All Episodes
Previous Next
Dec. 25, 1998 - Bill Cooper
01:59:31
Christmas Eve
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Light power, power, power, power, power, power, power, power, power, power, power, power, power,
Please, the tower open wide.
Lights out of the curtain.
the world.
I'm William Cooper.
you're listening to a special presentation of the hour of the time I'm William Cooper
and I'm too. Merry Christmas to all the little boys and girls everywhere
Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's presentation is in honor of the birth of Jesus Christ approximately 2,000 years ago.
In keeping with the purpose of this broadcast, we're going to present the many different facets of parts of his life, and we're going to present it in a way that no matter what your belief is concerning this man, who is probably the most remembered man in the history of the world, for all the accomplishments of Julius Caesar, very few today, any consequence
or lend any importance to what He did.
However, Jesus Christ has presented a dichotomy to the world.
For those who love Him, He is the Savior.
For the churches that dig the money out of the pockets of millions of people, He is the source of unlimited income.
For those who hate him, he is the instigation of a constant turmoil.
And while this man preached love, peace and understanding, more men and women have been murdered, killed in the history of the world in his name.
and for any other purpose in history.
If he were alive today, I for one do not believe that he would accept any of those organized institutions which call themselves Christian churches.
In fact, I believe he would cast them out.
I believe he would condemn all those who tortured and hurt and murdered in his name.
I believe that he would have a few things to say tonight that will be reflected in this broadcast, and I think if you listen closely you will understand why it is that I claim that not many who call themselves Christians really are.
For Jesus Christ accepted all who came to Him.
He rejected no one, and He could found more often amidst the poor and the rejected and the criminals and the
prostitutes than with any other class of people.
There is no other class of people who can be as good as the others.
Time of old and time of gay, Christmas time!
There is no other class of people who can be as good as the others.
The revels will be quiet, we anticipate a riot This common crowd is one too loud
The moss will sing your song, but they are fools And they are wrong, they are a curse, they shouldn't curse
There is no other class of people who can be as good as the J.P.! J.P.! Won't you smile at me?
Oh, Santa Fe, Santa Fe, Santa Fe, Santa Fe, Santa Fe J.P.! J.P.! Won't you smile at me?
Time of old and time of gay, Christmas time!
One wishful breath, mourning at the crowd Nothing can be done to stop the shouting.
If every tongue was still, the noise would still continue.
The rocks and stones themselves would start to sing.
Shanna hey shanna shanna shanna ho Shanna hey shanna ho shanna Hey hey hey hey hey hey hoy hey hoy ho ho hey
Shanna ho shanna hey hey hey hey hey hey Sing me your songs but not for me alone
sing them for yourself, for you are blessed.
There is someone of you who cannot win the kingdom.
The flow, the suffering, the quake, the death.
the death.
Oh, that I may die, that I may die, that I may die, that I may die, that I may die.
May they see, may they hear, what their God has told me, that I may die, that I may die, that I may die.
Jesus is the greatest paradox in history.
Thank you.
He appears in a region of minor importance in the Roman Empire, in a nation which his conquerors described as a contemptible collection of slaves.
Not once in his life does he emerge from among this people, not once does he evince any desire to know the world of the learned, the politicians and the warriors who control the civil society of his day.
In his own region, he spends at least nine-tenths of his life in a humble little village Proverbial for its worthlessness, there he is simply a carpenter.
For thirty years, no one knows who he is except for two or three people who are as silent as he.
Suddenly, when he has passed thirty, he emerges into public life and begins a new activity.
He has no human means of any kind at his disposal, no weapons, no money, no academic knowledge, No political support.
He spends almost all his time among poor folk, fishermen and peasants.
With particular solicitude, he seeks out publicans, harlots and others rejected by the so-called good society.
Among these, he works miracles in great number and variety.
He joins to himself a little group of fishermen who follow him constantly as his particular disciples, and his activity lasts less than three years.
He preaches a doctrine which is neither philosophical nor political, but religious and moral exclusively.
It seems to be composed of everything that all the various philosophies have rejected, of all that the entire world has cast as far from it as it could.
What is evil for the world is for Jesus a good.
What the world deems good for Jesus is an evil.
Poverty, humility, submission, the silent sufferance of insult and injury, withdrawing oneself to give way to others, these are the greatest of evils in the world and the greatest goods to Jesus.
Conversely, wealth, honors, Dominion over others and all the other many things which spell happiness for the world, representing total loss for Jesus, are at least a very serious danger.
The world, in fact, sees only the visible and the tangible.
Jesus declares that He sees the unseen.
The world fixes its gaze on nothing but the earth, and it sees it from below.
fixes his gaze on heaven especially and he contemplates the earth from heaven, from above.
For Jesus, the earth takes its meaning only from heaven.
The present life has value only as preparation for a future life. It is a toilsome and
impermanent dwelling, but it has value as a runway from which to take off for the flight
toward a permanent joy-filled home. The tenants of the impermanent dwelling who place
their hopes in it alone and refuse to leave it compromise the kingdom of the world.
Those who remain in it only through obedience but aspire constantly to their permanent home constitute his kingdom of God.
Now, between the two kingdoms there is and will be relentless warfare, a constant battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil.
The forces of the spiritual realm and the forces of the material world.
And this battle will go on until one or the other is utterly defeated.
The respective strengths of both kingdoms derive from love, but for different objects, for no man seeks the end of his life, to be measured by evil.
The subjects of the kingdom of the world love only themselves, or what is useful or pleasing to themselves, and their goal is to make life happy, for when it ends, that is all.
The subjects of the kingdom of God love God first of all, and then the whole hierarchy of beings down to those who are useless and who do evil, and for these they have a particular love, and they seek to do good to those who do evil, or do not know how to do good.
For them to give is to acquire, and therefore they know no hatred, which is the peak of avarice.
Of this kingdom of God, the strength of which is the love of God and of men, Jesus the Christ is the founder."
You see, the kingdom of God is the kingdom foretold by the ancient prophets of Israel who predicted that its founder would be the Messiah promised the chosen people.
In preaching his anti-world doctrine, Jesus is conscious of his identity as the Messiah, but he does not declare himself in the beginning in order that the crowds, throbbing with politico-messianic hopes, may not interpret his doctrine as a political proclamation and to claim him as a national leader.
His personal mission is directed solely to the chosen people, the depository of God's ancient promises.
And when those promises have been fulfilled, however, the effects of his mission will pour over all the peoples of the earth.
All the peoples of the earth.
And to this end, he institutes a permanent society, the Church.
which he says exists wherever two or more of his followers gather in his name.
But the majority of the chosen people do not accept his preaching, and those most hostile to him are precisely the leaders of that people, the chief priests from the temple and the Pharisees from the synagogues.
These leaders are convinced of his miraculous power.
And they would not take issue with him on many points of his teaching.
But they do not forgive his outspoken denunciation of the hypocrisy of the ruling classes and his unflinching condemnation of the empty formalism which is withering their religious life.
He commanded to obey the law.
After having unwillingly tolerated him for a time, They arrest him through treachery, condemn him in the tribunal of their nation on religious charges, and have him condemned a second time in the tribunal of the representative of Rome on political charges.
This is in the best interest of Rome.
Jesus dies on the cross.
After three days, those who have condemned Him are convinced that He has risen.
His disciples, at first unconvinced, yield later to the evidence of their senses, for they see Him and touch Him with their hands a number of times and speak with Him just as they did before His death.
