The Urantia Book
PAPER 127
THE ADOLESCENT YEARS
127:0.1 AS JESUS entered upon his adolescent
years, he found himself the head and sole support of a large
family. Within a few years after his father's death all their
property was gone. As time passed, he became increasingly
conscious of his pre-existence; at the same time he began more
fully to realize that he was present on earth and in the flesh for
the express purpose of revealing his Paradise Father to the
children of men.
127:0.2 No adolescent youth who has lived or
ever will live on this world or any other world has had or ever
will have more weighty problems to resolve or more intricate
difficulties to untangle. No youth of Urantia will ever be called
upon to pass through more testing conflicts or more trying
situations than Jesus himself endured during those strenuous years
from fifteen to twenty.
127:0.3 Having thus tasted the actual experience
of living these adolescent years on a world beset by evil and
distraught by sin, the Son of Man became possessed of full
knowledge about the life experience of the youth of all the realms
of Nebadon, and thus forever he became the understanding refuge
for the distressed and perplexed adolescents of all ages and on
all worlds throughout the local universe.
127:0.4 Slowly, but certainly and by actual
experience, this divine Son is earning the right to become
sovereign of his universe, the unquestioned and supreme ruler of
all created intelligences on all local universe worlds, the
understanding refuge of the beings of all ages and of all degrees
of personal endowment and experience.
1. THE SIXTEENTH YEAR (A.D. 10)
127:1.1 The incarnated Son passed through
infancy and experienced an uneventful childhood. Then he emerged
from that testing and trying transition stage between childhood
and young manhood -- he became the adolescent Jesus.
127:1.2 This year he attained his full physical
growth. He was a virile and comely youth. He became increasingly
sober and serious, but he was kind and sympathetic. His eye was
kind but searching; his smile was always engaging and reassuring.
His voice was musical but authoritative; his greeting cordial but
unaffected. Always, even in the most commonplace of contacts,
there seemed to be in evidence the touch of a twofold nature, the
human and the divine. Ever he displayed this combination of the
sympathizing friend and the authoritative teacher. And these
personality traits began early to become manifest, even in these
adolescent years.
127:1.3 This physically strong and robust youth
also acquired the full growth of his human intellect, not the full
experience of human thinking but the fullness of capacity for such
intellectual development. He possessed a healthy and
well-proportioned body, a keen and analytical mind, a kind and
sympathetic disposition, a somewhat fluctuating but aggressive
temperament, all of which were becoming organized into a strong,
striking, and attractive personality.
127:1.4 As time went on, it became more
difficult for his mother and his brothers and sisters to
understand him; they stumbled over his sayings and misinterpreted
his doings. They were all unfitted to comprehend their eldest
brother's life because their mother had given them to understand
that he was destined to become the deliverer of the Jewish people.
After they had received from Mary such intimations as family
secrets, imagine their confusion when Jesus would make frank
denials of all such ideas and intentions.
127:1.5 This year Simon started to school, and
they were compelled to sell another house. James now took charge
of the teaching of his three sisters, two of whom were old enough
to begin serious study. As soon as Ruth grew up, she was taken in
hand by Miriam and Martha. Ordinarily the girls of Jewish families
received little education, but Jesus maintained (and his mother
agreed) that girls should go to school the same as boys, and since
the synagogue school would not receive them, there was nothing to
do but conduct a home school especially for them.
127:1.6 Throughout this year Jesus was closely
confined to the workbench. Fortunately he had plenty of work; his
was of such a superior grade that he was never idle no matter how
slack work might be in that region. At times he had so much to do
that James would help him.
127:1.7 By the end of this year he had just
about made up his mind that he would, after rearing his family and
seeing them married, enter publicly upon his work as a teacher of
truth and as a revealer of the heavenly Father to the world. He
knew he was not to become the expected Jewish Messiah, and he
concluded that it was next to useless to discuss these matters
with his mother; he decided to allow her to entertain whatever
ideas she might choose since all he had said in the past had made
little or no impression upon her and he recalled that his father
had never been able to say anything that would change her mind.
