Introduction

This book deals with the baptism and early ministry of our Lord and takes place for the most part around the Sea of Galilee.

Volume I covered the period of his ancestry, Hebrew background, birth and youth.

Volume III will begin with his final journey to Jerusalem.

In these books all the words and works of our Lord Jesus have been copied directly from the Four Gospels, mainly from the Revised Standard Version, with comparisons from several other translations as well, in each case the clearer rendition being used

The Word

The Lord Incarnate was the fulfillment and evidence of the Divine Word become flesh. He was the outcome of centuries of prophecy and prayers of thousands who had urgently desired and declared the advent of a Saviour. He was the Composite Word of all who walked with God and sought to know Him face to face, the Cumulative Statement from countless repetitions of Scripture through which the nucleus of the living flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ was eventually formed -- and he was the Living Word, direct from God.

Yet our Lord was born even as we, into a body of flesh, and he was endowed as even we are with an innate intelligence and with the divine spark of the Spirit.

Let us remember that Jesus came into the world willingly with a great burning desire to come, that he, Jesus, might have the opportunity to aid man and the planet Earth.

Jesus, of course, came into the world through a Mother who had a great spiritual passion after being told she, Mary, was to give birth to the much looked for Messiah.

The Virgin Mary loved and adored carrying of the body of Jesus. She was thankful, and she gave thanks to God many times for this great opportunity of service.

Just think how different that birth was from many millions of births of our children today, who come into this world today, many unwanted, many mothers-to-be who tried to release themselves after conception, and many with various diseases. These are vastly different from the condition that Jesus entered the world under, for the love of Mary certainly does not exist here.

But along with such gifts as the humblest man may receive, he was also accorded others directly from his Father in heaven, such gifts as are attainable by mankind only through the acceptance of our Lord Jesus Christ who brought them into the earth plane.

For as a true Son of the Father, only he is fully endowed with that wholeness of Spirit and Truth which can make men free, and only he was fully instructed in the Wisdom of God before ever coming here to lift up mankind.

The Creator placed within our Lord Jesus the potent nucleus of His Innermost Essence and enclosed within him the Primordial Light of His own Being which was before the world began. This Light he brought and offered to us all in a vehicle nourished and sustained by virgin purity.

In using the term "only-begotten Son of God," we are not implying that Jesus was the only son of God, but that he manifested in human form as the only begotten Son, the Divine Word sometimes called the second aspect of the Supreme Being. Since Jesus was actually born of the Holy Spirit the divine aspect was an intrinsic aspect of his personality.

The Holy Spirit brought the concept. Others have come to be sons of God, but they have been made sons as a result of attainment and grace.

The Living Word is "begotten" of his Father before all worlds and without Him is not anything made that was made. Thus does the only-begotten rank before all other things in the universe, excepting the Power aspect from Whence it sprang -- that first aspect of Supreme Being which thinks-out, or imagines, the universe that is to be before the actual beginnings of manifestation.

Through the memory of nature Jesus may be studied as a man, for he truly belongs to our humanity and was embodied in this form. His human personality had evolved and developed much as others, but the being, Christ, is something quite different. For there is found but one such embodiment -- when he descended into the body of Jesus in the baptism at Jordan. Let us never suppose that Jesus even in his human form was an ordinary individual, for being of a singularly pure and evolved type of mind, he was vastly superior to the great majority of our present humanity. Having traveled throughout many lifetimes the path of holiness, he had thus fitted himself for this honor and mission greater than any which had ever been assigned to a human being.

Jesus brought to mankind more than an inspiring example, for he stands above all men as the Supreme Way-Shower, and as a member of the human race he is able to reveal the possibilities of human attainment in order that those things he did may be accomplished in time by all people.

Had the Lord Jesus come to our earth from another order of beings, he could hardly have provided such an example for our emulation as he now does, for then he would be looked upon rather as an abstract ideal, portraying for us a perfection which we could not hope to reach, because of his superhuman development. He would not have the basis for understanding our pains and problems. But as it is, he made it possible for everyone in the process of human evolution to attain, even as he had attained. And he added the encouragement, "even greater things shall ye do."

As we seek to grow in his way, to emulate him in all that we do, to seek greater clarity of the Truth of his teaching, and as we seek to grow into a more intimate relationship with Jesus, Mary and Joseph (three great Initiates), such association and concentration upon their attributes of character and personality inevitably must lead us to grow more nearly into their likeness. It is necessary to reawaken these divine attributes within ourselves and above all to practice their principles in daily life as a basic preparation for the era just beginning. In these times more definite steps will be needed to prepare the way for the return of our great Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ.

St. John the Apostle spoke of him thus:

"When all things began, the Word already was. The Word dwelt with God, and what God was, the Word was. The Word then was with God at the beginning, and through Him all things came to be; no single thing was created without Him. All that came to be was alive with His life, and that life was the light of man. The light shines on in the dark, and the darkness has never overcome it.

"He came to his own, and his own would not receive Him, but to all who did receive Him, to those who have yielded Him their allegiance, He gave power to become sons of God, especially to those who believed in His name -- being born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of men, but of God.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, a glory like that of the first-born of the Father, full of grace and truth. No man has ever seen God; but the first-born of God who is in the bosom of his Father has declared Him."

Before the embodiment of God in the human form of His Son, even the angels of heaven would never have dared imagine the Godhead in any kind of image or form. For the people of Israel since the time of Moses had been strictly forbidden to portray God in any aspect of form, or to invent an image of Him, or even a picture of any living creature. Not until the advent of Jesus did God appear openly visible and approachable to all men.

There is an old saying to this effect: "An idol is near, yet very far; for though a man set it up in his home and if he cry unto it, it will not answer. But God is very near." As a Rabbi has said, From here to heaven is a journey of five hundred years." Thus God is seen as far off, but at the same time so near that if a man prays and meditates in his inmost heart, God is there to answer his prayer.

The Father has said that He wishes to give us the kingdom, and any who wish to know the Lord can do so. To the man who said one must love God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself, Jesus answered, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." The way to the kingdom may be a short process or a long one, but it is possible for all because however scattered and separate mankind may appear to be, there exists in everyone a Self, or common Center, where all meet and are divine, for love is of God. Whatever is not of love must remain outside of Him. Faithful application of His wisdom brings about unfoldment of the teachings of His divine love.

Divine love means more than doing good. Many are the persons who do not acknowledge God, but on the physical and even on the mental levels do "a world of good" for their fellow men whether it be through social service, medicine, or just being a good neighbor. They dedicate themselves to straightening up the messes which man has incurred through his mistaken way of life. They clean up the diseases which he has wrought within himself over a period of time. Such dedication develops the character and soul to a high degree, but to patch up the effects of past error is not enough. To keep on clearing away the debris of past action does not prevent its recurrence. One must remove the cause.

The work of the true priesthood is to prevent error, not by taking note of it, but exchanging and transforming that which is erroneous into that which is godly. It is not enough to flee the darkness, for light must be turned on to dissolve it. When the sun comes out it disappears.

Our Lord Jesus did not live his earthly life merely to set an example for other beings to copy, even though by living as he did an example was set. Due to the difference between his mission and ours, or the customs of his time and ours, we are not expected to go through all the actions he did, but to follow and live after the teachings and directives he taught which apply to any age. Truth and justice, love of God and neighbor, healing and use of the word in healing, these truths are effective in us in that their use reveals the causes of our errors.

In the life of our Lord Jesus Christ we need not worry whether his actions spoke louder than his words, for both are still reverberating even unto our own era, when the time has come for him to gather fruits from the Seeds which he planted when living on earth.

Not only is Jesus the embodiment of the Word, but through him God gave unto mankind and taught him to use the Divine Word of Power. When man takes hold of his authority, speaking this Word in accordance with the Will of God, that word bears good fruit, for in the Word God gave man, He also gave something of Himself. Those who have worked with faith and through experience have become pure in their intentions, find that the Self within them unites with that of God, and even they become true Sons of God, working in His Name, on His behalf.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees of today bear other names, many names, but our approach to them should always be with Truth, even as our Lord's method was to give them the truth, and live it. We are not expected to do or to suffer the things he suffered, but we are pilgrims even as he, from the point of the first rung of the ladder of ascension, up through the universe and beyond unto the heaven itself where he has prepared a place for us.

The Way he showed us was a new and living way, leading from man to God, from the partial to the perfect, from the earthly to the heavenly, and from time to eternity.

He lived the life required of mortals, but was immortal. He completed his sojourn in the flesh in order to bring those who dwell in flesh closer to the glorious place from whence he came. He was by far the greatest of all men, because he was more than a mere man. Being both of the mortal and immortal, he was able to transmute for man his mortal life into the everlasting and divine life. He is so far above other men as to be beyond comparison with them. Only he was able to overbridge the great gulf which man had brought about between the Creator and His created beings long ago. Only Jesus has succeeded in changing the corruptible human into the incorruptible man.

It also remained for him as the first among all intelligent human beings on this earth and the other globes to succeed fully and completely in amalgamating his individuality with the indwelling Spirit-spark of God. This was the greatest victory man could ever hope to achieve, and his success was not merely for the earth, but was cosmic. Everywhere in the universe does his name reverberate, and all who spiritually comprehend it bend the knee in reverence and gratitude.

"Blessed Lord Jesus, gentle as the human heart, fiery as the forces of nature, and intimate as Life itself -- in you shall mankind melt in Light, and with you gain freedom and mastery over all the world. Most dearly beloved, it is you, in truth, who are sought by all our brother-men; even those who do not believe yet sense and seek you through-out the magic immensities of the cosmos."

The Ark of the Covenant, shown here in a sixth-century mosaic, was the only image of God permissible to the Hebrew artist.

Baptized By John

By the time Jesus had reached his early thirties, the time was ripe and he was ready to be ordained for his mission.

This ordination was not to take place in a Temple, but in an open river. Nor would it be administered by an orthodox priest, but by the son of a Levite priest who was himself a desert prophet.

Luke carefully times the beginning of this ministry as occurring in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (in Rome), usually designated as 29 A.D., sometimes 28 A.D.; Pontius Pilate being then governor of Judea sent out from Rome, and Herod Antipas (the son of Herod the Great who had reigned at Jesus' birth) was tetrarch of the province of Galilee. Caiaphas was then high priest in Jerusalem with his father-in-law Annas, the former high priest, still wielding a great deal of influence.

By now Jesus had matured into the full vigor of manhood. He was a strong commanding figure, in no way resembling the emaciated or effeminate image so often presented.

He was warm and vibrant with the radiant love of God flowing out from him and carried himself with such easy authority it occurred to no one to question him.

He had a classic face somewhat oval like that of Mary, but with a more pronounced nose, and the broad flat forehead slanting somewhat back to signify the swift movement of his thought. His eyes were deep and penetrating, and the mouth strong -- not like the mouth of other men, but more like unto a God. His beard was not pronounced. Some early artists painted him without one, others with.