He died upon the cross, was sealed in the tomb, rose and returned after three days.
in the flesh and spoke with all those who had been close to Him before His persecution.
But the paradox of Jesus continues unchanged.
Even after His death, just as in His first life He was the antithesis of the world, So the institution which he founded continues in the most incredible manner to be the negation of the world.
And I'm speaking of those who really understand and truly follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.
And you will not find that in an organized institution called a Christian church, no matter what denomination.
or what name it sits behind.
He left no echo of himself in the upper circles of the society of his time.
In the entire Roman Empire, the historians ignore him.
The learned are unaware of his teachings.
The civil authorities have at the most noted his death in their records.
The very leaders of his nation, satisfied at his disappearance from the scene, are more than ready to forget him altogether.
His institution seems to have been reduced to the agony of his own tortured body on the cross.
You see, the world gloats over its agony, just as the chief priest stood gloating at the foot of his cross.
And instead, this institution, shuddering in agony, suddenly rises up.
together into its arms the entire world.
There are three centuries of persecution and slaughter.
Three centuries which seem to prolong the agony of the cross and re-echo the three days in the sepulcher.
But after the third century, civil society becomes officially the disciple of Jesus.
The kingdom of the world is not overthrown, however, and the war goes on in different forms, but with the same obdurate tenacity as before.
Jesus, or his institution, becomes increasingly the sign of contradiction in the history of human civilization.
His paradoxical and burdensome doctrine has been accepted by infinite numbers of men and practiced with intense love.
Even to the supreme sacrifice.
Infinite numbers of others reject it and hate it rabidly.
It might be said that the efforts of the most civilized portion of humanity have all been concentrated on this sign of contradiction, either to exalt it or to trample it underfoot.
Certain it is that Jesus is today more alive Not than ever among men, and especially in this country at this time.
All have need of Him, either to love Him or to curse Him.
But they cannot seem to do without Him.
Many men in the past have been loved intensely.
Socrates by his disciples, Julius Caesar by his legionaries, Napoleon by his soldiers, But today, these men belong irrevocably to the past.
Not one single heart beats at their memory, and when their ideals are opposed, for they are still being advocated, no one thinks of cursing Socrates or Julius Caesar or even Napoleon, because their personalities no longer have any influence.
They are bygones.
But not Jesus.
You see, Jesus is still loved and He is still Men still renounce their possessions and even their lives both for love of Him and out of hatred for Him.
No living being is as alive as Jesus is today after two thousand years.
He is the sign of contradiction.
In his historical reality also, that the celebrated historians of the official world of his time are unaware of his existence is not surprising For these historians, dazzled by the splendor of the Rome of Augustus, lacked the sharpness of vision and even the documents to discover an obscure barbarian from among a contemptible collection of slaves.
But, ladies and gentlemen, This does not mean that the figure of Jesus is historically less documented and certain than that of Augustus and others of his famous contemporaries.
If you're willing to accept the writings in the Bible as being authentic, certainly we today desire to know much more about him than we do.
But if the things we know are too few for our desire, In compensation, the writers who have recorded them enjoy prime authority.
Of these four writers, two claim to be eyewitnesses who were at Jesus' side night and day for almost all his public life.
The other two, new and abundantly questioned similar witnesses in all four narratives, are told with precious simplicity, and a lack of ornament, and with a dispassionateness before the facts which rises far above their sympathies.
There is no doubt the four Gospels are propaganda.
Their authors wrote them to acquaint the world with Jesus and spread belief in Him.
But for that very reason, they had to take the way of objectivity And truth, because thousands of witnesses were ready to contradict them had these narratives been prejudiced, are fabricated.
But here, ladies and gentlemen, as in everything else, the sign of contradiction is contradicted again.
For it is said that the Jesus presented by the four historians cannot be true because he is supernatural.
The portrait painted by the poor evangelists must be reduced to natural, rational proportions and the miraculous trimmed away.
This is the program of rationalist criticism.
Many, many, many, many are the theories of the critics and contradictory of one another.
On one point only do they agree perfectly, and that is that the gospel narratives are not historical, and therefore that the Jesus of tradition is false.
Now, all this is no more than one episode in a centuries-long conflict between Jesus and the world.
I said that the conflict will not end until one has completely defeated the other.
And that is why the world defeats Jesus in the historical field by erasing as much as it can of His figure and personality.
And I believe that if those who were engaged in this act of destruction really knew Jesus
Christ and really understood His teachings, they would reverse their efforts, for He did
not teach what man has accomplished in His name, until one has completely defeated the
other.
Thank you.
But what has happened in the past, and what, ladies and gentlemen, will happen in the future?
The gospel of the books of the Bible tell us that the Jesus whom the Pharisees sealed in His tomb rose again.
History tells us that the Jesus afterward killed a thousand times has always come back more alive than ever before
And the conflict around the sign of contradiction will continue
as long As there are men up on the earth
I don't know how to love him, what to do, how to move him I've been changed, really changed
In these past few days when I've seen myself I seem like someone else
I don't know how to take this I don't see why he moved me
He's a man, he's just a man.
I've had so many men before, in very many ways.
He's just one more.
Should I bring him down?
Should I scream and shout?
Should I speak of love?
Let my feelings out?
I never thought I'd come to this.
What's it all about?
Don't you think it's rather funny?
I should be in this position I'm the one who's always in the front
So kind, so cool.
The lover's fool.
Running every show.
He tears me so I never thought I'd go to sleep at the thought of you
Thank you.
I'd be lost.
I'd be frightened.
I couldn't cope.
I couldn't go.
I turned my head.
I thought away.
I wouldn't want to know.
He cares me so.
I want him so.
I want him so, I love him so.
Jesus was always contrary to common opinion in his day.
The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete paradox ever asserted.
No discourse on earth was ever more subversive, or better, reversive, than this.
White is not called dark or gray, but altogether black, and black is shining white.
What has always been a good is now assigned to the category of evils, and an evil is called a good.
And this reversal of things is presented with a tone of crisp, concise command justified by the authority of the speaker alone.
This is so because I, Jesus, tell you it is so.
Others have told you white, but I tell you black.
Fifty has been prescribed, But that is only partly good, and I, Jesus, prescribe the whole hundred.
And what are the sanctions of this new order of things?
It has no human sanctions, only divine ones.
No worldly sanctions, but entirely supra-worldly.
The poor are blessed because theirs is the kingdom of heaven, not a kingdom on earth.
The sorrowful are blessed because they shall be comforted but in a distant and unspecified future.
The Queen of Heart are blessed because they will see God, not because their purity is to be praised by men.
And thus the New Order has a true basis only for those who accept and await the Kingdom of Heaven.
Finally, the Sermon on the Mount does not ignore historical facts, but fits in with past and contemporary Hebraism on many essential points.
The Mosaic Law is not abolished, but integrated and, indeed, perfected.
It is kept as a kind of first floor to which an upper story is added.
The chief concern is always for the moral and spiritual rather than for the material act in itself.
Not even the economic and financial question is slighted, but it is given a new setting in an act of faith and a vision of the providence of God.
You see, with Jesus, love governs all, and its twofold expression toward God and toward men, love reigns supreme.
God is the Father of the whole human family, who knows when His children are hungry, and requires only the tribute of their persistent prayer for bread.
All men, children of the Supernatural Father, are brothers, one of another.
So important is the love we must bear our fellow men that not even our love for God
is true unless it is accompanied by this other love.
That is the very basis, the very foundation of the Christian faith.
I'm going to be back in a minute. Thank you.
Thank you.
