Messages 2001

The Weight of Love.

December 14th, 2001

Received by H.

Cuenca, Ecuador.

Dear H___, in my last message I spoke of Jesus’ separation from his family. I indicated that the reason for this had been the difference between Jesus and Joseph’s points of view as to the role of the future Messiah. Today I would like to go a little deeper into the subject.

I have pointed out that in a message from Jesus’ mother Mary, as received through Dr. Samuels, that you have been given valuable information about this. This is true. However I want to correct some parts in this message which do not express the reality very accurately.

The message goes:

“He began to be more and more different; he spoke more and more of God and His Love which, he pointed out to us, was proven by our Scriptures, and by the time he was twenty, wondered if it could be him. This we did not understand. We thought we brought into the world a typical pious Jew of the Chassidic sect — people who had let themselves be butchered rather than do violence to their religious beliefs. Our other children, like Judah and Jacob, were more given to throwing out the Romans; they were very patriotic, as were many of the young boys of this area.”

The passage suggests that Jesus only found out when he was twenty years of age that he would possibly be the Messiah, and that his family did not understand this. This is not correct. After the events of Bethlehem and of the visit of the Wise Men from the east, this statement seems strange.

Joseph and Mary knew that Jesus would be the Messiah, but what they were incapable of understanding was his attitude.

According to Joseph, Jesus should have taken an interest in politics, since the Messiah — for him and for almost all Jews — was to be largely a political figure, also a spiritual figure, of course. Would he not deliver his people from the Roman yoke? Would he not lead his people to the summit of power, extending a Kingdom of perfect justice over all the earth, with the Jews as the ruling nation? Everybody knew that, and it seemed that the only man not informed of this was the Messiah himself. Therefore it was necessary that Jesus should begin to establish bonds with the groups in which he would have to find his backing, such as the militant extremists, the priesthood, the aristocracy, etc.

However Joseph’s son did not do anything like that. He sought solitude, withdrawing ever more from his own family, and he spoke of his personal relationship with God. He even said that he spoke with the Heavenly Father. Well for Joseph that did not sound bad at all, because the prophets also did that, and the Messiah surely had to have a very special connection to the Creator. But Jesus went beyond that. He claimed that all people had the same possibility of establishing this personal bond with God, and that God would fill their souls with His own Substance of Love.

That really was dangerous. Joseph understood the implications of his son’s ideas very well. They meant that for religion, the Temple was no longer necessary and the priesthood was no longer necessary. And with this kind of teaching he would never obtain the backing of the religious class. Without their support his mission was condemned to fail.

Joseph’s fears had a very real foundation. And finally, this dread amongst clergymen would be one of the main reasons for their signing the Galilean prophet’s death warrant. And he explained it clearly to his son, and Jesus agreed. He needed time to think and thus he said he would leave their home in order to meditate in other surroundings on the nature of his future mission. Joseph understood him and he gave him his blessing. However, deep inside, the fear for his son began to erode his soul.

Should we blame Joseph for his lack of understanding? I don’t think so. He thought as most of the Jews thought, and the walls of his beliefs and convictions covered his view beyond these poorly established limitations. Joseph visualized himself as a privileged person, not only as the Messiah’s father, but also as a Hebrew. All Hebrews would be people of the first class, the rulers of the earth, administering and judging over the common populace, that is to say, over the rest of humanity.

You remember what the great Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran wrote:

“Three days afterwards I visited Jerusalem and heard of all that had come to pass. And I also heard that Judas had flung himself from the summit of the High Rock.

I have pondered long since that day, and I understand Judas. He fulfilled his little life, which hovered like a mist on this land and enslaved by the Romans, while the great prophet was ascending the heights.

One man longed for a kingdom in which he was to be a prince.

Another man desired a kingdom in which all men shall be princes.”

We all were caught up in the narrowness of our mentality.

And Jesus was right. He still needed more time. He had to become even more filled with the Love of God in order to resist the fierce storms which would come over his life.

Later on he often used the example of becoming filled with Love, such as in the instance of the lamps filled with oil, so that they could light the way, and also in some comparisons not retained in the Bible. He used to talk about two buckets, one empty and the other one filled with water. When a strong wind came, the empty bucket was tossed to and fro by the fury of the weather, until it finally broke in a thousand pieces, while the full bucket stayed firm and stable in its place. He spoke of the two ships, where one of them capsized amidst the terrible waves, and sank into the abyss of the ocean, while the other one, because of the weight of its load or ballast, stayed firm, plowing the stormy sea in stable course, and reaching the safety of the harbor unharmed .

Men must fill their souls with things which have real weight. Only in this way can they master the hard times in their lives. And what weighs most in all eternity is the Cornerstone of all existence, the Love of our Father in Heaven.

So he taught us.

It is enough for today. I will leave you now, and I hope that tomorrow we’ll meet again.

With all my love,

I am Judas, your brother in the spirit.