Today we’ll explore the mysticism and spiritual teachings about oneness and unity from the Gospel of Thomas, also known as the Secret or Hidden Teachings of the Living Jesus. The Gospel of Thomas is a non-canonical sayings gospel, featuring 114 sayings of Jesus, and parts of it date back to 60AD. Among many scholars and historians it is considered to be one of the most important texts outside the New Testament.
Before we continue, one thing I want us to remember is to have the respect and appreciation such old texts deserve. Regardless of our own likes or dislikes, or whether or not we agree or disagree with the text, these are old pages holding the sacredness of someone’s faith.
These texts were written during times when people nurtured their faith often in quietness, and it mattered deeply to them; many of them had to hide or run to another land while others were executed for their beliefs. And the writing too should be respected because not everyone was able to write at those times nor had the capacity to, so it was something to be treasured and still must be when we find these scriptures. This is why actually icons started; it wasn’t because they were to be worshipped but because many people were illiterate; and they still wanted to learn the stories, so the stories were told through the paintings and icons.
And so, when we find old or ancient scriptures, it is precious to us as it expands our own knowledge and gives us an intimate insight into a time we didn’t live in. It is important to remember that when we approach something that has been sacred to someone’s beliefs, we should respect this and humble ourselves in it. We don’t have to agree with it nor like it, but may we remember to stay humble and in respect for the old pages filled with someone’s faith and heart.
Many scholars view the Gospel of Thomas as evidence of the existence of what’s called a “Q Source” i.e. a collection of sayings of Jesus Christ, called logia, without any accounts of his deeds or his life and death; and it is believed that the canon gospels may have drawn from these sources. We know that Jesus’ teachings were oral, so there may have been many logia writings which had recorded these oral teachings, but were then lost or hidden.
The Gospel of Thomas was actually well known in antiquity even before its discovery. People as early as the second century were already referring to it, but at some point it got “lost”; and when scholars refer to something being “lost”, it’s not to mean it was displaced but that people just stopped copying it or re-writing it.
The Gospel of Thomas, in its full text and manuscript, was discovered in 1945, accidentally buried in the desert near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, and scholars speculate these spiritual writings were buried in response to a letter from Bishop Athanasius declaring a strict canon of Christian scripture. But even before it was discovered in its full manuscript in Nag Hammadi historians were aware it.
In 1897, archeologist discovered fragments of it, as little pieces and pages of it had surfaced from the sands in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. These fragments then became part of a collection of ancient papyri. What was found in these pages were sayings of Jesus, and as the historians saw the parallels to the canon gospels, they realized this could actually be quite important. At this time in Oxyrhynchus, where these pages were found, archeologists also found many other Biblical manuscripts and letters; and when such findings happen, you have to understand they are considered like absolute treasures for scholars, as it gives us further insights into early Christianity and how diverse and multi-faceted and mystical it was.
A bit later on down the line, other pages were discovered including the first page which writes, “These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.”, and when the fragments were put together it came to be known as the Gospel of Thomas.
Initially though it was still a bit difficult to prove whether or not these fragments were part of one gospel, because it seemed they may have been written by different hand, paper or scroll/roll; and then, excitingly, in 1945 when the full text was discovered in Nag Hammadi the scholars were able to see it was all written in one hand there.
Many scriptures from the early tradition and faith were lost, or at least unavailable us, so personally, as someone who loves diving deep into the mystical and always learning something new, I find these texts significant. You see, it would be quite ignorant of us to think all Jesus ever said is contained in one book, because his teachings were oral. As such, whatever was written was only written because it made an impact on someone or because it was repeated by all others.
A lot of his teachings were considered non-traditional, quite esoteric and mystical; and he was a bit of a revolutionary and considered heretical during his times. Many of his teachings were a little hard to understand sometimes, because they were so unusual and often as parables, but certain phrases like “Blessed are the poor” were so remarkable and unusual that we see it made a lot of impact and it is repeated in a lot of the texts we have in the New Testament also. Having said that, it would be ignorant to think that all he ever taught was contained in only a few texts, which is why other texts are important discoveries and may fill in blanks or just give us something to consider and reflect on.
There is a lot of beautiful and spiritual wisdom and mysticism in the Christian tradition, and if one is interested in exploring and discovering there is a lot to read and dive into; we can always learn something new and expand when we keep an open heart and approach with the beginner’s mind. I find this Gospel full of deep wisdom, spiritual and esoteric.
