IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 197

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

The Miracles of Jesus (continued; part ix)

Before we go further into these ideas on the miracles of the Master that are seen in His healing and curing of the masses and of individuals and His bringing them back to Life, we should pause and reflect on some of the basic promises that we have as aspiring disciples of the Christ. Aside from the promises that we find in the four points that we have been using that tell us that we can do as He did if we believe on Him, that is if we follow Him and keep His words. The promises that tell us also that if we can find the power to KNOW for a certainty that we can do the thing, that we can move that mountain. And promises that show us, as we have interpreted it, of the relationship between the Father, the Son and the man in form as they represent for us the Spirit, Soul and consciousness of man. Aside from these things we have also to remember that these powers are already within us all waiting to be understood and used by the carnal man; that the Kingdom of God is within us. In the difficulties of language we tend to express and to understand that we are waiting for some outside force to overcome us when the reality is that this force is the reality that is us and which is waiting for a mind, emotions and form that can and will express it.

This is sometimes a hard reality to grasp as it is contrary to most of the teachings with which we are accustomed but this is nevertheless the reality that we must face and understand. It can all be seen as a matter of letting the Light of the Soul Within become the guiding Light of one’s Life and it is within this Light that one will find the True Faith and the KNOWING and the degree of ones realization of these things will depend solely on the degree of guidance that one accepts from the Soul, The Christ Within and His Presence which are all to say the same thing and that is the Kingdom of God that is within us all. Finally, in a word, this is accomplished by our conscious focus upon the Kingdom and His Presence as opposed to one’s focus on the things of the world.

In our last post we visited six of the eight documented occurrences of one being raised from the dead. Three of these were in the Old Testament and three in the New Testament; the last two fall into the Book of Acts, one by the Apostle Peter and one by the Apostle Paul. The Book of Acts is sort of a supplementary gospel which follows the early part of the apostles ministries after the Ascension of the Master, then dwells a bit on the ministry of Peter and then finishes with the ministry of Paul. It is purported to be written by the Apostle Luke who is apparently in close proximity to the other apostles and disciples at times and is a companion of Paul on many of his journeys. Much is unclear regarding these times and much of what we believe we know is from yet later times, from those we call the Church Fathers. History aside, we have in the Book of Acts a running chronology focused for a time of the doings of Peter and it is from this book that we found the story of his ability to heal by his proximity, by the casting of his shadow. Peter took responsibility for the early church as he was commanded by the Master and there is much said about him in the beginning of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles but this is a subject for another time. For now we look at his healing and at his raising of the dead. His healing en masse we saw in previous posts and there is one individual healing that Peter does with the Apostle John that we should note; it goes thus:

“Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeingPeter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise upand walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God” (Acts 3:1-9).

Like the Master healing one who was blind from birth, here we have Peter healing, in an instant, one who had never the ability to walk and who is now leaping up and walking. Here is Peter, at the height of confidence, of KNOWING, of believing and doubting not. From this point we go to our other healing verses regarding Peter where the people know so well of his healing power that “they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them” (Acts 5:15). Peter has come a long way from his times of doubt and uncertainty and his times of falling back into the thoughts and the ways of a man in the world. So we have a ranking of miracles that goes, as we have placed them, from individual healing to the healing of many at one time to the raising of the dead; we come now to that raising. The story goes thus:

“And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy.  And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and alms deeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them. But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive” (Acts 9:32-41).

This healing and raising of the dead Tabitha is done without question, without doubt. We should see here that Peter KNOWS that what he says will come to pass and this is the criteria that we have from the Master; that we have no doubt. We can find every kind of excuse for why we cannot do this same thing but there is a reality that we seldom admit and that is that the there is also a first criteria that must be accomplished before can have that ability to KNOW and which we have discussed in previous posts. We must believe on Him and we must understand that the reality of this is that we follow Him and we keep His words……all of them. We have said before and we can say again that without this first criteria being met, this awesome power cannot be trusted to a man; it is only in that purity of heart that we can experience the KNOWING.

We do not know what other miraculous things were done by Peter, we only know what we see in scripture and what is loosely reported as history by the church fathers in the early centuries. We know that he did do these things of which we speak and we know that he took the responsibility that the Master gave him in telling Peter to “feed my lambs” and then to “feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17). A keynote for us all is found in the Life of Peter and his relationship with the Master and this we have discussed over the last few posts. Built into his story can be seen the story of all aspirants and disciples of the Christ and our eventual resolution of our problem which the Master outlines for us in these words: “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). We can view this as our excuse for not doing what is required or we can view this as the Master’s acknowledgement of the difficulty and Peter as the evidence of our ability to overcome.

