"Man shall not live on bread alone..." (Matthew 4:4)

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4)

Is Jesus quoting Moses?

Yes, Jesus is quoting Moses here. It is very interesting that Jesus would quote Moses on a fast through the desert for 40 days. Is this a coincidence?

No. Moses fasted for 40 days:

Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant--the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 34:28)

So did Elijah:

So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. (1 Kings 19:8)

So we find precedent for such a fasting period in ancient times. It is likely that many other saints and pilgrims fasted for 40 days in ancient times.

Thus we can conclude that Jesus' fast would have a commemorative aspect: A dedication to Moses and his commitment to the Supreme Being.

We also find some additional symbolism with Moses' teachings, and his trek through the desert for 40 years with the Israelites. Jesus was drawing attention to the dedication of Moses to the Supreme Being.

Indeed, the three temptations of Jesus during this fast all include quotes from Moses. 

Here is the passage Jesus is quoting from - spoken by Moses to his followers after they had traveled through the desert:

"He [the Lord your God] humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 8:3)

What does this passage mean and what does Moses and Jesus mean by "man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD"? This is discussed below.

What does 'bread alone' mean?

Moses and Jesus were speaking of our spiritual connection with the Supreme Being. "From the mouth of God" is a metaphor. It means to rely upon the Supreme Being. Moses was speaking of the Israelites taking refuge in God.

This is also a spiritual supposition. Not needing physical food is a topic relating to our spiritual identity.

Each of us is essentially made of spirit. We are not these physical bodies. These physical bodies are temporary vehicles. They will last no more than a few decades and then they will die and begin to decompose - eventually turning into dirt.

Each of us is a spirit-person living within a physical body.

We can see this when we look at a photo of our body when it was a child. That body is now gone. Every molecule that made up that body has been replaced by new molecules - as every molecule in the body is replaced within five years.

Who is looking at the photo? And who was there when the photo was taken? Don't we say "this is me"? If the childhood body is gone now, yet we still say "this is me" - this means that we - "me" - is not the physical body. We are the personality who pervaded - who existed - within both the child body and the body we wear now.

This spirit-person is invisible to the physical eyes, because these eyes cannot see into the spiritual dimension. The spirit-person is of another plane of existence. It is of the spiritual dimension - a dimension not seen by the physical eyes. The physical eyes were designed to see a particular range or spectrum of wavelengths and not others. They see certain frequencies of light waves as those light waves bounce off of the molecules of the forms of the physical world.

This is why we cannot see any difference between a living body and a body that just died. We don't see the spirit-person leaving the physical body.

Because our identity is spiritual, we require food that is more than physical "bread." The physical body may need constant fuel in the form of "bread" in order to continue functioning. But the spirit-person that Jesus and Moses are speaking of needs something more. What is it?

What is our spiritual food?

It is the food that feeds the spiritual self.

Our spiritual food is our relationship with the Supreme Being. This is what gives each of us real life. And this is the only thing that will make us happy.

Just think about it. We are each looking for happiness in this physical world and never finding it. We look for happiness in the objects of the senses. We look for happiness by achieving wealth. We look for happiness by achieving fame and the acclaim of others. We look for happiness by having a big house. We look for happiness by achieving some goal of accomplishment.

Yet none of these physical things make us happy. We are still empty within. Even those who have the most of these things are still empty within.

So we look for happiness through our relationships with those around us. We look for happiness in our spouses, our children, and our family. And to a degree, we do find a glimpse of happiness within these relationships.

But this fleeting happiness fades as these people leave us or break up with us. Our spouse may divorce us or die. Our children will grow up and move out. Our mother and father and grandparents will all die one day. Each of these events will leave us empty and alone.

Because they are temporary relationships. Yes, we might see them in a different lifetime but we won't recognize them as we knew them before. We will have to start a brand new relationship with them and won't remember the last one we had with them.

In other words, all the relationships of the physical world - these relationships of the physical body - are all temporary. They don't last. And the happiness we are looking for in the physical world does not exist. The world only offers us the illusion of happiness. And the illusion that we are these bodies and we are permanently these physical bodies.

Who is the 'tempter'?

This description provides a combination of events and symbolic parable. We see a historical connection between Jesus' fast in the desert and Jesus' departing John the Baptist and then beginning his teachings.

But the events of the fast also take on a symbolic theme. For example, there is no mountain on the earth for which one can see every kingdom of the earth.

Similarly, this is not describing a specific person - "Satan the tempter" - as though God has lost control over this person and he has the power to deceive God and bring us over to his team.

Rather, the "tempter" is symbolic of an aspect of the physical world that constantly tests us.

This is the illusory nature of the physical world - designed by the Supreme Being. And this is "the tempter" being spoken of in Matthew 4:3.

The physical world is constantly tempting us with promises of wealth, popularity, and sensual satisfaction. All of these are magnified for someone who is attempting to serve and honor the Supreme Being.

The physical world provides a constant testing ground for the soul. These tests come in the form of temptations, which are repeatedly offered to us with promises of self-satisfaction. The test is whether we succumb to those tests during our temporary stay in the physical realm.

But this is not the case in the spiritual realm. The Supreme Being is eternal and our relationship with the Supreme Being is eternal. And we find true happiness within our loving service relationship with the Supreme Being.

We have forgotten this relationship with the Supreme Being. This is the purpose of the physical world and these physical bodies. This is the purpose for the illusory nature - "the tempter": To help us escape from and forget God.

But our relationship with Him is forever. We simply have forgotten that relationship.

This is because the Supreme Being gives each of us the freedom to love Him or not. Love requires freedom.

So those of us in the physical world are here because we chose not to love the Supreme Being.

Even so, the Supreme Being wants us to come home to Him. He wants us to return to our loving relationship with Him. This is because He loves us and He knows we will only be happy when we have resumed our relationship with Him.

And what is that relationship? It is the loving relationship we are perpetually looking for as we seek love within the physical world. This is the loving relationship we seek as we look for our soul mate and seek love with family members. We are looking for our lost relationship of love with the Perfect Person.

What does 'living on every word' mean?

"Living on every word that comes from the mouth of God" means living for the Supreme Being - taking refuge in God and dedicating our life to Him.

When we are in love with another person, we will do what pleases them. Should they want to go somewhere in particular, we will go there. Or when they say they want to eat a certain food, we go get them that food.

What are we doing as we are doing all those things? We are living off of "every word that comes from the mouth" of that person.

Yes, "every word that comes from the mouth" is an expression. It is an expression - used by Moses and even still used today - that refers to doing what is pleasing to that person. It refers to having a loving service relationship with that person.

And this is what Moses and Jesus were asking of their followers: To renew their loving service relationship with the Supreme Being.

And Jesus' lived this instruction as well. Consider this statement he made:

"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." (John 5:30)

Jesus is stating that his pleasure ("I seek") is derived from pleasing the Supreme Being. He also states this elsewhere - for example:

"For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me." (John 6:38)

Jesus is referring to his loving relationship with the Supreme Being. He wants to do whatever the Supreme Being wants him to do. This means he is living off of "every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

And because the Supreme Being wants each of us to return to our loving relationship with Him, Jesus' efforts were focused upon encouraging and teaching those around him to return to their loving service relationship with the Supreme Being. This was also clearly communicated in the most important teaching of both Jesus and Moses:

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

“Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” (Matthew 4:10)

“Away from me, satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” (Matthew 4:10)

Who is 'satan' or 'the devil'?

This ends the exchange described in Matthew during which Jesus was tempted by the devil or satan. Just who is this person that Jesus is having conversations with? Is it really a person? Is the devil really someone who is challenging God and whom God cannot control?

