The Urantia Book
PAPER 142
THE PASSOVER AT JERUSALEM
142:0.1 THE month of April Jesus and the
apostles worked in Jerusalem, going out of the city each evening
to spend the night at Bethany. Jesus himself spent one or two
nights each week in Jerusalem at the home of Flavius, a Greek Jew,
where many prominent Jews came in secret to interview him.
142:0.2 The first day in Jerusalem Jesus called
upon his friend of former years, Annas, the onetime high priest
and relative of Salome, Zebedee's wife. Annas had been hearing
about Jesus and his teachings, and when Jesus called at the high
priest's home, he was received with much reserve. When Jesus
perceived Annas's coldness, he took immediate leave, saying as he
departed: "Fear is man's chief enslaver and pride his great
weakness; will you betray yourself into bondage to both of these
destroyers of joy and liberty?" But Annas made no reply. The
Master did not again see Annas until the time when he sat with his
son-in-law in judgment on the Son of Man.
1. TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE
142:1.1 Throughout this month Jesus or one of
the apostles taught daily in the temple. When the Passover crowds
were too great to find entrance to the temple teaching, the
apostles conducted many teaching groups outside the sacred
precincts. The burden of their message was:
1. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
2. By faith in the fatherhood of God
you may enter the kingdom of heaven, thus becoming the sons of
God.
3. Love is the rule of living within
the kingdom -- supreme devotion to God while loving your neighbor
as yourself.
4. Obedience to the will of the
Father, yielding the fruits of the spirit in one's personal life,
is the law of the kingdom.
142:1.2 The multitudes who came to celebrate the
Passover heard this teaching of Jesus, and hundreds of them
rejoiced in the good news. The chief priests and rulers of the
Jews became much concerned about Jesus and his apostles and
debated among themselves as to what should be done with them.
142:1.3 Besides teaching in and about the
temple, the apostles and other believers were engaged in doing
much personal work among the Passover throngs. These interested
men and women carried the news of Jesus' message from this
Passover celebration to the uttermost parts of the Roman Empire
and also to the East. This was the beginning of the spread of the
gospel of the kingdom to the outside world. No longer was the work
of Jesus to be confined to Palestine.
2. GOD'S WRATH
142:2.1 There was in Jerusalem in attendance
upon the Passover festivities one Jacob, a wealthy Jewish trader
from Crete, and he came to Andrew making request to see Jesus
privately. Andrew arranged this secret meeting with Jesus at
Flavius's home the evening of the next day. This man could not
comprehend the Master's teachings, and he came because he desired
to inquire more fully about the kingdom of God. Said Jacob to
Jesus: "But, Rabbi, Moses and the olden prophets tell us that
Yahweh is a jealous God, a God of great wrath and fierce anger.
The prophets say he hates evildoers and takes vengeance on those
who obey not his law. You and your disciples teach us that God is
a kind and compassionate Father who so loves all men that he would
welcome them into this new kingdom of heaven, which you proclaim
is so near at hand."
142:2.2 When Jacob finished speaking, Jesus
replied: "Jacob, you have well stated the teachings of the olden
prophets who taught the children of their generation in accordance
with the light of their day. Our Father in Paradise is changeless.
But the concept of his nature has enlarged and grown from the days
of Moses down through the times of Amos and even to the generation
of the prophet Isaiah. And now have I come in the flesh to reveal
the Father in new glory and to show forth his love and mercy to
all men on all worlds. As the gospel of this kingdom shall spread
over the world with its message of good cheer and good will to all
men, there will grow up improved and better relations among the
families of all nations. As time passes, fathers and their
children will love each other more, and thus will be brought about
a better understanding of the love of the Father in heaven for his
children on earth. Remember, Jacob, that a good and true father
not only loves his family as a whole -- as a family -- but he also
truly loves and affectionately cares for each individual
member."
142:2.3 After considerable discussion of the
heavenly Father's character, Jesus paused to say: "You, Jacob,
being a father of many, know well the truth of my words." And
Jacob said: "But, Master, who told you I was the father of six
children? How did you know this about me?" And the Master replied:
"Suffice it to say that the Father and the Son know all things,
for indeed they see all. Loving your children as a father on
earth, you must now accept as a reality the love of the heavenly
Father for you -- not just for all the children of Abraham,
but for you, your individual soul."
142:2.4 Then Jesus went on to say: "When your
children are very young and immature, and when you must chastise
them, they may reflect that their father is angry and filled with
resentful wrath. Their immaturity cannot penetrate beyond the
punishment to discern the father's farseeing and corrective
affection. But when these same children become grown-up men and
women, would it not be folly for them to cling to these earlier
and misconceived notions regarding their father? As men and women
they should now discern their father's love in all these early
disciplines. And should not mankind, as the centuries pass, come
the better to understand the true nature and loving character of
the Father in heaven? What profit have you from successive
generations of spiritual illumination if you persist in viewing
God as Moses and the prophets saw him? I say to you, Jacob, under
the bright light of this hour you should see the Father as none of
those who have gone before ever beheld him. And thus seeing him,
you should rejoice to enter the kingdom wherein such a merciful
Father rules, and you should seek to have his will of love
dominate your life henceforth."