God is not pleased with offerings from one whose conscience toward his brother is not at peace.
The Sermon on the Mount follows quite a clear outline, especially in Matthew's version.
The prologue, which plunges into the very heart of the matter, is represented by the Beatitudes.
This astounding prologue presents the general spirit of Jesus' program, or what is known as the Messianic Law.
It concludes with the announcement that this spirit must be as a salt to preserve the entire world from corruption and as a light to illumine all the earth.
Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 through 16.
In other contexts, Luke chapter 14 verses 34 and 35 and chapter 8 verse 16 and chapter 11 verse 33.
16 and 11.33, but immediately after this glance toward the future, the discourse turns back
and faces the question of the relationship between past and future where the Hebrew law
is concerned.
And the outline is as follows.
Pay very close attention.
I don't care what church you've attended or how long you claim to have been a Christian,
I can tell you right now that everybody really practiced what this man taught.
you There would truly be peace in the world.
Whether or not you believed Him to be of divine origin, or to be God incarnate in the flesh, or to be the Son of God, or to be just a man walking upon the earth, there would be peace in this world.
Jesus does not destroy the law, but renews it, in part abrogating and in part retaining and perfecting it.
Matthew, Chapter 5, verses 17-20.
The Messianic Law perfects the Mosaic Law in the precepts regarding fraternal peace and concord, chastity, matrimony, the taking of oaths, revenge and charity.
Chapter 5, verses 21-48.
And it surpasses by far the practice of the Pharisees with regard to almsgiving, prayer and fasting.
Chapter 6, verses 1-8.
It is the one true treasure for those who accept it, and frees them from all other solicitude.
It demands more perfect charity and more constant prayer.
It is a narrow gate, but a protection against false prophets, and it induces good works.
In short, the new law is a house built on living rock, and will withstand the floods and tempests that beat against it.
And even this sketchy summary makes it clear that the Sermon on the Mount is intended, among other things, to counterbalance the law of Moses, which it does not destroy but perfects.
And this is also reflected by the setting in which the discourse was delivered.
You see, just as Moses, assisted by the ancients of the nation, had promulgated the old law on Mount Sinai in the presence of the people, Jesus, attended by the twelve apostles, promulgated the new law on a hill in Galilee.
The Sermon on the Mount is popular in style and oriental in expression.
It contains no subtleties or abstractions, but abounds in concrete examples which have always been dear to the people and from which they are expert in extracting the general rules.
Typical oriental exaggerations are frequent, but the audience knew how to give them their true value, for it was their Language!
Or in Oriental phrases like, If thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off and cast it from thee.
Or, If one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other, added flavor to the discourse.
But Jesus' first followers never did cut off their right hands or offer the left cheek for the simple reason that they understood the way men spoke in their country and besides They had good common sense.
The rest of the discourse follows.
Matthew 5.
You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its strength, what shall it be salted with?
It is no longer of any use but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden, neither do men light a lamp and put it under the measure, but upon the lampstand so as to give light to all in the house.
Even so, let your light shine before men, in order that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets.
I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For, amen, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle should be lost from the law till all things have been accomplished.
Therefore, whoever does away with one of these least commandments, and so teaches men, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever carries them out and teaches them He shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, and many have taken this to mean something that it did not.
For just as you cannot force a child to sit on a desk and learn when he does not wish to learn, you cannot force religion upon someone who does not want it.
Jesus knew this.
He never accosted anyone on the road and made them sit and listen to him.
him, he allowed those who wished to pass by, pass, without comment.
For I say to you that unless your justice exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees,
you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Thank you.
Very clear and very strict.
You have heard that it was said to the ancients, Thou shalt not kill, and that whoever shall murder shall be liable to judgment.
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.
And whoever says to his brother, Raka, shall be liable to the Sanhedrin.
And whoever says, Thou fool, shall be liable to the fire.
of Gehenna.
Gehenna was a canyon just outside of Jerusalem, where the poor were thrown with the garbage and burned.
The dead poor, that is.
Therefore, if thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath anything against thee, leave thy gift before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then Come and offer thy gift.
Come to terms with thy opponent quickly while thou art with him on the way, lest thy opponent deliver thee to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Amen, I say to thee, thou wilt not come out from it until thou hast paid the last penny.
You have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
But I say to you that anyone who even looks with lust at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
So if thy right eye is an occasion of sin to thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee.
For it is better for thee that one of thy members should perish than that thy whole body should be thrown into hell.
And if thy right hand is an occasion of sin to thee, cut it off and cast it from thee.
For it is better for thee that one of thy members should be lost, than that thy whole body should go into hell.
It was said, moreover, whoever puts away his wife, let him give her a written notice of dismissal.
But I say to you that everyone who puts away his wife Save an account of immorality causes her to commit adultery, and he who marries a woman who has been put away commits adultery.
Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, Thou shalt not swear falsely, but fulfill thy oaths to the Lord.
But I say to you not to swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God, nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, nor by Jerusalem, For it is the city of the great king, neither do thou swear by the head, for thou canst not make one hair white or black.
But let your speech be yes, if it is yes, no, if it is no, and whatever is beyond these words comes from the evil one.
And that is why, when you join the intelligence service, you affirm that you will protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
and the Constitution of your state, and you pledge your life, your fortune, and your sacred honor.
You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you not to resist the evildoer.
On the contrary, If someone strike thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if anyone would go to law with thee, and take thy tunic, let him take thy cloak as well.
And whoever forces thee to go for one mile, go with him two miles, to him who asks of thee, give.
And from him who would borrow of thee, do not turn away.
You have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and shall hate thy enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and calumniate you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, who makes His Son to rise on the good and the evil, and sins reign on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward shall you have?
Do not even the publicans do that?
And if you salute your brethren only, what are you doing more than others?
Do not even the pagans do that?
You, therefore, are to be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
Take heed not to practice your good justice before men, in order to be seen by them.
Otherwise you shall have no reward with your Father in Heaven.
Therefore, when thou givest alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, in order that they may be honored by men.
Amen.
I say to you, they have had their reward, but when thou givest alms, do not let thy left hand know what thy right hand is doing, so that thy alms may be given in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will reward thee."
Again, when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites who love to pray standing in the synagogues and at the street corners in order that they may be seen by men.
Amen, I say to you, they have had their reward.
But when thou prayest, go into thy room, and closing thy door, pray to thy Father in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will reward thee.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is why I do not flaunt my religion over these airwaves.
Jesus has commanded me not to do that.
But in praying, do not multiply words as the pagans do, for they think that by saying a great deal, they will be heard.
Word.
So do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
In this manner, therefore, shall you pray.
And those of you who wish to, please pray with me.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
And that is from Matthew.
From Luke, chapter 11, verses 2 through 4, it is written thusly, Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.
Amen.
For if you forgive men their offenses, your Heavenly Father will forgive you your offenses.
But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offenses.
And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites who disfigure their faces in order to appear to men as fasting.
Amen.
I say to you, They have had their reward.
But thou, when thou dost fast, anoint thy head, and wash thy face, so that thou mayest not be seen by men too fast, but by thy Father, who is in secret.
And thy Father, who sees in secret, will reward thee."
You see, ladies and gentlemen, those today who call themselves Christians are really not.
They're not practicing what Jesus taught.
Those who attempt to shove Christianity down the throats of those who will not have it are not practicing what Jesus taught.
Those who build crystal cathedrals and broadcast around the world their hypocrisy and their great pageants are not practicing what Jesus taught.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth Where rust and moth consume, and where thieves break in and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth consumes, nor thieves break in and steal.
