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The Gospel of Thomas reads: ‘‘The disciples said to him, ‘When will the kingdom come?’ Jesus said, It will not come by looking for it. It will not be a matter of saying here it is, or there it is. Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it.’’ Koester notes that ‘‘Thomas sees this coming of the kingdom primarily as an event that takes place as the disciples gain a new understanding of themselves.’’
In this respect, the Gnostic view and understanding would be similar to what Jean-Yves LeLoup has written concerning this parallel with saying 113 and Luke. ‘‘ It is a matter not of searching here or there for some special manifestation, but of opening our eyes to what is already before us, here and now and caring for all that is. Yet one place where God is prevented from manifesting is in the heart that is closed to love, the heart that refuses forgiveness and revels in bitterness. Hell is truly the incapacity to love. Another place from which God is banished is the intellect that closes itself off from the light of its source.
