The "Scholars' Translation" of the Gospel of Thomas

by Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer

Commented by: msh

Why comment the Gospel of Thomas? Why not.
Because it is not a sanctioned Gospel? Who is the sanctioning authority?
Because it is Heresy? Who is so threatened by this that they would label it so.

An openness to the truth, no matter what the consequences, no matter where it leads me and when I don't even know where it's going to lead me. That's faith. Not belief, but faith. Ones beliefs give one a lot of security, but faith is insecurity. When you're ready to follow be open, be wide open! Then you're ready to listen. And mind you, being open does not mean being gullible, it doesn't mean swallowing whatever is being said (as gospel). Oh no. One has to challenge everything that is said. But challenge it from an attitude of openness, not an attitude of stubbornness. And challenge it all!

The truth and words are unrelated. The truth can be compared to the moon. And words can be compared to a finger. I can use my finger to point out the moon, but my finger is not the moon, and you don't need my finger to see the moon, do you?

Language is merely a tool for pointing out the truth, a means to help us attain enlightenment. (or) Language is like a finger that points out the truth, but most people see only the finger, instead of looking deep into the direction the finger is pointing. To mistake words for the truth is almost as ridiculous as mistaking a finger for the moon.

These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded.

1 And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."

2 Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]"

One should never stop seeking the truth. When it is found more often then not, the truth disturbs us revealing the false hoods in us, and once we accept its truth we marvel, for often it was before us in plain sight all along, or we marvel that others do not see the obvious. I wish not to reign over all. I would be happy to simply reign over myself, which one might say is reigning over the all, which is self. And to thus reign at last over self, would I not but experience a rest from a lifetime of frantic searching for meaning.

3 Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) 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 within you and it is outside you.

Never let one convince you that Heaven is somewhere you are not, in the unattainable sky, or the darkness of the depths, or in a place or another person. God is a totality, within you, and others and the world and worlds, and in the very fabric of the universe no place can you look where he is not. (You are a part of Heaven if you will but look.) Yes clothed in this shell of dust, filled with its imperfections.

When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty."

No greater task is there then self-knowledge. To know the good and the bad in us, our light and our dark, that part of self we cling to and that part of self we reject (yet which is still a part of us). To know ones self and accept that which we are, wherein we act authentically as that which is truly in us (and thereby show forth all that we are, that others may truly know us). We are a part of the divine, a part of the breath and spark of the divine and thus children of the totality, which is God. In not recognizing this in us then we live in poverty (the poverty of our false limitations). In truth to not know denies ourselves and others the riches within us (we then indeed are the poverty).

4 Jesus said, "The person old in days won't hesitate to ask a little child seven days old about the place of life, and that person will live.

To seek understanding from innocence, that we like a child but seven days old, are as dependent upon the source of life and the place of life which is God. And though now old within this existence in our own understanding, we are still but children, and to think that the source of life has moved far from us is but an illusion caused by our own blindness. The source and the place of life is constant.

For many of the first will be last, and will become a single one."

For all things return joyfully to there beginnings, and some of the first creations will be not the first to become one with the totality but will be last, which is their beginning, and in time even they will become one in the unity which is our beginning and completion.

5 Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried that will not be raised."]

All too often we blind ourselves to that which is before our face, in an act of self-denial of who and what we are. To hide from that, which we are, and often of that which is in others, not wanting to believe they are not perfect and risk loosing them, (or by offending their illusions or in fear we do not have enough love, to help them see what they could be.) Yet in the end we cannot hide from self nor can others hide what is in them. (Jung: even that which we unconsciously deny and hide will not remain so, for eventually it will rise from our subconscious to express itself.)

6 His disciples asked him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?"

His very act of not answering these questions answers them. Why do you fast unless to gain the favor of the divine at the cost of self. (Yet it has never been denied you). Why do you pray if not to ask for that which you desire, God knows our needs, (yet if you realized the truth, your life would in itself be a continuous prayer of praise and not one of requests). Again to give to charity is too often the seeking favor and all to often to gain the favorable opinion and praise of others, or to pay others to do that which you yourself should do. The true charity is the gift of self. "There is no gift harder or easier to give, then self." To be as a gift to others, helping them to see the greatness hidden within them. To eat when you are hungry, to drink when thirsty, to never turn away another's offer/gift to feed you with that which they have (this is their charity their love), to care for this shell of dust, for it will return to that from which it is made. Never deny yourself the things you need and enjoy the gifts you receive. Yet keep in mind others, for sharing a gift increases it, to appreciate the things this life offers, to taste and appreciate the spark of the divine even in that which we eat and thus free its spark. (Then even eating becomes an act of worship and praise.) To give thanks for the gift life makes of itself that we might live.

Jesus said, "Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed."

These are more important! Do not lie, to others or self, for in doing so you deny them and self. Don't do that which you hate. This one can be viewed in several ways, Why do that which you would be ashamed to do before others? Why do that which you feel truly in your heart is wrong, simply to feel you belong? Nothing in the heart remains hidden, that will not be either revealed or shown. (Note: Yielding to another out of love is not doing what you hate. This is a gift of the heart and self.) I refer rather to the false expression of love meant to simply pacify someone we don't want to lose. (Someone we are either dependent on, or seek to curry favor with). It was once said, "Ones love for another should exceed ones need for another." Also why work at that which you hate, that which you hate to do? That which you love to do is normally out of love and uses all of one's skills and gifts. All to often we continue to do that which brings no fulfillment out of fear of change, loss of position, perceived power and prestige, and this brings only emptiness and kills the soul. (Which is also revealed in time.) Ones true power, position and prestige should be in the hearts we have touched (that is where our throne of self worth should be), even if others never acknowledge this to us directly. We may try to hide some things by seeming altruistic acts, but in the end the truth in ones heart is revealed.