For where thy treasure is, there thy heart also will be.
The lamp of the body is the eye.
If thy eye be sound, thy whole body will be full of light.
But if thy eye be evil, thy whole body will be full of darkness.
Therefore, if the light that is in thee is darkness, how great is the darkness itself!
No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore, I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on.
And that is why in my family we have only one rule, one law, one counsel.
And that is simply, trust in God and just do it.
Many of you call and ask me if I'm afraid.
The answer has always been no.
Will always be no.
Is not the life a greater thing than the food, and the body more than the clothing?
Look at the birds of the air.
They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you of much more value than they?
But which of you, by being anxious about it, can add to His stature a single cubit?
And as for clothing, Why are you anxious?
See how the lilies of the field grow?
They neither toil nor spin.
Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothed the grass of the field which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat?
or What shall we drink?
or What are we to be put on?
For after all these things the Gentiles speak, for your Father knows that you need all these things, but seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be given you besides.
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have anxieties of its own.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Do not judge That you may not be judged, for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you.
And there are many, many listening to this broadcast, regardless of what you think of Jesus Christ, that better remember that admonition.
Do not judge that you may not be judged.
For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged.
And with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you.
And that is why I tell you, when you seek to silence someone because you do not like what you hear from his mouth, you silence yourself also.
For your judgment upon him is truly And that is just one example I could cite hundreds.
And with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you.
But why dost thou seek the speck in thy brother's eye, and yet dost not consider the beam in thy own eye?
Or how canst thou say to thy brother, Let me cast out the speck from thy eye, and behold, there is a beam in thy own eye?
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam from thy own eye, and then thou wilt see clearly to cast out the speck from thy brother's eye, similar to let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Do not give to gods what is holy, neither throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn against you and rind you.
That does not mean, and I'm speaking directly to those of you in the secret lodges and the
secret societies and the so-called fraternal orders and the brotherhood of man, those who
call themselves the Illuminati. It does not mean to withhold the truth from anyone.
You have taken the words of Jesus and you have perverted them.
Bye.
You have used them to manipulate, deceive, and lie to many.
And the pain and the suffering that you have caused will come back to you.
Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek, and you shall find.
Knock, and it shall be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds.
And to him who knocks, it shall be opened.
And I have learned that in my own life to be so true.
Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks him for a loaf, will hand him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish, will hand him a servant?
Therefore, if you, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him?
Therefore, all things whatever you would that men should do to you, even so do you also to them, for this is the law and the prophets.
Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who enter that way.
How narrow the gate and close the way that leads to life, and few there are who find it.
Beware of false prophets.
And I have admonished that to you over and over and over and over again, constantly in so many different ways.
To listen to everyone, read everything, believe absolutely nothing unless you can prove it.
For false prophets abound, I can assure you.
Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing.
who sound good gripping of honey.
You really are attracted to them.
That is what makes a great con man great.
But inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
By their fruits you will know them.
Do men gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles?
Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven shall enter the kingdom of heaven.
Many will say to me that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in thy name, and cast out devils in thy name, and work many miracles in thy name?
And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
Do you understand?
Everyone, therefore, who hears these my words and acts upon them shall be likened to a wise man who built his house on rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not fall, because it was founded on rock.
And everyone who hears these my words and does not act upon them shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell and was utterly ruined.
With the simile of the house in both versions, the Sermon on the Mount comes to a close.
If one who heard and practiced its precepts was like one who builds a house on rock, then this is true even more so of Jesus when He spoke it so far as the aims of His ministry were concerned.
For as we have said, he too was building a shelter against the gathering storm.
Try not to turn up in problems that upset you.
Oh, don't you know everything's alright?
Yes, everything's fine.
And we want you to sleep well tonight.
What's the world turn without you tonight?
If we try, we'll get by.
Don't forget all about us.
Sleep and I shall soothe you, calm you, and anoint you before your heart's forehead, oh.
Then you'll feel everything's all right, yes, everything's fine.
And it's cool and the ointment's sweet, for the fire in your head and feet.
Close your eyes, roll your eyes, and relax.
Think of nothing tonight.
Woman, your life's very brand new.
It's expensive to have him save for the poor.
Why hasn't he wasted?
He could have raped me.
Bring him a bill of pieces or more.
People who are hungry.
People who are starving.
That's it.
More than your faith and faith Why not forget worries?
Try not to turn on to problems that upset you all.
Don't you know everything's alright?
Yes, every time.
And we want you to sleep well tonight.
Let the world go without you tonight.
If we cry, we'll get by.
I'd go for get all the powder tonight.
I'm sorry you're not getting through.
We have the resources to save the poor from their loss.
There will be poor boys pathetically struggling.
Look at the good things you've got!
While you still have me move While you still feel me
You'll be long You'll be so, so sorry
Oh, no!
We had a child to give So give what I might give
Before your heart's bored at all Send me to the streets
So my death may be mine Hide you cool and in your mercy
For the fire in your head is deep Close your eyes, close your eyes
And your last days of laughing Be mine
Close your eyes, close your eyes And your last days of laughing
Be mine Close your eyes, close your eyes
And your last days of laughing Be mine
Close your eyes, close your eyes And your last days of laughing
Be mine Close your eyes, close your eyes
And your last days of laughing Be mine
Close your eyes, close your eyes And your last days of laughing
Be mine Close your eyes, close your eyes
And your last days of laughing Be mine
Close your eyes, close your eyes And your last days of laughing
Be mine Close your eyes, close your eyes
And your last days of laughing Be mine
Folks, tonight I'm going to deliver to you The Life of Christ, the Second Life
From a book entitled The Life of Jesus Christ by Giuseppe Grigiodi
The King James Version of the Holy Bible My own research and several references from other sources
So, please settle down.
make sure that you have pen and paper and pay close attention.
Whether you're an atheist, an agnostic, a Christian, a Jew, a Buddhist, or a follower
of the Prophet Muhammad, you will learn something tonight.
And for those of you who have followed our series on Mystery Babylon, you will make some
very important connections.
When from thy heart a fire is lit, O Lord, thy house we receive.
When shame of death has come upon thee, Lord, set thy light on me.
The same historical documents, which have no connection to the Bible, have no connection
narrated the story of Jesus do not stop with his death, but with the same authority they relate his resurrection and second life.
That's right, folks, I said second life.
That is more than sufficient for those ancients as well as moderns who do not admit the possibility of the supernatural to promptly reject this whole second part of the Gospel These persons are logical, granted the principles from which they start.
But you must understand that it is significant that their conclusion is determined solely by those principles, not by any deficiencies or uncertainties in the documents.
In the account of Jesus' second life, the four evangelists follow the same procedure as before.
They do not pretend to give a complete, detailed, strictly chronological account of what happened.
They choose the facts which seem most opportune to them, and they arrange their material in the order most convenient for their individual purposes.
Yes, folks, even they had an agenda.
In relating the discovery of Jesus' empty tomb, Matthew and Mark are parallel enough.
Luke does not give so many names, but he does not differ very much from Mark's account.
Finally, John is more sketchy.
Because, here again, he wants to specify and fill out the familiar story of the synoptics with a few points on his own authority as an eyewitness.
No one, no one saw Jesus in the act of rising from the dead, not one single person.
None of the evangelists say how He emerged from the sepulcher.
One of them applies that he did so without disturbing the stone rolled against the entrance, although his resurrection was accompanied by extraordinary signs.
And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and drawing near, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.
His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment like snow.
