"The 'eternal life' Jesus offers believers is one that is like Jesus' own life"
"Yet it is not only the Paraclete who will abide in the disciples; John also declares, 'I am coming to you' (v. 18). Jesus promises his future presence with the believing community. This presence is once again characterized by life: 'Because I live, you also will live' (v. 19). In its context here, Jesus' present-tense statement, 'because I live,' refers to Jesus' current life. Sandwiched between the future statements, however, it reminds the reader of the resurrected life Jesus lives after his death. In John, there is no conflict between these two ways of understanding the words 'because I live.' Even before his death and resurrection, Jesus is 'the resurrection and the life' (11:25). The 'eternal life' Jesus offers believers is one that is like Jesus' own life, both as it is witnessed during his earthly life and in his life on the other side of resurrection. Both represent a life that triumphs over the power of death.”
“The 'eternal life' Jesus offers believers is one that is like Jesus' own life"
"At the end of the foot washing, Jesus has commanded the disciples to 'love one another' (13:34). In verse 15, love and commandment are again linked. The one who loves Jesus keeps his commandments. The call to remember and keep the commandments is a familiar aspect of Moses' farewell discourse (see Deut. 6:5; 10:12; 11:1-8, 13). Jesus likewise calls on his disciples to keep his commandments: most specifically, the disciple is to love as Jesus loved. The discourse will return to the topics of love and commandment in verse 21. The intervening verses introduce a new topic, the Paraclete or Spirit. As the reader will learn throughout the farewell discourse, the coming of the Paraclete plays a role in the believer's ability to remember and to keep the commandments of Jesus after his departure. One of the Paraclete's roles is to 'remind you of all that I have said to you' (v. 26). The first mention of the Paraclete is found within the context of Jesus' words about keeping his command to love.
Verse 16 is the first reference to the Advocate or Paraclete (Greek, parakletos) (see also 14:26; 15:26-27; 16:7b-11; 16:12-15). The Greek word has a wide range of meanings, which are reflected in its many English translations: 'Comforter,' 'Advocate,' 'Counselor,' 'Helper.'
The Spirit (Paraclete) plays a larger role in the teaching of Jesus in John than in any of the other Gospels. The Paraclete is key to Jesus' preparation of his disciples for their life after his return to God. The prominence of the Paraclete addresses a key set of theological questions: If Jesus as the incarnate Word brings a distinctive revelation of God to the community, what happens when the incarnation ends? Was the revelation of God in Jesus available only for those who had firsthand experience of the historical Jesus and his ministry? Is Jesus' revelation of God limited to one moment in history, or does it have a future beyond its particular historical moment?
The farewell discourse positions the Paraclete as the link between the historical ministry of Jesus and the future life of the church after Jesus' death. Two central roles of the Paraclete emerge from the five Paraclete passages (14:16-17; 14:26; 15:26-27; 16:7-11; 16:12-15) as ways of extending the revelation of God in Jesus into the future: the Paraclete as the ongoing presence of Jesus in the postresurrection community and the Paraclete as teacher and witness. As the ongoing presence of Jesus, the Paraclete abides with the disciples and is not even seen or known by the world (14:16-17). As teacher and witness, the Spirit continues to speak as Jesus has spoken and aids the disciples' interpretation of the events of Jesus' life (14:26; 15:26; 16:13-14).
Jesus and God send the Paraclete to the community as a whole. (Throughout the farewell discourse, Jesus' words are addressed to a 'you' plural.) The Spirit in John is not a private possession of an individual believer. It is a gift to all disciples, witnessing to the life of Jesus and continuing to speak his word. The Spirit testifies to Jesus in the midst of a world that is filled with hatred (15:18-27), providing encouragement to the community in the face of persecution. The love of God made known in the incarnation continues into the life of postresurrection communities through the gift of the Paraclete.
