The Gospel of Thomas
In 1945, a clay jar was unearthed near Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Inside were ancient manuscripts, hidden for almost 2,000 years. Among them was a text unlike any in the New Testament—the Gospel of Thomas. Instead of miracle stories or a passion narrative, it contained 114 sayings of Jesus. Some sounded familiar, echoing the Gospels we know. Others were strange, riddling, shimmering with mystery. Taken together, they point not to a distant God, but to a hidden intimacy within.
It begins with a bold invitation:
“These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke, and that Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down. And he said, ‘Whoever finds the meaning of these words will not taste death.’”
The Gospel of Thomas does not tell you what to believe. It invites you to listen, to ponder, to awaken.
The Kingdom Within
One of its most famous sayings turns everything upside down:
“Jesus said, ‘If those who lead you say to you, “See, the kingdom is in heaven,” then the birds of the heaven will precede you. If they say to you, “It is in the sea,” then the fish will precede you. But the kingdom is within you and it is without you. If you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will know that you are the children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty, and you are poverty.’”
When I first read these words, I felt shaken. I had always been taught to look outside myself for God: obey, conform, measure up. But here was Jesus, inviting me to look within—to trust that God’s kingdom was already alive in me.
The image is striking. If we keep searching for heaven “out there”—in the sky or the sea—we miss the truth that has never left us. To not know this is to live in poverty, like a wave imagining itself separate from the ocean. But when the wave realizes it is an expression of the ocean itself, poverty becomes richness. Knowing ourselves as children of the living Father is awakening to what has always been true.
Beyond the Five Senses
Another saying pushes this even further:
“Jesus said, ‘I will give you what eye has not seen and what ear has not heard and what hand has not touched and what has not risen in the heart of man.’”
Here Jesus is pointing beyond the reach of the five senses, beyond what the mind can grasp. The kingdom of heaven is not a spectacle to be observed, not an idea to be argued. It is the unseeable reality of God already moving in us, waiting to be received in the heart.
Hidden Words, Living Truth
For myself, the Gospel of Thomas feels like liberation. It describes an intimacy with God that is not about impossible demands, but about awakening to what had always been true: the light is within you, you are already beloved, and nothing can separate you from that truth.
The Gospel of Thomas reminds us that whoever finds the meaning of these words will not taste death. It is not about escaping mortality, but about waking into the life of God here and now—where heaven is not distant, but as close as your own breath.