Gospel of Thomas Saying 20

[gnostic ken]

20 - The disciples said to Jesus,
"Tell us what Heaven's kingdom is like."

He said to them,
It's like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds,
but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant
and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.
.......................

20) The disciples said to Jesus,
"Tell us what the Kingdom of Heaven is like."
He said to them, "It is like a mustard seed, the smallest of
all seeds. But when it falls on tilled soil, it produces a great
plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky."
.........................

20.) The disciples challenged him:
Tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like.
He answered:
The kingdom is like a grain of mustard.
Although smaller than all the other seeds,
when it falls upon tilled earth,
it sends forth a great branch,
Which became a splendid harbour for birds.
.........................

20. The Disciples say to Y'shua:
Tell us what the Sovereignty of the Heavensº is like. ||
He says to them: It resembles a mustard seed,
smaller than all (other) seeds--yet when it
falls on the tilled earth, it produces a great plant
and becomes shelter for the birds of the sky.
............................

(20)
(1) The disciples said to Jesus:
"Tell us whom the kingdom of heaven is like!"
(2) He said to them: "It is like a mustard seed.
(3) <It> is the smallest of all seeds.
(4) But when it falls on cultivated soil,
it produces a large branch (and)
becomes shelter for the birds of the sky."

What does this saying - say/mean to you?

http://www.westarinstitute.org/Polebridge/Excerpts/thomas.html

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl_thomas.htm

http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/thomas.htm

http://www.ntgateway.com/noncanonical-texts/gospel-of-thomas/

[gnostic ken]

Mon Dec 8, 2003 6:50 am, I said:
To me this is talking about the Gnosis, the knowledge within.

"letterpi" said:
To experience heaven you must nurture the idea and heaven
is greater than anything that you can imagine.
Warmly, Bob S

p3nndrag0n@... said:
It starts out as a small place within, oft imperceptable at first. And under
the right conditions it grows and is tramitted to others

MP
P3nn

itsallrozee said:
---It's interesting, that the kingdom is likened to the smallest of
all seeds. as if it begins as a small still voice from within, and
becomes a tree in which the sweet birds of truth are sheltered!

vang19th said:
This is a saying of Jesus that most of us know from the three
synoptic gospels in the New Testament. I would quess that the parable
of the Mustard Seed is the best known of all the parables in the New
Testament. It´s very simple and easy to remember, not haevy with
symbolic connotations like for intance the parable of the unfaithful
servant, where your told to make friends with unrighteous money. Yet
there is a hidden spiritual agenda. The Kingdom of Haeven is the same
as the Kingdom of the Spirit. In this context the seed of the mustard
is the word of Jesus, which can activate the sleeping spirit in the
soul that has fallen into oblivion. The precondition is always that
you have part in the same spirit, which not all have. This is also
the reason why it can grow like it does (imo)

Soren

gnostictom said:
small overcoming large
David conquering Goliath
the meek inheriting the planet
the poor better off than the rich

what is this repeated thread
of the last will be first
in the gospels?

kings with all their wealth and armies
cannot conquer the kingdom of the heart,
but you can ask a child of seven days
where to find it

gnostic tom

then gnostictom said to itsallrozee:
ever dipped an egg roll into that
hot mustard in Thai restaurants?
if you are breathing in at the same time,
it can really make you cough.
full of the Spirit, no doubt.


