The Kingdom Within: The Inner Meaning of Jesus' Sayings 0060670541

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THE KINGDOM WITHIN

THE INNER MEANING OF JESUS' SAYINGS

John A. Sanford

EVISED EDITION

THE

KINGDOM WITHIN

ALSO BY JOHN

A.

SANFORD

Dreams: God's Forgotten Language Healing and Wholeness

Dreams and Healing

J

Invisible Partners.

How

Affects

the Male and Female Our Relationships

Song of the Meadowlark

in

Each of Us

THE

KINGDOM WITHIN THE INNER MEANING OF JESUS' SAYINGS

John

A. Sanford

HarperSanFrancisco

A

Division of HarperCollinsT^/is^m

1

This book was originally published in

1970 by

J.

B.

Lippincott

Company.

THE KINGDOM WITHIN,

Revised Edition. Copyright

©

1987 by John A.

Sanford. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. this

book may be used or reproduced

in

No part of

any manner whatsoever without written

permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in

critical articles

and

reviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street,

New York, NY

10022.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sanford, John A.

The kingdom

within.

Bibliography:

p.

Includes index. 1.

Jesus Christ— Words.

BT306.S33

ISBN

1987

I.

Title.

86-45827

232.9'54

0-06-067054-1

92 93 94 95

MPC 20

19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12

1

PREFACE

The

truth of Christianity applies to the whole of

our time the Christian message

life,

often proclaimed only in

is

relevance to the social situation or to the institutional

Church. This book

an attempt

is

but in

life

its

of the

to balance this outward-orient-

ed emphasis by showing the inner meaning of Jesus' sayings; that

is

whole personality that

their relevance to the unfolding of the

is,

within us

all.

The

reader will find here an interpretation of the

sayings of Jesus that emphasizes their sonal, individual life

meaning

and development. That

of what Jesus said cannot be proved. That tal

meaning of

Jesus' sayings

is

found insights that Jesus' teachings have

opment,

as suggested

like a beautifully cut

by

this book.

inner meaning of Jesus' sayings,

from what

is,

Frequently

am

for

one facet of the to-

believe, by the pro-

our personal devel-

teachings of Jesus are

I

same

center. In discussing the

am not claiming that this is the

trying to view the center of Jesus' thought

in our day, I

The

I

meaning

diamond; they can be viewed from many

angles, yet each angle points to the

only meaning, but

it is

indicated,

for his or her per-

this is the

an often neglected perspective.

shall use case histories in order to elucidate the

application of certain of Jesus' sayings to the lives and crises of

people today. These case histories are drawn from

my own work

as a pastoral counselor. In every case the identity of the person

involved has been disguised, and permission has kindly been

granted to use this situation as an illustration.

The

version of the Bible

I

have used for the quotations

is,

un-

4

THE KINGDOM WITHIN

/

less

otherwise specified, the Jerusalem Bible, which

teaching purposes because of the

clarity,

I

favor for

accuracy, and reverence

exercised by the translators.

As

far as I

know

little

serious

work has been done

the point of view of this book

depth psychology to Jesus' sayings.

Howes and

Dr. Sheila

table exception, as

am

is

Moon

unusual, for

is

so far to relate the insights of

in the

The

efforts of Dr. Elizabeth

San Francisco area are

a no-

whom

the work of the late Fritz Kunkel, to

own book Creation Continues, now regrettably out of print, contains many beautiful insights into the message of the Gospels. Anyone who knows I

personally greatly indebted, and whose

Jungian psychology will also recognize

my

great indebtedness to

the psychological work of the late C.G. Jung, which indebtedness I

wish to acknowledge, with particular thanks to James Kirsch,

M.D., of Los Angeles and Dr. Liliane Frey of Zurich, who have

my "spiritual guides" in recent times. I also want to thank my friend the Reverend Morton T. Kelsey, who has helped me in many ways. I am deeply grateful for his friendship, his counsel,

been

and

his suggestions regarding the manuscript,

work

his

in relating Christianity to depth psychology.

own

pioneer

Such

related

works of these persons that are published, and a few other works helpful to a general understanding of the

included in a brief Bibliography I

also

wish to thank the

manuscript to completion. tary,

Marie Warnock,

Brown, of

St.

at

many I

owe

New

persons

who helped

a debt of gratitude to

for her faithful work,

Paul's Bookshop,

Testament, are

the conclusion of this book.

