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March 19th, 2002
Received by H.
Cuenca, Ecuador.
My dear brother:
I have said that I would talk about some important events in the
year 26, and I have mentioned the changes in the attitude of Jesus'
family towards him, I have detailed how Jesus won over a new disciple,
a Pharisee of enormous wealth and much influence, and I will continue
in the same vein. But for the sake of not breaking the flow of our
story, I would like to continue with it, until Jesus’ return
to Galilee. And then we will focus on a “political” topic.
When the Passover feast had finished, the time had come for Jesus
to return home. His disciples and brothers went with him, even young
Joseph or Joses, who would take charge of the family business in
Nazareth. But Joseph and Mary, his parents, stayed a little longer
in Jerusalem. Together with his new friend and promoter, Buni “Nicodemus,”
Joseph arranged and furnished the house and, apart from it, acquired
a parcel of land outside the city. It was an orchard. But there,
he had a tomb hewn into the
rock. As a good Jew, he left everything prepared for any eventuality.
Yes, you are right. Joseph had money. Decades of constant work
in an area vibrating with building and rebuilding activity had made
him prosperous. The Tetrarch Antipas spent enormous sums in the
reconstruction and upgrading of Sepphoris, and Joseph also supplied
materials and pieces for the works in Tiberias, although he did
not participate directly in the works in that place, since the selection
of the area for the new city over an ancient Hebrew cemetery had
offended his feelings.
Jesus and his retinue headed for the Jordan valley, passed by Jericho,
and when they arrived at a place where the river flowed peacefully,
they rested. Other groups of pilgrims on their way back to the north
joined them, and Jesus took advantage of the occasion and preached
to them.
It happened then, when one of the disciples who had been very impressed
in John’s camp, yelled that this was the ideal place for baptizing,
and that we should baptize too, to wash away the sins of men. It
was Taddi. And we all acclaimed it a brilliant idea and began baptizing
people in the name of the Lord, copying what we had seen John doing.
It seemed to be a real success to us. People who returned to the
towns and villages of their origin and passed by our camp, stopped
over, and had themselves baptized. Yes, we baptized multitudes of
people.
John the Apostle was right when he wrote that Jesus did not participate.
He rather withdrew from us and made use of the few days we spent
there for meditation.
At night, of course, he spoke to us of his teachings,
and on the last night he said:
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“It is enough. I have told you much of the Love of God.
And you should understand that it is not that water of the
river which purifies men. Why do you wash the outside of the
cup? Don't you understand that the one who made the inside
is also the one who made the outside?”
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When he saw our confused glances, our lack of
comprehension, he continued:
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"The hypocrites wash clean the outside of the cup or
dish, while within they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
When you have to drink from a cup that is clean outside but
dirty within, you feel disgust and get sick. Therefore, clean
first what is within. The one who made our bodies has given
us everything we need to become clean outwardly, and the one
who made our souls, has also given us everything we need to
become clean inside."
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And then, he delivered a marvelous discourse on “Ruakh ha-Kodesh”,
the Holy Spirit.
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"That Spirit is like the Hand of the Lord, Yad ha-Shem,
that gives you the Water of Purification, removing all that
makes you impure and dirty within. This Water is like the
rain from the sky, cleaning the leaves of the trees from the
dust that covers them, and at the same time, refreshing their
roots. It allows them to grow and prosper, until their full
green color pleases your eyes, and until they bear good fruit.
It is the Water of Life. Only when you become clean within
through this Water of Life, will you find favor in the Eyes
of the Lord, and only through this Water, will your fruit
be perfect and free of rottenness.
Thus said
the Lord:
I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean:
from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I
cleanse you.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of
your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk
in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
True baptism is through the Water of Life. Ask the Father
in Heaven to reach out with His Hand to you. Pray.”
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On the following day, we left. First, we all went to Kpar Nahum,
and then we separated, to meet again a few days later. All returned
to their homes, and the Master accompanied his brothers to Nazareth.
Our adventure as baptists had consequences. Of course John got
notice of it. Many pilgrims who had witnessed our doings, also passed
by John’s camp, and they told him what had happened. His disciples
grew angry.
“Rabbi,” they said, “he who was with you on the
other side of the Jordan and to whom you bore testimony is now baptizing,
and great numbers of people are turning to him.”
However, John found words
of reconciliation:
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"A man cannot obtain anything, unless it has been granted
to him from Heaven. You yourselves can bear witness to my
having said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but ‘I
am His appointed forerunner.’
He who has the bride is the bridegroom; and the bridegroom’s
friend who stands by his side and listens to him, rejoices
heartily on account of the bridegroom’s happiness. Therefore
this joy of mine is now complete.”
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Yet, the bitter taste of “competition and plagiarism”
persisted among John’s followers. After his death, many continued
with his practices, refusing to lend an open ear to Jesus’
followers. And I say followers, because there were just a few months
separating the death of both.
As I have mentioned before, Jesus took advantage of the evenings
and nights during our stay at the river to explain his teachings,
teachings of daily life.
I wish to speak now, in order to finish the message, of one of
those teachings, because just today you wrote a letter on the topic.
I will speak on divorce.
Jesus has already delivered a message on the topic, wherein he
affirms that Matthew wrote on the subject. I have also written about
it. However, this time, I desire to deepen a little bit on the words
as they appear in the Gospel. In Matthew
5:31,32 you can read:
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31 "It was also said, ‘If any man puts away his
wife, let him give her a written notice of divorce.’
32 But I tell you that every man who puts away his wife except
on the ground of unfaithfulness causes her to commit adultery,
and whoever marries her when so divorced commits adultery.
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Now, some translations use the verb “put away”, others
use “divorce”. As you pointed out correctly in your letter,
the Aramaic word used by Jesus was "shvikta" (abandon,
send away) and not "shrita" (divorce).
The law forced men, in the case of divorce, to issue a written
notice of divorce, a legal document indicating that the woman was
free of all bonds with him. Women could not divorce men; only men
were entitled to do so.
However, men used to separate from their wives without issuing
those records of divorce, and marry another woman. Legally the previous
marriage was still valid. For men, this did not entail consequences,
because they were entitled to marry several women. But women could
only marry one man. If they remarried under the given circumstances,
they committed the crime of bigamy. And men, who married such “put
away” women, committed adultery, because they entered into
relations with married women.
Those poor women, therefore, were abandoned, without sustenance
or aid, and without the legal option of remarrying, because of their
former husbands’ often malicious negligence. And it was exactly
this practice which Jesus condemned with those words.
Now we really have come to the end of our message. Next time, as
I have announced, we will abandon the story of the Master's life,
and will shed some light on the scenario of "world politics"
during the first century.
God bless you.
Your Celestial brother,
Judas
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