Some called him blond like David, others believed he had dark hair parted at the middle after the manner of the Nazarenes, but both agree it was somewhat curly, and one sees it more brown with a reddish sheen. There was no representation made of him during his lifetime due to the religion of the Jews which forbade the making of any kind of image.

The "brothers" of Jesus who were mentioned by name in the Scriptures were Joseph, Simon and Jude, along with certain unnamed sisters. These, as explained before, may have been cousins instead, or even half-brothers.

A sister of Mary, also called Mary, the wife of Cleophas, was once mentioned also. Jesus had a great deal of love for people, as so often exhibited in his concern for the welfare and happiness of those about him later on. He liked women, too, and we wonder how Mary explained to the townspeople why one so eligible did not wed, as was the usual custom at a fairly early age.

John, the son of Zacharias, had been born just six months before Jesus, and he started his ministry just a short time before our Lord. Though Jesus and John the Baptist were so near the same age and their missions so closely hinged one upon the other, it is not very likely they knew each other in the formative years, unless they met sometimes during youthful pilgrimages to the Temple at the Passover.

For Jesus lived in the north of Palestine and John in the south where he spent all his life in the Judean desert, until the call came from God to go forth preaching and baptizing. He was probably not always alone during that time, living in earlier years with his aging mother Elizabeth near Jerusalem, later making his way either to the desert dwelling of a hermit teacher, or to one of the more austere Essene communities. (Traditionally he is supposed to have spent some time at the one in Carmel.)

The Essene community in the heart of the Judean wilderness was preparing the way for the Lord's coming, through study of the Law and strict obedience to all that had been revealed by the prophets. United by a priestly discipline, the community itself constituted a "holy of holies" in which, through sacrifices of praise and perfect obedience, atonement was made for the guilt of transgressions and for the purification of the land. Set apart in this way, the community served as a house of holiness for the priests and a house of community for the Israelites who were obedient to the Law until the coming of the day of the Lord. This day would be marked by the appearance of two Messianic figures, an anointed priest and an anointed king for Israel.

In his later years John went out alone into the desert, living very frugally on locusts and wild honey, dressed in camel's hair and a leather girdle, praying and fasting.

There was beauty too, occasional strong notes of color in this desert where all is so light and all half-tones are lost in that clearness which in the East wraps the whole immensity of earth and sky and gives infinite sharpness and depth to the horizon.

He received his call from God only a matter of months before Jesus did and obeyed that call to come out in the land of Judea around the Jordan as a powerful preacher of immense force, his heroic sanctity lending strength to every word. He reminded people of their old Jewish prophets.

It was nearly 1,000 years since Elijah had come, and they waited his return as prophesied that he must precede the Messiah when he came. It had been said that three days before the Messiah, Elijah would again appear.

It was necessary that a "purifier" should precede the Messiah, for only the pure in heart would be able to abide in his presence

It had been such a long time since a true prophet had appeared in Israel that they were eager to hear this great one like unto those who had stirred man's conscience of old and who were the pride of their religious heritage. So they flocked to hear him preach, and his fame spread over all Palestine.

He was a rugged man, also around thirty-five years of age, dark-haired, and bearing that quality of fierce inner purity which can belong only to one who has nothing to conceal and no axe to grind -- but cutting all the more deeply as a result.

John had begun to gather a few disciples about him, and they assisted him with the baptisms, for there were many.

Baptism was not new. The Essenes also used baptism as part of their rites, and the Israelites have been mentioned as using some such rite in the times of both Isaiah and Ezekiel. So also did the followers of Mithras in Persia.

Josephus said that baptism was for purification of the body after the soul had already been purified through repentence. After baptism one became a sinless man, though if he sinned again he was not rebaptized but was given a supplementary rite.

Galilee, like all the other provinces, was filled with the name of John. The people of Galilee, under the impulse which carried all the Jews with it, came in their turn to ask for baptism. This was the hour of God for Jesus, who without further ado, joined the caravans of his country and descended into the valley of Jordan to seek the prophet.

John was baptizing in the River Jordan outside Jerusalem, in a place which was appropriate for immersion. (For the word "baptize" means "immerse.") Jesus traveled alone to see John, not yet having gathered any disciples about him. Whatever spiritual work he had done before this time was private, probably known only to his mother and himself. It was said that he came to John direct from Nazareth in Galilee, a trip of about three days.

The road past Nazareth led to the ford where caravans had to cross the river into southern Persia. Here John was preaching at Bethany, near Jericho. The place was full of religious memories, which carried the imagination back to such great ones as Joshua, who led the Israelites into the promised land here, and Elijah himself who had smitten the waters with his mantle and opened a passage through its rapid waters.

The name of the place is today called "place of passage." The name Bethany is not known. Some translators call the place "Bethabara," which means "house of the boat," indicating an established river crossing at that point. In the background are arid mountains which look like a mass of cinders. The atmosphere is hot even in winter. The silence of the solitude is scarcely broken by the cry of a few birds and the stifled murmur of the stream. It was quite near the Qumran Essene community.

This town of Bethany, or Bethabara, was on the far side of the Jordan, on the eastern shore where John was baptizing, and this was not the town called Bethany on the Mount of Olives where Lazarus lived with his sisters.

There is something about viewing past actions from a vantage point of time and knowledge that makes them appear as though re-enacted in miniature; for you have already absorbed the essence of what was done to carry you forward, and you can now view what they were doing (though not repeating the events in full scale) as though standing on a slope overlooking a tiny stream from above - one which you could cross in one step to the other side, and it represents the River Jordan, where Jesus was baptized. Jesus did the same when he came.

He did not repeat the old prophet's actions full-size, but put them in small scale and quickly went through to a baptism he did not need. It was a miniature repetition of several ancient events of significance. Today we go through all these in a still smaller proportion of action.

The word "Galilee" means "wheel" or "revolution of a wheel," and it seems as though the cycle of the "wheel" in Jesus' life turned each twelve years bringing him into a new area.

His mother traveled from Nazareth to give him birth; again when he was twelve years old they traveled to Jerusalem from their home in Nazareth, and he began to teach in the Temple.

We do not know what milestone was passed at this twenty- fourth year, but it was almost certainly a time of travel and spiritual experience.

The final rotation of the wheel brings him quite near to the thirty-sixty year when it carried him once more from Nazareth to the Jordan, again as before in the land of Judea.

We say Jesus was nearer thirty-five despite the usual saying that he began preaching at about thirty. Due to historically known events (Herod's death occurred in 4 B.C.), he had to be at least five years old by 1 A.D., and his ministry should have begun around 29 A.D., possibly 28 A.D. The letters "B.C.," of course, are an abbreviation for "before Christ," and "A.D." is abbreviated from Anno Domini, Latin for "Year of our Lord."

From the first chapter of the gospels of John and Mark, and from the third chapter of Matthew and Luke, we glean the story of Jesus' two baptisms, both of water and the Holy Spirit being accomplished in the same ritual, but the baptism by water had to precede the other in order to carry the new step upward from the old.

Baptism by John

This is why Jesus had need first to fulfill the former way. "Let it be so for now," he said to John, "to fulfill all righteousness." Because though he was already progressed far beyond any need for the baptism by water, he must make this token gesture to clear the way for that higher initiation which was to come from above.

Too, he may have personally wished to perform this cleansing to rid himself of any bits of earthly dust which might have clung from the thirty-odd years spent in preparing himself among men for this very moment.

Not only had John's preaching and baptism tilled the ground for Jesus to emerge publicly, but there was a need to acknowledge John's word and accept it, in order to receive in return the perfect witnessing of the spiritual anointment into his divine mission.

The River Jordan

We are told there appeared "a man sent from God whose name was John," and he came as a witness to testify concerning the Light so that through him all might come to believe.

He was not himself that Light, but he came to bear witness of it, for the real light which enlightens every man was even then coming into the world. And he was in the world already, but the world, though it owed its being to him, did not recognize him.

And John came preaching in the wilderness of Jordan, calling to all who would hear, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is upon you." And he went all over the Judean Valley proclaiming the baptism and repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it was prophesied in the book of Isaiah:

All the people were on edge with expectation, musing in their hearts and wondering about John, whether perhaps he was the Messiah whom they awaited. But John answered them plainly, "Though I baptize you with water, there is one coming after me who is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to unfasten. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

So with this and many other exhortations, John preached good news to the people.

Thither came Jesus unnoticed in the crowd, and John, as yet, knew him not. But when Jesus presented himself with the others, John sought to prevent him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by you, and yet you have come to me?" How John must have yearned for that greater baptism, which was withheld at that time.

In a profoundly graceful statement, Jesus answered him, "Let it be done so for now, for this is necessary for us so that all may be fulfilled." Then John consented and baptized him. After the immersion Jesus immediately rose out of the water and at that moment he saw the heavens opened wide and the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to alight upon him. A voice from heaven was heard saying, "Thou art My Son, My Beloved, on whom My favor rests."

The descent of the Holy Spirit after his immersion has been called the anointing of Jesus, with the wondrous sign which attended it enabling John to recognize him as the Messiah -- the long-awaited Saviour of man.

Forty Days

Before Jesus' birth, when the Holy Spirit "came upon" Mary and the Power of the Most High overshadowed her, the body of God had been given life. Now at the Jordan when the Holy Spirit descended and "came upon" Jesus, the great three-rayed Light that resembled a dove brought the "blood" or Spirit of God that was given to Jesus with the Sonship.

It is significant that Mary, after receiving the Spirit, went with haste on the long journey to Judea where she stayed three months with her cousin. The intensity of the experience had driven her to rush forth as it now caused Jesus to do. For immediately following baptism the Spirit "drove" him forth into the desert, due to the overwhelming grandeur of his experience.

Nothing else mattered or existed for him during that exalted state except the rapture of his Oneness with God. He had no purpose in mind, no set goal in time, and was beyond any thought of self-discipline -- he was only following the Spirit -- listening to the secret words of heaven which no man may utter.

Wild beasts passed by, and he feared them not; blistering sun smote the desert, and he welcomed it as he did the stinging windstorms with sand in his face.

Whenever precious water was found in this desolate place, he drank automatically, scarcely knowing what he did, the angels guiding him in all of this, for one does not easily survive in these wilds of Judea without taking care. In this state, however, he welcomed the stark bareness and the solitude, wishing no distraction from experiencing that greater Reality.

As a babe he had been born among gentle domesticated animals in their abode, but now having received his accolade he wandered among the savage beasts of the wilderness, who were less vicious in fact than their human relatives who dwelt in the palaces and offices of government. He slept beneath the brilliant stars in chill clear desert air and felt his own Light akin to those shining in the heavens.

For forty days and nights his fasting continued, as long ago both Moses and Elias had fasted for the same length of time, the number forty being held as sacred in Jewish antiquity.

Arabs in the seventh century named a certain mountain Jebel Quarantal, or Mount of the Forty Days, which rises 1,600 feet above the Jordan Valley toward Jericho -- and in that vicinity he may have passed some of this period. The desert has always held irresistible attraction for religious natures; all have passed through it at the threshold of the active life.

