Posted by Roberta Grimes • January 07, 2023 • 37 Comments
Jesus, The Teachings of Jesus
Day by day, Day by day,
Oh, Dear Lord,
Three things I pray.
To see thee more clearly,
Love thee more dearly,
Follow thee more nearly,
Day by day.
– John-Michael Tebelak (1949-1985) & Stephen Lawrence Schwartz from “Day by Day” (1970)
Preparing the materials for teachingsbyjesus.com is the hardest thing that I ever have done. Taking the Bar Exam over again at almost sixty years old was nothing compared to trying to puzzle out some of the radical new ideas that Jesus came to earth to teach us two thousand years ago! We must stipulate as a fact that Jesus is a consistent and coherent Being. And we further must accept it as a certain fact that despite the problem of those six decades of illiterates playing telephone with His words, and the two-step translations, and the obvious problem that we are dealing with four Biblical Gospels and not one, in the end there will be a single consistent and coherent Gospel message on every detail of His teachings. I have realized only in retrospect how naïve I was to assume that we were going to be able to discover Jesus’s original Gospel message now beneath all the religious distortions, so to find it there feels somewhat astounding. By wild guess, we might have as few as only ten percent of the public words that Jesus spoke still preserved. We cannot even imagine what glorious wonders might have come from His lips and been forgotten, and now they are forever lost. Even with the fact that there is a lot of duplication in the three synoptic Gospels, still those Gospels do vary a bit from one another. And of course, the Gospel of John is another kettle of petunias altogether.
And still with all of that, as you will see when eventually you can visit the website, Jesus’s words taken from the four Biblical Gospels do assemble into a remarkably detailed and consistent spiritual message. And to make that message easier to understand, we have broken it into eight core teachings. There likely are other significant points that can be ferreted out with more effort, but these eight do come together with surprising ease, and they build upon one another and create one set of teachings. Some of the things that Jesus says will astonish you. No more religions? No more rules-based sins? I have been so shaken by some of what I have found that I was allowed to check in with the Boss to confirm what I was learning, and He has confirmed it all. He was only surprised that I might need His confirmations. He thought His words had been perfectly clear, as indeed they are clear. But when I asked Him about one particular area, I found His answer in itself to be ambiguous. I think I must have framed my question wrong. I said, “So, what then is Your commandment, Lord?”
He said, “My child, what is it about love that you do not understand?”
And with that, my memory stops.
One of the problems with reading the Gospels is that those who heard Jesus speak were most likely to remember what they themselves thought was important. And that leaves out all sorts of connector events and surrounding details, the many things that people living in a given situation might take for granted, but that you or I, watching from a distance, might be very eager to know. For example, when I was doing basic afterlife research, one of the last things that I was able to confirm was that human bodies in the afterlife are solid! The newly dead who were communicating from there with their loved ones on earth assumed that their still-living loved ones would of course know that people are solid – Duh! So very few statements about what people’s astral bodies are like have survived in the afterlife literature.
And my problem in this case was that Jesus had replaced the whole Old Testament with God’s Law of Love quite early in His ministry. He thereby, we assume, had done away with the Ten Commandments as stated rules. And we know that He also had done away quite specifically with all judgment by God, and He even had sort-of done away with rules-based sins. He had replaced it all with something that He called “My Commandment.” So as best I could determine, now the only sin was to do or say or even to think something unloving. I wish I had said that directly to Jesus! Was it possible that “My Commandment” meant simply that?
Thomas keeps saying to me, “Stop being so literal!” My darling primary guide is much happier now. I gather that seekreality.com and teachingsbyjesus.com are a major part of what he and I have left to do in this lifetime, and with most of both websites well underway, he can relax a bit. He thinks my problem is primarily what he calls “Christian hangover.” People who were reared as Roman Christians can have trouble getting past that old habitual, religion-imposed need for rigid rules and limits. Thomas has referred me to Chapters 15 and 16 of the Biblical Book of John, where Jesus is preaching to His Apostles as He is about to go to the cross. But are those words meant for the rest of us as well? I wish I had thought to ask Jesus that question. I swear, the older I get, and the more steeped and drenched I become in these Gospel words, the less capable I feel of actually doing anything! But I took my Thomas’s suggestion, and I studied John 15-16 in particular. It starts with Jesus flat-out telling His elite team that “My Commandment” is that His Apostles will love one another as He has loved them. But is that also His Commandment to us all?