Hence, it was the angel who rolled away the stone, but the tomb The tomb itself was already empty, and the stone no longer served any purpose.
All four evangelists agree that the sepulchre was discovered to be empty very early Sunday morning.
The soldiers sent by the Sanhedrist had been on guard there since the day before, and certainly at that early hour of the morning they were still stretched out asleep on the ground.
The earthquake and the appearance of the angel and the wide-open tomb So terrified, these hardened Roman soldiers fled for safety through the nearby city gate.
Once surrounded by houses, feeling a sense of security once again and recovered somewhat from their panic, they remembered that their flight was formal desertion of their post and subject to heavy penalties according to Roman military discipline and, yes, They could even be sentenced to death for deserting their post.
They had to find some remedy, and shrewdly perceived that their best hope lay with the Sanhedrists, who had the greatest interest in the matter.
So they went straight to them to make a bargain.
The sepulcher did not remain alone very long, for a group of pious women was already on their way from the city.
They were the women who on Friday evening had prepared the spices in order to give the beloved body of Jesus a more fitting burial as soon as the legal repose of the Sabbath was over, for it was forbidden for them to perform any task on the Sabbath.
From one or another of the evangelists we learn the names of Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, mother of James, Salome, Joanna, and Quote, the other women who were with them, unquote.
The time at which they arrived at the sepulcher is indicated in a very curious fashion by Mark, chapter 16, verse 2.
And very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they come to the tomb, the sun being now risen.
At first glance, it is difficult to reconcile very early with, quote, the sun being now risen, unquote.
Sun, spelled S-U-N.
Coincidentally, coinciding with the sun, spelled S-O-N, also being risen.
Since the former would mean the very first light of dawn, or about four o'clock in the morning, while the latter phrase would seem to refer to a time no earlier than six.
It all becomes clear, folks, if we read between the lines.
Very early in the morning they come to the tomb and reach it, the sun being now risen.
Certainly they did not have to go a great distance to get to the tomb, but the reason why they took so long is given by Mark himself, chapter 16, verse 1, who has just said, quote, when the Sabbath was passed, unquote, that is, on the same morning they bought spices that they might go and anoint him.
Their devotion was not satisfied with the spices some of them had prepared two evenings before, and the rest wanted to make their own contribution of ointments, which it took some time to buy, and they had to wait for the market to open.
These feminine delays were too much for the most ardent and whole-souled among them, Mary of Magdala.
The only one whom John mentions, and the first one named by all three Synoptics, sped by her great love, for she dearly loved her Master Jesus, she left her companions and ran on alone to the tomb.
She reached it, as John says, in complete agreement with Mark, early, while it was still dark.
But what she saw as soon as she arrived struck her with dismay.
She knew nothing about the soldiers placed there on the Sabbath, so she was not surprised by their absence.
She never knew they were there.
But she did see that the round stone had been rolled aside and the entrance stood open.
A glance inside was enough to tell her that the tomb was empty.
What had happened?
Who could tell her?
Who knew?
What was going on?
She must go to the disciples.
Perhaps they knew.
Especially Peter and John.
Quote, She ran therefore, and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.
John chapter 20 verse 2.
The plural we kept by John as an excellent link between his account and the synoptics.
They speak of several women at the sepulchre, whereas he speaks only of Mary Magdalene, but he has her use the plural we.
Mary's late companions, meanwhile, finished their purchases and were on their way to the tomb, but near the end of their walk they suddenly remembered a difficulty they had not thought of before.
And they were saying to one another, Who will roll the stone back from the doorway of the tomb for us?
We know that those round stones, ladies and gentlemen, were very large and very heavy, and the women certainly could not move the one in front of Jesus' sepulchre by themselves.
As soon as they reached the sepulchre, however, and looked about them, they saw that the stone had been rolled back, for it was very large.
Mark sixteen, verse four.
No less startled than Mary Magdalene, but far less impulsive.
They made their way in, and, quote, on entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were amazed, unquote.
Mark sixteen, verse five.
Luke says more accurately that there were, quote, two men in dazzling raiment, unquote.
Luke 24, verse 4.
The young man in Mark said to the women, Do not be terrified.
You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
He has risen.
He is not here.
Behold the place where they laid Him.
But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He goes before you into Galilee.
There you shall see Him as He told you."
Mark 16, verses 6-7 and Matthew 28, verses 5-7 Bye.
The two apparitions in Luke say much the same thing, but they develop the last thought more fully, and their words produce a far different result.
According to Mark, the women, quote, fled from the tomb, for trembling and fear had entered into them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid, unquote.
According to Luke, on the other hand, the women, Having returned from the tomb, reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest, and this is what Matthew 28.8 says also.
Mark's account refers probably only to the women's first impression.
They were in the beginning so stunned with fear and bewilderment that they said nothing.
In any case, The news they were about to communicate was certainly not such as to win them a very cordial welcome, and that is perhaps another reason for the reluctance indicated by Mark.
When they returned to the city, they, quote, were telling these things to the apostles, but this tale seemed to them to be utter nonsense, and they did not believe the women, unquote, Luke 24, verse 11.
Mary Magdalene's announcement had made a much greater impression on Peter and John.
As soon as they heard her excited story, Peter went out and the other disciple, and they went to the tomb.
The two were running together, and the other disciple ran on before, faster than Peter,
and came first to the tomb.
And stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief
Which had been about his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded in a place by itself, as if someone very neatly had risen from bed and taken off their scarf and folded it and just placed it there.
Then the other disciple also went in, who had come first to the tomb, and he saw the disciples therefore went away again to their homes.
What they saw was enough to convince them that the body had not been stolen as Mary Magdalene supposed.
If it had been, there would have been no purpose in unwinding the linen cloths or carefully folding up the handkerchief and setting it by itself.
That's not something that thieves do.
There was nothing more to be done there, however, and so the two hurried back to the city, anxious to consult with the other disciples.
Mary Magdalene, who had returned to the sepulcher, either with them or shortly afterward, did not leave with them, but, quote, was standing outside weeping at the tomb, unquote.
John 20, verse 11.
After a little while, she stooped down to look once more at the niche in the burial chamber, for in her desolate love, her desolate, desperate love, she still hoped against all hope.
She saw two angels, seated one at the head and one at the foot of the niche where the body had lain, and they said to her, quote, Woman, why art thou weeping?
And she answered, quote, Because they have taken away my lord, and I do not know where they have laid him, unquote.
And with this she turned around, almost as if looking for him still, and saw a man standing before her.
But she hardly glanced at him, for, absorbed as she was in her own grief-filled thoughts, she mistook him for the gardener.
But the man said to her, Quote, Woman, why art thou weeping?
Whom dost thou seek?
And she answered, Sir, if thou hast removed him, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
But the man that she was speaking to was Jesus, and Jesus said to her, Mary.
Turning, she said to him, Rabboni, which means Master.
It was the first time that the risen Christ had been seen and recognized by any human being unless he had already appeared to his mother, which there is no record of, although the evangelist also And as soon as she recognized the Master, Mary threw herself at his feet to embrace them as she had done before.
For she was accustomed to not only embracing his feet, but washing them.
And he said to her, Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."
John 20.17 It was urgent for his disciples, whom he calls his brethren, to know that he was soon to ascend to his Father and God and theirs, and hence Her natural expression of affection was not to delay the message.
He was not putting her off for lack of love, but so that the message would not be delayed.
As she did, immediately as she was bid, Mary Magdalene came and announced to the disciples, quote, I have seen the Lord in these things He said to me, unquote.
