Earthly tradition as against the Laws of God

Matthew 15:1-9 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Jesus confirmed here that the scribes and Pharisees teach the people of Israel doctrines which they have devised with their own brains. These people have devised traditions which are now meant to pass as the Word of God. It is quite possible that history has repeated itself in the development of many religions whereby men interwove their own thoughts into the words of their Teachers and these words are now meant to pass as inviolable truth.

In this they seek to mislead people and indeed have misled many people by bringing them under their own influence when they should have set them free by telling them to serve God only with the activity of their own spirits. In this way, they thrust themselves between the upward gaze of the seeker and God. They wanted to be considered as intermediaries and interpreters of the Word when all they in reality wanted was to bind the people to themselves whereby their power over the people would be unquestioned.

The history of religion has been unfortunately the same whereby the custodians of the words of the Teacher saw an advantage only for themselves and would not shrink from altering the teaching of the Teacher if this would win adherents to the faith and strengthen the earthly empire that they were trying to build up.

Initially these people exploited spiritual indolence by promising an easy way into Heaven but as their earthly power increased they shed their mask and resorted to using force against those who would not accept their interpretations of the Word. They used the threats of torture and murder to maintain their hold on the people. In so doing, they showed that they really never served their master and had never intended to follow the word that he gave. No genuine spiritual teacher ever taught the means that they used against their adversaries. They were but serving only one master, Lucifer who would use any means in his subjugation of the whole of mankind.

Matthew 15:10-11 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: (11) not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

What comes out of the mouth of a man are his words. If these are evil then they are capable of defiling. They come from within him and they take on form as they leave him that corresponds to the nature of the words. Being evil, they are dark and heavy. And being dark, they are capable of soiling the ethereal cloak of the producer. This is the defilement that Jesus spoke about. These forms being dark are also capable of soiling the ethereal cloak of those for whom they are intended. They attach to these people or person and sully his cloak in the same way as they sully the cloak of their producers.

These forms are capable of attracting similar forms to themselves thereby becoming stronger around the person for whom the forms are intended and in the final analysis poison the thoughts of these people. These are the processes of defilement that Jesus talked about but which no one have been able to understand until now through the explanations given in the book “In the Light of Truth” the Grail Message by Abd-ru-shin. As for words so also for thoughts and deeds. These in the same manner take on forms corresponding to their natures. They act in a similar way and can poison in the same way.

Matthew 15:12-20 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
15 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

The scribes and Pharisees do not possess any spiritual insight and they would propose to lead people spiritually. Obviously this would be impossible for them. Lacking any spiritual insight, it would be impossible for them to show the people the true spiritual path that these are to take. Being spiritually blind they will not see the spiritual way that the people are to follow.

It is obvious that they will give wrong explanations of the Will of God because they do not know this Will. They will lead the people onto the wrong paths which will lead them to spiritual destruction. How could they even imagine themselves to be spiritual guides when they do not know this path themselves? They thought that they knew the path and this is the result of the restriction placed upon them by the intellect with the wanting to know better that accompanies this.

Slaves of the intellect always think that they know everything better because they are supposed to have thought things out. For them they are standing at the highest level and it is inconceivable for them that there would be those who could stand even higher than them. Of course they are standing at the highest level. The highest level that the intellect is able to reach, which is at the boundary where gross matter abuts on the ethereal world. It is lowly and the lowest point in Creation.

The real happenings in this Creation are well beyond this because they happen at a spiritual level and it is only those who are capable of swinging themselves beyond this intellect who will have access to the knowledge that will forever be closed to the intellectuals. The disciples here in spite of all the explanations still do not understand their Master. As we have seen many times, they sometimes ask Him to give them further explanations. They often caused Jesus great suffering in their lack of understanding of sometimes apparently simple matters.

Matthew 16:1-4 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
2 He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

The scribes and Pharisees can interpret mundane signs but have not been able to recognize the most important ones. All the signs and great works that Jesus had performed, they had remained blind to. They still wanted more and more signs. It is obvious that these people will never be satisfied no matter what signs Jesus gave.

They have been asking for signs since the beginning of His Mission. They had witnessed miracles upon miracles but they still wanted Him to give them a performance. They wanted to be entertained by the Son of God so that they might believe Him. They who should be the ones serving God but they wanted God to serve them. They make demands on God.

Arrogant and ungrateful servants, self-complacent and lazy. They would rather sit in their armchairs and demand that a Son of God give them a performance only to still ask for more signs. These people really will never be able to attain to the Kingdom of God with this attitude.

Matthew 16:5-12 And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.
8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees that can spread slowly but surely amongst you. The doubts and questioning which is characteristic of the men of intellect was already beginning to take hold among the disciples. They, in the midst of all this greatness could only think of bread. All that Jesus had taught them and accomplished in their midst they had forgotten. That all they had to do was concentrate on the great task ahead and that they will be provided for.

Again and again intellectual doubts crept up on them and concerns about what to eat and what to drink came to preoccupy them. They were beginning to yield to the intellect and against this Jesus warned them. Unless we become childlike in our faith it would be impossible to progress. We will only make things more difficult for ourselves. We even run the risks that if things are not going the way that we expected quickly enough, we might change our minds about continuing on the right path. These are intellectual thoughts that start in the mind and if allowed can take over completely with all the attendant consequences. Against this Jesus warned His disciples. It is only through simplicity and the knowledge that God is the dispenser of all things that we can progress.