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends” (JN 15:12-13). Jesus also talks about their need to remain connected to Him. “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit (JN 15:1-2).
My husband once had a hobby-vineyard. He made wine as an all-consuming hobby for years, so I am very familiar with that process. My goodness, if you ever want to have any spare time at all, never attempt to grow a twenty-acre hobby-vineyard!
And as Jesus says, if the Apostolic branches are to be fruitful, they must remain well connected to Him. “If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; remain in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (JN 15 7-11). “This I command you, that you love one another” (JN 15:17). You know, I read this, and all I can think of is Jesus watching these men as they then went out into the world and spread His teachings, and one by one they died for His Word. Thinking of that brings tears to my eyes. How proud He must have been of them! How very much He must have loved them! As He said to them, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (JN 15:18-19).
And now we come to the point of it all. As we move into Chapter 16 of the Gospel of John, Jesus says as much as He ever really does about sin. He even actually utters the word “sin.” “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, grief has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the Holy Spirit will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me; and regarding righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you no longer are going to see Me; and regarding judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at the present time. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; this is why I said that He takes from Mine and will disclose it to you (JN 16:5-15).
There is a bit more in Chapter 16 of John, but it is just comfort-words to the grieving Apostles. And I think we can assume that the word “Mine” refers to His teachings, which throughout the Gospels have been what mattered to Jesus. So, please work with me here! What do we make of this? What does Jesus mean by “My Commandment”?
Ah! Sweet Jesus has made me laugh out loud. And in the middle of the night! He has just said clearly, “They are Christians. Give them First Corinthians Thirteen.” And so I shall:
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1Cor 13).
So I think now we can safely say that Jesus has made His point! It is clear from its placement in the Book of First Corinthians and from its very different language that this most famous of Paul’s letters is a channeled work. And Thomas has confirmed to me that it was channeled through Paul by Jesus. So this tender letter delivered through Paul is Jesus’s beautiful, final Word.
Humankind has grown beyond a need for religions. God in the person of Jesus the Christ has made that fact abundantly clear to us now. We are ready to live daily the teachings of Jesus in the twenty-first century, and in perfect intimate contact with God! Jesus is our Wayshower. He is our Elder Brother and our Dearest Friend. What should have begun two thousand years ago is ready at last to begin today.
Day by day, Day by day,
Oh, Dear Lord,
Three things I pray.
To see thee more clearly,
Love thee more dearly,
Follow thee more nearly,
Day by day.
– John-Michael Tebelak (1949-1985) & Stephen Lawrence Schwartz from “Day by Day” (1970)
Love is just wonderful!
Oh my dear Adrian, yes indeed it is! And it’s one of those things that’s rather hard to define, isn’t it? But you know it when you see it.
Dear Roberta,
All your profound dedication to this task is beyond admirable. But if I could give you one bit of loving advice it would be to not “think” too much. You remind me so much of my husband who, like you, has used his remarkable conceptual thinking skills and has accomplished much in his life; he regards his brain as a useful tool because it has allowed him to solve many worldly puzzles. But that same thinking tool can be a hindrance at times. It isn’t religions, per se, that prevent people from growing spiritually; it’s the fact that religions usually prescribe to ideological “thinking”. Whenever one identifies with mental concepts, whether they be within religions, governmental systems, corporations, one’s own limited conditioned thinking—there is an inherent block that perpetuates the insane condition where human beings see each other only as separate bodies. It is only through the transcendence of conceptual thinking where we experience our true essence: consciousness. I love how the Course in Miracles describes the portal to one’s true essence as “The Holy Instant”.
When one reads First Corinthians Thirteen, there’s an instant recognition of Truth that is not experienced through the thinking brain. Let that be your guide.
Roberta, you have helped me tremendously when I first started this journey. I am so grateful for all that you do.
