Читать книгу From Karma to Grace - John Van Auken - Страница 15

Throughout the Bible, love is most important and powerful. When we think of power, even spiritual power, we rarely think of love. Yet, from Genesis to the Revelation, the Bible indicates that love evokes the highest, most godly of powers and actually is the nature of God. Love brings us closest to our true, divine nature—our angelic nature. Many biblical passages teach that of all the things a person can learn and do in this world, nothing reflects godliness more than love.

The two greatest commandments are found in both the Old and New Testaments. The first:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:37

And the second commandment:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 22:39

The actual Greek word used here is plesion, meaning a “close-by person.” This expands “neighbor” to include humans within our orb of life.

Perhaps the most quoted love passage in Scripture is the disciple Paul’s famous statement in 1 Corinthians 13:13:

Now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Paul described love beautifully:

Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 4-8

In these passages, the Greek word used for love is agape, meaning love like God has for His/Her children and creation.

The disciple Peter advised:

Above all things, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

And John wrote:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love . . . If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

1 John 4:7-12

Jesus spoke of levels of love, identifying the highest love in this often quoted passage:

Greater love has no man [woman] than this, that a man gives up his [her] life for his friends.

John 15:13; brackets mine

Most have come to understand that Jesus did not mean literal death, rather the giving up of self’s desires for another’s needs. It is thinking more of what another may need than what self may want. Yet this must not become self-destructive. No one could accuse Jesus of being a doormat of self-deprecating love. He often radiated a tough love. Those around Him often needed to hear the truth and a clear position on God’s ways, not to be pampered. Perhaps the best examples are his discussions with Peter. One instance was when Jesus began to share with his disciples the path that God had laid out for Him to walk:

he [Jesus] must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up. Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Be it far from you, Lord; this shall never be for you.” But Jesus turned, and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan; you are a stumbling-block to me for you mind not the things of God but the things of men.”

Matthew 16:21-23; brackets mine

For his own sake, Peter needed to realize that his thinking was that akin to Satan’s, desiring the ways that seem best to humans over those that are known to be God’s ways.

Jesus cared so much for others that he would not let them remain in their darkness or misunderstandings. Yet he never condemned them. Rather, He called their mistakes to mind. He also showed a remarkable sense of their inability to handle the full truth, choosing to be patient: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12)

A key passage in the New Testament lays down the foundation upon which all other biblical perspectives on love may be understood. The scene is also fascinating.

Jesus is at the temple in Jerusalem, where pigeons are being sacrificed and the smell and smoke are great. An official scribe working at the temple overheard Jesus answering questions, and he liked Jesus’ responses; so he asked the Teacher a very important question. Here is the biblical account:

One of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together, and knowing that Jesus had answered them well, asked him, “What commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus answered, “The first is, Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this; you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

And the scribe said unto him, “Of a truth, Teacher, you have well said that the Lord is one and there is none other but God; and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices.”

And when Jesus heard that the scribe answered well, he said unto him, “You are close to the kingdom of God.”

Mark 12:28-34; RSV

Notice that Jesus acknowledged the wisdom and understanding that the scribe had gained in his personal spiritual search. Notice also that, although the scribe was standing in the physical world, Jesus said that he was close to the kingdom of God. This reveals that the kingdom of God is not beyond this world and physicality. Heaven may be approached while incarnate. Additionally, notice that an official of the temple, in which the practice of animal- and grain-burning were part of the daily ritual, had come to know that these sacrifices were not what God sought from his people. God seeks love from us—love toward God and toward our neighbors.

Keep in mind that those who live with us are our closest neighbors, though we often take them for granted. These most assuredly should receive our love.

The Edgar Cayce readings add an interesting perspective to Jesus’ use of the name Israel. They say that the real Israel is reflected in the origin of this name, which is Jacob’s seeking so persistently to be blessed by God that he actually wrestles with an angel of God’s until the angel finally agrees to bless him. Here is that passage. (Notice that Jacob is “by himself” yet wrestling, which is the indication that he is wrestling in the spirit, with an angel of the Lord.)

Jacob was by himself; and a man was fighting with him till dawn. But when the man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob, he gave him a blow in the hollow part of his leg, so that his leg was damaged. And he said to him, “Let me go now, for the dawn is near.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.” Then he said, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” And he said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.”

Then Jacob said, “What is your name?” And he said, “What is my name to you?” Then he gave him a blessing.

And Jacob gave that place the name of Peniel, saying, I have seen God face to face, and still I am living.

Genesis 32:24-30; BBE

Here’s Cayce’s explanation of this:

This is the meaning, this should be the understanding to all: Those that seek are Israel. “Think not to call yourselves the promise in Abraham. Know you not that the Lord is able to raise up children of Abraham from the very stones?” So Abraham means the call; so Israel means those who seek. How obtained the supplanter [this is the literal meaning of the Hebrew name Jacob] the name Israel? He wrestled with the angel, and he was face to face with the seeking to know His way. So it is with us that are called and seek His face; we are the Israel!

262-28 and 5377-1; brackets mine