Questions
A. How do we explain Jesus' Transfiguration and what other unusual thing happened at that same moment?
B. What is the meaning of the figure of temptation of Jesus by Satan?
C. How could Jesus, after the death of His body, appear so often to His disciples?
Reading Text
1034. Those, whose passage on Earth is marked by real valuable works, are more valued after they are dead than when alive. They are then judged with more fairness because, since envy and jealousy disappear, personal antagonisms cease too. Posterity is the selfless judge that evaluates the Spirit’s work. It accepts it without blind enthusiasm if it is good, and, if bad, it rejects it without malice, not even taking into consideration the individual who did it.
1035. Jesus did not escape the consequences of this way of thinking, which is inherent in human nature. The environment, in which He lived, consisted of creatures voted entirely to a material life. Therefore, His neighbors only saw Him as the carpenter’s son, a brother of men as ignorant as a carpenter. They did not understand what made Him superior and what gave Him the right to censure them.
1036. Having noticed that His word had less authority over His own people, who despised Him, than it had over strangers, He preferred to preach to those who listened and who showed sympathy for Him. One can imagine the feelings that He caused on those who were related to Him. His own brothers, accompanied by His mother, went to a meeting where He was, to take Him away saying that he had lost His mind. (Mark, Chapter III, vv. 20, 21 and 31 to 35).
1037. If, on the one hand, the priests and the Pharisees accused Him of working for the devil; on the other hand, He was considered mad by His closest relatives. Is it not what happens today regarding the Spiritists? And can they complain that their fellows do not treat them well, if Jesus’ relatives did not treat Him any better?
1038. Death and Passion of Jesus - (After healing the lunatic) - Everybody admired the great power of God. And while they were all admiring Him for what He did, He said to His disciples: Keep in your hearts what I am going to tell you: The Son of Man must be handed over to men. But the people did not understand this type of language; for them the meaning was so hidden, that they did not understand one word and even feared to question Him about it. (Luke, Chapter IX, vv. 44 and 45).
1039. From that time onwards, Jesus began to tell His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem, and that He would suffer very much on the hands of the senators, the scribes, and the chief priests, and that He had to be killed and would resurrect on the third day. (Matthew, Chapter XVI, v. 21).
1040. In Galilee, Jesus said to them: The Son of Man must be handed over into the hands of men; they will kill Him and He will rise again on the third day. This distressed them very much. Now, Jesus going to Jerusalem took His twelve disciples aside and said, “Let's go to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed and handed to the chief priests and scribes, who will condemn Him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles, and they will mock, whip and crucify Him; and He shall rise again on the third day. (Matthew, Chapter XX, vv. 17, 18 and 19).
1041. Having ended all these speeches, Jesus told His disciples: You know that Easter will take place within two days and that the Son of Man will be betrayed and crucified. At the same time, the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the court of the high priest Caiaphas, and began to consult each other, looking for a way to cleverly take possession of Jesus and kill Him. They said: It is absolutely necessary that it does not happen during the feast, so as not to raise any uproar among the people. (Matthew, Chapter XXVI, 1 to 5).
1042. On the same day, some Pharisees came and told Him: Leave this place, because Herod wants to kill you. He answered: Go and tell that fox that I still have to cast out demons and restore health to the sick, today and tomorrow; on the third day I shall be consummated (Luke, Chapter XIII, vv. 31 and 32).
1043. Persecution of the Apostles - so Jesus warned: Beware of men, for they will make you appear in their assemblies, and will flog you in their synagogues; and you shall be brought for my sake to governors and kings, to serve as witnesses to them and to the nations. (Matthew, Chapter X, vv. 17 and 18).
1044. They shall put you out of the synagogues and the time will come when the one, who causes your death, will think that he is pleasing God. They will treat you like this because they don’t know my Father, and they don’t know me. I tell you these things, so that when the time arrives, you remember what I told you. (John, Chapter XVI, vv. 1 to 4).
1045. You will be betrayed and handed over to magistrates by your fathers and your mothers, by your brothers, your relatives, your friends and many of you will be killed. You will be hated by everyone because of my name. However, not a single hair of your head will be lost. It will be through your patience that you will possess your souls. (Luke, Chapter XXI, vv. 16 and 19).
1046. (Martyrdom of St. Peter) Truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you would put your own belt and go where you wanted to go; however, when you become older, you will reach out for someone else to put your belt for you and to take you where you do not want to go. Now, He said this to indicate that Peter’s death would glorify God. (John, Chapter XXI vv. 18 and 19).
1047. Impenitent Cities – Then He began to admonish the cities where He had done many miracles, because they had not done penance. Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida, because if the miracles that were done in your city had been done in Tire and Sidon, they would have long ago done penance in with sacks and ashes. Therefore, I tell you that on the Judgment Day, Tire and Sidon will be treated less strictly than yourselves. And as for you, Capernaum, will you always raise up to Heaven? You will be lowered until the bottom of hell, because if the miracles that were done in your city had been done in Sodom, this city might still subsist today. I am telling you that on the Judgment Day, the city of Sodom will be treated less strictly than you. (Matthew, Chapter XI, vv. 20 and 24).
1048. Ruin of the Temple and of Jerusalem - When Jesus left the Temple to go away, His disciples approached Him and called His attention to the structure and the grandeur of that building. But He said to them: Do you see all these buildings? I tell you, in fact, that they will be destroyed, that there will be no stone unturned. (Matthew, Chapter XXIV, vv. 1 and 2).