Priest and theologian Matthew Fox once said, “God did not stop speaking to us after the Bible was written,” and that’s precisely it. There is a living being, inside of us and outside of us, and it keeps living and moving and expanding; and as such, we shouldn’t limit it. This is what mysticism is – it moves us and we move too, but we keep moving and breathing and learning and growing and attuning and rising and evolving. We keep deepening. We keep listening. Not just with ears, but with hearts. We keep seeing. Not with eyes, but with our heart. And we let it speak to us as it is right now, and as it needs us to understand it.
In the early days of Christianity, monks played a vital role in collecting a variety of spiritual texts in monastery libraries, including the early Christian books and letters and saying (logia), and many of these were also reproduced and read by Christian monks into the fourth and fifth centuries.
What mattered most to early Christians was deepening their spirituality, and this often meant keeping an open heart and mind and looking within rather than trying to rationalize God. What mattered to these monks wasn’t dogma, and they weren’t judging the value of a text they’d read on whether or not someone else or a doctrine agreed with it – they explored it on their own.
It’s like wearing prescription glasses. Do you wear some? Take them off. Back in the day people didn’t have glasses, and as their eye sight weakened as they’d age, they wouldn’t be able to rely on their eyes as much anymore to read and learn. The candle lights at night on the wooden bedside table would not suffice to stay in quietness and retreat in our readings. But wisdom comes with age, with the lifting of veils, with the ability to see not with the external eyes but with the inner ones, with the ability not to rationalize spirituality but to feel it – how does it feel? Where is the candle light?
The hidden teachings
The introduction of the Gospel of Thomas says,
“These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.”
The Gospel then moves through 114 sayings of Jesus, some of which I’ll share below and you may also read it in its entirety on your own. Over half of the sayings are actually quite parallel to Matthew, Luke and Mark, so if you are familiar with the New Testament you may recognize them from there also.
While the author who names himself Thomas, may remain unknown or hard to prove exactly who he was or whether this was the Apostle Thomas or someone else, what’s really interesting about this Gospel is that he chooses to focus on the sayings of Jesus rather than the deeds, such as the healings, miracles and birth and resurrection. And I say this is interesting, because it shows us that what he found to be more important to share in this text were the sayings rather than deeds.
In other words – from reading the text we also see that he emphasizes that if one seeks to truly find salvation, then one needs to look at the saying of Jesus more deeply, rather than merely focus on the external. This is why he begins by saying “These are the hidden …… and whoever finds the interpretations of these sayings will not taste death.“
In this way, we find that what we may need to look at is that which happens now and entering an inner process or spiritual pathway.
I believe that the author wants to shift us away from merely thinking of Jesus as death and resurrection process, but rather to seek a connection through the living Jesus as a Jesus moving through our now – i.e. it is right here right now as a process. This is why I believe he refers to Jesus as the living Jesus, rather than the resurrected Jesus or Christ.
And I find this a beautiful perspective, reminding us of the importance of our life and how we live it, which is what shows us who we may be and how we choose to embody the light and love within.
Just as an example, Paul mainly focuses on the resurrection and the Christ, which is why he mentions the words Christ or Christos over 300 times, and this shows his perspective on what he viewed important and insightful. In this way, it is interesting to see various perspectives on the teachings of Jesus, and how to each person it may have inspired something within them.
I don’t think the Gospel of Thomas is antithetical to the canon at all, I think it provides an interesting and mystical view which may prove quite intellectually stimulating but also mystify people as they enter into it with an openness to explore and reflect on.
We need to keep in mind that spiritual text cannot be interpreted through literalism; it is non-linear and especially text connected to mysticism, which is essentially what this gospel is – Christian mysticism – we can’t and we shouldn’t approach it through literalism.
And the last thing I want to just briefly move through before we begin our dive into the text, is that you may hear people refer to it as gnostic. Personally, I don’t find it gnostic actually, at least not in the traditional way of what gnosticism means i.e. evil being who created the world and aeons etc., there are no mentions of this here. But – if you refer to gnostic as gnosis, which means inner knowledge, then yes, this is about gnosis, because it places importance on the inner self development; and this is why it is mystical.