The event unfolds during Jesus' fast of forty days and nights. Jesus was hungry:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. (Matt. 4:1-2)

"The devil" is introduced in the text as "the tempter", translated from the Greek word πειράζω (peirazō) - meaning "to try, make trial of, test:"

The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." (Matt. 4:3)

Jesus responded by describing our identity as spiritual and our relationship with the Supreme Being:

“It is written : ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4)

But next we find that "the tempter" - the "devil" - now takes Jesus to "the holy city" - apparently Jerusalem:

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. (Matt. 4:5)

And then he tempts him with another possibility:

"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" (Matt. 4:6)

Jesus responded to this latest temptation:

“It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Matt. 4:7)

And this is precisely what "the tempter" is asking of Jesus - to put God to the test. And what is putting God "to the test" mean? We'll discuss this below.

Next "the devil" takes Jesus to another place and tempts him with another possibility:

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." (Matt. 4:8-9)

So we must ask: Who is this person who can not only tempt Jesus with turning stones to food but can take him many miles away to Jerusalem and then also take him to a mountaintop to show him "all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor"?

Who has this kind of power of transport? And who has the power to give someone "all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor"?

And what about God? Does God not have such power? Doesn't God have the power to remove those powers of satan? Doesn't God have the ability to strike down the devil? Why, then, is the devil still around?

Who has 'all this' to give to Jesus?

Some sectarian institutions and their teachers threaten us that "the devil" or "satan" is a person who has somehow gotten out of God's control and is now going around tempting people. They also teach that all the suffering in the world is caused by "the devil" or "satan." That he has somehow gotten out of control and now he is going around messing things up for us and God.

It makes no sense to say that there is the existence of a Supreme Being - who is all-powerful - yet someone has gotten out of His control. As if God - which means omniscient - cannot control His creation.

This is an atheist concept: If someone has gotten out of God's control there is no God: A God who is not in control is not God.

This is hypocrisy. To say there is a God but God lost control over part of His creation is a nonsensical doctrine.

The reality is that there is a Supreme Being and He never loses control. There is never anyone out of His ultimate authority and control.

Is anything out of control?

This would mean that such a "tempter" or "devil" or "satan" is ultimately within God's control.

And this means that all the temptations that we are presented with are ultimately taking place with God's authority and permission.

The reality is that the Supreme Being arranged temptation. It is part of His energy that deceives us into thinking we will be happy if we act in a self-centered fashion within the physical world.

Temptation is ultimately designed by God to give us freedom of choice. Each of us has the freedom of choice to act in a myriad of ways.

Ultimately, we each have the choice to love others or love ourselves. We have the choice to be God-centered or self-centered.

We can also waiver between the two, in various ways. These are part of the choices each of us is given by the Supreme Being as He created us.

God created each of us to love Him and serve Him. But love requires freedom. We cannot be forced to love someone.

So the Supreme Being created each of us with the option to love Him or love ourselves.

The option of self-centeredness also has a number of gradients. We can still be self-centered and inflict less harm to others. Or we can not care at all, which can lead to becoming violent and even hateful.

Loving others also has gradients. These range from sacrificing oneself to help others to just trying to be kind when possible. We can love others more or less.

Regardless, this world provides choice: It requires us to make a choice in one respect or another - and at one gradient or another.

Isn't temptation a form of choice?

As such, the physical world continually gives us the choice, through temptation.

Temptation is set up through the mind and the senses. The senses, through nerve conduction and neurotransmitters, feed the mind physical attractions. And the mind concocts designs for us to try to enjoy those attractions.

The combination of these sensual attractions and the mind's concoctions create the temptations that pull us into the physical world's net.

And this net of the physical world keeps pulling at us - constantly giving us the choice of remaining away from the Supreme Being. This, as stated in Matthew 4:3, is what a test is: A choice.

Yes, we can certainly personify this system - as it has been personified by ancient teachers. And it is not incorrect to say that the Supreme Being has others help Him manage things. Yes, the Supreme Being has many servants and those who don't serve Him - who help maintain the physical world from different aspects.

For example, there have been many cruel leaders in the past who treated their subjects with painful consequences. Where was God in these circumstances? Was God not around when millions of Jews were persecuted by German leaders? Was He not around when millions were slaughtered and raped by African overlords? Did He lose control during these times as some institutions like to teach?

Certainly not. None of those evil leaders were challengers to God. None of them are out of God's control. Yes, each abused the power they were given by virtue of their own consequences, and they will each have to suffer the consequences of their actions, just as their actions executed the consequences of others' previous actions.

What we do not understand about these circumstances is that we are not these physical bodies. They are temporary vehicles. The pain we feel when they are damaged are nerve impulses to our brains. Just as the driver of a car is not harmed when the car breaks down, the spiritual person within is not harmed when the body is harmed or killed.

We might compare this to a video game. The video game icon we identify with might be shot or even killed, but we are not shot or killed. We simply turn off the game and walk away from the computer. In the same way, the spirit-person leaves the physical body when it dies.

So these experiences that produce pain within the physical body are merely teaching opportunities, just as being shot in a video game can teach us.

The bottom line is that the physical world - the physical senses and the mind - was set up perfectly to offer us temptations that allow us to exercise our freedom to not love God.

Did God create this world as a place of choice?

Ultimately, in order to provide us with the choice not to love Him, the Supreme Being created a separate world - a virtual world - to allow us the ultimate dimension of choice. Here we get to make choices regarding love and selfishness. But we can also choose to completely forget God, or even deny God's existence.

This physical world was created for those of us who chose not to love Him to play out our self-centeredness without having to see Him.

Why would He make the choice complete? Because only this will allow us to make a real choice to love Him out of freedom. The option of not loving Him has to be real and it has to be executable. What is the benefit of having choice if we have no way of exercising one of the options?

So the Supreme Being created this dimension - the physical world - in order for us to exercise our choice not to love and serve Him.

And these physical bodies are the vehicles that we use to access the physical world. These bodies are not us - they are vehicles we utilize temporarily. They are like a car a person gets in and drives for a while. After a few decades, the physical body dies and we move on.

We are spiritual in essence. But our spiritual identity and the Supreme Being are hidden from the perception of the physical body and mind. Why?

To give us the complete freedom to exercise our desire not to love and serve God. If God was ever-present to our physical eyes and mind as He is in the spiritual realm then how could we play out our fantasies to be independent of Him and seek out our personal pleasure, fame and glory?

We couldn't. If we were faced with His presence we'd be unable to ignore Him.

We might compare this to how parents will give a child their own bedroom. While they own the house and have complete control over the house including the bedroom, they give the child their own room so the child can have some privacy and not have to have their parents looking over their shoulders all the time.

But this privacy is only perceived. The parents can go into the room anytime they want. They can look through all the kid's stuff as they want. But they may not because they want to teach the child respect. They may respect the child's privacy as part of their raising of the child.

Just as the child is given their own room and the perception of privacy, the Supreme Being has given each of us the physical world and this physical body and mind to act out our self-centered desires. The perception of privacy from Him gives us the freedom to choose as we want, without having Him "in our face" so to speak.

After all, how could we make an objective choice to love God if we couldn't get away from Him?

And just like the child's bedroom is always within the control of the parents, the Supreme Being is always in control over the physical world. He just set up things so that the world seems independent from Him, and yet still feeds back to each of us the consequences of our various choices.

And this is why there is suffering in the world. It is not because some guy (devil or satan) got out of control. It is because the Supreme Being designed the physical world to produce precise consequences for our activities. When we do something good, there is a good consequence, and when we do something that harms another, we get harmed in return.

This consequence system is designed to teach us, just as the best way of parenting has been shown to be consequence training rather than physical discipline.

So while the physical world is set up by God to allow us the freedom to choose, it also teaches us. Why? Because our innate identity is spiritual - and our innate behavior is loving. So the physical world has been designed to point us towards our innate spiritual nature.

But it still gives us the ultimate freedom to choose whether we want to love and serve God or love and serve ourselves. This is God's perfect design.