Yet it is not only the Paraclete who will abide in the disciples; John also declares, 'I am coming to you' (v. 18). Jesus promises his future presence with the believing community. This presence is once again characterized by life: 'Because I live, you also will live' (v. 19). In its context here, Jesus' present-tense statement, 'because I live,' refers to Jesus' current life. Sandwiched between the future statements, however, it reminds the reader of the resurrected life Jesus lives after his death. In John, there is no conflict between these two ways of understanding the words 'because I live.' Even before his death and resurrection, Jesus is 'the resurrection and the life' (11:25). The 'eternal life' Jesus offers believers is one that is like Jesus' own life, both as it is witnessed during his earthly life and in his life on the other side of resurrection. Both represent a life that triumphs over the power of death.”
John, O'Day, Gail R. and Hylen, Susan E.
Westminister John Knox Press (Apr 15 2006) pp. 146-49
LOGION 1
Yeshua said:
Whoever lives the interpretation of these words
will no longer taste death.
(CF. JOHN 5:24, 8:51-52; MATT 13;10-15.)
Hermeneutics, or the art of interpretation, implies something more
than exegesis, which often limits itself to reconstructing the
context of a scripture in order to explain its structure and meaning—
and forgets to look for deeper Meaning. It is like measuring the
structure and thickness of the shell and forgetting to taste the
almond inside it.
Hermeneutists[1] are thirsty for Meaning and are not as interested in
the color and form of the water jug as they are drinking at the
Source that is accessible through the words. To be a hermeneutist in
this sense means to live the interpretation of the logia of Yeshua.
It means to become One—if only for a moment—with that Meaning. This
moment of unity awakens in us the Presence of the Uncreated and the
taste of something beyond that which is composite and therefore
subject to decomposition—in other words, the taste of something
beyond death.
There are different ways of interpreting a piece of music. Players
sometimes do a disservice to the composer through their lack of
inspiration or by using a badly tuned instrument, for instance. But
the highest priority in the hermeneutical art is an awareness of the
spirit in which we are interpreting the word in question. Is this
spirit in harmony, in resonance, with the Life that breathes in the
text that we are trying to translate? Of course, we must also have a
good instrument, knowledge, and a cultivated intelligence and feeling
so as to perceive all the harmonies of this subtle text.
The greatest musicians are those who—after long practice—are able to
forget that they are interpreting. They become One with the
inspiration that moved the composer, and the music is played through
them as through an instrument.
Yeshua has become the interpreter who lives the meaning of Love and
Live through deeds as well as words. His exegesis was written not
only through his teaching, but also with his flesh, his blood, his
laughter, and his tears. Those who had eyes to see saw him the Living
One.
Jean-Yves Leloup, The Gospel of Thomas
Inner Traditions (2005) pp. 61-2
Book Description (Amazon.com)
Publication Date: February 16, 2005
A new translation and analysis of the gospel that records the actual words of Jesus
● Explores the gnostic significance of Jesus's teachings recorded in this gospel
● Explains the true nature of the new man whose coming Jesus envisioned
● Translated and interpreted by the author of the bestselling The Gospel of Mary Magdalene and The Gospel of Philip
One of the cache of codices and manuscripts discovered in Nag Hammadi, the Gospel of Thomas, unlike the canonical gospels, does not contain a narrative recording Christ's life and prophecies. Instead it is a collection of his teachings—what he actually said. These 114 logia, or sayings, were collected by Judas Didymus Thomas, whom some claim to be Jesus's closest disciple. No sooner was this gospel uncovered from the sands of Upper Egypt than scholars and theologians began to bury it anew in a host of conflicting interpretations and polemics. While some say it is a hodgepodge from the canonical gospels, for others it is the source text from which all the gospel writers drew their material and inspiration.
In this new translation of the Gospel of Thomas, Jean-Yves Leloup shows that the Jesus recorded by the "Infinitely skeptical and infinitely believing" Thomas has much in common with gnostics of non-dualistic schools. Like them, Jesus preaches the coming of a new man, the genesis of the man of knowledge. In this gospel, Jesus describes a journey from limited to unlimited consciousness. The Jesus of Thomas invites us to drink deeply from the well of knowledge that lies within, not so that we may become good Christians but so we may attain the self-knowledge that will make each of us, too, a Christ.