7 Jesus said, "Lucky is the lion that the human will eat, so that the lion becomes human. And foul is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion still will become human."

I take this as a parable and as such this is what he meant. Sometimes we (people) are the beast the lion. Lucky is the beast of and individual that is eaten by those (who are human who act in love) (having their anger and fear consumed by love that they become human). And foul is the human that lets the acts of a beast consume the love within them. For the irony is that eventually the beast that consumes ones love, will meet one who will not let their love be consumed, and the beast will instead will be then consumed by love and still become human.

8 And he said, The person is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!

Again a parable, we constantly cast about us seeking that which will give meaning and purpose to our lives. And like the fisherman in this parable, many are the distractions and vain self-pursuits this world will bring us as a result (the small fish). These satisfy us for the moment but in the end leave us empty. But if we are conscious to what is before us (wise) will it not be easy to pick the larger truth and knowledge and love that is there and discard the tiny vain distractions and pursuits of this world. You have to be attentive you have to want to hear what is here you have to be conscious and listen with care!

9 Jesus said, Look, the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered (them). Some fell on the road, and the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on rock, and they didn't take root in the soil and didn't produce heads of grain. Others fell on thorns, and they choked the seeds and worms ate them. And others fell on good soil, and it produced a good crop: it yielded sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure.

Jesus was the sower for them, for us the sower is the individual that comes in love to wake us to know and understand who and what we are. The seed is knowledge and truth of who we are and love.

Many times the knowledge and truth of who we are and love are given and we consume it blindly never giving it conscious thought that it might take root and it passes as if it had never been given. (It is as if the birds had come and gathered the seed.)

Other times the knowledge and truth of who we are and love are given and we in the stone like hardness of our hearts see it hear it but never let it penetrate. (We in our blindness and anger do not let it take root.)

And at times the knowledge and truth of who we are and love are given and we at first hear it and start to let take root in us. Yet we let the problems (thorns) of this world choke its message, or we let the distractions (worms) of the world eat what had started to take root.

But finally when we are conscious, when the hardness of our heart is broken, when we don't let the problems or distractions of the world choke or consume us. The knowledge and truth of who we are and love are given, and we grow in knowledge, truth and love, and in its sharing these always produce more, sixty times and one hundred twenty times what we put in to it.

10 Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and look, I'm guarding it until it blazes."

Truth is the fire. And he guarded the truth until it became a blaze, (a blaze is a fire so hot that it is hard to get close to that it might be extinguished. And like a blaze in time its initial fury finally appears to burn out, yet hot spots are left that can smolder for weeks, and await only the disturbance of the ash to blaze up again.) The truth is the truth of who and what we are, of the hidden greatness there is within, that we are more then limitation and flesh. He guarded the truth until it might catch that the truth should blaze and become a light to illuminate the darkness, to draw others and provide a beacon. And like a fire the truth should consume us.

11 Jesus said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away.

The heaven of this earth is not intended for forever, nor the universe of stars we see above, they were never were intended for eternity, (I laugh, though I am sure to us the end of worlds and stars feels like an eternity, but the stuff of which we are made first came into being in the heart of a star.) (If you doubt me I could get technical, and talk of nuclear synthesis, and point out that to create atoms heavier then iron a star must nova.) The world is a living thing and alive, just so the sun, and worlds and stars are born, mature and die, and give their substance to create new worlds new stars and us.

The dead are not alive, and the living will not die.

Those who are dead to what they are, are not alive. They may move through life but to what end they are not conscious? Those that are conscious know and are alive to what they are and can be, of the infinite potential they represent, what they do will never die, they will always live.

(1) Through those they have touched in truth, knowledge and love.
(2) And because the human soul & spirit are not flesh and will never end, and they will not lose what they have become. Because they are now conscious and now living, and will not again fall into sleep and forgetfulness of who and what they are and where they are going.

Another point is that all things change, energy to matter, matter to energy that empty space is filled with energy (a plasma of virtual particles, and that one cubic centimeter of space represents 10 times 10 to the 127th, joules of energy) this is something to which I will say do you understand the significance of this? Do you hear do you understand what I have just said with this? I can find nothing that truly ceases to exist, I can not find that which does not on some level exhibit the spark of the divine.

During the days when you ate what is dead, you made it come alive.

To eat or consume dead thoughts or words (head knowledge) to have it take fire and live in one (heart as experiential, living knowledge). To bring that which was dead to life, knowledge.

When you are in the light, what will you do?
What will one do in and with the light of living knowledge? What will you do with that knowledge? How will you let it effect your world? (Will you hide it? Will you share? Yours is the responsibility of choice.)

On the day when you were one, you became two.

To understand what we truly are, to understanding and know ourselves we become one and acknowledge all that we are, good and bad, light and dark, and realize they are necessary parts of each other. In that day of realization, we become two, more then perishable flesh, we realize we are also imperishable a spark of the divine light and a part of the divine.

But when you become two, what will you do?"

How will it affect your life, to work for not just this perishable moment of the physical life of the flesh, but with eternity in mind?

12 The disciples said to Jesus, "We know that you are going to leave us. Who will be our leader?"

This was a question that could cause division among the disciples, yet this is what I understand.

Jesus said to them, "No matter where you are you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being."

