August 17th.

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: `Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

The two commands weren't made into one command as much as they were made into one set of two commands that was separate from all the others, in that it was like a capsule which contained all the information about the foundation of what was coming—the new and better covenant which had new and better laws and commandments. Better because they were like God, invisible and unseen because they were pure spirit, unlike the humans who were heavy and natural, observable and possesable, containable and controllable. In fact, all the other commands could be done away with except these two, which would be the foundation upon which everything new was built.

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.

The first commandment, to love the Father with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, is more like an overriding directive, a given that is always at play whether waking, working, eating or sleeping it was always applicable, which when done become like the new definition of the man who was once an animal separated from God and unable to know Him, to His own son whose entire life and existence becomes enveloped by his devotion to his new Father. That is what God wants and expects from His own sons, what He loves to see in them, that they get it so thoroughly that their life becomes enveloped by the new definition of what and who they are, and they love that and embrace it with their whole heart because they know that nothing else matters. Above everything else, they know who they are, even if they're the only ones who do know.

"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Loving one's brother whom one knows is chosen by God for His purpose (fellow Israelite neighbor, one of the chosen people of God) as one's self is likened to offering sacrifices because it's something one does as a son as opposed to what one is (a son perpetually devoted to his true Father, the substance of the first and most important commandment). If the entire purpose of the natural creation is the Father's desire to choose from it those who will be in His family, then we'd better figure that if we know there is one who has been chosen (represented in the copy by those who were circumcised) to be in the family, their service to them is also service to God in a real way. The cause of the family is the only thing that's valuable, so doing our own will is just wasting the opportunity to promote God's interest by taking care of those who are deliberately and effectively engaged in promoting the Father's interests. Nothing else matters.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

What does it mean to love? Is it not what you run after, protect from harm and cherish as what is valuable enough to you, so much that you would do all this for whatever/whoever that might be? The animal has a built in mechanism that makes it hide from what is true concerning God. So even if it were to consider what it means to love God, and wonder if it does it, then come to the conclusion that it doesn't, it will invariably find a way to rationalize with itself and figure it actually does love God, and is therefore "safe," which is the agreement it always seeks for itself.

Jesus had just got done declaring that human marriage and family is not important to the sons of God. It is for the humans to participate in and protect, to be moral and good about—to enter into a covenant of faithfulness to another human in order to be able to control the animal urge to mate and make it into something "higher," more important and sacrosanct than it actually is—the urge to mate and selfishly produce offspring that look like you, which therefore are worthy of your love (because you planted your DNA into them and they're yours and you own them). That's fine for the humans, and it was fine for the sons of God who lived before Jesus, and therefore weren't able to become transformed by the power of the spirit to make them able to participate in the divine nature. These were the sons who were retroactively saved by the Son's work all at once when he said "It is finished," because of God's choice and judgment that they be those who were included in this group even though they were plagued by the animal nature all their life, from their birth to their death they didn't escape the curse of being a mere animal with that nature.

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

This is kind of an obscure thing that seems to just be thrown into the passage, with nothing more said about it. So who were they? They were the members of the invisible family whom the Father had sealed because He loved them and reserved them. However, they remained in the grave (sheol, hell) because of the animal nature being their definition according to the curse put onto all the humans since the beginning.

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

The animal which was allowed to totally rule the humans was "put on" the one who was totally clean, so he could become that thing (the serpent on the pole) and kill its power over those sons who waited in the ground for the Son to come and do his work for the Father, to save his true brothers who were waiting for their true brother (neighbor).

I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

None of the humans knew exactly who those were who God had loved and put His seal on so they could be remembered when the Son came, but God knew because He knows all of His own sons by name—each one in particular because they are chosen by Him to be for that purpose alone, to be in the family of the brothers of the Son. The family of God is not random, nor is it filled with strangers or animals who merely wanted to get something from their gods, like they get everything else in their lives—new cars, new husbands, houses, raises, hairdos, etc. The family of God is the only thing that is actually worth anything, because it is the only thing from the natural creation that is eternal, as God is eternal. Those who are pulled from the natural creation (God's own chosen sons) are whom God loves; everything else is disposable, replenishable by other things that come along to take its place. Each one, whether plant or animal (including the humans), exists as a separate existence that comes and goes and is ultimately all alone.

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

However, what the Son knew was that nothing mattered regarding the natural creation except his particular brothers whom he came to save, those whose lives—devoted to the Father, true servants who wanted to find Him more than anything else—had been recorded and preserved by the Father for his sake, so he could recognize from the words who his true brothers actually were. Also, the men whom he knew had been chosen by the Father to be his to teach and reveal the Father to, those he could be concerned for and love in the here and now. The third group were those who would be compelled and drawn toward those who were physically manifest in the natural world ruled by humans, to hear because they had ears to hear, and to see because they had specifically been chosen to receive eyes that could see the Father's reality—that the Son was alive, not dead, and that he was continuing the work that had been started. He was alive inside them and was teaching them how to be good sons instead of wild animals.

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

Those who presumed to be leaders, positions recognized by humans, which they inherited from other humans or chose for themselves and attained to by the opportunity they had, were being condemned by the Son as frauds because they weren't interested in finding out what the Law said about their devotion to God and their love for their brother (their neighbor). Instead they were in it for themselves, as any animal that is given over to serving itself becomes, unable to love any one or any thing but its self.

