gospel of Thomas 59

Jesus said, "Take heed of the living one while you are alive, lest you die and seek to see him and be unable to do so."

This saying of Jesus can be interpreted in various ways, and I find myself wondering, what was the context? What was the question which had led to Jesus saying this?

Take heed of the living one while you are alive. The living one – it could be referring to Jesus himself, a living master. It is always a blessing to be in the presence of a living master, to have that opportunity: to listen and learn, and to bathe in his presence.

But here I feel Jesus is meaning something else by the living one. The living one is our essence. It's who we really are, the life within us. And of course, most people have lost touch with their essence. They are not taking heed of the living one within themself. So when we take heed of the living one, we find our way back to our essence – that which is within us which is life, life itself. Take heed of the living one while you are alive, that is, before you physically die.

And Jesus says, lest you die and seek to see him and be unable to do so. Death is an unknown. And some people use that in an optimistic way, to feel everything will be okay after I have died, so I don't need to worry too much at the moment. But the downside is, we don't know what happens at death. And maybe it'll be too late. Perhaps you won't be able to see anything at all, let alone the essence, the life.

So here, I think, Jesus is warning us against complacency; and undoing a little bit of the mythological thinking that has arisen with the fantasies of life after death. Jesus, like Gautam Buddha, is urging us to do our homework now, to look within, whilst we are alive. Don't even think about what happens after death. Today, now: this is the opportunity to take heed, take heed of life, take heed of the living one within, the essence, the essential part of who you are. If we overlook that, we are missing life – we're not really alive at all.

So let's go back home. Let's look within, and return to the living one, whilst we are yet alive.