From this year on he talked less and less with his mother, or
anyone else, about these problems. His was such a peculiar mission
that no one living on earth could give him advice concerning its
prosecution.
127:1.8 He was a real though youthful father to
the family; he spent every possible hour with the youngsters, and
they truly loved him. His mother grieved to see him work so hard;
she sorrowed that he was day by day toiling at the carpenter's
bench earning a living for the family instead of being, as they
had so fondly planned, at Jerusalem studying with the rabbis.
While there was much about her son that Mary could not understand,
she did love him, and she most thoroughly appreciated the willing
manner in which he shouldered the responsibility of the home.
2. THE SEVENTEENTH YEAR (A.D. 11)
127:2.1 At about this time there was
considerable agitation, especially at Jerusalem and in Judea, in
favor of rebellion against the payment of taxes to Rome. There was
coming into existence a strong nationalist party, presently to be
called the Zealots. The Zealots, unlike the Pharisees, were not
willing to await the coming of the Messiah. They proposed to bring
things to a head through political revolt.
127:2.2 A group of organizers from Jerusalem
arrived in Galilee and were making good headway until they reached
Nazareth. When they came to see Jesus, he listened carefully to
them and asked many questions but refused to join the party. He
declined fully to disclose his reasons for not enlisting, and his
refusal had the effect of keeping out many of his youthful fellows
in Nazareth.
127:2.3 Mary did her best to induce him to
enlist, but she could not budge him. She went so far as to
intimate that his refusal to espouse the nationalist cause at her
behest was insubordination, a violation of his pledge made upon
their return from Jerusalem that he would be subject to his
parents; but in answer to this insinuation he only laid a kindly
hand on her shoulder and, looking into her face, said: "My mother,
how could you?" And Mary withdrew her statement.
127:2.4 One of Jesus' uncles (Mary's brother
Simon) had already joined this group, subsequently becoming an
officer in the Galilean division. And for several years there was
something of an estrangement between Jesus and his uncle.
127:2.5 But trouble began to brew in Nazareth.
Jesus' attitude in these matters had resulted in creating a
division among the Jewish youths of the city. About half had
joined the nationalist organization, and the other half began the
formation of an opposing group of more moderate patriots,
expecting Jesus to assume the leadership. They were amazed when he
refused the honor offered him, pleading as an excuse his heavy
family responsibilities, which they all allowed. But the situation
was still further complicated when, presently, a wealthy Jew,
Isaac, a moneylender to the gentiles, came forward agreeing to
support Jesus' family if he would lay down his tools and assume
leadership of these Nazareth patriots.
127:2.6 Jesus, then scarcely seventeen years of
age, was confronted with one of the most delicate and difficult
situations of his early life. Patriotic issues, especially when
complicated by tax-gathering foreign oppressors, are always
difficult for spiritual leaders to relate themselves to, and it
was doubly so in this case since the Jewish religion was involved
in all this agitation against Rome.
127:2.7 Jesus' position was made more difficult
because his mother and uncle, and even his younger brother James,
all urged him to join the nationalist cause. All the better Jews
of Nazareth had enlisted, and those young men who had not joined
the movement would all enlist the moment Jesus changed his mind.
He had but one wise counselor in all Nazareth, his old teacher,
the chazan, who counseled him about his reply to the citizens'
committee of Nazareth when they came to ask for his answer to the
public appeal which had been made. In all Jesus' young life this
was the very first time he had consciously resorted to public
strategy. Theretofore, always had he depended upon a frank
statement of truth to clarify the situation, but now he could not
declare the full truth. He could not intimate that he was more
than a man; he could not disclose his idea of the mission which
awaited his attainment of a riper manhood. Despite these
limitations his religious fealty and national loyalty were
directly challenged. His family was in a turmoil, his youthful
friends in division, and the entire Jewish contingent of the town
in a hubbub. And to think that he was to blame for it all! And how
innocent he had been of all intention to make trouble of any kind,
much less a disturbance of this sort.