The Apostle Paul is our next topic insofar as our exploration of one’s ability to follow in the Master’s words as we remember that He does tell us that “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12). Paul is an interesting example of the nature of discipleship and one from which we can all learn much. He is an antagonist of the Master, a Pharisee and a religious leader of the Jews, who went far out of his way to persecute those who believed in the new teachings as put forth by the Christ. His presence at the stoning of the disciple Stephen, who Luke tells us was “full of faith and power“, and who “did great wonders and miracles among the people” (Acts 6:8), shows to us Paul’s complicity in all of the evil that the Jews did in those days against the followers of Jesus. Paul recollects this later in his speech to his detractors in Jerusalem, telling them of his conversation with the Master in a trance saying that “And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him” (Acts 22:20). Paul was a Pharisee who was acting in the office of a Pharisee and even more so as he went about to persecute the followers of the Christ. We should see here, from his own words, that he truly believed that what he was doing was the work of God. In this same speech he tells the Jews: “I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished” (Acts 22:3-5).

This is Paul. By his own words we know that he did harsh and cruel things to the followers of the Master and that he did them believing that they were God’s work. This is likely the state of all Pharisees in that time and also of those who received their instruction; although they were acting contrary to the spirit of the Law, they believed that they were doing right. We should note here and remember that Paul is a religious man, a man of God and that the God of Paul is the same before and after his coming to Christ. In the instant of Paul’s vision of the Master, he is converted from his old ways to the new; he did not have very far to go as he was not acting carnally as a man of the world but rather was acting religiously as a man of God, at least this is what he believed. We can see this in the same light as the way we looked at Andrew and John and then Peter finding the Lord and then knowing that they must follow. Again, we need to remember that none of this is by accident but rather for the working out of the Great Plan of God. We should also see here that there is no teacher for Paul, unlike the twelve and the seventy there is no Master going about the countryside teaching this new doctrine. Yet, Paul knows the doctrine and he knows it well, perhaps even better than some of the twelve and the seventy and it is here again that we have confirmation of the words that John tells us regarding our hearing from the Spirit within, the Christ Within, who will teach us all when we make our conscious selves ready for the revelation. We could say that this is a miracle in itself; for Paul, and for us.

The healing power of Paul should be well known but it is dwarfed by his writings which provide much of the doctrinal backbone for the Christian churches today and have over the 2000 plus years since he wrote them. The writings of Paul are the popular message that is taught in the churches albeit they are seldom used in the in context which they were meant to serve. In them is found the cause of many of the doctrinal differences within the multiplicity of denominations and this effect has been growing steadily since the reformation. Paul is credited with writing two thirds of the New Testament and this idea is often used as a way of saying that it is in his voluminous writings the Truth is found. Early on in our blog, in the first posts, we bemoaned this trend as it leaves the sayings of the Master in a rather secondary place and this should not be so; this is one of the several reasons for the tone and subject matter of this entire blog where we do use the sayings of Paul but as they support the sayings of the Master. So many have forgotten that Paul wrote to specific groups of people who had specific issues in the early church times and his epistles are intended to correct their erroneous behavior and to set them on a better course. This is not the time however for this dialogue which we will get to, we must get to, at some future time. Today we are focused upon the healing power of the apostle.

We said earlier that Paul entered into his role as a follower of the Christ when he was specifically called by the Master in a vision. We noted that he was prior to this a religious man after the customs of the Jews and we should understand that after his conversion, when he grasped the meaning of the mission of Christ , he needed no one to instruct him. It were as if someone had turned on the Light for him which is not unlike how the other disciples at the time approached the coming of the Christ Within nor it is far from the way that we approach it as well. There is a large difference between learning about the Master and developing a devotional approach to Him and the turning on of the Light from within that causes a Life change through which we truly follow Him and keep His words. So Paul sees the Light, not only the Soul Light that enlightens him but he also has a physical experience that is meant, like many other things which we have discussed, to ensure the working out of the Great Plan of God. Paul tells it so: “And it came to pass , that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground…..” (Acts 22:6-7). Can we see the similarities between this and some of the other events where angels visit and things happen that get the attention of a man or a woman and which pushes them in the needed direction. We spoke of Zacarias and Elisabeth, of Mary and Joseph; we spoke of the shepherds and the Magi and we spoke of the Transfiguration. With each of these there is a message meant to nurture and to encourage one or many to do a thing that will help to ensure the working out of the Great Plan; they help them to first find the Faith to believe and then to find the strength and the courage to continue. This same dynamic is likely working out in this episode with Paul for he needed a Life changing event to tear him away from what he knew and believed and to set him upon the path to Christ.

An now, after his experience, he is fully endowed with all that he needs for success and the reality here is that he always had the knowledge and the tools and perhaps even the promptings of his own Soul pointing him in this direction but he knew the other so well and he was so good at it. We will continue this thought in the next post and get into the healing power of Paul. For now, we should ponder on these few words on tools and promptings and, much like we found ourselves in the story of Peter, find ourselves here as well.

Note on the Quote of the Day