To lead one must follow; to serve others is to truly lead. That ones example of service and love should be a light and its light will lead truly. For heaven and earth comes into true existence (being) for those who serve others with their heart. By serving others before self, we provide real leadership. (I have found that in serving others I come to serve myself in a ways grander then I could have imagined.)

13 Jesus said to his disciples "Compare me to something and tell me what I am like."

Do you see who I truly am? If so tell me what you see in me, what you have comprehended and understood?

Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a just messenger." A prophet.
Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher."
Thomas said to him, "Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say what you are like." I have no measure or semantics (symbols) to compare you against and thus I am unable to say or describe all I have understood.

Jesus said, "I am not your teacher. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring that I have tended." He then said to Thomas I am no longer your teacher, you drank deeply what I taught, and have become intoxicated by the wonder of the truth I taught. "Education is the kindling of a flame not the filling of vessel." Once the flame is kindled one is no longer a student. One should become intoxicated by the wonder the truth.

And he took him, and withdrew, and spoke three sayings to him. When Thomas came back to his friends they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?" Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the sayings he spoke to me, you will pick up rocks and stone me, and fire will come from the rocks and devour you."

As this was to me alone, If I tell you, you will become offended, and I will be wounded by you for you will not understand it, and the fire will come from this that wounds me and it will consume you (it will hurt you). (In the vernacular of the time he was saying do not ask you will not understand and we will both you and I come to grief.) There are some things meant only for the understanding of a single individual.

Example: I can in no way explain how the color red I see is not the color red you see. For it is more then just a color its contains all those associations I have come to apply to it and it would take a life time to explain the associations that have arisen in my life.

14 Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves, and if you pray, you will be condemned, and if you give to charity, you will harm your spirits. For you will injure the body, which houses your spirit. (Rather care for the body, and praise God).

I think he refers to ritualized prayer, which does not come from the heart and is all to often is only, a form, an act of piety and in repetition it becomes empty words and only a display for others, and a display of our vanity. Again to give to charity is to often the seeking favor and all to often to gain the favorable opinion and praise of others, or to pay others to do that which you yourself should do.

When you go into any region and walk about in the countryside, when people take you in, eat what they serve you and heal the sick among them.
Accept that which is given, accept others hospitality, accept what they have to offer, (never seek payment). And act in true charity help them heal the wounds this life has given (love will heal many a wound that can not be seen).
Raise the dead (those that are dead to themselves and the truth). Heal the sickness they experience and suffer, which is their separation from God. (Note: I in no way deny the divine healing that one can give to another, the touch of compassion can heal many.)

After all, what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, it's what comes out of your mouth that will defile you."

Only that which comes from us can cause defilement. They were admonished this because they were taught a strict observance of what was considered clean and unclean. They and we must remember that all that is in the world has its spark of the divine. And only the darkness in us given vent to the injury of the world around us defiles us.

15 Jesus said, "When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your faces and worship. That one is your Father."

Jesus was born of Mary, I do not know what my eyes would see should God stand before me, but I doubt not, my heart and spirit would know. For God the father was not born of women. (And it is strange that we assign gender to God who exhibits all that we consider male and female, for life forth comes from the totality which is God.

16 Jesus said, "Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the world. They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war.

That which he taught does divide us, the truth has always been a place of conflict. And many will fight to stay asleep, to hold their false hood for it comforts them. No bloodier conflicts have been waged than those done against others who thought or believed differently or taught that which conflicted with others views, committed by those who are threatened by an idea a belief or the truth. Atrocities have been committed against many, labeled heretics. (he was not saying he condoned this, but he knew the truth would be resisted.)

For there will be five in a house: there'll be three against two and two against three, father against son and son against father, and they will stand alone.

And he knew that even those we love, even family, would have conflict over the truth, and we must stand alone in our understanding, that to blindly accept something as true simply because it had been taught, is not enough. (But don't let this discourage, for the heart and spirit know the truth when it is spoken, but we must listen to our heart and spirit.)

17 Jesus said, "I will give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched, what has not arisen in the human heart."

The miracles done and seen, these words he spoke, these thoughts so beyond my human heart. (And I am humbled for what I here understand is beyond me, I who write this, I am of no consequence.)

Here I must only conjecture, for what heaven has in store, I can not conceive of. (Yet I know I have seen in my mind the working of the atom, which the eye has not seen. I have heard sounds that our technology has made possible, which the human ear is not capable of hearing. That I have touch at times things and concepts and worlds of the mind which others have not thought to touch. As for my heart, it is all to human, and filled with all the cares to which my humanity predisposes me, yet I seek that which goes beyond the capability of my heart, to grasp.)

18 The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us, how will our end come?" Jesus said, "Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is.

He must have laughed and shaken his head at this question. Why look for an end? When one does not yet know the beginning. For the beginning is the totality which is God. And the end will be at the beginning which again is the totality which is God.

Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death."

In truth is not the journey and the destination one in the same. With heart & soul so open, to experience the myriad of lessons and destinations along the way. And eventually in the fullness of time to return to the beginning and know it for what it is, and yet know it in a new way, and see its possibilities that were hidden before. And to start the journey once again in awe and wonder, joy and pain, new paths and false starts.

19 Jesus said, "Congratulations to the one who came into being before coming into being. If you become my disciples and pay attention to my sayings, these stones will serve you. For there are five trees in Paradise for you; they do not change, summer or winter, and their leaves do not fall. Whoever knows them will not taste death."

A tree is something that grows and yet these trees do not change with the seasons, who can understand this riddle? Truth? Self knowledge? Love? Wisdom? Life (true life)? I can only conjecture.

