This talk was given by Ed Rabel on August 10, 1993.
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... and receptive to God’s living spirit of truth. And, Father, we are grateful. Amen.
All right, friends. Today, I’m not going to give you just mysteries; I’m going to give you mysteries and some possible solutions or answers, because I think if we stay only with the mysteries, and no answers whatsoever ...
Matthew 12, Luke 6—How did Jesus heal the multitudes?
You know that back then, in those days, in that part of the world, diseases of all kind were rampant. Babies, children, mothers ... It was a sick civilization, and to live to be 30 years old back then was a miracle in itself, you see? So here’s this mob that congregate around Jesus, and we’re told in Matthew,
“And Jesus perceiving them, and many followed him, and he healed them all.” No description of how he did it, what method he used, only the statement “He healed them all.”
Now, that’s in Matthew 12. On the next page, in Luke 6, we read this:
“And he came down with them, and stood on a level place, and a great multitude, a great number of the people from all Judaea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and he healed, and to be healed of their diseases; and they that were troubled with unclean spirits were healed. And all the multitude sought to touch him; for power came forth from him, and he healed them all.”
Friends, can anyone today really conceive of the magnitude of this mind-boggling statement? “And a great multitude came unto him, and he healed them all.” Of whom could that be said today? Of whom could that be said of anything we know about history? Only whom? Jesus. Jesus is the only, only person we have any knowledge of, of whom it could be said, and he, what? Healed them all.
Even a great healing channel like Edgar Cayce. Now, Edgar Cayce and his source that he contacted, brought forth healing for tens of thousands of patients who couldn’t be helped by materia medica. This is verified. I’m not making this up; it’s a fact. But even Cayce and his source, magnificent as they are, of them, this cannot be said. He healed many, he healed hundreds of thousands, but you cannot say of Cayce’s work that he what? He ... You say it. He healed them all.
He healed them all. Jesus is the only one of whom that can be said, and the mystery is, how? What was it that enabled him to have no failures in his healing? There’s only one mention of failure in the four Gospels, where healing is concerned, and it says this: “And many in his own hometown were not healed because of their unbelief.” Not Jesus’ failure, but their unbelief. So we have this magnificent mystery of the healing power of Jesus Christ, and why more people don’t have it.
However, remember, Jesus makes no bones about this, anything he did, all of us can do if we follow him, and the only way we can follow him today is learn his teachings. Learn his teachings, believe his example. That’s the only way to do it, folks. Don’t buy a one-way plane ticket to Tibet. They won’t teach you that there. You stay right where you are, and you keep on learning through the teachings of Jesus Christ, and he said, “If you abide in my Word, then the works that I do, you shall do also, and even greater works than these shalt thou” ... But what does he put first? Words. He puts the words first. He says, “If you abide in my Word, then the works that I do, you shall do also.”
This is why in Unity, we stress the ministry of the Word rather than a ministry of works. Did you notice that about the Unity movement, friend? We’re not a do-gooder religious movement. We are a movement of the Word. We are a ministry of the Word, and Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, a hundred years ago, decided in what way Unity is to be the ministry of the Word, and they decided on three areas. Thank God, only three. Aren’t you glad there weren’t more? Just three. Education, prayer, spiritual counseling. This decision was made about a hundred years ago, that this Unity movement was to be a ministry not of works, but of what? The Word. Ministry of the Word, with a capital W, and the three methods of the ministry of the Word in Unity are education, prayer and spiritual counseling.
And all of this is based on what character? Jesus. It’s all based squarely on Jesus, all right.
Matthew 5, Luke 6—Why is this verse from Luke not quoted in orthodox churches?
You all know that the Sermon on the Mount is found in chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Gospel of Matthew only. However, in the Gospel of Luke, some portions of The Sermon on the Mount are included, but with slightly different wording. But in the Gospel of Luke, the entire Sermon on the Mount is not repeated, but only some excerpts taken from the actual Sermon on the Mount are contained in the Gospel of Luke in bits and pieces. And you have to find them. They’re not all in one place. Now I’m going to give you an example from a paragraph from the actual Sermon on the Mount itself, which in this case, is from the 5th Chapter of Matthew. Then I’m going to read to you the Luke version of the same section I’m going to read to you. Then I’m going to, before I’m finished I’m going to throw the mystery at you.
