MYSTIC CHRISTIANITY/PART 6
THE SIXTH LESSON.
THE WORK OF
ORGANIZATION.
Leaving
Capernaum behind Him, with its crowds of invalids seeking healing, and fighting
off the demands that would have rendered Him a professional healer instead of a
Teacher and preacher of the Message of Truth, Jesus passed on to other parts of
the land, taking with Him the band of disciples and faithful followers who now
traveled with Him.
But
He did not altogether relinquish His healing work. He merely made it an
incident of His ministry, and did not allow it to interfere with His preaching
and teaching. The Gospel narratives show a number of remarkable cures made by
Him at this time, and the few recorded cases are, of course, merely occasional
incidents that stand out in the minds of the people among hundreds of less
noticeable cases.
The
cure of the leper is one of such remarkable cases. Leprosy was a foul disease much
dreaded by the people of Oriental countries. And the unfortunate person
afflicted by it became an outcast and pariah from whom all others fled as from
an unclean and impure thing.
There
was a leper in the part of the country in which Jesus was traveling and
teaching. He heard of the wonderful gift of healing accredited to the young
preacher, and he determined to get into His presence and beg His aid. How the
leper managed to get through the crowds and into the presence of Jesus is not
known, but it must have required great strategy on his part, for such people
were not permitted to pass in and among crowds of other people. But in some way
the leper contrived to come face to face with Jesus as the latter walked alone
in meditation, away from his followers.
The
loathsome creature raised its repulsive form, the picture of human misery and
woe, and confronting the Master, demanded from Him the exercise of the Gift of
Healing. No doubt of His power was in the leper's mind—his face shone with
faith and expectation. Jesus gazed earnestly into the distorted features that
shone with the fire of a fervent faith such as is rarely seen on the face of
man, and touched with this testimony to His power and motives, He moved toward
the leper, defying the laws of the country, which forbade the same. Not only
this, but He even laid His hands upon the unclean flesh, defying all the laws
of reason in so doing, and fearlessly passed His hand over the leper's face,
crying aloud, "Be thou clean!"
The
leper felt a strange thrill running through his veins and over his nerves, and
every atom of his body seemed to be tingling with a peculiar burning and
smarting sensation. Even as he looked he saw the color of his flesh changing
and taking on the hue of the flesh of the healthy person. The numbness departed
from the affected portion of his body, and he could actually feel the thrill
and tingle of the life currents that were at work with incredible speed
building up new cells, tissue and muscle. And still Jesus held His hands
against the flesh of the leper, allowing the life current of highly
vitalized prana to pour from His organism into that of the
leper, just as a storage battery of great power replenishes and recharges an
electrical appliance. And back of it all was the most potent, trained Will of
the Master Occultist directing the work.
And
then He bade the healed man depart and comply with the laws regarding
purification and change of garments, including the appearance before the
priests to receive a certificate of cleanliness. And He also bade him that
nothing should be said regarding the nature or particulars of the cure. For
some good reason He wished to escape the notoriety or fame that the report of
such a wonderful cure would be sure to excite.
But
alas! this was asking too much of human nature, and the healed leper, running
with great leaps and bounds, began shouting and crying aloud the glad tidings
of his marvelous cure, that all men might know what a great blessing had come
to him. In spite of the injunction laid upon him, he began to sing aloud the
praises of the Master who had manifested such an unheard-of power over the foul
disease that had held him in its grasp until a few hours before. With wild
gestures and gleaming eyes he told the story again and again, and it was taken
up and repeated from person to person, until the whole town and countryside
were familiar with the great news. Imagine such an event occurring in a small
country town in our own land today, and you will realize what an excitement
must have been occasioned in that home place of the leper.
And
then occurred that which Jesus had doubtless seen when He forbade the leper to
repeat the news of the cure. The whole region became excited and immense crowds
gathered around Him and His disciples, crying aloud for new wonders and
miracles. The curious sensation-seekers were there in full force, crowding out
those whom He wished to reach by His teachings. And more than this, great
numbers of sick and crippled people crowded around Him crying for aid and cure.
The scenes of Capernaum were repeated. Even the lepers began flocking in, in
defiance of law and custom, and the authorities were beside themselves with
anger and annoyance. Not only the temporal authorities and the priests were
arrayed against Him, as of old, but now He managed to arouse the opposition of
the physicians of those days, who saw their practice ruined by this man whom
they called a charlatan and deceiver threatening and destroying the health of
the people, whose physical welfare was safe only in their (the physicians')
hands and keeping.