142:2.5 And Jacob answered: "Rabbi, I believe; I
desire that you lead me into the Father's kingdom."
3. THE CONCEPT OF GOD
142:3.1 The twelve apostles, most of whom had
listened to this discussion of the character of God, that night
asked Jesus many questions about the Father in heaven. The
Master's answers to these questions can best be presented by the
following summary in modern phraseology:
142:3.2 Jesus mildly upbraided the twelve, in
substance saying: Do you not know the traditions of Israel
relating to the growth of the idea of Yahweh, and are you ignorant
of the teaching of the Scriptures concerning the doctrine of God?
And then did the Master proceed to instruct the apostles about the
evolution of the concept of Deity throughout the course of the
development of the Jewish people. He called attention to the
following phases of the growth of the God idea:
142:3.3 1. Yahweh -- the god of the Sinai
clans. This was the primitive concept of Deity which Moses exalted
to the higher level of the Lord God of Israel. The Father in
heaven never fails to accept the sincere worship of his children
on earth, no matter how crude their concept of Deity or by what
name they symbolize his divine nature.
142:3.4 2. The Most High. This concept of
the Father in heaven was proclaimed by Melchizedek to Abraham and
was carried far from Salem by those who subsequently believed in
this enlarged and expanded idea of Deity. Abraham and his brother
left Ur because of the establishment of sun worship, and they
became believers in Melchizedek's teaching of El Elyon -- the Most
High God. Theirs was a composite concept of God, consisting in a
blending of their older Mesopotamian ideas and the Most High
doctrine.
142:3.5 3. El Shaddai. During these early
days many of the Hebrews worshiped El Shaddai, the Egyptian
concept of the God of heaven, which they learned about during
their captivity in the land of the Nile. Long after the times of
Melchizedek all three of these concepts of God became joined
together to form the doctrine of the creator Deity, the Lord God
of Israel.
142:3.6 4. Elohim. From the times of Adam
the teaching of the Paradise Trinity has persisted. Do you not
recall how the Scriptures begin by asserting that "In the
beginning the Gods created the heavens and the earth"? This
indicates that when that record was made the Trinity concept of
three Gods in one had found lodgment in the religion of our
forebears.
142:3.7 5. The Supreme Yahweh. By the
times of Isaiah these beliefs about God had expanded into the
concept of a Universal Creator who was simultaneously all-powerful
and all-merciful. And this evolving and enlarging concept of God
virtually supplanted all previous ideas of Deity in our fathers'
religion.
142:3.8 6. The Father in heaven. And now
do we know God as our Father in heaven. Our teaching provides a
religion wherein the believer is a son of God. That is the
good news of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. Coexistent with
the Father are the Son and the Spirit, and the revelation of the
nature and ministry of these Paradise Deities will continue to
enlarge and brighten throughout the endless ages of the eternal
spiritual progression of the ascending sons of God. At all times
and during all ages the true worship of any human being -- as
concerns individual spiritual progress -- is recognized by the
indwelling spirit as homage rendered to the Father in heaven.
142:3.9 Never before had the apostles been so
shocked as they were upon hearing this recounting of the growth of
the concept of God in the Jewish minds of previous generations;
they were too bewildered to ask questions. As they sat before
Jesus in silence, the Master continued: "And you would have known
these truths had you read the Scriptures. Have you not read in
Samuel where it says: `And the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Israel, so much so that he moved David against them,
saying, go number Israel and Judah'? And this was not strange
because in the days of Samuel the children of Abraham really
believed that Yahweh created both good and evil. But when a later
writer narrated these events, subsequent to the enlargement of the
Jewish concept of the nature of God, he did not dare attribute
evil to Yahweh; therefore he said: `And Satan stood up against
Israel and provoked David to number Israel.' Cannot you discern
that such records in the Scriptures clearly show how the concept
of the nature of God continued to grow from one generation to
another?
142:3.10 "Again should you have discerned the
growth of the understanding of divine law in perfect keeping with
these enlarging concepts of divinity. When the children of Israel
came out of Egypt in the days before the enlarged revelation of
Yahweh, they had ten commandments which served as their law right
up to the times when they were encamped before Sinai. And these
ten commandments were:
142:3.11 "1. You shall worship no other god, for
the Lord is a jealous God.
142:3.12 "2. You shall not make molten gods.