In Matthew 5 beginning on the, in the 5th chapter beginning in the 21st verse, Jesus says, “For if you love them that love you, what reward have ye. Do not even thee publicans the same. And if you salute your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same? But ye therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect”. Now I’m going to ... That’s the original Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. Now I’m going to read to you the Luke version of this.
But before I do, here is the mystery I have in mind. Why is this passage from Luke never quoted in Orthodox churches, in Fundamentalist Churches? I did not find this passage from Luke until long after I left an Orthodox religion and joined Unity. And even here, when I found it and I asked other people here about it, none of them had ever heard it before because they all had come from ... most people in Unity had come from Orthodox Churches.
You know that don’t you? Very few people start out their religious life with Unity, very few. Even children who come to Unity Sunday School. Most of the time they drop out for a while, when they start to get interested in other things. And then they come back later when life kicks them in the face a few times. But very, very few people were born and raised in Unity and stayed in Unity. Almost all people active in Unity came to Unity after they grew up and came from other churches. So my mystery is, why is the passage I’m going to read to you now, never quoted in any church that I have knowledge of? And even in our Unity here it wasn’t known until I started screening it all over the place a few years ago. Almost got fired, but I did it. See if you know what I mean.
In Luke, Chapter 6, Jesus speaks,
“But love your enemies and do them good and lend, never despairing, and your reward shall be great and you shall be sons of the most high. For he is kind toward the unthankful and the evil. Be ye merciful even as your father is merciful”.
Friends I would be willing to bet my next months salary that none of you here have ever heard it said in any church you’ve ever been in, “For he is kind toward the unthankful and the evil”. That’s right we’ve all been ... If we’ve been in other churches, all that we’ve been told is, he is angry at the unmerciful and unthankful and he punishes, he condemns the unthankful. That is against Jesus Christ folks. That is contradicting Jesus Christ. And do you call that Christianity? Friends is contradicting Jesus Christ Christianity? Please answer. No. No it’s betraying Christianity, it’s betraying Jesus Christ.
And so nobody is quoting this, nobody is admitting that Jesus said this. And you should see how many people got angry at me when I first brought this book. I said, “Look don’t blame me. I didn’t write the darn thing. It was there long before I got to it. I only discovered it”. That’s what is says. And therefore, we have a mystery as to why people won’t believe it. They just won’t. Even Unity people. “No, no, no, no, that’s too risky”. Well, okay, to each his own. Right? All right now.
Luke 7—Why did Jesus marvel at the Centurion and compliment him?
One of the things that Jesus very seldom does is compliment people. Now he loved all people, but he did not compliment people. I know of only three places in all four Gospel where Jesus compliments a person. He heals, he blesses, he understands; but compliments, no. But here’s an exception. Here is where he compliments somebody. And the mystery that I have in mind is, what did this Centurion do that caused Jesus to break his style, to step out of character and give a guy a compliment? That’s very, very rare. Very unusual.
And the question is, why did he do it? All right. This is found in Luke 7. “And a certain Centurion’s servant who was dear unto him, was sick to the point of death”. Now you all know what a Centurion is. A Centurion is a high ranking officer in the Roman Occupational Army, and the Roman army had occupied the Holy Land at this era. And the Jews were subject, life and death under the Roman officers. And this was one of them. A Centurion, a very, very, important Roman.
And when he heard, concerning Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews asking, beseeching him and saying, “Lord-”. Now right there you have a miracle. A Roman Centurion calling a Jew Lord. It ain’t done folks, but it’s done here. Because it was done, the outcome is magnificent. “Lord, my servant lieth in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented”. And Jesus said unto him, “I will come and heal him.”
