Messages 2002

Stand up and be counted (2).

April 16th, 2002

Received by H.

Cuenca, Ecuador.

Are you ready? May I continue with my discourse? So then.

Today’s message is totally out of chronological sequence. I will relate an event that took place in the year 28. You will remember that in our narration of Jesus’ life we are still in the year 26. However the situation that I want to describe fits very well into yesterday’s message.

The year 26, as you have seen so far, was a very happy year for Jesus. He was able to gather little by little a solid group of followers, he conquered the hearts of the whole village of Kpar Nahum, his village, and his teachings and fame began to spread all over the country, up to Jerusalem.

Two years later, the situation was very different. Success often entails the envy of others. Good teachings always provoke others to find what is bad or wrong in them, and if they cannot find it, they invent it. And an honest life and right words may seem a threat to those whose lives and deformed behavior contrast even more in comparison. It was then, when many groups of Jews, Pharisees and others, launched their undertaking to discredit Jesus. It was then, when words fell such as: “You are possessed by demons. You are a Samaritan (a serious insult). You are a mamzer (a bastard, a very serious insult according to the law).”

Naturally, we were worried about the growing hostility, and we discussed this problem with the Master.

Jesus, as we have seen, had the habit of exposing his teachings in the form of parables. He did not do so in order to hide their true meaning, but to explain, in the language of the common people, something which otherwise would have been very difficult to explain. We have talked about the parable of the lilies in the field. Does it not express in a few words a deep truth, which everybody can understand, and which one could write entire volumes about?

In the New Testament you can read sentences like these:

“I am the bread of life. The man who comes to me will never be hungry and the man who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.” (John 4:13)

“The kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, taken by a woman and put into three measures of flour until the whole had risen.” (Matthew 13:33)

“Keep your eyes open,” said Jesus to them, “and be on your guard against the ‘yeast’ of the Pharisees and Sadducees! I wonder why you don’t yet understand that I wasn’t talking about bread at all — I told you to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Then they grasped the fact that he had not told them to beware of yeast in the ordinary sense but of the influence of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew 16:6-12)

In these simple sentences you can readily recognize important concepts:

Divine Love, so sweet in the soul, that it leads us to always desire more of It.

Once again, Divine Love, which converts the soul through Its transforming power into something new, divine.

The bread of life, that is to say, the Master’s teachings, which nurture us and give us life, because only through them are we able to achieve true at-onement with God. These teachings are the way to perfect happiness, without hunger or thirst.

And then, the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Well, this formula of “Pharisees and Sadducees,” or of “Pharisee and Scribes,” is a monolithic and stereotypical quote from a later time, when Jesus’ opponents were symbolized by means of this expression. But once again, Jesus compares teachings with yeast or with food. People understood this.

In another part of the New Testament you can read:

“It is not what goes into a man’s mouth that makes him common or unclean. It is what comes out of a man’s mouth that makes him unclean. “Don’t you see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and then out of the body altogether? But the things that come out of a man’s mouth come from his heart and mind, and it is they that really make a man unclean.”

Also here, food is the symbol for doctrines. By the way, this verse is not about consuming pork and shrimp, or about pure or impure food. This had never been a topic of discussion. It is about teachings. Now, one day in the year 28, we were gathered with the Master and…

Well, my dear brother, I am really trying hard, and so do you. However, I think that it is preferable to postpone the rest for tomorrow. I can see that the message would not come through as I wish.

Don’t worry, tomorrow will be another day. Go out into the garden for a while and enjoy the sun! Relax! You will see, tomorrow all will turn out well.

I’ll see you then.

God bless you,

Judas.