John, chapter 20, verse 18.
But her announcement met a very humiliating response.
"...and they hearing that he was alive and had been seen by her, did not believe it."
Mark Chapter 16 verse 11 Thank you.
You see, these were not people who set this thing up, ladies and gentlemen.
They did not believe it themselves, and they shunned Mary Magdalene.
Women's foolishness As a matter of fact, the immediate disciples of Jesus, as we shall see presently, were anything but ready to believe anyone, man or woman, and particularly in this patriarchy society, a woman, who said that she had seen Jesus alive again.
The Sanhedris To whom the soldiers went after their flight from the sepulcher, on the other hand, seemed much more ready to believe them.
These Jewish leaders found nothing incredible in the story told them by the soldiers.
They believed it, still breathless from running and from fright as they recited what they had experienced, and they, like the soldiers, saw the need of some expedient to save themselves as well as the guards.
So they began in their usual fashion to hang little screens up in front of the sun to blot out its unmistakable light.
When the chief priests had assembled with the elders and had consulted together, they gave much money to the soldiers, telling them, quote, Say, his disciples came by night and stole him while You were sleeping.
And if the procurator hears of this, we will persuade him and keep you out of trouble.
And they took the money, and did as they were instructed, and the story has been spread abroad, amongst the nations, even to the present day.
The coaching of the runaway soldiers received from the Sanhedris, quote, they stole him while we were sleeping, It was hardly a miracle of shrewdness, and St.
Augustine's answer is still the final one.
When he figuratively addresses the Sanhedrin to ask wittily, quote, How is this?
Do you call on witnesses who were asleep?
unquote, and thus exposes the lie.
For the soldiers, if they were sleeping, as they claimed, saw nothing, knew nothing, and concocted the story according But the lie took hold when Matthew was writing his Gospel that it had become the official Jewish explanation for the empty tomb.
But to return to the Gospel narrative, it was still the Sunday after Jesus' death and two or three hours had passed while the various persons mentioned went back and forth to the tomb.
Meanwhile, the news of the empty tomb had spread among the disciples of Jesus gathered in the city for the Posh And the word that Mary Magdalene had seen Jesus and spoken with Him had not yet had time to circulate.
But all this was nonsense prattled by women, and it was not to be taken seriously.
The Paschal Solemnity did not require the pilgrims to remain in the Holy City for the entire octave, and on the day after the Pasch, the sixteenth Nisan, many of them were already setting out for home.
This was what two of Jesus' disciples did, one of whom was called Cleophas.
Hopeless and dispirited over what had taken place, they set out together for Emmaus, where they live.
It must have been about nine in the morning.
Luke's account is written with such delicacy and psychological insight that it seems an idol as if he's twiddling with thought.
And it would be impossible to tell it in any other words.
As they walked along, they were talking to each other about all these things that had happened, and it came to pass, while they were conversing and arguing together, that Jesus Himself just walked right up beside them.
The Bible says that Jesus Himself also drew near and went along with them But their eyes were held that they should not recognize him, and he said to them, What words are these that you were exchanging as you walked along?
And they were thinking, who is this strange Wayfarer who questioned them, putting his
finger on the wound in their hearts, this terrible, terrible pain.
Their surprise interrupted their journey for a moment, and they stood still, looking very
sad.
But one of them, named Cleophas, answered and said to him, Art thou the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know
the things that have happened in these days?
And he said to them, What things?
And they said to him, Concerned Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word
before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up
to be sentenced to death and crucified him.
Bye.
But we were hoping that it was He who should redeem Israel.
What redemption is Cleophas thinking of?
It is difficult, ladies and gentlemen, to exclude the nationalist messianic meaning, namely that Jesus would deliver the holy people from all foreign domination.
But at Jesus' death, that hope had vanished.
And so Cleophas continues, Yes, and besides all this, today is the third day since these things came to pass.
And moreover, certain women of our company, who were at the tomb before it was light, astounded us, and not finding his body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he is alive.
So some of our company went to the tomb, and found it even as the women had But him they did not see.
These last words show that the two left Jerusalem before Mary Magdalene's announcement that she had seen Jesus.
Otherwise they would have mentioned this also, if only to cast doubt upon it.
But when Cleophas had finished, the unknown traveler's manner suddenly changed.
Rather than ignorant of all these things, he now seemed extraordinarily well informed.
But he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
Did not the Christ have to suffer these things before entering into His glory?
And beginning then with Moses, and with all the prophets, or with the first two parts of the Hebrew Bible, He interpreted to them all the Scriptures, the things referring to Himself, hence the care taken by all the evangelists but especially by Matthew and John, to demonstrate the fulfillment of the ancient biblical prophecies in the things pertaining to Jesus is but a continuation of what Jesus Himself did in this lesson on this day.
The lesson lasted to the end of the journey, but to the disciples both seemed much too short.
The narrative continues.
And they drew near to the village to which they were going, and he acted as though he were going on.
And they urged him, saying, Stay with us, for it is getting towards evening, and the day is now far spent.
And he went in to stay with them.
It is not necessary to suppose that it was already nightfall.
You see, the expression toward evening could apply any time from noontime on.
And so if the two disciples had left Jerusalem about nine o'clock in the morning, and traveled approximately twenty miles, It must have been now toward two or three or maybe even four in the afternoon.
And it came to pass, that when he reclined at table with them, and he took the bread, and blessed and broke, and began handing it to them, and their eyes were opened, and now at this moment they recognized him, and at that moment of recognition he vanished from their sight.
And they said to each other, Was not our heart burning within us while He was speaking on the road and explaining to us the Scriptures?
The fact that the two disciples recognized Jesus at the breaking of the bread has often been linked with the phrase, quote, to break bread, unquote, which in the early church designated the Holy Communion.
But the conclusion is not justified, historically speaking, for we do not know whether these disciples knew that Jesus had instituted what the Catholic Church calls the Eucharist three days before, or whether Jesus spoke to them of it along the way, or whether He would be likely to perform the rite for anyone who had no idea of it.
If we restrict ourselves to the letter of the narrative, we may conclude only that the disciples recognized Jesus while he was breaking the bread, that is, before eating.
Their emotion and wonder was so great that they immediately set out again.
And rising up that very hour, they returned to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them, saying, The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon and they themselves began to relate what had happened on
the journey and how they recognized him in the breaking of the bread.
The End.
If they had left, the ship would have been in the water.
If they had left Yamaus again between two and three in the afternoon and taken the shortest
route, perhaps on horseback, they could have been in Jerusalem by eight or nine in the
evening.
But even when they reached the city, it was not easy to find the apostles, because no one knew where they were.
They finally discovered them in a safe hiding place, with all the doors barred, quote, for fear of the Jews, unquote.
John chapter 20 verse 19, But notwithstanding their outward caution, they were all much moved and excited.
As soon as the two dust-covered travelers entered the room, certain that they were bearing astonishing news, they were greeted with an outburst which prevented them from saying even a word.
All the apostles crowded around them to announce, The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.
Hence, on that same day, after the two disciples had left Jerusalem, and after he had appeared to Mary Magdalene, Jesus appeared also to Simon Peter, and the latter hastens to tell the apostles and other disciples, winning from them the belief which Mary Magdalene had not.
And isn't it ironic that she appeared first to Mary Magdalene?
Jesus appeared First to Mary Magdalene, the one whom no one believed, and only afterward appeared to one of his disciples.
None of the evangelists relates any detail of Jesus' appearing to Simon Peter on this day, but it is unquestionably the same appearance which Paul sets first in his list of the resurrected Christ's appearances.