And the Centurion answered and said, “Lord I am not worthy that thou should come under my roof, but only speak the Word”. There’s that word, Word again. “Speak the Word and my servant shall be healed, for I also am a man under authority”. Did you get that word, “Also”? I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
Then when Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to them that followed, “Verily, verily I say unto you, I have not found so great a faith not in all Israel”. Then Jesus said to the Centurion, “Go thy way. As though has believed, so be it done unto thee”. And the servant was healed in that hour.
Now my question was, the mystery is, what was it that the Centurion said that caused Jesus to marvel at him and compliment him? Friends it is in that key word, also.
What this Centurion is saying to Jesus, is that he must recognize Jesus as being one under a certain kind of authority. And that because Jesus accepts being under authority, then Jesus has under him those who will carry out his authority. Energy fields, which the Centurion calls soldiers and servants. But in the case of Jesus, it would not be soldiers and servants but energy fields. Makes sense, or not?
See Jesus is under divine authority willingly. He places himself under divine authority. And so he is able to carry out what he is authorized to do. But he does it through his word. The Word of authority. And because he is under divine authority, then his word causes energy fields to respond to his word. And it results in healings. And the Centurion sees the analogy between himself under Roman Military authority, therefore authorized to speak the words that are carried out by those under his authority, which would be servants and soldiers. And so he has this marvelous analogy between the chain of authority of Jesus type and I also am a man under authority. And so he realizes that Jesus has the power to speak the words, which will carry out that which he is under the authority of which, is God. God the good omnipotent. And Jesus is so impressed by this, that he has to compliment the guy. And aren’t you glad that it ends with, “And the servant was healed in that hour”? See another happy ending.
Luke 7—Why shall blasphemy against the Holy Spirit not be forgiven?
All right. Let’s see. Okay. Back in those days, Jesus incarnated or came into a level of religious thinking, which was under the Mosaic Law, the Judaic religion. And they worshiped a concept of God called Yahweh which, in English, Jehovah. Now Jehovah is the same thing, which in the far East is called Karma. Karma that is even exchange. The law of even exchange. An eye for what? And a what for a what? Come on, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and let the punishment fit the sin. If they were living in India or Persia, they would name their God Karma. But they were Jewish and they lived in Israel and they gave a Jewish name to Karma, which is Yahweh, Jehovah.
And that level of religious thinking, teaching that there is only one consequence for sin. There’s no options. There’s no alternatives. There is only one consequence or result for sin and it has to be that. What is it? Punishment. Punishment, Karma, punishment. The wrath of God, see. Let the punishment fit the sin. And that was the teaching under Moses, sin has to be dealt with by punishment. All right? That’s called the law of Moses.
Now Jesus knew that, that law had fulfilled its place in human evolution. And while that law can not be destroyed, it can be transcended. And so Jesus came to transcend, not to destroy that, but to transcend it, which means to rise above it. Okay? And so Jesus brought a teaching where Karma was not absolutely necessary. Where there was an option about handling the fact of sin, which Paul later calls grace. There is something that can short circuit the inevitability of Karma and punishment and it is found first in an incident found in Luke 7.
“One of the Pharisee’s desired him that he would eat with him. And as he entered into the Pharisee’s house and sat down to eat and behold, a woman, which was in the city, a sinner. And when she knew that he was sitting at meet in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster cruise of ointment and standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. The hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed him with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee, which had bidden him saw this, he spoke within himself saying, ‘This man, if he were a prophet would have perceived with who and what manner of women this is, which touches him. That she is a sinner.’ And Jesus answering him said ...”
did you get that? It says that the Pharisee was saying all this within himself and Jesus answering him said. How could Jesus answer him? Jesus could read minds. Jesus could read your book of life, your past, your present, your future. You could not lie to Jesus, you could not fool him in any way. He could read right into your soul and no matter what your lips were saying, he would hear what your heart or your mind was saying.
This is why he does this over, and over, and over again. He says, “Simon I have something to say to thee. A certain” ... well he gives a parable about love and forgiveness. I don’t want to read all that then blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then he turned to Simon and said,
“Seeist thou this woman. I entered into thine house. Thou gavest me no water for my feet but she has whetted my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. That gavest me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou did not anoint but she hath anointed my feet with oil. Therefore, I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven for she loves much”.