142:3.13 "3. You shall not neglect to keep the
feast of unleavened bread.
142:3.14 "4. Of all the males of men or cattle,
the first-born are mine, says the Lord.
142:3.15 "5. Six days you may work, but on the
seventh day you shall rest.
142:3.16 "6. You shall not fail to observe the
feast of the first fruits and the feast of the ingathering at the
end of the year.
142:3.17 "7. You shall not offer the blood of
any sacrifice with leavened bread.
142:3.18 "8. The sacrifice of the feast of the
Passover shall not be left until morning.
142:3.19 "9. The first of the first fruits of
the ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God.
142:3.20 "10. You shall not seethe a kid in its
mother's milk.
142:3.21 "And then, amidst the thunders and
lightnings of Sinai, Moses gave them the new ten commandments,
which you will all allow are more worthy utterances to accompany
the enlarging Yahweh concepts of Deity. And did you never take
notice of these commandments as twice recorded in the Scriptures,
that in the first case deliverance from Egypt is assigned as the
reason for Sabbath keeping, while in a later record the advancing
religious beliefs of our forefathers demanded that this be changed
to the recognition of the fact of creation as the reason for
Sabbath observance?
142:3.22 "And then will you remember that once
again -- in the greater spiritual enlightenment of Isaiah's day --
these ten negative commandments were changed into the great and
positive law of love, the injunction to love God supremely and
your neighbor as yourself. And it is this supreme law of love for
God and for man that I also declare to you as constituting the
whole duty of man."
142:3.23 And when he had finished speaking, no
man asked him a question. They went, each one to his sleep.
4. FLAVIUS AND GREEK CULTURE
142:4.1 Flavius, the Greek Jew, was a proselyte
of the gate, having been neither circumcised nor baptized; and
since he was a great lover of the beautiful in art and sculpture,
the house which he occupied when sojourning in Jerusalem was a
beautiful edifice. This home was exquisitely adorned with
priceless treasures which he had gathered up here and there on his
world travels. When he first thought of inviting Jesus to his
home, he feared that the Master might take offense at the sight of
these so-called images. But Flavius was agreeably surprised when
Jesus entered the home that, instead of rebuking him for having
these supposedly idolatrous objects scattered about the house, he
manifested great interest in the entire collection and asked many
appreciative questions about each object as Flavius escorted him
from room to room, showing him all of his favorite statues.
142:4.2
The Master saw that his host was bewildered at his friendly
attitude toward art; therefore, when they had finished the survey
of the entire collection, Jesus said: "Because you appreciate the
beauty of things created by my Father and fashioned by the
artistic hands of man, why should you expect to be rebuked?
Because Moses onetime sought to combat idolatry and the worship of
false gods, why should all men frown upon the reproduction of
grace and beauty? I say to you, Flavius, Moses' children have
misunderstood him, and now do they make false gods of even his
prohibitions of images and the likeness of things in heaven and on
earth. But even if Moses taught such restrictions to the darkened
minds of those days, what has that to do with this day when the
Father in heaven is revealed as the universal Spirit Ruler over
all? And, Flavius, I declare that in the coming kingdom they shall
no longer teach, `Do not worship this and do not worship that'; no
longer shall they concern themselves with commands to refrain from
this and take care not to do that, but rather shall all be
concerned with one supreme duty. And this duty of man is expressed
in two great privileges: sincere worship of the infinite Creator,
the Paradise Father, and loving service bestowed upon one's fellow
men. If you love your neighbor as you love yourself, you really
know that you are a son of God.
142:4.3 "In an age when my Father was not well
understood, Moses was justified in his attempts to withstand
idolatry, but in the coming age the Father will have been revealed
in the life of the Son; and this new revelation of God will make
it forever unnecessary to confuse the Creator Father with idols of
stone or images of gold and silver. Henceforth, intelligent men
may enjoy the treasures of art without confusing such material
appreciation of beauty with the worship and service of the Father
in Paradise, the God of all things and all beings."
142:4.4 Flavius believed all that Jesus taught
him. The next day he went to Bethany beyond the Jordan and was
baptized by the disciples of John. And this he did because the
apostles of Jesus did not yet baptize believers. When Flavius
returned to Jerusalem, he made a great feast for Jesus and invited
sixty of his friends. And many of these guests also became
believers in the message of the coming kingdom.