20 The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what Heaven's kingdom is like." He said to them, It's like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.

That Heaven is a thing so small at first like a tiny seed. The knowledge of our separation and our heritage and love, and yet with that knowledge in the prepared soil of the heart, we grow not unlike a tree. To in time become the fullness that is in us, that in time we become a shelter for thoughts and love, and that like birds these thoughts and love range far and wide knowing no bounds (the sky has no limits) and they will carry that seed to others.

21 Mary said to Jesus, "What are your disciples like?" He said, They are like little children living in a field that is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, "Give us back our field." They take off their clothes in front of them in order to give it back to them, and they return their field to them.

They (the disciples) are like little children, living in a field (which is the world) that is not theirs (which is not their true home). When the owners of the field come (the powers and rulers of this world). They (the owners of this world) will say, "Give us back our field." And they (the disciples will) take off their clothes in front of them (without shame they will take off this shell of dust) in order to give it back to them (the powers of this world).

(They the disciples will willingly do this because this world does not own them), and they will return the field to them (they will give the world back to its rulers for they do not want it). Are we not like little children, we live in this world, which is not our home? And when the owners of this world come and ask for this world back. I will gladly take off the shell of dust I am clothed in, for I have better and will return it to them.

For this reason I say, if the owners of a house know that a thief is coming, they will be on guard before the thief arrives and will not let the thief break into their house (their domain) and steal their possessions.

There are two ways to read this:
One - That if the owner of the house (the powers of this world had known), they would have been on guard and not have let Jesus come and bring the truth and there by free us from bondage (i.e. stealing us from our jailers). For we were slaves to this world and considered chattel (property) by the powers of this world.
Two - that the owner of the house which is ourselves if we will be on guard, we can prevent the world from stealing our freedoms our possessions and enslaving ourselves to this world. And we can rather keep our treasures in the keeping of Heaven where none can break in and steal.

In the above they (the disciples) can return this world because it does not own them that the possessions of true worth are not to be found here in this world. May it also be the same with us.

As for you, then, be on guard against the world. Prepare yourselves with great strength, so the robbers can't find a way to get to you, for the trouble you expect will come.

Don't let this world with its trials, cares and distractions come and steal the truth and love from you, the trouble you expect will come. We must be so firmly grounded in truth and love that its strength will hold us when trials come and our trials and suffering come from our separation from God.

Let there be among you a person who understands.

He asks please let someone understand.

When the crop ripened, he came quickly carrying a sickle and harvested it. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!

I do not clearly understand this, the first question is who he is? If it is the power of this world then the implication is we are the crop that is harvested, that when we have been so blinded by the world we become its (the ruler of this worlds) possession that is when our spiritual death (the sickle) occurs. You have to be attentive you have to want to hear what is here you have to be conscious and listen with care!

22 Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, "These nursing babies are like those who enter the kingdom." They said to him, "Then shall we enter the kingdom as babies?"

No rather they are yet innocent of the world, that the world has no hold on these, for they have not yet been seduced or lured by the world into bondage. And when we enter the kingdom, come to the knowledge of our true heritage and become free, we become innocent of the world and its lures. And we are also in the care of the Divine.

Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom]."

When you come into acceptance of all that is in you. To know the good and the bad in you, your light and your dark, that part of self you cling to and that part of self you reject (yet which is still a part of you). To know ones self and accept that which we are, wherein we act authentically to make the two one. And in acting authentically to make the inner thought and outer action agree. To neither exalt the light or the dark so these items are neither upper nor lower. To realize that your spirit is neither male nor female.

That you exalt no part or your physical nature: that the eye be an eye and not the ruler of the body and see that which it desires and lead you to sin. that the hand be a hand and not the ruler of the body that it should seek to hold (possess) that which is not yours and lead you to sin. That the foot should be a foot and not carry you on a path to trouble and sin. When you become an image of the son and become a image for others, then you will enter the kingdom.

This is not the impossibility it sounds and is oh so easy to do, I will explain later.

Please understand when I say you must come to accept all that is light and dark in yourself. There is so much in you (the normal person that we normally do not accept in themselves). We in our rejection label these parts of self as bad and dark, we almost violently reject our attempt to integrate these aspects of self, yet in many instances we accept these same characteristics in others. Yet if you could but see these aspects of self they are not malign but rather represent a completion of self. (I never refer to one accepting evil yet often in the very rejection of aspects of self we turn them into something very self destructive and malign and they become for us and others evil.)

23 Jesus said, "I shall choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand, and they will stand as a single one."

He chose them to stand as one in the truth, to stand as one two can do as much as four, to stand as one three are as a strong as nine.

24 His disciples said, "Show us the place where you are, for we must seek it."

They asked this question because they could tell he was not seeing the world as they were, and they desired to see and experience life as he did.

He said to them, "Anyone here with two ears had better listen! There is light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is dark."

You have to be attentive you have to want to hear what is here you have to be conscious and listen with care! Ones actions are either a light to others or darkness, full of self or others. If love is in one it will shine forth, ones actions will always tell the truth that is in one.

25 Jesus said, "Love your friends like your own soul, protect them like the pupil of your eye."

Many will walk in and out of our lives, only a true friend will leave evidence they have been there in ones heart. And a true friend is a rarity and to be cherished, they help us to truly see ourselves, for they will see your faults and still like the view, and like the sight of our eyes we should protect them for they provide us the ability to see ourselves.

