Were
the teachings of Jesus "esoteric" teachings...
only to be revealed to the
"initiates"?
A
guest document by Ricardo de Valencia
PURPOSE
In this document we will examine the following false allegation that is
representative of some "esoteric researchers":
“For
the teachings of Christ were occult teachings, which could only be
explained at the initiation. They were never intended for the masses,
for Jesus forbade the twelve to go to the Gentiles and the Samaritans
(Mt 10:5-6), and repeated to his disciples that the 'mysteries of
Heaven' were for them alone, not for the multitudes (Mk 4:11).”
Many Christians know that
that is not true, but can they reason
it out based on the Gospel? Because it is really true that Jesus
explained many things in parables and only to His apostles did He
explain the meaning. But, at the same time, we know that the mission of
the apostles was not to keep secrets but to preach the Gospel openly.
How to reconcile these ideas that seem to go in opposite directions?
Here we will show how this apparent contradiction can be unraveled in
the light of the Gospel.
DETAILS
First, about Matthew 10:5-6:
Jesus
sent these twelve out and commanded them, saying, “Don’t go among the
Gentiles, and don’t enter into any city of the Samaritans. Rather, go
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
[Mt 10:5-6]
Jesus did not commanded them to act this way forever. The simple and correct
explanation is that the Good News had to be
preached first to the Jews.
After that, Jesus instructed their apostles to:
“Go
into all the world and preach the Good News to the whole creation.”
[Mk 16:15]
“You will be witnesses to me in
Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the
earth.”
[Acts 1:8]
Some disciples and apostles found it hard to understand, but they ended
up understanding that "the whole world" included the Gentiles:
“They
of the circumcision who believed were amazed, as many as came with
Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the
Gentiles.” [Acts
10:45]
Paul and Barnabas understood this perfectly from the beginning, and
they said so when addressing the Jews who rejected the Gospel:
“It was necessary that God’s word
should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from
yourselves, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we
turn to the Gentiles.” [Acts 13:46]
Now, about the alleged
concealment of "occult teachings out of the reach of the masses"
Let us keep the alluded passage at hand:
He
said to them, “To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom, but to
those who are outside, all things are done in parables, that ‘seeing
they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not
understand, lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should
be forgiven them.’ ” [Mark 4:11-12]
[Similar: Matthew13:10-13;
Luke 8:9-10]
First of all, an important distinction must be made: "hidden" is not the same as
"occult" or "esoteric".
There will always be "hidden"
mysteries about God, since He —in whose Mind the
whole Universe is contained— can never
be contained in a human mind. Does this mean that the Christian Faith
is "esoteric" knowledge? No! Absolutely not! For "occult" as in "hidden
in parables" or as in "they will see and not perceive" is very different from "occult" or
"esoteric".
Implicit
in the meaning of the words "occult" and "esoteric" there is, as a
first step, a rejection to God.
The appeal to the "occult" and the "esoteric" is an invitation to
pursue knowledge by means of an intellectual
and spiritual research
with aids different than the
recourse to God — "secret wisdom of the ancients", study of
magic as if it were "wisdom", "transcendental meditation" (without God,
and therefore open to spiritual influences), "seeking (divinity) in
oneself", consultation of spirits... And that is precisely the opposite
of the Christian Faith!
And, regarding those who undertake the study of the Christian Faith as
an esoteric intellectual study
(as if the mission of the apostles was to keep secrets of human wisdom
that the Gospels have not revealed), St. Paul has a message for them:
“When
I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of
wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined not
to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. .... that your faith wouldn’t stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” [1Cor
2:1-5]
That Jesus' parables were "not meant
for the masses"? Really? Think about this:
* If the explanations to the parables
told by Jesus were meant to be forever hidden and only revealed to the
"initiated",
then the apostles did a
poor job because anyone can
read today in the Holy Scriptures the
explanations to the parables.
* If what Jesus communicated in intimacy to the apostles was "esoteric"
knowledge that was not to be made known to the multitudes,
then the long discourse of intimate
revelations that Jesus, in His farewell, explained to His apostles
(John, chapters 13-17)
would never have been made public.
In the face of this, one may ask: And
why did Jesus' explanations of the parables and intimate teachings end
up being public? Did he not say that to "those who are outside"
it is not given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven?
