(Matt 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.)
(These two passages illustrate vividly the difference between Thomas and Matthew.)
Your angel and the prophets have given you spiritual treasures; as you share more and more of their vision, you come to realize who and what you are. But like love you must give it in order to keep it.
Who are 'they'? the ones to whom we have given the treasure of life while they stare uncomprehendingly? It is theirs, but they must 'take it'.
(I08) Jesus said: He who shall drink from my mouth shall become like me; I myself will become he, and the hidden thing shall be revealed to him.
(John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.)
Both of these verses point to our union with Christ.
The hidden thing is the secret we've heard so much about; it's indescribable; to reveal the secret is nonsensical to anyone except those who 'drink from his mouth' or 'drink his blood'.
(John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water .)
10 comments:
Re: 88
I have the sense that angels in this context refer to that "still small voice" we hear - that consciousness we awaken to. This small voice will give us what belongs to us, ususally in the form of what has always been right in front of us, like a truth out in the open freshly realized.
Of the scripture's query "On what day do they come and take what is theirs," you ask, "Who are they?"
Perhaps this is a rhetorical question, perhaps "they" is all of us. I agree with you - it is the love we give that is theirs/ours. This love is always present, it is a love that belongs to us, we just need to be open to accept it and to offer it up, freely.
Re: 108
Notice the intimacy in this logion? In this closeness with Jesus we allow our tongues to touch, we become one with the other, till we are not two. The treasure is this deep and amazing love and life in God.
I was just thinking about love some more. A friend said, "Love can't be given or received," in the context that love comes from another, or that the other is the source of love. This is an illusion, a gap in our psyche.
Love is naturally existing - a warmth aways available, whether or not we are in close relationship to another.
I see love as a motivating quality; a dimension of love is certainly freedom. Love doesn't discern whether a thing should be loved, or concern itself with who we love. Love in this regard knows no boundaries.
The more we love, the more we recognize the love affair.
Funny, this saying actually sounds kind of scary to me ... too many viewing of the movie The Prophecy :-)
Radical Christianity is extremely scary.
Crystal and Larry,
Please say more about what is so "scary."
Hi Meredith. Well, as far as angels go, they have been the harbingers of a lot of scary stuff in the Bible ... especially in Revelation. And Lucifer is an angel (the "bad spiriit" St. Ignatius talks about).
Meredith, my vision of radical Christianity means that it may very likely lead to the same fate that Jesus, and perhaps Tom Fox, suffered. That's too scary for me to get very radical.
Don't get too radical, or someone will crucify you.
Larry and Crystal,
I read just the other day on a comment on a blog, "Ironically almost all(>90%) of suffering is caused by thoughts about suffering rather a real experience." I suspect that this is true of our fears as well. In my lifetime I have never known anyone to be crucified, have you? Have you had an experience of a "bad spirit angel?"
I'm not really trying to needle you, my friends. I'm only encouraging you to examine this fear you have, and perhaps see through it. I want to encourage you to love fully, and enjoy your lives fully. For me, inquiring into my own fear has highlighted for me the solvency of fear - it dissipates in the light. And experiencing my own fear disintegrate leaves me very refreshed, open to love, open to light, open to love this life I have.
Well Meredith, I'm fearful for my Quaker friend, Tom Fox, who is now in the hands of the terrorists in Iraq. I sincerely hope they are unfounded, but please hold him with us in the light.
I have known people 'crucified'. When I was traveling to Columbia years ago, many Protestants had their hands cut off because of their faith.
Really people are dying right now because of their Christian witness; that's a level of courage that I'm just not up to.
Larry, I, too, hope your friend Tom Fox returns safely.
I have a lot more questions I'd like to ask you about the fears aroused by the topic of Christian witness, and what one must overcome to find the courage to be a witness, but perhaps it is best to save these queries for another time.
Thank you Larry and Crystal.
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