26 Jesus said, "You see the sliver in your friend's eye, but you don't see the timber in your own eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye, then you will see well enough to remove the sliver from your friend's eye."

We see many times clearly the tiny flaws and faults in our friends, we rarely admit or see our own major faults; we tend to blind ourselves to our own faults. If we open our eyes to see what is in us, so we are aware of our own flaws, then we may have a hope of seeing clearly enough to help another see himself. (I am not to the point that I will trust myself to see the flaws well enough in others, as I'm still working on my own.) And sometimes the tiny flaws we see in others is really a reflection of a flaw in ourselves.

"When you go pointing out other people's mistakes, the real error may very well be hidden in your own misconceptions.", Tsai Chih Chung.

"When pointing out other people's faults, we often forget that we may be guilty of the same mistake."

27 "If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath you will not see the Father."

One must set aside time within ones life to draw away from the world and its concerns, if we don't do this we will never find the truth of ourselves. A Sabbath is, a day of rest and worship, a time to rest from the world and to consider in ones heart the source and gifts of life, the totality, which is God. Through this we come to understand God and ourselves and by doing so we prepare ourselves and our hearts to see God.

28 Jesus said, "I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty.

Drunk with the illusions of the world, with the pursuit of wealth, the pursuit of power, the pursuit of ego, the pursuit of the gratification of the flesh. He did not find them thirsty for the truth thinking they knew the truth.

My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see, for they came into the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty.
To be blind to the truth, to come into the world empty and seeking to fill the emptiness with the above illusions of the world which never fill one.

But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will change their ways."
He refers to humanity's need to become conscious, to awake, that the world will only leave one empty. At some time we as humanity must grow up. We need to experience a leap in consciousness.

29 Jesus said, "If the flesh came into being because of spirit, that is a marvel, but if spirit came into being because of the body, that is a marvel of marvels.
If the physical self came into existence because of spirit that is a marvel. (In truth it is a marvel because the spirit of the totality that is God is the source of our existence.)

He says if spirit should arise spontaneously from physical flesh then that would be a marvel of marvels (He indicates this is not very likely that spirit should so arise outside of its being imparted by the totality which is God.)

Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has come to dwell in this poverty."
Yet I marvel how this great wealth of the divine spirit should dwell in the poverty and limitation of the flesh, or more that it should so dwell in flesh and yet not perceive its source and true nature and wealth we each represent.

I was once told that we are the Pearl of great price

30 Jesus said, "Where there are three deities, they are divine. Where there are two or one, I am with that one."

That the nature of the divine is of three complementary components. We might say the aspect of the masculine source & feminine spirit and its resultant combined active aspect we call son. We might say the aspect of creative source & active generative principle and again a combined aspect embodying both. He said where there are the two or their combined aspect, I am with that one, with the two thus completing the one, or as the final completing part of the combined two in the aspect of one. (All things return to their source and in the returning the source is complete, to become one with the unity which is the beginning and the completion).

We are in evidence of this split aspect of self, the unconscious source of self, the conscious aspect of self or ego, and the resultant personality we represent. Yet we are far from the completion of self as we strive to combine these aspects of ones complete self, in a small way we should seek to complete self.

31 Jesus said, "No prophet is welcome on his home turf; doctors don't cure those who know them."

Those we grow up with and live with in the youth will always have the hardest time to accept a change in our consciousness, for they will have to see beyond the memories of the past. And would we not represent a completion and be a thorn pointing out to those closest to us what they could be or could have been and thus represent an injury to their pride and self-image.

It will always be hard for a brother or sister to accept that a brother or sister has grown beyond him or her, or for a parent to accept that a child could do so, or an uncle to accept that a nephew or niece should do so. (I'm not saying this right) We deal with self-importance and wounded pride.

32 Jesus said, "A city built on a high hill and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden."

Just as the city, the truth cannot fall, though it may be attacked as falsehood, and like a city on a hill, the truth cannot be hidden despite the efforts of many. For its absence will always be felt. (People given only falsehood will always know deep in their hearts there is something missing, something higher and better.) Yet they must be awake and desire the truth. And even if they are not, on some unconscious level they know falsehood is not truth.

33 Jesus said, "What you will hear in your ear, in the other ear

(the other ear is the ear of others)

proclaim from your rooftops.

The truth one hears, should be passed on to the ears of others, and the joy of the truth is such one should shout it from high places to reach any many as one can.

After all, no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, nor does one put it in a hidden place. Rather, one puts it on a lamp stand so that all who come and go will see its light."

Just as the light of a lamp was never meant to be hidden, but placed where its light gives the most illumination to those around, so the truth was never meant for hiding.

We are not limitation! We are possibility.

34 Jesus said, "If a blind person leads a bind person, both of them will fall into a hole."

If you are blind to the truth then you can not lead others to truth, you can only lead them to the limits of your knowledge of the truth. And all to often the truth is such that it attacks ones pride and self-importance and in avoiding its light be make a trap and hole into which we fall. And we can lead others into this same hole and trap.

35 Jesus said, "One can't enter a strong person's house and take it by force without tying his hands. Then one can loot his house."

I want to look at this verse differently, I not sure why? That we cannot break into a strong persons house. The house here in reference is the house of self we build its walls to hide behind and protect self. We armor and arm ourselves to resist anything that would rob us of self-importance and pride. And for all the force of logic and reason, or threat we will resist all that would threaten these. Yet these are the very things we should give up. That we can only tie the hands of another (and this can only be done through love which brings acceptance and trust that can thus break down the walls and remove the weapons and defenses of self). To loot some one of their self-importance and pride can only be done with love. And in doing it we free the other of that which chains and blinds, to the acceptance of themselves by our acceptance of them. The love that does this can not be resisted.