And he said to the woman, “Thy sins are forgiven. Thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace”.
Now I feel that, that last sentence should be changed a little. Thy love hath saved thee, go in peace. So Jesus unmistakably is making a demonstration here that Karmic punishment is not necessary as a result of sin. That a human being, even after they’ve sinned, even if they’ve sinned many times as the woman did, they can choose the alternative to Karmic punishment if they do what enough? Love. Love. Love short circuits the Karmic cycle.
Now believe it or not, I wouldn’t say this if I hadn’t experienced this myself. There are persons who violently object to this idea. How dare there not be punishment for sin? How dare! What do you mean love will short circuit the Karmic? You’ve got to get the Karmic punishment.
No you don’t because, if a person willingly and genuinely radiates love in their consciousness, they change. This changes the consciousness. And when consciousness changes, the person changes. Are you with me? And so the person who loves sufficiently is changed sufficiently, so that they no longer are the person who was the sinner person. Get me? That they cleanse their Karmic debt by the power of love. Love can cleanse and beautify and heal. And so you don’t punish, Karma can’t punish a person who’s no longer the wrong doer, who is a new person.
And so you don’t punish the new person for what the old person did. They’re on two different levels. And so Jesus taught forgiveness of sin. And friends, for there to be any forgiveness, real forgiveness, there has to be what first? Love. You can’t forgive when you’re unloving. You can forgive because you are loving and then the sin is forgiven.
Now there’s another sin that Jesus talks about that he calls unforgivable. In Mark 3 he says this, “I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of man, and their blasphemies wherewith soever they shall ... but who soever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath not forgiveness but is guilty of sin”. Now that’s in Mark 3. In Matthew 12, the same thing is said in these words, “Therefore I say unto you, every sin and every blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven”.
Okay now, the mystery is, that Jesus constantly, constantly, constantly talks about forgiveness of sin, forgiveness of sin, forgive all men their sin and all your sin shall be forgiven. But here he comes up saying that there is an unforgivable sin, which he doesn’t explain but he names it. You all remember what the name is he gives it? The sin what? Against the Holy Spirit. The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Now the word sin and blasphemy, as used by Jesus here, would mean to reject or to mock or to disbelieve.
Now, who is the Holy Spirit? What is the Holy Spirit? All right. Now in our metaphysics courses, we define the metaphysical meaning of that term Holy Spirit. Now you know where it comes from, the Divine Trinity, the Holy Trinity. Father, Son and what? Holy Spirit. Jesus talks a great deal about the Holy Spirit. He talks a great deal about another spirit, the spirit of truth. Those are the two spirits Jesus talks about mostly. The spirit of truth and the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit, which is the name contained in the Holy Trinity, what does it mean and how can you sin and blaspheme against it? Well, it’s very simple if you know your metaphysics. The Holy Spirit is the name the Bible gives to God’s good inaction in a human life. That’s what the term Holy Spirit means metaphysically. God’s good in action in a human life. In other words, your and my highest good activated, that’s the Holy Spirit.
Now, Jesus said, “If you blaspheme or sin against this, it’s unforgiven”. What does that mean? It means this. The Holy Spirit is always willing to give itself to us, always. God’s good is always more than willing to give its action to us. Always more willing than we are. But, since we have been given the divine idea of freedom, we also are free if we so choose to reject our highest good. To disbelieve in it, to mock it, to lie about it. That’s called sin and blasphemy against our own highest good.
Now if we are doing that, if we are rejecting our own highest good, Holy Spirit, then our highest good can’t give itself to us. If we won’t have it, then it can’t give itself to us. Make sense friends? Does it make sense? Let’s say your highest good right now is available to you in the form of, let’s say, loving companionship. But for some quirky reason, you won’t have loving companionship. Well loving companionship can’t force itself down your throat. It can’t knock down your door, because in your freedom of choice it’s you who will decide whether you will accept your highest good or reject it again. And if you reject it, it can’t give itself to you. And this is what Jesus means by unforgiven, “not being given” because who has made it impossible for it to give? Ourselves.
