Jesus and the Kingdom of God
The Gospel of Thomas is unlike any other scripture written about Jesus. It is a collection of Jesus' secret sayings that only someone who actually knew him, like his "twin", would be able to recount. Jesus, in the Gospel of Thomas, is a teacher that points his followers in the direction of the Kingdom of Heaven. He explains that the kingdom is a place with no poverty, where all is revealed and that it is already inside and around them but they must learn how to find it. The Kingdom of Heaven, according to Thomas' Jesus, is within each one of us. This concept of god and the kingdom being a part of everyone is a common theme throughout the Bible (Lk 17:21). In the third saying, Jesus tells his followers that the way to gain access to this Kingdom inside us is to learn about ourselves. The knowledge that we came from the Kingdom (GTh 49), that we are "sons of the living father" (GTh 3), and that are human bodies and lives are not worth anything (GTh 87) are the keys to the Kingdom. If we do not know ourselves then we will not enter the kingdom and we will be in poverty forever (GTh 3). He also says that once we get back into the Kingdom there is nothing that we will not understand (GTh 6b).
Because the Gospel of Thomas is just a collection of Jesus' sayings with no context many of these sayings are hard to comprehend but it gives us a valuable and different picture of Jesus. This Jesus shows us the hidden reality of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, the way to Heaven is through understanding, and once we reach Heaven all in the world will be revealed to us. Jesus, in this gospel, is different from how he is in other books. In this gospel, he is just a teacher. In most other books you must have faith in Jesus and his word for you to find the Kingdom of Heaven but the Gospel of Thomas does not give us this idea at all. Thomas just says that the Kingdom is open to those who find it (GTh 94). There is no emphasis on faith in the Lord. In this gospel, the son of the living father will be revealed to them when they know themselves (GTh 37). In most stories about the Kingdom of Heaven, there is a sense that it will happen in the future but, in this Gospel, Jesus gives of the impression that the Kingdom is here now. He said, "What you look for has come, but you do not know it" (GTh 51). He tells us that the kingdom is already here but because we do not have knowledge we just do not see it (GTh 113). He explains that the end is where the beginning is (GTh 18). It is almost as if the future and past are combined and that time is irrelevant
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 920
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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