36 Jesus said, "Do not fret, from morning to evening and from evening to morning, [about your food--what you're going to eat, or about your clothing--] what you are going to wear.

We do fret all too often in an unending fashion about our needs, or our perceived needs about what we are to eat, what to ware, self conscious of not looking affluent of not being in the in crowd or keeping up with the Jones. In doing so we all too often eat more then we need, we spend our self in pursuit of things, and we waste so much.

[You're much better than the lilies, which neither card nor spin.

Nor do they waste themselves in self-pride, they are what their nature intended of them and clothed appropriately.

As for you, when you have no garment, what will you put on?

When you come to put off the garment of flesh what will you put on?

Who might add to your stature? That very one will give you your garment.]"

Are you being all that your true nature should be? I stated one time before the throne of our self worth should be in the hearts of others. That is where our stature is. Some one once said, "The only applause we should seek is that of nail scared hands." And I will add and the pride of a father is in his child being all they could be. These should be the challenge and goal we should strive for. (They will not be easy, yet they are easier then we want to believe).

37 His disciples said, "When will you appear to us, and when will we see you?" Jesus said, "When you strip without being ashamed, and you take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample them, then [you] will see the son of the living one and you will not be afraid."

When we can strip ourselves of our masks and pretenses, when we can bear ourselves to others without shame, or fear that others will see who we are. When we can realize that there is nothing in us that is not to be found as part of others. When we can put all those things that hide us from others beneath our feet then we will be known and know the wonder of the divine in others. And there will be no longer a room for fear in us.

38 Jesus said, "Often you have desired to hear these sayings that I am speaking to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them. There will be days when you will seek me and you will not find me."

When you find one who can say the things that need to be said in truth, the things you have desired to hear pause and take time to listen. Hear the truth though it may come from an unexpected source. It will not happen often. There will be days when you will seek someone to say and speak the truth and there will be no one available then.

39 Jesus said, "The Pharisees and the scholars have taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them.

They taught, but what did they teach, to fill others with thoughts, did they teach how to think? Did they teach head knowledge or did they teach that which spoke to the heart and spirit? Did they hide the truth because they could not endure it?

They have not entered nor have they allowed those who want to enter to do so.

It so easy to not enter where truth can be found, it is also so easy to kill the truth in the young, in those who seek knowledge by saying simply its not proper or by calling something a heresy.

As for you, be as sly as snakes and as simple as doves."

One must be wise, and yet also speak simply, to see the truth behind words, yet to never judge the truth experienced by another lightly. How much we lose because we do not hear what others say because we are so filled with our own thoughts and self-importance.

40 Jesus said, "A grapevine has been planted apart from the Father. Since it is not strong, it will be pulled up by its root and will perish."

Things taught as truth contrary to divine truth may grow for a time. But like a plant, In time since its roots are not in the divine its weakness will show.

41 Jesus said, "Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little they have."

The something I believe he refers to here is truth, those who hold truth will acquire more, and those who hide from the truth will lose even the truth they at first naturally knew.

42 Jesus said, "Be passersby."

Walk past this world, pass this world by, looking rather to the truth and love.

43 His disciples said to him, "Who are you to say these things to us?" "You don't understand who I am from what I say to you. Rather, you have become like the Judeans, for they love the tree but hate its fruit, or they love the fruit but hate the tree."

How often we respect a source of truth but refuse the message because it hurts us or we would love and accept the message but reject its source because we see that which we are not in the source and are hurt in our pride. In both instances the truth suffers.

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."

To insult the father and drive him from you, the Holy Spirit can come to give you understand and truth of the wrong that you might turn and be forgiven the same with the son. But for you to insult the Holy Spirit that brings wisdom and truth, to drive the source of truth from you? There will be no one to teach that you might come to understanding your wrong and thus seek forgiveness.

45 Jesus said, "Grapes are not harvested from thorn trees, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they yield no fruit. Good persons produce good from what they've stored up; bad persons produce evil from the wickedness they've stored up in their hearts, and say evil things. For from the overflow of the heart they produce evil."

46 Jesus said, "From Adam to John the Baptist, among those born of women, no one is so much greater than John the Baptist that his eyes should not be averted. But I have said that whoever among you becomes a child will recognize the kingdom and will become greater than John."

47 Jesus said, "A person cannot mount two horses or bend two bows. And a slave cannot serve two masters, otherwise that slave will honor the one and offend the other. "Nobody drinks aged wine and immediately wants to drink young wine. Young wine is not poured into old wineskins, or they might break, and aged wine is not poured into a new wineskin, or it might spoil. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, since it would create a tear."

Do not mix truth and falsehood.

48 Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move from here!' and it will move."

49 Jesus said, "Congratulations to those who are alone and chosen, for you will find the kingdom. For you have come from it, and you will return there again."

Congratulations to you who can step aside from the world, and in standing alone seek the truth of God and yourself, yet not all who draw away from the world will undertake this. For it is in seeking we are chosen. We each must stand alone in the truth that is in us, for all that might be taught, it will not become real and truth until it is experienced in the heart. In the desire and act of seeking one shows the spark and that they have come from the divine. And all things return to their source and beginnings.

50 Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where have you come from?' say to them, 'We have come from the light, from the place where the light came into being by itself, established [itself], and appeared in their image.' If they say to you, 'Is it you?'

