Easter by Richard Kieninger Easter is the main festival of the Christian Faith; and in observance of this Easter season, I have selected some excerpts from the writings of a man who was personally involved in the events surrounding Melchizedek’s crucifixion and the subsequent revitalizing of Jesus’ body. These excerpts are taken from the Gospel according to John (12-16) as translated in The New English Bible. I expect that a person who has read The Ultimate Frontier will discover meanings which he had not previously noted in his reading of the Bible. The circumstance which precipitated the decision by the Sanhedrin (the Jews’ civil-religious ruling council) to eliminate the Christ centered around His restoring life to Lazarus after the man had already lain four days in the tomb. Now try to picture these events as occurring in our present day in order to appreciate their full impact. Melchizedek would be dressed in a white shirt with a tie, perhaps a dark business suit, and His face would be clean shaven and His hair worn short. Try to place the personalities of that day into analogous character types with whom you are familiar. “Now many Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did (raised Lazarus from the dead) put their faith in Him. But some of them went off to the Pharisees and reported what He had done. Thereupon the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a meeting of the council. ‘What action are we taking?’ they said. ‘This man is performing many signs. If we leave Him alone like this, the whole populace will believe in Him. Then the Romans will come and sweep away our temple and our nation.’ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, said, ‘You know nothing whatever; you do not use your judgment; it is more to your interest that one man should die for the people, than that the whole nation should be destroyed.’” “Six days before the Passover festival, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived whom He had raised from the dead. There a supper was given in His honor, at which Martha served and Lazarus sat among the guests with Jesus. A great number of the Jews heard that He was there, and came not only to see Jesus but also Lazarus whom He had raised from the dead. The chief priests then resolved to do away with Lazarus as well, since on his account many Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in Him. The next day, the great body of pilgrims who had come to the festival, hearing that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessings of Israel!’ The people who were present when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead told what they had seen and heard. That is why the crowd went to meet Him; they had heard of this sign that He had performed. The Pharisees said to one another, ‘You see you are doing no good at all; why, all the world has gone after Him.’ For all that, even among those in authority, a number believed in Him but would not acknowledge Him on account of the Pharisees, for fear of being banned from the synagogue. For they valued their reputation with men rather than the honor which comes from God.” The following are portions of the farewell delivered by Melchizedek at the Last Supper. Imagine yourself in attendance there and see how His words apply to you today. “My children, for a little longer I am with you; then you will look for me, and, as I told the Jews I tell you now, where I am going you cannot come. I give you a new commandment: love one another; as I have loved you, so you are to love one another. If there is this love among you, then all will know that you are my disciples. If you love, you will obey my commands; and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another to be your Advocate, who will be with you for ever—the Spirit of Truth. (The Brotherhoods.) The world cannot receive him, because the world neither sees nor knows you. I will not leave you bereft; I am coming back to you. In a little while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me. Because I live, you too will live; then you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you. The word you hear is not mine; it is the word of the Father who sent me. I have told you all this while I am still here with you; but your Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will call to mind all that I have told you. “I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every barren branch of mine He cuts away; and every fruiting branch He cleans, to make it more fruitful still. You have already been cleaned by the word that I spoke to you. Dwell in me, as I in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, but only if it remains united with the vine; no more can you bear fruit, unless you remain united with me. I am the vine, and you the branches. He who dwells in me, as I dwell in Him, bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing. He who does not dwell in me is thrown away like a withered branch. The withered branches are heaped together, thrown on the fire, and burnt. I call you servants no longer; a servant does not know what his master is about. I have called you friends because I have disclosed to you everything that I heard from my Father. You did not choose me; I chose you. I appointed you to go on and bear fruit, fruit that shall last; so that the Father may give you all that you ask in my name. “If the world hates you, bear in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because I have chosen you out of the world, for that reason the world hated you. As they persecuted me, they will persecute you; they will follow your teaching as little as they have followed mine. But when your Advocate has come, whom I shall send you from the Father—the Spirit of Truth that issues from the Father—he will bear witness to me. And you also are my witnesses, because you have been with me from the first. There is still much that I could say to you, but the burden would be too great for you now. However, when he comes who is the Spirit of Truth, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but will tell only what he hears; and he will make known to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, for everything that he makes known to you he will draw from what is mine. Look, the hour is coming, has indeed already come, when you are all to be scattered, each to his own home, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is in me. I have told you all this so that in me you may find peace. In the world you will have trouble. But courage! The victory is mine; I have conquered the world.” Thus, Christ spoke well of the Brotherhoods who are with us today in His stead.
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