1049. Then, having come close to Jerusalem, and when He saw the city, He wept for it, saying: Ah! If, at least on this day that is still given you, you would only recognize the one that can give you peace! But now all this is hidden from your eyes. A time will come for you, when your enemies will surround you in trenches, will close you and press you on all sides; the time when they will lie you down on the ground, you and your children, who are within you, and will not leave one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you. (Luke, Chapter XIX, vv. 41 to 44).
1050. Then He said: However, it is necessary that I continue to walk today and tomorrow and the next day, because it is necessary that no prophet is killed elsewhere, except in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you, how many times did I wanted to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you did not wanted it! The time is coming when your house will be deserted. Now I, in fact, tell you that you will not see me again, until you say: Blessed is He, who comes in the name of the Lord. (Luke, Chapter XIII, vv. 33 to 35).
1051. When you see an army surrounding Jerusalem, know that it is close to its destruction. Flee to the hills, those who are in Judea, take out the people that are in it, and do not let in those who are in the surrounding areas. Because, these days will be those of revenge, so that what is in the Scripture is accomplished. Woe for those who are pregnant, because this country will be afflicted with evil and the anger of Heaven will fall over this people. They will be passed to the sword. They will be taken captive into all nations and Jerusalem will be trampled by the feet of the Gentiles, until the time of the nations is filled. (Luke, Chapter XXI, vv. 20 and 24).
1052. (Jesus walking to torture) Now He was followed by a crowd, and women were crying and beating their breasts, Jesus then turned around and said: Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; but weep for yourselves and your children, because the time will come when it will be said: Blissful are the barren women, the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never fed. Everyone will tell the mountains: Fall over us! And to the hills: Cover us! Because if you treat the green wood this way, how will the dry wood be treated? (Luke, Chapter XXIII, vv. 27 to 31).
1053. The faculty to sense the things to come is one of the attributes of the soul and it is explained by the theory of foreknowledge. Jesus had this faculty, among others, very developed. He could, therefore, predict the events that followed, and this was not considered something supernatural, because it happened in the most natural conditions. It is not uncommon for some people to know the precise moment when they will die. Their soul is in a state of detachment and, therefore, it is like the man in the mountain: it can see the road, the distance to be walked and its end.is deat
1054. All the more so would happen to Jesus, when, being aware of the mission He was to accomplish, He knew that death and torture would be the inevitable consequence. His permanent spiritual vision, as well as the penetration of thought, would show Him the circumstances and the fatal time. For the same reason, He could foresee the ruin of the Temple, of Jerusalem, and the misfortunes that would fall upon the inhabitants and the dispersion of the Jews.
Answers to the proposed questions
A. How do we explain Jesus' Transfiguration and what other unusual thing happened at that same moment?
As we know, Jesus called Peter, James and John, took them with Him to a high mountain and transfigured Himself before them. As he prayed, His face changed and seemed entirely another face; His clothes became very bright, and they were of a kind of snow white that cannot be seen on this Earth. And they saw Elijah and Moses appear, and they began to talk with Jesus. In addition to this unusual fact, a cloud also appeared. It overshadowed them, and from it came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him”.
So they looked around, but saw nobody else except Jesus, who was there alone with them. Jesus’ transfiguration can be explained by the perispiritic fluid properties. Fluidic irradiation can modify the appearance of an individual. However, in this specific case, the purity of the perispirit of Jesus also contributed for His Spirit to have an exceptional glow. (Genesis, Chapter XV, items 43 and 44).
B. What is the meaning of the figure of temptation of Jesus by Satan?
Jesus was not effectively carried away by anyone.
The Spirit of evil could do nothing against the essence of goodness. No one claims to have seen Jesus on the mountaintop, or the pinnacle of the temple. Certainly, this fact would have been likely to spread to all people. The temptation, therefore, did not constitute a material and physical act.
As for the moral act, you can believe that the spirit of darkness could tell that he knew his own origin and his power: “Worship me and I shall give you all the kingdoms on Earth”? Does this mean that the demon did not know whom he was addressing? This is not likely.
Also, how can we explain that the Messiah, the Word of God incarnate, was submitted for some time to the devil's suggestions, and, as stated in the Gospel of Luke, the devil had left Him for a while, thus assuming that the Christ continued submitted to the power of that entity?
The temptation of Jesus is therefore only a figure and one would have to be blind to take it at face value. With this parable He just wanted to make men understand that humanity is found liable to fail and that it should always be on guard against the bad inspirations that, due to their weak nature, it is compelled to give in. (Genesis, Chapter XV, items 52 and 53).
C. How could Jesus, after the death of His body, appear so often to His disciples?
The apparitions of Jesus, after His death, are perfectly explained by fluidic laws and by the perispirit properties, and there is no abnormal features regarding the same type of phenomena seen along Ancient and Modern History, with so many tangible examples. If we focus on all the circumstances when the apparitions occurred, we will see that He had all the characters of a fluidic being.
He appeared suddenly and likewise disappeared; some could see Him, and others could not; He appeared with different looks and not even His disciples recognized Him; He showed up in closed areas, where a carnal body could not enter; His own language lacked the liveliness of a corporeal being; He talked briefly and in a tone of voice peculiar to the spirits, when they manifest themselves; all His attitudes, in a word, show something which is not from this world.
His presence causes both surprise and fear; when they see Him, His disciples do not talk to Him freely as before; they feel that He is not a man any longer.
Jesus therefore showed Himself with His perispiritic body, and this explains why He was seen only by those He wanted. If He was in His carnal body, we would have been seen by all, as when He was alive. Ignoring the original cause of the apparitions, His disciples were unaware of these particularities, to which, most probably, they paid no attention. As long as they saw the Lord and touched Him, they thought it was His body revived. (Genesis, Chapter XV, items 58 to 61).