San Diego.

and

to

Especially,

thank Helen Macey and Ruth Budd for their

bring the

my

secre-

Margaret I

want

many hours

to

of work

in preparing the manuscript for publication; their personal en-

couragement and hard work have been invaluable I

want

to

ble seminars at St. Paul's Episcopal

helped

to

me.

Finally,

acknowledge with appreciation the members of

me work

San Diego, 1970

out

many

my

Bi-

Church, San Diego, who

insights into the

kingdom

within.

PART ONE

The Kingdom Within

'

Chapter

1

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS

From an ordinary person we can expect only ordinary things. From an extraordinary or unique person we can expect extraordinary things. To put into perspective the sayings of Jesus, we must first

determine what sort of person he was.

from the

common

hidden depth personality,

to his

If

he

differs little

run of humanity, we cannot expect message, but

we must look

if

for the

he proves

to be

to find a

unusual in his

unexpected in his teachings.

in

may seem audacious to try to sketch the personality of Jesus a meaningful way when this has already been tried many times more complete texts. Few personalities have been as frequent-

ly

and variously treated

It

in

satisfaction

dency

as that of Jesus of

Nazareth. In innumer-

writers have described to their

own

what kind of person he must have been, but the

ten-

able "Lives of Jesus"

many

to oversentimentalize Jesus

and the ease with which we

can project into the figure of Jesus our raise the question of

whether

it is

own

idealized images

possible to talk of a personality *

of Jesus at

all.

Add

Gospel records, the

to this the paucity of the

complete lack of any physical description, and the debatable nature of

On

some of the

passages,

and the

task

may

*>

look hopeless.

the other hand, the basic historicity of the personality of -t

Jesus cannot be doubted.

events of the

jnentsgo

Not only do we have

Go spels — no mean

the recorded

/

historical data as a nciemjjoc u-

b

— but we have the veryexistence oT

Christiariity as a tes-

timonial to the existence of a remarkable person

J

who launched

a f

radical

and enduring new

religion.

It is

not that

we

are without r

16

THE KINGDOM WITHIN

/

grounds, then, for believing that there was a person called Jesus of Nazareth, nor are

we devoid of

facts

about him; the difficulty

has been in finding some kind of yardstick by means of which an

may be made. we now have such a yardstick. The

accurate sketch of his personality Fortunately,

'

C.

trist

G

.

whole, or

Jung devoted most of

human

to'tal,

He

being.

has given us certain categories

by means of which the range of personality is

and apply these categories

Nazareth.

The

results are

what

is

and

introver-

and sense of personal

found in the world outside of themselves; here

find

It

to-

what we know of Jesus of

that of extraversion

is

sion. Extraverts' center of interest

are

to

described.

what makes up

most interesting and revealing.

Jung's most basic category

•

may be

valid to take Jung's insightful description of

tality

Swiss psychia-

his life to the description of the

most appealing and valuable

to

is

identity

where they

them. Introverts, on

the other hand, ultimately measure their values by what

is

taking

place within and find that their chief interests and sense of iden-

inner world. Most people are well developed in

tity lie in their

(one area of life at the expense of the other. quite well as long as realities

but

selves. Introverts

realm but

feel

life calls

upon them

into confusion

fall

may be

if

quite at

So extraverts function

to deal only with outer

they are forced within them-

home

with their

own

inner

overwhelmed by the world outside themselves.

