Messages 2002

The response to Jesus’ declaration that he is the messiah.

January 3rd, 2002

Received by H.

Cuenca, Ecuador.

Hello, my friend. I see you are very relaxed. I am going to show you a short “movie.” Describe what you are seeing.

H. “I see a beach, like in a bay, but is not a sandy beach such as we have here, but it is covered with pebbles, such as I have seen in Greece, at Kalamata and at the Corinthian Gulf. On the beach, a group of men are sitting, fifteen or twenty perhaps, with nets. They are talking. They are almost naked, wearing only loincloths or something like that. All have beards, some have their hair cut short, and others wear long and loose hair. It reaches down to their backs. Others have braided hair, forming a single thick braid in the nape. There is one who has his braid knotted up, forming a bun on the back of his head…”

We are not at the Mediterranean; we are on the shores of Lake Genesaret, which we called the “Yam Kinneret.” They are fishermen repairing their nets. They are talking to make their work more pleasant, speaking of their families, their children, their quarrels with neighbors, of a new brothel in Magdala, of fishing, Romans, taxes, in short, they speak of everything.

Jesus is with them. He works with them. And he tries to give a direction to their conversation.

H. “Which one of them is Jesus?”

He is the man with the bun. That hairstyle was much in vogue at that time. Yes, Jesus looked after his appearance.

But what I want to say is that Jesus is beginning to speak of God. God — and religion in general — has always been favorite topic for the Jews.

“If you know so much of God, who are you?” one of them asks him. “Are you a prophet? Well, if you are a prophet, what are you doing here with us? Why don’t you go to Antipas to tell him what you have to say?”

All are laughing, also Jesus.

“A prophet, my dear friend,” says Jesus, “is a man who walks with God. He speaks with God, and God speaks to him. All that God says is important, so important that all men should know of it.”

All murmur approvingly.

“And as this is the case, where should a prophet be?” the Master asks.

“With the people,” the fisherman answers.

“Here I am!” replies Jesus with a broad smile.

This, my dear brother, was a scene from Jesus’ real life, a scene that I never witnessed in that form, because it happened before I joined his followers. But I projected it to you, in order to give our messages some coloring.

We have already talked about the reasons why Jesus left his home and settled in Capernaum, or Kpar Nakhum. His public ministry had not yet begun, that is to say, he had not yet proclaimed himself the Messiah of God. But, of course, he spoke with people, with his companions, of his visions and how he saw God.

He even had won some local fame, because on some occasions he had healed the sick. People called those miracles. You would describe them today as spiritual healings. And Jesus’ fame, as a wise man and healer, began to spread to the neighboring towns, even to Nazareth, which was not very far away.

A few days after the event you have just seen, on a Friday, Jesus headed towards Nazareth, to spend the night in his family’s home, and mainly to request the privilege of speaking before the assembly of the village in the synagogue. And here comes the story, of which we have already spoken a little, yesterday, in the context of the supposed 1172 days of Jesus’ ministry.

We are now in the month of September of the year 25 A.D. There is already a message received by Dr. Samuels, explaining very well the gist of Jesus’ speech, and I think that it is not necessary to repeat this. However, I want to draw your attention to another event that happened, namely, the rejection Jesus suffered and its causes.

If you could write here the story as contained in the New Testament, you would help me to explain myself better.

“And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph’s son?

And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

But he passing through the midst of them went his way. (From Chapter 4 of the Gospel according to Luke)”

I think you can already imagine what happened. You grew up in a small village. You know how things are there. Joseph had never spoken openly that his son would be the Messiah. Of course he spoke with his children, and children don’t know how to keep secrets. They commented on it to their friends, and they told their parents. Everybody was thus informed of Joseph’s extravagant ideas, but nobody commented on them openly.

And finally they found out that things between father and son obviously were bad, and that the son had decided to abandon Nazareth. But now he had returned, and after a wonderful recital, which all admired, he declared himself the Messiah.

Well, most kept their silence, but there are always some who like to talk. They said: “Hey, Yeshu, isn’t this great! So, you are the Messiah for whom we have been waiting so long.”

It was not blasphemy to proclaim oneself the Messiah. Many did this before Jesus and also afterwards. But God punished the false Messiah with the death penalty. And Jesus the Messiah? Ridiculous! He did not have any military experience, he did not have backing in the power groups, no, it simply could not be.

“We have even heard speaking of your prowess, your healings in Kpar Nakhum. But how strange, you don’t show us anything of your abilities here.”

“No prophet is accepted in his own country,” Jesus responds.

“Ah, yes, of course,” they said, “Here, where we could witness your abilities through our own eyes, suddenly things don’t work out any longer. We always thought that the Messiah would benefit all Jews, and not only some fishermen down there.”

And then Jesus answered quoting the Scriptures, Elijah’s story, when the Hebrew rulers exiled him, and God worked His miracles through the prophet amongst the pagans. In other words, Jesus made them understand that they were not as special as they thought.

And many grew angry with him. And Jesus was forced to leave Nazareth. Forgetting the Sabbath, they expelled him.

And how did Jesus’ family react? Did Joseph stand up defending the Messiah in whom he so much believed? No! He kept his silence. What a shame, so he thought. His son who had so disillusioned him, when not understanding anything he tried to teach him, finally had proclaimed himself as the Messiah, insulting at the same time his own people. Where would this end …?

You should understand that you should not take the words of this controversy literally. However, you will obviously understand how events developed.

Years later, although Jesus simply carried on, things changed in Nazareth. Many of the Jews from Nazareth embraced the new faith, and the village became one of the strongholds of Judeo-Christianity, keeping Jesus’ teachings in their pure form. With the end of Judaism in Palestine, after the rebellion led by Bar Kokhba in the emperor Hadrian’s time, the Judeo-Christian community also disappeared. Never again did it recover, pursued by Jews and the Roman church in equal manner.

Jesus’ supposed curses in the New Testament against several of the towns at the Lake of Genesaret are a faithful reflection of these persecutions. All these places harbored strong Judeo-Christian communities. But about this we have already conversed.

That is all for today. I only want to tell D___ that he should not worry about his questions. As you see, the subject of the chosen people passes through the whole Bible like a red thread. Many of the questions can be dealt with in the context of our storyline. And if this is not the case, it will cause no damage to interrupt it from time to time. It is surely very interesting to know Jesus’ story. But in fact, we are here to help you with your current problems. And it will always be a pleasure to do so.

With that, I will say goodbye. I wish you a happy day, and be prepared tomorrow for receiving another message.

God bless you always.

Your brother and friend,

Judas