Oh my dear Joanna, my daughter who is a software engineer has a T-shirt that says “Pardon me while I overthink this.” And actually, none of what I am working on now has anything to do with religions, since one of the things that Jesus came to do was to abolish religions altogether. I had long suspected that, and now with teachingsbyjesus.com He has blessed that interpretation in the materials. Religions are gone. But my dear, have you considered who I am working for? Nothing less than absolutely perfect will do on any of this! And I can’t have personal hunches and deem them to be good enough because this is not my website! None of this is my work! And it’s easy for Thomas to tell me to lighten up because he can drop in and see Jesus whenever he likes. Mother Teresa used to talk about wanting to do something beautiful for God. And I want to do something more beautiful for Jesus than even Jesus ever has imagined, and therein lies the rub, my dear. I love my precious Lord more than I can say.
Dear Roberta,
The lyrics from Godspell take me back to the beginning of my spiritual journey as a teen to love God and Jesus.
These days I pray to Jesus to be my Brother and Friend and that He give me His love in my heart that I may love as He loved.
Yesterday was a milestone for me as I apologized and asked for forgiveness from someone I harmed with my words 15 years ago. This was the last lingering harm for me to move past that I had listed and pondered doing my 4th Step of AA about as many years ago.
Thank you so much for helping me to understand the Greater Reality, God (who I call One Infinite Creator), and Jesus my Lord.
I feel that I may be on the doorstep on a new stage in my incarnation as David. I welcome that as growing old has felt like things were winding down.
With love, David D.
Oh my dear precious David D, I so much treasure these precious words of yours! Jesus is indeed your Brother and Friend, and I know that He treasures what you are doing, too! Thank you for sharing this!
Dear Roberta,
This is wonderful news to learn that now it is finally the time to live by Jesus’ word. As I read this weeks post I was compelled to share with you several prophesies regarding our times that bolster the timing of your very important work.
The first was by Edgar Cayce who in the mid-1940’s predicted a major shift in our collective reality by this time 2020. Followed by the most over hyped, mis-understood “End of the World” prediction for 2012 with the end of the Mayan long calendar (25,000 yr cycle), that predicted this change…25,000 years ago. Both prophesies spoke of a major change on earth with different forces finally lighting up the earths heavy energy.
Then if I recall correctly, Nostradamus predicted in the mid-1500’s that Pope John Paul would be the Catholic Church’s “last pope”. Most woulds point to the fact that there have been two popes who have succeeded him but, given the apparent greater interest in worldly social issues over spirituality issues in the past are they truly popes of the same order as those who proceeded them?
Then there is the fact that the world did not end as the hype proffered but, for those in tune with the energies surrounding us there has been reports of a major transition.
So for what it is worth, it would seem that your timing to launch Jesus’s website and provide his loving teachings as they were intended fits perfectly into the predictions of Cayce, the Mayans and Nostradamus.
Coinsidence, not likely since there are no coincidences only synchronicities…
Thanks again for all you are doing to help all of us learn more about Jesus and grow in spirituality.
Oh my dear JP, that is all quite interesting! I had heard some of it, but not put quite that way and not quite so succinctly. It does indeed feel as if the ground is shifting beneath the feet of the Roman Christian church. For one thing, I never could have imagined that Jesus could feel as strongly negative as He does about it – that really does amaze me. Thank you for your thoughts!
Hi Roberta,
First, I want to say I love this blog..Well.all.your blogs.
I have 2 questions.
Question #1. Is Jesusteaachings.com up and running? I think I found but I want to .makre sure it is Jesus’s. Also what is the best way to go about atudying it?
Queation #2. I wear a silver rosary around my neck.. Its small and a necklace. I wear it only to REMIND ME TO LOVE AND FORGIVE always. I do not want to offend Jesus…I hope it doesnt..It hangs close to my heart and most of the time I wear it inside my shirt..Again I hope it will not offend Jesus…I would love to follow his teachings…
Thank You Litsa
Oh my sweet Litsa, no, the website isn’t up just yet, but it will be up shortly. When it is ready, believe me, we will talk about it here! And no, of course Jesus doesn’t mind if you wear a rosary around your neck! Jesus happened to read your comment over my shoulder, and He reacted strongly to your worry about His minding – He wants you to know that He doesn’t mind AT ALL! He understands that your heart is pure. The thing about our beautiful Friend is that He is all love and nothing but love, and He knows when others are as well – He never would judge you, my darling friend. Never give that a thought!
