The Urantia Book
PAPER 141
BEGINNING THE PUBLIC WORK
141:0.1 ON THE first day of the week, January
19, A.D. 27, Jesus and the twelve apostles made ready to depart
from their headquarters in Bethsaida. The twelve knew nothing of
their Master's plans except that they were going up to Jerusalem
to attend the Passover feast in April, and that it was the
intention to journey by way of the Jordan valley. They did not get
away from Zebedee's house until near noon because the families of
the apostles and others of the disciples had come to say good-bye
and wish them well in the new work they were about to begin.
141:0.2 Just before leaving, the apostles missed
the Master, and Andrew went out to find him. After a brief search
he found Jesus sitting in a boat down the beach, and he was
weeping. The twelve had often seen their Master when he seemed to
grieve, and they had beheld his brief seasons of serious
preoccupation of mind, but none of them had ever seen him weep.
Andrew was somewhat startled to see the Master thus affected on
the eve of their departure for Jerusalem, and he ventured to
approach Jesus and ask: "On this great day, Master, when we are to
depart for Jerusalem to proclaim the Father's kingdom, why is it
that you weep? Which of us has offended you?" And Jesus, going
back with Andrew to join the twelve, answered him: "No one of you
has grieved me. I am saddened only because none of my father
Joseph's family have remembered to come over to bid us Godspeed."
At this time Ruth was on a visit to her brother Joseph at
Nazareth. Other members of his family were kept away by pride,
disappointment, misunderstanding, and petty resentment indulged as
a result of hurt feelings.
1. LEAVING GALILEE
141:1.1 Capernaum was not far from Tiberias, and
the fame of Jesus had begun to spread well over all of Galilee and
even to parts beyond. Jesus knew that Herod would soon begin to
take notice of his work; so he thought best to journey south and
into Judea with his apostles. A company of over one hundred
believers desired to go with them, but Jesus spoke to them and
besought them not to accompany the apostolic group on their way
down the Jordan. Though they consented to remain behind, many of
them followed after the Master within a few days.
141:1.2 The first day Jesus and the apostles
only journeyed as far as Tarichea, where they rested for the
night. The next day they traveled to a point on the Jordan near
Pella where John had preached about one year before, and where
Jesus had received baptism. Here they tarried for more than two
weeks, teaching and preaching. By the end of the first week
several hundred people had assembled in a camp near where Jesus
and the twelve dwelt, and they had come from Galilee, Phoenicia,
Syria, the Decapolis, Perea, and Judea.
141:1.3 Jesus did no public preaching. Andrew
divided the multitude and assigned the preachers for the forenoon
and afternoon assemblies; after the evening meal Jesus talked with
the twelve. He taught them nothing new but reviewed his former
teaching and answered their many questions. On one of these
evenings he told the twelve something about the forty days which
he spent in the hills near this place.
141:1.4 Many of those who came from Perea and
Judea had been baptized by John and were interested in finding out
more about Jesus' teachings. The apostles made much progress in
teaching the disciples of John inasmuch as they did not in any way
detract from John's preaching, and since they did not at this time
even baptize their new disciples. But it was always a stumbling
stone to John's followers that Jesus, if he were all that John had
announced, did nothing to get him out of prison. John's disciples
never could understand why Jesus did not prevent the cruel death
of their beloved leader.
141:1.5 From night to night Andrew carefully
instructed his fellow apostles in the delicate and difficult task
of getting along smoothly with the followers of John the Baptist.
During this first year of Jesus' public ministry more than three
fourths of his followers had previously followed John and had
received his baptism. This entire year of A.D. 27 was spent in
quietly taking over John's work in Perea and Judea.