Is this a symbolic conversation between Jesus and the 'devil'?

There may be a practical element to Jesus' fast and walk through the desert. But this exchange between Jesus and the devil is certainly metaphorical - and symbolic.

The symbolism used in the event that played out between Jesus and "satan" portrays our freedom of choice precisely. It illustrates how Jesus was given the choice to exercise his self-centeredness, by being offered the notion of seeking wealth, power, and fame within the physical world.

But Jesus did not choose those. He chose to love and serve the Supreme Being - and "worship" Him - rather than "testing" God.

This is the teaching purpose of this event portrayed using personification and symbolism. We each have this choice to make: we can love and serve ourselves by chasing the various concoctions of our mind as fed by the senses - and executed through the chase for wealth, fame and power.

Or we can love and serve the Supreme Being. We have that choice.

This is the lesson provided by this event, and this is the sum and substance of the real teachings of Jesus. Jesus came to deliver to us this message that if we make the choice to love and serve the Supreme Being as our Best Friend and Soul Mate, we will be fulfilled, simply because this is our innate spiritual nature.

This is why Jesus states clearly:

"‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’"

*Here is the translation of this verse from the Lost Gospels of Jesus:

“Go away, enemy of God! For it is written, “You shall worship the LORD your God and Him only shall you serve.” (Matt. 4:10)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:1-3)

What does 'blessed' mean?

The word “blessed” - translated from the Greek word μακάριος (makarios), which means to be "blessed" or "happy" - imparts Jesus' confirmation that this is a state that brings joy.

While some versions of the Bible translate "Blessed are the poor in spirit" to simply “Blessed are the poor,” the Greek word πνεῦμα (pneuma) - which means according to Thayer's lexicon, "the spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated."

In other words, Jesus is not speaking of being financially poor. Being "poor in spirit" is distinctly different than being "poor" - or having a lack of material wealth.

What does 'poor in spirit' mean?

This phrase is describing a consciousness of humility.

To be "poor in spirit" means to have a general disregard for oneself. It means to have abandoned the consciousness that I am the most important person.

This means abandoning the consciousness of self-centeredness. That the world revolves around me and my family, my house, my region, my heritage, and so on.

This contrasts with what we see today throughout the physical world: We see practically everyone is in a consciousness that the world revolves around me. We think we know so much. We think we are so great. We consider ourselves the superstar, the boss, or the best at something. We think that the world is our 'oyster' and everything is meant for our enjoyment.

This consciousness can pervade if we become philosophical, should we try to speculate our way to knowing the Truth. We think we can figure it all out with our tiny brain.

This essentially boils down to pride: We think we are self-sufficient.

What about self-esteem?

Many today teach the importance of self-esteem. They teach that we should love ourselves, and cherish ourselves, and believe that we are the greatest. How does this help us?

Some promote pride as the solution to all sorts of psychological issues: They recommend "self-love" and feeling that we can do anything we want to do. They recommend we need a dose of "I am incredible" and we will be fine.

Such a doctrine sounds fluffy and nice. But the reality is that self-love only leads to self-centeredness. And this is contrary to Jesus' teachings.

The world is not our "oyster." The physical world is a place of learning. We are in a type of classroom, one that teaches us about love and consequences.

Here we have the freedom to express ourselves as we wish according to the culture and restrictions therein. But the world teaches us back with reactions, laws and consequences.

Some of the meanest consequences come as a result of harming others in some way. Often this is a result of our acting with pride and self-centeredness. 

When we are proud of ourselves, and we are focused on ourselves (self-centered) we become oblivious to how our actions may harm others. In our attempts to get what we want, we may remove an opportunity for someone else.

Developing humility as we live in this world will allow us to learn more and grow more.

Humility begins with understanding our limitations. Understanding, first that I don't know it all. Our mind is only a storage device for impulses coming from the senses and the nervous system. It is not all-knowing. Our mind is like a computer hard drive. It stores what is fed into it.

Thus the mind has no entrance into the spiritual realm because the spiritual realm is not perceived by the physical senses. Therefore the mind has no entrance into the spiritual realm.

Our physical lifetime is strung together with one lesson after another. We emerge from the womb in pain - crying and gasping. Throughout our childhood, we deal with life's frustrations, pains and struggles as we try to cope with other children, our parents, and the general demands of the world. We deal with the ‘growing pains’ of peer pressure, school, and the demands of our family, versus our inclinations for freedom and independence.

As our bodies rise to adulthood, we find ourselves having to cope with learning a way to survive on our own. We learn to maintain jobs, finances, spouses, family and everyday aches and pains. 

Life becomes serious in adulthood, and survival is tantamount. In the early adult years, we may work hard at jobs with little future, and take care of children who are themselves confused about the world. 

As our bodies grow older, they begin to become diseased. We are treated with aches and pains inherent in temporary bodies with limited lifespans. Bones, teeth, and muscles all age and weaken. Our eyesight weakens. Our hearing begins to fade. Our memory begins to falter. All of these elements make for a downslide towards the death of this body.

At the time of death, whatever wealth or assets we have accumulated - including our name, reputation and status - all disappear. In one instant - after a lifetime of struggles to accumulate them - everything we thought was ours is snatched away at the time of death.

Where does our self-esteem get us in this context?

The various hopes and dreams we might have about becoming happy in the physical world through the acquisition of fame, wealth, family, and so on are simply that: dreams. They are illusions. These things do not bring happiness. These things only bring more emptiness. They only bring more sorrow. Why?

Because we are not these physical bodies. These bodies are vehicles we drive temporarily. It is like a driver wanting to relieve his hunger by filling up the car with gas. Because the driver is not the car, filling the car with gas will not fulfill the driver.

In the same way, because we are spiritual in essence, physical things cannot fulfill us.

Rather, these physical bodies and this physical world facilitate learning.

Yes, this world and this temporary physical body were designed to teach us. But only if we are ready to learn.

How does humility help us enter the 'kingdom of heaven'?

Now consider what can be taught to a person who thinks they know it all, compared to someone who is humble. The know-it-all doesn't think they need to learn anything. They think they are just fine. So they learn little.

But the humble person is capable of greater learning because they are not so proud of what they might know already.

One might compare it to a cup. If the cup is full, nothing more can be poured in. But a cup that is empty can be filled easily.

In the same way, a humble state allows a person to learn about spiritual life.

Should we at some point realize the futility of thinking we are the center of the universe, we are ready to embrace our innate humble consciousness. This is not fake humility - acting humble. This is feeling humbled.

It is at this point that we become “poor in spirit.” We in effect, giving up on our consciousness that the universe revolves around me, and that I know it all.

At such a point, we are ready to begin our re-entry into the “kingdom of heaven.” 

The 'kingdom of heaven' Jesus is referring to is the place where love of God is the primary consciousness, leaving pride and self-centeredness with no place in our heart. It is a world where love replaces greed. It is the realm where our lust for 'mammon' (or materialism) is replaced by a thirst for pleasing God. 

That 'kingdom of heaven' is a world where we are truly happy because our care and concerns are about loving and serving our Best Friend and Soul Mate, the Supreme Being.

True humility is the realization that our self-centered nature has created our separation from God, and that we do not have the power to change this nature alone. We need His help.

Only in this condition can a person truly take refuge in the Supreme Being and allow Him to guide us. Once we understand that we have no strength of our own, and we need our relationship with Him in order to be happy, we become equipped to enter "the kingdom of heaven."

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

Is mourning the same as depression?

Some might consider mourning as depression. Is this the kind of mourning Jesus is talking about?

Depression is not what Jesus is referring to. Depression can be the result of mourning, but mourning is based on losing someone we care for.

The word "mourn" here is being translated from the Greek word πενθέω (pentheō). According to Thayer's lexicon, this means "to grieve" or "to lament" for someone.

