IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 173

YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

Along with some side journeys into glamour and illusion and some thoughts on evolution, we spent much time on the doubt that John the Baptist expresses in sending his disciples to see the Master and to ask if He is really the One. This is painted in many ways by the church and we did discuss some of what is said in the last posts but it matters not what the commentary is, the fact remains that John did send disciples to the Master. For us we resolve this into a moment of doubt, something that we all suffer from and through, the thing that hinders our being able to move the mountain. We came also upon the realization that the Faith that John exuded was strong and certain which we know from the bible stories about him and of which we must assume the Master knew as well. We noted that the Master also seemed to understand John’s need to send his disciples to inquire and how He answered them in a most reassuring way ending His statement with “And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (Luke 7:23). We spent much time on this last sentence and we analyzed the idea of the translation of the Greek word into the English offended and came upon good reason to interpret this saying away from our modern use of that word. We settled our interpretation of this saying in the understanding that there is nothing that the Master can do or say that would offend….especially John but rather what one may hear about the Master from others; especially when one is confined and alone. We also settled upon the idea of these things that one hears about the Master or the spiritual life can cause him to stumble, to lose faith or to DOUBT and that there is not a real offense by the Master nor a sense of offence by the prophet in that respect. We closed the subject with this as our observation:

‘Can we see the Master simply telling John, His faithful servant, that he should not let what he may hear about Him cause him to stumble and lose faith as he apparently did and that he should remember that he is blessed in his unswerving Faith and that based on these things that are now reported to him, he should be steady and doubt not. Is this not the same message to us all? Our final understanding: Blessed it he who maintains his faith no matter what they may see or hear about the Christ or the spiritual way of life‘.

Our next verses are the words of the Master about John the Baptist which immediately follow upon the sayings that we just concluded. These are words of both praise and explanation to the people saying that John came and fulfilled his purpose; Jesus ends this segment with yet another very difficult saying to understand. These verses are virtually the same in both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels and say:

• From Matthew: “And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11:7-11).
• From Luke: “And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:24-28)

We start here is the simple truth about John, about his appearance and his demeanor. We get a early glimpse of John in this saying in Mark’s Gospel: “And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey” (Mark 1:6).  This is a man unlike the men of his day and similar to one’s perception of the prophets of old; few there were that appeared as well off men. Most, like Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah and Jeremiah, lived humble and Godly lives; some lived off the land others spent time in jails but they came and they delivered their messages in the way that the Spirit of God outlined for them. The Master tells us that John was “…Elias, which was for to come” (Matthew 11:14) and the angel told John’s father that “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias” (Luke 1:17) both of which sayings bring us to this perspective of the prophets of the Old Testament. John also comes at a time long after the last of the long list of prophets appeared to the Jewish people, some 400 years before the John’s birth, setting a stage that places him as an odd man come from nowhere. Except for the story line about his birth and the miracle of his father’s regaining his sight, there is likely little known about John in and around Judea.

So John comes of age and we are told that: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:1-6). From the whole of the story we should be able to see this man John as something new; not only as the first prophet seen in over four centuries but also much different than those of which these people knew. He brought a message of repentance and the idea that “kingdom of heaven is at hand”; ideas that were quite alien to these people of the law. They knew life differently in relation to God; their teachings were to follow the law and that transgressions against the law required not repentance, but atonement. John’s message is the precursor of the message of the Master and we know John today as “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord“.

This is John the Baptist, “preaching in the wilderness“, and many people come to him for baptism and many believe in his new message of which we get but this little glimpse. We spoke much of John’s calling and his commitment to the Lord and His work in the last few posts and all that we have written along with this today should give us a very clear picture of the man who came and served the Lord’s purpose. When the Master appears and comes into His own time, John’s era ends as he himself said it must, telling his disciples that: “….A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all” (John 3:27-31).

The Master, after sending John’s disciples back to John to reassure him of all things, says to the gathered people the words of today’s verses. First we should see that the Master makes a point of the humbleness of John’s appearance and character comparing him to those who are “gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately”, those who can be found “in kings’ courts“. Second, Jesus makes it clear that John is a prophet, a messenger sent before the Lord and a prophet who is in Jesus’ words “much more than a prophet“. John has the single and unique mission of proclaiming the arrival of the True Son of God and preparing the way before Him. To John, or we should say to that Spirit that came to the world as John and who the Master tells us is the Spirit of Elijah as well, was the single and unique privilege to do this thing for the world.

Now the Master tells us next that of the greatness of the Baptist; we may see him as just a humble servant, clothe in camel’s hair and preaching, but the Master sees him as  a one about whom it can be said that “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist“. This covers a lot of people and says to us that the Spirit, the Soul, that became John was among the greatest and became the greatest to be naturally born into this world. Our next statement is the difficult one as we have no reference point for it except to say what we have been saying about the Kingdom of God. This is a truly special place and not the place that we see in the teachings of the churches; this is a place for those accounted worthy, those who qualify by the fruit that they bear here in their lives and about whom we have spoken before. To be accounted worthy of the Kingdom there are these ideas with which we will close today and pick up tomorrow with our attempt to give meaning to the Master’s saying about John that: “he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he“.

• First we must change. “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
• We must also work at being righteous, “That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).
• We must also seek the Kingdom and as a FIRST thing not as an afterthought. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). And we should understand that this change can happen at any time.
• We must do the Will of God. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
• We must be humble and innocent. “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).
• We must not trust in riches or the things of this world. “how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:24).
• We must enter on the straight and the narrow path of His commandments. “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
• We must be persistent and consistent or be ever starting over. “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).
• We must be born again in the Light of our Spirit. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God……Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, 5).
• Finally, He told us where the Kingdom is and in the where is the when. “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).

This is the special place called the Kingdom of God and to which we have added that to be in this Kingdom is also to be in the Presence of God. When we look at the Christ we should see also that to attain to Him is to attain to the Kingdom. Both of these we can do through the flow of the Light of the Soul, the Power of the Christ Within, through our conscious personalities which is evidenced by doing His works and keeping His words. We should remember too that this place called the Kingdom of God is a place for those who are become disciples of the Christ and in this we should not see the idea of the necessity to be a Christian. Following in His words and doing His works are not unique to Christians as these things are the attainable virtues of all men wherever they may be and whatever they may profess. It is all about being a disciple of the Christ Within and this is what makes one a disciple of THE CHRIST Himself; it is all about being accounted worthy.

Note on the Quote of the Day