Personally, I am not someone who likes to categorize things, because when we box something we may miss its wisdoms. The manuscript, when found in Nag Hammadi, was found with a lot of other gnostic texts, but they were quite different from the Gospel of Thomas, so I don’t think it is helpful to marginalize it and almost make it seem unimportant for the history of Christiniaty because that’s just not the case. It is valuable, and offers its own insights; it doesn’t feature particular speculations or discussion of cosmology etc., it is merely an invitation for exploration and inner insight.
Some parts of it may actually sound quite Platonic, i.e. echoing Platonic philosophy, especially Plato’s Symposium, so if you are familiar with this or you like it, you may like this Gospel also; and the same goes for the Gospel of Mary also, which seems even more Platonic. But again, it is about our own interpretations, and this is what makes it beautiful.
To me personally, this text is mysticism.
Mysticism means to seek within, and to deepen your own relationship to God, and in early Christianity, especially quite prevalent in the first century, there were many Christian mystics. They were seeking to experience and understand God on a deeper and more intimate level, and many of these Christian mystics and monks wrote and read these texts. This is why we begin with the “these are the hidden/secret teachings”, and why a lot of the sayings end with Jesus saying “whoever has the ears to hear this will hear”. This text not for everyone, it is for those who may spend some time with it, reflect upon it and seek within to see what they may find.
The author of this gospel remains unknown as of now, though most scholars agree it wasn’t Apostle Thomas. However, some questions have been raised on whether or not Thomas was Jesus’ twin, so let’s briefly go through that now.
The name Thomas Didymos means twin twin actually; Thomas means twin in Aramaic and Didymos means twin in Greek, which has made implications by some people that the disciple Thomas was Jesus’ twin and here in this text this is why he knows Jesus’ secret teachings.
The Gospel of Thomas is an invitation towards inner understanding, which we are meant to dive into, be mystified by it, and find the inner kingdom; and we also read Jesus saying that “whoever drinks from my mouth will become as I am, and I will become that person, and the mysteries will be revealed to him.”
There are those scholars who argue that Thomas was indeed Jesus’ physical twin, but for me personally that’s not the case – as this is more of a spiritual meaning.
Thomas as an Apostle was actually very revered after the resurrection, and many early Christians were deeply devoted to him as he was sharing Jesus’ teachings; and it is also believed he is the one who brought the Christian teachings in India, where he is still revered. In this way, it would be natural for him to have been described with a honoured name such as being a “twin”. There is also the concept in Eastern Orthodox theology known as theosis, or “to become like God”, which essentially guides us to live a right living and in virtue; and this seems to echo this also, so you may research this on your own.
But more importantly, at least to me and through my own understanding and interpretation, I believe is the teaching that we are all twins of Jesus, as he is our twin residing in our heart as Christ, and through such living and embodiment of the teachings of love he becomes us and we become him.
As we will see in the text itself also, and in other texts, Jesus does often turn our eyes towards our inner self, pointing to the heart, and invites us in. And this is what lays in the heart of this gospel – that this is a spiritual quest, an inward spiritual pathway, towards union and oneness; and that of the discovery of your true essence and divine spark within, you too may discover that you, as him, as all others, are God’s children.
The main message or theme in the Gospel of Thomas
The main message of this Gospel seems to be that essentially, we are made in the image of God, and we can either work towards serving that image or remain stagnant; so it’s about right living and virtue, compassion, and to work towards being like God’s image, which is your true essence of goodness within. This message doesn’t seem antithetical to early Christianity. At its essence, it’s mysticism.
What you will find as the common thread of this text is the message of unity and oneness. It gently warns against the idea of division that may infiltrate humanity, and as such, as emphasizes the important of unity and oneness. This unity is within also – i.e. it is important that the person comes into unity within, and not divide or separate himself from himself, because this will only lead to external separations also from other people. Any conflict experienced externally is often the reflection of an inner conflict, and if humanity seeks inner unity, external conflict will end also.
The Gospel also places important on asceticism, i.e. detachment from external pleasures or seeking fulfillment from external sources, because this perpetuates attachments to things outside of ourselves and may be a detriment to our growth and true fulfillment.
I think any time you approach a text of any kind, whether mystical, religious, poetic or even scientific, it is important to know how you are entering it. What are your intentions? What drives you to enter it? Because it is this through which interpretations or emotions or thoughts may arise within you.