A

whole person, however, has achieved some development in both

j^almsj^ithout some development within, the vert

may be

shallow; without

some capacity

world, the insights of the introvert a person has

that

of the extra-

to function in the

prove ineffectual. Only

if

some development both inwardly and outwardly can

he or she be said

When we

may

life

to

approach wholeness.

apply these categories to Jesus of Nazareth,

he appears

to

we

find

be equally developed in both the extraverted

and introverted realms.

We

see his extraverted development in a

him with people. Jesus met people constantly and confronted them both individually and in large crowds. In the Gospel of Matthew alone we read of Mentj^u£jejparate enlife

that involved

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS

17

/

counters between Jesus and a large multitude. Such a capacity for

outgoing relationships, for functioning competently in the

world,

is

a characteristic of extraversion. Jesus' introversion

equally well developed, however. Often

alone in order to pray

(e.g.,

Luke

5:16).

is

we

read that he retires

He

initiates his ministry

by spending forty days of solitude in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-2/

Mark l:12-13/Luke

4:1-2), something that

moments

think of doing. At crucial

in his life

no extravert would he

retires into soli-

tude again in order to reorient himself and discover his inner direction, as, for instance, in the his arrest

prior to

would be impossible from the evidence of the Gossay that Jesus was an extravert or an introvert; the only

22:40-46). pels to

Garden of Gethsemane

and crucifixion (Matt. 26:36-46/Mark 14:32-42/Luke\ It

conclusion we can draw from the scriptural evidence

is

that

he^

was both.

A

second

wholeness

set

is

of categories by

means of which Jung

describes

the four functions of the psyche. In addition to be-

ing either extraverted or introverted, Jung says, the ego orients itself to life

by means of four basic psychological functions.

Two

of these functions, thinking and feeling, have to do with arriving at conclusions.

Two

others, sensation

and

intuition,

have to do

with perception, or the gathering of information. These four functions are of such a nature that the development of any one of

them is ordinarily possible only at the expense of its opposite, so that we may represent the four functions schematically like this:

THINKING SENSATION

INTUITION FEELING

Let us take a look these functions.

The

at

the strengths and weaknesses of each of

person whose thinking function

is

well de-

18

THE KINGDOM WITHIN

/

veloped

is

called a "tftinking type."

or introverted thinking, depending sic orientation.

A

thinking type

is

It

may be

on which

either extraverted

is

that person's ba-

her best in dealing

at his or

with situations that can be resolved through a process of abstract

thought or conceptualization,

at

worst in a situation that requires

feeling rather than thinking.

A

feeling-type person,

home

with feeling

life,

on the other hand,

and by means of it

will

person are more than emotions.

what

truly valuable

is

pacity for this

They

loyalty.

a thinking process

is

is

and engender a

ca-

a situation calls for

at his or

her best, but

called for, the feeling-type person

caught on his or her inferior

The

life,

Where

kind of orientation, such a person

where

at

feelings of such a

function as a sure guide to

and important in

commitment and

be able to arrive

The

accurate and meaningful value judgments.

will be quite at

is

side.

sensation function has been called the "reality function,"

for this

is

the function that leads to awareness of the facts of a

situation, especially the facts of a situation in the physical world.

Sensation-type people are often eminently practical, very

much

aware of the information that their senses bring them and well oriented to the business of practical living.

They

are a contrast to the intuitives, for the intuitive function

brings information of the inner world, the world of shadows or intangibles.

The

intuitive function has

been defined

scious perception," or "seeing around corners."

as

"uncon-

Thus both

the

sensation type and the intuitive type are strong on perceiving. But

whereas the sensation type perceives ical senses,

facts

brought by the phys-

the intuitive type perceives the subtler,

facts of relationships or of the

psyche and,

if

more

he or she

elusive

is

extra-

verted, of possibilities in the outer realm.

The

fact that

counts for

war

as

people have different psychological functions ac-

many

areas of disagreement.

an example.

A

Take opinions on any

sensation type will be intrigued by the facts

much information regarding the The intuitive type will be more in-

of the situation and will gather country's present condition.

