This final item from Stevan Davies' second article on the use of the Thomas sayings in Mark, starts with the parallel of Mark 6:1-6 and Logion 31 in Thomas.
Clearly that saying, which may already have had currency as a popular saying in the time of Jesus, points out the obvious that the miracle is is not recognized by the ego context in us, symbolized here as the environment "where we came from" in worldly terms.
In this case certainly the passage in Mark, while significantly expanded from the form the statement has in Thomas, certainly does do justice to the original gist of it, if it is properly understood, as it will be by anyone who seriously puts following Jesus to practice in their life, as by practicing A Course in Miracles. It is not the ego personality in us that can be "saved" or "enlightened," accepting the atonement means the realization that there is no ego, that it has no reality, that the "tiny, mad, idea" never happened. Likewise this awakening in us, means an awakening to spirit, and can not be recognized by that which is associated with our provenance in the world of time and space, which is the substitute reality of the ego from which we awaken in the process of accepting the atonement for ourselves.
The next Logion which Davies covers here and is also in the Pursah version of the Gospel of Thomas, is Logion 45, which is paralleled in Mark 7:21-23. This point is a parallel to the idea Jesus gave to Helen Schucman: "What you do with a desert is you leave." (as quoted in Ken Wapnick's biography of her Absence from Felicity, p.236). In the Pursah version this Logion is reduced to its absolute bare essence, making the point again in a different way that the dead nature of the ego cannot bring forth the truth, that love cannot come from fear, etc. The way this is elaborated in the Markan passage does not compromise the original intent, namely that the truth comes from within, and is content, not dependent on form. However, we do note that the emphasis is shifted to some of the lines which Pursah leaves off, indicating that in her view these were later accretions, and not part of the original saying.
Next Davies relates Mk 9:35, 10:31, and 10:43-44 to Logion 4b (i.e. the second clause). Clearly here the Markan version editorializes and gives a concrete meaning to the original statement which it did not necessarily have, by adding the consideration of serving others. This then evolves into some of the moral principles of Christianity, but has little to do with the original intent of the saying.
Next comes Mk 11:15-19, which parallels Logion 64b, which is however omitted entirely by Pursah. Mk 11:22-23 parallel Logion 48, and provide only a slight embellishment - Thomas speaks only of "moving" the mountain, but the Markan passage speaks of "throwing yourself into the sea," which does not seem to corrupt the meaning.
Mk 12:13-17 parallels Logion 100, here the Markan version is no more than a graphical embellishment, and a dramatization, without necessarily altering the original meaning.
This brings my commentaries on these marvellous articles from Stevan Davies to an end, and on the whole one can see how the synoptic version is an evident elaboration of the sayings version, and in some cases clearly shifts the meaning in a particular direction. Considering the process in light of Pursah's edits, sheds a different light on it from time to time.
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