A Few of the Unknown Sayings of Jesus

As we all know, there are many books (or
scrolls) outside the Bible that quote sayings of
Jesus. Many of these are quite close to sayings
recorded in the New Testament, while many others
are not.The Unknown Sayings of Jesus (Harper San
Francisco, 1998) is such a collection, compiled
by Marvin Meyer, one of the top authorities in the
field and a translator of the Gospel of Thomas.
Note: Because these early writings generally did
not employ capital letters, Dr. Meyer has declined
to introduce them in his translation-but feel
free to do so in your mind as you read these
excerpts.Many of these sayings are quite intriguing.
For example, "Then my mother the holy spirit
took me by one of my hairs and carried me to the
great mount Tabor." (Gospel of the Hebrews)
Mount Tabor is thought to be the site of the
Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-13), and
in Judaism as well as in the later Jewish Kabbalah,
the Holy Spirit is represented as the feminine
Shechinah-the Presence of God.Another saying from the Gospel of the Hebrews
is both touching and beautiful: "And never
be glad except when you look at your brother with
love."In a deeply mystical vein, from the Gospel
of Philip, "He said on that day, in the thanksgiving,
'You who have united the perfect light with
the holy spirit, unite the angels also with us, the
images.'" We need to meditate on the meaning
of this one for a while, but I feel it contains a
profound truth.Another statement from the Gospel of Philip
is close to the version in the Gospel of Thomas.
It reads, "He said, 'I have come to make what is
below like what is above and what is outside like
what is inside, and to unite them in that place.'"
This saying is often interpreted as being similar
in meaning to "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven," with the additional
thought of making our inner selves and
our public selves more like one another.The Secret Book of James (brother of Jesus
and leader of the church in Jerusalem) emphasizes
being completely filled with the light
of the spirit, as in "Be filled with the spirit";
"For this reason I say to you, be filled and leave
no space within you empty"; and this parable:
"For heaven's kingdom is like a head of grain
that sprouted in a field. And when it was ripe, it
scattered its seed, and again it filled the field with
heads of grain for another year."So also with you, be eager to harvest for
yourselves a head of the grain of life, that you
may be filled with the kingdom."In the Edgar Cayce readings, there are
many references to universal consciousness. He
described this as the consciousness we have when
we are on the other side, not incarnated in the
world of forms, and which we may enter into in
meditation. The readings encourage us to attune
ourselves to universal consciousness. Compare
this now with yet another saying from the Secret
Book of James: "Again, I admonish you, O you
who exist. Be like those who do not exist, that you
may dwell with those who do not exist."Two more from the same source warn
against spiritual pride:"Do not let heaven's kingdom become a
desert within you. Do not be proud because of the
light that enlightens."And this, my favorite of the sayings from the
collection-because, although it is astonishing,
it is also the most poignant: "I say to you, if I
had been sent to those who would listen to me
and had spoken with them, I would never have
[needed to] come down to earth." dr seuss cat in hat book