(Part 2 of a series on Lenten Reflections)
Our Lord spent the last three years of His life on earth in the land of His birth. A stamp-sized country, He would do His ministry from town to town walking with His disciples. Throngs of people both unlettered and literate merchants and soldiers followed Him as He generously gave His words of wisdom, as well as worked miracles to relieve the sick and the dying. Oftentimes, the Temple priests and lawyers questioned His messiahship.
What does Messiah mean?
A lawyer asked, “What does Messiah mean? Who has the right to make messiah of a man?”
Jesus replied, “Messiah is one sent from God to seek and save the lost. Messiahs are not made by men.”
Messiah comes to light the way… to heal broken hearts… to set the prisoners free. Messiah and the Christ are one.
Because a man claims to be Christ is not a sign that he is Christ. A man may cause the streams to flow from flinty rocks. He may bring on storms at will. He may calm tempestuous winds. He may heal the sick and raise the dead. But, he may not be sent from God.
All nature is subservient to the will of man, and evil men, as well as good, have all the powers of mind, and may control the elements.
Give unto God the treasures of your heart
The Messiah lives not in the head but in the heart, the seat of mercy and of love. The Messiah never works for selfish gains. He stands above the carnal self. His words and deeds are for the universal good.
The Messiah never tries to be a king, to wear a crown and sit upon an earthly throne. The king is earthly, of the earth, however, the Messiah is the man from heaven.
The lawyer asked, “Why do you pose as king?”
Jesus replied, “No man has ever heard me say that I am the king. I could not sit in Caesar’s place and be the Christ. Give unto Caesar what belongs to him; give unto God the treasures of your heart.”
Jesus heals on Sabbath day
It was a Sabbath day when Jesus stood among the surging masses of people in the temple courts and sacred halls. The blind, the deaf, the dumb, and those obsessed were there, and Jesus spoke the Word, and they were healed.
On some, He laid His hands, and they were healed; to others He just spoke the Word, and they were fully restored to health; but, others had to go and wash in certain pools, and others He anointed with holy oil.
A doctor asked Jesus why He healed in diverse ways, and He replied, “Disease is discord in the human form, and discords are produced in many ways. The body is a harpsichord, sometimes the strings are too relaxed and then in harmony results. Sometimes, we find the strings too tense, and then another form of discord is induced. Disease is in many forms, and there are many ways to cure, to tune anew the mystic harpsichord.”
Hypocrisy of the Pharisees
When the Pharisees were told that Jesus healed the people on Sabbath day, they were enraged, and they commanded Him to leave the place. But Jesus asked, “Was man designed to fit the Sabbath day, or was the Sabbath day designed to fit the man? If you had fallen in a pit and lo, the Sabbath day had come, and I should pass your way, would you cry out, ‘Let me alone, it is a sin to help me on the Sabbath day. I will swelter in this filth until another day.’
“You Pharisees, you hypocrites! You know you would be glad to have my help upon the Sabbath day, or any other day. These people all have fallen into pits, and they are calling loud for me to help them out, and man and God would curse me should I pass along and heed them not.”
The Pharisees left to say their prayers, and curse the man of God because He did not heed their words.
The brotherhood of life
One evening, Jesus stood beside a pool. A playful child had fallen in and drowned, and friends were carrying the body away.
Jesus called the carriers to stop. He stretched Himself upon the lifeless form, and breathed into its mouth the breath of life. He called aloud onto the soul that had gone out, and it returned. The child revived and lived.
Jesus saw a wounded dog, it could not move. It lay beside the road and groaned with pain. He took it in His arms and carried it to His home. He poured the healing oil into the wounds and cared for it, as though it were a child, until it was strong and well.
Jesus saw a little boy who had no home and was hungry, when He asked for bread, the people turned away. He took the child and gave him bread. He wrapped him in His own warm coat, and found Him a home.
To those who followed Him, the Master said, “If man would gain again his lost estate, he must respect the brotherhood of life. Whoever is not kind to every form of life – to man, to beast, to bird, and creeping thing – cannot expect the blessings of the Holy One; for as we give, so God will give to us.”
How can a man be born again?
Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born again? Can he go back into the womb and again to life?”
Jesus stated, “The birth of which I speak is not the birth of flesh. Except a man be born of water and the Holy Breath, he cannot come into the kingdom of the Holy One. That which is born of flesh is child of man; that which is born of Holy Breath is the child of God.”
The winds blow where they please. Men hear their voices, and may note results. But, they do not know from where they come nor where they go, and so is every one that is born of the Holy Breath.
Nicodemus said, “I do not understand. Pray tell me plainly, what you mean.”
Walk by faith and not by sight
Jesus explained, “The kingdom of the Holy One is in the soul; men cannot see it with their carnal eyes; with all their reasoning powers they comprehend it not.”
It is a life hidden deep in God. Its recognition is the work of inner consciousness.
“The kingdoms of the world are kingdoms of the sight; the kingdom of the Holy One is that of faith; its king is love.”
Men cannot see the love of God un-manifest, and so our Father-God has clothed this love with flesh – flesh of the son of man. That the world may see and know this love made manifest, the son of man needs to be lifted up. As Moses in the wilderness, raised up the serpent for healing the flesh, the son of man must be raised up. That all men bitten by the serpent of the dust, the serpent of this carnal life, may live.
“He who believes in Him shall have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He sent forth His only son to be raised up that men may see the love of God.”
God did not send His Son to judge the world, He sent Him forth to save the world, to bring men to the light.
The common people gladly listened to his words
Men love not the light, for light reveals their wickedness. Men prefer the dark. Every one who loves the truth comes to the light, he does not fear to have his works made manifest.
Morning came and Nicodemus went his way. He understood the meaning of the birth of the Holy Breath. He felt the presence of the spirit in his soul.
Jesus tarried in Jerusalem for many days and taught and healed the sick. The common people gladly listened to His words, and many left all their carnal things and followed Him.
(Reference: The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi)
(For more information or reaction, please e-mail at exec@obmontessori.edu.ph or pssoliven@yahoo.com)