THE
THIRD LESSON THE
MYSTIC YOUTH OF JESUS
In our last lesson we
promised to tell you the esoteric story of the youth of
Jesus. And there is such a story to tell, although the
churches know little
or nothing about it. The churches have nothing but the
husks that have always been the property of the masses.
The real kernels of truth have been possessed by but the
few elect ones. The legends of the mystic brotherhoods and
occult orders have preserved the story intact, and you
shall now be given the essence of the mystic legends and
traditions.
At the end of our
first lesson we left Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus in
Egypt, the land to which they had flown to escape the
wrath of the tyrant Herod. They dwelt in Egypt for a few
years, until the death of Herod. Then Joseph retraced his
steps, and returned toward his own country, bringing with
him his wife and the babe. For some reasons unknown to
those familiar with the legends and traditions, Joseph
decided not to locate in Judea, but instead, bent his way
toward the coast and returned to Nazareth where Mary and
he had originally met and become betrothed. And, so, in
Nazareth, the humble little mountain town the boyhood days
of Jesus were spent, the grinding poverty of the family
being relieved (according to the occult legends) by the
yearly presents of gold from the hands of disguised
messengers of the Magi.
The traditions relate
that Jesus began His study of the Hebrew Law when He was
but five years of age. It is related that He displayed an
unusual ability and talent in the direction of mastering
not only the text, but also the spirit of the Hebrew
Scripture, and far outstripped His fellow students. It is
also related that He displayed an early impatience at the
dreary formalism of His Hebrew teachers, and a disposition
to go right to the heart of the text before Him, that He
might discern the spirit animating it. So much was this
the case that He frequently brought down upon His head the
censure of His instructors who overlooked the spirit of
the teachings in their devotion to the forms and words.
Nazareth was an
old-fashioned place and it and its inhabitants were made
the target for the jests and witticisms of the people of
Judea. The word "Nazarene" was synonymous with "lout";
"boor"; "peasant"; etc., to the residents of the more
fashionable regions. The very remoteness of the town
served to separate it in spirit from the rest of the
country. But this very remoteness played an important part
in the early life of Jesus. Nazareth, by reason of its
peculiar location, was on the line of several caravan
routes. Travelers from many lands traveled through the
town, and rested there overnight, or sometimes for several
days. Travelers from Samaria, Jerusalem, Damascus, Greece,
Rome, Arabia, Syria, Persia, Phoenicia, and other lands
mingled with
the Nazarenes. And the
traditions relate that Jesus, the child, would steal away
and talk with such of these travelers as were versed in
occult and mystic lore, and would imbibe from their varied
founts of learning, until He was as thoroughly informed on
these subjects as many a mystic of middle age. The
traditions have it that the boy would often delight and
astonish these traveling occultists with His wonderful
insight into their secret doctrines and knowledge. And it
is also told that some of the wisest of these, seeing the
nature of the child, would overstay their allotted time of
sojourn, that they might add here and there to the various
parts of general occult lore possessed by the child. It is
also taught that the Magi informed some of these travelers
regarding the boy, that they might impart to him some
truth or teaching for which He was ready.
And so the boy grew in
knowledge and wisdom, day by day, year by year, until,
finally, there occurred an event in His life, which has
since been the subject of greatest interest to all
Christians and students of the New Testament, but which
without the above explanation is not readily understood.
The Feast of the
Passover occurred in its allotted time of the
year--April--when Jesus was in his thirteenth year. This
feast was one of the most important in the Jewish
calendar, and its observance was held as a most sacred
duty by all Hebrews. It was the feast set down for the
remembrance and perpetuation of that most important event
in the history of the Jewish people when the Angel of
Death swept over all of Egypt's land smiting the
first-born child of every house of the natives, high and
low, but sparing all the houses of the captive Hebrews who
marked their door-sills with the sacrificial blood as a
token of their faith. This is no place to give the
explanation of this apparently miraculous event, which
students now know to be due to natural causes. We merely
mention it in passing.
The Law-givers of
Israel had appointed the Feast of the Passover as a
perpetual symbol of this event so important by the nation,
and every self-respecting Jew felt obligated to take part
in the observance and sacrament. Every pious Jew made it a
point to perform a pilgrimage to Jerusalem at the time of
the Feast of the Passover, if he could in any way manage
to do so.
