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December 12th, 2001
Received by H.
Cuenca, Ecuador.
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"And why do you worry so much about
your clothing? Just look at the lilies of the field, how they
grow; and they do not toil or spin; and yet, I tell you that
not even Solomon in all his glory was better dressed that
any of them."
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Yes, of course you know this.
When Jesus withdrew, as an adolescent and as an adult, to the surrounding
hills of Nazareth, to the forests, to seek tranquility, he did not
do this exclusively for praying, that is to say, for conversing
with the Heavenly Father. He also did it for meditating and contemplating.
The new teachings which he would eventually proclaim very soon
became completely clear to him. They were simple teachings. However
he also realized that they were very difficult to express in words.
You know this problem. It is the same thing when you try to explain
the Padgett messages to other people, and they do not understand
a single word of what you are saying.
And it happened in those moments of withdrawal that Jesus developed
his formula, his parables and comparisons, which in a brilliant
way, and in a form known to people, transmitted abstract contents
in very simple words, just like in the example mentioned above.
In the same way as the fairy-tale of the "Naked King"
describes a complex social situation in a way that everybody can
understand.
[[H.R.]: Lately, there has been some discussion about
the self-imposed blindness in human societies, where social rules
produce fear, preventing people from expressing their dissatisfaction
openly, so that they live in apparent happiness without finding
a way out of their conflict. A society forms, of mutual praises
and repression. The base for these discussions was Hans Christian
Andersen’s story: “The Emperor's New Suit", written
in 1837.
It tells the story of a king who was only interested
in new clothes. Then two swindlers came, saying that they could
produce such a beautiful and light cloth, of an incalculable value,
with the special characteristic that stupid or incompetent people
could not see it.
The king, of course, wanted this cloth for a new suit,
and he paid a lot of money in order to obtain it. The swindlers
delivered the (fictitious) cloth after several court members had
inspected it. None of them saw the cloth, but all affirmed that
it was beautiful (because admitting that they didn't see it, they
would have declared themselves stupid or incompetent). The king
could not see it either, but he did not admit this. The swindlers
manufactured a suit with a long tail of cloth; the king undressed
and “put on" the new beautiful suit, parading through
the streets of the city. All the people (knowing about the characteristics
of the cloth) expressed their admiration and astonishment in front
of such a beauty until the moment when a girl innocently said:
“But the king is naked"!]
It was then that the parables of the Kingdom of God were born,
comparing It to the mustard seed and the leaven in the batch of
dough, and many more, constituting eventually an inexhaustible treasure
of simple but profound teachings.
However, as I have already explained to you, there was also a third
reason for Jesus' withdrawals. It was the conflict with his father,
the irreconcilable positions of father and son regarding the role
of the Messiah.
When Jesus was still a boy, or even as an adolescent, Joseph could
tolerate his son's opinions, but not accept them. But when Jesus
became a mature man, things changed.
Tensions require solutions, and they frequently produce ugly outbursts.
And this was what Jesus tried to avoid. Mary
described this situation very expressively in a message through
Dr. Samuels. Therefore Jesus finally decided to abandon his
home and to establish his own life in another place. He chose Kpar
Nahum, the biblical Capernaum. There he lived amongst workers and
fishermen, toiling in the shipyards or on the fishing boats. It
was easy for him to find work. A man of good strength and hard muscles
was always wanted.
I don't mean to say that Jesus abandoned his family completely.
He often returned to Nazareth to visit his relatives and friends.
But he no longer lived with them. As the physicists say, friendship
and understanding increase with the square of the distance.
In that time, Jesus also met some of his later apostles, such as
Peter, Andrew, the Zebedee brothers, etc. However, the relationship
between them then was merely a work relationship. But you should
understand that Jesus later on did not simply pass by a ship, see
some unknown person, and say: “Follow me!” and the
fore-mentioned person immediately left everything in order to follow him. No, the
first disciples already knew Jesus, and only when he had already
gained some reputation as a master, was it possible that people
would follow him motivated by that simple invitation, as in the
case of Matthew.
We may say that the true home of the adult Jesus was Capernaum,
and not Nazareth. It was in Capernaum where people welcomed him
and followed him. Jesus' bonds with Nazareth continued, he even
undertook the first step in his public ministry in this town, in
his speech in the synagogue, but you know also that he received
rejection there and had to leave that place.
It was different on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. These were
the places where Jesus worked with better success, and where the
first Christian communities were formed, communities which continued
faithful to Jesus' authentic teachings even when the orthodox church
of pagan influence imposed its dominion.
You will remember these words in the New Testament:
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“Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto
thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in
Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great
while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it
shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment,
than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven,
shalt be thrust down to hell.”
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It was this orthodox church, which controlled the development of
gospel text, and seeing the stubborn resistance the communities
at the lake put up against the falsified teachings, that introduced
these curses that never had been in the Master's mouth.
This is all for today, my dear brother. I say good-bye, wishing
that God might fill your life with His blessings.
I am Judas, your brother and guide in the spirit. |
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