Thus when Jesus says, "those who mourn," he is referring to those who have lost someone. They had a spouse, family member, or friend, and lost them. 

This occurs when the spirit of that person leaves the physical body at the time of death.

On the other hand, "blessed" is being translated from the Greek word μακάριος (makarios), which means "happy" according to the lexicon. 

How can a person be mourning and be joyful at the same time?

What is the source of 'mourning'?

The physical body is designed for distress - physical suffering in many forms. But this physical body is not who we are. We are the spirit-person within. We are a spirit-person temporarily living within and falsely identifying with this temporary physical body.

As we put our faith in our physical body, our physical family, and our physical relationships, we are met with distress. This is because each body and each material object, one by one, becomes destroyed or we otherwise become separated from them.

Mourning is different. As we lose our family members or the relationships of this world, we are left mourning for their loss. We are left with an emptiness. This is a natural feeling because we were designed for relationships.

Mourning comes from becoming attached to another physical form of this world. When that physical form dies, we are let down. (Every physical body dies, and the soul or spirit-person leaves.)

Mourning can be 'blessed' according to Jesus because it can bring us to a point where we experience an emptiness that allows us to sincerely reach out to God.

How can we be comforted?

The solution that Jesus provides is to realize this world is not our home. This is a temporary place, full of hostility and calamity - but also a place of learning.

This world is intended to teach us that we are empty without our innate relationship with the Supreme Being. We are nothing without God because we were created to be God's loving servant and friend.

And only when we begin to realize that this world is not our home and that we can be comforted if we seek refuge in our relationship with the Supreme Being will we be relieved of the mourning within this physical world.

Should we become humbled with the realization that this world is not our home and we need to return to God, we will be comforted.

This is Jesus' message. 

Jesus was not preaching the importance of family life. He did not preach that we should take comfort in the family of this temporary physical body. While families can certainly help comfort us during times of physical and emotional distress, they are not the key to being comforted spiritually.

Being “comforted” as spoken of here comes only by way of a loving relationship with God. In reality, we do have a home, and we do have a loving family and a loving Father we can turn to and rely upon.

We will find comfort when we put ourselves at the feet of the Supreme Being. We can take refuge in the Supreme Being, and we will find our solution. This is Jesus' message. As we put our love and care upon God, we are comforted:

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness ..." (Matthew 5:6)

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:6)

What does Jesus mean by 'righteousness'?

The word "righteousness" here is being translated from the Greek word δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē) which means, according to Thayer's lexicon, "in a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God."

"The condition acceptable to God" means being pleasing to God. Why would being pleasing to God cause one to "be filled?"

The word "be filled" is being translated from the Greek word χορτάζω (chortazō) which means "to fill or satisfy" according to the lexicon. Each of us is looking for fulfillment and satisfaction. We seek fulfillment as we seek sexual pleasure, fame, wealth, family, relationships with others, the approval of others and so on.

In fact, each of us is seeking fulfillment. But we are seeking fulfillment in the wrong place.

What does he mean by 'hunger and thirst'?

Jesus is not referring to the physical body being hungry or thirsty. He is speaking of spiritual hunger and thirst. Hunger and thirst by the soul.

This might be compared to a driver who is hungry taking his car to the gas station and filling his car up with gas and thinking that when the car is full of gas he will no longer feel hungry.

Why isn't the driver full when the gas tank is full?

Because the driver is not the car.

In the same way, we are not these physical bodies. These physical bodies are like vehicles, and we are the driver of this vehicle, the physical body.

This is proven by hundreds of thousands of clinical death cases where a person rises above their body and looks at it from above. In clinical death, the person separates from the physical body because the person is not the physical body.

We are spiritual in nature, not physical. Our bodies are temporary - they will each die in a few decades. But we - the spirit-person within - will live on after the body dies.

Where does the spirit-person within come from? The spiritual dimension.

For this reason, the physical things of this world do not satisfy us. Just as Jesus is teaching, we need spiritual "food" to fulfill us.

What will 'fill' us?

It is a loving relationship with the Supreme Being.

No matter our predicament in life, each of us is seeking love. We seek love by trying to impress others. We seek love by dating. We seek love as we marry. We seek love by having a family. We seek love by wanting our kids or our spouse or our family to care about us. We seek love by seeking the approval of others.

But the "love" of this physical world is only temporary. It comes and goes. It is conditional: contingent upon what we can give the other person. When they no longer need us, their so-called love typically goes away. Or their body dies and they leave us.

But the love of the Supreme Being is unconditional. He loves us whether we love Him or not. He loves us and cares for us whether we care about Him or not.

A loving relationship between ourselves and the Supreme Being is the love we are always seeking. It is the perfect, unconditional love we are always pining for.

And pleasing the one we love is important to any loving relationship: This is the stuff of the loving relationship that exists between each of us and the Supreme Being.

Just consider what we do when we want to please the one we love. We bring them a flower. We praise them. Certainly, our beloved is pleased with such expression of our love.

When this expression of love is pointed towards the Supreme Being - it fulfills us. It fulfills the spirit-person within the body. This is spiritual life, and this is the only thing that can completely fulfill our need for love: expressing our love for the Supreme Being. 

This is why Jesus stated, "for they will be filled."

This is also confirmed by Jesus' most important instruction:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)

What is the 'mercy' Jesus is referring to?

Jesus is discussing both God's mercy upon us, and the mercy that we may choose to extend to others.

We are each a child of the Supreme Being. We are His individual creations. Though He has imbued us with individuality and freedom of choice, we are still of the same nature as He. Being of that same nature, we have the same propensity for love, mercy, and compassion.

Though we do not maintain the perfection of these propensities as does the Supreme Being, we nevertheless have the ability to advance a portion of these propensities to those around us.

While requesting the Supreme Being's mercy and compassion, it is contradictory to not extend mercy and compassion to others. This was also expressed by Jesus in a statement referred to as the “golden rule:”

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12)

This concept prevails elsewhere among Jesus' teachings, with mercy coming in the form of forgiveness:

"For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:14-15)

Does God have mercy on us?

Everything we are and have are products of God's mercy.

For example, through His mercy, He bestowed upon us the freedom of choice. Each of us can make so many choices for ourselves, independent of Him. Even though God could dictate, He doesn't. He gives us a myriad of choices in terms of our activities, goals, and decisions. He has even given us the choice to ignore Him if we want.

Certainly, these choices are required for love. No one can be forced to love. As such, God gave us the choice to love Him or not. And yes, God wants our love. But we can give it or not. That is our choice, and that choice is the product of His mercy.

These choices are reflected throughout our lives. We can choose to act in a way that hurts others or act in a way that is kind and merciful to others. It is our choice.

Inherent in our choices is another type of mercy. The ability to change. Not only does God allow us to act in a self-centered fashion. He also allows us to become better. He allows us to change, and learn to care about others. He also extends His personal assistance towards helping us make those changes in the long run.

The Supreme Being's mercy is reflected not only in allowing us to change, but also in setting up the situations that allow us to change. This world delivers so many consequences for our actions - which in turn teach us and encourage us to change for the better.

So God not only provides the mercy to forgive. He also provides the mercy and the space to change.

Does self-centeredness oppose mercy?

Actions that hurt others simply reflect our choice not to recognize the Supreme Being. They reflect self-centeredness.

This is because self-centeredness is the polar opposite of mercy.

Thus when we choose to be merciful to others by caring about others, we are choosing to align ourselves with the merciful nature of the Supreme Being. This is part of the merciful nature we inherited from Him.

Such a merciful nature towards others attracts the Supreme Being. The Supreme Being is attracted by activities that are merciful to others because He Himself is merciful.

Therefore, when we care about others and are merciful to others, we naturally become closer to the Supreme Being.

But being merciful to others includes understanding who we are. In other words, we should understand who we are and who others are.

