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The Eleventh Lesson: The Ancient Wisdom.1089
John the Baptist.” (Matthew 17:12–13) The Mystics point out that Jesus saw
clearly the fact that John was Elijah re-incarnated, although John had denied
this fact, owing to his lack of memory of his past incarnation. Jesus the Master
saw clearly that which John the Forerunner had failed to perceive concerning
himself. The plainly perceptible characteristics of Elijah reappearing in John
bear out the twice-repeated, positive assertion of the Master that John the
Baptist was the re-incarnated Elijah.
And this surely is sufficient authority for Christians to accept the doctrine
of Re-birth as having a place in the Church Teachings. But still, the orthodox
churchmen murmur “He meant something else!” There are none so blind as
those who refuse to see.
Another notable instance of the recognition of the doctrine by Jesus and
His disciples occurs in the case of “the man born blind.” It may be well to
quote the story. “And as he passed by he saw a man blind from his birth. And
his disciples asked him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he should be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither did this man sin nor
his parents.’” ( John 9:1–3) Surely there can be no mistake about the meaning
of this question, “Who did sin, this man or his parents?”—for how could a
man sin before his birth, unless he had lived in a previous incarnation? And
the answer of Jesus simply states that the man was born blind neither from
the sins of a past life, nor from those of his parents, but from a third cause.
Had the idea of re-incarnation been repugnant to the teachings, would not
He have denounced it to His disciples? Does not the fact that His disciples
asked Him the question show that they were in the habit of discoursing the
problems of Re-birth and Karma with Him, and receiving instructions and
answers to questions propounded to Him along these lines?
There are many other passages of the New Testament which go to prove
the familiarity of the disciples and followers of Jesus with the doctrine of Rebirth,
but we prefer to pass on to a consideration of the writings of the Early
Christian Fathers in order to show what they thought and taught regarding
the matter of Re-birth and Karma.