SAYING 16: “Jesus said: Men think, perhaps, that I am come to cast peace upon the world; and they do not know that I am come to cast dissensions upon the earth, fire, sword, war. For there will be five who are in a house; three shall be against two and two against three, the father against the son and the son against the father, and they shall stand as solitary ones [whole ones].”
As with previous sayings of Jesus from Thomas, we need to stop and take note of the audience and the specific phrases used to fully comprehend what is – and is not – being said.
First, we should remember the distinction between “the earth” or “the world” and actual humanity. In other words, when Jesus [in Thomas] mentions the world or the earth, he is not talking about people; he is referring to the illusion of reality we perceive as the world around us.
So, when Jesus declares that he has not come to cast “peace upon the world” he’s saying that his mission is not to speak peace to that illusion of separation we live in. In fact, upon that pervasive unreality, Jesus comes to cast “fire, sword and war” so that people like us can be set free from that illusion and experience the liberty of oneness and connection with God and one another.
When he follows up this shocking statement by describing people in a house who are divided from one another – “three shall be against two and two against three, the father against the son and the son against the father…” – this is an example of how this process of connection takes place: First people become divided over these ideas of oneness and connection, which, ironically, creates momentary separation, but, inevitably, all of them will eventually “…stand as solitary ones [whole ones].”
So, some who hear the message of Jesus receive it and accept it freely. Others in the same house will reject it or resist the message. But, in the end, everyone will finally come to see and know the truth of oneness with God and one another as Christ is revealed as “all and in all” and as we realize we are “all filled with the fullness of Christ who fills everything in every way.”
Please note, also, that Jesus says he comes to “cast dissensions upon the earth, fire, sword, war,” but the structure of this statement suggests that he wants to bring “dissensions” on “fire, sword [and] war,” in addition to “the earth.”
This means that his teachings bring an end to fire and war and the sword by helping us realize that what we do to others we do to ourselves, because we are all one in Christ.
His desire is to bring transformation to everything that perpetuates the illusion of separation and division among us.
Ironically, once Jesus accomplishes all of this, what we will finally experience is peace – the very thing that he begins by saying he is not focused on bringing “to the world,” [which is an illusion] – but the peace Jesus brings is to humanity [people] who are awakened to the reality of being One with God and the Universe itself.
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Keith Giles is the author of the hot new bestseller, SOLA MYSTERIUM: Celebrating the Beautiful Uncertainty of Everything, available now on Amazon. Keith is also the host of Second Cup with Keith [a new solo podcast available now on the Ethos Radio App, for Apple and Androidand on Spotify.
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