2. GOD'S LAW AND THE FATHER'S WILL
141:2.1 The night before they left Pella, Jesus
gave the apostles some further instruction with regard to the new
kingdom. Said the Master: "You have been taught to look for the
coming of the kingdom of God, and now I come announcing that this
long-looked-for kingdom is near at hand, even that it is already
here and in our midst. In every kingdom there must be a king
seated upon his throne and decreeing the laws of the realm. And so
have you developed a concept of the kingdom of heaven as a
glorified rule of the Jewish people over all the peoples of the
earth with Messiah sitting on David's throne and from this place
of miraculous power promulgating the laws of all the world. But,
my children, you see not with the eye of faith, and you hear not
with the understanding of the spirit. I declare that the kingdom
of heaven is the realization and acknowledgment of God's rule
within the hearts of men. True, there is a King in this kingdom,
and that King is my Father and your Father. We are indeed his
loyal subjects, but far transcending that fact is the transforming
truth that we are his sons. In my life this truth is to
become manifest to all. Our Father also sits upon a throne, but
not one made with hands. The throne of the Infinite is the eternal
dwelling place of the Father in the heaven of heavens; he fills
all things and proclaims his laws to universes upon universes. And
the Father also rules within the hearts of his children on earth
by the spirit which he has sent to live within the souls of mortal
men.
141:2.2 "When you are the subjects of this
kingdom, you indeed are made to hear the law of the Universe
Ruler; but when, because of the gospel of the kingdom which I have
come to declare, you faith-discover yourselves as sons, you
henceforth look not upon yourselves as law-subject creatures of an
all-powerful king but as privileged sons of a loving and divine
Father. Verily, verily, I say to you, when the Father's will is
your law, you are hardly in the kingdom. But when the
Father's will becomes truly your will, then are you in very
truth in the kingdom because the kingdom has thereby become an
established experience in you. When God's will is your law, you
are noble slave subjects; but when you believe in this new gospel
of divine sonship, my Father's will becomes your will, and you are
elevated to the high position of the free children of God,
liberated sons of the kingdom."
141:2.3 Some of the apostles grasped something
of this teaching, but none of them comprehended the full
significance of this tremendous announcement, unless it was James
Zebedee. But these words sank into their hearts and came forth to
gladden their ministry during later years of service.
3. THE SOJOURN AT AMATHUS
141:3.1 The Master and his apostles remained
near Amathus for almost three weeks. The apostles continued to
preach twice daily to the multitude, and Jesus preached each
Sabbath afternoon. It became impossible to continue the Wednesday
playtime; so Andrew arranged that two apostles should rest each
day of the six days in the week, while all were on duty during the
Sabbath services.
141:3.2 Peter, James, and John did most of the
public preaching. Philip, Nathaniel, Thomas, and Simon did much of
the personal work and conducted classes for special groups of
inquirers; the twins continued their general police supervision,
while Andrew, Matthew, and Judas developed into a general
managerial committee of three, although each of these three also
did considerable religious work.
141:3.3 Andrew was much occupied with the task
of adjusting the constantly recurring misunderstandings and
disagreements between the disciples of John and the newer
disciples of Jesus. Serious situations would arise every few days,
but Andrew, with the assistance of his apostolic associates,
managed to induce the contending parties to come to some sort of
agreement, at least temporarily. Jesus refused to participate in
any of these conferences; neither would he give any advice about
the proper adjustment of these difficulties. He never once offered
a suggestion as to how the apostles should solve these perplexing
problems. When Andrew came to Jesus with these questions, he would
always say: "It is not wise for the host to participate in the
family troubles of his guests; a wise parent never takes sides in
the petty quarrels of his own children."
141:3.4 The Master displayed great wisdom and
manifested perfect fairness in all of his dealings with his
apostles and with all of his disciples. Jesus was truly a master
of men; he exercised great influence over his fellow men because
of the combined charm and force of his personality. There was a
subtle commanding influence in his rugged, nomadic, and homeless
life. There was intellectual attractiveness and spiritual drawing
power in his authoritative manner of teaching, in his lucid logic,
his strength of reasoning, his sagacious insight, his alertness of
mind, his matchless poise, and his sublime tolerance. He was
simple, manly, honest, and fearless. With all of this physical and
intellectual influence manifest in the Master's presence, there
were also all those spiritual charms of being which have become
associated with his personality -- patience, tenderness, meekness,
gentleness, and humility.
141:3.5 Jesus of Nazareth was indeed a strong
and forceful personality; he was an intellectual power and a
spiritual stronghold. His personality not only appealed to the
spiritually minded women among his followers, but also to the
educated and intellectual Nicodemus and to the hardy Roman
soldier, the captain stationed on guard at the cross, who, when he
had finished watching the Master die, said, "Truly, this was a Son
of God." And red-blooded, rugged Galilean fishermen called him
Master.