In that area are a desert and a mountain, uniting in its grandeur both austerity and majesty, where the rocks served as refuge. At its highest place above the world, frequented only by rock pigeons and eagles, is spread a dazzling panorama of sky, plain and sea.

When the forty days and nights had passed, there came a sultry red sun setting in the western sky and casting a ruddy glow over all the landscape.

In this thick and unreal atmosphere the devil appeared to Jesus. He was not in a flesh body, but appeared as solid as though indeed he were, for due to Jesus' long fast, he felt strangely weightless and lightheaded, his vision crystal clear. A great hunger had come upon him, and he suddenly felt an urgent need to return to peopled areas, where his work would now be laid out before him to do.

It was then the devil appeared, maliciously charming, to take advantage of circumstances propitious for breaking the will, for he was seeking to weaken and beguile Jesus to come away from his mission, as the serpent had once beguiled Eve.

Jesus in his spiritual strength was fully a match for strength of any other kind, and he never once lost control of the situation. For even as the Lord has a hard time helping those who fail to accept him, so is the devil also blocked by the refusal of acceptance.

The tempter approached Jesus and said, "If you are the Son of God command these stones to become bread." The devil was taunting him with the word "if," suggesting, "prove it." He pointed suggestively at the brown stones, which resembled round loaves of whole grain bread.

For forty days Jesus had heard God's statement echoing through his being, "This is My Beloved Son." He had done nothing about it yet, having just lived with the words, absorbing them.

Hungry as was his body at this moment with no relief in view, easy as both he and the devil knew it would have been for him to use the proclaimed authority to feed himself, Jesus saw the trap and had no intention of making the same mistake as Esau who had traded his birthright for a mess of food.

So he answered, "The Scripture says, 'Man cannot live by bread alone; but he must live by every word that is uttered from the mouth of God.' "

Having failed in his first simple test, the adversary made the next trap more difficult. For he took Jesus up into a high mountain place and in a flash showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all the glory of them.

He told Jesus, "I will give you dominion over all these things and all the glory that goes with it, if you will only fall down and worship me. For it is in my hands to give this to anyone I choose."

Jesus knew well what that would mean. He was quite unmoved by the temptation of material wealth and luxury; the harder part to resist was having all the world on his side, with all humanity knowing who he was and accepting him without argument.

For he well knew that if he were to become a world ruler to take the throne of the Judean kings and to drive the Romans out of Palestine, this would openly prove to the satisfaction of the Temple priests and all the Jews that he was the Messiah, whom they would then receive with open arms and he could have everything his way as long as he was on earth -- to teach the word of God without resistance. But certainly not in allegiance with the devil who fought against God. So he would have to travel by another way.

Jesus saw this now as only a human temptation, for God need not save His people by setting up temporal kingdoms, and the kingdom of heaven would not be established by creating a stronger kingdom on earth. Since this was Satan's way, to follow this plan would only make him the instrument of Satan -- not of God.

It was Jesus' mission rather to be a sovereign of souls and that not only of one race but of all races -- to preside over the invisible and universal Kingdom of God, far more real and lasting.

So Jesus answered, "Begone, Satan. For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.'

Then the adversary tried once more to tempt the pride of Jesus, daring him to make reckless use of his powers, and gamble with Spirit, to try God out and see if He would keep His promises.

So the devil took him in spirit to the Holy City of Jerusalem and set him on the highest parapet of the Temple, saying, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for Scripture says, 'He will command His angels to keep watch over you to keep you in all your ways, and they will bear you up in their hands lest you should strike your foot against a stone.' "

If Jesus had cast himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple, this would have prefigured a fall from his Messianic commission and would have eventually removed him from his appointment which stood higher than any of the Levitical priesthood serving within the Temple. Even if the angels had saved his vehicle, the voluntary act would have meant spiritual undoing. But Jesus would not be led astray and answered him, "Again it is written that you shall not tempt the Lord your God."

There was still another reason why Jesus had to be tempted, as we read in the fourth chapter of Hebrews: In Jesus, the Son of God, "We have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who was tempted with everything as we are, and yet without sin."

Was it necessary that the Messiah, the begotten Son of God, should be put on trial? Yes, because he was standing in for man, who would also have to face similar experiences later on.

For the temptation is a necessary step unto everyone on the spiritual ladder, and each must undergo some kind of test to find out if his innermost desires could still lead him aside into using newly-acquired spiritual powers for serving himself rather than God.

He is placed subtly on trial to test his worthiness to go on, before he is fully permitted to assume such power, the human and the divine in man struggling for mastery.

Moreover, one who is able to pass through this trying period unscathed and undeceived, who resists any enticements to turn aside, gains within himself firmness and certainty by so doing and knows he has truly mastered former weaknesses and has the ability to carry forward his mission.

If one persistently looks at or listens to the evils that beset his life, he gives power to them by attention. But if he persistently looks upon the good, staring straight through the false outer layer, he gives life to that instead, causing the devil to lose his power from lack of sustaining belief.

Satan had not overlooked the possibility of getting the Son of God on his side, for here was the greatest prize which had ever come to earth, and what power he might have against God if he could get the Son on his side.

On the other hand, if Jesus succeeded he would pose the greatest possible threat to Satan and his kingdom, and this could not be left to pass unchallenged. When all his choicest offerings had failed to interest the newly-crowned Prince, and he had used up all his temptations, the adversary departed, biding his time, waiting another likely opportunity. And the Lord Jesus had proven his mastery over flesh, ambition and pride.

Spiritual study of the Gospels reveals that the events in the life of Christ Jesus, from the Annunciation to his Ascension, are the same steps of progress that lead every aspirant to the higher life.

These steps may be enumerated in the following way:

1. Annunciation
2. Immaculate Conception
3. Birth
   Angels
   Presentation at Temple (41 days)
   Magi
4. Flight into Egypt
   Massacre (many died for one)
   Death of Herod
   Return to Nazareth
5. Teaching in the Temple
   Years between 12 and 30
6. Baptism
7. Temptation
8. Transfiguration
9. Gethsemane
10. Crucifixion (one died for many)
11. Resurrection
12. Ascension

There is a correlation between the twelve initiations and the twelve signs of the zodiac, but no need to study those here.

From Jordan To Cana

Teaching in Galilee

In view of the great public appeal of John the Baptist, the Jews of Jerusalem sent a deputation of priests and Levites to find out who he really was, if perchance he was the Messiah or another great prophet. But John confessed to them without reserve, declaring, "I am not the Messiah."

"What then? Are you Elijah? Are you the prophet we await?"

John replied, "No, I am not." Perhaps he did not have full knowledge of this, for Jesus later declared that John was Elijah.

"Then who are you?" they asked, "For we must give some account to those who have sent us to question you. What have you to say for yourself?"

This refers to a custom in Eastern homes, where persons remove their shoes upon entering. But when an honored guest arrives, a servant or possibly even the host himself, hastens forward to pay his respects by removing the shoes of his guest.

John, the Apostle, later wrote of Jesus: "The life was in him, the life that is the light of men. And the same light shines in darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it."

Having ended his encounter with the prince of darkness, our brilliant Light of the World, shining brighter than ever before, heard the "all clear" sounded from within and hurried his footsteps back toward that which was to be his assignment.

He now fully realized that this mission was not to be one of earthly acclaim or glory, and such glimpses as had been seen of the path he must travel, the path ahead appeared both lonely and awesome.

With triumph over the adversary behind him, Jesus felt a fresh surge of confidence and strength such as he had never before known, and with it a clear certainty that God would perfectly direct all his work in the way that was foreordained.

In leaving the desert, it was necessary to pass again through the area around Jordan where John was baptizing. He walked past at a little distance, remembering his own baptism of six weeks earlier, and John who saw him coming later described his appearance, "We saw his glory like that of the first-born of the Father, full of grace and truth."

John must have thought much on him whom he had baptized a few weeks earlier, watching, hoping to see him once more. So it was with a great thrill of recognition that he caught a glimpse of that wondrous figure coming from the direction of the wilderness.

Seeing him thus approach, John explained to the persons about him, "Behold, there is the Lamb of God; it is he who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I spoke when I said, 'After me a man is coming who takes rank before me.' He is the first-born of the flock.

"For this man who comes after me is yet ahead of me, because he was before me. Before I was born, he already was. I did not know him, but the very reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

And John went on to repeat the story of Jesus' baptism: "I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove and resting upon him. I did not know him, but He who sent me to baptize with water had told me, 'When you see the Spirit coming down upon someone and resting upon him, you will know that this is he who is to baptize with the Holy Spirit.'

"I saw it myself, and I have borne witness. This is God's Chosen One." (Or, as some say, "This is the Son of God.")

Jesus passed by without openly speaking; though his gaze met that of John with understanding and appreciation. He allowed his footsteps to be led until he stood before a small vacant hut, such as was sometimes used by those who guard the crops in the field. There was also a fruit tree to provide nourishment, but he could take very little after such a long fast.

The next afternoon he again walked toward the river, near where John was standing with two of his disciples, and John, looking at Jesus while he walked, said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"

This was a repetition of what he had said the day before, and it impressed the disciples very much, bringing to mind the customary lambs sacrificed in the Temple every day to cleanse the people of their sins. This lamb would also pay their penance.

Because they were the disciples of John they believed his words that this man was to take away the sins of all men. So they followed after Jesus to find out more about him.

When Jesus turned, he saw them following him and asked, "What are you looking for?" They answered, "Rabbi, (or Teacher), where are you staying?" "Come and see," Jesus answered.

This took place about four in the afternoon, or the tenth hour since dawn. So the disciples went and saw where he was staying and spent the rest of the day with him, and on into the night as he quietly discoursed with them, answering their questions about God and Eternal Life. He had the gift of reading souls and that supreme art which knows how to speak a word in season to all.

These two disciples of John had also come here from Galilee, being fishermen and residents of the town of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. The one, Andrew, is mentioned by name but the other by his anonymity is believed to have been the writer, the beloved Apostle John, who out of modesty omitted his own name.

John as the youngest of all the apostles, and was probably barely twenty years of age at this time, a youthful seeker of the Way of God.

After their talk with Jesus, the enthusiasm of these men was boundless. They had found the Savior! Of that they were sure, and John the Baptist had testified to this. Andrew could not wait to tell his brother Simon, who had come with him to Jordan. In his excitement and joy, he cried out to his brother, "We have found the Messiah!" and persuaded Simon to go with him to meet Jesus.

Jesus looked intently into the craggy face of this sturdy, unpolished diamond, then said, "So you are Simon, the son of Jona (or John?) You shall be called 'Cephas.' " Cephas is the Aramaic word for "rock," and "Peter" is the Greek version of the same word; so Simon was henceforth called Cephas or Peter, and sometimes Simon Peter. His impulsive nature seemed to contradict this designation, but Jesus had seen beneath the surface an unshakable soundness of character.