If you are a mystic or philosopher, you are concerned with finding the truth, and no matter what truth looks like and how it may challenge your previous assumptions, you are open to the exploration and discern along the way; but if you are a politician or lawyer, then your goal is to find supportive evidence for your belief or work. If you are of the latter, then yes, I can see how this Gospel may not support the doctrine and would be referred to as heresy; but if you are of the former, like I am, you read it with an open mind and enjoy the exploration.
So let’s now dive into the mystical Gospel of Thomas as we remove our glasses of pre-conceptions, and see what we may learn, reflect on or perhaps deepen into.
Let’s begin,
and I’ll begin at the beginning, with the first saying I ever came across before I even knew what the Gospel of Thomas was. The mustard seed is what led me to this.
Gospel of Thomas, Codex II Manuscritos de Nag Hammadi-The Nag Hammadi manuscripts
The Gospel of Thomas, Saying 20
The disciples said to Jesus: “Tell us whom the kingdom of heaven is like!”
He said to them: “It is like a mustard seed.
But when it falls on cultivated soil, it produces a large branch, and becomes shelter for the birds of the sky.”
I don’t remember when or even where and how I came across the mustard seed, but I remember, very clearly as if it is right now, how I felt. Within these few sentences is all you need to know in you are on a spiritual path. This is what truth sounds like. And it’s poetry. Poetry of the vastness of life and the universe held within a few simple phrases, meant to be understood by those who understand it.
And I remember when I heard this particular phrasing I asked, “where is this from?” This is how I discovered the text of the Gospel of Thomas.
For those of you familiar with the New Testament, you’d know the parable of the mustard seed is also written in Mark 4:30, so this is a synoptic saying. However, I hadn’t read Mark during that time and had very limited knowledge of the Biblical scriptures in general, so to me it was a first time hearing it; but even after I read Mark’s phrasing, it was still Thomas’ that had touched my heart and that I resonated with.
As I mentioned, many of the sayings you’ll find in Thomas are synoptic and may also be found as parallels in the New Testament. And this is one of the reasons I like to share these lesser known writings, because sometimes people just find it easier to resonate with a particular wording or way of language more than another. Sometimes as human beings we may need to hear something worded differently and then suddenly it makes sense. This is also why I often share various perspectives on my website as well, or how something may be interpreted through various perspectives; and yet, if we look deeper within, we will find the common threads leading us towards the same pathway.
Another example of a synoptic saying is saying 33 in the Gospel of Thomas about the light (which I share further below), and we find this also in Luke 8:16; Luke’s version of it is: “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar nor puts it under a bed. May you put in on the stand, so that those who come in can see the light also.” I personally resonate more with Luke’s writing on this, and it’s actually one of my favourites.
Let’s continue,
Saying 77
Jesus says:
“I am the light that is over all. I am the ALL. The ALL came forth out of me. And to me the ALL has come.”
“Split a piece of wood — I am there.
Lift the stone, and you will find me there.”
In this beautiful text we see the core message of oneness. All is oneness. The stone is part of the wood of the soil of the heart of the universe of the rabbit of the aroma of a rose of a kiss on the human lips.
In the home of our heart is where the Christ heart is, is where the Goodness is. (In many of these Gnostic Gospels, God was referred to as Good.) The kingdom of heaven resides in the heart – love is the beloved seed of God; and it is up to us to nurture it so that it blossoms and then we move others through our words, hands and gestures. Embodied love. A love that becomes the shelter for all, the honey and warmth of us, in all shapes and forms, that feeds the hearts of others.
With the awakened heart we become better human beings desiring to help one another, hold each other, raise each other, lift each other up. There is so much beauty in our world, and love is always worth fighting for. May we intend grace on others and on ourselves, and be good people walking with kindness and patience of rhythm, with softness of hands and tenderness of gestures, and with the eyes clear enough to see beauty, truth and wisdom.
And below, I’ll just feature some of the sayings, but you may also read the whole Gospel on your own.
Saying 3
Jesus says, “If those who lead you say to you: ‘Look, 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 fishes will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you and outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father. But if you do not come to know yourselves, then you exist in poverty, and you are poverty.”
Saying 24
His disciples said: “Show us the place where you are, because it is necessary for us to seek it. He said to them: “Whoever has ears should hear! Within a person of light, there is a light. If illuminated, it lights up the whole world; if not, everything is dark.”