At the time of the
Passover celebration of which we are speaking, Jesus had
just entered into His thirteenth year, which age entitled
Him, under the ecclesiastical law, to the privilege of
sitting with the adult men of His race at the Passover
supper, and also to publicly join with the male
congregation in the thanksgiving service in the
synagogues.
And so, on this year,
He accompanied His father and mother to Jerusalem and made
His _second_ visit to the Holy City. It will be remembered
that His _first_ visit there was made when as an infant He
was carried thither from Bethlehem in His mother's arms in
accordance with the Jewish law, and at which time an aged
priest and an old prophetess had publicly acknowledged the
divine nature of the child.
The father, mother and
child--the divine trinity of Human relationship--traveled
slowly over the highway that led from Nazareth
to Jerusalem. The
father and mother were concerned with the details of the
journey, mingled with pious thoughts concerning the sacred
feast in which they were to take part. But the boy's mind
was far away from the things that were occupying his
parent's thoughts. He was thinking over the deep mystic
truths which He had so readily absorbed during the past
few years, and He was looking forward in delightful
anticipation to His expected meeting with the older
mystics in the temples and public places of Jerusalem.
It must be remembered
that underlying the Jewish ecclesiastical teachings and
formalism, which were all that the mass of the people
knew, there was a great store of Jewish occultism and
Mysticism known to the few elect. The Kaballah or Jewish
occult writings were closely studied by the learned Jews,
and this work with other similar teachings were
transmitted verbally from teacher to student, and
constituted the Secret Doctrine of the Hebrew religion.
And it was toward the learned teachers of this Secret
Doctrine that Jesus directed His mind and steps, although
His parents knew it not.
Four or five days were
consumed in the journey, and at last the Holy
City--Jerusalem--came into full view, the wonderful Temple
of Israel showing plainly above the other buildings. The
bands of pilgrims, of which the family of Joseph formed a
part, formed into orderly array and led by flute-players
they solemnly marched into the streets of the Holy City,
singing and chanting the Sacred Songs used by the faithful
upon this solemn occasion. And the boy walked with the
rest, with bowed head, and eyes that seemed to see things
far removed from the scene around them.
The Passover rites
were carried out--the duties were performed--the
ceremonies were observed. The Passover Feast extended over
a full week, of which the first two days were the most
important, and during which two days the obligatory
ceremonies were performed. Each family made the offering
of the sacrificial lamb--each family baked and ate the
unleavened bread. The beautiful idea of the Passover had
degenerated into a horrible feast of blood, for it is
related that upon these occasions over a quarter-million
of poor innocent lambs were slaughtered and offered up as
a sacrifice pleasing to Jehovah, who was supposed to
delight in this flood of the blood of innocents. In
pursuance of this barbarous idea, the altars and courts of
the Temple of the Living God ran red with the life-blood
of these poor creatures, and the hands and garments of the
anointed priests of Jehovah were stained like those of
butchers, that the vanity of a barbarous conception of
Deity might be fed.
All this for "the
Glory of God!" Think of it! And think of the feeling that
must have been aroused in the mystic mind of Jesus at this
horrible sight. How His soul must have been outraged at
this prostitution of the sacred rite! And what would have
been His thoughts had He known that centuries after, a
great religion would stand, bearing His name, the
followers of which would be carried away with this same
false idea of sacrificial blood, which would be voiced in
hymns about "A fountain filled with blood, flowing from
Immanuel's veins," and about "sinners plunged beneath that
bloody flood losing all their guilty stains?" Alas, for
the prostitution of sacred truths and teachings. No wonder
that a people so saturated with the abominable ideas of a
Deity delighting in this flow of blood should have
afterward put to death the greatest man of their race--a
Being who came to bring them the highest mystic and occult
truths. And their prototypes have survived through the
centuries, even unto today, insisting upon this idea of
blood sacrifice and death atonement, unworthy of any
people except the worshippers of some heathen devil-god in
the remote sections of darkest Africa.