G n o s t i c . T o m
http://www.geocities.com/gnostictom/

itsallrozee answered Tom:
and that wasabi really packs a kick as well! I love it, but why? its
a great flavour with a painful after-burst!

eugnostos2000@... said:
the phrase "like a mustard
seed" is convincingly shown by many scholars such as Starbird
to be a coded gematria reference to the Vesica Pisces.
-Steve

gnostictom answered Steve:
interesting,
if we let mustard seed = the sign of the fish
then what would the following mean?

smallest of all
prepared soil
large plant
birds of sky

if one element is defined to be symbolic,
then the rest of the elements must have
symbolism as well

either that, or some folks found the story
of 153 fish to relate back to the pythagorean
"Vesica Pisces" ratio and keep on these glasses
to imagine what else could be interpreted through
the same resonance.

gnostic tom

f8s42nutsun@... (another person also named Tom) said:
From the mystical/transformative p.o.v. I feel there are two not so hidden
teachings here that shouldn't be overlooked:
First, for me the "prepared soil" represents a reality which precludes the "man
off the street," so to speak, from attaining to that which is so precious on
their own terms, as though the highest states of being do not have their own
organic requirements of which most of us are blissfully, even haughtily,
ignorant; requirements that are not susceptible to our will, our
intellectualizing or our highest, noblest "spiritual feelings." Though
intellectual capacity and training has often been said to be an asset for the
seeker to develop, it is never regarded as the means, and may even be regarded
as an impasse if not employed with humility and grace.
Maybe, Soren, you are saying something similar where you say "The precondition
is always that you have part in the same spirit, which not all have. This is
also the reason why it can grow like it does (imo)," in which case we are in
agreement.
Second, the "large plant [that] becomes a shelter for birds of the sky,"
represents for me that which is an epiphenomenon of attainment, namely
"service." Rest assured that if one imagines oneself to have attained to the
Kingdom and yet such a one does not deeply love and serve his fellows -- even if
that love and service is of necessity anonymous and/or unapprehended -- then
such a one might want to re-asses their place on the path.
Tom

brenda@... said:
The first time I ever had hot mustard, it really freaked me out. I
thought I wasn't going to be able to breathe. Then a rush of hot air
went out through my nose.

The second time I knew what to expect so it wasn't scary anymore. LOL.

Brenda

6 Mar, 11 Clive said:

To me, the seeds are desires,The smallest of all our desires is our desire for spirituality, and comes last.
I think we have to go through many lifetimes before our soil has been tilled enough for the mustard seed to grow. First we have to experience all our desires for power, honour, wealth, knowledge etc, this I see as the preperation of the soil, then the mustard seed is planted in us and this desire for spirituality grows very big, outsizing our other desires.
By it becoming a shelter for the birds of the sky, this I read as meaning, the angelic forces of the creator come into contact with us, within our spiritual desire. 

9 Mar, 11 I said:

I see, desire is seed and the soil is lifetimes.

9 Mar, 11 Clive said:

 I do see seed as being desire.
The soil I see as being our essence, which I see as a desire to receive pleasure. At this time I seek my pleasure from spirituality.
To my way of thinking, the soil is the desire to receive pleasure and the seed is the particular type of pleasure I desire. Lifetimes are the amount of time it takes to prepare our essence, to till the soil, by experiencing many different types of desires until we are finally ready to desire spirituality.
Its like an evolution of our essence. IMO.

[gnostic ken]

Thu May 13, 2010 11:24 pm, dianapalmer said:

I'd like to share a little humor for a moment. I recently read a novel by Christopher Moore titled Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. It supposedly covers what Jesus/Yeshua/Joshua did in the years not covered by the canonical gospels. Not only was it funny, it also told the reader about the possible origins of some of his teachings. 

Now when I hear a mustard seed mentioned, I think of the following exchange from the book:

 "I've got to think that that was unethical," Joshua said. 
"Josh, faking demonic possession is like a mustard seed." 
"How is it like a mustard seed?" 
"You don't know, do you? Doesn't seem at all like a mustard seed, does it? Now you see how we all feel when you liken things unto a mustard seed? Huh?" 
— Christopher Moore (Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal) 

Carry on.

~ Diana

Fri May 14, 2010 9:36 am, Sam said:

Gist of GoT 20

Gnosis ... sprouts from an-inkling-in-mind
of folk Religion hasn't made blind.
~~Insights~~ then grow in each fertile-mind.


itso,
philo