Some people believe that Judas Thomas, sometimes referred to as ‘Doubting Thomas,’ was Jesus’ twin brother. The Gospel of Thomas does not discuss a plot to have Jesus arrested, tortured, and crucified, nor does it write about a resurrection; instead, it shares the wisdom Jesus taught his students. Does that mean that Jesus wasn’t crucified? I don’t know for sure, but I suppose it’s possible.
In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus does not consider himself to be a Lord, Messiah, Savior, or any other label that others assigned to him. He is a human being sharing wisdom and truth.
Verse 1: And he said, “Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death.”
Verse 2: Jesus said, “Let one who seeks not stop seeking until one finds. When one finds, one will be troubled. When one is troubled, one will marvel and will reign over all.”
One thing that has always stuck in my mind was the importance placed on God’s word. The word is truth, but words can also be lies, so how does one distinguish between truth and lies? Are lies intentionally so, or are they misinterpretations of someone else’s words?
The more I studied the science of psychology, how thoughts are believed to be formed, referenced, and solidified in one’s mind and then passed on to others, the more I realized that all of the accounts of Jesus’ teachings came through the perceptions of people who were in awe of him—except for this account by Thomas. Thomas merely shares what Jesus said. He doesn’t add any kind of narrative or provide his interpretation.
Whoever discovers this wisdom will not taste death. To me, this speaks of the eternal life of our spirit.
The next verse instructs us to keep asking questions until we learn the answer. It’s assumed, at least to me, that Jesus is telling us to ask questions about the things troubling our hearts. He suggests that the answers we receive will reveal something that will cause us to marvel—or be in awe. The final part - and will reign over all - does not, in my opinion, mean that we are to take what we’ve learned and rule over others, but that we will know a truth that will put us further down the path to healing whatever it was that caused us to ask the question in the first place, which will put us ahead of others who are still struggling.
The definition of reign is the exercise of a sovereign power. Jesus, as we will discover, teaches personal sovereignty, meaning that no one has the right to rule over you. This is what is meant by the idea of giving your power away to others. If someone hurts us, whether by words or physically, the longer we blame that person, the more we really allow their actions to have power over us. We take our power back when we learn that their actions have nothing to do with us. If a person assigns a derogatory name to us, we don’t have to accept it. We can choose to disregard it. This, I believe, is what is meant by turning the other cheek.
Verse 3: Jesus said, “If your leaders say to you, ‘Look, the kingdom is in heaven,’ then the birds of heaven will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea’, then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside you and it is outside you.
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 will dwell in poverty, and you are poverty.
The part of us that can communicate with that thing we call God that is greater than us, our spirit, is inside us. The heart is where we feel everything and where we experience knowing. This, I believe, is the temple within.
Coherence is obtained when our hearts and brains share a specific electrical frequency, which happens to be the same frequency as the earth. In other words, human beings vibrate at the same frequency as everything outside of us—the trees, the grass, the birds, the animals—everything. This, I believe, is what the kingdom is inside you and outside you means.
Know Thyself. This two-word sentence was engraved on the temple of Apollo. It is an ancient sacred directive, and Jesus tells us that if we don’t figure out who we are, we will live in poverty. If we take a dualistic approach, we could assume that Jesus is telling us that if we do learn who we are, we will be wealthy. Wealth, in this context, doesn’t have anything to do with material gain for knowledge and wisdom is the highest currency.
Verse 4: Jesus said, “The person old in days will not hesitate to ask a little child seven days old about the place of life, and that person will live. For many of the first will be last and will become a single one.
Verse 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.”
The older we get, the more we realize that babies who have yet to be tarnished from the people of this world know the peace of the eternal place our spirits come from and go back to when our human body dies.
There is an ancient Gnostic belief that we choose our lives - which also implies that we live multiple lives. This idea is extremely tough for some people to grasp because, for those of us who have suffered at the hands of others, it implies that we chose to be abused. We could look at that concept in a slightly different way. If we take a matrix approach, we might view our lives as multiple possibilities. If every person in our lives made different choices, then it’s possible that we wouldn’t have suffered that abuse.
If it’s true that we are all of one mind, and that everything we learn in our current human form is taken back to a larger mind - to the Father - or the creator - when we die, then “For many of the first will be last and will become a single one” might take on a different meaning.
If we can really grasp the idea that all we have to do is ask and the answer will be given - or ask and you shall receive - or knock and the door will open - and if we can fully comprehend that our hearts are where the true connection to God, or divine wisdom if you prefer, resides, then we will also know that we are never alone. We will realize that we - the true we of who we are - matter and that our experiences in this life matter. We have access to an understanding that goes beyond our human capability and to wisdom gained from all those who came before us, who suffered and learned from that suffering, and who genuinely want us to experience peace and joy in this life.
This is what Jesus taught.
I've always enjoyed the GoT since my first days of Divinty school. I learned Coptic in a tiny attic classrom with five others using the text as our grammar. Fun days.
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