Incarnating on Earth to bring the Word from the Creator to mankind that, for the majority, for millennia had already suffocated their spirits, surrendering themselves to the dominion of the intellect, Jesus, coming from the Luminous Heights as part of the Creator, suffered and died on a Roman cross. But not to redeem any responsibility or guilt of mankind, but to, through the Word of the Father, make people reflect about the Truth brought by Him and, voluntarily restart their spiritual development thus, becoming developed spirits and have a conscious existence in this wonderful masterpiece that Creation is.
In countless biblical stories, one can read the description of sheep sacrifices to transfer the consequences of human acts, contrary to the Laws of Creation, to innocent animals, with the intention of freeing the author of responsibility or guilt of such committed acts. The Law of Reciprocity, which is perfect, as it emanates from the Will of the Perfect Creator, grants each one in the most absolute and perfect justice, the consequences of their acts, not mattering if these have been carried out by one’s own desire, under someone’s orders, or on the behalf of a State or Nation. This burden is nontransferable, and what one receives through making these sacrifices is an increase in his burden, making it overwhelming heavy, until the recognition of the mistake comes to realization and the conscious effort to redeemed oneself begins, that can only ever be done by the author himself. Nobody manages to avoid the responsibilities of one’s acts, for the return is certain, be it in this physical material world or in that of the Beyond, in ethereal matter, with the precise intention so that the human spirit can learn the Laws, develop, and become self-conscious in Creation.
The practice of pigeon and sheep immolation was carried out, at the time of Christ, principally at Easter time in the Temple of Jerusalem. The sheeps or pigeons to be sacrificed could have no defects, or cuts or abnormalities on its body. To be considered suitable, the animal had to be taken by its owner to the priest, that gave or not his certification for the sacrifice. If the priest considered the animal unsuitable, the owner would then have to get another one in the right state that satisfied the priest… or buy one from the stock of the high priests, Anas and his son-in-law Caifaz, also a high priest. This is how Easter was at that time, a very busy business week… and very profitable too. Anas’ family was notoriously rich as well as (scorned) hated by the people.
But this in itself was not the entire business. The sheeps and pigeons could only be bought with Jewish money. Roman currency was considered inappropriate for the purchase of the innocent sacrificial animals. At that time, the moneychangers had their stalls in the Temple, offering their services for changing the money and also profiting at the cost of those that believed they could redeem their guilt with the immolation of an animal. This market in the Temple was called Anas' Bazaar.
Anas and Caifaz’ earthly power was immense. The Temple was also one of their businesses, because they had participation in all exchanges and sales that took place there. Besides the economic power, they also had religious power, as they were the high priests of the Temple, managing and controlling the treasures deposited there. But they not only had these powers, because they also presided over the Sanhedrim (a type of Senate and Supreme Court, together), and they were politically in collusion with Pontius Pilate and the Romans. To the Romans, only the collection of tributes for Rome was interesting and maintain the population quiet and under control. Thus, Caifaz and Anas were the most powerful men of Jerusalem then.
Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem was an excited welcome party by the masses, as His fame preceded Him, and where it found adequate soil in the human souls, the seed of the Truth of His Words grew very rapidly in the hearts of men.
The Temple was His Father's house, a place that had to be an environment of deep respect, of stillness, of peace, and of harmony, where only the absolutely necessary that had to be spoken, should took place in very low voice, demonstrating civility, respect, love and comprehension to the Creator. It could not be any different if mankind truly honored Him.
But what did the Son of God found in the Temple: uproar, disrespect, disputes over money, animals screeching and making a mess, in fact, the Temple had been transformed into a commercial bazaar, thwarting the sublime significance of the building. His courageous attitude is immediate, expulsion of the peddlers from that consecrated place.
For the high priests, Jesus' coming could undermine them of their sacerdotal prestige, which would soon be revealed to the masses, and these could revolt people. Jesus' interference in the Temple, consequently intervening in the overall businesses of high priests, only made them speed up their conspiracy to neutralize the actions of the Great Master.
After the high priests managed to get someone to betray Him, and have Him arrested and judged in the Sanhedrim with the support of false testimonies, on accusations of blasphemy, Caifaz sentenced Him to death, as a means of freeing himself of the menace that Jesus represented to the system that gave him power and influence. But in order to complete this he had to send the process to Pilate for the confirmation of the sentence, as Caifaz was submissive to Rome's power that controlled Judea with iron fists and much severity.
But in that occasion, Caifaz judged himself, as well as all those mob used as political maneuver and hidden interests of the high priest, that exercised pressure for Jesus’ crucifixion. All of them condemned the Nazarene, as well as all those that, on a daily basis, twisted His words, and those that blindly accepted without reflecting the false concept that He had assumed man’s guilt, even being innocent of the trumped up charges. The Perfect and Unyielding Laws of Creator would need to become imperfect and yielding so that someone could expiate the guilt of somebody else facing these Laws. But, such a circumstance is simply impossible and neither can it ever be taken into consideration…
If the people that were present at Jesus' trial, used their intuition, which is the voice of the spirit, would soon have recognized the power game interests of the high priests and would not have supported the Nazarene's condemnation. Even if they had only used their logic and analyzed the Master's words, these would have touched their hearts (spirits), as they contained the Truth.
Jesus brought the Word of Creator's Love, being He Himself this very Love coming from the Father. The Creator's Justice, nevertheless, is inseparable from the Love of the Creator, and all His emanated Acts are in perfect agreement with His Acts in all times, past, present and future, denoting total immutability, as they are perfect in all ways.
Two thousand years have passed and the majority of mankind continues accepting without reflecting, that Jesus sacrificed Himself to purge humanity's guilt. They accept without the slightest intuitive reflection, logic or argument, as they only accept through material convenience, and do not think about the Reciprocal Law that does not admit injustices and grants to each one, with the most perfect immutability, the consequences of the acts carried out by each person himself. This is the Law that allows the spirit its development, through real experiences that returns the consequences of past acts, so that this way the person is able to learn the path to live a self-conscious existence, respecting the Laws and cooperating in the great Work of Art.
Jesus came to Earth in the same way as all humans do, through the incarnation in a physical body generated just like everybody else. His Essence however was not spiritual as normal people, but Divine, consequently very much stronger and much more powerful than the spiritual. His miracles held the Energy of His Father, but they were no different at all, in any way at all, from the Creator's Eternal Laws, not being, in any hypothesis, arbitrary. And just as no physical body on dying, resuscitates carnally in gross physical matter. Neither did Jesus’, only His Essence left earth’s sphere and returned to the Father, leaving behind here the material body that was destined for His use for just a few decades on Earth. However, this Essence was neither material nor spiritual, but a part of the Divine Father.
The faith in Jesus, in His words, His acts, and His miracles, together with the humans’ spiritual experiences over the last two millennia, should have led mankind to the conviction of the Eternal Laws and in the direction of the Spiritual Kingdom, which is the goal of the self-conscious spirit. But the faith has been very weak, and the intellect has intercepted the experiences sddressed for spirit’s development.
Today what the spirit is left with, is the path to unrestricted knowledge of the Laws, that, on reawakening to true self-conscious existence, can humbly bow down to the Will of Creator, on a voluntary basis and complete the time of one’s development.
Jesus' true mission, to bring the Light and Truth emanating from the Creator’s Perfection, will resurrect vigorously in all corners of the Earth, destroying the false interpretations that diverted mankind from the direction foreseen in the Laws.
May Easter bring the spiritual recognition!
José Guimarães Duque Filho