The Gospel of Thomas Fully Interpreted: Logion 31 to 40
Logion 31
Jesus said, “No prophet is accepted in his own village; no physician heals those who know him.”
Interpretation:
No-one who has known you as an ordinary person, will accept you as being any different to what they have known.
No-one is born a prophet, it is a skill that has to be acquired through learning and understanding.
It is said that familiarity breeds contempt and that is exactly what happens when you try to teach people who knew you before you changed. They will reject what you say because they have no faith in you, especially when you challenge their beliefs.
It is the same for a physician, because to receive healing one must first have faith in the healer.
This logion is of course about healing the souls of people.
See also in Luke 4:24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Logion 32
Jesus said, “A city being built on a high mountain and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.”
Interpretation:
The city being built is a spiritual one, and its name is New Jerusalem. It is a place where the souls of the disciples are gathered together as a single tribe.
The houses that form the city and in which each soul of the disciples dwell, are built from knowledge of Truth.
The high mountain on which the city is being built, is the Spirit of Understanding. It is fortified by faith and so cannot fall, nor can it be hidden because of the Light of Understanding.
There are seven spirits and these are likened to mountains, the first and most important and the one mentioned here, is the Spirit of Understanding.
The roots of the mountain are in and of the earth, which spiritually is the subconscious mind, and each mountain reaches high up into the conscious mind, and so it is the conscious mind that sits upon the mountain i.e. seven spirits.
Logion 33
Jesus said, “Preach from your housetops that which you will hear in your ear. For no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place, but rather he sets it on a lampstand so that everyone who enters and leaves will see its light.”
Interpretation:
Share with others the things that I teach you, do it openly and with confidence. Let them see the Light of your new Understanding. Do not be afraid to share what you have been given.
That which the disciples heard in their ears was the true interpretation of Jesus’ words, and in hearing his words they understood what was really being said.
Jesus gave the disciples the secret knowledge, but it was the disciples who gave life to that knowledge with their Spirit of Understanding, which is the Light of Life.
No-one who understands the Truth puts it in a place where that light will go out, nor do they keep it hidden from others, but rather they put it in the open in a place of faith, and they show it to others with confidence to light their way in the darkness.
See also in Matthew 5:15 KJV: Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Logion 34
Jesus said, “If a blind man leads a blind man, they will both fall into a pit.”
Interpretation:
It is not enough to have knowledge, one must also have understanding. If a man without understanding leads a man without understanding, they will both fall into a pit of ignorance and death.
To be spiritually blind is to be unable to see the Light of Understanding.
See also in Matthew 15:14 KJV: Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Logion 35
Jesus said, “It is not possible for anyone to enter the house of a strong man and take it by force unless he binds his hands; then he will (be able to) ransack his house.”
Interpretation:
The house represents the mind. The strength of a man is determined by his confidence in his beliefs. You cannot make a man change his beliefs and accept yours unless you first destroy that confidence. If you can use logic to show a man that his beliefs are in error, then you can prevent him from defending them and you can challenge all of his beliefs. Think of how Jesus dealt with those who opposed him. He used their own doctrines and beliefs against them and in doing so made their wisdom look foolish.
See also Matthew 12:29 KJV: Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? And then he will spoil his house.
Note: It should also be realized that even today, the houses of many loving souls are being ransacked by materialists, because they do not have the Truth or the wisdom to defend their Love.
Logion 36
Jesus said, “Do not be concerned from morning until evening and from evening until morning about what you will wear.”
Interpretation:
The clothes that are being referred to here are not the type used to cover the physical body, but rather they are a reference to the spiritual clothes that cover the soul.
Consider that a physical baby is born without clothes, and likewise a soul is born without spiritual clothes.
Just as material clothes are used to hide the image of the physical body, so also are spiritual clothes used to hide the image of the soul.
It is what is hidden beneath the clothes that matters, and if you care to look, you will find the most unrighteous of people dressed in the most expensive of clothes, and the most righteous dressed in rags or cheap common clothing.
It is said that ‘you must become like little children’, because little children have no shame, guilt or vanity. They do not hide their feelings, they are innocent and do not care about what others think, they are not concerned about what they do not know or understand. They are new to the world, uncorrupted and free spirited. It is only later that the world takes away all that they had and compels them to put on clothes to hide their body and soul.