141:3.6 The pictures of Jesus have been most
unfortunate. These paintings of the Christ have exerted a
deleterious influence on youth; the temple merchants would hardly
have fled before Jesus if he had been such a man as your artists
usually have depicted. His was a dignified manhood; he was good,
but natural. Jesus did not pose as a mild, sweet, gentle, and
kindly mystic. His teaching was thrillingly dynamic. He not only
meant well, but he went about actually doing good.
141:3.7 The Master never said, "Come to me all
you who are indolent and all who are dreamers." But he did many
times say, "Come to me all you who labor, and I will give
you rest -- spiritual strength." The Master's yoke is, indeed,
easy, but even so, he never imposes it; every individual must take
this yoke of his own free will.
141:3.8 Jesus portrayed conquest by sacrifice,
the sacrifice of pride and selfishness. By showing mercy, he meant
to portray spiritual deliverance from all grudges, grievances,
anger, and the lust for selfish power and revenge. And when he
said, "Resist not evil," he later explained that he did not mean
to condone sin or to counsel fraternity with iniquity. He intended
the more to teach forgiveness, to "resist not evil treatment of
one's personality, evil injury to one's feelings of personal
dignity."
4. TEACHING ABOUT THE FATHER
141:4.1 While sojourning at Amathus, Jesus spent
much time with the apostles instructing them in the new concept of
God; again and again did he impress upon them that God is a
Father, not a great and supreme bookkeeper who is chiefly
engaged in making damaging entries against his erring children on
earth, recordings of sin and evil to be used against them when he
subsequently sits in judgment upon them as the just Judge of all
creation. The Jews had long conceived of God as a king over all,
even as a Father of the nation, but never before had large numbers
of mortal men held the idea of God as a loving Father of the
individual.
141:4.2 In answer to Thomas's question, "Who is
this God of the kingdom?" Jesus replied: "God is your
Father, and religion -- my gospel -- is nothing more nor less than
the believing recognition of the truth that you are his son. And I
am here among you in the flesh to make clear both of these ideas
in my life and teachings."
141:4.3 Jesus also sought to free the minds of
his apostles from the idea of offering animal sacrifices as a
religious duty. But these men, trained in the religion of the
daily sacrifice, were slow to comprehend what he meant.
Nevertheless, the Master did not grow weary in his teaching. When
he failed to reach the minds of all of the apostles by means of
one illustration, he would restate his message and employ another
type of parable for purposes of illumination.
141:4.4 At this same time Jesus began to teach
the twelve more fully concerning their mission "to comfort the
afflicted and minister to the sick." The Master taught them much
about the whole man -- the union of body, mind, and spirit to form
the individual man or woman. Jesus told his associates about the
three forms of affliction they would meet and went on to explain
how they should minister to all who suffer the sorrows of human
sickness. He taught them to recognize:
1. Diseases of the flesh -- those
afflictions commonly regarded as physical sickness.
2. Troubled minds -- those nonphysical
afflictions which were subsequently looked upon as emotional and
mental difficulties and disturbances.
3. The possession of evil spirits.
141:4.5 Jesus explained to his apostles on
several occasions the nature, and something concerning the origin,
of these evil spirits, in that day often also called unclean
spirits. The Master well knew the difference between the
possession of evil spirits and insanity, but the apostles did not.
Neither was it possible, in view of their limited knowledge of the
early history of Urantia, for Jesus to undertake to make this
matter fully understandable. But he many times said to them,
alluding to these evil spirits: " They shall no more molest men
when I shall have ascended to my Father in heaven, and after I
shall have poured out my spirit upon all flesh in those times when
the kingdom will come in great power and spiritual glory."
141:4.6 From week to week and from month to
month, throughout this entire year, the apostles paid more and
more attention to the healing ministry of the sick.
5. SPIRITUAL UNITY
141:5.1 One of the most eventful of all the
evening conferences at Amathus was the session having to do with
the discussion of spiritual unity. James Zebedee had asked,
"Master, how shall we learn to see alike and thereby enjoy more
harmony among ourselves?" When Jesus heard this question, he was
stirred within his spirit, so much so that he replied: "James,
James, when did I teach you that you should all see alike? I have
come into the world to proclaim spiritual liberty to the end that
mortals may be empowered to live individual lives of originality
and freedom before God. I do not desire that social harmony and
fraternal peace shall be purchased by the sacrifice of free
personality and spiritual originality. What I require of you, my
apostles, is spirit unity -- and that you can experience in
the joy of your united dedication to the wholehearted doing of the
will of my Father in heaven. You do not have to see alike or feel
alike or even think alike in order spiritually to be alike.