Be careful this question is an invitation to self-importance and pride. Always remember we are not the source. Never parade one self as the Divine.

say, 'We are its children, and we are the chosen of the living Father.' The pride of the child is his pride in his parent. We do not choose our parents. If they ask you, 'What is the evidence of your Father in you?' say to them, 'It is motion and rest.'"

The evidence of the Divine in one is the direction of their love in action and the peace they evidence in their soul, which shows in their countenance, which they present from their inner nature.

51 His disciples said to him, "When will the rest for the dead take place, and when will the new world come?" He said to them, "What you are looking forward to has come, but you don't know it."

52 His disciples said to him, "Twenty-four prophets have spoken in Israel, and they all spoke of you." He said to them, "You have disregarded the living one who is in your presence, and have spoken of the dead."

53 His disciples said to him, "is circumcision useful or not?" He said to them, "If it were useful, their father would produce children already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become profitable in every respect."

What he refers to here is the act of surrender of self, which must be made by ones act of free will, it is not something done to you by another it is not a physical act. One must voluntarily surrender their self-importance to the Divine that is the true circumcision.

54 Jesus said, "Congratulations to the poor, for to you belongs Heaven's kingdom."

55 Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate father and mother cannot be my disciple, and whoever does not hate brothers and sisters, and carry the cross as I do, will not be worthy of me."

56 Jesus said, "Whoever has come to know the world has discovered a carcass, and whoever has discovered a carcass, of that person the world is not worthy."

57 Jesus said, The Father's kingdom is like a person who has [good] seed. His enemy came during the night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The person did not let the workers pull up the weeds, but said to them, "No, otherwise you might go to pull up the weeds and pull up the wheat along with them." For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be conspicuous, and will be pulled up and burned.

58 Jesus said, "Congratulations to the person who has toiled and has found life."

59 Jesus said, "Look to the living one as long as you live, otherwise you might die and then try to see the living one, and you will be unable to see."

60 He saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb and going to Judea. He said to his disciples, "that person ... around the lamb." They said to him, "So that he may kill it and eat it." He said to them, "He will not eat it while it is alive, but only after he has killed it and it has become a carcass." They said, "Otherwise he can't do it." He said to them, "So also with you, seek for yourselves a place for rest, or you might become a carcass and be eaten."

61 Jesus said, "Two will recline on a couch; one will die, one will live." Salome said, "Who are you mister? You have climbed onto my couch and eaten from my table as if you are from someone." Jesus said to her, "I am the one who comes from what is whole. I was granted from the things of my Father." "I am your disciple." "For this reason I say, if one is whole, one will be filled with light, but if one is divided, one will be filled with darkness."

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."

63 Jesus said, There was a rich person who had a great deal of money. He said, "I shall invest my money so that I may sow, reap, plant, and fill my storehouses with produce, that I may lack nothing." These were the things he was thinking in his heart, but that very night he died. Anyone here with two ears had better listen!

64 Jesus said, A person was receiving guests. When he had prepared the dinner, he sent his slave to invite the guests. The slave went to the first and said to that one, "My master invites you." That one said, "Some merchants owe me money; they are coming to me tonight. I have to go and give them instructions. Please excuse me from dinner." The slave went to another and said to that one, "My master has invited you." That one said to the slave, "I have bought a house, and I have been called away for a day. I shall have no time." The slave went to another and said to that one, "My master invites you." That one said to the slave, "My friend is to be married, and I am to arrange the banquet. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me from dinner." The slave went to another and said to that one, "My master invites you." That one said to the slave, "I have bought an estate, and I am going to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me." The slave returned and said to his master, "Those whom you invited to dinner have asked to be excused." The master said to his slave, "Go out on the streets and bring back whomever you find to have dinner." Buyers and merchants [will] not enter the places of my Father.

Those to whom the concerns of this world are of greatest importance and seek not to stand aside from the world and its concerns will not enter the places of the divine.

65 He said, A [...] person owned a vineyard and rented it to some farmers, so they could work it and he could collect its crop from them. He sent his slave so the farmers would give him the vineyard's crop. They grabbed him, beat him, and almost killed him, and the slave returned and told his master. His master said, "Perhaps he didn't know them." He sent another slave, and the farmers beat that one as well. Then the master sent his son and said, "Perhaps they'll show my son some respect." Because the farmers knew that he was the heir to the vineyard, they grabbed him and killed him. Anyone here with two ears had better listen!

66 Jesus said, "Show me the stone that the builders rejected: that is the keystone."

67 Jesus said, "Those who know all, but are lacking in themselves, are utterly lacking."

68 Jesus said, "Congratulations to you when you are hated and persecuted; and no place will be found, wherever you have been persecuted."

69 Jesus said, "Congratulations to those who have been persecuted in their hearts: they are the ones who have truly come to know the Father. Congratulations to those who go hungry, so the stomach of the one in want may be filled."

If you are not hungry for the Divine you will not seek it. But he who hungers and thirsts for truth and the Divine will find what they seek and will be filled.

70 Jesus said, "If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you. If you do not have that within you, what you do not have within you [will] kill you."

71 Jesus said, "I will destroy [this] house, and no one will be able to build it [...]."

72 A [person said] to him, "Tell my brothers to divide my father's possessions with me." He said to the person, "Mister, who made me a divider?" He turned to his disciples and said to them, "I'm not a divider, am I?"