The next day Jesus decided to return to his native province of Galilee to consolidate forces for the work ahead. The others were also ready to travel by the same way, for the three new converts were all fishermen of Bethsaida in Galilee, where their jobs and their parents awaited them, and there, too, was Peter's wife.

The followers of John were not bound to him by any vow. Having been seekers of righteousness and truth, they had believed John's teaching and had repented of their sins to be baptized by him.

In this state of newfound grace, they were highly receptive and enthusiastic, truly open and ready for the spiritual riches which Jesus brought them. So with him they left the Jordan Valley and traveled north toward their homes.

Walking the road which leads parallel to the River Jordan, they felt themselves in a new dimension, overwhelmed by this new Teacher and by turns exuberant and thoughtful. Going along with him, they could only wonder at the fate that had led them there.

They were lowly fishermen among the many persons on earth who were more grand and holy than they, or at least acted that way. For them to discover the Messiah whose coming had been sung for centuries humbled them. Yet they knew it was he, and they could only rejoice at being here in his presence, for it was a Presence indeed. They could feel the great glow that flowed out from him.

By night as they rested beside a small fire -- for there was little desire for sleep in those days -- his warmth spread over them like a cloak. And at noontime, when they found a shelter from the scorching sun, they could feel a tingle run through them like a chill, something they felt sure no one had ever felt before.

Certainly no man had ever talked as he did, with a voice that penetrated their being thrillingly, and whose words seemed to engrave themselves on their consciousness and changed their whole concept of everything, not intellectually, but through changes that took place within themselves. His words carried enlightenment and life. It was now part of them.

In the company of one who spoke as though he knew God truly, they began to feel themselves almost as beings from another time and place and could view life with a whole new perspective and dimension. They saw all things new and had many glimpses of great Cosmic Realities as he opened his mind unto them, just a little.

Finally approaching the broad expanse of the Sea of Galilee at its southern point, the three disciples prepared to go to their homes in Bethsaida on its northern shore. While Jesus would go on inland to Nazareth to acquaint his mother with all that had taken place and receive her blessing before he finally went forth to fulfill the mission for which they had both been born.

But the disciples were loath to leave their new Teacher just yet, so he decided to take them also to meet his mother and receive her blessing as his first disciples and that they might know her as their own mother henceforth, also.

On the road near Nazareth they met a man named Philip who came from Bethsaida, the same as the others, but he was enroute to a wedding in Cana, his former town, where he still had many friends.

Jesus took one look and knew at once that this was another who had been sent to serve with him, so he said to Philip very simply, "Follow me." Philip thrilled to the sound of his voice and felt the compelling power of this man; he had no choice but to heed the command and continued on with the others, wondering how this could be.

On reaching his home, Jesus learned that Mary was at Cana, a few miles north, attending the wedding of a young Nazareth woman distantly related to her family. And Jesus was also invited to go there along with his disciples.

Weddings were gala events with much merriment, designed to brighten the lives of these hardworking people and were welcomed enthusiastically by all. These were also sacred occasions intended to promote new life dedicated to Yahweh.

Relaxing after their long journey, they all spent a quiet night with Jesus at his house in Nazareth, then went on to pass a few hours at the joyous festivities in Cana, where their friends were. Nearing Cana Philip ran on ahead to the house of an old friend named Nathaniel and called to him with excitement, "We have met a man spoken of by Moses in the Law and by the prophets: it is Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth!"

Nathaniel was more often called Bartholomew, which means "son of Tholmai." He was skeptical, or perhaps a little sarcastic, in answering, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Evidentially his opinion or his knowledge of that town was not very high.

But Philip persuaded him, saying, "Come and see."

When Jesus saw him coming, he said, "Behold, truly an Israelite in whom there is no guile!"

Nathaniel asked, "How do you know me?"

And Jesus answered, "Even before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

Nathaniel marveled at this, for he had been contemplating the Scriptures beneath his fig tree, as was his custom, and things had been revealed to him that went beyond the written script. Jesus had picked up what he was seeing, and Nathaniel understood this, declaring with awe, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel."

Jesus said to him "Is that the basis of your faith, that I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You shall see greater things than that. In truth, in very truth, I tell you all you shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

Cana

Jesus and his disciples had passed some vineyards on their way to Cana. Just outside the town stood a large winepress, so after their two-hour walk in the early morning sun, they were quite prepared to enjoy a little of the fruit of the vine along with the other guests, many of whom Jesus knew. Wine for weddings was held rather special. In Arabia today one sees earthen jars in a dark corner set aside not to be touched until there is a wedding in the family.

The wedding festival had already been in progress a couple of days, and people were rejoicing indeed! Jesus had wanted to tell Mary, "The mandate has come . . . " but with so many people milling about there was no chance to speak privately with her. However, she had seen him enter after an absence of two months, and she stood very still looking at him.

This was not her son of old, except in appearance. This was a new man with a radiance shining out from him such as neither she nor any other had ever seen. It was evident that her eyes alone could see this Light; for to the others present he was still Jesus from Nazareth. She saw the entranced look on the faces of his followers, how their eyes hardly left his face at any time and how they hung on his every word, and she went aside for a bit to pray and to praise God that this great day had come at long last. She could share this only with Him Whose Son this Man was, and to Whom she must now fully give him over.

Mary was a respected guest here, and had been assisting as well with the preparations for the feast, so the servants acquainted her with the alarming fact that they had run out of wine, and there were still many hours to go, with many extra guests beyond those expected. How could they handle the situation?

Normally they might have scoured among the neighbors to procure more, but this was embarrassing, and Mary saw a simpler way. When Jesus eventually reached her side, she let him know that she already was aware of the great change in him. So she said, "They have no wine." He knew at once what she was saying, but was not yet ready to proclaim his hand before the public. He needed time to gather forces and to quietly prepare the ground before going on open display.

So he said, "Woman, what have I to do with this? My hour has not yet come." The literal translation of this in the Vulgate is, "Quid mihi et tibi?," which means "What (is that) to me and to thee?" He questioned what this had to do with his mission, and why they should feel concerned with another's hospitality.

She displayed both tactful diplomacy and quiet authority by leaving the decision up to him, with these words to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Her years in Temple service had taught her the value of symbolism, and she knew that the alchemy in such an action would begin his ministry in a new key of great potency.

She also knew that he was capable of this, for once in their own home, after an evening meal when they all sat about in quiet conversation, as each lifted his cup of drinking water to his lips he found that the liquid in his cup was fine wine instead. Only Mary knew that she had filled the cups with water, and she told no one. She felt now was the time to let it be known to family and friends that he was the Messiah sent for their salvation.

Jesus saw that this could be done without public knowledge, in the presence of only the servants and his disciples, and he noted the six large stone water jars standing near, of the kind used by the Jews for their purification rites. Each held between twenty and thirty gallons of water, a goodly amount. Jesus told the servants to fill them all with water, which they did, then he commanded them to draw some out and take it to the wine steward, the person in charge of serving the guests.

The wine steward tasted the water which had now turned to wine, not knowing where it came from, and complimented the bridegroom, saying, "Others serve the best wine first and wait until the guests have drunk freely before serving the poorer sort; but you have kept the best wine until now." So the situation was saved by their tact.

This deed at Cana in Galilee is the first of the signs by which Jesus revealed his glory and led his disciples to believe in him, even more certainly than their inward senses had already declared.

Of course, it was not of himself but of the power of God that Jesus performed miracles. For God Who had created all things, as well as the Laws by which they operated, was the Power that presided over these Laws. All things were as they were because God willed them so, and all these mighty and changeless Laws were still subject to God's Will. Therefore, He Who had power to create any system also had the power to control and direct it. The Miracles were not violations of the Laws of creation, but were uses of the Laws in a way that was beyond the authority and understanding of humanity at that time.

Jesus fully knew this Omnipotence of God to the extent that he was part of it and it was part of him. Spirit was the personality of God, and the Spirit of God could do or undo anything, as could one ordained to act in His Name.

After the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus with his mother and brothers and the new disciples walked together the full day's journey to Capernaum beside the Sea of Galilee. Mary was now about fifty years of age, but in excellent health and easily able to keep up with the rest. Their travel was not fast; all were listening intently to Jesus. Nor did Mary wish to miss a word.

In Capernaum they stayed for a few days with friends and relatives while the fishermen went on home, only an hour's journey farther at Bethsaida by the Sea. They had much to tell and much to do, for they supported themselves and their families and knew that they might be called at any time by their new Teacher to go forth to they knew not what.

Temple At Jerusalem

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. John alone, of the four gospels, reported this first trip of Jesus ministry, so he was undoubtedly one of those few who accompanied him.

The Temple must have been a shambles, as a place of worship. At the Passover they slaughtered many thousands of lambs, and daily there were animals awaiting slaughter and carcasses hanging in rows. The air was filled with the odor of burning flesh and the reek of blood, as well as with the clamor of the work going on, the chanting of psalms and prayers, the trumpet blasts, and signals to the people outside.

The elaborate and extensive ceremonies of the Temple required a great number of priests and Levites. At the head of them was the ruling high priest with about 200 of the higher clergy who served as overseers. There were also about 7,800 ordinary priests and about 9,700 Levites of minor clergy, who served, not all at the same time.

The Levitical priesthood receives its name from the tribe of Levi, who were appointed by Moses through his brother Aaron, to administer all priestly functions of the Hebrews. This tribe with their families received the tithe and were thus supported by the rest of Israel.

The high priest was literal head of the whole Jewish nation, which was organized on a foundation of religion, but in the time of Jesus his power had become somewhat lessened, for he was under the temporal watch of both Herod and the Roman procurator. He was the chief minister in the Temple, but not obliged to serve except on the Day of Atonement when only he could enter the Holy of Holies, once yearly.

He was head of the Sanhedrin, the supreme national-religious body of seventy-one members, divided into three groups -- chief priests, influential aristocrats, and thirdly, Scribes, or doctors of the Law. Any case which found jurisdiction under Jewish law could be tried by the Sanhedrin.

The majority of temple priests were a haughty lot, and since they had the proud office of the sacrifice for sins, they did not bother to study the law of Moses as did the Pharisees, but were content to know the detailed rules of their own office, part of which was the slaughtering of animals for sacrifice. It had come to be more of a profession than a spiritual office.

The Temple consisted of three courts on successively higher planes. The Court of the Gentiles was open to everyone and was a favorite meeting place for travelers or friends. A sign was posted forbidding any non-Jew to enter further into the Temple on pain of death. On feast days this area became somewhat of a market place as well, with the animals required for sacrifice on sale here and money-changers who would change the foreign coins of pilgrims into local currency. It was this mercenary display in the Temple which Jesus cleared out.

A few steps up from the outer court was a second court surrounded by thick walls and divided into two parts, the first or outer section of which was the Court of Women, and the second, called the Court of Israel, was for Jewish men.

