Gospel of Thomas | Thomas 98

Thomas 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.”

In Thomas 98, we see Yeshua reveal a metaphoric action, where a person had the desire to destroy something powerful. This person is symbolic of the collective consciousness (Holy Spirit), because it links God, the Father/Source to the Son (all sentient beings). The collective consciousness is the invisible Light, it has intention, and it is the conduit between all dimensions. It is not the nature of the Holy Spirit and the Source to want to kill anything. This is an abhorrent and negative action, which is not the way of the Spirit realm. The material universe thrives on chaos. Violence and death are necessary mechanisms of its evolution. This can be seen throughout the animal kingdom and through people of dubious ambition, seeking control and power. These traits are an aspect of the lion, which Yeshua refers to in Thomas 7. The action of killing, we see in Thomas 98, is therefore a metaphoric one. It represents the ending of a powerful hold on those whom the Source seeks to join with—the ones most loved (Thomas 107).

In the second line of Thomas 98, the person tests the way the Light of the Father could be realised in this realm, a realm unlike Its own nature. The thrust into the wall was the Light of the Source searching for a place to aggregate in this physical realm (the powerful one). This became the breath of life within human beings. The breath of life is ‘the sword’ entering into this dimension, from the realm of the Spirit—the stable element, the inner layer, penetrating through into this unstable one. The purpose was to inspire particular souls to create a path to God, the Source. This was done to find out whether his hand would go in—the ‘hand’ is Yeshua. In the symbol of this sword, we see messengers and prophets as the part of the sword known as the ‘edge’. The edge cuts through the wall (the physical barriers found in this realm). This action has nothing to do with physical violence. It is an ideological and metaphoric battle, similar to what we see between the Christian orthodoxy and what we see here, in the Gospel of Thomas (see commentary for Thomas 16). In 77^th Pearl: The Perpetual Tree we see Yeshua release the sword and open His hand for humans to grasp onto.

The very tip of the sword, known as the ‘point’, represents the first evolving primates. When primates had the capacity to think in abstract terms, create tools, music, dance, and draw images, this was the soul forming within humans (the flesh). Closest to the handle we have the raised middle known as the ‘fuller’, giving the sword weight and strength as it meets the ‘cross guard’, which separates the handle grip from the blade. The fuller and cross guard are representative of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, who sought to remove suffering in this life. Finally the handle, where the hand (Yeshua) grips the sword, was John the Baptist, who heralded the entry of Yeshua into this realm. Why did this ‘thrust’ into the wall take so long to complete? Under the mechanisms of evolution, which required time to create bodies capable of abstract concepts, the sword penetrated very slowly. Logical, since time in the Spirit realm is experienced as a whole, rather than a linear progression of physical light in this realm.

In the last line of Thomas 98, Yeshua tells us that the action of the collective consciousness (Holy Spirit) ‘killed the powerful one.’ The action of placing His hand (Yeshua) into this realm, had a significant result for humanity. The powerful one is something humans find very alluring. It is this material world and everything people experience in it, both good and bad (see commentary for Thomas 7). The gratifying experiences humans have in this life give momentary pleasures. Typically, it stops them from considering if there is anything better. This life often prevents people from comprehending what Yeshua means when He says to ‘live’ or to ‘taste death’. The negative experiences humans have in this life make them begrudge their predicament. They may become envious of others who are in a better emotional, financial, or social position. This is another aspect of the lion in Thomas 7. When Yeshua (the hand of God, the Source) entered into this realm, He destroyed the notion that this is the first life we have, and the last. When Yeshua placed the flesh that clothed Him on the cross, He killed the powerful one with that weapon. This is what Yeshua came to do and this sword is the kind the lion fears most.

The Last Supper (described in the New Testament) carries a strong message, which relates to the story within Thomas 98. When Yeshua speaks about His body and blood being consumed by us, we suddenly realise what this symbolic action means. It is about sustaining the Soul, in order to kill the powerful one. His Body is the knowledge that carries us through this realm—to mature into an enlightened Spirit. After all, it is while we are in the physical body that we aggregate the Father’s Light. Our physical movement through this realm involves learning and growth (Thomas 86). It is not an accident that we see Yeshua’s body as the bread, which is linked to the establishment of this realm, in Thomas 96 and 97. These are symbolic analogies and threads. Through consuming the wisdom He brings us, we are sustained and we are made strong in Spirit. The knowledge of truth becomes our metaphysical body.

