So many Christians think and say they follow the words of Jesus. The reality is, many of us follow the words of 
Jesus that agree with our thinking and disregard the rest of Jesus’ words. Either that, or some of us contrive the words of Jesus to mean other things than what the words of Jesus actually say. It is quite enlightening to read only the words of Jesus in the New Testament, without any spin, and take those words at literal value. Most of us would be very surprized at what Jesus actually said. Jesus meant what he said, not what got translated to mean what humans wanted these same words to mean.
Here is a prime example of this, where Jesus said, “nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” In Luke 17:21, the New King James Version, Jesus does not say the kingdom of God, or the Light of God, or the Love of God, or the Life of God is outside of you, something to be grasped at, fasted for, penance to be done or sacrifice so you can be made worthy. Rather, Jesus says the kingdom of God is within you.
Consider also that Jesus is specifically telling this to the Pharisees, not just his apostles and disciples. Yet some bibles changed those words ‘within you’ to ‘among you.’ This changes the entire meaning of what Jesus said. However, the oldest translations, according to the Hebrew-Greek-English Interlinear Bible, says the actual words translate to “within you.” Now many newer Bibles are reverting back to the orginal words, prior to bible translation tampering.
Jesus also said in John 14:12, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
How are you doing at doing greater works than Jesus? These words apply to everyone, not just those of us with Jewish, Christian, or other beliefs.
Jesus is our model in this life, one to be emulated. We were getting it wrong and missing the finer truths about his Father, himself and us. He came to show us, first hand, how to manifest the spiritual life, the life of our soul, which he instructed us, then and now. People were drawn to his words because they were and still are the words of eternal life. This eternal life, as he points out in the parable of the vine and the branches mentioned below, is not something outside of us. Jesus came to teach us about his Father, but also teaches us that he is not separate from his Father.
John’s gospel accurately states in John 1:1 (Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition): “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
There is more to what Jesus taught, written in today’s bibles that writers conveniently forgot to mention, or interpret accurately. They pulled out the words of empowerment for your soul and turned you into victims by your own agreement with this erroneous doctrine. Jesus said the problem was people’s lack of faith. That too has been mutilated into yet another control system of beliefs. The lack of faith Jesus was teaching us, then and now, is that the Light of God that is within him, the Love of God that is within him, and the Kingdom of God that is within him, is also in each and every one of us.
He came to teach us. We are to be like him. This has been such a hard concept to grasp, given the fear-induced guilt coupled with eternal damnation threats if we do not go along with humanly contrived control systems. Jesus came to correct this erroneous thinking. He even gave us the parable of the vine and the branches, demonstrating that everything, including you and me, connects to God. Without this God-connection, we are dead souls. Without this God-connection, all Life ceases to exist.
This is the parable of the Vine and the Branches, in John 15:1-13 (Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition):
- I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
- Every branch of mine that bears no fruit; he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
- You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you.
- Abide in me; and I in you.
- As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
- I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.
- If a man (any human being) does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into a fire and burned.
- If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
- By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.
- As the Father has loved me; so have I loved you; abide in my love.
- If you keep my commandments (The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have done unto you), you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father Commandments and abide in his love.
- These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
- This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
Here we see the Intimate Life of you, me, Jesus and God is universally One through LOVE; the LIGHT, and the LIFE and BREATH of the Soul. This is our I AM Presence. We all have it. We can choose to tap into it and use it or not. We have free will. Jesus did not lie to us when he said he is in the Father and the Father is in him. He also did not lie when he said you and I are in him and he is in us. Again, we are all One. We can choose to be productive or not. We can choose to be the victim of our lives, or not. We can choose to believe in what Jesus said, or not.
John’s First Epistle in 1 John 4:16: “God is LOVE, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
Jesus bases all of his instruction on LOVE.
Let’s take a closer look at the words of Jesus, and actually believe what he is so desperately trying to tell us, without threat or fear as his motive.
Luke 4:16-30 says, “When he (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
“And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Why was Jesus prohibited from curing sick people in his hometown? Some biblical scholars put the the fault on the people, or their sins, or their lack of faith in God. But this is not true. Jesus is pointing out their lack of faith in his teaching, THAT THE LOVE OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU, THAT THE LIGHT OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU, THAT THE LIGHT OF JESUS IS WITHIN YOU.
No, this is not heresy, nor blasphemy, nor antichrist doctrine. The antichrist is any person, place or thing that lies in denying the Father and the Son. Jesus is teaching the REALITY of his Father, and that the Father lives in him, the Son; and that this LOVE lives in you and me as well.
The problem Jesus encountered in his hometown is the same problem that exists in our thinking still today. We need to hear and understand ALL the words of Jesus, void of the bias of many of our previous indoctrinations, and threats to our immortal souls.
Matthew 13:53-58 says, “When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. New International Version (NIV) Bible
The problem was in their thinking. Their thinking and feeling was so strong that this Jesus that they all knew and grew up with, could not possibly be the great Master of healing they had heard about. Their thinking and intense feeling is what prohibited most healings. Thoughts and feelings, as well as our belief systems are energy. They are an intricate part of our bioenergetic systems.
Remember, what you think about, you bring about. This works in limitations, such as Jesus not being able to heal many of their illnesses in his hometown. The problem was not in the lack of power of Jesus, nor in their lack of faith in God, Father of Jesus. The problem was in the lack of faith in the actual words of Jesus, that the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Love and Light is in each ane every one of us. Jesus preached about the Kingdom of God over 100 times in the gospels. He meant exactly what he said.
The principle is a true principle, which also works in the positive. Those that believed they would be healed, were. Check out all of the healings in the New Testament, which are too numerous to mention here.
After all his teaching and preaching work with his many disciples, Jesus is shocked that they still seem to not get it.
Mark 6:5-6 says, “He could not do any miracles there, except lay hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.”
So this lack of faith, is not a lack of faith in the hijacked, manmade twist of present scriptures and human explanations of present control-systems of thought. This lack of faith refers to the lack of faith in each and everyone one of us who denies the Love and Light of God within us, and the Life-generating power of our I AM Presences.
You are much more powerful in the Love, Light and Life of God within yourself than you may realize. Meditate on this and grow in the faith of who and what you truly are.
Namaste