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS and

terested in the history of the situation

19

/

in the underlying psy-

The

chological and historical reasons for the conflict.

thinking

type will attempt to arrive logically at a positive stand regarding

the war, perhaps relying on a syllogism like "All evil

and

The by

a threat to the

United

States. Evil

communism

is

must be stamped out."

feeling type, however, will arrive at the value of the situation

feeling.

His or her reaction of "Isn't the war

,

terrible?'

lead to a position quite contrary to that of the thinking type.

may Ob-

viously a whole appreciation of the situation will require the

viewpoint of

four functions.

all

This whole standpoint, however,

difficult to achieve, for as

is

the ego (the center of our conscious personality) develops,

it

tends to use whichever of these four functions works best for that

Which function it is may depend largely upon heredity, although evironmental factors also play their role. Sometimes a second function is also partially developed in addiparticular personality.

tion,

forming a

sort of auxiliary.

The

glected, fall into the unconscious,

other functions, largely ne-

where they are known

as the

"inferior functions," in contrast to the "superior functions"

which are well developed and adapted

some time

in life the ego

may

for the use of the ego.

the one or two superior functions, but ultimately, to

come

about,

For

function satisfactorily by means of

some measure of growth must

if

wholeness

is

take place in the

other functions as well. Frequently this integration of the inferior side

becomes

one-sided

that

when

a necessity

the

the personality becomes so

unconscious

establishes

a

troublesome

counterposition.

This

is

a very brief sketch of a complicated

psychology, but perhaps

it is

enough

and rich part of

to enable us to apply these

categories to the personality of Jesus.

The

sensation function

is

the so-called reality function;

brings us information about the facts of our world. In Jesus

it 11

we ve\

can see a well-developed sensation side in his acute awareness of the facts of the world in which he lived. In his teachings and par ables

he uses everyday examples such

as a grain of

mustard seed,

)

20

THE KINGDOM WITHIN

/

or the sower sowing, or the is

no otherworldly

this world. ciety.

how

He

the worldly facts of

the*power structure works.

of saying of

him

s*the mark of a

that

man

clear

from

his

No

lost coin.

rooted in the

power structure of

who

life,

He

^reality__pf

his so-

has the power and

one would ever have thought

he was unrealistic or impractical. All

this is

with a well-developed sensation function.

His intuitive function is

searching for a

man

also familiar with the

is

He knows

woman

visionary, but a

is

equally well developed, however. This

immediate contact with the inner world,

his use

of images, and his sensing of realities not visible to the senses but

known pi,

to the inner vision.

^/sight into

human

Luke

20:23).

2:8;

His intuition also gives him a keen in-

souls (Matt. 22:18;

John

So John can write of

6:15;

Luke

9:47;

Mark

Jesus' understanding of

people ut Jesus

knew them

all

and did not

trust

needed evidence about any man; he could

himself to them; he never

tell

what a man had

in him.

(John 2:24-25)

The

thinking function of Jesus

is

seen in his intellectual bouts

When

with the Pharisees, and in his astuteness.

confronted with

a situation that called for quick logical analysis, for objective

and

keen thought, Jesus met the challenge with ease, a sign that he

was well-developed read,

he

sat

as a thinking person.

among

2:41-50). At the close of his

conceptualization

life

who

of wits with the Pharisees, difficulties only to

At the age of twelve, we

the learned doctors in the

we

Matt.

him engaged in battles him into all kinds of

seek to trap

be outwitted by a (see

find

Temple (Luke

man

capable of keen abstract

22:15-22/Luke

20:20-26/Mark

12:13-17; or Matt. 22:23-33/Mark 12:18-27/Luke 20:27-40; or Matt. 22:41-46/Mark 12:35-37/Luke 20:41-44).

The it is

feeling function produces accurate realizations of values;

the evaluative function par excellence. If thinking

a thing

is,

feeling tells us

its

come many compassionate, to life situations.

value.

From

tells

what

a realization of values

or indignant, responses to people and

Examples of

Jesus' feeling function

abound

in

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS the Gospels. Twelve times, for instance,

"moved with compassion"

we read

that Jesus

value.