And
so Jesus was compelled to close His ministry at this place and move on to
another village.
Another
case which attracted much attention was that which occurred in Galilee when He
was preaching in a house. In the midst of His discourse both He and His
audience were startled by the sight of a figure on a bed being lowered down
among the crowd of listeners from the roof surrounding the open court in the
center of the house. It was a poor paralyzed man whom friends had contrived to
hoist up and then lower down before Jesus in such a manner as could not escape
the attention of the Master. It is related that the piteous appeal of the
sufferer, and the faith which had inspired such great energy on the part of his
friends, attracted the interest and sympathy of Jesus, and He paused in His
discourse and made another of those instantaneous cures which are possible only
to the most advanced adepts in the science of spiritual healing.
Then
came the scene of the Wells of Bethesda—a region abounding in "healing
waters" to which the sick and afflicted came to regain their health. The
crowds of sick were being carried to the springs by friends or paid attendants,
who pushed aside the weaker ones and fought their way to the wells. Jesus
walked among the crowds, and at last His attention was attracted toward a poor
fellow who lay upon his cot away off from the waters. He had no friends to
carry him nearer, nor money for paid attendants. And he had not strength enough
to crawl there himself. He filled the air with his moans and cries and
bewailings of his unfortunate lot. Jesus walked up to him, and holding his
attention by a firm look of authority and power, cried to him suddenly in a
voice that demanded obedience, "Take up thy bed and walk!" The man,
startled into obedience, did as directed, and much to his surprise, and that of
the crowd gathered around, found that he was able to move about freely—a well
man.
This
cure also aroused not only the greatest interest but also the antagonism of the
ecclesiastical authorities. It appears that the cure had been made on the
Sabbath day, and that it was against the ecclesiastical law to heal the sick in
any way upon that day; and also that the patient had performed manual work on
the Sabbath in carrying his bed upon the orders of the Healer. And the good
pious folk, urged on by the priests, began to abuse and condemn the Healer and
patient, after the manner of the formal pietists of all lands and times, even
of our own. Clinging to the letter of the law, these people overlook its
spirit—bound by the forms, they fail to see the meaning lying back of all forms
and ceremonies.
Braving
the storm that was arising around Him, Jesus boldly walked to the Temple. He
was plunged in a sea of conflicting opinions and voices. On the one hand was
the healed man and those who sympathized with him, in earnest argument
concerning the righteousness of the deed. But arrayed against these few were
the good folk of the place who loudly denounced the Sabbath-breaker and
demanded His punishment. Were the ancient laws of Moses to be thus defied by
this presumptuous Nazarene, whose religious ideas were sadly lacking in
orthodoxy? Surely not! Punish the upstart! And again Jesus was in actual peril
of bodily hurt, or perhaps even death, owing to the religious bigotry of the
orthodox people.
Jesus
was ever a foe to the stupid formalism and ignorant fanaticism regarding
"holy days," which is ever a characteristic of certain classes of
mind among people. On the above occasion, as well as upon other occasions, and
notably upon the occasion of the Sabbath when He directed His hungry disciples
to pick corn to satisfy their hunger, Jesus opposed the strict, ironclad law of
Sabbath observance. He was ever filled with the idea that the "Sabbath was
made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." There was nothing Puritanical
about the Master, and in view of His attitude regarding this matter it is
surprising to witness the attitude of some in our own time who, wearing His
livery, oppose these teachings of His in theory and practice.
And
so, driven out once more by the intolerance and bigotry of the public, Jesus
returned again to Galilee, His land of retreat and rest, and the scene of much
of His best work. Galilee was filled with His many followers and admirers, and
He was less in danger of disturbance and persecution there than in the
neighborhood of Jerusalem. Large congregations attended His ministry there, and
His converts were numbered by the thousand. The village contained many persons
healed by His power, and His name was a household word.
And
upon His return He entered into a new stage of His work. He had decided to
divide His ministry among His twelve most advanced disciples, as it had now
reached proportions beyond His ability to personally control. And, as was
customary to Him upon all great occasions, He sought the solitudes for
meditation and spiritual strength before finally investing His twelve Apostles
with the high authority of their mission. He spent the night on one of the
hills near Capernaum, from which He descended the following morning, wearied in
body from want of rest, but strong in soul and spirit.
Then
He gathered the Twelve around Him, and in a secret meeting divulged to them
certain deep truths and secrets, adding certain instructions regarding healing
work, and calling upon them for the highest allegiance to Him and His work.