Disgusted and outraged
by this barbarous sight, Jesus, the boy, stole away from
the side of His parents, and sought the remote chambers
and corridors of the Temple where were to be found the
great teachers of the Law and of the Kaballah, surrounded
by their students. Here the boy sat and listened to the
teachings and disputations of the teachers and exponents
of the doctrines. From one group to another He wandered,
and listened, and pondered, and thought. He compared the
teachings, and submitted the various ideas to the
touchstone of the truth as He found it within His own
mind. The hours rapidly passed by unnoticed by
the boy, who found
Himself amidst such congenial environments for the first
time. The talks with the travelers of the caravans paled
into insignificance when compared with these of the great
occult teachers of Israel. For be it remembered that it
was the custom of the great teachers of that day to so
instruct those who were attracted to their company. And
Jerusalem being the centre of the culture and learning of
Israel, the great teachers dwelt there. And so it will be
seen that Jesus now found Himself at the very
fountain-head of the Hebrew Secret Doctrines, and in the
actual presence of the great teachers.
On the third day,
there began a breaking-up of the vast gathering of the two
million of people who had made the pilgrimage to the Holy
City. Those poorer in purse were the first to leave, after
the obligatory rites of the first two days had been
performed. And Joseph and Mary were among those preparing
to retrace their steps to their distant homes. Their
friends and neighbors gathered together, and the
preparations for the return were completed. But at the
last moment, the parents discovered that the boy, Jesus,
was missing. They were alarmed, but friends told them that
their boy had been seen in the company of kinsmen and
neighbors traveling along the same road, who had preceded
them but a few hours. Somewhat reassured, the parents left
with their company, hoping that they would overtake the
boy before nightfall. But when they reached the first
station on the caravan route--a village called Beroth--and
the night descended upon them, and the boy failed to
appear among the neighbors and kinsmen, the parents were
sorely distressed. They slept but little that night, and
when the first rays of dawn appeared, they parted from the
company, and retraced their way back to Jerusalem, in
search of the boy apparently lost in the great capital
amid the hundreds of
thousands of pilgrims.
Every mother and
father will enter into the feelings of Joseph and Mary in
their frantic return to the city, and in their subsequent
search for the lost
child. They inquired here and there for the boy, but not a
trace of him was found. And night came without a ray of
hope. And the next day was likewise barren of results. And
the next day after. For three days the devoted parents
searched high and low for their beloved child--but no word
of encouragement came to them. The boy had seemingly
dropped out of sight in the vast crowds and winding
streets. The parents reproached themselves for their lack
of care and caution. None but a parent can imagine their
anguish and terror.
They visited the many
courts of the Temple many times, but no sight or word of
the boy rewarded their search. The bloody altars, the
showy costumes of the priests; the chants; the readings;
seemed like mockery to them. They wished themselves back
in their humble village, with their boy by their side.
They prayed and besought Jehovah to grant their hopes and
desire, but no answer came.
Then, on the last day,
a strange event occurred. The weary and heart broken
parents wandered once more into the Temple--this time
visiting one of the less frequented courts. They saw a
crowd gathered--something of importance was occurring.
Almost instinctively they drew near to the crowd. And then
amidst the unusual silence of the people they heard a
boyish voice raised to a pitch adapted to a large circle
of hearers, and speaking in the tones of authority. It was
the voice of the boy, Jesus!
With eager feet the
couple pushed forward, unto the very inner row of the
circle. And there, wonder of wonders, they saw their child
in the centre of the most celebrated teachers and doctors
of the Law in all Israel. With a rapt expression in his
eyes, as if He were gazing upon things not of this world,
the boy Jesus was standing in a position and attitude of
authority, and around him were grouped the greatest minds
of the day and land, in respectful attention, while at a
further distance stood the great circle of the common
people.
When one remembers the
Jewish racial trait of reverence for age, and the
consequent submission of Youth, one will better understand
the unusual spectacle that burst upon the gaze of Joseph
and Mary. A mere boy--a child--daring to even speak boldly
in the presence of the aged teachers was unheard of, and
the thought of such a one actually presuming to dispute,
argue and teach, in such an assembly, was like unto a
miracle. And such it was!
The boy spoke with the
air and in the tones of a Master. He met the most subtle
arguments and objections of the Elders with the power of
the keenest intellect and spiritual insight. He brushed
aside the sophistries with a contemptuous phrase, and
brought back the argument to the vital point.
The crowd gathered in
greater volume, the gray heads and beards grew more and
more respectful. It was evident to all that a Master had
arisen in Israel in the form of a boy of thirteen. The
MASTER was apparent in tone, gesture, and thought. The
Mystic had found his first audience, and his congregation
was composed of the leading thinkers and teachers of the
land. The insight of the Magi was verified!
