“When we were Jews, we were orphans, knowing only our Mother. But when we became Christians, we discovered both our Mother and our Father. Those who sow in the Winter reap in the Summer. The Winter is the world; the Summer is the world of Openness. Let us sow in the world so that we may reap in the Summer [in the world of Openness]. We pray not to prevent the Winter but to speed up the coming of Summer. Winter is not the time of harvest, but of sowing. Without seeds, the earth bears no fruit. The Sabbath is the time of resting and reaping. Christ came to deliver some, and to save others, and to redeem yet others still. He bought those who were strangers nearer and made them his own, and set them apart in their differences as One.” [The Gospel of Philip, vs 6-9]
The author of this Gospel is speaking as a Jewish follower of Christ who recognizes the value of their heritage in the Mosaic tradition, but who also celebrates the realization of Oneness, apart from that Jewish identity, through Christ who unites us all with the Father, and one another.
They now make a distinction between the physical illusion – the world – using the metaphor of Winter, and the true reality – the world of Oneness – using the metaphor of Summer. “Let us sow in the world/Winter,” they say, “so that we may reap in the reality of Oneness/Summer.” In other words, we operate within this illusion of separation, sowing the seeds of awakening here so that one day everyone might move from the cold of Winter into the warm reality of Summer, becoming the fruit of Oneness on the same Tree of Life where we all have our connection to the Divine.
“[The World] Winter is not the time/place of harvesting, but of sowing,” they remind us. So that we may not become discouraged when we notice how few of those around us have come into the fullness of sunlight. Our purpose, then, is to sow the seeds that lead to the inevitable awakening of everyone, when the Summer eventually arrives.
The coming of God’s Kingdom is as certain as the promise of Summer on a Winter’s day. “Without seeds, the earth bears no fruit,” and so we spread our seeds of Oneness freely in the hope that, when Summer has come, the fruit will burst forth in due time.
“The Sabbath is the time of resting and reaping,” they say, so that we will not be tempted to rest now—even though we have already entered into the Father’s rest for ourselves—but may find the strength to continue sowing as we anticipate the joyous warmth and light of Summer when God’s Kingdom ultimately welcome all of us home.
“Christ came to deliver some, and to save others, and to redeem yet others still. He brought those who were strangers nearer and made them his own, and set them apart in their differences as One.” [verse 9]
Let us not forget that Christ has come to deliver, save and redeem us all. He has come to gather us all into the Father’s heart and to welcome those who were far away to come near. Christ has fully embraced our own individual expressions of the Divine as infinitely beautiful facets of God’s own beautiful face and called us their own.
We belong, at last, to God, and to one another. This is our true identity. This is our true home. For in Christ, there is no longer any division or separation. He is the vine and we are the branches and no one can say where one ends and the other begins.
The book from Keith Giles, “The Quantum Sayings of Jesus: Decoding the Lost Gospel of Thomas” is available now on Amazon. Order HERE>
Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has been interviewed on CNN with Anderson Cooper, Coast to Coast Radio with George Noory, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.”
He co-hosts The Heretic Happy Hour Podcast and his solo podcast, Second Cup With Keith which are both available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Podbean or wherever you find great podcasts.
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