The Challenges of Jesus' Parables
"But while the authenticity of these parables can be critically defended, many believe it impossible to speak about Jesus' purpose in giving them. There are, however, a number of features in these parables that seem to reflect something of Jesus' own intent and what he wanted to teach his disciples about his ministry (and, derivatively, their ministries) and about the reign of God in people's lives and in the world.
First, it needs to be noted that implicit in both the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Leaven -- whether in all three Synoptic Gospels, as with the former, or only in Matthew and Luke, as with the latter -- are suggestions that the growth of the reign or "kingdom" of God takes place through the mysterious operation of divine power (whether represented as being in the seed itself or in the leaven) and that such divine power is already at work in Jesus' preaching. As Joseph Fitzmyer notes regarding the Parable of the Mustard Seed: "The parable implies the same divine operation of which Ezek 17:22-24 spoke explicitly, in connection, however, with a cedar (cf. Ezek 31:2-9)" (Luke 2:10-16).
Second, the wording of Matt: 13:32 and Luke 13:19 -- which, we may believe, represents more adequately the words of Jesus, being derived from Q -- that (1) the mustard seed becomes "a tree" (dendron), that (2) "the birds of heaven" found refuge in it, and that (3) they made "nests in its branches," suggests an "eschatological character" for the parable in its original setting. For, as Joachim Jeremias pointed out, (1) the metaphor of a mustard seed becoming a tree transcends "the bounds of actuality" (since no mustard seed ever becomes a tree), (2) the picture of birds nesting in a tree's branches was a rather common symbol in Second Temple Judaism for Gentiles seeking refuge with Israel (cf. Ezek 17:23; 31:6; Dan 4:12; 1 Enoch 90:30, 33, and 37), and (3) the verb "to nest" (kataskenoun) is probably to be taken as "an eschatological technical term for the incorporation of the Gentiles into the people of God" (cf. Parables, 147). (p.142) Also, the fact that in Matt 13:33b and Luke 13:21, which wording also stems from Q, the leaven is worked "into three measures of meal" (eis aleurou sata tria) is probably to be seen as reminiscent of Abraham's action in Gen 18:6, where the patriarch prepared an "overflowing mass" of bread for his three angelic guests at Mamre --- and so to suggest something of an eschatological banquet (cf. ibid.).
It may be postulated, therefore, that Jesus' intent in giving the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Leaven to his disciples was not only to assure his disciples that the kingdom of God would surely come, but also to reveal something of importance to them about his ministry, their ministries, and the nature of the reign or "kingdom" of God vis-a-vis their inherited understandings of ministry and the kingdom of God. In these two paired parables, therefore, it may be postulated that he wanted his disciples to be assured that the kingdom of God would certainly come, whatever might be thought about its beginnings in his or their ministries. But also, it seems, he wanted them to realize (1) that the kingdom would come about only through the mysterious operation of divine power, not by human authority, expertise, or ingenuity (using the metaphors of a mustard seed and leaven, which have power in themselves), (2) that it has to do with eschatological realities, not with mundane actualities (using the eschatological figures of a tree and a great amount of dough), and (3) that the eschatological kingdom has universal dimensions, and is not to be confined to the national interests of Israel (using the imagery of "the birds of heaven" making "nests" in the tree's branches). And these are matters that he wanted his disciples to know as he began his ministry with them.”
The Challenge of Jesus' Parables, edited by Richard N. Longenecker
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000, pp. 141-42
The Challenge of Jesus' parables
May 28, 2017
Yahoo forum post # 18421
Thanks Violet ........................... I was just telling Shruti that Shri Mataji declared in public what SYs dare not even discuss in private. So it is important that we get all Public Programs. We will realize what the Paraclete Shri Mataji truly did for decades - declaring the eschatological message of Jesus and God Almighty! We have irrefutable evidence that the Paraclete Shri Mataji completed that Eschatological message as was declared in the scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is truly a great blessing to now complete The Work.
