Abide In Me: How Jesus Models Secure Attachment with God

They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be delivered to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and deliver him over to the Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.” “What is your request?” he asked. They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. Those places are for those for whom they are prepared.”
When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.” So they called the blind man. “Cheer up,” they said. “Come on, he’s calling you!” Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “My Rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!” And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. Mark 10:32-52

CREDITS
Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”
www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson
Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com
Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957
Helen Keller, The World I Live In, Hodder And Stoughton, London, Copyright 1904, 1908, By The Century Co.
John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com
Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net
Podcast Host: John Clark Echols
Music Credit: Solomon Keal
Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me
Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠
I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said. “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.” Mark 10:17-31
We are told that Jesus loved him because he said that he had kept those commandments from his youth. But he lacked three things, namely, that he had not withdrawn his heart from his riches, that he had not fought against his urges, and that he had not yet acknowledged the Lord as God. For that reason the Lord told him to sell whatever he had, meaning that he should withdraw his heart from his riches; to take up the cross, meaning to fight against his lusts; and to follow Him, meaning to acknowledge the Lord as God. The Lord said all this, as He did everything else, using terms that correspond [to spiritual principles]. No one can refrain from evils as being sins unless he acknowledges the Lord and turns to Him, and unless he fights against evils and so puts away his urges to do them. [For otherwise, he does these things for selfish or materialistic reasons]. Swedenborg, Life §66
People who believe only in what they can grasp [with their senses, inevitably fall] into error, human nature being what it is. Our thinking is purely earthbound, body-centered, and matter-based, because it is formed out of earthly, bodily, and materialistic notions, which cling tenaciously to it. Those notions form the foundation and resting place of the concepts that make up our thinking. §1072

CREDITS
Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”
⁠www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson⁠
Emanuel Swedenborg, ⁠www.swedenborg.com⁠
John Clark Echols, ⁠www.clarkechols.com⁠
Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” ⁠www.solomonkeal.net⁠
Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957
Podcast Host: John Clark Echols
Music Credit: Solomon Keal
Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me
Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠
I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Then Jesus left Capernaum and went down to the region of Judea and into the area east of the Jordan River. Once again crowds gathered around him, and as usual he was teaching them. Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife?” Jesus answered them with a question: “What did Moses say in the law about divorce?” “Well, he permitted it,” they replied. “He said a man can give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away.” But Jesus responded, “He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts. But ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation. This explains why a ‘man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”
Later, when he was alone with his disciples in the house, they brought up the subject again. He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries someone else, she commits adultery.”

One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Do not stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. Mark 10:1-16
​​The union of the good and the true finds its origin in the Lord’s divine love for everyone in the heavens and on earth. Divine good emanates from this divine love, and divine good is accepted by angels and by us in divine truths, truth being the only vessel for the good….To the extent that true elements are united to what is good within us, then, we are united to the Lord and heaven. This is the actual source of marriage love, which means that it is the actual matrix for the inflow of the Divine…. When one partner wants or loves what the other does, then there is a freedom for both, because all freedom stems from love. However, there is freedom for neither one when [the reach for] control comes in the door, [and their] minds are not united but severed. Control subjugates, and a subjugated mind either has no purpose or is of opposite purpose. If it has no purpose it has no love, and if it is of opposite purpose there is hatred in the place of love. Heaven and Hell §§371, 380
Let little children come to Me, do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven. (Mark 10:14) Here, “little children” means those who are in innocence. Good is good to the extent that it has innocence in it, because all good is from the Lord, and to be led by the Lord is innocence…. Innocence is the essence of all good…[And] wisdom is wisdom in the measure of the character it derives from innocence. The same is true of love, charity, and faith…No one can enter heaven unless they possess innocence. Marriage Love §414

CREDITS
Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”
www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson
Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com
John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com
Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net
Podcast Host: John Clark Echols
Music Credit: Solomon Keal
Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me
Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠
I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him. “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked. One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”
Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!” Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up. Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?” Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”
Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there, for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.
After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”

CREDITS
Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense”
www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson
Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com
John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com
Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net
Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Vincent Stuart, London, 1957
Podcast Host: John Clark Echols
Music Credit: Solomon Keal
Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me
Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠
I invite you to continue to listen to the next episode. Be well.

Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, “Rabbi, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they were all terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus with them.

“We are not following the First Way – the Way of the Fakir [In the Muslim and Hindu traditions a fakir is one who purposefully lives a life of extreme materialistic self-denial with the belief that enduring long and terrible suffering perfects the will.] Those who enter a Fakir School are ignorant natives. In the Fourth Way, along which this Work begins to lead us, people are supposed, at the start, to be reasonably educated, reasonably responsible, and capable of dealing reasonably with life. It is not for “tramps” – such as those who will not work – or “lunatics” such as enthusiasts who wish to reform the world. It is not for silly people seeking the elixir of perpetual youth, nor is it for psychopaths. The Fourth Way starts from the level of Good Householder. That is, it starts from some degree of good – from some gold. This was emphasized strongly in the early days and needs to be repeated. Moreover when the Work says, that understanding is the most powerful thing you can develop, it means that, beginning with the level of Good Householder, this is the case. It is not the case with the uneducated native, who following the Fakir-Way, seeks to develop will over their body by maintaining one posture for years. To develop will without developing understanding is not the aim of the Fourth Way. As I said, of what use is will without understanding? How are you going to use it? It does not take much insight to see that the results might be evil. Do you think that activity based on a powerful will without a corresponding development of the understanding is something desirable? I have no sympathy with those who believe it is and practice methods to achieve this mindless result.”
(Commentary V, pgs. 1719-20).
“When a person undergoes regeneration, which is accomplished by the implantation of spiritual truth and good, and at the same time by the removal of falsity and evil, the regeneration is not hurried but takes place slowly. The reason for this is that all the things the person has thought, intended, or done since early childhood have entered into the composition of their life. They have also formed themselves into a network which is such that one cannot be moved without all of them together being moved….From this it is evident that the evils and falsities with a wicked person cannot be removed suddenly from where they are. They can be removed only in the measure that forms of good and truths in their proper order have been implanted more deeply within the person. Heaven within a person removes hell. If the removal were done suddenly the person would pass out, for the whole network of things, every single one, would be thrown into confusion and deprive him of his life.” Secrets of Heaven §9334.

CREDITS
Dr. Sue Johnson, “Love Sense” 
www.youtube.com/@DrSueJohnson 
Emanuel Swedenborg, www.swedenborg.com
John Clark Echols, www.clarkechols.com
Solomon Keal “Affection for Truth” www.solomonkeal.net
Podcast Host: John Clark Echols
Music Credit: Solomon Keal
Show Your Support: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/X2NREDETDV6WC
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@abide_in_me
Substack: ⁠⁠@clarkechols⁠⁠