Saying 8
And he says: “The human being is like a sensible fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea filled with little fish. Among them the sensible fisherman found a large, fine fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, (and) he chose the large fish effortlessly. Whoever has ears to hear should hear.”
Saying 11
Jesus says: “This heaven will pass away, and the (heaven) above it will pass away. And the dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what was dead, you made it alive. When you are 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?”
Saying 26
Jesus says: “You see the splinter that is in your brother’s eye, but you do not see the beam that is in your (own) eye. When you remove the beam from your (own) eye, then you will see clearly (enough) to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”
Saying 29
Jesus says: “If the flesh came into being because of the spirit, it is a wonder. But if the spirit (came into being) because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has taken up residence in this poverty.”
Saying 33
Jesus says: “No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place. Rather, he puts it on a lampstand, so that everyone who comes in and goes out will see its light.”
Saying 22
Jesus says, “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.”
Saying 40
Jesus says: “A grapevine was planted outside (the vineyard) of the Father. And since it is not supported, it will be pulled up by its roots (and) will perish.”
Saying 45
Jesus says: “Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs picked from thistles, for they do not produce fruit. A good person brings forth good from his treasure. A bad person brings (forth) evil from the bad treasure that is in his heart, and (in fact) he speaks evil. For out of the abundance of the heart we bring forth.”
Saying 48
Jesus says: “If two make peace with one another in one and the same house, (then) they will say to the mountain: ‘Move away,’ and it will move away.”
Saying 57
Jesus says: “The kingdom of the Father is like a person who had (good) seed. His enemy came by night. He sowed darnel among the good seed. The person did not allow (the servants) to pull up the darnel. He said to them: ‘Lest you go to pull up the darnel (and then) pull up the wheat along with it.’ For on the day of the harvest the darnel will be apparent and it will be pulled up (and) burned.”
Saying 62
Jesus says: “I tell my mysteries to those who [are worthy] of [my] mysteries. Whatever you right hand does, your left hand should not know what it is doing.”
Saying 75
Jesus says: “Many are standing before the door, but it is the solitary ones who will enter the wedding hall.”
Saying 79
A woman in the crowd said to Jesus: “Hail to the womb that carried you and to the breasts that fed you.” Jesus said to [her]: “Hail to those who have heard the word of the Father (and) have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say: ‘Hail to the womb that has not conceived you and to the breasts that have not given you milk.’”
Saying 83
Jesus says: “The images are visible to humanity, but the light within them is hidden in the image. The light of the Father will reveal itself, but his image is hidden by his light.”
Saying 96
Jesus says: “The kingdom of the Father is like a woman. She took a little bit of yeast. She hid it in dough and made it into huge loaves of bread. Whoever has ears should hear.”
Saying 114
Simon Peter said to them: “Let Mary go away from us, for women are not worthy of life.” Jesus said: “Look, I will draw her in so as to make her male, so that she too may become a living male spirit, similar to you. But I say to you: “Every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
This is an interesting one as the last saying here, and there are usually two main ways in which people interpret this. Some people relate it to the philosophy of Plato’s Symposium, and we do already see other parts of this Gospel, as well as the Gospel of Mary with Platonic philosophies. They also relate it to the concept of oneness, and Thomas just using this more provocative perhaps wording of it, to “wake us up” and provoke our questioning and entering of the inner path through thinking more about what Jesus may have meant. And other scholars see it as saying that one gender is more important than the other.
This latter interpretation about genders doesn’t make sense to me at all to be honest because 1. Jesus’ teachings and he himself was very inclusive of women, and this wasn’t well perceived by others because women were treated with disrespect and inequality – but still, Jesus went against these inequalities, rebelled against them, and always remained inclusive, kind, respectful, supportive and protective of women, and 2. We saw how in saying 96 he refers to the Kingdom as a woman, just as he referred to it as man or shepherd before also etc.
As this is a sayings gospel, it is difficult to interpret because we don’t know the context of what was going on, what was said before and after, and what Jesus was doing in that situation or even who else was present. We also need to keep in mind that there are different translations to the text; in some it is more about a “living spirit”, so we are not sure whether he is talking about energy. Perhaps the kingdom is female which is why you need to enter it through the active male energy. Food for thought. The only truth we know for sure is that Jesus himself didn’t write this Gospel. So what Jesus actually said and meant is one thing; and what an author heard, perceived, remembered, interpreted and wrote is another thing.