Then in a momentary
pause in the argument, the stifled cry of a woman was
heard--the voice of the Mother. The crowd turned
impatient, reproachful glances upon Mary, who had been
unable to restrain her emotion. But the boy, looking sadly
but affectionately at his lost parents, gave her a
reassuring glance, which at the same time bade her remain
still until he had finished his discourse. And the parents
obeyed the newly awakened will of their child.
The teaching ended,
the boy stepped from his position with the air of one of
the Elders, and rejoined his parents, who passed as
rapidly as possible from the wondering crowd. Then his
mother reproached him, telling him of their distress and
wearisome search. The boy listened calmly and patiently
until she had finished. Then he asked, with his newly
acquired air of authority, "Why sought ye me?" And when
they answered him in the customary manner of parents, the
boy took on still a greater air of authority, and in tones
that though kindly, were full of power, he replied, "Knew
ye not, that I must be in my Father's House? I must be
about the things of my Father." And the parents, feeling
themselves in the presence of the Mystery that had ever
been
about the child,
followed Him silently from the Temple grounds.
And here closes the
New Testament story of the boy Jesus at the age of
thirteen, which story is not resumed until His appearance
at the place of the preaching of John the Baptist, _over
seventeen years later_, when the boy had reached the age
of a man of thirty years. When and how did he spend those
seventeen years? The New Testament is totally silent on
this score. Can anyone who has read the above imagine that
Jesus spent these years as a growing youth and young man,
working at His father's carpenter bench in the village of
Nazareth? Would not the Master, having found his strength
and power, have insisted upon developing the same? Could
the Divine Genius once self-recognized be content to be
obscured amid material pursuits? The New Testament is
silent, but the Occult
Traditions and Mystic Legends tell us the story of the
missing seventeen years, and these we shall now give to
you.
*
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The legends and
traditions of the mystic and occult organizations and
brotherhoods tell us that after the occurrence of Jesus
and the Elders in the Temple, and his recovery by his
parents, the latter were approached by members of the
secret organization to which the Magi belonged, who
pointed out to the parents the injustice of the plan of
keeping the lad at the carpenter's bench when He had shown
evidences of such a marvelous spiritual development and
such a wonderful intellectual grasp of weighty subjects.
It is told that after a long and serious consideration of
the matter the parents finally consented to the plan
advanced by the Magi, and allowed them to take the lad
with them into their own land and retreats that He might
there receive the instructions for which His soul craved,
and for which His mind was fitted.
It is true that the
New Testament does not corroborate these occult legends,
but it is likewise true that it says nothing to the
contrary.
It is silent regarding
this important period of between seventeen and eighteen
years. It is to be remembered that when He appeared upon
the scene of John's ministration, the latter did not
recognize Him, whereas had Jesus remained about His home,
John, his cousin, would have been acquainted with his
features and personal appearance.
The occult teachings
inform us that the seventeen or eighteen years of Jesus'
life regarding which the Gospels are silent, were filled
with travels in far and distant lands, where the youth and
young man was instructed in the occult lore and wisdom of
the different schools. It is taught that He was taken into
India, and Egypt, and Persia, and other far regions,
living for several years at each important center, and
being initiated into the various brotherhoods, orders, and
bodies having their headquarters there. Some of the
Egyptians' orders have traditions of a young Master who
sojourned among them, and such is likewise the case in
Persia and in India. Even among the lamasaries hidden in
Tibet and in the Himalayan Mountains are to be found
legends and stories regarding the marvelous young Master
who once visited there and absorbed their wisdom and
secret knowledge.
More than this, there
are traditions among the Brahmans, Buddhists and
Zoroastrians, telling of a strange young teacher who
appeared among them, who taught marvelous truths and who
aroused great opposition among the priests of the various
religions of India and Persia, owing to his preaching
against priestcraft and formalism, and also by his bitter
opposition to all forms of caste distinctions and
restrictions. And this, too, is in accord with the occult
legends which teach that from about the age of twenty-one
until the age of nearly thirty years Jesus pursued a
ministry among the people of India and Persia and
neighboring countries, returning at last to his native
land where He conducted a ministry extending over the last
three years of His life.