The disciple of Paul learned of it from his master, who in turn had learned of it from
Peter himself, and still knew to the faith he had gone to Jerusalem to see Peter.
Galatians chapter 1 verse 18.
The rock of the church, as the Catholic Church believes, had been singled out by virtue of
his office.
He who had denied Jesus had been abundantly forgiven because of his abundant tears of repentance
such as Judas have not shared.
But in my research, I find that this a poor description of a rock.
A rock is solid, steadfast, immovable, heavy, a solid foundation.
A rock would not have denied Jesus, not even once.
Peter cannot be the rock of which Jesus spoke.
Jesus, when he sat upon this rock, I found my church was speaking of the stone, the stone that appears over and over in the Bible and in the mysteries and in the history.
The stone, the smooth black stone that had been here from the foundation.
The stone, you see, is God, the stone is Jesus, the stone is God, the stone is the Holy Ghost, the stone is Jesus, God, the Holy Ghost, the rock.
When the two travelers Finally got the opportunity to speak of their experience.
Their words were received with unexpected coldness.
Whether it was a certain diffidence the Apostles felt toward the two from Emmaus, or a subconscious resentment that these obscure disciples had received the same privilege just granted to Peter, but still denied to them, it is certain that if not all, at least several of those present even then did not believe.
And it is so easy to imagine the discussions which arose between the two, insisting they had seen the Master, and those refusing to believe that they had.
But that day was to end with certainty, not with discussions and disbelief Now, whilst they were speaking these things, Jesus himself stood in their midst, and saith to them, Peace be to you.
But instead of being pleased, they were terrified and stricken with fear, and thought that they beheld a spirit.
And he said to them, Why are ye troubled, and wherefore do doubts arise in your hearts?
See my hands and feet?
That is my very self.
Feel me and see!
For spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me to have.
And saying this, He showed them his hands and his feet, but as they were still disbelieving for very joy and marbled, he said to them, Have ye aught here to eat?
They handed him part of a broiled fish, and he took and ate it before them."
Luke Chapter 24, verses 36-43 We must remember, dear listeners, that this
scene is described for us by physician and psychologist The same episode, related by John, chapter 20, verse 19 through 23, does not contain the practical observations that show the scientific mind of the subtle notice that the apostles, quote, disbelieved for very joy, unquote.
That is, for fear of deceiving themselves since it is so easy to believe what one is anxious to believe, isn't it, dear sheeple?
They were afraid that they would deceive themselves.
They wanted so much to believe and to see their master, Jesus, that they could not believe.
They refused to believe.
Afraid that they would fool themselves.
Their doubts were dispelled by the physical reality.
The physical reality.
In his second life, Jesus has the same body as before.
He can eat as he did before.
He's not a misty shade.
He's not some apparition.
His physical body has come to life again and rejoined his soul.
That is the religious explanation.
And if you are Christian, you must believe this.
Having assured them of this fact, Jesus tells them of the future, and that is what John records for us especially.
Quote, As the Father has sent me, I also send you.
When he had said this, he breathed upon them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained."
John chapter 20 verses 21-23 The old promise made the apostles regarding the future government of the church was here fulfilled.
Now, I'm not talking about the Catholic Church.
I'm not talking about the Church of Rome.
I am talking about the Church of Christ, the original church which He established on this earth Himself.
Not man's church, not a perversion, not a wedding of what Christ taught and the pagan religions, which is now known as Christianity, but what He established on that day.
Not present that evening in the Apostles' retreat with the skeptical Thomas.
Was his absence perhaps another manifestation of his character?
Did he refuse even to discuss the assertions of Mary Magdalene and Peter and therefore avoid the company of the other Apostles?
You see, he didn't believe.
Certain it is that when a little later he was with the Apostles and they assured him, quote, He shook his head, almost as if scandalized.
He was angry, and vehemently declared, quote, Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.
Unquote.
After all, they must be reasonable.
How could a man rise again When he had been crucified, reduced to a mass of torn and wounded flesh with his hands and feet pierced and a gaping hole in his side, you tell me he's alive?
Mary Magdalene had seen him?
Now what reason could there possibly be for believing a hysterical woman?
The other apostles had seen him and had especially noticed his hands and feet?
Well, I, Thomas, I know those apostles were all fine men, but they were a little on the volatile side, and too easily imagined they saw what they wanted to see.
He, Thomas, was the calm, deliberate man among them, just the right man to have around in certain cases.
You all know the type, and in cases like this it was not enough to see.
one must touch and feel and put one's fingers only on this condition, would he believe.
There's nothing wrong with that, ladies and gentlemen, for I am that type.
I wasn't always, but I am now.
The Prince of Hypercritics remained unshaken in his conviction for eight days, and no argument the Apostle might propose could budge him.
But after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with him.
Jesus came, the doors being closed, and stood in their midst and said, Peace be to you.
Then he said to Thomas, Bring here thy finger, and see my hands, and bring here thy hand, and put it into my side.
And be not unbelieving, but believing.
Thomas answered and said to him, My Lord and my God.
Jesus said to him, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.
Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.
I want to say that again, for this is extremely important.
Jesus said to him, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.
He didn't condemn Thomas.
Folks, but he made an extraordinary statement.
Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed.
Did Thomas stick to his intention to feel the body of the resurrected Jesus, the Christ?
Well, from the evidence, we have every reason to believe that he did not.
His positivism collapsed, as it always does, not so much as the result of intellectual discussion as of a change in spiritual disposition.
All of the appearances of Jesus so far mentioned took place in Jerusalem or its environs, that is, in Judea, the land of the lion.
There were still others, also narrated by the evangelists shortly afterward in Galilee.
Of those recorded by Paul, some undoubtedly took place in Judea and some in Galilee.
Remember, the instructions were that he would appear to them in Galilee.
The difference in place has an importance of its own.
The angels at the sepulchre had charged the women to bid the disciples and Peter to go into Galilee, where they would see the risen Christ.
When the festivities of the Posh were ended, the apostles returned into Galilee In obedience to Jesus' command, Matthew chapter 26 verse 32, and prompted besides by the fact that in Galilee they would be safe from the direct surveillance of the Sanhedrin, Jesus' promise had mentioned the place, but not the time.
And so there was nothing to do but wait.
Some days later we find once more on the shores of Lake Tiberias Simon Peter Thomas Nathaniel, who was also called Bartholomew, James and John and two other unnamed apostles who were perhaps Andrew and Philip.
No one really knows.
The little group probably still supported themselves from their common earnings just as they had when Jesus was with them.
It may be that after Judas' disappearance with all their resources and their expenses in Jerusalem, and for the journey, they had little or nothing left.
But in any case, they were fishermen, and fishermen that they were, They could not remain idle with the lake rippling right before them.
And though awaiting from one day to the next the return of the risen Christ, they resumed their old occupations.
One evening Simon Peter said to the others, I'm going fishing.
And they answered, We also are going with thee.
For night fishing it was better to have a number of helpers, because then they could use the long dragnets.
So they got into the boat and cast their nets, but it was a bad night, and at dawn they had not yet caught anything, so they pulled toward shore again to disembark.
When they were about two hundred cubits, which is about a hundred yards, folks, from land, they glimpsed a figure through the mist.
They could not see it clearly, but it seemed to be a man waiting for them.
Perhaps he wanted to buy their catch.
When they were within calling distance, he asked, Young men, have you any fish?
After that long night of wasted toil and effort, the question sounded more than a little ironic.