Yeshua’s blood is symbolic of the Light that is over all things and flows through everything (Thomas 77). It is active through the Holy Spirit—the collective consciousness, linking all benevolent Spirits. Yeshua says His blood is the wine we drink—we see in Thomas 47 it is the new wine, which must not be spoiled by other, man-made, ideologies. Unlike bread, which is sustenance, ensuring life, wine is an added pleasure. It can emulate euphoria, akin to the feeling of being connected to the Source, through the collective consciousness. The sensation a glass of wine may also bring is similar to the calm and relaxed feeling people have when they are connected to the Source. There is a danger of becoming intoxicated—we see this in Thomas 28. This is the paradox and the fine line humans walk on in this world. It is an aspect of the powerful one, which represents the desire for quick and convenient solutions. This is characteristic of a person’s physical existence. Through this analogy, we see that keeping the material and spiritual realms separate is necessary, otherwise we start to impose one on the other. This is when people create sin for themselves, through the mechanisms of ritual and dogma. The wine people have become drunk on is evident in the apostles’ questions to Yeshua: ‘Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?’ (Thomas 6). The new wine and bread is here, in Yeshua, through the Gospel of Thomas, carried in the new wine skin, which is 77^th Pearl: The Perpetual Tree (Thomas 47).

Thomas 113 – How it Links

In Thomas 3 and 51, we see a thread which links with Thomas 113. In Thomas 113, Yeshua tells people that ‘the Father’s kingdom is spread out upon the earth’. This tells us the nature of the kingdom and where it is. It is not a place anyone can point to, or give directions to. It is ‘spread out upon the earth’, because humanity is spread out on the Earth. We are the sentient beings, in this solar system, which carry the kingdom within us. The author (Thomas) has created a poignant metaphor by having two similar sayings at the beginning and end of this gospel. We see this here, in Thomas 113, and at the beginning of the text, in Thomas 3. They stand as bookends, supporting the profound truths we discover within the Gospel of Thomas. When we look at the very different content and voice found in Thomas 114, the reason Thomas 113 is ‘the end’ of the mysteries becomes clear.

In Thomas 3, Yeshua tells us the notion of a kingdom above us is a misguided concept. When people think of the Father’s Kingdom, their entire concept of a kingdom has to be reconfigured. In the past, this definition came out of observations from human society. A kingdom was seen as a strong community, built around a fortified city. The Father’s Kingdom, as defined by Yeshua, is seen as actions, rather than a place. These actions occur in locations we cannot see, because they are hidden by the Source’s Light (Thomas 83). They live in the human. That is why, in Thomas 50, Yeshua tells people to respond to the question, ‘What is the evidence of your Father in you?’, by declaring it is ‘motion and rest’. It is the Soul’s movement through these bodies, and this dimension, which enables people to amass the Father’s Light within them. In this way, humans need to be in constant motion in this existence—experiencing, learning, and growing in wisdom. This is apparent in Thomas 86: ‘…human beings have no place to lay down and rest.’ A soul only comes to rest when physical life ends. It either comes to life as a spirit, or becomes part of the whole, to be absorbed into a new body.

In Thomas 113, Yeshua reveals that those who are waiting for the day when He comes back to Earth, to judge the living and the dead, will not see such a day (Thomas 18, 38). This notion goes hand in hand with the kingdom arriving on earth, from heaven, with Yeshua as its king. In Thomas 113 we learn that it is already here. Since the kingdom is already here, there can be no rapture in the form of the ‘second coming’, nor can we expect to hear, or see, Yeshua in this realm again. There is a thread we can find within the Gospel of Thomas, which shows us that Yeshua was human—flesh and bone. At the same time, He was the Son of God, just as all beings of the Light are the progeny of God the Father/Source (Thomas 15, 28, and 65). Therefore, there is a definitive separation between the flesh and the Spirit, just as there is a separation between this realm and the holistic realm of the Source. To look for the kingdom with the eye of the flesh is flawed. Rather, people should look for the kingdom with the eye of the heart—the thing that is linked to God the Source. This is the collective consciousness (Holy Spirit) in action (Thomas 44).

