Changing the Purpose

Logion 66 is another one of what Pursah called "prequels" to the NT, sayings in Thomas which were clearly later quoted by the writers of the "canonical" gospels, who wrote some twenty or more years after the Thomas gospel. The same idea comes back in several places in the NT, so we have some immediate familiarity with it.

The whole idea running through all of this material is the central notion of changing our mind, metanoia in the Greek of the New Testament. Clearly, to follow Jesus to the Kingdom not of this world, entails a completely different mindset, thought system even, so what's useful in this world is useless in the Kingdom and vice versa. We seek the world as long as we're running away from home, all the while building defenses to keep God and Jesus away from us, and those defensive structures are of no use to us in the Kingdom. Jesus on the other hand says, give me the stone you rejected in building your castle in this world, for that is the cornerstone, once we start on the way home. In other words, the things that were of no use in building up the ego's defenses, are now extremely useful as our purpose has changed. This same underlying theme of an either/or choice and a radically different purpose is reflected in different ways in many Thomas Logia, e.g 89, 100, 107, 110, and many others. It is also a familiar theme in A Course in Miracles, as the thought systems of the Holy Spirit and the ego are mutually exclusive.