The
Gospel narratives have but very little to say regarding Jesus' work in the
instruction of the Twelve for their future mission. And the average student of
the narratives goes on without thinking of the marvelous mental and spiritual
development that must have been manifested by the Apostles during their
transition from humble fishermen, and men of similar vocations, to highly
developed teachers of advanced spiritual truths. To the occultist especially
this ordinary view seems astounding, for he realizes the many arduous steps
necessary to be trodden by the feet of the Neophyte before he becomes an
Initiate, and the higher steps awaiting the Initiate before he may become a
Master. And such a one realizes the mighty task that Jesus performed in
developing and unfolding the spiritual natures of such a body of men until they
become worthy to be His chosen representatives and teachers. The occult traditions
have it that Jesus had pursued a systematic course of instruction of His chosen
disciples, bringing them up rapidly through degree after degree of mystic
attainment and occult knowledge, until finally they were ready for the
finishing touches at His hands. And the occasion that we are now considering
was the time when the final degrees were imparted to them.
It
must be remembered that the Apostles were endowed with the mastery of the
occult forces of nature which enabled them to perform the "miracles"
of healing similar to those of Jesus. And it must not be supposed for a moment
that an occult Master of so high a degree of attainment as that reached by
Jesus would have allowed His disciples to use such mighty power without also
instructing them fully in the nature of the forces they were using, and of the
best methods of employing the same. And such knowledge could not be imparted
without the fundamental truths of nature being understood by them, which
understanding was possible only to those who had grasped the great Basic Truths
of the Science of Being.
In
short, the traditions are that the Twelve Apostles were gradually initiated
into the great degrees of the Occult Brotherhoods of which and in which Jesus
was a Master. He gathered together a great store of occult information and
mystic lore, and condensing the same into a plain, practical, simple system, He
imparted it fully and thoroughly to those whom He had elected to be His chief
co-workers and His successors after His death, which He knew full well was not
far off.
These
facts must be fully understood by the student of Mystic Christianity who wishes
to grasp the secret of the early Christian Church after the death of Christ.
The wonderful headway manifested by the movement could not have been given by
mere followers and believers in the Master. It usually follows that when the
great head of an organization dies the movement disintegrates or loses power
unless he has been able to "communicate his spirit" to some chosen
followers. And this Jesus did. And it was only to men who thoroughly grasped
the fundamental truths and principles of His teachings that such
"spirit" could have been imparted.
There
was an exoteric teaching for the multitude, and an esoteric teaching for the
Twelve. There are many Scriptural passages which go to show this fact, which
was well known to the early Fathers of the Church. And upon the occasion which
we have mentioned the last great Basic Truths were explained to the Twelve, and
from that time henceforward they were regarded and treated as Masters by Jesus,
and not as mere students, as had been the case before that time. And arising
from that final instruction came the Sermon of the Mount.
The
Sermon of the Mount, that most wonderful and complete of any of the public utterances
of Jesus, was delivered almost immediately after the Choosing of the Twelve
Apostles. And it was intended even more for them than for the multitudes
gathered around to hear His preaching. He knew that the Twelve could interpret
it by reason of the Inner Teachings that they had received from Him. And almost
forgetting the congregation gathered around and about Him, He elucidated the
Inner teachings for the benefit of the Chosen Few.
The
Sermon of the Mount can be understood only by means of the Master Key of the
Inner Teachings, which opens the door of the mind to an understanding of the
hard sayings and veiled mystic import of many of His precepts. We shall devote
considerable space in one of our later lessons of this series to a
consideration of the Inner Meaning of this great sermon and teaching, and
therefore shall not go into details regarding it in the present lesson, deeming
it better to proceed with the story of the Master's Work.
A
few days after the delivery of the Sermon of the Mount, the Master left
Capernaum and traveled from town to town visiting His various centers of
teaching, as was His custom. On the journey Jesus performed a feat of occult
power that proved Him to be one of the Highest Adepts of the Occult
Brotherhoods, for to none other would such a manifestation have been possible.
Even some of the highest Oriental Masters would have refused to undertake the
task that He set before Himself to do.
The
company was leisurely proceeding on its way, when nearing a small town they met
a funeral procession coming in their direction. Preceded by the band of women
chanting the mournful dirges according to the Galileean custom, the cortege
slowly wended its way. The etiquette of the land required strangers to join in
the mourning when they came in contact with a funeral procession, and the
company assumed a mournful and respectful demeanor, and many joined in the
dirge which was being chanted by the procession.