Since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

After the Son instituted the new covenant between God and His sons, the old way was no longer valid because it wasn't effective. It was and had to be all about the external, what was done outside a man even though God made clear what He expected from those who wanted to serve Him with their whole heart and life—to be genuine and honest in their devotion to Him, who didn't want to hide behind whatever excuse they had to serve themselves while claiming to be serving Him when in their heart they knew they weren't. That though was covered over with all the bullshit the humans produce in order to do what they want and still retain the agreement with themselves that they are safe, and they will get something from God—eternal life that has been diluted and changed by the humans to be acceptable to them.

While he was talking with this teacher of the law the work had not yet been finished; it was something only to look forward to, what was coming and very nearly done. How did the man answer, which prompted Jesus to say that he answered wisely? The way to become right with God was not in any of the outward things of the law, what one did.

Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

The kingdom of heaven is a deliberate delineation of the Son, to distinguish what is real and better (the kingdom of the spirit), versus what is temporary, merely a disintegrating part of the present natural creation (the kingdom of everything that is and remains natural, what is destined merely to go back into the ground from which it came). The kingdom of the spirit is not the kingdom on earth, inasmuch as God is not natural, nor is the Son, now that he and the Father have been made One. The kingdom of God's sons is populated not with natural beings like all the other animals, but spiritual beings who are being transformed from the natural to the spiritual, and their heart is changing to become what their Father intends them to be—not fearful animals who learn all kind of ways to hide but sons whose hearts are becoming pure and honest.

The way to be right with God was a matter of the condition of the person's heart before Him, whether he loved God with all his heart, mind and strength, as per the knowledge that was in him to be able to, or himself as per the animal dictates to be able only to love the self because that's all there is to an animal. That's not a condition that's relative to the person in question though, which is why it's important to ask what love is, and what loving God is. The Jews thought that being a Jew was the way to be right with God, and that was that—similar to how the christians think that being one of them (the good ones, those who have claimed their jesus god into their heart as their savior and adhere to correct facts which make them distinguishable to each other) instead of the ones who haven't, so aren't like them (xenophobia running rampant) because they adhere to wrong facts about the made up gods.

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. `Look after him,' he said, `and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.

The neighbor in the good samaritan parable was about what the particular men did, and cut right through being right with God by being something, having a particular identity in the world. Not the priest, and not the Levite, whom the Jews would have considered right with God, but weren't. The subjects of the parable were judged by what they did (their act of loving their brothers as they would want to be loved—a true sacrifice recognized by God—or hating him by ignoring him who was in need, all the while claiming rightness for themselves because of who they knew they were because of something on the outside they could see and recognize), not who they were in their heart.

"Bring me a denarius and let me look at it." They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?""Caesar's," they replied.

Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."

Money is just another thing the animals love and run after, cherish and protect. What he tells them about money is that it's not important, so if Caesar wants it, then give it to him if you owe it to him. This is not a command to give away any money you might have; it isn't even about money because money isn't important to the sons. It is about what one is willing to give to God. His portrait and inscription is invisible to the humans because He is spirit and the humans are flesh and blood (natural). The Father's inscription and His commands must be written on the sons' heart if they are to be His sons. There isn't any question about this, although it isn't a thing that can be distinguished by the humans because they being natural aren't privy to that information. Only the son in question knows because he is given eyes to see and ears to hear.

The Son is talking about how to be right with the Father, and what to love and be devoted to. Not money because money is worthless to the Sons. Most people love money because it keeps them feeling safe. You might give your money away to get something else you love more than God in return. It's about what we love, what we build up around ourselves, whether it's money, things, people, identities, respect, honor, or whatever is valuable to us. Money cannot bring the sons closer to the Father or help them find Him, so being like the human animals and spending most of your life running after money (serving the humans with one's best hours in exchange for it) isn't a thing that the sons continue to do, as per the teacher's teaching that there is something that *is* worth spending your life running after—what the humans call a waste of time—which is trying to find the God who is purposely hidden Himself to see who will run after Him, versus who will just be satisfied with the garbage that the humans say is so valuable, but is just a pile of garbage that they continue to point to and say, "This is where it is, this is what you should be running after. This is what the responsible ones do, the ones like us." And where does that get them—a spot in their made up heaven? No, a spot in the ground where they can rot and become one with the natural creation as the worms eat their flesh and poop them back into the soil, enriching it with what remains of their precious flesh and blood body they spent all their life coddling, protecting and loving.

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.

The value system of the sons is transformed along with everything else about them. They are taught by the invisible teacher that what they loved before when they were mere animals is no good in the new life. There is no value in accumulating and acquiring those things because they're what the animals love, run after, protect and cherish as things they love. The sons learn to love their Father and each other, only because of the transformation away from animal which can only love themselves, so all the things of the animal are important to them because they help them do just that—love and protect themselves. Their hearts become singularly devoted to searching for their hidden Father, and His cause, which is the family of sons He has been accumulating from the stock of humans who are alive on the earth.

When the humans are in hot pursuit of the money they feel they need to "provide for their families," ( just a justification to survive and be excused for it) there is something more banal they're actually running after. They're first and foremost providing themselves with something they feel they need for themselves—respect, honor and admiration from the humans, which is like currency among them. Responsible father and husband is a valuable type of currency the humans seek to get, which does the egotistical component of their animal nature a lot of good, like money in the bank. The religious ones even make that a part of their service to God. Here is what the Son said about it:

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

It's good for the humans, but the sons learn something different. What God does is realign their value system so that He is what they love and run after, and they become honest in their heart with Him, because they begin to know His reality and believe He sees what's in their heart. The spirit recognizes itself in the other; until the spirit has made their home in one of the humans, the only thing he can do is love himself. God gives His sons a new understanding about family, and what He puts in them allows them to love another who isn't their flesh and blood. They begin to love the family of God because the particular members of the true family have God's DNA in them, and they can see it and comprehend that.

Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.