127:2.8 Something had to be done. He must state
his position, and this he did bravely and diplomatically to the
satisfaction of many, but not all. He adhered to the terms of his
original plea, maintaining that his first duty was to his family,
that a widowed mother and eight brothers and sisters needed
something more than mere money could buy -- the physical
necessities of life -- that they were entitled to a father's
watchcare and guidance, and that he could not in clear conscience
release himself from the obligation which a cruel accident had
thrust upon him. He paid compliment to his mother and eldest
brother for being willing to release him but reiterated that
loyalty to a dead father forbade his leaving the family no matter
how much money was forthcoming for their material support, making
his never-to-be-forgotten statement that "money cannot love." In
the course of this address Jesus made several veiled references to
his "life mission" but explained that, regardless of whether or
not it might be inconsistent with the military idea, it, along
with everything else in his life, had been given up in order that
he might be able to discharge faithfully his obligation to his
family. Everyone in Nazareth well knew he was a good father to his
family, and this was a matter so near the heart of every noble Jew
that Jesus' plea found an appreciative response in the hearts of
many of his hearers; and some of those who were not thus minded
were disarmed by a speech made by James, which, while not on the
program, was delivered at this time. That very day the chazan had
rehearsed James in his speech, but that was their secret.
127:2.9 James stated that he was sure Jesus
would help to liberate his people if he (James) were only old
enough to assume responsibility for the family, and that, if they
would only consent to allow Jesus to remain "with us, to be our
father and teacher, then you will have not just one leader from
Joseph's family, but presently you will have five loyal
nationalists, for are there not five of us boys to grow up and
come forth from our brother-father's guidance to serve our
nation?" And thus did the lad bring to a fairly happy ending a
very tense and threatening situation.
127:2.10 The crisis for the time being was over,
but never was this incident forgotten in Nazareth. The agitation
persisted; not again was Jesus in universal favor; the division of
sentiment was never fully overcome. And this, augmented by other
and subsequent occurrences, was one of the chief reasons why he
moved to Capernaum in later years. Henceforth Nazareth maintained
a division of sentiment regarding the Son of Man.
127:2.11 James graduated at school this year and
began full-time work at home in the carpenter shop. He had become
a clever worker with tools and now took over the making of yokes
and plows while Jesus began to do more house finishing and expert
cabinet work.
127:2.12 This year Jesus made great progress in
the organization of his mind. Gradually he had brought his divine
and human natures together, and he accomplished all this
organization of intellect by the force of his own decisions
and with only the aid of his indwelling Monitor, just such a
Monitor as all normal mortals on all postbestowal-Son worlds have
within their minds. So far, nothing supernatural had happened in
this young man's career except the visit of a messenger,
dispatched by his elder brother Immanuel, who once appeared to him
during the night at Jerusalem.
3. THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR (A.D. 12)
127:3.1 In the course of this year all the
family property, except the home and garden, was disposed of. The
last piece of Capernaum property (except an equity in one other),
already mortgaged, was sold. The proceeds were used for taxes, to
buy some new tools for James, and to make a payment on the old
family supply and repair shop near the caravan lot, which Jesus
now proposed to buy back since James was old enough to work at the
house shop and help Mary about the home. With the financial
pressure thus eased for the time being, Jesus decided to take
James to the Passover. They went up to Jerusalem a day early, to
be alone, going by way of Samaria. They walked, and Jesus told
James about the historic places en route as his father had taught
him on a similar journey five years before.
127:3.2 In passing through Samaria, they saw
many strange sights. On this journey they talked over many of
their problems, personal, family, and national. James was a very
religious type of lad, and while he did not fully agree with his
mother regarding the little he knew of the plans concerning Jesus'
lifework, he did look forward to the time when he would be able to
assume responsibility for the family so that Jesus could begin his
mission. He was very appreciative of Jesus' taking him up to the
Passover, and they talked over the future more fully than ever
before.
127:3.3 Jesus did much thinking as they
journeyed through Samaria, particularly at Bethel and when
drinking from Jacob's well. He and his brother discussed the
traditions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He did much to prepare
James for what he was about to witness at Jerusalem, thus seeking
to lessen the shock such as he himself had experienced on his
first visit to the temple. But James was not so sensitive to some
of these sights. He commented on the perfunctory and heartless
manner in which some of the priests performed their duties but on
the whole greatly enjoyed his sojourn at Jerusalem.
