The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ

Jesus talks with the rabbi of the synagogue of Nazareth. He criticises the narrowness of Jewish thought.

Now, Rabbi Barachia of the synagogue of Nazareth, was aid to Mary in the teaching of her son.

2 One morning after service in the synagogue the rabbi said to Jesus as he sat in silent thought, Which is the greatest of the Ten Commands?

3 And Jesus said, I do not see a greatest of the Ten Commands. I see a golden cord that runs through all the Ten Commands that binds them fast and makes them one.

4 This cord is love, and it belongs to every word of all the Ten Commands.

5 If one is full of love he can do nothing else than worship God; for God is love.

6 If one is full of love, he cannot kill; he cannot falsely testify; he cannot covet; can do naught but honor God and man.

7 If one is full of love he does not need commands of any kind.

8 And Rabbi Barachia said, Your words are seasoned with the salt of wisdom that is from above. Who is the teacher who has opened up this truth to you?

9 And Jesus said, I do not know that any teacher opens up this truth for me. It seems to me that truth was never shut; that it was always opened up, for truth is one and it is everywhere.

10 And if we open up the windows of our minds the truth will enter in and make herself at home; for truth can find her way through any crevice, any window, any open door.

11 The rabbi said, What hand is strong enough to open up the windows and the doors of mind so truth can enter in?

12 And Jesus said, It seems to me that love, the golden cord that binds the Ten Commands in one, is strong enough to open any human door so that the truth can enter in and cause the heart to understand.

13 Now, in the evening Jesus and his mother sat alone, and Jesus said,

14 The rabbi seems to think that God is partial in his treatment of the sons of men; that Jews are favored 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.