Did I give you an example of that counselee that broke my heart in Toronto? Let me give you an example of how someone can blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit can’t give itself to them as their highest good. I counseled with one of the most wonderful woman in our church in Toronto, Canada. And she was a very intelligent, very devoted, very committed truth student but she had, had a violent, emotional tragedy in her life. Some people call it, love problems. That’s not the right word folks, there are no love problems. There are only negative emotion problems. Love is never a problem. You understand? Negative emotions, not love. All right.
She came to me and she told me this story and friends, it was ugly. I’m telling you, ugly. And I didn’t blame her for being upset. I’d have been upset myself. But you see I’m the Minister, therefore I know how to counsel. I passed all the courses. I read the right books. I wrote the right answers, I passed the course. Get me? And so, "oh this is a piece of cake. I know all the right things to say to this lady.
Anyway I’m her Minister and she has to take me seriously." So here am I quoting from the books, saying all the things that we had to learn in our counseling classes and she being the wonderful lady she was, she sat and listened to me. And I got it all said. All the right things. She thanked me and got up to leave, opened the door of the counseling room and just before stepping out, she turned and she said, “Ed, I know you meant well but I want you to understand one thing, I shall never be happy again”. Boom, out the door she went.
Now you see, she of course didn’t realize she was doing this, but she was closing the door on her own good. She was rejecting, in advance, that which would be best for her. A new kind of what? What was she rejecting? When I say to you, “I’ll never be happy again?. What am I rejecting? Happiness for myself. You see what I’m doing? In my mind, I am blaspheming against God’s good active in my life as right companionship, as happiness, as new love. And so she did not realize that she was making her state incapable of being given new happiness. Unforgiveness. She left the church, my heart was broken and I will never be happy again, now.
But our church secretary, a wonderful young lady was sitting at her typewriter outside in the office and she overheard this. Sharon overheard what this lady had said. Now me being a Minister and so soft hearted, I couldn’t do much about it except grieve. But Sharon is a hard boiled Irish girl and she wasn’t going to put up with this. You understand? She’s not a Minister, she’s an employee and she loves this woman and she’s not going to stand for that kind of nonsense. So without consulting me, Sharon, on her lunch hour, went to this lady’s house, knocked on the door and gave her holy hell. I mean she really shook her up. “You know better than that. What kind of nonsense is this, I’ll never be happy again”. She says, “You snap out of this”.
You know, she really gave it; and that’s what that woman needed. That woman didn’t need all my expert text book quotations. Not in a situation like that. What she needed was a heart to heart talk from a fellow female. And she got it and she listened. And, I’ll tell you but, what happened; about a week and a half later, one of our board members who had been secretly in love with this lady, realized now the field was clear. She threw the bum out. The other bum, she threw him out. And so when the bum was thrown out, our board member who had been secretly in love with her, made himself known and became a part of her life and brought her a lot of happiness. So you see we must stop rejecting our own what? Highest good. And begin ... Always willing to invite it in and then the Holy Spirit goes to work.
All right, how we doing? Oh, we’re doing fine.
Mark 4—Is is just to say "he that hath not, from him shall be taken away, even that which he hath"?
Jesus makes a very strange statement in Mark 4. And many people who are very literal, materially minded about money, and economy, and banking, and interest, and retirement accounts, and all that kind of stuff get upset at this quote from Jesus. I think you’ll see why when I read it. He ends a discourse with this comment, “For he that hath, to him shall be given, but he that hath not, from him shall be taken away, even that which he hath”.
Now can you see how that looks like economic injustice? Can you? To him that hath, more will be given, but to him that hath not, even that what she hath will be taken away. And so people who don’t understand metaphysics cry out, “That’s unjust, that’s unfair”. Well, no it isn’t because Jesus is always teaching about the laws of consciousness. Not behaviorism but what? The law of consciousness. Processing in consciousness, attitudes, not behavior but workings of consciousness.