Still further steps upward brought one to the Court of Priests, where the altar of sacrifice stood open to the sky and where animal sacrifices were offered.

The final steps led one upward to the true Sanctuary, divided into three parts, a vestibule and two chambers. The first chamber was called the Holy Place where stood the shew bread and seven-branched candlestick, and the second and inner room was the Holy of Holies, an empty place since the Ark of the Covenant of Moses was lost. It was here the high priest came once a year only, to offer atonement for the people.

Joined to the northwest corner of the Temple stood the fortress of Antonia which the Roman procurator would use to transact business whenever he came in to Jerusalem from Caesarea. In Jesus' time a few Roman guards wandered about in the Temple to spot any unrest or trouble.

When Jesus visited Jerusalem at his first Passover feast since the baptism, "he found in the Temple those who were selling cattle, sheep and pigeons; and there were the money-changers seated at their tables."

These animals were being sold to such persons as wished to present a sacrifice for their own sins in the Temple, but had not been able to bring any such offerings from their flocks at home. Since many of the Jews traveled some distance for the Passover, some being merchants in Alexandria, or living outside the borders of Palestine in the surrounding foreign territories, money-changing was a logical business to carry on in the proximity of these animal sales.

The money carried into the country by these travelers had to be changed into local currency, and because of changing rulers the currency was not fully standardized, so some knowledge was required to do this.

Such a state of affairs had rankled long in Jesus' heart, and he knew it had to be corrected. The first place to start any reform of people or government is at the heart of their religious worship, at the nucleus of their lives. In a sense, he too had to "make straight the way of the Lord" by clearing a pathway through the debris of His inner sanctuary.

Of course, the original purpose of this outer court of the Temple was not that it should become a raucous public marketplace but rather a place where persons of all faiths and nations could come for a prayerful visit to the Temple of Yahweh, and at least be near His sacred Ark of the Covenant.

Jesus knew this was not to be accomplished by formal discourse or argument; the only way was to do it. As he approached with fire and determination in his eye, one might well have remembered the words of the Psalmist, "Zeal for Thine house hath consumed me." (Psalms 69:9).

"So Jesus made a whip of small cords and drove them out of the Temple -- the sheep, cattle and all. And he poured out the exchange currency of the money-changers from their trays and overturned their tables, scattering the coins."

When he had finished it was as though a tempest had struck the place.

Then he turned on those who sold pigeons and said, "Take these things away. You must not make my Father's house into a trading house."

Was this a gentler note in deference to those innocent and gentle persons who in good faith seek to follow the Law that is handed down from God, the poorer folk who could afford only pigeons? Was it here that his own parents purchased two pigeons which were sacrificed in his behalf as a first-born male infant?

The wild consternation of that scene was the occasion for much flurry and consultation on all sides. He had so taken them by surprise that no one argued with him as he cleared the courtyard, and bystanders remained stunned until all was over. He acted with a clear-cut air of purpose that could belong to no mere rabble rouser. He was carrying the Sword of the Word into action, and they must respect this fiery prophet, who was a stranger to them.

So some of the Jews challenged Jesus, asking, "What sign can you show us as authority for your action?" This seemed reasonable enough, but Jesus could not accomplish this mission with reason, so he spoke to them a prophecy, which they could not understand. He spoke it not for the present but for the ears of the future, especially for his companions, the few who had followed him to Jerusalem, so that they could remember his words when the work was finished, and this would then be a sign to all who had heard. So he answered them thus, "Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up again."

The Jews scoffed, "It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" And so saying they walked away, but kept an eye on him after that.

Jesus was speaking of the temple of his own body, wherein burns the Eternal Flame of the indwelling God, but even his disciples would not know the meaning of his words until after he had been crucified and raised from the dead. The saying became engraved on their minds, for they were as amazed as the others, but they treasured all his actions and sayings, sharing them as children who both watch and learn. From this statement it is clear that Jesus by now knew the whole Path that would have to be traveled, and he was in serious earnest.

There were other signs that Jesus did while at the Passover Feast, and because of these strange doings many came to believe in his name. But Jesus entrusted himself to no one, confided in none, for he knew their hearts and minds, and could read them with such clarity that he needed none to tell him anything about a person.

Nicodemus

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a highly reputed member of the Sanhedrin who saw some of the signs performed by Jesus and was convinced by them. But he valued his position and dared not openly acknowledge an interest in this new prophet lest he run counter to the Jews and antagonize them. So he came to visit Jesus at night when he could come unobserved and said to him, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher of God, for no one can do such signs as you do unless God is with him."

Using the word "we," he must have been speaking for some of his fellows as well, for Jesus was being roundly discussed by the priests in Jerusalem. The soil there was well prepared for spiritual works, ready for planting; John the Baptist had stirred it up well with his call to repentance and had wakened the populace and the priesthood to the more basic spiritual realities, so that their conscience was beginning to prickle. The timing of his visit by night indicates not only secrecy, but the darkness of understanding from which his questions were asked.

Jesus answered him, "I speak to you truly; unless one is born anew (or again) from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." To be born anew is when we are reborn after illumination is experienced.

The words "from above" give us the Key. Every human is born from the womb of an earthly mother, and even God used this process to bring forth His Son. John the Baptist, too, had been born of an earthly mother, and Jesus once said, "I tell you that among those born of women, there has appeared none greater than John the Baptist; yet he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."

There is a level of greatness that can come to all through processes of evolution as man progresses through experience here on earth to ever greater spiritual heights. But John, the forerunner, symbolized the apex of that type of attainment. Even the very least who has attained unto the kingdom of God has reached a level above that. And how does one enter the kingdom? He must be born again, the second time, this time obviously not from the womb of an earthly mother, but from Above, and that means through the Heavenly Mother.

Mary had been the earthly mother of Jesus, and the highest woman on earth, but when Jesus rose out of the waters of baptism, he was rising out of the waters of the womb of his Spiritual Mother in heaven. When the Holy Spirit alighted on his head, this was confirmation of his higher birth as God said, "This is My Beloved Son," and he released his former involvement with human relationships. Although he did not personally need this experience, having previously gone beyond, and although she too was of a high level, Jesus had to do all this to prefigure what mankind must go through in order to experience the second birth from the womb of his Mother in heaven.

Mankind, while still on earth, is taken in hand by the Heavenly Mother, but only when he approaches the attainment of the higher initiations. He is carried in Her Womb without even knowing about it, until that great day when he is reborn and becomes fully one with the Father, who claims him then. The Mother's work is preparatory and so unexplainable that man only knows something strange is happening to him, that he is becoming a changed being, but he charges that experience to all sorts of causes except the True One.

That is why Jesus, who so dearly loved his mother Mary, could speak as he did when she came to visit him with his brothers, while he taught those disciples who were working with him to bring people into the kingdom of heaven. When a bystander spoke to Jesus, "Behold, your mother and your brethren are standing outside, and they wish to speak with you." Jesus answered, "Who is my mother and who are my brethren?" And pointing his hand to his disciples he said, "Behold my mother, and behold my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother."

In this he was not disparaging anyone, but only indicating that he had entered into a new dimension, a new family relationship which only included those of the Second Birth into the Father- Motherhood of God in heaven. Jesus only used the term Father, but to be "born again" of Spirit implies being born not of a Father alone, but out of a spiritual womb.

When his earthly mother and brothers and sisters should reach the point where they could properly lay aside earthly matters with which they were then engaged, accordingly as they too came fully into the higher Life of God, they could be included with his disciples as mother, brothers and sisters. For if even Jesus needed to submit to being born again, how much more the others of his family!

Nicodemus asked Jesus, "How can a man be born again? Can he enter again a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered saying to him, "I tell you truly, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

Jesus had himself been born of both water and the Spirit at his baptism, not of water alone, or with the removal of past sins; but also with the descent of Spirit unto him.

"That which is born of flesh is only flesh, and the Spirit can only be born from Spirit. Do not marvel because I said that you must be born anew, or from above. The wind blows where is pleases and you hear its sound; but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

He used a simile here, of the blowing wind and the Spirit, for the same word in eastern languages "Ruach" means both "wind" and "spirit" - both are moving, both invisible, both equated with the Breath of the Almighty. This word also means "ghost," so the same term is variously translated as Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost.

Jesus continued to talk to Nicodemus. This discussion made a profound impression on his hearers, for it was the first teaching of any length which was repeated in the Gospels. Their visitor was a learned man, well-versed in Scripture. Nicodemus asked him now, "How can these things be?"

Jesus answered him, "You are a master of Israel, teaching others, and yet you do not understand these things? I tell you in very truth, we speak only what we know, and testify only to what we have seen; but you do not accept our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how then will you believe me if I tell you about heavenly things?

"No man has ascended to heaven except him who came down from heaven, even the Son of Man whose home is in heaven."

The Son of Man and the Son of God are the same thing, only the perspective is different. In his own eyes, "looking up" to God, he is the Son of God, being born anew of Him. In God's eyes, "looking down," he is His Son of Man, among men, and the home of His Son is always in heaven. For this Son is never born of earth, but descends from heaven as a Light entering a lamp, and at the end of the man's earthly term, this Light returns to heaven whence It came, taking the innermost essence of the man with it, where man of earth could never go.

"This Son of Man must be lifted up, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so that everyone who believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

"The Son of Man must be lifted up" does not mean he is to be exalted in glory and praise, but lifted up in inward power of function, the serpent also signifying the Kundalini, which in uninitiated men is still crawling and biting them.

There were two ways Moses was directed to lift up the serpent. The first was to throw his rod on the ground, where it became a serpent. He had to grasp it by the tail and lift it up, in order to turn it back into a rod again; with the power so generated, miracles could be performed.

Moreover, this power was shown as greater than that of the magical arts. For when Aaron, the first Levite priest, threw the rod down in front of Pharaoh, the magicians were also able to use their knowledge and did the same thing.

The rod of Aaron was greater and swallowed up all the other serpents, thereby showing the superiority of priestly arts when you are working with God over magic alone.

The second way was to fashion a brazen serpent and place it on a pole to heal the Israelites of their serpent bites and save their lives. (Brass is the metal of Venus.) Jesus, too, was a living Rod of Miracles; and when crucified and lifted to the cross, he became a healer of deadly wounds. In both cases the tempter of Eden was conquered and used for man's liberation.

Here Jesus gives a good explanation of why he could not throw himself down from the pinnacle at the demand of the tempter. Only by being lifted up himself and paving the way for others, setting the example, could he make it possible for them to attain to heaven also. It was his mission to provide a break-through.

"For God so loved the world that He even gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. He who believes in him will not be condemned; and he who does not believe has already been condemned for not believing in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Jesus did not come primarily to judge but to rescue the drowning humanity and earth. However, if they refused his hand, they judged him untrustworthy and brought judgment upon them- selves through unbelief. "And this is the judgment wherewith man is judged, that Light has come into the world and yet men have loved darkness more than they loved the Light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does detestable things hates the Light, and he does not come to the Light lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does deeds of Truth comes to the Light so that it may be made known that his works are done through God."