In Thomas 10 contains a statement that could easily be taken out of context by those people who believe in a ‘second coming’. Jesus says: ‘I have cast fire upon the world, and look, I’m guarding it until it blazes.’ One could take this statement as an implied second coming. Until the thing He brought to this realm is ablaze, He would not reappear. Thomas 10 is not about a literal second coming. It is a statement about the connection people accomplish with Yeshua, through the collective consciousness (Holy Spirit), with the Source of all things—the one Yeshua refers to as Father. When Yeshua’s teachings cause a blaze within the individual, He re-enters this realm (Thomas 82). Through this connection there is a second coming. When Yeshua says He is guarding what He has cast upon the Earth, He speaks about His teachings. They are the words in the Gospel of Thomas, illuminated in 77^th Pearl: The Perpetual Tree. In a sense, this text is the second coming observant humans have been anticipating (Thomas 94). Through these words, Yeshua’s secret sayings have been elucidated for the generations requiring this Light. Moreover, unlike previous generations, people of the twenty-first century will be able to comprehend these teachings. When the human soul attains this wisdom it is lit up with life. This is when the kingdom is realised—within the person, through the heart and mind, the conduit that is the Holy Spirit.

Several of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas reveal a thread. They show us that Yeshua was a Spirit within a body, just as humans find themselves to be a soul within a body. Through examples in the Synoptic Gospels, we have seen that the apostles’ experiences of Jesus after His death were metaphysical, not physical. In Thomas 28, we see Yeshua tell His contemporaries He entered into this world, appearing to them in flesh. It is clear then, the body Yeshua inhabited was not who He was, it was simply a vehicle for His Spirit. Thomas 22 further supports the notion of the duality of body and soul. The metaphysical aspect of the self is also supported in Thomas 24, when the apostles ask Yeshua to show them the place where He is, so that they may seek it out. His response is a reference to light, which shines on the whole world. This links to Thomas 77, where we find that the Light is not what we experience in this world. It is a source of energy and creativity, which is unlike anything in this realm. It exists in, and flows through, everything. Its anatomy is the collective consciousness, what we know as the Advocate and Comforter, the Holy Spirit.

In Thomas 65 Yeshua tells people the heir to the vineyard would be grabbed and killed. This indicated that He knew what the Pharisees were planning. It would eventually lead to His death, at the hands of the Romans. Yeshua turned this violent act, driven by insecurity, into the greatest sacrifice and emblematic action throughout His teaching. Yeshua demonstrated the discrepancy between the flesh and the Spirit. His sacrifice also demonstrated the way the lion (Thomas 7) is inclined to devour the lamb. The lion represents the material realm and the lamb represents the soul, which grows into the sheep—that is, a spirit (Thomas 107). In Thomas 37, Yeshua responds to the question of when He will appear again, with a metaphoric statement—when humans strip off their clothes without being ashamed, ‘like little children’. This means that when a person is stripped of the body, which may create emotive obstacles, they are able to be in the same realm as Yeshua. Spiritual beings become connected to Him through the collective consciousness (Holy Spirit). Until such a time, people cannot see Yeshua. This is reinforced in Thomas 38, when Yeshua says: ‘There will be days when you will seek me and you will not find me.’ People can find Yeshua’s Light, which is throughout the world, because It is the Source we see in Thomas 77. When people contemplate the teachings that He poured out onto the earth, like a cup of fire (Thomas 16), they are awakened to the truth. If people are near Yeshua, and all spiritual beings through the collective consciousness, then they are joined to God the Source. When a person experiences this union, the kingdom is realised in them.

Go to audio extracts from 77th Pearl: The Perpetual Tree on YouTube