But
Jesus invaded the privacy of the procession in a manner shocking to those who
held closely to the familiar forms and customs. Stepping up to the bier, He
stood in front of it and bade the carriers halt and set it down. A murmur of
indignation ran through the ranks of the mourners, and some strode forward to
rebuke the presumptuous stranger who dared to violate the dignity of the
funeral in this way. But something in His face held them back. Then a strange
feeling passed over the crowd. Jesus was known to a number of the mourners, and
some of those who had witnessed some of His wonder-workings began to whisper
that strange things were about to happen, and the ranks were broken as the
people flocked around the Master at the bier.
The
corpse was that of a young man, and his widowed mother stood beside the pale
figure stretched upon the bier, and spreading her arms in front of it, she
seemed to ward off the profaning touch of the strange man who confronted it.
But the stranger looked upon her with a look of transcendent love, and in a
voice vibrant with the tenderest feeling said unto her, "Mother, weep
not—cease thy mourning." Amazed, but impressed, she turned an appealing
gaze to Him who had thus bidden her. Her mother love and instinct caught a new
expression in His eyes, and her heart bounded with a wonderful hope of
something, she knew not what. What did the Nazarene mean? Her boy was dead, and
even God Himself never disturbed the slumber of the body from which the spirit
had flown. But still what meant that expression—why that leap and throbbing of
her heart?
Then
with a gesture of authority the Master caused the crowd to draw back from the
bier, until at last there remained only the corpse, the mother and Himself in a
cleared space in the center. Then a strange and wonderful scene began. With His
gaze fixed upon the face of the corpse, and in an attitude that indicated a
supreme effort of His will, the Master was seen to be making some mighty effort
which called into play the highest forces at His command. The Apostles, having
been instructed by Him in Occult power, recognized the nature of the
manifestation, and their faces paled, for they knew that He was not only
pouring out His vital force into the body in order to recharge it with prana,
but that He was also essaying one of the highest and most difficult of occult
feats—that of summoning back from the Astral Plane the higher vehicles and the
Astral Body—the very soul of the youth—and forcing it once more into its mortal
frame, which He had recharged with vital energy and strength. They knew that
He, by the mightiest effort of His will, was reversing the process of death.
And with a full appreciation of the real nature of the wonder that was being
worked before them, their limbs trembled beneath them and their breath came
from them in gasps.
Then
cried the people, "What saith this man to the corpse?" "Arise,
youth! Open thine eyes! Breathe freely! Arise, I say unto thee—arise!" Did
this stranger dare to defy God's own decree?
The
corpse opened its eyes and stared around in wild amaze, the glare not fully
faded away! Its chest heaved in great agonizing gasps as if fighting again for
life! Then its arms were lifted up—then its legs began to move—now it raised
itself upright and began to babble meaningless words—now the look of
recognition came into its eyes, and its arms clasped themselves around the
mother's neck, while sob after sob broke from its lips! The dead lived—the
corpse had come to life.
The
people fell back overcome with the awful terror of the sight, and the funeral
procession scattered in all directions, until only the sobbing mother and the
youth remained, weeping in their mutual love and joy, and forgetting even the
Master and His followers in their great flood of affection.
And,
leaving them thus, Jesus and His followers passed away on their pilgrimage. But
the fame of the miracle spread from town to town, even up to the great capital,
Jerusalem. And men wondered or doubted, according to their natures, while the
temporal and ecclesiastical authorities began to again ask themselves and each
other whether this man were not a dangerous person and an enemy to established
custom and order.
In
one of His journeys Jesus found Himself invited to the house of a leading
citizen of the town in which He was preaching. This citizen was one of the
class known as Pharisees, whose characteristics were an extreme devotion and
adherence to forms and ceremonies and a bigoted insistence upon the observance
of the letter of the law. The Pharisees were the ultra-orthodox center of an
orthodox people. They were the straight-laced brethren who walked so erect that
they leaned backward. They were the people who thanked God that they were not
like unto other men. They were the "uncommonly good" members of
church and society. The very name stands even unto this day as a synonym for
"pious sham."
Just
why this Pharisee had invited the Master to dine with him is not easily
understood. It is likely that it was a combination of curiosity and a desire to
entrap his guest into statements and admissions that might be used against him.
At any rate, the invitation was given and accepted.
The
Master noted that certain little ceremonies usually extended by the Hebrews to
a guest of equal standing were omitted by His host. His head was not anointed
with the ceremonial oil, as was the custom in houses of this character when the
guest was honored as an equal or desirable addition to the family gathering.