....................... and there is actually more to do once we have all of Shri Mataji's speeches. So it is just not this downloading ...................... which is the easy part and the beginning. We will all collectively enjoy doing The Work. All of us will become the 'massive trees' that will become a 'refuge' for the 'birds' destined for the Kingdom of Heaven. We will begin nto truly understand the Message of the Paraclete Shri Mataji and Jesus. Without a shadow of a doubt, we all will here on this forum. Period! - jagbir
May 30, 2017
Yahoo forum post # 18657
"In His lifetime, which was so very short, whatever He has said, every word is great. But as I told you that this Paul tried to completely change, re-edit the Bible, and he's put lots of things in there. Whatever weaknesses he has, he has put them nicely.
Now recently I've got a book which was hidden in a jar in Egypt for about, till fifty years they discovered it, and this book is called as the Library of Hammadi. The place was called Hammadi were it was discovered, and what Christ has said, what Thomas has written. When Thomas was coming to India he put all these things there is very interesting.” *
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
Christmas Puja, Ganapatipule, India -- December 25, 1992
* I will try to bring into perspective as to The Work, and the dedication, intensity, and perseverance required to bring it to fruition in the near future of the flowers that are just beginning to bud. The above extract of the Paraclete Shri Mataji will be used as an example of a quote that I have held above all: To do the impossible you have to see the invisible. She will, from within, show you what was invisible in your quest to do the impossible task of bearing the burden of declaring Their Message! - jagbir
'The disciples said to Jesus, 'Tell us what Heaven's imperial rule is like.' 2He said to them, 'it's like a mustard seed. 3 the smallest of all seeds, 4but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large branch and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.'
This saying may be found in three versions: the Gospel of Mark (4.30'32), the Synoptic Sayings Source Q, (13.30'32), and here in the Gospel of Thomas. This version seems to be the earliest and least reworked of them (see Crossan 1973:45'49). It is a simple similitude encased in a simple narrative, although the simplicity of such forms of discourse does not mirror the sophistication of its mode of communication. The narrative presents the disciples' request for a comparison that would explain the Kingdom of God. Jesus responds to their request by comparing the Kingdom to a mustard seed and by developing the elements of the mustard seed that particularly demand attention for the comparison.
The simple narrative structure also points toward the way the similitude operates: understanding of the first element (here, the Kingdom of God) evolves from an analysis of a second (here, the mustard seed with its elaboration). The similitude creates meaning by conjoining these elements: it does not explicate or define the subject discursively, but rather depends upon a clear focus of energy and effect in the conjoining of elements. The energy of the comparison rests on the second element, on the comparative factor used to explain the primary subject.
The second element relates basic information about the mustard seed. It characterizes the mustard seed as a small seed that, when it lands in prepared soil, produces a large plant. This Characterization does not simply relate the relative size of the seed to the relative size of the branch, because the factor of the state of the soil intervenes. The tilled soil mediates the growth of the seed and enables it to grow to a large size. The productive mustard seed requires prepared soil in order to produce abundantly. The result of this combining of a small seed and the prepared soil is twofold: the mustard seed "produces a large branch" and that branch becomes "a shelter for birds". The first of these results follows naturally: a seed, falling into prepared soil, will produce well. The second, the shelter for the birds, functions at another level. The large branch produces this shelter as a by-product of its own growth because the shelter for the birds bears no direct relationship to the growth of a small seed into a large plant or the location of the seed in tilled soil. The shelter for the birds is an unrelated benefit of the seed's cultivation in worked soil. Such an unrelated benefit, however, pulls the emphasis in the comparison away from the seed, the soil, and the branch and places it more squarely on the peripheral benefit that becomes the essential element in the comparison. The point of the similitude rests with the phenomenon peripheral to its subject: the shelter for birds gives meaning to the seemingly mundane and natural process of a small seed falling on tilled ground and growing.
