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August 25th, 2001
Received by H.
Cuenca, Ecuador
Good afternoon, H___. I am very happy to see that we can meet now,
although not everything is in perfect silence around us. This is
a very good sign. And you see me, yes, you feel me in fact so close
to you that you could touch me. We have a great rapport.
Yes, we will proceed to talk a while about Jesus’ teachings.
And I see that you have been very impressed by an article John Dominic
Crossan wrote, and which you read some years ago. And we will take
a short passage from this article as the basis for our contemplation.
You see, your studies have not been in vain.
Crossan wrote:
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[…] [For example], Jesus tells a parable
about somebody who takes a mustard seed, plants it in the
ground, and it grows up to be a great tree, or a bush at least,
a weed, though, in plain language. Now, imagine an audience
reacting to that. Presumably the Kingdom is like this, and
you have to figure out, "What's it like? You mean, the
Kingdom is big? But you just said it's a big weed. So why
don't you say a big cedar of Lebanon? Why a big weed? And
besides, this mustard, we're not sure we like this mustard.
It's very dangerous in our fields. We try to control it. We
try to contain it. Why do you mean the Kingdom is something
that the people try to control and contain?" Every reaction
in the audience ... the audience fighting with themselves,
as it were, answering back to Jesus is doing exactly what
he wants. It's making them think, not about mustard, of course,
but about the Kingdom. But the trap is that this is a very
provocative, even a weird, image for the Kingdom. To say the
Kingdom is like a cedar of Lebanon, everyone would yawn, say,
"Of course." It's like a mustard seed ... "What's
going on here?" […]
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It was the first time it occurred to you that there may be something
more, something much deeper in many of Jesus’ parables, apart
from those, which he himself had explained through Mr. Padgett and
primarily through Dr. Samuels.
Yes, there is much more to them, and we find them often in shortened,
mutilated form in the text of the New Testament, torn away from
their context. The above example of the mustard seed is a good one,
and you could give an even better interpretation than Crossan has
done.
Jesus was a great orator, who knew how to draw the audience’s
attention to his words, speaking in a provocative way, inciting
questions, a discussion. Jesus preferred this form of discussion,
introduced with surprising statements, like that one about the mustard
seed, and then to proceed explaining the deeper meaning of his words,
an explanation with active participation of his audience, a very
effective way of putting forth teachings, which otherwise would
have been very difficult to explain. Can you understand now that
Jesus was not the serious, inaccessible professor, speaking in hand-picked
words, difficult to follow, but he was of the people, in the people
and for the people.
Now, in the context of many messages that have been received in
the course of the last months, I wish to talk a little bit about
these famous sayings of Jesus:
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“Ye are the salt of the earth: but
if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?
It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and
trodden under foot of men.
Ye are the light of the world. A city set
on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a lamp, and
put it under the bushel, but on the stand; and it shineth
unto all that are in the house. Even so let your light shine
before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father who is in heaven.”
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Both sayings are shortened, their explanatory value has been lost
to some extent, and they are quoted out of context.
Both sayings, of course, refer to the Father’s Love, and Jesus
used them many times, when he was talking about prayer, the New
Birth and the Kingdom of God.
He explained how man, through prayer, could receive God’s
Love, and how God’s Love would work inside their souls, so
that their created substance eventually would be transformed into
the Divine Substance, like unto God’s Own Soul. You are now
familiar with this teaching, but for many people it is new, and
it was new, of course, when Jesus preached in Palestine.
But then, after having explained the availability of the Father’s
Love and the New Birth, he went one step further and showed that
the acquisition of God’s Love forcibly must lead to more: The
mortal must react. He cannot simply accrue Divine Love in his soul,
but he must make use of It. In order to carry out its transforming
activity, Divine Love needs the mortal’s cooperation, like
the leaven needs warmth to ferment the batch of dough. If there
is no warmth, Divine Love becomes inactive, like those yeast cells
in the state of latent life.
Use your salt, don’t keep it to yourselves, or it will not
serve for anything. Use it to spice your lives and those of others.
Use your light to shine over your path and to illuminate the path
of others. In other words, be an example. And this has been the
essence of so many past messages, and this has been the essence
of so many of Jesus’ preachings. They are not any more contained
in the Bible as he uttered them.
You were surprised by John’s message
that so many people in the world really possess Divine Love, some
of It, but how many make use of It? In despair, in anxiety, people
find the way to God, they are capable of opening up their souls
to the Father and His Love, but when It arrives, and when together
with It, the Father’s blessings soothe men’s anxiety,
they are not prepared or willing to add their fuel, their warmth,
to make the Love glow.
Think of it. Taking the risk of repeating my words over and over
again, but life is activity, true life is true activity. So be active,
give spice to your lives and to other’s lives, let your Love
shine forth, be examples. When you do this, you will be like angels
on earth.
Yes, you are right. This is a beautiful message. So try that it
be not only a beautiful message, but a striking attribute to your
life.
God bless you, my dear brother.
Judas.
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