73 Jesus said, "The crop is huge but the workers are few, so beg the harvest boss to dispatch workers to the fields."

74 He said, "Lord, there are many around the drinking trough, but there is nothing in the well."

75 Jesus said, "There are many standing at the door, but those who are alone will enter the bridal suite."

76 Jesus said, The Father's kingdom is like a merchant who had a supply of merchandise and found a pearl. That merchant was prudent; he sold the merchandise and bought the single pearl for himself. So also with you, seek his treasure that is unfailing, that is enduring, where no moth comes to eat and no worm destroys."

77 Jesus said, "I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to me all attained. Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."

78 Jesus said, "Why have you come out to the countryside? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a person dressed in soft clothes, [like your] rulers and your powerful ones? They are dressed in soft clothes, and they cannot understand truth."

79 A woman in the crowd said to him, "Lucky are the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you." He said to [her], "Lucky are those who have heard the word of the Father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Lucky are the womb that has not conceived and the breasts that have not given milk.'

80 Jesus said, "Whoever has come to know the world has discovered the body, and whoever has discovered the body, of that one the world is not worthy."

81 Jesus said, "Let one who has become wealthy reign, and let one who has power renounce ."

82 Jesus said, "Whoever is near me is near the fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the kingdom."

83 Jesus said, "Images are visible to people, but the light within them is hidden in the image of the Father's light. He will be disclosed, but his image is hidden by his light."

84 Jesus said, "When you see your likeness, you are happy. But when you see your images that came into being before you and that neither die nor become visible, how much you will have to bear!"

85 Jesus said, "Adam came from great power and great wealth, but he was not worthy of you. For had he been worthy, [he would] not [have tasted] death."

86 Jesus said, "[Foxes have] their dens and birds have their nests, but human beings have no place to lay down and rest."

87 Jesus said, "How miserable is the body that depends on a body, and how miserable is the soul that depends on these two."

88 Jesus said, "The messengers and the prophets will come to you and give you what belongs to you. You, in turn, give them what you have, and say to yourselves, 'When will they come and take what belongs to them?'"

89 Jesus said, "Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Don't you understand that the one who made the inside is also the one who made the outside?"

90 Jesus said, "Come to me, for my yoke is comfortable and my lordship is gentle, and you will find rest for yourselves."

91 They said to him, "Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you." He said to them, "You examine the face of heaven and earth, but you have not come to know the one who is in your presence, and you do not know how to examine the present moment.

92 Jesus said, "Seek and you will find. In the past, however, I did not tell you the things about which you asked me then. Now I am willing to tell them, but you are not seeking them."

93 "Don't give what is holy to dogs, for they might throw them upon the manure pile. Don't throw pearls [to] pigs, or they might ... it [...]."

94 Jesus [said], "One who seeks will find, and for [one who knocks] it will be opened."

95 [Jesus said], "If you have money, don't lend it at interest. Rather, give [it] to someone from whom you won't get it back."

96 Jesus [said], The Father's kingdom is like [a] woman. She took a little leaven, [hid] it in dough, and made it into large loaves of bread. Anyone here with two ears had better listen!

97 Jesus said, The [Father's] kingdom is like a woman who was carrying a [jar] full of meal. While she was walking along [a] distant road, the handle of the jar broke and the meal spilled behind her [along] the road. She didn't know it; she hadn't noticed a problem. When she reached her house, she put the jar down and discovered that it was empty.

98 Jesus said, The Father's kingdom is like a person who wanted to kill someone powerful. While still at home he drew his sword and thrust it into the wall to find out whether his hand would go in. Then he killed the powerful one.

99 The disciples said to him, "Your brothers and your mother are standing outside." He said to them, "Those here who do what my Father wants are my brothers and my mother. They are the ones who will enter my Father's kingdom."

100 They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, "The Roman emperor's people demand taxes from us." He said to them, "Give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, give God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine."

101 "Whoever does not hate [father] and mother as I do cannot be my [disciple], and whoever does [not] love [father and] mother as I do cannot be my [disciple]. For my mother [...], but my true [mother] gave me life."

102 Jesus said, "Damn the Pharisees! They are like a dog sleeping in the cattle manger: the dog neither eats nor [lets] the cattle eat."

103 Jesus said, "Congratulations to those who know where the rebels are going to attack. [They] can get going, collect their imperial resources, and be prepared before the rebels arrive."

104 They said to Jesus, "Come, let us pray today, and let us fast." Jesus said, "What sin have I committed, or how have I been undone? Rather, when the groom leaves the bridal suite, then let people fast and pray."

105 Jesus said, "Whoever knows the father and the mother will be called the child of a whore."

106 Jesus said, "When you make the two into one, you will become children of Adam, and when you say, 'Mountain, move from here!' it will move."

107 Jesus said, The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them, the largest, went astray. He left the ninety- nine and looked for the one until he found it. After he had toiled, he said to the sheep, 'I love you more than the ninety- nine.'

108 Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him."

109 Jesus said, The (Father's) kingdom is like a person who had a treasure hidden in his field but did not know it. And [when] he died he left it to his [son]. The son [did] not know about it either. He took over the field and sold it. The buyer went plowing, [discovered] the treasure, and began to lend money at interest to whomever he wished.

110 Jesus said, "Let one who has found the world, and has become wealthy, renounce the world."

111 Jesus said, "The heavens and the earth will roll up in your presence, and whoever is living from the living one will not see death." Does not Jesus say, "Those who have found themselves, of them the world is not worthy"?

112 Jesus said, "Damn the flesh that depends on the soul. Damn the soul that depends on the flesh."

113 His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?" "It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Rather, the Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it."

Scholars Version translation of the Gospel of Thomas taken from *The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version.* Copyright 1992, 1994 by Polebridge Press.