The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ. Levi
and are blest above all other men.
15 I do not see how God can have his favorites and be just.
16 Are not Samaritans and Greeks and Romans just as much the children of the Holy One as are the Jews?
17 I think the Jews have built a wall about themselves, and they see nothing on the other side of it.
18 They do not know that flowers are blooming over there; that sowing times and reaping times belong to anybody but the Jews.
19 It surely would be well if we could break these barriers down so that the Jews might see that God has other children that are just as greatly blest.
20 I want to go from Jewry land and meet my kin in other countries of my Fatherland.
CHAPTER 18
Jesus at a feast in Jerusalem. Is grieved by the cruelties of the sacrificers. Appeals to Hillel, who sympathizes with him. He remains in the temple a year.
The great feast of the Jews was on, and Joseph, Mary and their son, and many of their kin, went to Jerusalem. The child was ten years old.
2 And Jesus watched the butchers kill the lambs and birds and burn them on the altar in the name of God.
3 His tender heart was shocked at this display of cruelty; he asked the serving priest, What is the purpose of this slaughter of the beasts and birds? Why do you burn their flesh before the Lord?
4 The priest replied, This is our sacrifice for sin. God has commanded us to do these things, and said that in these sacrifices all our sins are blotted out.
5 And Jesus said, Will you be kind enough to tell when God proclaimed that sins are blotted out by sacrifice of any kind?
6 Did not David say that God requires not a sacrifice for sin? that it is sin itself to bring before his face burnt offerings, as offerings for sin? Did not Isaiah say the same?
7 The priest replied, My child, you are beside yourself. Do you know more about the laws of God than all the priests of Israel? This is no place for boys to show their wit.
8 But Jesus heeded not his taunts; he went to Hillel, chief of the Sanhedrim, and he said to him,
9 Rabboni, I would like to talk with you; I am disturbed about this service of the pascal feast. I thought the temple was the house of God where love and kindness dwell.
10 Do you not hear the bleating of those lambs, the pleading of those doves that men are killing over there? Do you not smell that awful stench that comes from burning flesh?
11 Can man be kind and just, and still be filled with cruelty?
12 A God that takes delight in sacrifice, in blood and burning flesh, is not my Father-God.
13 I want to find a God of love, and you, my master, you are wise, and surely you can tell me where to find the God of love.
14 But Hillel could not give an answer to the child. His heart was stirred with sympathy. He called the child to him; he laid his hand upon his head and wept.
15 He said, There is a God of love, and you shall come with me; and hand in hand we will go forth and find the God of love.
16 And Jesus said, Why need we go? I thought that God is everywhere. Can we not purify our hearts and drive out cruelty, and every wicked thought, and make within, a temple where the God of love can dwell?
17 The master of the great Sanhedrim felt as though he was himself the child, and that before him stood Rabboni, master of the higher law.
18 He said within himself, This child is surely prophet sent from God.
19 Then Hillel sought the parents of the child, and asked that Jesus might abide with him, and learn the precepts of the law, and all the lessons of the temple priests.
20 His parents gave consent, and Jesus did abide within the holy temple in Jerusalem, and Hillel taught him every day.
21 And every day the master learned from Jesus many lessons of the higher life.
22 The child remained with Hillel in the temple for a year, and then returned unto his home in Nazareth; and there he wrought with Joseph as a carpenter.
CHAPTER 19
Jesus at the age of twelve in the temple. Disputes with the doctors of the law. Reads from a book of prophecy. By request of Hillel he interprets the prophecies.
Again the great feast in Jerusalem was on, and Joseph, Mary and their son were there. The child was twelve years old.
2 And there were Jews and proselytes from many countries in Jerusalem.
3 And Jesus sat among the priests and doctors in the temple hall.
4 And Jesus opened up a book of prophecy and read:
5 Woe, woe, to Ariel, the town where David dwelt! I will dismantle Ariel, and she shall groan and weep:
6 And I will camp against her round about with hostile posts;
7 And I will bring her low and she shall speak out of the earth; with muffled voice like a familiar spirit shall she speak; yea, she shall only whisper forth her speech;
8 And foes unnumbered, like the grains of dust, shall come upon her suddenly.
9 The Lord of hosts will visit her with thunder and with tempest, and with storm; with earthquake, and with devouring flames.
10 Lo, all these people have deserted me. They draw to me with speech, and with their lips they honor me; their hearts are far removed from me; their fear for me is that inspired by man.
11 And I will breathe an adverse breath upon my people, Israel; the wisdom of their wise men shall be lost; the understanding of their prudent men shall not be found.
12 My people seek to hide their counsel from the Lord, so that their works may not be seen. They fain would cover up their works with darkness of the night, and say, Who sees us now? Who knows us now?
13 Poor, foolish men! shall that which has been made say of its maker, He is naught, I made myself?
14 Or shall the pot speak out and say to him, who made the pot, You have no skill; you do not know?
15 But this will not forever be; the time will come when Lebanon will be a fruitful field, and fruitful fields will be transformed to groves.
16 And on that day the deaf will hear the words of God; the blind will read the Book of God’s Remembrance.
17 And suffering ones will be relieved, and they will have abundant joy; and every one that needs will be supplied; and it will come to pass that all the foolish will be wise.
18 The people will return and sanctify the Holy One, and in their heart of hearts, lo, they will reverence him.
19 When Jesus had thus read he put aside the book and said, You masters of the law, will you make plain for us the prophet’s words?
20 Now, Hillel sat among the masters of the law, and he stood forth and said, Perhaps our young rabboni who has read the word will be interpreter.
21 And Jesus said, The Ariel of the prophet is our own Jerusalem.
22 By selfishness and cruelty this people has become a stench unto the Elohim.
23 The prophet saw these days from far, and of these times he wrote.
24 Our doctors, lawyers, priests and scribes oppress the poor, while they themselves in luxury live.
25 The sacrifices and the offerings of Israel are but abomination unto God. The only sacrifice that God requires is self.
26 Because of this injustice and this cruelty of man to man, the Holy One has spoken of this commonwealth:
27 Lo, I will overturn, yes, I will overturn, it shall be overturned, and it shall be no more until he comes whose right it is and I will give it unto him.
28 In all the world there is one law of right, and he who breaks that law will suffer grief; for God is just.
29 And Israel has gone far astray; has not regarded