Third Sunday After Epiphany
Intent: Sincerity
What is the foundation of the ethical proscription to be truthful and sincere with others from a Gnostic perspective? Two readings from the lectionary of today answer this question quite clearly:
From the Collect: “we pray that we may be just and true of heart in all our dwellings with our brethren, that we may recognize within them Thy indwelling presence and Holy Light.”
And from the Gospel of Philip: “When the pearl is cast down into the mud it does not become dishonoured the more, nor if it is anointed with balsam oil will it become precious. But it has its worth in the eyes of its owner at all times. So with the Sons of God wherever they may be. For they have the value in the eyes of their Father.”
Therefore, it is because we all share in the Divinity of God that we must be truthful to ourselves and to our fellow travellers on this world. If we truly recognize the Light within others than the responsibility to be sincere with them immediately arises. As it is written in the Gospel of John, the Christ says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” The indwelling Light which is within us, the I Am, the very presence of the Holy Spirit and the Christ, is Truth itself.
The reading from Philip also points to the fact that a sincere life led with others allows for greater mutual support and spiritual progress and that the foundation of our relationships must be a recognition of the inherent dignity of others. We are never truly soiled by the bad choices we have made in our lives, and it is by being sincere about our pains and sorrows and forgiving those of others that we can find solutions to surpass them and lead a life in greater conformity with the Light within. Because a person does not fulfill their Divine Nature does not mean that they do not possess it. Therefore, a Gnostic must ever recognize in the most seemingly wretched and suffering of beings, the Sons and Daughters of God in the making.
Let us therefore pray as One Gnostic Community and One Universal Gnostic Church that we may ever have in mind the conviction that the Divinity dwells in all others, and with this conviction, the strength to always be sincere so as to allow the Light of Christ to so shine in the world as to transform it into a place where the Truth can set the sufferers free. Amen.
From the Collect: “we pray that we may be just and true of heart in all our dwellings with our brethren, that we may recognize within them Thy indwelling presence and Holy Light.”
And from the Gospel of Philip: “When the pearl is cast down into the mud it does not become dishonoured the more, nor if it is anointed with balsam oil will it become precious. But it has its worth in the eyes of its owner at all times. So with the Sons of God wherever they may be. For they have the value in the eyes of their Father.”
Therefore, it is because we all share in the Divinity of God that we must be truthful to ourselves and to our fellow travellers on this world. If we truly recognize the Light within others than the responsibility to be sincere with them immediately arises. As it is written in the Gospel of John, the Christ says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” The indwelling Light which is within us, the I Am, the very presence of the Holy Spirit and the Christ, is Truth itself.
The reading from Philip also points to the fact that a sincere life led with others allows for greater mutual support and spiritual progress and that the foundation of our relationships must be a recognition of the inherent dignity of others. We are never truly soiled by the bad choices we have made in our lives, and it is by being sincere about our pains and sorrows and forgiving those of others that we can find solutions to surpass them and lead a life in greater conformity with the Light within. Because a person does not fulfill their Divine Nature does not mean that they do not possess it. Therefore, a Gnostic must ever recognize in the most seemingly wretched and suffering of beings, the Sons and Daughters of God in the making.
Let us therefore pray as One Gnostic Community and One Universal Gnostic Church that we may ever have in mind the conviction that the Divinity dwells in all others, and with this conviction, the strength to always be sincere so as to allow the Light of Christ to so shine in the world as to transform it into a place where the Truth can set the sufferers free. Amen.