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Sri Shantananda Saraswati
Om May no harm be done Here, May this desire be motivated by Love. May what is not beneficent wither to obscurity.
 
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The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is extra to the canonical gospels in the New Testament of the bible. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate that the works were buried and hidden after the declaration of a strict canon of Christian scripture, where any works that were not selected for inclusion in the new testament were ordered to be destroyed. Scholars have proposed dates of composition as early as 60 AD and as late as 250 AD as a collection of sayings of Jesus.
Our Commentary on Verse 076 of Thomas Gospel.
These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.
Gospel of Thomas saying 76 - A parable of a merchant and a pearl.
Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a merchant who had a consignment of merchandise and who discovered a pearl. That merchant was shrewd. He sold the merchandise and bought the pearl alone for himself. You too, seek his unfailing and enduring treasure where no moth comes near to devour and no worm destroys."
“Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a merchant who had a consignment of merchandise and who discovered a pearl”.
A merchant who receives a consignment of merchandise is like any other person going about their daily business and routine in this transient material world.
But, on this day he discovered, or uncovered a pearl as well as his regular consignment.
“That merchant was shrewd. He sold the merchandise and bought the pearl alone for himself.”
The point here is that the merchant was “shrewd” enough or wise enough to recognise something of enduring value amidst the day to day material that is subject to decay and is therefore lacking any lasting value.
As further proof that the merchant was committed to true value he sold everything else just to buy the pearl.
“You too, seek his unfailing and enduring treasure where no moth comes near to devour and no worm destroys."
The pearl represented something of special enduring value that a discerning person should recognise. Here the pearl represents the pearl of divine knowledge.
Jesus is saying that the merchant or person who acquires the pearl of divine knowledge is like “The kingdom of the father".
The meaning is, if you wish to attain to “the kingdom of the Father", or heaven or the Absolute, you must let go of the decaying material world and seek to acquire and understand the “enduring treasure” of Gods wisdom to make it your own then you too will attain to, or be retained in, the Kingdom of the Father.
All verses of the Thomas Gospel.
Ohm peace, peace, peace.