Hi Roberta,
Tears are.rolling down my eyes and I am Happy That Jesus does not mind..lol. Thank U snf U and Jesus made my night.
I can not wait for the Jesus’s website ..Thanks Litsa
Oh my dear Litsa, it does feel kind of stunning, doesn’t it, that beautiful Jesus does on occasion look in on us here? And I’m used to the fact that Thomas writes these posts with me, but when sometimes Jesus adds a word or two, I find that jaw-dropping! He probably does it in a lot of places now. He seems to be very active on earth, but people simply aren’t recognizing His voice. I like to think that, in any event. It isn’t only with us here!
There are a lot of people using his “name” to endorse their own messages, so people are wary if not outright skeptical. Hopefully this will be able to overcome that.
My dear Mike, are you talking about teachingsbyjesus.com? Oh, don’t worry about that! It is all entirely up to God. I assume that since God has asked me to do it, God has one person in mind to receive it. So naturally, since I am the only person on earth who really can do it well – who has my combination of Gospels and afterlife knowledge to do it so well for Jesus – God will prompt that one person to find it and receive it. No worries!
Maybe I’m the one! I look forward to it.🤞🏼
I can’t wait for the website Roberta. There is so much hate in Religion right now that I pray in my life time it changes! The arrogance of my religion that I left (orthodoxy) make me sad. People worshiping a RELIGON defending what they call their FAITH!!!! OR Evangelicals who still preach that you have to accept Jesus as lord and savior!
I really appreciate what you are doing!!! Again, I LOVE the Jesus that you are knowing and hope to imitate him. Though, I must admit it is tough to be like Jesus.
I feel so angry when people use Jesus for fear or created a religion out of him….I feel bad for him!
I can’t wait for the website to be up and running!!!!
Thanks again, Litsa
Oh my dear beautiful Litsa, I worry about Jesus too! And much more than I should, because He is a very powerful Being – to be near Him, you feel that power and you don’t fear for Him. I think the fact that I am so overwhelmed by His presence is why Thomas doesn’t let me remember my meetings with Him now.
… Which means that I think of Him as He chooses to look, and to seem, which is sweet and vulnerable and very young. When He is in my mind He seems young as well, so I just want to protect Him, which is really stupid.
I guess that is love my dear.
That’s how it feels. ❣️🌅
Synchronocities indeed! As I was recently preparing for the month of February and all of the chronicles of love that the month brings, I began to look for a way to communicate to my students, ideas surrounding authentic, Jesus-centered love, and to try to de-emphasize the romance, flesh-driven worldly portrayal that is heightened during that time. Immediately, I was drawn to that same scripture you cited, that Paul used to impart exemplars associated with love, i.e. unselfishness, patience, longsuffering, humility, seeking truth, etc. I look forward to the opportunity to counter-inform the students concerning a different commentary and perspective on love, in comparison to the worldly expressions and interpretations of love that will be focus points during this upcoming celebration. I especially want my students who are believers, to have confidence and validation that Jesus indeed provided us with the true meaning of love, and also demonstrated it through his life and his sacrifice.
Thank you for your heartfelt post on this matter of love. Upon reading it, there was an immediate confirmation that I was on the “straight and narrow” path concerning my desire to express truth to the children. I am praying that the Holy Spirit provides you with magnanimous revelation, so that your Jesus undertaking will impart rich truths and saving grace to the readers. May you “be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.”
God bless you and keep you, Roberta!
Oh my dear Karen, thank you so much for this! And yes, Jesus did indeed channel 1Cor 13 to us through Paul – it is His final, beautiful word to us on love. And what more possibly can be said?
Roberta,
I hope this doesn’t sound lazy of me, but, I am dyslexic! I know many do not understand. I struggle with reading and understanding! I am way better than what I was, but, I pray that Jesus’s website will be easy for me to understand. I have tried to read the bible and understand it, but, it is difficult. Your website has helped me so much (even though I have to re read many times until I understood) At least Jesus, Thomas and You give me hope that I can understand! At least for now I can try to incorporate LOVE & Forgiveness!!!
