe the following excerpt from

The Nag Hammadi Library’s "Authoritative Teaching" 29-33 represents an expanded dissertation based on the allegory found in Thomas (60). 

"The adversary spies on us, lying in wait ...wishing to seize us, rejoicing that he might swallow us.

For he places ...before our eyes, things which belong to this world...love of money, pride, vanity, envy, beauty of body...greatest of these...ignorance and ease.  Now all such things the adversary prepares beautifully and spreads out before the body, wishing to make the mind of the soul incline toward one of them and overwhelm her ... But the soul- she who has tasted these things- realized that sweet passions are transitory. She has learned about evil: she went away
from them... she learns about her light... And she learns about her depth and runs into her fold, while her shepherd stands at the door... She gave her body to those who had given it to her, and ... the dealers in bodies sat down and wept because they were not able to do any business with that body… They did not realize that she has an invisible spiritual body, thinking, 'we are her shepherd who feeds her." But they did not realize that she knows another way, which is hidden from them. This her true shepherd taught her in Knowledge.”

(61)

Jesus said, "Two will rest on a bed:

the one will die, and the other will live.”

Salome said, “Who are you, man, that you...

have come up on my couch and eaten from my table?”

Jesus said to her,

“I am he who exists from the undivided. 

I was given some of the things of my father.”

< … > “I am your disciple.”

< … > “Therefore I say,

if he is destroyed he will be filled with light,

but if he is divided, he will be filled with darkness."

v      Jesus said, "Two will rest on a bed:

            the one will die, and the other will live."

 

The Treatise On The Resurrection

"the visible members which are dead

shall not be saved, for only the living members

which exist within them...arise." 
The Second Treatise of the Great Seth

"I did not die in reality but in appearance"
Apocalypse of Peter

"since the body is the substitute...

what they released was my incorporeal body."

 

v      Salome said, 'Who are you, man,

            that you ... have come up on my couch

            and eaten from my table?'

 

translation:  Salome says,

“Jesus!!! You ain't nothin' but a hound dog!”

 

v      Jesus said to her,

            “I am he who exists from the undivided.

             I was given some of the things of my father.”

 

The Gospel of Philip

"life and death...are brothers of one another.

They are inseparable. ... But those who are exalted above the world are indissoluble, eternal."

 

v      "I am your disciple."

 

translation:

Salome says, "but you're my hound dog!”

v      “Therefore I say,

             if he is destroyed he will be filled with light"

 

The Apocryphon of James

"for the Kingdom of God belongs to those

who put themselves to death"

v      "but if he is divided,

             he will be filled with darkness."

 

The Dialogue of the Savior

"Strive to rid yourselves of anger and jealousy...

so that you will not lead your spirits and your souls into error."

62   Jesus said, "I disclose my mysteries

to those [who are worthy] of [my] mysteries.
Do not let your left hand know

what your right hand is doing."

translation by Marvin Meyer, 1992,

The Gospel of Thomas -The Hidden Sayings of Jesus

“I disclose my mysteries

to those who are worthy of my mysteries.”

“It is not lawful to speak of the sacred mysteries

to the uninitiated.”

“Fragments”, 1993, The Works of Philo,

Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Version, translated by C. D. Yonge, Hendrickson Publishers,

“PENTHEUS:  What form do they take,

 these mysteries of yours?

 DIONYSOS:  It is forbidden to tell the uninitiate.”

The Ancient Mysteries, edited by Marvin Meyer,

1987, Penn

Not all are ready to know,

or care to know the truth.

Many believe ignorance is bliss.

In the movie THE MATRIX, after the hero learns

that the reality he knew was only a fantasy, he is given the option of taking a blue pill or red pill.  One will allow him to remember what he has learned, the other will cause him to forget, but allow him to go back to living the fantasy. Which will you choose?

 

“Do not let your left hand know

what your right hand is doing.”

Sounds like Jesus would have been

a hell of a piano player! 

The U.S. Government, however, seems to have

taken this left hand/right hand thing to mean secretly backing both sides in a war, so that

no matter who wins, they'll have some control.

 

I believe this saying is making a distinction between those who participate only in the outer mysteries

and those who have been initiated into the inner mysteries. Those uninitiated (left hand) must be kept in the dark regarding those things, which only the fully initiated (right hand) can properly comprehend.

The five fingers of the right hand may also represent the five Gnostic rites, while the five fingers of the left hand are merely mirror images, which do not unlock the hidden powers of the rituals.

I think this could also mean that even within the same "body", different parts have different purposes.

A politician once said,

"A bird needs a right-wing and a left-wing to fly".

 

Note:

The right hand and left hand come together

(two made One)
when you fold hands in prayer.

(63)

Jesus said,

"There was a rich man who had much money.

He said, 'I shall put my money to use

so that I may sow, reap, plant, and

fill my storehouse with produce,

with the result that I shall lack nothing.'

Such were his intentions, but that same
night he died.

Let him who has ears hear."

 

Compare  Luke 12:16-21

Lyrics from the pop song "Ironic"