Life Is Not Temporal

Jesus said: “He who is not ready for all fleshly sufferings and bereavements, has not understood me. He who shall obtain all that is best for the fleshly life, shall destroy the true life; he who shall destroy his fleshly life in fulfilling my teaching, shall receive the true life.”

And in answer to these words, Peter said to him: “See, we have listened to you, have thrown off all cares and property, and have followed you. What reward shall we have for this?”

And Jesus said to him: “Everyone who has abandoned home, sisters, brothers, father, mother, wife, children, and his fields, for my teaching, shall receive a hundredfold more than sisters and brothers and fields, and all that is needful in this life; and besides this, he receives life beyond the power of time. There are no rewards in the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven is its own aim and reward. In the kingdom of God all are equal, there is neither first nor last.

“Because the kingdom of heaven is like this. The master of a house went in the early morning to hire labourers for his grounds. He hired labourers at a penny a day, and set them to work in the garden. And he again went at mid-day and hired more, and sent them into the garden to work; and at evening he hired still more, and sent them to work. And with them all he agreed at a penny. The time came for the reckoning. And the master ordered all to be paid alike. First, those who came last; and afterwards, the first. And the first saw that the last received each a penny. And they thought that they would receive more; but the first were also given each a penny. They took it and said: ‘But how is this? They only worked one shift, and we all four; why, then, do we receive alike? This is unjust.’ But the master came up, and said: ‘” What are you complaining about? Have I offended you? The amount I hired you for, I have given you. Our agreement was for a penny, take it and go. If I wish to give to the last the same as to you, am I not master of my own will? Or because you see that I am good, is that the cause of your grudging? ‘”

In the kingdom of God there is neither first nor last, for all there are as one.

There came to Jesus two of his disciples, James and John, and said: “Promise us that you will do that for us which we shall ask of you.”

He said: “What do you wish?”

They said: “That we may be equal with you.”

Jesus said to them: “You yourselves do not know what you ask. You may live just as I do, and be cleansed from fleshly life like me, but to make you like myself is not in my power. Every man may, by his own effort, enter the kingdom of his Father, having submitted to His power, and fulfilling His will.”

When they heard of this, the other disciples grew angry with the two brothers, because these wished to be equal to their teacher, and the first among his disciples.

But Jesus called them, and said: “If you brothers, James and John, asked me to make you such as I am in order to be first among my disciples, then you were mistaken; but if you, my other disciples, are angry with them because they wish to be your elders, then you also are mistaken. Only in the world are kings and officials reckoned by seniority for governing the people. But among you, there cannot be either elder or younger. Among you, for one to be greater than another, it is necessary to be the servant of all. Among you, let him who wishes to be first, consider himself last. Because therein is the will of the Father as to the Son of Man; who does not live to be served, but to himself serve all, and to give up his fleshly life as a ransom for the life of the spirit.”

And Jesus said to the people: “The Father seeks to save that which perishes. He rejoices over it, as a shepherd rejoices when he has found one sheep that was lost. When one is lost, he leaves the ninety-nine, and goes to save the lost one. And if a woman lose a farthing, she will sweep out the whole hut and seek until she find it. The Father loves the Son, and calls him to -Himself.”

And he told them yet another parable, to the effect that they who live in the will of God ought not to exalt themselves. He said: “If you are invited to dinner, do not seat yourself in the front corner; someone will come of more consideration than yourself, and the master will say: ‘Leave your place, and allow him who is better than you to be seated.’ Then you will be put to shame. But do better, take your seat in the very last place, then the master will find you, and call you to a place of honour, and you will be honoured.

“So also in the kingdom of God there is no room for pride. He who exalts himself, by so doing lowers himself; but he who humbles himself, and considers himself unworthy, by this same means raises himself in the kingdom of God.

“A man had two sons. And the younger said to his father: ‘Father, give me my property.’ And the father gave him his share. The younger son took his share, went abroad, squandered all his property, and began to suffer want. And abroad, he became a swineherd. And he so hungered, that he ate acorns with the swine. And he bethought himself of his life, and said: ‘Why did I take my share and leave my father? My father had plenty of everything; at my father’s, even labourers ate their fill. But I here am eating the same food as the swine. I will go to my father, fall at his feet, and say: I am to blame, father, before you, and am not worthy to be your son. Take me back even as a labourer.’ So he thought, and he went to his father. And when he was still far off, his father at once recognised him, and himself ran to meet him, embraced him, and began to kiss him. And the son said: ‘Father, I am to blame before you, I am not worthy to be your son.’ But the father would not even listen, and said to the labourers: ‘Bring quickly the best clothes and the best boots, to clothe him and shoe him. And go and bring a fatted calf and kill it, and we will rejoice that this my son was dead and is now alive, was lost and is now found.’ And the elder brother came from the field, and as he approached he heard the sounds of music in the house. He called a servant to him, and said: ‘Why is there this merry-making here? ‘And the boy said: ‘Have you not heard that your brother is returned, and your father is full of joy, and has ordered a fatted calf to be killed, for joy that his son has returned? ‘The elder brother was offended, and did not go into the house. And the father came out and called him. And he said to his father: ‘See, father, how many years I have worked for you, and have not disobeyed your command, while you never killed a fatted calf for me. But my younger brother left the house and squandered all his property with drunkards, and you have now killed the calf for him.’ And the father said: ‘You are always with me, and all mine is yours; and you should not be offended, but should be glad that your brother was dead and has become alive, was lost and is found.’