What if a starving man came to us and asked us for food. Would we give him a can of gasoline to fill his car with? How would that help the man's hunger?

In the same way, realizing that our identity is spiritual is an important aspect of mercy. Certainly helping others with their physical needs is being merciful. But seeing each other as spiritual means understanding that we need spiritual food.

Spiritual food means re-establishing our lost relationship with the Supreme Being. We can help each other achieve this by praising God and reminding each other that we can only be happy if we re-establish our loving relationship with Him. This is confirmed in Jesus' teachings:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

What does being 'pure in heart' mean?

The word "pure" here is being translated from the Greek word, καθαρός (katharos). This means, according to Thayer's lexicon, "purified" and "free from corrupt desire." This could mean "blameless" and "innocent" as well. 

But Jesus is not teaching to those who are perfect. Why would he need to teach to those who were perfect?

Rather, he is asking that we strive to become pure in heart.

Actually, the word "heart" is being used metaphorically. The Greek word καρδία (kardia) can literally mean the heart organ. But it can also mean "the center and seat of spiritual life" and "the soul" according to the lexicon.

This means that Jesus is not addressing our physical circumstances. He is not speaking of taking a bath and getting the heart of our body clean. He is speaking of becoming spiritually purified.

This purity of heart is pureness of consciousness - something that comes from the soul. Jesus taught his followers how to attain the character of pure in heart:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

Can we see God?

Seeing God is one of the central challenges many of us have regarding God’s existence. For many, seeing God is a requisite for belief in His existence. For this reason, many scientists refuse to believe in God’s existence - due to what they consider a lack of physical evidence. For this reason, many people do not believe in God’s existence.

Some even challenge God: 'If You exist, show me.'

This is the opposite of faith. The word faith means to trust in someone. While we may configure faith to mean a belief in something we are not sure about or cannot see, the true definition of faith is to have trust and confidence in someone. 

If we do not know that God exists, we cannot have faith or trust in Him. We simply cannot trust someone we do not know even exists. Otherwise, we are talking about blind faith, which leads to fanaticism.

However, if we assume that God exists because deep within our hearts we know there is someone out there Who cares for us, Who created us, and Who is our ultimate Father, we have the tools for developing trust (faith) in God. 

But if we do not want to assume His existence, then we are lost and wandering. 

This assumption of God’s existence can require a lifetime of soul-searching. Or it may simply require a split second realization that the Supreme Being loves and cares for each of us.

If we choose to assume God does not exist, then we are left with a purposeless existence. We are left with the assumption many scientists have made, leaving life an empty, random, accidental existence that started with a big bang and an evolution of chance.

Yet this assumption - of the big bang and accidental evolution - requires blind faith, because we do not know that life was an accident. To assume it was an accident - even though there is tremendous order and synchrony within the universe that opposes the notion of chaos - would be an act of blind faith. Because there is absolutely no proof that creation was an accident. It is only a theory born from some man's mind.

Why doesn't God show Himself to us?

The fundamental issue here is if God exists, why doesn’t He prove it to us? Why doesn’t he show us all, without a doubt, that He exists?

The problem with this question is that it assumes that we are the center of the universe and God revolves around me. As if He has some responsibility to reveal Himself to me.

But the reality is that everything revolves around the Supreme Being - including ourselves. Each of us is a tiny, tiny speck compared to the Supreme Being. Why should He have to appear to us? Does He owe us anything? No.

The reason we don't see the Supreme Being is that He hides His existence from us. He doesn't want us to see Him. Why?

Because we wanted to get away from His existence. This is why we reside here, in these temporary material bodies, on this planet. As detailed very carefully in Genesis, we rejected the request from God not to eat the forbidden fruit. And what is the forbidden fruit symbolize? The desire to be like God. Consider what the serpent said to Eve about eating the forbidden fruit:

"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:1-5)

Because each of us decided that we would turn our backs on God and we wanted to be like God, God gave us a separated place where we could pretend we are the center of the universe and everything revolves around us. This is our consciousness - we are each thinking of ourselves as the greatest - the best - the most important. This is God's position. And we are envious of that position.

The reason we cannot see God with these physical eyes is because our eyes were designed not to be able to see Him. This design allows us to pretend that God doesn’t exist. 

This design of the temporary material body allows us to play out our self-importance for a while, to see if we can be happy without Him. Certainly, if the material eyes were designed to see Him, it would be hard to pretend He doesn’t exist.

In other words, if we could see Him with these eyes it would destroy our illusion.

This illusion that He doesn’t exist was created to give us our freedom of choice. Each of us has the freedom to love Him or not. Since we don't see Him with these physical eyes, we can ignore Him.

As soon as we abandoned our trust in God, things went downhill immediately. In the story of Adam and Eve, notice that as soon as the forbidden fruit was eaten, there was a realization of nakedness, and suddenly they had to wear clothing. This wearing of clothing symbolizes the assumption of a temporary material body - to hide the purity of the living being.

How can being 'pure in heart' help us see God?

The purity of the living being - the spirit-person within this body - lies within the humble trust and faith in God’s existence. Without that purity; without that trust in God, we are simply lost and blinded by our own desires and aspirations to become godlike.

It is for this reason that Jesus states that those who are “pure in heart” will see God. Those who have humbly forsaken the notion that they are godlike, and that they can enjoy life without God, gradually become purified in heart as they undergo the process of giving their heart to the Supreme Being.

With this purity comes an increasing vision of the Supreme Being. It is not that there is a certain moment when we pass some sort of test and we qualify to see Him. He becomes more and more visible to us as our hearts become increasingly pure. 

There is an expression that says “it takes one to know one.” This is applicable to spiritual life. One cannot gain entrance into the spiritual world without the guidance of someone who already knows and loves God. This is what Jesus offers his followers.

In order to see God, we have to enter into the consciousness of His kingdom. Everything is within the kingdom of God because He made everything. But we can choose whether we want to be in that consciousness or not.

The inner chamber of the kingdom of God - where the Supreme Being exchanges loving relationships with those who love Him - is a dimension that can be accessed from where ever we might be located.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness..." (Matthew 5:13)

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." (Matthew 5:13)

What does 'salt of the earth' and 'saltiness' mean?

In this part of Jesus’ sermon - often called the "Beatitudes," Jesus speaks to his audience with an analogy comparing salt to our basic spiritual nature.

Jesus is comparing our spiritual composition to salt. Just as the earth and oceans are largely composed of salt, our composition is of spirit. Just as pure salt is salty, our pure essence is spiritual in nature.

Though our composition is spirit, living a spiritually oriented life is a choice. We can choose to live a spiritual life or choose a life of self-centered materialism.

Our 'saltiness' can be lost if we reject our relationship with God in lieu of chasing self-centered, materialistic dreams. Chasing materialism effectively loses our spiritual nature through a focus on obtaining the temporary things of this world.

Jesus confirms this: "It is no longer good for anything ..." 

We can confirm this on a practical basis because everything we achieve in the form of materialism is lost at the time of death.

At the time of death, we lose all the money we've accumulated. We lose our status, our fame, our positions - even our physical family. When we become disconnected from our physical body we also become disconnected from all our materialistic accomplishments.

Why do we lose these things?

Because we are not these physical bodies. These physical bodies are temporary and they are changing. They are made of atoms and molecules that are constantly undergoing change. Within five years we will recycle every atom and molecule. We will in effect, change bodies every five years.

Just take a look at one of your baby photos. Who is that in the photo? Is that you? It is a picture of a body, but that body is gone now. All the atoms and molecules are different from the body you wear today.

Who has survived through the changes in the body? It is the spiritual person within. We are each spiritual beings who are temporarily occupying a physical body.

This means our core nature is also spiritual not physical. This is why people are not satisfied with the material things of this world. Because material things are not of the same essence we are.