127:3.4 Jesus took James to Bethany for the
Passover supper. Simon had been laid to rest with his fathers, and
Jesus presided over this household as the head of the Passover
family, having brought the paschal lamb from the temple.
127:3.5 After the Passover supper Mary sat down
to talk with James while Martha, Lazarus, and Jesus talked
together far into the night. The next day they attended the temple
services, and James was received into the commonwealth of Israel.
That morning, as they paused on the brow of Olivet to view the
temple, while James exclaimed in wonder, Jesus gazed on Jerusalem
in silence. James could not comprehend his brother's demeanor.
That night they again returned to Bethany and would have departed
for home the next day, but James was insistent on their going back
to visit the temple, explaining that he wanted to hear the
teachers. And while this was true, secretly in his heart he wanted
to hear Jesus participate in the discussions, as he had heard his
mother tell about. Accordingly, they went to the temple and heard
the discussions, but Jesus asked no questions. It all seemed so
puerile and insignificant to this awakening mind of man and God --
he could only pity them. James was disappointed that Jesus said
nothing. To his inquiries Jesus only made reply, "My hour has not
yet come."
127:3.6 The next day they journeyed home by
Jericho and the Jordan valley, and Jesus recounted many things by
the way, including his former trip over this road when he was
thirteen years old.
127:3.7 Upon returning to Nazareth, Jesus began
work in the old family repair shop and was greatly cheered by
being able to meet so many people each day from all parts of the
country and surrounding districts. Jesus truly loved people --
just common folks. Each month he made his payments on the shop
and, with James's help, continued to provide for the family.
127:3.8 Several times a year, when visitors were
not present thus to function, Jesus continued to read the Sabbath
scriptures at the synagogue and many times offered comments on the
lesson, but usually he so selected the passages that comment was
unnecessary. He was skillful, so arranging the order of the
reading of the various passages that the one would illuminate the
other. He never failed, weather permitting, to take his brothers
and sisters out on Sabbath afternoons for their nature strolls.
127:3.9 About this time the chazan inaugurated a
young men's club for philosophic discussion which met at the homes
of different members and often at his own home, and Jesus became a
prominent member of this group. By this means he was enabled to
regain some of the local prestige which he had lost at the time of
the recent nationalistic controversies.
127:3.10 His social life, while restricted, was
not wholly neglected. He had many warm friends and stanch admirers
among both the young men and the young women of Nazareth.
127:3.11 In September, Elizabeth and John came
to visit the Nazareth family. John, having lost his father,
intended to return to the Judean hills to engage in agriculture
and sheep raising unless Jesus advised him to remain in Nazareth
to take up carpentry or some other line of work. They did not know
that the Nazareth family was practically penniless. The more Mary
and Elizabeth talked about their sons, the more they became
convinced that it would be good for the two young men to work
together and see more of each other.
127:3.12 Jesus and John had many talks together;
and they talked over some very intimate and personal matters. When
they had finished this visit, they decided not again to see each
other until they should meet in their public service after "the
heavenly Father should call" them to their work. John was
tremendously impressed by what he saw at Nazareth that he should
return home and labor for the support of his mother. He became
convinced that he was to be a part of Jesus' life mission, but he
saw that Jesus was to occupy many years with the rearing of his
family; so he was much more content to return to his home and
settle down to the care of their little farm and to minister to
the needs of his mother. And never again did John and Jesus see
each other until that day by the Jordan when the Son of Man
presented himself for baptism.
127:3.13 On Saturday afternoon, December 3, of
this year, death for the second time struck at this Nazareth
family. Little Amos, their baby brother, died after a week's
illness with a high fever. After passing through this time of
sorrow with her first-born son as her only support, Mary at last
and in the fullest sense recognized Jesus as the real head of the
family; and he was truly a worthy head.
127:3.14 For four years their standard of living
had steadily declined; year by year they felt the pinch of
increasing poverty. By the close of this year they faced one of
the most difficult experiences of all their uphill struggles.