The comparison provides an explanation of the Kingdom of God. In its natural dimension (if I may call it that), the Kingdom is something small which, when placed in a properly prepared environment, produces rich and strong results. The Kingdom does not necessarily produce such results anywhere, but only in an environment suited to its growth and development. In a sense, this is an internal argument about the reign of God, because it seems to assure that growth and development-provided the environment has been properly prepared. There is also an external argument about the Kingdom. Others who are not naturally part of the production and growth of the Kingdom benefit from its development. Outsiders to the natural process of the Kingdom find shelter; one does not need to be part of the reign of God in order to benefit from its presence. The reign exists as well for peripheral shelter and for peripheral people. Just as the emphasis in the similitude shifts to the peripheral aspect in its culmination, so does the reign of God shift toward the benefit of those not naturally or normally a part of its growth and development.'
Richard Valantasis, The Gospel of Thomas
Routledge, 1997, pp. 90-91
June 1, 2017
Yahoo forum post # 18426
Note: We are now in the midst of collecting all talks of Shri Mataji so that they may be incorporated into The Work. This Work is the extraction and formulation of evidence that supports and explains the Gospel Message of the Resurrection and Kingdom of God. This quote of Shri Mataji will be used as an example:
"Now recently I've got a book which was hidden in a jar in Egypt for about, till fifty years they discovered it, and this book is called as the Library of Hammadi. The place was called Hammadi were it was discovered, and what Christ has said, what Thomas has written. When Thomas was coming to India he put all these things there is very interesting.”
There was a problem with Shri Mataji's explanation of Thomas - She mentioned that Thomas put the Logions into a jar, and then left to India where he preached for many years. She has explained the same on nearly 50 different occasions over the course of nearly four decades.
However, in the Christian world, that is not so. There are actually three versions of Thomas:
i) Thomas of the Gospels that most Christians identify and are familiar with.
ii) The Thomas who went to India, and not many Christians believe that.
ii) The Thomas who was responsible for the Gospel of Thomas found in a jar in Egypt, and very few Christians believe so.
But Shri Mataji talks of all three Thomas as one and only. In other words, She is declaring a fact that no Christian believes. Even authors and advocates of the Gospel of Thomas have never linked the three Thomas' as one and the same.
And I now had evidence that Shri Mataji talked about Thomas on nearly fifty different public programs or pujas. I stopped working on Logion 20. How could Shri Mataji talk about Thomas so casually (i - iii)? Logion 20 was put on hold as I was really confused and discouraged by Her remarks. I did say loudly to myself something to this effect: "How can I continue working on the Gospel of Thomas now?”
Shri Mataji's take on Thomas for 50 times was way too many. I have been doing the Gospel of Thomas for nearly five years and never came across similar information. It is as if Christian authors, divided and skeptical as they are, dare not say the same lest they poke a hornet's nest.
It was then I remembered the "doubting Thomas" and "Thomas the Twin" and cross-examined all there Thomas' of i.-iii. It became evident that Shri Mataji was correct, and that there was only one Thomas.
i have solved some really difficult doubts that clashed or contradicted the status quo, especially the Bible and Quran. One way or another the evidence comes, evidence that upholds Shri Mataji's version. So has Her version of Thomas, the disciple of Jesus who, after the death of Jesus, hid 114 sayings in a jar in Egypt, and then left for India.
regards,
jagbir
"Thomas the Apostle (called Didymus which means "the twin" or Mar Thoma in Syriac) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, according to the New Testament. He is informally called doubting Thomas because he doubted Jesus' resurrection when first told (in the Gospel of John account only), followed later by his confession of faith, "My Lord and my God", on seeing Jesus' wounded body.
Although there is no evidence, the Christians in India claims that Thomas travelled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, travelling as far as Tamilakam which are the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in present-day India.[2][4][5][6] According to tradition, the Apostle reached Muziris, (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor in the state of Kerala, India) in AD 52 and baptized several people, founding what today are known as Saint Thomas Christians or MarThoma Nazranis. After his death, the reputed relics of Saint Thomas the Apostle were enshrined as far as Mesopotamia in the 3rd century, and later moved to various places.[7] In 1258, some of the relics were brought to Abruzzo in Ortona, Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle.[8] He is often regarded as the Patron Saint of India,[9][10] and the name Thoma remains quite popular among Saint Thomas Christians of India.”
