The Twelve Powers - Disciple: Thomas - Faculty: Understanding

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Reaping Spiritual Understanding of the Rules of Reciprocity on the Highway to Holiness
Prepared by Marie Ann Shea, TSM Chaplain

Have you ever heard someone say, "That person has a heart of gold"? It is a good guess that person lives by "The "Golden Rule." What is "The "Golden Rule you ask? It is the winning rule …. "The Golden Rule."

The "Golden Rule" is found in Matthew 7:12: And Jesus said; "Therefore all things whatsoever you wish that man would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets."

July, is the month that brings forth abundant fields of golden corn. It’s a time to remind us of the "questioning" disciple Thomas who represents the "golden faculty of understanding. "Now is the time to think of the aspect of gold; think of yourself as a center of radiant golden light. Gold symbolizes your spiritual charisma and magnetism, which will establish you in sustained supply and harmony. Let us bring forth our understanding which is centered in the front of the brain.
(Twelve Powers of Man; Chapter 8, p. 83)

The disciple Thomas, earlier in Jesus’ Ministry expressed a great devotion to follow Jesus (John 11:16) and a questioning mind of "how to know the way" (John 14:5). Thomas represents the kind of mind which gradually "unfolds" by searching, inquiring, discovering…. The kind of mind which seeks Truth that it may believe (John 20: 24-31).

Thomas reveals the power of Understanding as his dominant spiritual attribute. The "doubting" disciple would search for Truth and inquire about Truth and discover Truth and then express his belief in Truth through the quickening power of understanding, using the Christ Light which dwells in all of us, that guides us to inner peace of knowing God is.

The disciple Thomas, earlier in Jesus’ Ministry expressed a great devotion to follow Jesus (John 11:16) and a questioning mind of "how to know the way" (John 14:5). Thomas represents the kind of mind which gradually "unfolds" by searching, inquiring, discovering…. The kind of mind which seeks Truth that it may believe (John 20: 24-31).

Thomas reveals the power of Understanding as his dominant spiritual attribute. The "doubting" disciple would search for Truth and inquire about Truth and discover Truth and then express his belief in Truth through the quickening power of understanding, using the Christ Light which dwells in all of us, that guides us to inner peace of knowing God is.

The Scriptures reveal to us how Thomas uses his attibute of understanding by gently pulling back the veils of the doubts and questionable thoughts within, so that the Golden Light of Mind may guide him onto the Highway of Holiness (Isaiah 35:8) and experience the true meaning of Spiritual Understanding.

In the Scripture of John 11 we find the story of a man named Lazarus. It reveals how Thomas had doubts and fears, along with the other disciples, of going to Bethany with Jesus. Jesus was called to visit Lazarus, who was very sick but His disciples feared the hostility and danger of the area in which they would travel.

In Bethany there was a Jewish faction that sought to stone Jesus and his followers wherever they traveled. In spite of this danger, Jesus told the disciples that he must go and comfort Mary, whose brother Lazarus had died. The disciple Thomas called to the other disciples saying, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." Thomas, who had not yet been able to understand the trust Jesus placed in God, did understand that, while Jesus knew the danger, His need to comfort Mary and Martha in their time of sorrow was foremost in his mind. So they all went to Bethany.

The rest of the story gives witness of faith to the Glory of God as Jesus lifted up his eyes and gave thanks, affirming, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me." Then Jesus called out with a loud voice "Lazarus, come forth." Lazarus came out of the cave after being dead four days!

This was a "faith believing" demonstration given by Jesus, for all the weeping people to experience as the Glory of God. It is in giving thanks first that the Father has heard you and then to go into prayer and claim the miracle of "answered prayer." For God hears before you ask (John 11:42). The Jews who came to comfort Mary and Martha and had seen the things Jesus did, believed on him.

There is another place in Scripture when the disciple Thomas held true to the metaphor name "Doubting Thomas." Just before the time of the Passion, Thomas’ questioning mind is revealed in John 14: 2-7. Jesus ministered to His disciples saying:

"In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.
And whither I go ye know,
and the way ye know."

But Thomas pressed for further spiritual understanding in what Jesus was saying. He asked, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" Jesus' reply came with an understanding heart and infinite wisdom when He answered,

"I am the way, the truth, and the life;
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Do you not understand that? If ye had known me,
ye should have also known my Father:
and from henceforth ye know him,
and have seen him."

Jesus further reassured His disciples; "And whatever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it."

For it is written in John 21:24-31 that on the eve of Jesus’ Resurrection, when Jesus presented Himself to the other disciples, Thomas was not with them. Later the other disciples told Thomas they have seen the Lord. But Thomas still in his doubtful frame of mind, wanted visible proof. Thomas, still seeking and questioning his understanding of Truth from a materialistic level, said unto them,

" Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." It is written, that after eight days, again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and He stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be unto you." Then Jesus said to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing."

"Thomas quickly fell to his knees crying out to Jesus, 'My Lord and My God!' …. expressing even greater understanding than the others had revealed. Jesus saith unto him, 'Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.'"

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Myrtle Fillmore writes in her book, How to Let God Help You:

"The long way, the most difficult way, back to the Father’s house is the way of experience. The shortcut is in being receptive and obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit in thought , word, and deed, putting God first in your life."

"We must not feel discouraged if, after such a glorious experience, we seem to lose the Christ consciousness and go back into old habits. We cannot really lose anything that Spirit has expressed in us. We simply let it sink into our human consciousness to do its good work, just as we plant seeds in the ground and apparently lose them in order that they may grow and bring forth many, many other seeds, and the beauty and fragrance of the budding and blossoming which come before the ripe fruit. The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ has sown in us the seeds of light and health and prosperity, seeds of the Father’s creating. These seeds are working in us to transform us completely. That which has quickened our souls and given us the joyous sense of freedom will work in every cell of our bodies to give them that same wonderful sense of wholeness and freedom." (pp. 84-85).

We call upon Scripture to Light up our path on the Highway to Holiness and fill our minds with Spiritual Understanding of God. "And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life." (1 John 5:20).

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,
And the man that getteth understanding.
And the profit thereof than fine gold.
She is more precious than rubies:
And none of the things thou canst desire
Art to be compared unto her.
Length of days is in her right hand;
In her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her:
And happy is every one that retaineth her.
Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth;
By understanding he established the heavens.
--Proverbs 3:13-19.

Historical Note:
Thomas' subsequent history is uncertain. According to the 4th-century Ecclesiastical History of Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, who evangelized Parthia (modern Khorasan).

Later Christian tradition says Thomas extended his apostolate into India, where he is recognized as the founder of the Church of the Syrian Malabar Christians, or Christians of St. Thomas. In the apocryphal Acts of Thomas, originally composed in Syriac, his martyrdom is cited under the king of Mylapore at Madras, where are to be found St. Thomas Mount and San Thomé Cathedral, his traditional burial place.

His relics, however, supposedly were taken to the West and finally enshrined at Ortona, Italy. He allegedly visited the court of the Indo-Parthian king Gondophernes, who put him in charge of building a royal palace (The Acts of Thomas states that he was a carpenter); he was imprisoned for spending on charity the money entrusted him. In addition to the apocryphal works, other similar writings related or accredited to Thomas are the Gospel of Thomas (among the Coptic Gnostic papyri found in 1945 in Upper Egypt), The Book of Thomas the Athlete, and Evangelium Joannis de obitu Mariae ("The Message of John Concerning the Death of Mary").

You can read more about the faculty of
Understanding in Charles Fillmore's book
The Twelve Powers of Man...

The Twelve Powers, Chapter 8 "Understanding"

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