For me personally, I think saying 114 speaks of separations, judgments, physical appearances, and how all these essentially limit our togetherness, our growth, our evolution and our ability to see the essence of something. There is so much we miss in our world because of its title, outer layer, material or physical looks, or what we think of it through our biases, projections, assumptions, associations … and there is so much we miss because we often think someone is “wise” only if they are famous, have loud voices or high social media followings. This is how shallow we’ve become.
True spiritual teachers aren’t out there on social media, and they don’t scream loud nor are they entertainers. You will not find them “out there”, because it is our job to rise and seek them and go up the mountain, putting in some effort on our part to find them and their knowledge. Was Lao Zhu loud and famous? Was Jesus? If Jesus was alive today as a walking man, he’d probably still only a few followers. As a side note, he was never creating followers actually; he was creating leaders. But the point is: If he was alive today, no one would recognize him, because we still can’t see. We are still ignorant and shallow and dogmatic in our limiting beliefs and shoulds and musts and hows, just as we were before.
And in this saying 114 – after all the teachings – we see Peter still concerned about how Mary looks like and passing judgment on who is worthy and who isn’t. After all the sayings of Jesus, after all the wisdom he shared, this is what Peter took out of it and perceived. So Jesus says sure I’ll make her look like you, but she’ll still enter, regardless of how she looks like.
How capable are we to see the essence of something? Or do we miss so much in life just because of how we judge something or someone should look like? There are no short cuts, no quick fixes, no one can walk the path for us. It is only up to us, and the path always begins within; this is why Christ always points to the heart. The awakened heart is what sees and perceives. Truth has a specific note, a sound, unmistakable. And once we rise to hear this sound, we will hear it and know it and see it no matter in what shape or form it comes in.
Jesus’ teachings were about love and oneness. Love and oneness are what Christ taught, and God knows he tried all ways to express these in all possible parables and wordings and through his actions and gestures. And yet here we are. Two thousand years later still separating each other, and we are so intelligent that we have found infinite ways to do that, and keep finding new ways to do that; separating each other on the basis of ego, religions, beliefs, ideas, genders, race, likes and preferences and status and material things. But the more we separate ourselves from others, the more we are actually separating ourselves from our own inner selves. This leads nowhere.
If we wait for unity to happen from outside, we may wait a long time, because no one will ever agree on everything. But if we truly actually desire unity, I believe it begins with us. It begins with hands. It begins with hands reaching across the lines that separate and attempting, no matter how small of a gesture or word, to dissolve the boundaries between us. And then we sit, listen and learn.
We sit, listen and learn. And we may find that we aren’t so different after all, in our core. We share something more powerful, non-linear. A subtle thing called love, of which we came from. So may we walk a patience of rhythm, approach one another with respect and kindness, and with loving mindful speech raise each other, support each other, lift each other up.
I believe the main thing to know about Jesus’ ministry is that he wasn’t someone to just speak words – he lived through words through his actions and deeds. He would often speak of the coming kingdom, and what it would be – but he inspired and encouraged people to live as if it is already here; and he himself showed this, showed us how to live in that kingdom of love.
For example, when he speaks that there will be no war, he lived in peace; when he spoke there will be no homeless, he fed, clothed and sheltered people. Through his actions he showed us how we can live in a better way, and how we may implement these ideas through our actions right now. A lot of what he was saying sounded very heretic and even alien to people at those times – and yet he never gave up, he kept showing and showing and showing how “heaven” shouldn’t be something to wait for or is up there – it is here. We can live it right now; we can live in that kingdom of love and union right now.
There is so much we can’t control in our lives; and no, we can’t bring world peace, and no, we can’t change politics, and no, we can’t make people kinder or perceive us better or even like us at all. But what we can control is our own selves and whom we choose to be – and it’s not just desiring love, it is living in love.
We are meant to embody love through our ordinary actions each day. If we desire compassion, are we compassionate; if we desire generosity, are we generous; how do we want to live our lives? No matter what spiritual path you choose, all will circle around to lead you back to your inner self.
And love is like bread. It is not merely air, it is not a temple nor structure nor rock; it is like bread. It needs to be made and remade each morning, each day, made anew, made with hands.
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Cover art by Camille Pissarro.