“A master planted a garden, cultivated it, arranged it, did everything so that the garden might yield as much fruit as possible. And he sent labourers into the garden, that they might work there, and gather the fruit, and pay him according to the agreement for the garden. (The master is the Father; the garden; the world; the labourers, men. The Father does no more than send His Son, the Son of Man, into the world, that men may yield fruit to the Father from the understanding of life which He placed in them.) The time came when the master sent a servant for the rents. (The Father, without ceasing, tells men that they must fulfil His will.) The labourers drove away the messenger of the master with nothing, and continued to live, imagining that the garden was their own, and that they, themselves of their own will, were settled on it. (Men drive away from themselves the declaration of the will of the Father, and continue to live, each one for himself, imagining that they live for the joys of the fleshly life.) Then the master sent one after another his chosen ones, then his son, to remind the labourers of their debt. But the labourers quite lost their reason, and imagined that if they killed this son of the master, who reminded them that the garden was not theirs, they would be left quite in peace. So they killed him.

“Thus men do not love even a reminder of the spirit which lives in them, and declares to them that it is eternal and they are not eternal; and they have killed, as far as they could, the consciousness of the spirit; they have wrapped in a cloth and buried in the ground the talent that was given them.

“What, then, is the master to do? Nothing else than drive forth those labourers, and send others.

“What is the Father to do? Sow until there shall be fruit. And this He does.

“People have not understood and do not understand that the consciousness of the spirit which is in them, and which they hide because it troubles them, brings life to them through understanding it. They reject that stone upon which everything rests. And they who do not take as foundation the life of the spirit, do not enter into the kingdom of heaven, and do not receive life. In order to have faith, and to receive life, it is necessary to understand one’s position, and not to expect rewards.”

Then the disciples said to Jesus: “Increase in us our faith. Tell us that which will make us more strongly believe in the life of the spirit, that we may not regret the life of the flesh, which must be given up wholly for the life of the spirit. For reward, you yourself say there is none.”

And in answer to this, Jesus said to them: “If you had such a faith as the faith that from a birch seed there springs up a great tree; if, also, you believed that in you there is the germ, the only germ, of the spirit whence springs up the true life, you would not ask me to increase in you your faith.

“Faith does not consist in believing something wonderful, but faith consists in understanding one’s position, and wherein lies salvation. If you understand your position, you will not expect rewards, but will believe in that which is entrusted to you.

“When the master returns with the labourers from the field, he does not seat the labourer at his table. But he bids him see to the cattle, and prepare his supper, and after this only says to the labourer: ‘Sit down, drink and eat.’ The master will not thank the labourer for having done what he ought to do. And the labourer, if he understands that he is a labourer, is not offended, but works, believing that he will receive his due.

“And so you, also, must fulfil the will of the Father, and think that we are worthless labourers, having only done what we ought to do, and not expect a reward, but be content with receiving that which is due to you.

“There is no need to take care to believe that there will be a reward, and life; this cannot be otherwise; but there is need to take care not to destroy this life, not to forget that it is given us that we may bring forth its fruits, and fulfil the will of the Father.

“And therefore always be ready, like servants awaiting a master, to answer him immediately when he comes. The servants do not know when he will return, either early or late, and they must always be ready. And when they meet the master, they have fulfilled his will, and it is well for them.

“So in life also. Always, every minute of the present, you must live the life of the spirit, not thinking of the past or the future, and not saying to yourself: then or there I will do this or that.

“If the master knew when the thief would come, he would not sleep; and so do you also never sleep; because, to the life of the son of man time is nothing; he lives only in the present, and does not know when is the beginning or end of life.

“Our life is the same as that of a slave whom the master has left as chief in his household. And well it is for that slave if he does the will of the master always! But if he shall say, ‘The master will not soon return,’ and shall forget the master’s business, then the master will return unexpectedly, and will drive him out.

“And so, be not downcast, but always live in the present by the spirit. For the life of the spirit there is no time.

“Look to yourselves, so as not to weigh yourselves down, and not to blind yourselves with drunkenness, gluttony, and cares; so as not to let the time of salvation pass. The time of salvation, like a web, is cast over all; it is there always. And therefore always live the life of the Son of Man.

“The kingdom of heaven is like this. Ten maidens went with lamps to meet the bridegroom. Five were wise and five foolish. The foolish ones took lamps but did not take oil; but the wise took lamps and a store of oil.” While they waited for the bridegroom, they went to sleep. When the bridegroom was approaching, the foolish maidens saw that they had little oil, and went to buy some; and while they were gone, the bridegroom came. And the wise maidens who had oil went in with him, and the doors were shut. Their business was only this, to meet the bridegroom with lights; and the five foolish ones forgot that it was important, not only that the lights should burn, but that they should burn in time. And in order that they might be burning when the bridegroom came, they must burn without stopping.

“Life is only for this, to exalt the Son of Man, and the Son of Man exists always. He is not in time; and therefore, in serving him, one must live without time, in the present alone.

“Therefore make efforts in the present to enter into the life of the spirit. If you do not make these efforts you shall not enter. You will say: ‘We said so and so.’ But there will be no good works to show, and there will not be life. Because the Son of Man, the one true spirit of life, will appear in each man, as such man has acted for the Son of Man.

“Mankind is divided according to the way in which men serve the Son of Man. And by their works men shall be divided into two classes, as sheep are divided from goats in the flock. The one shall live, the other perish.

“They who have served the Son of Man, they shall receive that which belonged to them from the beginning of the world, that life which they have kept. They have kept life by the fact that they have served the Son of Man. They have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, visited the prisoner. They have lived in the Son of Man, felt that he only is in all men, and therefore they have loved their neighbours.

“Whereas they who have not lived in the Son of Man, they have not served him, have not understood that he alone is in all, and therefore have not joined in him and have lost life in him, and have perished.”