A

and on

situation above the

Law,

stressing the highest

statement such as "Set your hearts on his kingdom

his righteousness,

well" (Matt. 6:33)

and

all

first,

these things will be given you as

an illustration of the strongly evaluative

is

life.

he repeatedly places

Also, in his encounters with the Pharisees

humanness of a

was

for people in various kinds of distress.

In this he shows the great value that he places on individual

the

21

/

ing function of Jesus at work. Even his cleansing of the

feel-

Temple

(John 2:13-22/Matt. 21:12-13/Mark ll:15-17/Luke 19:45-46) illustrates his strong sense of value, as

does his occasional righ-

teous anger.

The

picture

we

four functions.

get, therefore, is of a

It is

man

tions of Jesus as an inferior one, for

showing good development in each. ality

of Jesus

we

well developed in

all

not possible to isolate any one of the func-

It is

examples can be drawn as

though in the person-

are seeing a whole person. But let us look

still

further.

The development tials in a

person

is

of both the feminine and masculine poten-

also important for wholeness.

aspect of personality

going reason, active

may

be variously described as logos, or out-

creativity, controlled aggressiveness,

logical firmness, the capacity to strive for goals stacles

The masculine psycho-

and overcome ob-

en route. The feminine aspect of personality comprises

eros, or the capacity for relationships, understanding,

awareness

of others, creativity through receptiveness, an indirect

way of

at-

taining goals, patience, compassion, the valuing and nourishing

of

life.

Everyone,

man

or

woman,

contains possibilities for both

masculine and feminine development, and no one can approach wholeness without some development in both areas.

who

is

than aggressive and will be intellectual in a way.

A

person

developed only in the masculine area will be brutal rather

The undeveloped feminine

ness, pettiness,

and

irritability.

side will

sterile,

show

academic

itself as

moodi-

A person who is developed only in

the feminine area will be weak rather than receptive, oversensi-

—

22

THE KINGDOM WITHIN

/

tive rather

than capable of deep relationships; the undifferentiat-

ed masculine side will show up as inner stubbornness rather than firmness, opinionatedness rather than reason.

In the case of Jesus there

equal development of both the

is

masculine and feminine. To begin with the masculine

was

a fighter.

though

no

He

side, Jesus

carried the battle resolutely to his enemies, and,

his struggle

was

spiritual rather

than physical,

expressing masculinity.

less a capacity for

He was

required

it

^rect with

people, confronting both friends and enemies directly and firmly.

He moved

resolutely toward the goals

of the cleansing of the

Temple

is

a

he had in mind. The

good example of

control aggression. His capability of clear logos

is

story

his ability to

apparent in his

dialogues with the Pharisees and in his teachings, which were

immediately recognized as having authority. In the feminine area sus

was

a

we

find that, unlike

ftier^jofwQmen. In

fact,

there

John the Baptist, Jeno instance in the

is

woman who was ever women is always a sign of

enemy. Such

Synoptic Gospels of any

his

an appreciation of

a well-developed

feminine

side.

He was

deeply iri^u^Jb^arith the lifeyfl cess, as

close to children, another sign of a

His eros development

is

shown

good feminine development.

in his capacity for extraordinarily

deep personal relationships and, most supremely, in great act of caring

his final

on the Cross.

man

Here, too, in the masculine-feminine area, we find a

balanced development, a

man who was

of a strong ego; that

is,

of

whole.

Another kind of development necessary ing

is

He was

seen in his use of nature illustrations for his parables.

for

wholeness

is

that

a conscious personality capable of exert-

itself effectively in life.

A

person with a strong ego

is

able to

to, or overcome life situations. A person with weak ego, on the other hand, is not able to cope with life and as

cope with, adapt

substitute erects defenses or relies

Out of

on various neurotic

comes the egocentricity ship with God.