And from the boat came a brusque, No!
which would normally discourage any further discussion.
But the man shouted again through the morning mist, and I quote, Cast the net to the right of the boat And you will find them."
Now, can you imagine the Apostles in this boat, wondering, who is this guy telling us where to cast our net?
Who was this unknown person giving them such confident advice?
Who is this arrogant appearance?
Did he know what he was talking about?
Did he know what he was talking about?
I mean, we need fish.
So, one more attempt would not cost them too much.
After all they had done in vain, the net was cast exactly where the man had said, and now they were unable to draw it up for the great number of fishes which it contained.
At this, old memories rose in the minds of those fishermen.
An instant of tremulous uncertainty, and then the disciple whom Jesus loved leaped to Peter's side, and pointing to the man on the shore, shouted, It is the Lord!
Then everything was perfectly clear and natural.
When Simon Peter therefore heard that it was the Lord, he girt his coat about him, for he was naked, and cast himself into the sea.
But the other disciples came with a boat, dragging the net full of fish For they were not far from land, but about a hundred yards off.
The impetuous Peter, naturally, could not wait.
He had to get to shore as quickly as possible to swim more easily.
He tied up his coat about him, which he wore over his bare skin while working.
A few strokes carried him to shore, and he was soon at the feet of his risen master.
But the other stayed in the boat, which came in slowly, because it was dragging the great weight of the fish When they disembarked, they saw a little fire already lit, with a fish laid upon it, and the bread prepared for them.
Jesus said to them, Bring here some of the fishes that you caught just now.
Peter went back in the boat, and with the other apostles hauled the net to land, and it contained one hundred and fifty-three large fish.
And though there were so many, the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them, Come and breakfast.
And none of the disciples dared ask him, Who art thou?
knowing that it was the Lord.
The apostles felt a certain reverent fear that prevented them from asking their risen master anything about himself.
That he was himself, there was no doubt.
But oh, how they would have loved to ask him, Master, how did you rise from the dead?
Where have you been all these days?
How did you come here?
Where are you when you are not with us?
How can we find you?
But they could not speak for reverence, and none dared ask him any of those questions.
But their reverence did not affect their appetites, and they ate joyously the bread and the fish which Jesus divided among them.
And when their bodies had been refreshed, Jesus spoke to their souls, their souls.
Quote, When therefore they had breakfasted, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, dost thou love me more than these do?
He, Peter, said to him, Yes, Lord, and knowest that I love thee.
He, Jesus, said to him, Feed my lambs.
He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, dost thou love me?
He said to him, Yes, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
He said to him, Feed my lambs.
A third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, dost thou love me?
Peter was grieved.
Because he said to him for the third time, Dost thou love me?
And he said to him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.
And he said to him, Feed my sheep, dear sheeple.
Jesus' threefold question in tactful charity made no explicit reference to the past But in its threefold repetition, it was nevertheless linked with a painful, painful past.
Three times had Peter denied the Master in the hour of darkness, and now, in the hour of life, he three times professes his love for Him.
But the question was linked with the past in still another way.
You see, on the day of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus had proclaimed the same Simon Peter the Rock, according to the Catholic Church.
which was the foundation of the Church, and it charged him to govern it as a shepherd
rules his flock.
Now Simon Peter must remember that this office is to be a labor of love, a consequence of
the love he has professed for Jesus.
The supreme shepherd will depart from his flock, but he will not leave it unprotected.
In his stead, he places over it a shepherd Who is its vicar, and who must rule it with the same love, and for the same love which has animated the Supreme Shepherd.
And I included this in this episode of the Hour of the Time, to be fair to all who believe whatever version they believe.
The shepherd has been killed for that love, hence it is possible that the same fate awaits his vicar.
Jesus predicts this as a certainty for Peter personally, for he continues, Amen, amen, I say to thee, when thou wast young, thou didst gird thyself, as Peter had actually done, but a little while before, and walk where thou wouldst, but when thou art old, thou wilt stretch forth thy hands And another will gird thee and lead thee where thou wouldst not.
Now this, he said, to signify by what manner of death Peter should glorify God.
When John wrote this statement, Peter had already been killed several years before, for his faith in Jesus and his love for that entrusted to him.
Others had in truth gripped him with chains and led him to his execution, so that Peter followed his master, even in his death.
That was why Jesus closed his message to Peter, saying, by way of exhortation and of comfort both, Follow me.
But this, and Jesus' other appearances in Galilee, obviously did not have the solemnity of the occasion mentioned by Matthew.
This incident occurred on a mountain which we are told, incidentally, Jesus had already named to the apostles as the place where he would meet them.
It is impossible to determine which mountain it was.
It is possible that at the beginning or the end of this appearance, which must have been
a long one, there were other disciples besides the Apostles present.
But it is not at all certain that Paul is referring specifically to this occasion when
he mentions that the risen Jesus was seen by more than five hundred brethren at one
time, many of whom are with us still.
Entirely absorbed In all of this idea that the story of Christ, according to the flesh, is but the first chapter in the history of the Church, the Evangelists have given little emphasis to His physical departure from the earth—namely, His ascension.
The loss of His visible and tangible presence did not matter so much now that they had been of His invisible presence and His continued assistance from heaven.
So we find that Matthew doesn't relate the ascension at all.
It's briefly mentioned in the appendix in Mark, and John barely suggests it.
And then, in the form of a prediction, the only evangelist who describes it at any length is Luke.
In chapter twenty-four, verse fifty, but this is because when he brings to a close his gospel, which is the story of Christ according to the flesh, he is already planning to follow it immediately with the story of the mystical Christ as well.
His acts of the apostles are an episodic history of the church, and at the beginning of this new work, Acts chapter one, verse one through eleven, he repeats the story of the ascension with which he had ended his gospel.
The Ascension occurred on the Mount of Olives, near Bethany, forty days after the Resurrection.
Since the Apostles had left Jerusalem for Galilee no less than eight days after the Resurrection, and were again in Jerusalem some time before the Ascension, they must have stayed in Galilee less than a month.
It is to this period that we must assign the other many appearances indicated in a general way by Paul, and also by Luke, when he says that the risen Jesus appeared to the Apostles showing Himself alive.
Quote, by many proofs, unquote, speaking to them of the kingdom of God and meeting habitually with them.
Acts chapter 1 verses 3-4 Undoubtedly, they had gone up to Jerusalem again at Jesus' bidding, and there they met for the last time.
The risen Master gave them his last instructions, among them that they were not to leave the city, but were to wait there for the promise of the Father, of which you have heard by my mouth.
For John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.
Acts chapter 1 verses 4-5 The promise referred to what took place shortly afterward on the day of the Jewish Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon them, but even at this last meeting with the risen Master, the Apostles felt vaguely that something extraordinary was about to happen, and in their minds rose again the old Messianic ideas so deeply rooted in their Jewish souls that they had survived in part even the realities of Jesus' death and resurrection.
Jesus' four official biographers do not go beyond the earth.
Their narratives end with the ascension or just before it.
Only the appendix of Mark's Gospel, chapter 16, verse 19, casts a fleeting glance heavenward and states that Jesus was taken up into heaven and sits at the right hand of God.
These last words, which proclaim that the man Jesus was associated in glory and power with the Heavenly Father, are especially dictated by the mind of the church.
And this mind, which has given us the four accounts of Jesus' early life, shrank from even a single narrative of His heavenly life, and has recorded only what would be its fundamental theme, quote, Good night, and God bless you all.
▲
Export Selection