Spiritual unity is derived from the consciousness that each of you
is indwelt, and increasingly dominated, by the spirit gift of the
heavenly Father. Your apostolic harmony must grow out of the fact
that the spirit hope of each of you is identical in origin,
nature, and destiny.
141:5.2 "In this way you may experience a
perfected unity of spirit purpose and spirit understanding growing
out of the mutual consciousness of the identity of each of your
indwelling Paradise spirits; and you may enjoy all of this
profound spiritual unity in the very face of the utmost diversity
of your individual attitudes of intellectual thinking,
temperamental feeling, and social conduct. Your personalities may
be refreshingly diverse and markedly different, while your
spiritual natures and spirit fruits of divine worship and
brotherly love may be so unified that all who behold your lives
will of a surety take cognizance of this spirit identity and soul
unity; they will recognize that you have been with me and have
thereby learned, and acceptably, how to do the will of the Father
in heaven. You can achieve the unity of the service of God even
while you render such service in accordance with the technique of
your own original endowments of mind, body, and soul.
141:5.3 "Your spirit unity implies two things,
which always will be found to harmonize in the lives of individual
believers: First, you are possessed with a common motive for life
service; you all desire above everything to do the will of the
Father in heaven. Second, you all have a common goal of existence;
you all purpose to find the Father in heaven, thereby proving to
the universe that you have become like him."
141:5.4 Many times during the training of the
twelve Jesus reverted to this theme. Repeatedly he told them it
was not his desire that those who believed in him should become
dogmatized and standardized in accordance with the religious
interpretations of even good men. Again and again he warned his
apostles against the formulation of creeds and the establishment
of traditions as a means of guiding and controlling believers in
the gospel of the kingdom.
6. LAST WEEK AT AMATHUS
141:6.1 Near the end of the last week at
Amathus, Simon Zelotes brought to Jesus one Teherma, a Persian
doing business at Damascus. Teherma had heard of Jesus and had
come to Capernaum to see him, and there learning that Jesus had
gone with his apostles down the Jordan on the way to Jerusalem, he
set out to find him. Andrew had presented Teherma to Simon for
instruction. Simon looked upon the Persian as a "fire worshiper,"
although Teherma took great pains to explain that fire was only
the visible symbol of the Pure and Holy One. After talking with
Jesus, the Persian signified his intention of remaining for
several days to hear the teaching and listen to the preaching.
141:6.2 When Simon Zelotes and Jesus were alone,
Simon asked the Master: "Why is it that I could not persuade him?
Why did he so resist me and so readily lend an ear to you?" Jesus
answered: "Simon, Simon, how many times have I instructed you to
refrain from all efforts to take something out of the
hearts of those who seek salvation? How often have I told you to
labor only to put something into these hungry souls? Lead
men into the kingdom, and the great and living truths of the
kingdom will presently drive out all serious error. When you have
presented to mortal man the good news that God is his Father, you
can the easier persuade him that he is in reality a son of God.
And having done that, you have brought the light of salvation to
the one who sits in darkness. Simon, when the Son of Man came
first to you, did he come denouncing Moses and the prophets and
proclaiming a new and better way of life? I came not to take away
that which you had from your forefathers but to show you the
perfected vision of that which your fathers saw only in part. Go
then, Simon, teaching and preaching the kingdom, and when you have
a man safely and securely within the kingdom, then is the time,
when such a one shall come to you with inquiries, to impart
instruction having to do with the progressive advancement of the
soul within the divine kingdom."
141:6.3 Simon was astonished at these words, but
he did as Jesus had instructed him, and Teherma, the Persian, was
numbered among those who entered the kingdom.
