Rooted in Mud and Water
A Metaphysical Interpretation of Matt. 2:22-23
The Story of Jesus' Soul Evolution
An unpublished manuscript written by Charles Fillmore in 1947
Pages 108-112
Text
Matt. 2:22-23. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; and being warned of God in a dream, he withdrew into the parts of Galilee, and came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets, that he should be called a Nazarene.
Interpretation
Archelaus represents a phase of the sense will (son of Herod the Great), or ruling power, in sense consciousness which was still doninant.
Galilee represents the life activity or soul energy of man acting in conjunction with substance. Nazareth, a city of Galilee, means a sprout, a small thing held of slight significance, hence a term of reproach. It typifies the commonplace mind of man: but it is in the commonplace mind that the Christ ideal takes root and grows up in consciousness. Much as the water lily, whose leaves and blossoms are very beautiful, is rooted deep in the mud of the lake bottom, so is the Christ idea rooted deep in primal substance. It grows up in and through the commonplace mind of the everyday man as the long stem of the lily extends through the wavering medium of intervening water to reach the free air upon the surface. Both mud and water are necessary to the full flowering of the water lily. In like manner, the subconscious mind, underlaid by pure substance and overlaid by the superconscious mind of Spirit as sunshine and air rest upon the surface of the water, forms silently but surely the precious flower of God-like character.
Throughout the gospel story of Jesus there runs continually a thread of fulfilled prophecy. To the casual reader who sees nothing beyond the literal narrative, it would seem sometimes that the parallelism is far-fetched. The statement that Jesus was taken as an infant to live in Nazareth, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets, that he should be called a Nazarene”, is one of these statements. The prophecy itself, in the words given, is not found in the Scriptures.
So it is seen that the fulfillment of prophecy takes place because prophecy is a foreknowledge of Truth to be demonstrated. The I AM has knowledge of all Truth, but to the natural man this knowledge comes dimly, — as a vague presentiment, a foreknowledge or prophecy of Truth to come. With the Christ man comes Truth—fulfillment.