If we act outside of our spiritual nature, we will not be acting within the context of our core character.

What is our 'saltiness' then?

Our 'saltiness' is our spiritual character. And the foundation of our spiritual character is to love and please the Supreme Being.

If we do not live our lives true to our character - if this character is lost somehow - then we suffer the consequences of constant loneliness, emptiness, and darkness.

We in effect, lose our natural position - our "saltiness" - because we are not exchanging love with our Best Friend and Soul Mate, the Supreme Being.

"Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne ..." (Matthew 5:33-37)

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne, or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be “Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." (Matthew 5:33-37)

Is Jesus talking about cursing?

Note that the word "swear" is not referring to swear words, or what is commonly referred to as cursing.

The word "swear" is being translated from the Greek word ὀμνύω (omnyō). This means "to affirm, promise, threaten, with an oath" - relates specifically to making a promise upon something else.

For example, when we say "I swear on (fill in the blank) that this will happen," we are giving an oath, and swearing or promising on that particular (blank).

In other words, a more appropriate translation of the Greek word ὀμνύω (omnyō) would be giving an oath, or making a promise.

What does Jesus mean by 'people long ago'?

Jesus is speaking of the teachings of the prophets, who taught people in centuries past. This illustrates again the importance of time and circumstance within the teachings of the prophets including Moses.

Jesus is speaking of something specific taught by the prophets before him. While the exact statement is not in the current Old Testament, Jesus is likely paraphrasing this instruction by Moses:

When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. (Numbers 30:2)

No oaths at all?

Time and circumstance are relevant in Jesus' teachings in this regard. Jesus is instructing his followers not to make oaths as casual statements.

For example, a person might be debating with someone else, and will casually say, "I swear to God that I am telling the truth."

The key word here is thoughtlessly, as we find that Moses did discourage making oaths without careful consideration: 

"...if anyone thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil (in any matter one might carelessly swear about) even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt..." (Lev. 5:4)

This means that if we were to appear in court and be requested to swear on the Bible: "I promise to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God," that would not contradict Jesus' and Moses' teaching in this regard.

Or if we are asked to take an oath of office - that would also not be a "thoughtlessly" swearing by God.

Is this about one of Moses' Commandments?

Jesus is also mirroring one of Moses' instructions within the current time and circumstance so his followers can apply it specifically.

Casually swearing by God is another form of using God's Name in vain. This is also captured by the instruction of Moses:

“You shall not take the Name of the LORD your God in vain" (Exodus 20:7)

Only God has the ability to truly control events. When a person “swears by heaven” or “swears by the earth,” or “swears on his mother’s grave,” or “swears by God” to prove a point, these are oaths or promises that are using something that is sacred for materialistic purposes.

Jesus is clarifying that one should not utilize those things that are sacred - because of their relationship with the Supreme Being - for materialistic purposes.

Jesus is also recommending that his followers not utilize the Supreme Being's Holy Names or references out of context. He wants his followers to speak with honesty and sincerity about the things they know, and speak without duplicity.

The Holy Name of the Supreme Being has been cherished by God's loving servants since the beginning of time. Calling out, singing, or otherwise, the incantation of His Holy Names is an observance that can purify our consciousness and bring us closer to the Supreme Being. This is evidenced throughout the scriptures.

Who is the 'evil one'?

Who might this "evil one" be, who would be making promises that might not be able to be kept? Would this be another person besides ourselves? If we start making undoable promises can we blame someone else for it?

We cannot blame someone else. In fact, there is no word in the original Greek that can be translated to "one.” There is only the word πονηρός (ponēros), which means "full of labours, annoyances, hardships," and "bad, of a bad nature or condition: in a physical sense: diseased or blind," according to the lexicon.

Jesus is describing our diseased condition combined with the illusory nature of the physical world - the false pretense that we are these physical bodies and the forms and things around us belong to us.

This illusory energy reflects our self-centeredness. It reflects our desire to play the big man. We want to be supreme. We want to talk big - we want to seem in control. The illusory nature of the physical world - as we misidentify with these temporary physical bodies.

In other words, evil is the state of rebellion against God. Evil is the state of consciousness that says: "I don’t care about God, I’m going to go ahead and do what I want. I am powerful."

Is evil a form of rebellion?

Each of us is an individual and we each have the freedom to rebel against God if we choose to.

This is captured in the description of Adam rebelling against God in the Garden of Eden. We might want to blame someone else (Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent). But each of us has the choice to follow God or rebel against Him. It is solely our decision.

This rebellion of the Supreme Being lies at the root of our descent into self-centeredness. Do we want to reawaken our spiritually and embrace love of God? Or do we want to continue to chew the chewed within materialism?

This is why we are here in the physical world. This is why we are currently away from God. We have been "cast out" of the spiritual realm and given these temporary physical bodies to play out our self-centeredness in an environment designed to teach us how to love.

Here we are given a physical body and a physical mind along with forgetfulness of our true identity and past lives. This gives us the ultimate freedom of choice without bias.

Here we are given the opportunity to redirect ourselves towards reawakening our pure nature and embracing our relationship with the Supreme Being. We can chart a new course - one that fulfills the emptiness that currently plagues us as we seek true love and unconditional mercy in the wrong places.

This is what Jesus was saying when he taught:

“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." (John 3:3)

Becoming born again is the act of having a change of heart. It is making a decision to utilize our life for the purpose of coming to love God and His children. This is a decision that any of us can make at any time.

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ..." (Matthew 5:43-48)

“You have heard that it was said ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."(Matt. 5:43-48)

Is Jesus contradicting the teachings of the Old Testament?

Many state that Jesus was teaching something new, something not taught by the Prophets. Is this true? Did Jesus deny the teachings of the Prophets, or contradict them?

Certainly, we find many verses where Jesus quoted the Prophets, including Moses, David, Isaiah and others. Why would he contradict them?

Rather, Jesus is clarifying the meaning of the Prophets' teachings, and contrasting them with the teachings of those institutional temple teachers of the day that were bending and twisting scripture.

This is evidenced by the phrase:

"You have heard that it was said..."

We also see that Jesus is being critical of a misinterpretation of a particular verse, as he states:

You have heard that it was said ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’"

The passage Jesus is referring to is:

" 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." (Leviticus 19:18)

This indicates that Jesus is clarifying the teachings of the Prophets.

Is this a quid pro quo?

Jesus' statement is also showing how this teaching from Moses had been misinterpreted to become: ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

Thus we find that Jesus is confirming this is not the teaching that was presented by Moses. He is also confirming that this statement illustrates God's unconditional mercy and compassion to others, not a quid pro quo.

What is quid pro quo? In most contexts, quid pro quo means: If I do something for you, you do something for me.

But as this plays out in terms of religiosity, it can be taken as: I do something good for you as long as it helps me.

But in sectarianism, we find a darker application: If you are not with us, you are against us.

Often we find that quid pro quo passes for "love" in the physical world. Most of us care about others when it is convenient to us or helpful to our own causes or sects. Or we are compelled because it is our family or significant other. 

Jesus is clarifying this teaching.

Jesus is stating that to "love your neighbor as yourself" doesn't mean to only love our neighbor when it is good for us, or convenient for us.

Jesus is stating that it means to provide this love without condition. Whether they are nice to us or not. Whether they care about us or not. Even whether they hurt us or not.

Is this about unconditional love?

Unconditional love is part of God’s Character: He is a loving, caring Person. While we may imagine His Character as strong and unbending, He is in fact, tolerant and forgiving. God's nature is supported by all the scriptures and is also evidenced by His accepting and mercy upon those who are fallen. 

His nature is evidenced by His mercy: He forgives when we ask for forgiveness.

This merciful characteristic of unconditional love and compassion is part of the Supreme Being's Personality.

Jesus wants his followers to as much as possible reflect this unconditional love that God has for us. He wants us to love others as God loves us.