The burglar prefers to work in darkness, what could he accomplish otherwise? As soon as the light turns on, his burglary days are over.

Though Light is offered, some people are not willing just yet to accept the way of God. They want to wait awhile and finish up the fun or problems they are enjoying, the unlighted works, until they can no longer endure them. Then they will seek the better way.

Living in the Light necessitates becoming transparent as a glass house, to let your Light radiate forth as from a lamp, having no guilty thing to hide from view; becoming simple and guileless as a child, yet wise, fearless and mighty in the purposes of God.

John's Witness

After Nicodemus' visit, Jesus remained for some time in Judea, but he moved away from the treacherous city area and went toward the north where open country afforded him more freedom of action -- away from the suspicious gaze of the Sadducees and Pharisees. The place where he stayed was in a cove along the Jordan, and here we find that Jesus' disciples began baptizing after the manner of John.

John, too, was still baptizing farther north at Aenon, near Salim, because water was plentiful in that region, and people were constantly coming to him for baptism, for this was before John's imprisonment.

Some of John's disciples had fallen into a dispute with the Jews about purification; so they came to John and said, "Rabbi, there was a man with you on the other side of the Jordan, to whom you bore witness. Now he is baptizing here, and crowds of people are flocking to him."

John's answer to them was, "A man can have only what God gives him. You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Messiah; I have been sent as his forerunner.' It is the bridegroom to whom the bride belongs. The bridegroom's friend, who stands by and listens to him, is overjoyed at hearing the bridegroom's voice and this joy, this perfect joy, is now mine. As he grows greater, I must grow less."

The Gospel of St. John declares: He who comes from above is above all others; he who is from the earth belongs to the earth and uses earthly speech. He who comes from heaven bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his witness.

To accept his witness is to attest that God speaks true. For he whom God sent utters the words of God, so measureless is God's gift of the spirit.

The Father loves the Son and has entrusted him with all authority. He who puts his faith in the Son has hold of eternal life, but he who disobeys the Son shall not see that life; for God's wrath rests upon him.

One speaks most of what he knows, and Jesus Christ knows God and the life of heaven, so he is qualified as none other to talk about it. John was with many exhortations appealing to the people to repent; and by his speech he was on God's behalf, also scourging the rulers of Israel. He belonged to no party or sect and spoke freely his judgment. The religious rulers seemed to find no reason for stopping him, but Prince Herod, rebuked by John over the affair of his illegal wife, added this greater misdeed to a long list of evils by shutting John up in prison in the dungeons of Macherus.

It is probable that the Pharisees had some share, directly or indirectly, in the imprisonment of John. Disquieted by his exceeding popularity with the people, and anxious to be rid of this annoying reformer, the Pharisees shrewdly played upon the resentment toward him in Herod's court. John's placement in the remote military stronghold of Macherus in the extreme south of Perea seemed intended to remove this menacing instigator of the Messianic movement as far as possible from the multitudes who flocked to hear him.

For Herod sent and had John seized and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married unlawfully. For John had told Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." And Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and so he kept him safe.

At John's speech he was much perplexed, and yet he enjoyed conversing with the prophet and heard him gladly. Rascal that he was, Herod was loath to harm this man of God, whose fiery zeal together with the supreme purity and austerity of his life made him seem superhuman to the king whose own life was of such opposite extremes.

About this time there reached the ears of the Pharisees another report which said, "Jesus is winning and baptizing more disciples than John," although in fact it was only the disciples who were baptizing and not Jesus himself. Now when he heard this story and that of John's arrest, Jesus withdrew from Judea and set out once more for Galilee, knowing what that sort of popularity would expose him to and needing all the time possible to accomplish his full ministry, which was only just begun. His hour had not yet come, and it was needful to retire from the first warning of strife. So he directed his journey towards Galilee, taking the road through Samaria, with Capernaum as his destination.

Thus ended the witnesses of John to the coming of our Lord. For this he had come and would live on awhile in prison, but his work was now finished. He had performed a function like that of gathering storm clouds and early sprinkles of rain which herald a storm and warn the populace to prepare themselves; but when the deluge comes down, it absorbs in itself the preliminary shower and takes over the whole with great thunderings and lightnings. Thus had Jesus begun baptizing, absorbing the preliminary work of John, baptizing even more than John (not he, but his disciples, to show the distinction). And then after John's imprisonment, to quote St. Matthew: "From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' "

Galilee, toward which Jesus now bent his footsteps, is at the northern end of Palestine and was occupied in Jesus' time by a much smaller group of Jews than was Judea in the southern part where Jerusalem was located.

Modes of Travel

The most common means of land travel in those days was on foot. Jesus walked continuously during his ministry and so did his disciples; later Paul made many long journeys on foot. The people were accustomed to traveling at least once each year to Jerusalem, so this trip was very common. The roads were worn smooth by heavy travel, by pilgrims, soldiers, students, merchants and message-bearing couriers, even caravans, so they were not difficult to follow, nor particularly lonely.

Donkeys were also commonly used. The Near Eastern Donkey is a strong, sure-footed animal, good-natured and inexpensive, and he travels at a comfortable gait. They were used either to ride upon or to carry burdens. Mary probably used one in her youthful journeys.

Camels were well-known too, but more expensive, and they served better for long journeys into other countries, or for commercial purposes, as they could carry heavy loads for long distances through regions where food and water were scare. They were not docile or very reliable for personal use.

Horses were costly, so their use was limited mainly to persons of wealth or high office, or military personnel.

The Element Water

Because we are moving from the consideration of Water in its use on the outside of man for washing away his sins to a consideration of its inward use as spiritual water welling up from within, let us look at some of the mystical meanings of this element.

Water is a primordial element, not enumerated among the works of Creation, and thus its existence was presupposed. God brought floods of water to wash the whole earth of its evils in the time of Noah. And Moses, which means "taken out of the water," was so-named because the Egyptian princess drew him from the river.

Water is the symbol of the great feminine Principle, the substance of which the universe is formed. It is the solvent of all things, wherewith all are melted together in common bond.

Water is a conductor of electricity, and the water-bearer is the symbol of the Aquarian or electrical age. Jesus told the disciples to follow a man with a pitcher of water when they sought the upper room to celebrate the Passover.

Water is also a symbol of the psychic, or astral, of the Soul and of the waves of emotion. It we keep all these things in mind, it will help us to understand some of the actions of Jesus as he taught.

Samaria

Galilee was somewhat cut off from Judea, in that one had to traverse across the area occupied by the Samaritans, a people unfriendly to the Jews -- and not without cause. This hostility was still strong in the days of Jesus, and there was some danger of violence when passing through Samaria on the road to Jerusalem. Many Galileans went out of their way to avoid it, skirting Samaria by passing instead through the valley of Jordan on the east, or across the plain of Sharon near the Mediterranean on the west.

Samaria had been settled by foreigners imported in an earlier day by the Assyrians, and these became mixed with the Israelites of the land. Originally worshipping foreign gods, they had gradually fused with the Israelites and joined them in worshipping Yahweh. When the Temple came to be built in Jerusalem around 500 B.C., following the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity, the local Samaritans offered their services to help with the building, being part Jew and considering it would be their Temple of worship as well.

But the Jews contemptuously spurned their offer, and after that the Samaritans began to retaliate by heckling their building efforts and even had the efforts temporarily halted by complaining to the Persian government which was then ruling over Palestine; so a schism grew between them. The Samaritans eventually built their own Temple to Yahweh on Mt. Gerizim where they then worshipped instead of at Jerusalem, but this Temple was destroyed and the area ravaged in 108 B.C. by Jews under John Hyrcanus. The ruins of the Temple were still extant and the mountain, stripped of its sanctuary, was still a place of prayer to the Samaritans, for survivors of the religious sect called it holy and blessed.

The Samaritans also awaited a Messiah, and in 35 A.D., after Jesus' crucifixion, a false Messiah offered to show them the sacred vessels on Mt. Gerizim and precipitated a massacre which brought about the dismissal of Pontius Pilate from office, since the tragic affair was by his unauthorized plan.

Meanwhile, the Jews looked down on the Samaritans and would have nothing to do with them, despising them even more than the pagans. So it is no wonder the Samaritan woman was surprised when Jesus spoke to her. It was around noon ("the sixth hour" since dawn), when Jesus and his companions reached a place forty miles north of Jerusalem, at a crossroads near the town of Sychar (which means "folly"). It was located at the southeast entrance to a pass between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, where the main highways converge. This fortunate situation near the two routes of communication between east and west, north and south, gave it a great commercial importance. Many persons passed here traveling from Egypt to Mesopotamia, or from the Mediterranean to points beyond Jordan. The disciples went off to the nearby town to buy food for their meal while Jesus, wearied by the journey, sat down by the well to rest.

The place was venerable with memories of the past, and as he relaxed, a faint scent of the mixed odors of centuries touched his nostrils, and there flashed before him some of the historied memories of this spot, for here was the well of his ancestor Jacob and close by was the field which Jacob had given to his favorite son, Joseph, for an inheritance and where Joseph's remains were eventually brought from Egypt to be buried. There have been several towns in the same area during the course of history, but Sychar was near Shechem and may have been later called Balata- Sichem, or Tell Balata, about one and one-half miles from the well. The well is still there today, 75 feet deep, its water cool and refreshing, though now housed inside a structure.

Jesus remembered the scriptural passages:

"And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan, and from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the plot of land on which he pitched his tent. There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel (God, the God of Israel.)"

Years later as he was dying, Jacob said to his son Joseph, "I have given to you one mountain slope which I took from the hand of the Amorites." And in the Book of Joshua also, this place was mentioned: "The bones of Joseph which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt were buried at Shechem, in the portion of ground which Jacob bought . . . which became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph."

Jesus put the past behind him and became one with the midday sun, having no other thought. A woman of that area approached to draw water and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." This startled her that a Jew should condescend to speak to a Samaritan, and a woman at that, for the Jews have no dealing with Samaritans and do not use vessels in common with non-Jews. So she asked, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?"

Jesus with the woman at the well.

Here was another symbolic act of Jesus. Just as he had asked John to baptize him before he himself went forth to baptize others -- so now he asked this woman for a drink of traditional water before himself going forth to give the living waters of Spirit to others that spiritual refreshment might always be on tap within each being. The "waters" of heaven are a feminine symbol, so it was proper he should ask it of a woman.

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks a drink of you, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

This was mystifying, but she could only approach it factually, so she said, "Sir, you have no leather bucket to dip with, and this well is deep. How can you give me 'living water'? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself, he and his sons and his cattle, too?"

Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water that I shall give him will never suffer thirst any more. The water that I shall give him will be in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The well of Jacob had sustained the human bodies of many, but the well-spring of the Lord brought everlasting refreshment to sustain man's spiritual rather than his physical life. It was a secretly fed spring which none could find except through the Christ.