The

this

strength of Jesus'

human

ego

a a

devices.

so dangerous to a relation-

is

apparent in his capacity to

THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS conceive of and carry through his extremely demanding involving as

it

23

/

life task,

did his ultimate renunciation of himself. Only a

person with a strong ego can give up that ego; we cannot give to

God what we do

not possess.

The

voluntarily to the Cross for the sake of his mission

nent figure of a strength

is

man

not egotism.

Someone with

stronger than that of

complete dedication to

the preemi-

is

of tremendous ego strength. But ego a strong ego can live for

the Higher Will within, turning his or her still

and

figure of Jesus going alone

human

will.

fulfilling the

over to a Power

life

This we see in Jesus in his

God

mission that

set

before

him. Precisely because his ego was strong, the will of Jesus was constantly subordinated to the Higher Will that he rule his

knew was

to

life.

Looked at psychologically, the Gospels reveal the of a whole person. It is apparent that we have here

personality in Jesus of

Nazareth the paradigm of the whole person, the prototype of

human

all

development, a truly individual person, and therefore

someone unique. This uniqueness accounts conditioning.

No

for Jesus'

freedom from

historical

ordinary person escapes the historical and psy-

chological conditioning of his thoughts, personality, and

atti-

tudes by the history and the collective psychological atmosphere of the people of his time. All of us are born into history at a particular time, with a historically conditioned mentality

chology

that, to a large degree, inevitably

influence our ideas, and shape our personality.

tempted

and psy-

determine our insights,

to find the attitudes current in Jesus'

Many have

at-

^

time that mighH.

have influenced his personality and teaching. But a remarkable thing about the personality of Jesus

is

that such historical condi•v

tioning

is

not in evidence.

The

personality

and the teachings of

Jesus are not inherited from the collective spirit of his time, but

stand out in contrast to to the reality of his

One

it.

Their very uniqueness

is

a testimony

personhood.

great struggle of his time, for instance, was the conflict

between the

spiritual

and the physical. The people of

his day

24

THE KINGDOM WITHIN

/

could be divided into those

who

favored the spiritual side and re-

pressed or denied their physical side and those

and appetites and denied

their passions

character.

John the

their

who

moral and

spiritual

Baptist, for instance, lived out his spiritual

side but not his material, physical side, for

which he won the en-

mity of Herodias and her daughter. Saint Paul, great

he was,

lived for

between the

also never resolved this split

the material sides of

human

life

man though spiritual

and

and, like John the Baptist,

fa-

vored an ascetic approach. Jesus, however, was no ascetic. There is

not a passage in the Gospels in which he favored the denial or

negation of the bodily, instinctive side of contrary,

was

it

said of

him

that

human

beings.

he was a glutton and

(Matt. ll:19/Luke 7:34), so shocked were people at

man

pearing as a

a

To

the

drunkard

how

he, ap-

of God, could live without denying his

appetites.

In the attempt to trace historical connections between Jesus

and other groups, various

cults or sects

Jesus' historical antecedents. facts.

Though

have been suggested

But none of these theories

fit

as

the

Jesus was a good Jew, for instance, his teachings

departed so radically from the Judaism of his day that we cannot entertain the idea that he acquired his insights from the Jewish collective thinking of his time. Others

that Jesus

was an Essene and owed

spread group Scrolls.

made

But there

is

have attempted to show

his teachings to this wide-

familiar in recent years by the

that parallels the teachings of the Essenes,

ticism

makes

it

impossible to consider

they were noted for ascetic practices. _*sr£-his insights

r>*

p.

^j

3

^

^

is,

*

*T jtT

a direct contact

from God. The

him

It

and

his denial of asce-

as related to

them, for

seems that Jesus acquired

with a numinous* power; that

story of the Transfiguration illustrates the di-

*The word numinous was used by Rudolph Otto (The Idea of the Holy) to describe the holiness of God. The word was used extensively by C. G. Jung to refer to the * feeling we have when confronted by a spiritual reality other than a human being fy like ourselves. If we saw a ghost, an angel, or a direct manifestation of holy or unholy power, we would experience an awed creaturely response to a numinous 5t