Fire

Jeremiah 23:29: "Is not my word like fire?"

Luke 12:49: "I have come to bring fire to the earth."

Have you heard about a book called "The Gospel of Thomas"? In 1945,
archaeologists found a copy of a text in Egypt that goes by the above title. The Gospel of Thomas consists entirely of proverbs by and teachings of Jesus; there are no stories in it. Did Jesus actually say any, some, or all of the sayings recorded in the Gospel of Thomas? I don't know. I wasn't there.

Some of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas are identical to things attributed to Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But there are many sayings in the Gospel of Thomas that do not occur in the canonical Gospels. Did Jesus say any of them? I can't say. But one of the verses unique to the Gospel of Thomas seems so true to the Jesus I carry in my imagination that I can believe, or want to believe, that Jesus said it.

Gospel of Thomas, verse 82: "Whoever is near me is near the fire."

What is the difference between sentimentality and love? Love knows it will have to do through the fire.

What is the difference between wishful thinking and hope? Hope takes into account the fire.

What is the difference between good intentions and good faith? Faithfulness hangs in there through the fire.

An authentic encounter with the Divine burns.

Because an encounter with the truth exposes what is fake. An encounter with beauty exposes what is unseemly. An encounter with deep reality exposes what is shallow about so much of our lives.

Spirit of the Living God, stir us, seal us, and sear us for service in Jesus' name.

Gregory Mobley
Professor of Christian Bible