The answer: The Word of God
was not intended to be forever locked up in parables or in the mouths
of a few. At the appropriate time —after His Resurrection— it
had to be explained openly so that: (a) the whole world would have the opportunity to receive or
reject it and (b) all His Chosen Ones scattered throughout the world
could benefit from it:
“
I have spoken these things to you in
figures of speech. But the time is
coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the
Father.”
[John
16:25]
“What I tell you in the darkness,
speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear,
proclaim on the housetops.” [Mt 10:27]
Just as there was a time when His apostles were, first, to go "to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel" and then "to the whole world", so
too there was a time when Jesus, first, "spoke in parables" and then
asked them "What I tell you in the
darkness, speak in the light".
Even after the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven have been openly
explained, many still "see and not perceive, hear and not understand".
It can be said that still "everything comes to them in parables". God
takes care of that. What do some
of them do, then? They look for substitute and "more deeply hidden"
explanations that do not pertain to the true Christ.
Is there any "occult/esoteric"
knowledge that, being "denied to the masses", prevents them from
benefiting from the Kingdom of Heaven?
The mysteries necessary for Salvation
have already been revealed to
all mankind. Because they have been revealed, they are no longer
"mysteries". They are not "occult" or "esoteric". That Jesus Christ
rose from the dead is not a secret — it is a matter of faith, but not a
secret guarded by his disciples. His role in our redemption is a revealed mystery, what "many prophets and righteous men desired
to see" [Mt
13:17] before the apostles and was revealed in Jesus.
We do not know the physical-spiritual mechanism of the Resurrection,
but that is not necessary
for our Salvation (on the contrary, it would be worthless if an act of
faith were not necessary). Likewise, each one is free to accept the revealed commandment "Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God" as the key to his/her life or to reject it.
Are there still "hidden secrets" to be
revealed? Were the apostles guardians of some of these secrets?
Secondary to the
already
revealed mysteries which are necessary for Salvation, of course there
are
still "secrets" — an infinite number of them! There will always be mysteries about God, since
He —in whose Mind the entire Universe is contained— can never be contained in a human mind.
But it is one thing to say that there are secrets that God prefers to
reveal only to a few and quite another to say that the mission of the
apostles is "to keep secrets of wisdom that the Gospels have not
revealed".
What God further decides to reveal to anyone depends on our response to
His Love, not on our
capacity for intellectual or "esoteric" research. The pure and
simple mechanism is: Only after a child has accepted the fact that the
Father really loves him/her, then He will be moved, out of pure love,
to share the details of His
Love.
You can call it "initiation" if you wish, but it is not an "initiation"
that depends on an elite accepting you after a probation. Will you call
"initiation" the act of lovingly embracing your father after a bitter
separation and this act opening the door for your father to talk to you
with love? The mission of
the apostles is not to transmit "hidden knowledge", it is to
instruct you in very simple truths
so that you feel moved to accept the
invitation to meet your Heavenly Father.
Any other knowledge apart from the
necessary for that encounter is secondary. However, the more His
creature loves Him, the more He will be moved to share. The key to the
mysteries of Heaven is love —accepting like a child the Love of God for
us—, not human wisdom:
“I
thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things
from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.”
[Mt 11:25]
“Let no one deceive himself. If
anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a
fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is
foolishness with God.” [1Cor 3:18-19]
“For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek
after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews
and foolishness to Greeks...” [1Cor 1:22-23]
EPILOGUE
The consequences of pursuing an
"esoteric" science to know the mysteries of God
As we have said before, the pursuit of the "occult" and "esoteric"
carries implicitly, as a first step, a rejection of God.
The problem is that, from the moment one rejects God in his/her search
for
wisdom about the affairs of Heaven, God will allow unclean spirits
to
influence his/her "research",
since in the spiritual realm there is no such thing as "emptiness":
either one fills his/her "space" with God or it will be occupied by
"others". If one leaves God out of the equation, what one will get will
be only filth, since He is the ONLY source of True Wisdom.
En Español: ¿Eran las enseñanzas de Jesús enseñanzas
'esotéricas' que solo debían revelarse a los 'iniciados'?
Published on June 30th, 2022
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