James had not yet begun to earn much, and the expenses of a
funeral on top of everything else staggered them. But Jesus would
only say to his anxious and grieving mother: "Mother-Mary, sorrow
will not help us; we are all doing our best, and mother's smile,
perchance, might even inspire us to do better. Day by day we are
strengthened for these tasks by our hope of better days ahead."
His sturdy and practical optimism was truly contagious; all the
children lived in an atmosphere of anticipation of better times
and better things. And this hopeful courage contributed mightily
to the development of strong and noble characters, in spite of the
depressiveness of their poverty.
127:3.15 Jesus possessed the ability effectively
to mobilize all his powers of mind, soul, and body on the task
immediately in hand. He could concentrate his deep-thinking mind
on the one problem which he wished to solve, and this, in
connection with his untiring patience, enabled him serenely
to endure the trials of a difficult mortal existence -- to live as
if he were "seeing Him who is invisible."
4. THE NINETEENTH YEAR (A.D. 13)
127:4.1 By this time Jesus and Mary were getting
along much better. She regarded him less as a son; he had become
to her more a father to her children. Each day's life swarmed with
practical and immediate difficulties. Less frequently they spoke
of his lifework, for, as time passed, all their thought was
mutually devoted to the support and upbringing of their family of
four boys and three girls.
127:4.2 By the beginning of this year Jesus had
fully won his mother to the acceptance of his methods of child
training -- the positive injunction to do good in the place of the
older Jewish method of forbidding to do evil. In his home and
throughout his public-teaching career Jesus invariably employed
the positive form of exhortation. Always and everywhere did
he say, "You shall do this -- you ought to do that." Never did he
employ the negative mode of teaching derived from the ancient
taboos. He refrained from placing emphasis on evil by forbidding
it, while he exalted the good by commanding its performance.
Prayer time in this household was the occasion for discussing
anything and everything relating to the welfare of the family.
127:4.3 Jesus began wise discipline upon his
brothers and sisters at such an early age that little or no
punishment was ever required to secure their prompt and
wholehearted obedience. The only exception was Jude, upon whom on
sundry occasions Jesus found it necessary to impose penalties for
his infractions of the rules of the home. On three occasions when
it was deemed wise to punish Jude for self-confessed and
deliberate violations of the family rules of conduct, his
punishment was fixed by the unanimous decree of the older children
and was assented to by Jude himself before it was inflicted.
127:4.4 While Jesus was most methodical and
systematic in everything he did, there was also in all his
administrative rulings a refreshing elasticity of interpretation
and an individuality of adaptation that greatly impressed all the
children with the spirit of justice which actuated their
father-brother. He never arbitrarily disciplined his brothers and
sisters, and such uniform fairness and personal consideration
greatly endeared Jesus to all his family.
127:4.5 James and Simon grew up trying to follow
Jesus' plan of placating their bellicose and sometimes irate
playmates by persuasion and nonresistance, and they were fairly
successful; but Joseph and Jude, while assenting to such teachings
at home, made haste to defend themselves when assailed by their
comrades; in particular was Jude guilty of violating the spirit of
these teachings. But nonresistance was not a rule of the
family. No penalty was attached to the violation of personal
teachings.
127:4.6 In general, all of the children,
particularly the girls, would consult Jesus about their childhood
troubles and confide in him just as they would have in an
affectionate father.
127:4.7 James was growing up to be a
well-balanced and even-tempered youth, but he was not so
spiritually inclined as Jesus. He was a much better student than
Joseph, who, while a faithful worker, was even less spiritually
minded. Joseph was a plodder and not up to the intellectual level
of the other children. Simon was a well-meaning boy but too much
of a dreamer. He was slow in getting settled down in life and was
the cause of considerable anxiety to Jesus and Mary. But he was
always a good and well-intentioned lad. Jude was a firebrand. He
had the highest of ideals, but he was unstable in temperament. He
had all and more of his mother's determination and aggressiveness,
but he lacked much of her sense of proportion and discretion.