Clearly He was regarded as a curiosity or "freak" rather than as a
friend, and had been invited in such a spirit. But He said nothing, and passed
over the slight. And the meal passed along smoothly up to a certain point.
The
host and his guests were reclining easily, after the Oriental fashion,
discussing various topics, when a woman pressed her way into the banquet hall.
Her dress proclaimed her to be one of the women of easy virtue abounding in all
Oriental towns. She was clad in showy apparel and her hair fell loosely over
her shoulders after the custom of the women of her kind in that land. She fixed
her eyes upon the Master and moved slowly toward him, much to the annoyance of
the host, who feared a scene, for the Master would most likely administer a
rebuke to the woman for presuming to intrude upon the presence of Him, a
spiritual teacher.
But
the woman still pressed forward toward Him, and at last, bending down low, her
head touching His feet, she burst into tears. She had heard the Master preach
some time before, and the seeds of His teaching had taken root and had now
blossomed within her heart; and she had come to acknowledge her allegiance and
to render an offering to Him whom she revered. The coming into His presence was
her token of a spiritual regeneration and a desire to begin a new life. Her
tears flowed over His feet, and she dried them off with her long hair. Then she
kissed His feet, as a token of her allegiance and worship.
From
her neck hung a chain holding a little box filled with precious perfumed oil,
which she esteemed highly, as did all the people of her race. The oil was of
the nature of attar of roses and was the essential oil extracted from fragrant
blossoms. She broke the seal and poured the fragrant oil over the hands and
feet of the Master, who rebuked her not, but who accepted the tribute even from
such a source. The host began to indulge in thoughts not flattering to the
intelligence of his guest, and a scarcely concealed sneer appeared on his lips.
Then
Jesus turned to His host and with a smile said to him: "Simon, in thy mind
thou thinkest these words: 'If this man be indeed a prophet, would he not know
what manner of woman this be who toucheth him, and would he not rebuke her and
drive her from him?'" And the Pharisee was sorely confused, for the Master
had read his thought word for word by the method known to occultists as
telepathy. And then in gentle raillery the Master called his host's attention
to the fact that the woman had performed the service which he, the host, had
neglected to observe. Had she not bathed and dried His feet, as the Pharisee
would have done had his guest been deemed worthy of honor? Had she not anointed
Him with precious oil, as the host would have anointed an honored guest? Had
she not impressed upon even His feet the kiss that etiquette required the host
to impress upon the cheek of the esteemed visitor to his house? And as for the
character of the woman, it had been fully recognized and forgiven. "Much
hath been forgiven her, for she hath loved greatly." And, turning to the
woman, He added, "Go in peace, for thy sins are forgiven thee." And
the woman departed with a new expression on her face and a firm resolve in her
heart, for the Master had forgiven and blessed her.
But
by this act Jesus brought upon His head the hatred of the Pharisee and his
friends. He had dared rebuke the host in his own palace, and had moreover
arrogated to Himself the sacred rite to pronounce remission of sins, a right
vested solely in the high-priest of the Temple, upon the performance of certain
ceremonies and sacrifices upon the altar. He had flung defiance at vested
ecclesiastical right and functions, even in the house of one of the stanchest
adherents of formalism and authority—a Pharisee.
In
this incident was shown not only the broadness of Jesus' views and the
universality of His love, as well as His courage in defying the hated
formalism, even in the palace of its stanchest advocates, but also His attitude
toward women. The Jews as a race held women in but scant esteem. They were not
deemed worthy to sit with the men in the synagogue. It was deemed unworthy of a
man to mention his female relations in general company. They were regarded as
inferior in every way to men, and were treated as almost unclean in their most
sacred natural functions.
Toward
fallen women especially Jesus was ever considerate. He saw their temptation and
the social cruelty of their position. He resented "the double standard"
of virtue which allowed a man to commit certain offenses and still be
respected, while the woman who committed the same offense was damned socially,
reviled and treated as a shameful outcast. He was ever ready to voice a defense
for women of this kind, and seemed to be ever actuated by the sense of
injustice in the attitude of men toward them, which finally voiced itself on a
notable occasion when called upon to pass judgment upon the woman taken in
adultery: "Let him among ye who is without sin cast the first stone."
No wonder that the outcast woman kissed His feet and poured out the precious
ointment upon Him. He was the Friend to such as she.
NEXT CHAPTER
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