Gospel of Thomas - coda 14

Gospel of Thomas, coda 14

“Jesus said to them: ‘If you fast you will bring sin to yourselves, and if you pray you will be condemned, and if you give to charity you will damage your spirits.

When you go into a region and walk around in the rural areas, whenever people receive you, eat whatever they provide for you, and heal their sick.

For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but what comes out of your mouth will defile you.”

These statements attributed to Jesus go against everything that I have learned in my religious upbringing and training.  No matter what religious perspective I have been part of Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, and Sufi none have spoken of fasting, prayer, and charity in this way.  When Jesus attacks the fasting, prayer and giving of the Pharisees in the New Testament canon, he is not attacking fasting, prayer, and charity as such, but the attitudes and reasons behind them.   These outer disciplines are not connected with inner holiness, but with appearance, with ego.  If I do these things I would look better in the eyes of my community.  Or, if I do these things I will receive a heavenly reward or even an earthly one.  You’ve probably heard it said in Church Stewardship campaigns, if you give your whole tithe you financial house will come into order.  And not only that, you will prosper.  Some speak of the tithe as a seed.  The more you give to ministry in this way, the more you will prosper.

But can you imagine fasting without fasting, praying without praying, and giving without giving; your fasting, praying, and giving being egoless, without desire of recognition or reward; your entire motivation being love.  You love God completely and love your neighbor as yourself.  Your fast is an expression of your compassion for the other.  You see somebody hungrier than you and you give that person your sandwich or share it if both of you are hungry.  Your listening to somebody in need is an act of prayer.  Every one of your thoughts and actions is an offering to God without expectation or desire for anything from God.  You buy somebody a coat as easily as you would buy yourself or a family member a coat.  In this case there is no you that is fasting, praying, or giving and no other that you are fasting, praying or giving in regard of.  You are not taking on the karma of the object of your fast, prayer or giving.

Stevan Davies suggests that the fasting, prayer, and charity referred to in coda 14a relate to the three things Jesus said to Thomas in coda 13 because coda 14a follows right upon coda 13.  But then, Davies is begging an internal organization to the Gospel of Thomas that may not be there.  Certainly there is a certain internal consistency in the Gospel of Thomas as there appears to be a singular authorship and voice, but the sayings are not organized in such a way to say that one coda is referring directly to or following directly on another.  I disagree that Jesus’ reference to fasting, prayer, and charity as radical as these statements may be in opposition to traditional teachings about these practices, rises to a level of blasphemy that the apostles will stone Thomas for revealing Jesus said these things to him. Rather, I believe the kind of blasphemy Thomas would be charged with is claiming an equality of consciousness (twin) with Jesus. 

The spiritual discipline suggested by Thomas, are not the external disciplines Thomas warns against, but an internal and behavioral seeking after the Kingdom of God.  Having sought and found the condition of sinless consciousness that existed prior to creation, the pursuit of the disciplines of fasting, prayer and charity are irrelevant, and may even take one away from the experience of Oneness or unity with God.

During my time in Buddhism I spend time with Buddhist monks and nuns who while they could prepare food for others, could not prepare food for themselves, and had to accept whatever food was offered to them.    Inherent to this was an acceptance of the hospitality of others and the transcendence of personal desire.  They ate what was given to them not what they wanted.  The monks would go about their daily practices and work and just before noon would receive food that was prepared for them by the people of their community. 

I have not lived as a Christian monastic, but I have served as an itinerant pastor and missionary.  In both cases I moved to live and serve in a particular community and culture.  Part of receiving me was the acceptance of housing and food.  In the case of the housing I needed to accept what was offered.  In the case of food it really was expected that I would eat what the people provided for my family and me as they welcomed us and eat the kinds of food they prepared at church dinners.  This was complicated by my not eating certain foods as if the foods they prepared were somehow unclean.  But in this passage in Thomas and in the New Testament canon no food was considered unclean.   By living among people and abiding by their customs including their eating customs you join with them.  And once you have been welcomed and become one with them as they share with you, they are open to receiving from you what you have to offer, including the gift of spiritual healing that you have brought.

Jesus in Thomas dismisses the belief that something that you eat can defile you as a person.   Perhaps this applies to other aspects of the cleanliness laws as well.  It’s what you say and what you do that defiles you.  It’s what you think and believe that defiles you and leads you to say and do evil.  It’s not what you eat or whether you wash your hands.  What matters that you are pure of heart and mind.

This doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t eat healthy food and clean water and that one shouldn’t wash and bathe.  One does these things for health and sanitation reasons, not for moral and spiritual issues.