127:4.8 Miriam was a well-balanced and
level-headed daughter with a keen appreciation of things noble and
spiritual. Martha was slow in thought and action but a very
dependable and efficient child.
Baby Ruth was the sunshine of the
home; though thoughtless of speech, she was most sincere of heart.
She just about worshiped her big brother and father. But they did
not spoil her. She was a beautiful child but not quite so comely
as Miriam, who was the belle of the family, if not of the city.
127:4.9 As time passed, Jesus did much to
liberalize and modify the family teachings and practices related
to Sabbath observance and many other phases of religion, and to
all these changes Mary gave hearty assent. By this time Jesus had
become the unquestioned head of the house.
127:4.10
This year Jude started to school, and it was necessary for Jesus
to sell his harp in order to defray these expenses. Thus
disappeared the last of his recreational pleasures. He much loved
to play the harp when tired in mind and weary in body, but he
comforted himself with the thought that at least the harp was safe
from seizure by the tax collector.
5. REBECCA, THE DAUGHTER OF EZRA
127:5.1 Although Jesus was poor, his social
standing in Nazareth was in no way impaired. He was one of the
foremost young men of the city and very highly regarded by most of
the young women. Since Jesus was such a splendid specimen of
robust and intellectual manhood, and considering his reputation as
a spiritual leader, it was not strange that Rebecca, the eldest
daughter of Ezra, a wealthy merchant and trader of Nazareth,
should discover that she was slowly falling in love with this son
of Joseph. She first confided her affection to Miriam, Jesus'
sister, and Miriam in turn talked all this over with her mother.
Mary was intensely aroused. Was she about to lose her son, now
become the indispensable head of the family? Would troubles never
cease? What next could happen? And then she paused to contemplate
what effect marriage would have upon Jesus' future career; not
often, but at least sometimes, did she recall the fact that Jesus
was a "child of promise." After she and Miriam had talked this
matter over, they decided to make an effort to stop it before
Jesus learned about it, by going direct to Rebecca, laying the
whole story before her, and honestly telling her about their
belief that Jesus was a son of destiny; that he was to become a
great religious leader, perhaps the Messiah.
127:5.2 Rebecca listened intently; she was
thrilled with the recital and more than ever determined to cast
her lot with this man of her choice and to share his career of
leadership. She argued (to herself) that such a man would all the
more need a faithful and efficient wife. She interpreted Mary's
efforts to dissuade her as a natural reaction to the dread of
losing the head and sole support of her family; but knowing that
her father approved of her attraction for the carpenter's son, she
rightly reckoned that he would gladly supply the family with
sufficient income fully to compensate for the loss of Jesus'
earnings. When her father agreed to such a plan, Rebecca had
further conferences with Mary and Miriam, and when she failed to
win their support, she made bold to go directly to Jesus. This she
did with the co-operation of her father, who invited Jesus to
their home for the celebration of Rebecca's seventeenth birthday.
127:5.3 Jesus listened attentively and
sympathetically to the recital of these things, first by the
father, then by Rebecca herself. He made kindly reply to the
effect that no amount of money could take the place of his
obligation personally to rear his father's family, to "fulfill the
most sacred of all human trusts -- loyalty to one's own flesh and
blood." Rebecca's father was deeply touched by Jesus' words of
family devotion and retired from the conference. His only remark
to Mary, his wife, was: "We can't have him for a son; he is too
noble for us."
127:5.4 Then began that eventful talk with
Rebecca. Thus far in his life, Jesus had made little distinction
in his association with boys and girls, with young men and young
women. His mind had been altogether too much occupied with the
pressing problems of practical earthly affairs and the intriguing
contemplation of his eventual career "about his Father's business"
ever to have given serious consideration to the consummation of
personal love in human marriage. But now he was face to face with
another of those problems which every average human being must
confront and decide. Indeed was he "tested in all points like as
you are."
