"Whom are Your disciples like?" is the equivalent of “what are those who correctly understand like?” or it could be the opposite: Whom are they who claim to be your disciples like? So here the disciples may represent illegitimate claimants to Christian understanding, and the field they stand in may possibly be the church as Thomas understands it.
Those who have settled in a field and sown the Word, anger those who plant their own outside the Father on the fields they proclaim to be theirs! Be prepared, and stand the ground that is yours to tend, for they will come asking you to repent to them and leave, thus rob you of your harvest, a place in the light as children of God.
The motif of nakedness is introduced here and plays an important role in other sayings in the GTh. In the Bible nakedness conveys different things. In this context it signifies either innocence or integrity, depending on how those terms are defined.
2Sa 13:18 Jos 7:21 Jos 7:24 2Sa 13:19 2Sa 20:8 2Ki 9:13 1Ki 11:29 1Ki 11:30 Zec 13:4
21) Mary said to Jesus, "Whom are Your disciples like?" He said, "They are like children who have settled in a field [in the world] which is not theirs [they are not of the world]. When the owners [the Pharisees and scribes/Christo-pagen leaders] of the field [the world] come [these are worldly (stately) in nature - merchants of the earth who serve the god of mammon], they will say, 'Let us have back our field [the world of religion - excommunicates the Elect from within].' They [the disciples] (will) undress in their presence [remove their "religious" clothing/affiliations] in order to let them have back their field and give it back to them [this is a wearing down of the saints that occurs in all organized religion for they who love the darkness cannot tolerate the light within their midst - effectively influencing them the Elect to; "come out from her my people"]. ##Therefore I say to you, if the owner [Jesus] of a house [one Covenanted to Him] knows that the thief [the Christo-pagen leaders] is coming [to steal God's Word and hide the Keys of Knowledge - v.39], he will begin his vigil [as High Priest he both enlightens (reveals His plan to) and prays for His disciples that they might discern the coup attempt over their spirits] before he [the thief] comes and will not let him into his house [the body of His Elect who are now His] of his domain [the Kingdom of God] to carry away his goods [any fruit gained from those of spiritual insight]. You [this is for any who read this], then, be on your guard against the world [for those of the world will never stop persecuting and killing any who lift up a candle of truth]. Arm yourselves with great strength [un-quenching faith in God and HIs Christ] lest the robbers [spiritual thieves who control the religions of the world] find a way to come to you [snare you in one of the many devices they have for appealing to you physical and emotional senses], for the difficulty which you expect will (surely) materialize [this is part of the refining fire that all of the Elect must suffer]. Let there be among you a man of understanding [a discerning spirit of both the higher/inward and the lower/outward meanings of the Word]. #When the grain ripened [the end of the season came], he came quickly with his sickle in his hand and reaped it [called His Elect into His barn]. Whoever has ears [two ears giving depth of hearing both higher/inward (spiritual) sounds and lower/outward (physical) sounds] to hear, let him hear."
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