141:6.4 That night Jesus discoursed to the
apostles on the new life in the kingdom. He said in part: "When
you enter the kingdom, you are reborn. You cannot teach the deep
things of the spirit to those who have been born only of the
flesh; first see that men are born of the spirit before you seek
to instruct them in the advanced ways of the spirit. Do not
undertake to show men the beauties of the temple until you have
first taken them into the temple. Introduce men to God and as
the sons of God before you discourse on the doctrines of the
fatherhood of God and the sonship of men. Do not strive with men
-- always be patient. It is not your kingdom; you are only
ambassadors. Simply go forth proclaiming: This is the kingdom of
heaven -- God is your Father and you are his sons, and this good
news, if you wholeheartedly believe it, is your eternal
salvation."
141:6.5 The apostles made great progress during
the sojourn at Amathus. But they were very much disappointed that
Jesus would give them no suggestions about dealing with John's
disciples. Even in the important matter of baptism, all that Jesus
said was: "John did indeed baptize with water, but when you enter
the kingdom of heaven, you shall be baptized with the Spirit."
7. AT BETHANY BEYOND JORDAN
141:7.1 On February 26, Jesus, his apostles, and
a large group of followers journeyed down the Jordan to the ford
near Bethany in Perea, the place where John first made
proclamation of the coming kingdom. Jesus with his apostles
remained here, teaching and preaching, for four weeks before they
went on up to Jerusalem.
141:7.2 The second week of the sojourn at
Bethany beyond Jordan, Jesus took Peter, James, and John into the
hills across the river and south of Jericho for a three days'
rest. The Master taught these three many new and advanced truths
about the kingdom of heaven. For the purpose of this record we
will reorganize and classify these teachings as follows:
141:7.3 Jesus endeavored to make clear that he
desired his disciples, having tasted of the good spirit realities
of the kingdom, so to live in the world that men, by seeing
their lives, would become kingdom conscious and hence be led to
inquire of believers concerning the ways of the kingdom. All such
sincere seekers for the truth are always glad to hear the
glad tidings of the faith gift which insures admission to the
kingdom with its eternal and divine spirit realities.
141:7.4 The Master sought to impress upon all
teachers of the gospel of the kingdom that their only business was
to reveal God to the individual man as his Father -- to lead this
individual man to become son-conscious; then to present this same
man to God as his faith son. Both of these essential revelations
are accomplished in Jesus. He became, indeed, "the way, the truth,
and the life." The religion of Jesus was wholly based on the
living of his bestowal life on earth. When Jesus departed from
this world, he left behind no books, laws, or other forms of human
organization affecting the religious life of the individual".
141:7.5 Jesus made it plain that he had come to
establish personal and eternal relations with men which should
forever take precedence over all other human relationships. And he
emphasized that this intimate spiritual fellowship was to be
extended to all men of all ages and of all social conditions among
all peoples. The only reward which he held out for his children
was: in this world -- spiritual joy and divine communion; in the
next world -- eternal life in the progress of the divine spirit
realities of the Paradise Father.
141:7.6 Jesus laid great emphasis upon what he
called the two truths of first import in the teachings of the
kingdom, and they are: the attainment of salvation by faith, and
faith alone, associated with the revolutionary teaching of the
attainment of human liberty through the sincere recognition of
truth, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free." Jesus was the truth made manifest in the flesh, and he
promised to send his Spirit of Truth into the hearts of all his
children after his return to the Father in heaven.
141:7.7 The Master was teaching these apostles
the essentials of truth for an entire age on earth. They often
listened to his teachings when in reality what he said was
intended for the inspiration and edification of other worlds. He
exemplified a new and original plan of life. From the human
standpoint he was indeed a Jew, but he lived his life for all the
world as a mortal of the realm.
141:7.8 To insure the recognition of his Father
in the unfolding of the plan of the kingdom, Jesus explained that
he had purposely ignored the "great men of earth." He began his
work with the poor, the very class which had been so neglected by
most of the evolutionary religions of preceding times. He despised
no man; his plan was world-wide, even universal. He was so bold
and emphatic in these announcements that even Peter, James, and
John were tempted to think he might possibly be beside himself.
141:7.9 He sought mildly to impart to these
apostles the truth that he had come on this bestowal mission, not
to set an example for a few earth creatures, but to establish and
demonstrate a standard of human life for all peoples upon all
worlds throughout his entire universe. And this standard
approached the highest perfection, even the final goodness of the
Universal Father. But the apostles could not grasp the meaning of
his words.