"Sir," said the woman, still practical, "Give me that water that I may not thirst and need not come here any more to draw water." Jesus told her then, "Go call your husband, and come here." -- knowing what she would say.

She answered, "I have no husband," and Jesus said to her firmly, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly." She stared at him, stunned but impressed by this sign and by his direct, vigorous speech. So she replied, seeking his wisdom, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our Fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the temple where God should be worshipped is in Jerusalem."

The "mountain" was the site of their ruined Temple. For centuries their outcast state had kept the Samaritans strangers to the religious development of Israel, so they had received only the teachings of Moses and the older prophets. The prophet they awaited was in the nature of a religious reformer, a spiritual messenger, whereas the Jews awaited one of universal dominion, the deliverer who God promised would rise out of the land of Judah.

"Believe me, woman," Jesus said, "the time is coming when neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will they worship the Father. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; but we worship what we do know, for salvation comes from the Jews. But the time approaches, indeed is already here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father also desires worshippers such as these. For God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

His words came true in the literal sense (of worshipping in Jerusalem or on the mountain) not too long after he spoke them, for the Arabs and others took over Palestine after the Jews fled. The spiritual prophecy is only now coming into recognized reality. How far mankind had come from such true worship in the Spirit, having fallen into outer forms of worship and forgetting the inner truth. But they must eventually all come to that high state of which Temple ritual is only a pattern.

The woman said, "I know that the Messiah (Christ) is coming; when he is come, he will teach us everything." This simple statement of direct faith impelled Jesus to reveal to her what he would not tell the Pharisees later on. This, in fact, is the first record of his having revealed to anyone that he was the Messiah. For he spoke just as simply as she, "I am he who is speaking to you."

At that moment his disciples returned and were astonished to find him talking with a Samaritan woman, but no one said to him, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" Despite their surprise, they showed sufficient respect and tact toward their teacher not to question the reason for his conversation. They were surprised because this was not only a despised Samaritan, clearly not a person of high honor, but besides that it was not customary for a Jewish man, especially a rabbi, to engage publicly in conversation with any woman, not even his wife.

The rabbis, with bitter pride, would not even teach a woman, saying, "Throw the words of the Law into the fire, rather than to communicate them to women." Since the ministry had only begun, this was probably the first woman who had queried him, or to whom he had given any teaching, and they were not as yet taught concerning his stand on this.

Here Jesus began his custom of picking up those who had the greatest need of consolation and help. Throughout his ministry it would be the lost sheep who would listen to him out of their need. In the act of talking to her, he cut through several barriers of centuries' duration in the sight of his disciples, showing them that none of their prejudices could remain in this work.

Among the despised and rejected they would find the ground mellowed and prepared to receive his word. And besides that, he had "broken down the middle wall of partition" between the Jews of northern and southern Palestine, melting a way through and "making both one."

Too excited at the Messiah's marvelous revelation to continue her task, the woman put down her water jar there and ran off to the town crying out to everyone she met, "Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" Eagerly they grasped at the news, and coming out of town, they made their way toward him.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, have something to eat," for all had been famished from their journey. But he said, "I have food to eat of which you know nothing." At this the disciples said to one another, "Can someone have brought him some food?"

But Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work." He was about to feast on the harvest of souls.

The two incidents which took place here, the one of living water which precluded thirst, and the other of food which is performance of the Will of God, show the relative importance and duration of earthly food and drink, as compared to the heavenly.

"Do you not say, 'There are yet four months more, and then comes the harvest?' But look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see how the fields are already white for the harvest." They looked to behold the Samaritans hurrying toward them from the town and glimpsed what he meant by the swift ripening of the harvest.

Jesus was referring to an old farmer's custom, when one had planted his crop, he would sign with relief, saying, "Another four months and the harvest will be ready." For that is about the length of time required for the growth and maturing of a crop. But though Jesus and his disciples had only just begun their planting, they need not wait even one day for the harvest. The example was before them: it was instantaneous. Indeed, others had already planted much here, so there was always fruition from the work of those gone before. For the patriarchs and prophets had cast God's word on earth as divine Seed, where it had slumbered for centuries, but now at his Voice, it would awaken into swift action and was to become a harvest ripe for the sickle of his disciples.

"He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

The Samaritans gave him an enthusiastic reception and begged him to abide with them. Their hostile prejudices quickly vanished; Jesus yielded to their request, he went to Shechem and remained there two days. And many Samaritans of that town came to believe in him, because of the woman's testimony.

Many more became believers because of what they heard from his own lips. They told the woman, "It is no longer because of what you told us that we believe, for now we have heard him ourselves; and we know that this is in truth the Saviour of the world."

They had been impressed at the woman's testimony to Jesus' sight, that he could see all her life without being told. Prophets are always wondrous persons, above nationality, and they welcomed him warmly, knowing no boundaries of spirit. But after two days, they needed no longer the testimony of another in order to believe in him, for the riches of his teaching and talking to them during that time fully convinced them. He lifted them out of the contempt of ages, under which the Jews had overwhelmed them; and as they believed in Moses, they believed in this prophet whom Moses had foretold, and they saw in him the Saviour of mankind.

Jesus knew that his kingdom was to be opened to the humble and disinherited, the weak and poor, those who hungered and thirsted after righteousness. For unless a man has thirst, how shall he be seeking something to satisfy it? And if he be satisfied with earthly drink, how shall he be empty enough to seek the heavenly? The more a man is pleased with himself, his power, his science, and his false virtue, the more opposed he becomes to the influence of Christ. It is when false pride has been thrown down, often by misery, that the soul opens to any hope and can receive the greatest good of all.

In His Own Country

After his enthusiastic reception by these Samaritan strangers, Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, returned once more to Galilee, predicting to the disciples that a prophet would find no honor in his own country, ("and neither does a physician cure those who know him.")

At first this seemed not the case, for the Galileans he met welcomed him warmly, some of them having been in Jerusalem when he cleared the Temple and having seen other things he did there at the Passover Feast they were expecting great manifestations from him now.

He by-passed for now the fork of the road which led toward Nazareth and went on to Cana where Nathanael lived. From here the disciples began to disperse, each to his own home. Returning here to the scene of his first miracle to perform a second completed a cycle for Jesus. The first turn of the wheel (meaning of the word "Galilee") was completed, and this had taken them from Cana to Capernaum; to Jerusalem, to Jordan, and back to Samaria to Cana once more. Now he would begin a new and different cycle.

The homecoming disciples soon spread abroad the news that Jesus had returned, the word reached the ears of a certain nobleman and official who lived at Capernaum by the Sea. Hearing that Jesus was there he made the journey in person to beg him to come to Capernaum and heal his son, who was at the point of death.

Jesus, who thought more of healing souls than bodies, spoke for the benefit of all his hearers, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe." He regretted that they had to see something with their physical eyes, and not from within.

Even when he began to show them countless signs and wonders later on, few were changed by them, few continued to believe -- though the report of them throughout the centuries since has undoubtedly helped bolster the faith of Christians.

The official, overcome with concern for the life of his son, pressed him further, saying, "Sir, come down before my child dies." This man was not even a Jew, but his faith was so explicit that it could not be denied, so Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him (for that is the only way the Word can work), and went his way back to Capernaum the next morning. As he came near to the town, his servants met him and told him that his son was living. So he asked them at what hour he had begun to mend, and they answered him, "Yesterday, at the seventh hour the fever left him." The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live," and he himself believed, and all his household.

This was the second miracle which Jesus did when he had come again from Judea to Galilee.

The disciple John, whose witness we have been reporting since the first miracle, now seems to have gone on home to Capernaum in company with the nobleman, for John's own family lived in the next town, in Bethsaida, where they earned their livelihood as fishermen. John makes no further mention of Jesus' ministry in Galilee at this time, returning to take up the story only at the time Jesus left to make his next trip to Jerusalem some time later.

So we now turn to the other three Synoptic Gospels to follow the thread of what happened in Galilee on this visit.

Jesus went briefly to speak to his mother and brethren, then left his home town of Nazareth and went to dwell in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of which the prophet Isaiah spoke:

So Jesus went about in the power of the Spirit preaching the gospel of God and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The time has come and the kingdom of God is upon you. Repent and believe the good news."

The first months were spent in strenuous teaching and continuous activity. Jesus spoke Aramaic, the language of the average man in those days. Fired with a great zeal of the Spirit, he preached wherever the occasion presented itself, in the synagogues, the homes, and the open country.

A little later on in his Galilean ministry, another healing incident took place which was so similar to that which happened at Cana, that it seems well to mention it now. For one day when Jesus was entering Capernaum, there came forth to meet him a centurion, (which is to say a Roman captain over one hundred foot soldiers). Capernaum was a fishing town, but Herod maintained there a garrison to protect the border.

The man beseeched Jesus saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." And Jesus willingly spoke, "I will come and heal him."

But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." (These words, "Lord, I am not worthy . . . ," etc. are repeated in the Roman Catholic Mass.)

When Jesus heard him, he marveled and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while their descendants, sons of the kingdom, will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth."

And to the centurion, Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.

In his words about Abraham and the others, he was speaking of the forebears of all the Israelites and the foundation of the nation of those to whom the Messiah was promised. But most of the Jews, who were the "sons of the kingdom," were unbelieving of their wondrous gift of salvation now that it was here, while many non-Jews untaught in religion were showing a simple belief which would gain them a place at the heavenly feast which the Jews were losing by default.

At another time also, he spoke similar words. Someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?"

And he answered them, "Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us.' He will answer you, 'I do not know where you came from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!'

"There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."

This was fair enough warning -- here he was teaching them in their own streets, eating and drinking in their presence, offering them the kingdom of heaven, and they knew him not. Should he then know them in heaven?

Jesus began teaching on the Sabbath in the synagogues about Galilee. The usual scene was somewhat as follows: In a closet concealed by a bright-colored curtain to represent the veil of the Temple, the Torah was deposited. A lamp, like those in our churches, was always burning before the roll of parchment on which it was written. In the midst of the hall was a pulpit from which seven readers, three times every week, the Sabbath, Monday and Thursday, read passages from the Law and a portion of the Prophets. Then the reader interpreted in the Aramaean tongue the Hebrew verses which had been read; and the president of the synagogue, or one appointed by him, recited the final benedictions to which the people, standing and turning towards the distant Temple, answered "Amen" in a loud voice.

On benches covered with mats or cushions along the walls or around the pulpit, the congregation, their heads covered with the "taleth" and clad in long tasseled cloaks, were seated, praying in a low voice, rocking their bodies and heads in measured time. The women apart from the men, often stood at the door, little children in arms following. It was quite natural that Jesus should teach them in the synagogues, for there were the audiences ready and waiting, and according to the traditional custom, after the reading of the Scripture, the ruler of the synagogue would invite someone to give the usual preaching or instruction. So Jesus volunteered at such times, as well as often teaching in the homes of those who sought him, or in the open to any who stood about listening, and he was so outstandingly qualified that all welcomed this dynamic new speaker.

