Mysticism & Gospel of Thomas – No. 72 – Right Divorce

Verse - Right Divorce

A man said to him, "Tell my brothers to divide my father's goods with me." He said to him, "Who then made me a divider?" He turned to his disciples and said to them, "Am I a divider? Am I?"

Comment

The same saying is quoted by Luke as a warning against greed and avarice, but as the last sentence shows, it has a deeper meaning. The answer lies in the question "am I the divider?" You misunderstand me as long as you take my word that I have come to cast divisions on the earth literally rather than spiritually.

What I divide and separate from one another are people and the world, knowledge of reality and the envelopment of earthly sleep, inner being and outer appearance, in short: the self-reflection and self-realization of man, the restoration of his lost inner unity, which forms the prerequisite for his reunification with God. I am not a divider - unless as a guide to the participation of all in the Kingdom of God, from which I come - but a One who wants to and will help you to become one with the One if you turn inward and learn to live from the spirit rather than from the senses.