In Genesis, it says we were created in ‘God’s image’. This means by nature, we have an innate capacity to love unconditionally - but only as a reflection of God's unconditional love.

In other words, we have no separate capacity. Our capacity to unconditionally love is connected to God's propensity. We have to be linked with the Supreme Being in order to have unconditional love for others.

While our real self is spiritual in quality, we have taken on these temporary material bodies because we rebelled against God at some point. At that point of rebellion, we communicated that we wanted our independence from Him. We didn't want to participate in His happiness. We wanted our own happiness independent of Him.

The problem is, this is impossible. It is like a fish trying to be happy outside of water. Let's say a fish jumped onto a pier and started flopping around. Could the fish ever have a life outside of water? No, because the fish wasn't built that way. The fish was designed to swim in water.

In the same way, we have no capacity to unconditionally love another without being connected with the Supreme Being's unconditional love.

We might compare this to an extension cord. An extension cord could not provide electricity for an appliance unless it was plugged into a power source. In the same way, we cannot provide unconditional love without receiving it from the Supreme Being.

This is because the Supreme Being is the Source of unconditional love. Just as a power cord must be plugged into the power source, we must be exchanging a loving relationship with the Supreme Being in order to offer part of that love to others.

The irony of this situation is that in our pure state, we reflect God's loving nature. But as soon as we become self-centered, we disconnect from that loving nature.

This is why Jesus said receiving forgiveness from God was related to our own forgiveness of others.

The Supreme Being designed temporary physical bodies and false identities so we could have the freedom to grow and evolve spiritually - or decide not to. The forgetfulness of our true nature gives us the complete freedom to decide our direction. Do we want to reconnect with the Supreme Being and reflect His love? Or do we want to live out our days wallowing in self-centeredness?

It is our choice. God designed this world to give us the freedom to love Him or not, along with an environment set up to teach us how to love.

Here Jesus requests his followers choose to resume their loving relationship with the Supreme Being. This and only this will allow us to reflect that unconditional love the Supreme Being has for us. This is precisely why Jesus connected "love your neighbor" with "love the Lord your God" in his most important instruction:

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Matthew 22:37-39)

>

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth ...” (Matthew 6:10)

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

What does 'Your kingdom come' mean?

The word "kingdom" is being translated from the Greek word, βασιλεία (basileia), which can mean "kingdom," but only in the context of "royal power, kingship, dominion, rule" according to the lexicon. The lexicon also states that the word is "not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom."

This means that "kingdom" is not an appropriate translation. Rather, a more appropriate translation would be something like "dominion" or "authority."

But further in the context of Jesus' times and use of language would relate to what kings provided to their subjects in feudal times - "sanctuary." A citizen of a particular village or region would basically take sanctuary under a particular king or leader. Such sanctuary provided safety as well as a role in the society.

The word "come" is being translated from the Greek word ἔρχομαι (erchomai), which means, when used metaphorically (as is the case here), "to come into being, arise, come forth, show itself, find place or influence;" and "be established, become known, to come (fall) into or unto" according to the lexicon.

In other words, Jesus is suggesting that we pray to God to reveal His sanctuary to us. This is essentially asking that God provide us with His sanctuary - to give us protection and allow us to connect with Him.

What does 'Your will be done' mean?

The terminology of this phrase is a little muddled according to this translation.

Note that Jesus is suggesting a prayer to the Supreme Being. God is in complete control, and therefore He can have His will be done any time and any place. Therefore, Jesus is not saying that we should instruct God to have His will done.

Rather, Jesus is saying, with the phrase, "γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου" that we should ask God if we can do His will.

Actually, the word translated to "will" (θέλημα (thelēma)) actually means, "what one wishes or has determined shall be done."

Since this is a "Your" thing here, this could also be translated to "what pleases You."

In other words, what Jesus is suggesting here is that we ask God if we can do what pleases Him.

The Supreme Being can do what He wants. He can make His will happen with or without us. What the Supreme Being did, however, is give each of us the ability to make a choice of whether we want to do what pleases Him or not.

This is called free will and each of us has this freedom to reject God's wishes or adhere by them. This is because love is based upon freedom, and the only way we can truly love God is if we have the freedom not to.

Why does Jesus prayer suggest this?

This portion of Jesus’ suggested prayer is focused upon our ultimate perfection as spiritual beings: Jesus is requesting that when his students pray, they ask God if they can serve Him and please Him with their lives.

God created us to exchange a loving relationship with Him. Love, however, requires the freedom of choice, because a person cannot be forced to love someone.

So the Supreme Being gave us the choice to love Him or not. This also means we have the freedom to serve God or not. You see, God does not have slaves. He has loving servants - those who choose to love and serve Him.

Why do so many ignore God?

Most of us who live in the physical dimension have chosen not to love and serve God. We have chosen not to do His will. This decision each of us made is symbolized by the story of Adam and Eve. Adam chose not to do God’s will after being asked by God not to eat the forbidden fruit.

This primary act, of deciding to go against the will of God, created our entry into the material world, away from God’s presence. This is explained in symbolic language in Genesis:

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After He drove the man out, He placed on (in front of) the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:21-24)

The “garments of skin” are our temporary physical bodies. Because we decided we wanted to be independent of God, we were given our virtual independence from Him.

Here we can forget about God. We can even claim He doesn't exist. In fact, it is God who gives the atheist the rationale to claim His non-existence.

This is the expression of freedom. In order to have true freedom to love God or not, the Supreme Being set up this plane of existence where our physical eyes do not see Him. Though He dwells among us, we cannot see Him with these physical eyes. This gives us a chance to ignore Him, just as we wanted.

Why do we seek love?

Yet we continue to look for true love throughout our physical lives, demanding it from our parents, friends and even our pets. These forms of so-called love, however, do not satisfy us because we need our original loving relationship with God.

Any loving relationship is accompanied by loving service. Loving service means doing the will of the one we love. Jesus is saying, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." What does this mean?

This illustrates that one can do God’s will here in the physical dimension just as well as we can do His will in the spiritual dimension. We can exchange this loving relationship anywhere. We don't have to 'go to heaven' in order to be in the spiritual realm.

Because we can do the Supreme Being's will regardless of whether we are in the physical body or not, we can virtually be in the spiritual realm where ever we may be.

Practically speaking, the entire creation - both spiritual and physical - was created by the Supreme Being. This means it is all His kingdom. Therefore if we are in the consciousness that we want to do His will, we will be in the spiritual realm right here and right now.

Jesus showed by example how to be pleasing and loving to God even while living in this temporary physical body. Even when he was being ridiculed, mistreated, misunderstood, and even tortured, he was thinking of God's pleasure. He wanted to do what God wanted him to do. This was expressed in his prayer right before he was arrested:

“Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

What does this mean? It means that Jesus is enjoying a loving relationship with the Supreme Being.

Jesus taught that spiritual life is about having a relationship with God. It is not about joining one sect or another. It is not about doing a bunch of rituals. It is not about being saved or being cleansed of sins. It is about exchanging a loving relationship with the Supreme Being.

And this is what Jesus was teaching his students:

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

“Give us today our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11)

Is this really about 'bread'?

This part of Jesus' prayer is not about the bread eaten by our physical bodies.

One can find food on this planet with or without God's help. Food literally grows on trees here. Or in the case of bread, wheat grows from the ground and can be harvested and milled. From there it can be made into bread.

We don't need to ask God for food in order to get fed. Most of us simply need to work to get our food. Sometimes this requires hard work. Regardless of whether we ask God for food, we will still likely have to work to continue to have food available.

Furthermore, Jesus has already answered this question:

"Man shall not live on bread alone." (Matthew 4:4)

So if Jesus wasn't speaking literally about bread, what was he speaking of?