141:7.10 He announced that he had come to
function as a teacher, a teacher sent from heaven to present
spiritual truth to the material mind. And this is exactly what he
did; he was a teacher, not a preacher. From the human viewpoint
Peter was a much more effective preacher than Jesus. Jesus'
preaching was so effective because of his unique personality, not
so much because of compelling oratory or emotional appeal. Jesus
spoke directly to men's souls. He was a teacher of man's spirit,
but through the mind. He lived with men.
141:7.11 It was on this occasion that Jesus
intimated to Peter, James, and John that his work on earth was in
some respects to be limited by the commission of his "associate on
high," referring to the prebestowal instructions of his Paradise
brother, Immanuel. He told them that he had come to do his
Father's will and only his Father's will. Being thus motivated by
a wholehearted singleness of purpose, he was not anxiously
bothered by the evil in the world.
141:7.12 The apostles were beginning to
recognize the unaffected friendliness of Jesus. Though the Master
was easy of approach, he always lived independent of, and above,
all human beings. Not for one moment was he ever dominated by any
purely mortal influence or subject to frail human judgment. He
paid no attention to public opinion, and he was uninfluenced by
praise. He seldom paused to correct misunderstandings or to resent
misrepresentation. He never asked any man for advice; he never
made requests for prayers
141:7.13 James was astonished at how Jesus
seemed to see the end from the beginning. The Master rarely
appeared to be surprised. He was never excited, vexed, or
disconcerted. He never apologized to any man. He was at times
saddened, but never discouraged.
141:7.14 More clearly John recognized that,
notwithstanding all of his divine endowments, after all, he was
human. Jesus lived as a man among men and understood, loved, and
knew how to manage men. In his personal life he was so human, and
yet so faultless. And he was always unselfish.
141:7.15 Although Peter, James, and John could
not understand very much of what Jesus said on this occasion, his
gracious words lingered in their hearts, and after the crucifixion
and resurrection they came forth greatly to enrich and gladden
their subsequent ministry. No wonder these apostles did not fully
comprehend the Master's words, for he was projecting to them the
plan of a new age.
8. WORKING IN JERICHO
141:8.1 Throughout the four weeks' sojourn at
Bethany beyond Jordan, several times each week Andrew would assign
apostolic couples to go up to Jericho for a day or two. John had
many believers in Jericho, and the majority of them welcomed the
more advanced teachings of Jesus and his apostles. On these
Jericho visits the apostles began more specifically to carry out
Jesus' instructions to minister to the sick; they visited every
house in the city and sought to comfort every afflicted person.
141:8.2 The apostles did some public work in
Jericho, but their efforts were chiefly of a more quiet and
personal nature. They now made the discovery that the good news of
the kingdom was very comforting to the sick; that their message
carried healing for the afflicted. And it was in Jericho that
Jesus' commission to the twelve to preach the glad tidings of the
kingdom and minister to the afflicted was first fully carried into
effect.
141:8.3 They stopped in Jericho on the way up to
Jerusalem and were overtaken by a delegation from Mesopotamia that
had come to confer with Jesus. The apostles had planned to spend
but a day here, but when these truth seekers from the East
arrived, Jesus spent three days with them, and they returned to
their various homes along the Euphrates happy in the knowledge of
the new truths of the kingdom of heaven.
9. DEPARTING FOR JERUSALEM
141:9.1 On Monday, the last day of March, Jesus
and the apostles began their journey up the hills toward
Jerusalem. Lazarus of Bethany had been down to the Jordan twice to
see Jesus, and every arrangement had been made for the Master and
his apostles to make their headquarters with Lazarus and his
sisters at Bethany as long as they might desire to stay in
Jerusalem.
141:9.2 The disciples of John remained at
Bethany beyond the Jordan, teaching and baptizing the multitudes,
so that Jesus was accompanied only by the twelve when he arrived
at Lazarus's home. Here Jesus and the apostles tarried for five
days, resting and refreshing themselves before going on to
Jerusalem for the Passover. It was a great event in the lives of
Martha and Mary to have the Master and his apostles in the home of
their brother, where they could minister to their needs.
141:9.3 On Sunday morning, April 6, Jesus and
the apostles went down to Jerusalem; and this was the first time
the Master and all of the twelve had been there together.
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