Saying 110
Jesus said, “The one who had found the world and become rich should renounce the world.”
In this saying, as in saying 56, the world is worthless. In saying 56 it is compared to a corpse, and here it is not worth holding on to, even if one has become rich by the standards of that world.
It’s entirely possible that this saying is placed here intentionally after the saying above to point out that it is not earthly wealth that the disciples of Jesus should be seeking. One could assume that when the man who buys the field and discovers the treasure “lends money at interest to whomever he wishes”, that Jesus was offering an endorsement of the idea of amassing material wealth. So, to quickly counter that mistaken assumption, Jesus tells us that the world and its monetary system are both unworthy of our attention and desire.
The reason for this, as Jesus explains in saying 56 above, is that the world is a symbol of the lie that we are all separate and in competition with one another. To find the world is to become acquainted with a corpse. In other words, the world is dead because there is no life to be found in the concept of separation and division. Life is found in Christ, and the reality of Christ is that all are made one. So, it is connection and oneness where life is to be found.
Scholar Helmut Koester’s commentary on this saying explains it well:
“To be ‘children of the living Father’ is to be free from the society and not to be bound to the world and its values. ‘Blessedness’ does not depend upon the marks of success in this world. One’s identity should not be determined by whatever is valuable for personal status in the social fabric of the world: householder, family member, religious leader, successful business person.”[1] Ancient Christian Gospels, Helmut Koester, p. 128
Once we see the reality of the Oneness of all things in Christ, we cannot return to the world’s insistence that we are in competition with one another for money, status or other resources. Divine Oneness transforms us into people who share freely and give away our wealth to anyone in need because we truly see ourselves in the other person, and God as well.
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The newest book from Keith Giles, “The Quantum Sayings of Jesus: Decoding the Lost Gospel of Thomas” releases TODAY on Amazon. Order HERE>
Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He hosts the Second Cup with Keith podcast, and the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast.
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