The occult legends
inform us that He aroused great interest among the people
of each land visited by Him, and that He also aroused the
most bitter opposition among the priests, for He always
opposed formalism and priestcraft, and sought to lead the
people back to the Spirit of the Truth, and away from the
ceremonies and forms which have always served to dim and
becloud the Light of the Spirit. He taught always the
Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. He sought to
bring the great Occult Truths down to the comprehension of
the masses of people who had lost the Spirit of the Truth
in their observance of
outward forms and
pretentious ceremonies.
It is related that in
India He brought down upon His head the wrath of the
Brahmin upholders of the caste distinctions, that curse of
India. He dwelt in the huts of the Sudras, the lowest of
all of the Hindu castes, and was therefore regarded as a
pariah by the higher classes. Everywhere He was regarded
as a firebrand and a disturber of established social order
by the priests and high-caste people. He was an agitator,
a rebel, a religious renegade, a socialist, a dangerous
man, an "undesirable citizen," to those in authority in
those lands.
But the seeds of His
wisdom were sown right and left, and in the Hindu
religions of today, and in the teachings of other Oriental
countries, may be found traces of Truth, the resemblance
of which to the recorded teachings of Jesus, show that
they came from the same source, and have sorely disturbed
the Christian missionaries that have since visited these
lands.
And so, slowly and
patiently, Jesus wended his way homeward toward Israel,
where He was to complete His ministry by three years' work
among His own race, and where He was to again raise up
against Himself the opposition of the priests and the
upper classes which would finally result in His death. He
was a rebel against the established order of things, and
He met the fate reserved for those who live ahead of their
time.
And, as from the first
days of His ministry to His last, so it is today, the real
teachings of the Man of Sorrows reach more readily the
heart of the plain people, while they are reviled and
combatted by those in ecclesiastical and temporal
authority, even though these people claim allegiance to
Him and wear His livery. He was ever the friend of the
poor and oppressed, and hated by those in authority.
And so, you see the
Occult teachings show Jesus to have been a world-wide
teacher, instead of a mere Jewish prophet. The world was
his audience, and all races His hearers.
He planted His seeds
of Truth in the bosom of many religions instead of but
one, and these seeds are beginning to bear their best
fruit even now at this late day, when the truth of the
Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man is beginning
to be felt by all nations alike, and is growing strong
enough to break down the old which have divided brother
from brother, and creed from creed. Christianity--true
Christianity--is not a mere creed, but a great human and
divine Truth that will rise above all petty distinctions
of race and creed and will at last shine on all men alike,
gathering them into one fold of Universal Brotherhood.
May the Great Day be
hastened!
And so we leave Jesus,
wending his way slowly homeward toward Judea, the land of
His father and the place of His birth. Dropping a word
here--planting a seed there--onward. He pursued His way.
Visiting this mystic brotherhood, and resting a while in
another occult retreat, He slowly retraced the journey of
His youth. But while His outward journey was that of a
student traveling forth to complete His education, He
returned as a Master and Teacher, bearing and sowing the
seeds of a great Truth, which was to grow and bring forth
great fruit, and which, in time, would spread over all the
world in its primitive purity, notwithstanding its
betrayal and corruption at the hands of those in whose
keeping He left it when he passed away from the scene of
His labors.
Jesus came as a World Prophet, not as a mere
Jewish holy-man, and still less as a Hebrew Messiah
destined to sit upon the throne of His father David.
And He left His mark upon all of the great peoples of
earth by His journey among them. Throughout Persia are
found many traditions of Issa, the young Master who
appeared in that land centuries ago, and who taught
the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.
Among the Hindus are found strange traditions of
Jesoph or Josa, a young ascetic, who passed through
the Hind long since, denouncing the established laws
of caste, and consorting with the common people, who,
as in Israel, "heard him gladly." Even in China are
found similar tales of the young religious firebrand,
preaching ever the Brotherhood of Man--ever known as
the Friend of the Poor. On and on He went, sowing the
seeds of human freedom and the casting off of the yoke
of ecclesiastical tyranny and formalism, which seeds
are springing unto growth even at this late day. Yea,
the Spirit of His real teachings are even now bearing
fruit in the hearts of men, and though nearly two
thousand years have passed by the "soul" of His social
teachings still "goes marching on" round and round the
world.