As Jesus taught, the people were astonished at his words, for they were spoken as by one who had authority and power -- not as the Pharisees taught, from rote.

On one such Sabbath, there was a man in the synagogue possessed by a devil, an unclean spirit. He shrieked with a loud voice, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are -- the Holy One of God."

Jesus rebuked the entity, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him." Then the entity, after throwing the man down in front of the people, left him without doing him any injury. Amazement fell on them all, and they said to one another, "What is there in this man's words? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."

On leaving the synagogue, he went to the house of Simon Peter's mother-in-law who resided in Capernaum where Jesus was teaching; and he found her in the grip of a high fever. They asked him to help her, so Jesus came and stood over her and rebuked the fever; and as he took her by the hand and lifted her up, immediately the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve them.

By sunset the news of these things had spread about, so all who had friends suffering from one disease or another brought them to him; and he laid his hands on them one by one and cured them. Entities also came out of many of them shouting, "You are the Son of God." But he rebuked them and forbade them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

The people kept him busy nearly all the night so that near daybreak he went out and made his way to a lonely spot, but they sought him even there and urged him not to leave them. Jesus told them then, "I must go to preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, for that is the purpose for which I was sent."

During his ministry he performed many healings of demoniacs, a subject which has often been misrepresented or misunderstood, because we hear so little of demoniac possession in scientific or fashionable circles. Victims of such possession are being concealed beneath the label of mental abnormalities and cast into mental institutions, instead of having the entity cast out of the suffering individual.

In Jesus day the true facts were more simply recognized, and Jesus and his disciples, through the power of God, removed the entities or "devils" as they called them. An honest psychiatrist will admit that he does not understand the cause or cure of many common psychic disorders. Some orthodox churches, when they contact a case of diabolical possession, perform a rite of exorcism, but little is mentioned of such things, so they have fallen into disuse, under a sort of mysterious hush. It requires recognition of the facts to make a return to the only correct way of handling this as Jesus practiced, by removing these parasites of human life, and setting the afflicted one free, returning to sanity him who was never insane.

The Sea Of Galilee

"And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, casting out demons and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people" . . . a vast amount of work capsuled in a few lines.

At some time during his stay in Galilee, whether it was now or later on, as some believe, Jesus came to the town of Nazareth where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue as was his custom on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read, and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the sacred scroll and found the place where it was written:

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him. And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Then he taught, and all spoke well of him, wondering at the gracious words which proceeded from his mouth; and they said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the son of the carpenter Joseph? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?"

And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did in Capernaum, do here also in your country.' " (In other words, "Physician, heal your own people.") But they took offense at him, and he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. (Indeed, a healing depends in large part on the faith of him who is to be healed.)

And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them, he went away.

From that time forward Capernaum, some twenty-odd miles away, became his base of operations. As he moved about Galilee in the performance of his growing ministry, Capernaum was the most logical place from which to work. For it was situated on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, on the caravan route from Damascus to Egypt and the Mediterranean.

This sea was an active center of Galilean life, and to it or near- by passed most of the roads in Galilee. Travelers and merchants converged about the lake in the course of their activities, and fish from its waters were transported in all directions.

Before Jesus' time this body of water had been called Lake Gennesaret, but during his time it was usually called the Sea of Galilee. Not long after that, it became the Sea of Tiberius -- named for the Gentile city which was built in his youth, on its western shore toward Nazareth.

Jesus did not preach in Tiberius, there being no prepared ground in so new and political a city for teaching at that time. Built and named for the Roman Emperor, it had been planned as a health spa by virtue of the nearby hot mineral springs. These sulphuric springs would sometimes cause hot streams beneath the waters of the lake, near its southern outlet. (Could this sulphrous atmosphere have had something to do with Tiberius' reputation as a sinful city?)

There is no record of Jesus going there. His ministry was for those who awaited the Messiah, and he worked all about the northern end of the lake, and as far as the land of the Phoenicians on the Mediterranean.

The sea itself was like a vast bowl, with openings at the north and south ends where the Jordan flowed in and out again with a flat land area on the northwest shore called the Plain of Gennesaret. The sea is of great age, below sea level and quite deep, almost surrounded by mountains. It is not really a sea at all, but a large fresh-water lake, about thirteen miles long, and eight miles across at its widest part, rich with fish.

Capernaum was situated three miles west of the Jordan River on the international highway, near the border between the territory of Herod Antipas and that of his brother Philip. Because of its border location there was a Roman military and customs post located there. It was a cosmopolitan center to which most Galileans gravitated for their dealings and was also an important center for the fishing industry.

The population was mostly Jewish; the religious life of the people was intense, and not too much disturbed by the Greek influences entrenched a short distance away. Yet Galilee was somewhat despised by ardent Pharisees because of a population mixture, with many Gentiles or non-Jews also living there, and they would accuse Jesus later (John 7:52) saying, "Study the Scriptures and you will find that prophets do not come from Galilee."

Capernaum was about halfway between Magdala to its west and Bethsaida, six miles to the east. Magdala is noted in the Gospels only as the home of Mary Magdalene; but Bethsaida was the home of at least four fishermen disciples. Bethsaida means "house of fishing," and the town was situated across the border in the tetrarchy of Philip.

One day Jesus was at Bethsaida on the shore near the fishing fleets. People were pressing so close, seeking to hear the word of God, that he could scarcely move without entering the water. So seeing two boats standing empty, for the fishermen had gone out of them to wash their nets, he got into one of the boats which belonged to Simon and asked him to put out a little from the shore.

From this point of vantage he was able to talk to the people, teaching them. When he had finished, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." Though reason told him it was no use, he trusted the Master enough to obey him and the results were beyond any normal probability. For when they had done this, they enclosed a great school of fish, and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. Never had they seen anything like this!

So they came and filled both the boats with so many fish that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."

Peter was an impetuous man of strong feeling, and he was astonished at the catch of fish, as were all they that were with him. His partners in the other boat were James and John, whose father, Zebedee, had a fishing fleet.

Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Henceforth you will be catching men."

The next day, as Jesus walked by the sea, he saw the two brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew, who had come with him from Jordan, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, in the boat mending their nets, and he called them also, and immediately they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Then the disciples accompanied him as he went into neigh- boring towns and all about Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people. So his fame spread even to the north throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.

One day a leper came to him beseeching and knelt before Jesus saying, "If you will, you can make me clean."

Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean."

And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, saying to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people."

Perhaps you would like to look at what Moses had commanded in such cases, in Leviticus 14: 2-32:

"If the leprous disease is healed in the leper, the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two living clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet stuff and hyssop; and the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water . . . "

There is more which includes the washing of clothes and cutting of hair, and further offering after eight days. For his clothing must also be cleansed so as not to retain the contamination.

It is probable that had the leper obeyed, it would have given the priesthood a higher opinion and proof of Jesus' work and healing. As it was, the healed one disobeyed and immediately went out and began to talk freely about his healing to everyone, and spread the news to such an extent that Jesus was no longer able to openly enter a town, but had to remain out in the country, where the people came to him from every quarter.

Some days later he returned to Capernaum, and when it was reported that he was at home, many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door. Sitting by were some Pharisees and doctors of the law who had come in from other towns; and the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal. And while he was preaching the Word to them, four men came carrying a paralytic for him to heal, but they could not get near him, because of the crowd. So someone removed some tiles from the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let him down with the pallet on which he lay, in the midst before Jesus. And when Jesus saw such faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."

Some of the scribes and Pharisees sitting there began questioning in their hearts. "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" And immediately Jesus perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins' -- he said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home."

Then the man arose and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all, glorifying God, so that they were all amazed and they too glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this! We have seen strange things today!"

The Hebrew word for "sin" (het' or hetta' ah) may mean either the sin committed or its consequences, and one of the principle consequences of sin, according to Jewish teaching, was physical deformity; thus Jesus' words may have included both the invisible moral guilt and the visible consequence.

Whatever the man had done or thought inside himself in this life or before, that had brought on this stoppage of the action of his muscles -- perhaps a stubborn or continuous refusal to act when it was required that he do so -- Jesus had not merely pronounced the words of healing, he had actually and completely within himself forgiven the man whatever had been the cause of his illness. He saw the man not only physically whole, but he saw the flaw in his character removed, so he was now whole and faultless throughout.

For one does not heal from the outside, but must clear the person of all the load he bears within himself and take it away. In sincerely calling him, "My son," Jesus had removed the barrier of strangeness and gathered him into his own purity and godliness.

Capernaum

Still in Capernaum, Jesus went out again beside the sea; and all the crowd gathered about him, and he taught them. As he passed on he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax office, and he said to him as he had to the others, "Follow me." And like the others, Levi rose to follow him.

Tax collectors were ill-thought of in those days; not only were they employed by Roman officials, but in some cases were usurers who demanded from the people more than their share in order to pocket the profit; so the tax collectors were despised as sinners in the eyes of the populace. Levi, also known as Matthew, was quite well off; for he made a great feast for Jesus, and when Jesus went to the house of his new disciple to dine with him, there was a large company of tax collectors and many others sitting at table with him.

Scribes and Pharisees, of course, were not only in Jerusalem, but in every place where many people dwelt or traveled through; and here as usual they were watching to see that no one in any way transgressed the written law. Some of them came now and asked the disciples, "Why does he eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" For the Jews were required to be very selective about not eating with anyone "unclean."

When Jesus heard this, he answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

And like a physician, he would not avoid those who were ill but enter among them to help. The sheep who are snug by the fireside are quite safe; but the good shepherd must go out and rescue the lost ones from danger, so that they might live.

At a later time, when the Pharisees and scribes were murmuring against him, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them," Jesus related to them this parable:

"What man among you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.'

"Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

The Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist were fasting at that time, and some people came and asked Jesus, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast often, and offer prayers, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the groom with them, there can be no fasting. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and in that day they will fast."

Then he told them another parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'the old is good.' "

He who is satisfied with what he has already, or who has found what is right for him sees no need to try something different. It is better to start "from scratch" in any new path, and not attempt too much compromise, lest the result be mixed.

John the Baptist was still in the secret dungeons of Machaerus where he waited, restless but with fervor undimmed. He had remained true to his mission, but now that human tyranny might cut off his life from one day to the next, he still had not received confirmation through an open and solemn declaration of the Messiah that his own revelations had been correct.

He was not completely isolated, for Herod nourished a superstitious veneration for John and permitted him to receive in prison the disciples who had remained faithful to him even after Jesus had begun his ministry.

His visitors told him of the stories concerning Jesus, but never had Jesus proclaimed himself the Messiah, and John must know the truth before his death. Perhaps John's disciples were partial to him and did not fully report Jesus' triumphs. But in any case, John desired verification of what he had seen at the Jordan and to be assured his life's mission was successfully completed. Otherwise, how could he even yield to execution, if he must seek further?

So he dispatched two of his disciples to ask Jesus this question, "Are you he who is to come, or shall we expect another?"

Jesus answer was not specific, but neither had he