Wikipedia (Extracted 2017-06-01)
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS
Translations by: Thomas O. Lambdin (Coptic version)
B.P Grenfell & A.S. Hunt (Greek Fragments)
Bentley Layton (Greek
) Commentary by: Craig Schenk
I: Commentary
The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of traditional Sayings (logoi) of Jesus. It is attributed to Didymos Judas Thomas, the "Doubting Thomas" of the canonical Gospels, and according to many early traditions, the twin brother of Jesus ("didymos" means "twin" in Greek).
We have two versions of the Gospel of Thomas today. The first was discovered in the late 1800's among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, and consists of fragments of a Greek version, which has been dated to c. 200. The second is a complete version, in Coptic, from Codex II of the Nag Hammadi finds. Thomas was probably first written in Greek (or possibly even Syriac or Aramaic) sometime between the mid 1st and 2nd centuries.
There has been much speculation on the relationship of Thomas to the canonical Gospels. Many Sayings in Thomas have parallels with the New Testament Sayings, especially those found in the synoptic Gospels. This leads many to believe that Thomas was also based on the so-called "Q" Document, along with Matthew, Luke, and Mark. Indeed, some have speculated that Thomas may in fact be "Q". Unlike the synoptic Gospels, and like "Q", the Gospel of Thomas has no narrative connecting the various Sayings. In form, it is simply a list of 114 Sayings, in no particular order. Comparison with New Testament parallels show that Thomas contains either more primitive versions of the Sayings, or developments of more primitive versions. Either way, Thomas seems to preserve earlier traditions about Jesus than the New Testament.'
http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/thomas.htm
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi was
Christian by birth, Hindu by
marriage, and Paraclete by duty.
"The Paraclete represents direct,
intimate divine intervention,
supporting and teaching
believers and challenging the
world, as Jesus did.” (D. Stevick
Jesus and His Own, 2011, 290)
I mean I am a woman alright and I'm proud of it. Like the Mother Earth has to bear everything. She's the only one who can bear it. The Sun can give light, alright, but it can't bear anything. It cannot nourish the way the mother does it. Is a very important role. To cancel women is something I can't understand because they are the ones who are for the upbringing of the children. You'll hear a lot of about it, when you listen to my tapes because there are many tapes on this subject. Is absurd, I can't understand this kind of thing.
At the time when Christ was crucified what did he say? 'Behold The Mother' Despite all kinds of cancellations there are some truths still left in, in the Holy Bible. And one of them is 'Behold the Mother'. He didn't say 'Behold The Father'. Why didn't he say that?
And my father, who was a great realized soul and a great scholar he told me that even Martin Luther felt that it would not be opportune to talk about the Mother because the primordial mother, because the Muslims may not accept that kind of a thing but he said, he must have felt that it will be one day exposed so it's better not to talk about it just for the time being to get the Muslims more towards the Christianity.
I know you have a big problem of ordination and all that going on here.(Shri Mataji laughs) That's why then you have these liberation of women as a reaction, this that. Is all a unnatural, very unnatural. They're all complimentary to each other.
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
Public Program Day 1, Camberwell Civic Centre, Melbourne, Australia
.jpg)
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi was
Christian by birth, Hindu by
marriage, and Paraclete by duty.
"The Paraclete represents direct,
intimate divine intervention,
supporting and teaching
believers and challenging the
world, as Jesus did.” (D. Stevick
Jesus and His Own, 2011, 290)
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
To Achieve Complete Freedom, Cabella, Italy—May 7, 1995
"Birth, play, marriage, children, old age — life is finished. That is not living! Life is much deeper and more wonderful... When you know God there is no more sorrow.
All those you loved and lost in death are with you again in Eternal Life. The souls of those loved ones who departed before will come to welcome: fathers, mothers, wives, children, friends. Hundreds and thousands and millions of them! From hundreds and thousands and millions of past lives and rebirths! From hundreds and thousands and millions of millenniums ago! How many wives we must have had in previous lives and how many husbands God alone knows.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
London, U.K.—June 21, 1981
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