Today we look at the 31st saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, “No prophet is accepted in his own village. No physician heals those who know him.” There are slightly different translations. "No prophet is welcome on his home turf; doctors don't cure those who know them." “A prophet is not accepted in the hometown. A doctor does not heal those who know the doctor.” “No prophet is accepted in his own village. No physician heals the people who know him well.” View Marshall's book...
In the 30th saying in the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus deals with the topic of the Trinity. At least it seems like he is referring to the Trinity. He may be talking about tritheism or even polytheism. He is certainly talking about duality and nonduality. See also the episode entitled “Trinity and Nonduality.” at this link: https://youtu.be/PvRbrosAhtU View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU
This episode explores the 29th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, "If the body 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. Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has come to dwell in this poverty." In this saying Jesus is leading people beyond metaphysical and philosophical questions in order to point them to Reality that is beyond ideas. It is common in religious and spiritua...
This episode explores the twenty-eighth saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. 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. 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. But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will ...
This edition of the Tao of Christ is a little different. For one thing it is shorter than usual. Also I am taking a break from the Gospel of Thomas. I will get back to it in a week or so. Today I am reading my blog post for today. I have a blog that I publish once or twice a week called Spiritual Reflections by Marshall Davis. Normally it is just in a written format, but today I thought I would record it in an audio format as well. If you are interested in subscribing to my blog you can find ...
This episode is on the 27th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. It is actually two sayings. One is about finding the Kingdom of God. The other is about seeing the Father. These are both ways of talking about spiritual awakening. He talks about this in the context of the spiritual disciplines of fasting and Sabbath. The first is about true fasting. The second is about true Sabbath-keeping. It reads: "If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the Kingdom. If you do not observe t...
This episode is on saying 26 in the Gospel of Thomas. 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." This saying in the Gospel of Thomas has a famous parallel in the Gospel of Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the pl...
This episode examines the 25th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, "Love others like your own soul, protect them like the pupil of your eye.” Among other aspects, it explores how love of others guides social and national morality from a nondual perspective. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU
This episode explores the 24th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. His disciples said, "Show us the place where you are, for we must seek it." 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." This saying is about the spiritual search for the Eternal Christ. Jesus disciples say to him, "Show us the place where you are, for we must seek it.” In answering their inquiry...
This episode covers the twenty-third saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus says: "I shall choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand, and they will stand as a single one." Here is a slightly different translation: "I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and two out of ten thousand, and you shall stand as a single one." This verse deals with the rarity of spiritual awakening and the nature of spiritual awakening. In discussing the nature of awakening I will ex...
The twenty-second saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas is the clearest example of Christian nonduality that we have in any gospel. Some of these metaphors in this passage are familiar to us from other sayings in the Gospel of Thomas, as well as similar sayings in the canonical gospels. Others we have not come across before. 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 k...
This episode is on the 21st saying in the Gospel of Thomas. I will read it for you: Mary said to Jesus, "Whom are your disciples like?" He said, "They are like children who have settled in a field which is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, 'Let us have back our field.' They (will) undress in their presence in order to let them have back their field and to give it back to them. Therefore I say, if the owner of a house knows that the thief is coming, he will be...
The twentieth saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas is one that is familiar to Christians who have read the canonical gospels. It is known as the parable of the Mustard Seed. Thomas’ version goes like this: The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what the kingdom of Heaven 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 heaven." At first hearing it may sound identi...
Today I am looking at the nineteenth saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, "Blessed is he who came into being before he came into being. If you become my disciples and listen to my words, these stones will minister to you. For there are five trees in paradise for you. Summer or winter they do not change and their leaves do not fall. Whoever knows them will not taste death." This saying naturally breaks down into the segments. First is a beatitude. Then there is the ...
In this episode we look at the 18th saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. “The disciples said to Jesus, ‘Tell us how our end will be.’ Jesus said, ‘Have you discovered the beginning, that you look for the end? For where the beginning is, there will the end be. Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning; he will know the end and will not experience death.’" View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU
In this episode we look at Easter through the eyes of the apostle Thomas as found in the Gospel of Thomas. I contrast it with the canonical view of this apostle as “Doubting Thomas” as depicted in the famous story in the Gospel of John. We find that Thomas – like the apostle Paul - had an understanding of the resurrection of Jesus as a spiritual experience that is beyond the physical senses and beyond the human mind to understand. In this episode I mention my book “The Evolution ...
In this episode we are looking at the sixteenth saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said, “People think, perhaps, that I have come to throw peace upon the world. They don't know that I have come to throw disagreement upon the world, and fire, and sword, and struggle. There will be five in one house. Three will oppose two. Two will oppose three. The father will oppose his son and the son oppose his father. And they will stand up and they will be alone.” This saying has a...
Today we look at the fifteenth saying in the Gospel of Thomas. It is a short, but important saying. Jesus says, "When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your faces and worship. That one is your Father." I look at both the “not born of woman” part, and the use of the word Father. Father is one of Jesus’ favorite words for Nondual Reality. View Marshall's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU
In this episode we look at the fourteenth saying in the Gospel of Thomas. Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and walk about in the districts, if they receive you, eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which issues from your mouth - it is that whic...
Today we look at the thirteenth saying in the Gospel of Thomas. “Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to someone and tell me whom I am like." Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a righteous angel." Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher." Thomas said to him, "Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like." Jesus said, "I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out."&n...