127:5.5 After listening attentively, he
sincerely thanked Rebecca for her expressed admiration, adding,
"it shall cheer and comfort me all the days of my life." He
explained that he was not free to enter into relations with any
woman other than those of simple brotherly regard and pure
friendship. He made it clear that his first and paramount duty was
the rearing of his father's family, that he could not consider
marriage until that was accomplished; and then he added: "If I am
a son of destiny, I must not assume obligations of lifelong
duration until such a time as my destiny shall be made manifest."
127:5.6 Rebecca was heartbroken. She refused to
be comforted and importuned her father to leave Nazareth until he
finally consented to move to Sepphoris. In after years, to the
many men who sought her hand in marriage, Rebecca had but one
answer. She lived for only one purpose -- to await the hour when
this, to her, the greatest man who ever lived would begin his
career as a teacher of living truth. And she followed him
devotedly through his eventful years of public labor, being
present (unobserved by Jesus) that day when he rode triumphantly
into Jerusalem; and she stood "among the other women" by the side
of Mary on that fateful and tragic afternoon when the Son of Man
hung upon the cross, to her, as well as to countless worlds on
high, "the one altogether lovely and the greatest among ten
thousand."
6. HIS TWENTIETH YEAR (A.D. 14)
127:6.1 The story of Rebecca's love for Jesus
was whispered about Nazareth and later on at Capernaum, so that,
while in the years to follow many women loved Jesus even as men
loved him, not again did he have to reject the personal proffer of
another good woman's devotion. From this time on human affection
for Jesus partook more of the nature of worshipful and adoring
regard. Both men and women loved him devotedly and for what he
was, not with any tinge of self-satisfaction or desire for
affectionate possession. But for many years, whenever the story of
Jesus' human personality was recited, the devotion of Rebecca was
recounted.
127:6.2 Miriam, knowing fully about the affair
of Rebecca and knowing how her brother had forsaken even the love
of a beautiful maiden (not realizing the factor of his future
career of destiny), came to idealize Jesus and to love him with a
touching and profound affection as for a father as well as for a
brother.
127:6.3 Although they could hardly afford it,
Jesus had a strange longing to go up to Jerusalem for the
Passover. His mother, knowing of his recent experience with
Rebecca, wisely urged him to make the journey. He was not markedly
conscious of it, but what he most wanted was an opportunity to
talk with Lazarus and to visit with Martha and Mary. Next to his
own family he loved these three most of all.
127:6.4 In making this trip to Jerusalem, he
went by way of Megiddo, Antipatris, and Lydda, in part covering
the same route traversed when he was brought back to Nazareth on
the return from Egypt. He spent four days going up to the Passover
and thought much about the past events which had transpired in and
around Megiddo, the international battlefield of Palestine.
127:6.5 Jesus passed on through Jerusalem, only
pausing to look upon the temple and the gathering throngs of
visitors. He had a strange and increasing aversion to this
Herod-built temple with its politically appointed priesthood. He
wanted most of all to see Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Lazarus was
the same age as Jesus and now head of the house; by the time of
this visit Lazarus's mother had also been laid to rest. Martha was
a little over one year older than Jesus, while Mary was two years
younger. And Jesus was the idolized ideal of all three of them.
127:6.6 On this visit occurred one of those
periodic outbreaks of rebellion against tradition -- the
expression of resentment for those ceremonial practices which
Jesus deemed misrepresentative of his Father in heaven. Not
knowing Jesus was coming, Lazarus had arranged to celebrate the
Passover with friends in an adjoining village down the Jericho
road. Jesus now proposed that they celebrate the feast where they
were, at Lazarus's house. "But," said Lazarus, "we have no paschal
lamb." And then Jesus entered upon a prolonged and convincing
dissertation to the effect that the Father in heaven was not truly
concerned with such childlike and meaningless rituals. After
solemn and fervent prayer they rose, and Jesus said: "Let the
childlike and darkened minds of my people serve their God as Moses
directed; it is better that they do, but let us who have seen the
light of life no longer approach our Father by the darkness of
death. Let us be free in the knowledge of the truth of our
Father's eternal love."
