Standing for Peace (Gospel of Thomas)

 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 parallel in the Gospel of Matthew. By comparing the two we can see differences and discover the uniqueness of Thomas’ version, which teaches Christian nonduality.

View Marshall's books here:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Marshall-Davis/author/B001K8Y0RU

Transcript

Today 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 parallel in the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus says: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.” 

By comparing the two we can see differences and discover the uniqueness of Thomas’ version. The first thing we should notice is that people were saying that Jesus was going to bring peace. “People think, perhaps, that I have come to throw peace upon the world.” Jesus had a reputation for being a man of peace. In people’s minds Jesus represented peace; he stood for peace. And for good reason. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” People thought Jesus would bring peace. 

The questions then are: what type of peace? How would be bring it? We will take the second question first. Here in the Gospel of Thomas Jesus uses the term “throw peace.” “People think, perhaps, that I have come to throw peace upon the world.” It is a very aggressive word to use for peace. Other translations say “Men think, perhaps, that it is peace which I have come to cast upon the world.” Another says, “People may think I have come to impose peace upon the world.”  

These all suggest some strong action that people thought Jesus was going to take to bring about peace. In other words people were thinking that Jesus was going to bring peace by force, like the Romans brought the Pax Romana, the Roman peace. When we look at the Revelation of John, we see what imposing peace in this way would look like. Revelation describes Jesus this way: 

He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. 

This is what conservative Christians expect to happen at the second coming of Jesus. Christian nationalists today want to impose their agenda on the nation in exactly this way. People were expecting Jesus to do that in his day. But that was not Jesus’ plan. He was not going to force peace on anyone.  

In fact Jesus said, “They don't know that I have come to throw disagreement upon the world, and fire, and sword, and struggle.” Other translations say: “it is dissension which I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword, and war,” or “They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth.” 

In other words, people misunderstand Jesus’ type of peace. The type of peace he is bringing is not outward peace. Just the opposite. Jesus says to the Roman governor, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” 

The peace that Jesus brings is inner peace. The Kingdom of Heaven is within you, Jesus said. Jesus was a mystic, not a Zionist or a Christian nationalist. His peace is present even amid outward turmoil. That is why in the beatitudes Jesus follows up “Blessed are the peacemakers” with “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” 

Jesus consistently taught peace as an inner blessing amid outer conflicts. Jesus specifically mentions conflict within a household. “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.” In Matthew’s gospel he talks about conflict among in-laws.  

It sounds like the divisions we are seeing in the United States today. Families are divided over what the government is doing these days. The household of faith is divided. There are MAGA Christians on one side and Red Letter Christians on the other side. One side favors force like Constantine used to establish Christianity as the state religions of Rome. The other side practices the peace that Jesus taught. 

I have this dissension in my family. We are in Florida now. This weekend my brother-in-law is coming to visit from Orlando with his daughters. He is a Zionist and a MAGA Christian. The only way we can get along is by not talking about politics. My sister is the same way. We simply do not talk about it; that keeps peace in the family. But it is a superficial and temporary peace. 

I am concerned that some day the divisions in our country may erupt into violence in our streets and result in persecution of those who follow Jesus and are on the wrong side of the culture wars. The Way of Jesus does not guarantee a peaceful life as far as external circumstances are concerned. There is no promise of peace on earth for the followers of Christ. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Jesus said: 

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” 

Those who follow the way of Jesus will be persecuted by a church that has rejected both Jesus and his teachings. Yet amid this conflict Jesus promises us peace. He said, ” Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”   

Let’s move on to the last part of this saying in the Gospel of Thomas, which clearly teaches nonduality. After Jesus describes the divisions within households – which includes the household of faith – Jesus says, “And they will stand up and they will be alone.” I will give you a couple of other translations. “And they will stand solitary." Another says, “they will stand as solitary ones.” 

The word translated alone or solitary is monachos, which is a word borrowed from Greek. It comes from the root monos, which means one. Later on monachos became the word used in Greek Orthodoxy for monk. The English word monk comes from this word. Jesus says, “And they will stand up and they will be alone.” What does this mean? 

Jesus says ‘stand up.” In Greek “stand up” is anastasis, which is often translated resurrection. It can also mean awakening. When you wake up in the morning, the first thing you do is stand up. Jesus is not talking about physical resurrection or physical awakening here. He is talking about spiritual awakening. It is awakening to the reality that there is One – monos - and we are the One. We stand up for that One, or for that one. One commentator translated this “whole ones.” We stand with the whole because we are whole with the One. 

This may also mean standing up for truth. When all the rest of our family and friends are caving in to the religion and politics of duality, we are to stand up for Truth. We are to witness to the Eternal Wholeness. It is no accident that the Greek word for witness is martus or martyr. Followers of Jesus who stood up for truth were martyred. That is how the word martyr took on its meaning. 

The nondual gospel of the Kingdom of the Father that Jesus proclaimed was not a popular message religiously or politically. It still is not a popular message. We often stand alone. We might have to stand up and stand alone in church. We may have to stand up and stand alone in our family. Jesus is warning us that this is the way it must be. Only by standing up for peace and in peace in the Wholeness of Oneness will we know the peace of Christ that surpasses human understanding.