Do not be concerned about what you will wear, be concerned about your soul, about the Truth of what you are, and about what is good and right. These are the things you began your journey with.
See also in Matthew 6:28-30 KJV: And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Logion 37
His disciples said, “When will you become revealed to us and when shall we see you?” Jesus said, “When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garments and place them under your feet like little children and tread on them, then will you see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid”
Interpretation:
The first part of this logion appears to be a single question that is repeated in a different way. It will be realized however that there are actually two separate questions being asked by the disciples. The two questions may also appear strange considering that Jesus is standing there in their company, so it should be obvious that the disciples are not referring to something physical, but rather to something spiritual that is hidden within.
Jesus was a spiritual being as we all are, but being distracted by the world, people become blind to the reality of their true nature, and so people only see the physical appearance of others and of themselves, they do not see that which is animating the physical body. It is when you come to know yourself that you see the souls of others, the real person inside.
Every soul at the beginning had the same image as each other, an uncorrupted image of perfect light, full of innocence and beauty. It was the first and True Image of the Self as a God.
The questions are really; when will we become as you? And when will we see you as a spiritual being?
The second part of this logion Jesus tells his disciples what they must do to also overcome the world and become like little children once more.
To disrobe is to take off the garments of judgement; both the judgements that others who are ignorant have placed on you, and those judgements that you have placed on yourself, and this must be done without being ashamed.
When little children tread on their garments it means that those garments mean nothing to them, they are not accepted as their belongings. Ignorance belongs to only to the ignorant.
The living one is the Self that is filled with Love, Truth and the Light of Understanding, which is the Life, and its soul is its True Image; its son. When you see your True Image, the one that you had in the beginning, you will not be afraid.
See also in Matthew 18:3 KJV: And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Logion 38
Jesus said, “Many times have you desired to hear these words which I am saying to you, and you have no one else to hear them from. There will be days when you will look for me and will not find me.”
Interpretation:
The words that the disciples had desired to hear many times and what Jesus was saying to them, were of course the secret teachings that had been hidden in the scriptures from those who were spiritually blind and carnal minded.
Those who were teaching the scriptures only gave the people a literal interpretation, thereby convincing them that the scriptures were all about the material world, just as the church does today. Jesus was the only one teaching the spiritual interpretation of the scriptures, which were about the world within, in other words, the Gospel of the Kingdom. There was no-one else that the disciples could receive these teachings from other than Jesus.
The disciples were not yet capable of seeing the real Jesus inside, at this point they only saw him as a physical being. Therefore these are the days when they could not find nor see the soul of Jesus, but eventually they would.
See also in John 7:34 KJV: Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.
Logion 39
Jesus said, “The Pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge (gnosis) and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.”
Interpretation:
The Pharisees and scribes were those who preserved the Word, but hid its spiritual meanings, which were the keys of understanding the Word.
The Word without the Spirit of Understanding is a dead letter. What good is any knowledge without understanding?
The Pharisees and scribes did not enter the kingdom within because it would have meant they would have had to give up their power and wealth. They did not give the people the spiritual interpretations of the scriptures, thereby not allowing them to enter the kingdom, because the people would then be free, and they would then see the Pharisees and scribes as false teachers.
Knowledge is the door; Understanding is the key.
To be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves means; be as wise as the false teachers and avoid conflict by being peaceful. Jesus referred to the false teachers as a nest of vipers, in other words, they will attack you if you challenge them.
See also in Luke 11:52 KJV: Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Logion 40
Jesus said, “A grapevine has been planted outside of the father, but being unsound, it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed.”
Interpretation:
Think of the Gospel of the kingdom as a grapevine that grows in the mind, its roots reach down into the subconscious mind.
It can be seen that there are two vines in this logion, one of them has been planted outside of the Self’s righteous desire, and therefore it is not of Truth, i.e. it is not righteous.
The true vine contains the knowledge that the Self is a spiritual being, whereas the grapevine planted outside of righteous desire contains the knowledge that the Self is a physical being, it is that knowledge that is unsound; it is like a house built on sand.
See also in John 15:1 KJV: I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.