127:6.7 That evening about twilight these four
sat down and partook of the first Passover feast ever to be
celebrated by devout Jews without the paschal lamb. The unleavened
bread and the wine had been made ready for this Passover, and
these emblems, which Jesus termed "the bread of life" and "the
water of life," he served to his companions, and they ate in
solemn conformity with the teachings just imparted. It was his
custom to engage in this sacramental ritual whenever he paid
subsequent visits to Bethany. When he returned home, he told all
this to his mother. She was shocked at first but came gradually to
see his viewpoint; nevertheless, she was greatly relieved when
Jesus assured her that he did not intend to introduce this new
idea of the Passover in their family. At home with the children he
continued, year by year, to eat the Passover "according to the law
of Moses."
127:6.8 It was during this year that Mary had a
long talk with Jesus about marriage. She frankly asked him if he
would get married if he were free from his family
responsibilities. Jesus explained to her that, since immediate
duty forbade his marriage, he had given the subject little
thought. He expressed himself as doubting that he would ever enter
the marriage state; he said that all such things must await "my
hour," the time when "my Father's work must begin." Having settled
already in his mind that he was not to become the father of
children in the flesh, he gave very little thought to the subject
of human marriage.
127:6.9 This year he began anew the task of
further weaving his mortal and divine natures into a simple and
effective human individuality. And he continued to grow in
moral status and spiritual understanding.
127:6.10 Although all their Nazareth property
(except their home) was gone, this year they received a little
financial help from the sale of an equity in a piece of property
in Capernaum. This was the last of Joseph's entire estate. This
real estate deal in Capernaum was with a boatbuilder named
Zebedee.
127:6.11 Joseph graduated at the synagogue
school this year and prepared to begin work at the small bench in
the home carpenter shop. Although the estate of their father was
exhausted, there were prospects that they would successfully fight
off poverty since three of them were now regularly at work.
127:6.12 Jesus is rapidly becoming a man, not
just a young man but an adult. He has learned well to bear
responsibility. He knows how to carry on in the face of
disappointment. He bears up bravely when his plans are thwarted
and his purposes temporarily defeated. He has learned how to be
fair and just even in the face of injustice. He is learning how to
adjust his ideals of spiritual living to the practical demands of
earthly existence. He is learning how to plan for the achievement
of a higher and distant goal of idealism while he toils earnestly
for the attainment of a nearer and immediate goal of necessity. He
is steadily acquiring the art of adjusting his aspirations to the
commonplace demands of the human occasion. He has very nearly
mastered the technique of utilizing the energy of the spiritual
drive to turn the mechanism of material achievement. He is slowly
learning how to live the heavenly life while he continues on with
the earthly existence. More and more he depends upon the ultimate
guidance of his heavenly Father while he assumes the fatherly role
of guiding and directing the children of his earth family. He is
becoming experienced in the skillful wresting of victory from the
very jaws of defeat; he is learning how to transform the
difficulties of time into the triumphs of eternity.
127:6.13 And so, as the years pass, this young
man of Nazareth continues to experience life as it is lived in
mortal flesh on the worlds of time and space. He lives a full,
representative, and replete life on Urantia. He left this world
ripe in the experience which his creatures pass through during the
short and strenuous years of their first life, the life in the
flesh. And all this human experience is an eternal possession of
the Universe Sovereign. He is our understanding brother,
sympathetic friend, experienced sovereign, and merciful father.
127:6.14 As a child he accumulated a vast body
of knowledge; as a youth he sorted, classified, and correlated
this information; and now as a man of the realm he begins to
organize these mental possessions preparatory to utilization in
his subsequent teaching, ministry, and service in behalf of his
fellow mortals on this world and on all other spheres of
habitation throughout the entire universe of Nebadon.
127:6.15 Born into the world a babe of the
realm, he has lived his childhood life and passed through the
successive stages of youth and young manhood; he now stands on the
threshold of full manhood, rich in the experience of human living,
replete in the understanding of human nature, and full of sympathy
for the frailties of human nature. He is becoming expert in the
divine art of revealing his Paradise Father to all ages and stages
of mortal creatures.
127:6.16 And now as a full-grown man -- an adult
of the realm -- he prepares to continue his supreme mission of
revealing God to men and leading men to God.
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