Now, in the teaching on prosperity, we teach that, in human nature, there are two general types of consciousness regarding supply, abundance and prosperity. One we call the “hath consciousness” or “prosperity consciousness”. The other is called the, what? “Hath not” or “lack consciousness.” The belief in prosperity, the belief in abundance, the faith in substance is the “hath consciousness.” The belief in lack, the fear of lack, the fear of economic competition, of career competition, that is the “hath not” or “lack consciousness.”
Now you all know that under the law of mind action, consciousness manifests out there in our lives. That’s the law of mind action. Like attracts like, like begets like. Beliefs held in mind produce after their kind. And so that’s all Jesus is stating here. If you’ve got a hath, or a prosperity, or an abundance belief, consciousness, then you will always have increase of good; prosperity. If you have a hath not consciousness, fear of lack, resentment of competition and things like this, then, even what you have you won’t be able to enjoy because you’re too insecure. So this is divine economy not worldly economic philosophy.
Matthew 15—Why did Jesus seemingly insult that Canaanite woman?
Okay, this timing is perfect today. One more to come and we’ll be able to dismiss. Here is another case, the rare exception where Jesus gives somebody a compliment. We read that one, the Centurion, the other one is John the Baptist and this is the third one, which is a Canaanite woman. This is in Matthew 15.
"And behold a Canaanitish woman;" and by the way the Canaanite’s in these days were social outcasts where the Jews were concerned. Is this clear? They were like the untouchables in India. The Canaanites and the Jews would have nothing to do with them socially. They were inferiors in the minds of the Jews.
“And behold a Canaanite woman came out from these border and cried saying, ‘Have mercy on me Oh Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil’. But he answered her not with a word. And his disciples came and besought him saying, ‘Send her away, for she crieth after us’. But Jesus said, ‘I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel’. Then she came and worshiped him saying, ‘Lord help me’. And he answered and said, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs’. But she said, ‘Yay Lord, but even the dogs will eat of the crumbs, which fall from their masters table’.”
Now here comes the compliment.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, “Oh woman, great is thy faith. Be it done unto thee even as thou wilt”. And her daughter was healed in that hour.
Now my mystery is, why did Jesus seemingly insult that Canaanite woman? Remember what he said to her. She said, “Lord help me”. And he said, “It is not right for me to take the children’s bread”; Jews. “And give it to the dogs”; Canaanite. Why did he do that? Because friends, he could read into her soul. You understand? Are you with me? He could look at anybody and know everything that was in them and what they were capable of.
Now, he knew that this woman was not successful in healing her daughter because there was some kind of arrogance in her. Some kind of matronly self image. Come on folks you know what I’m talking about. There was something in that woman’s ego or attitude that was blocking her being a healing channel for her own daughter. And he saw this in her. And so he wanted to do something that would help her overcome this ego block.
He does this a lot folks. This is the outstanding example where he compliments her because he knew she could do it. So he deliberately insults her, not because he wanted to insult her, he wanted to help her. He wanted to help her do something in herself that would cause her to open up as a healing channel, so he insults her self image. And so he compares her to a dog. Now if this woman didn’t have it in her, she would have said something like I probably would have said, “Who are you calling a dog? I’m a respectable married woman”. See. But no, she didn’t do that. And he knew she wouldn’t do that. That’s why he said that. She did what he knew she was going to do. What she was capable of doing. In effect, what she saying is, “If you think I’m a dog then so be it. Dogs are nice”. See. “If you want to call me a dog, call me a dog. But even the dogs will eat the crumbs.”.
And she knew he was a master. And so if you wanted just give me a crumb, to me the dog, I’ll take it if it’s going to help my what? Daughter. She was thinking of her daughter, not of her self image, you see? And Jesus knew she could do it. And when she did that, she humbled herself and stated her faith in her belief. And he saw, now she’s the healer. She did the healing. Jesus set her up. He set her up and she did the right thing. And so she was the channel of healing for her daughter.
God bless you. Our time is up. See you next week.