Jesus was speaking metaphorically, about becoming spiritually fed. How do we know this? Consider this teaching of Jesus:

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat? Or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:28-33)

The reality is that God has designed nature to provide each species with their allotment of food, which must be worked for but also shared.

This assumes that each of us takes what we need and shares the rest, rather than hordes it - which is what is taking place in human society today. There is enough food for everyone by His design. We may not share it properly - but there is enough for everyone.

But even if someone is well-fed, this brings no spiritual satisfaction. Physical food does not provide spiritual fulfillment.

The "daily bread" Jesus is referring to metaphorically is the bread that feeds our soul. Jesus is referring to soul food. That which feeds the spirit-person within the physical body.

What food will fulfill our spirit?

As Jesus states in Matthew 6:28-33 above, having plenty of food will not fulfill our real craving. Physical food will not fill our need for spiritual fulfillment.

This is why wealth or fame does not satisfy us. Those with wealth and/or fame continue to seek more of those things and anything else. Once wealth and fame is reached, those who have achieved that do not stop. They keep on trying to get more. It is like a bottomless pit.

This tells us we do not have to pray for food or any other material thing. Indeed, Jesus’ teachings illustrate that the things of this world will not satisfy us.

This is because we are not these temporary physical bodies. Our identities are not physical. We are spirit-persons driving temporary physical bodies. Jesus emphasizes this throughout his teachings, including this statement:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-20)

Why then this seeming departure to pray to God for our “daily bread”?

The “bread” Jesus is referring to in Matt. 6:11 is our relationship with God. We need to love and serve God as our heart and soul. This is confirmed in the previous stanza of the prayer:

"Your kingdom come, Your will be done."

By serving God we become part of his intimate kingdom, and we grow in our love for Him, which feeds us spiritually. Loving God and serving God becomes our daily bread.

We need this love for God every day. We need this loving relationship with God all day long. We need this loving relationship or we become spiritually hungry. Without this loving relationship, we are seeking satisfaction from all sorts of different things, trying to fill the empty void caused by not having this intimate relationship. This is confirmed by Jesus elsewhere:

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matthew 22:37-38)

“No one can serve two masters .... " (Matthew 6:24)

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Matthew 6:24)

Is this about money?

This statement has been misconstrued and mistranslated with respect to money.

The Greek word being translated to "money" here is μαμωνᾶς (mamōnas). The word means, according to the lexicon, "mammon" or "treasure" or "riches."

Yes, it certainly can be translated to "money" - but that was not what Jesus was referring to. Why? Because money is a means of exchange. Jesus and his disciples sometimes used money to secure the things they needed to survive. 

So money is not bad in itself. It cannot be a "master" in itself.

Rather, what Jesus is referring to is materialism. This is the modern-day term used to describe "mammon."

Is 'mammon' the same as materialism?

Yes. "Mammon" or materialism is the desire to enjoy this physical world. It is the desire to enjoy these temporary physical bodies.

And why is this juxtaposed against serving God - "You cannot serve both God and materialism"?

Because materialism in essence is the expression of self-centeredness. The desire to please oneself. This is the pervading goal among the residents of the physical world.

And the pervading goal among those in the spiritual realm is quite the opposite: The residents of the spiritual realm seek to please the Supreme Being.

What about loving ourselves?

Love of God is diametrically opposed to loving oneself.

Yet surprisingly, this teaching - that we have to love ourselves before we can love others - is being taught by ecclesiastical and secular teachers in modern society.

It is an erroneous teaching. To love oneself is self-centeredness, and this does not lead to loving others.

But coming to love and serve the Supreme Being - that will cause one to love others because we are all the children of the Supreme Being.

This was confirmed by Jesus when he said:

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Matt. 22:37-40)

Love of God is connected to loving others. It is a pre-requisite. And loving God is the antithesis of loving oneself.

But doesn't it say "as yourself" so we need to love ourselves?

This is a self-centered, myopic approach. The verse is assuming we already care about ourselves. It is a foregone conclusion. It is already there. Not that we need to focus upon it even further.

This teaching was intended to take our attention off of ourselves - and put our love upon the Supreme Being and others instead of only on ourselves. But those who wish to interpret Jesus' teachings to accommodate their own desires would rather focus upon the "as yourself" of this instruction rather than the rest of it.

What is self-centeredness?

In the physical world, our focus upon pleasing ourselves is redirected to materialism. Our self-centeredness resulted in us being put within a physical body within the physical world in order to exercise our self-centeredness.

Then we became covered up by these physical bodies. Now our self-centeredness is directed towards working to satisfy the physical body and those things that surround the physical body.

This means the temporary things of this world. This means the desires for sensual pleasure, fame, wealth, a big house, a big family, to be the boss, to be the hero, and so on. All of these things together are defined within the notion of materialism.

And should our self-centered focus become directed towards these things - or any combination thereof - we will become the servant of materialism.

Yes - achieving all of the things of materialism requires work. It requires work to become wealthy or famous. It requires work to buy the big house or get the big job. What is this work? It is service. We have to become the servant of materialism in order to capture the things of this world.

In other words, Jesus is discussing the ultimate choice we face between God or ourselves.

What is the nature of heaven?

In the spiritual world, the focus of attention is upon the Supreme Being. This focus is accompanied by loving service because God is the most attractive and most lovable Person and loving service is how love is expressed. Our relationship with God is what we are searching for when we look for our perfect soul mate. The exchange of love with God and loving service to God is what we really seek when we seek pleasure.

Yet because He also gave us the freedom of choice whether to love Him, and since He is loving us unconditionally and thus kindly rewarding our wishes, when we chose our self-centered desires over loving Him, He granted us the ability to exercise that choice by our taking on these temporary physical bodies within the material world.

This doesn't mean we no longer have choice. While the physical world is ultimately not a place of pleasure but a place of suffering (diseases, old age, death, and pain with short flashes of physical pleasure), we still have that choice whether to focus our attention upon Him or upon our own desires and wishes.

In reality, God has arranged this physical environment and our current physical body - reflecting a combination of our wishes and past decisions - so we do not have to see Him. He has arranged the body and our physical environment in such a way that His presence is invisible to us. 

This arrangement allows us the ultimate freedom to choose between God and our own desires: We can choose to ignore Him or we can choose to worship Him: It is our choice because love requires freedom and the Supreme Being enjoys the exchange of love.

Is this like dreaming?

Our situation within the physical world can be most readily understood by considering dreaming. When we dream, our bodies are lying in the same place in our bed, while our minds take us through illusory and temporary existences in different places. In our dreams, we can play out our fantasies and our nightmares. In our dreams, we can take on different personalities. One night we might be a wealthy man governing a big company. Another night we might be a poor woman working as a slave.

In each dream, we take on a situation, and we navigate the dreamscape with a particular dream character (once we temporarily identify with it during the dream), our wishes, and our decisions.

Once we awaken from the dream, we realize the whole thing was an illusion: The identity we identified with was temporary. The environment and situation we were in were temporary. Even though we identified with it as real during the dream, once awake, we realized the dream was just a temporary manifestation - an illusion of reality.

The temporary physical body we wear at the moment is practically similar to the dream, except it is one physical layer higher. While our gross physical body is tangible and real, it is still temporary. Here the illusion is that this is our permanent place, and we will become happy here somehow. The gross physical body is still a reflection of our desires and past activities, just as is the dream.

The changes that occur around us in the physical world accommodate our ongoing wishes, desires and past decisions. This is God's arrangement to accommodate our current choice of being away from Him.

The nature of our choice between God and materialism is that we can either focus upon God or we can focus upon ourselves. By focusing upon God and serving God we become fulfilled because this is our innate spiritual position. By focusing upon ourselves, we become engrossed in self-centeredness and the requirements of materialism - which become our master.

Jesus is communicating that these two choices are mutually exclusive: We can't go both directions at the same time, because they are diametrically opposed.