I can say this, THANK GOODNESS no more Church Mass and dogma, LOL!!!!
Litsa
Lisa, I am dyslexic also. But I have all of Roberta’s books and she makes all of her communications easy to read and understand. For us dyslexics, I found that rereading the material a few times does the trick, so don’t worry!!
Oh my sweet Litsa, then perhaps you will be able to help us make certain that everything on teachingsbyjesus.com is readily understandable? That would be such a wonderful help to us!
Hi Roberta!
OMG, I would be honored to help!!!!! Being dyslexic, I can think outside the box!!!! I had to find ways to make things work and look easy on the eye!!!
Litsa
Yes, my dear! And I’m sure that you can 🙂
Roberta,
It just occurred to me to tell you this….Could this be a sign!!!
I was in a meeting and during the meeting I held my rosary cross and I asked Jesus in a silent prayer….Jesus, how can I be of help to you…Tell me what to do…And, thus your reply…..Is this coincident? That you ask if I could help make teachingsbyjeus.com readily understandable??
Oh my dear of course, this is how it works! Beings not in bodies can be people, if they choose to be; and Jesus, especially, really does choose to be a person and to interact with us as a person. I know how very surprising that feels. It still floors me sometimes.
Hello All!
Such beautiful and inspiring commentary! I especially loved your response, Roberta, to Litsa’s question about wearing her rosary! Oh, it brought tears to my eyes to imagine His pure love and acceptance pouring out to her! Oh my.
For whatever reason, the Corinthian message through Paul has been a focus for me after reading the blog. In these past few days, I find myself being more acutely aware of thoughts, and beliefs, and actions, not to judge myself, but to just be aware. And strangely, I find myself more relaxed, more mySelf, more accepting.
As always, more Light has come into my field, after reading your blog. And it’s such a delight and awe inspiring to read everyone’s experience of this as they share in the comments.
My copy of your new book is to arrive in the next few days! I’m excited!
Oh my dear Fran, Jesus knows our hearts! He wouldn’t care about a rosary if someone’s heart was pure and loving, of course – none of that would matter to Him. And yes, I always have loved 1Cor 13. Even long before I knew that it came from Jesus! It really sticks out among Paul’s letters so much that you just know that Paul didn’t write it; and then when Thomas told me that Jesus channeled it, I wasn’t surprised at all. I think of it as Jesus’s last words to us. As of course it is!!
Quote from Fran: Such beautiful and inspiring commentary! I especially loved your response, Roberta, to Litsa’s question about wearing her rosary! Oh, it brought tears to my eyes to imagine
Me too Fran!!!! And the Corinthian message that Jesus gave to Paul also blew my mind. I re read it last night just before bed time….When we do anything we must have LOVE in our hearts or it means NOTHING!!! WOW!!!
I never heard that from the church pulpit…LOL
My dear Litsa, you wouldn’t hear it from Roman Christians because it is not their message at all. But it is the very essence of Jesus’s message. Indeed, it altogether sums up the difference between the two different kinds of Christianity, doesn’t it?
Yes Roberta, 1Cor13 does feel like that for me too; the very essence of Our Jesus; the very core of everything.
It hits me like a revelation. Trumpets sound and light begins to stream from the opening clouds, as it were. 🌅 It has the effect of making me sit up straight, suddenly alert, and take the keenest notice. Then the love-revelation and recognition of Divinity floods me with joy-gratitude. (Heck, I feel dumb and clumsy trying to even vaguely describe these deep feelings of Spirit. Words fail. And such feeling is so strong and yet so refined!)
1Cor13 feels like nothing else ever written.
🌅❣️🙏🏼
My beloved, you say it better than I ever could.
Gratitude is very important. (I have no idea why I wrote this. I heard it in my head and it came out of nowhere. Am I going crazy or is there some significance here?)
Oh my sweet friend Lola, gratitude is indeed essential! It resets our minds for rapid spiritual growth, and all that is to follow. So my dear, you are not crazy at all!
Hi Lola,
I have been listening to a gratitude guided meditation on you tube! I think it compliments everything Roberta blogs about.
Litsa
Wow Can you give me the link please? Thanks.