5. THE DISCOURSE ON ASSURANCE
142:5.1 One of the great sermons which Jesus
preached in the temple this Passover week was in answer to a
question asked by one of his hearers, a man from Damascus. This
man asked Jesus: "But, Rabbi, how shall we know of a certainty
that you are sent by God, and that we may truly enter into this
kingdom which you and your disciples declare is near at hand?" And
Jesus answered:
142:5.2 "As to my message and the teaching of my
disciples, you should judge them by their fruits. If we proclaim
to you the truths of the spirit, the spirit will witness in your
hearts that our message is genuine. Concerning the kingdom and
your assurance of acceptance by the heavenly Father, let me ask
what father among you who is a worthy and kindhearted father would
keep his son in anxiety or suspense regarding his status in the
family or his place of security in the affections of his father's
heart? Do you earth fathers take pleasure in torturing your
children with uncertainty about their place of abiding love in
your human hearts? Neither does your Father in heaven leave his
faith children of the spirit in doubtful uncertainty as to their
position in the kingdom. If you receive God as your Father, then
indeed and in truth are you the sons of God. And if you are sons,
then are you secure in the position and standing of all that
concerns eternal and divine sonship. If you believe my words, you
thereby believe in Him who sent me, and by thus believing in the
Father, you have made your status in heavenly citizenship sure. If
you do the will of the Father in heaven, you shall never fail in
the attainment of the eternal life of progress in the divine
kingdom.
142:5.3 "The Supreme Spirit shall bear witness
with your spirits that you are truly the children of God. And if
you are the sons of God, then have you been born of the spirit of
God; and whosoever has been born of the spirit has in himself the
power to overcome all doubt, and this is the victory that
overcomes all uncertainty, even your faith.
142:5.4 "Said the Prophet Isaiah, speaking of
these times: `When the spirit is poured upon us from on high, then
shall the work of righteousness become peace, quietness, and
assurance forever.' And for all who truly believe this gospel, I
will become surety for their reception into the eternal mercies
and the everlasting life of my Father's kingdom. You, then, who
hear this message and believe this gospel of the kingdom are the
sons of God, and you have life everlasting; and the evidence to
all the world that you have been born of the spirit is that you
sincerely love one another."
142:5.5 The throng of listeners remained many
hours with Jesus, asking him questions and listening attentively
to his comforting answers. Even the apostles were emboldened by
Jesus' teaching to preach the gospel of the kingdom with more
power and assurance. This experience at Jerusalem was a great
inspiration to the twelve. It was their first contact with such
enormous crowds, and they learned many valuable lessons which
proved of great assistance in their later work.
6. THE VISIT WITH NICODEMUS
142:6.1 One evening at the home of Flavius there
came to see Jesus one Nicodemus, a wealthy and elderly member of
the Jewish Sanhedrin. He had heard much about the teachings of
this Galilean, and so he went one afternoon to hear him as he
taught in the temple courts. He would have gone often to hear
Jesus teach, but he feared to be seen by the people in attendance
upon his teaching, for already were the rulers of the Jews so at
variance with Jesus that no member of the Sanhedrin would want to
be identified in any open manner with him. Accordingly, Nicodemus
had arranged with Andrew to see Jesus privately and after
nightfall on this particular evening. Peter, James, and John were
in Flavius's garden when the interview began, but later they all
went into the house where the discourse continued.
142:6.2 In receiving Nicodemus, Jesus showed no
particular deference; in talking with him, there was no compromise
or undue persuasiveness. The Master made no attempt to repulse his
secretive caller, nor did he employ sarcasm. In all his dealings
with the distinguished visitor, Jesus was calm, earnest, and
dignified. Nicodemus was not an official delegate of the
Sanhedrin; he came to see Jesus wholly because of his personal and
sincere interest in the Master's teachings.
142:6.3 Upon being presented by Flavius,
Nicodemus said: "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent by
God, for no mere man could so teach unless God were with him. And
I am desirous of knowing more about your teachings regarding the
coming kingdom."
142:6.4 Jesus answered Nicodemus: "Verily,
verily, I say to you, Nicodemus, except a man be born from above,
he cannot see the kingdom of God." Then replied Nicodemus: "But
how can a man be born again when he is old? He cannot enter a
second time into his mother's womb to be born."
142:6.5 Jesus said: "Nevertheless, I declare to
you, except a man be born of the spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the spirit is spirit. But you should not marvel
that I said you must be born from above. When the wind blows, you
hear the rustle of the leaves, but you do not see the wind --
whence it comes or whither it goes -- and so it is with everyone
born of the spirit. With the eyes of the flesh you can behold the
manifestations of the spirit, but you cannot actually discern the
spirit."
142:6.6 Nicodemus replied: "But I do not
understand -- how can that be?" Said Jesus: "Can it be that you
are a teacher in Israel and yet ignorant of all this? It becomes,
then, the duty of those who know about the realities of the spirit
to reveal these things to those who discern only the
manifestations of the material world. But will you believe us if
we tell you of the heavenly truths? Do you have the courage,
Nicodemus, to believe in one who has descended from heaven, even
the Son of Man?"
142:6.7 And Nicodemus said: "But how can I begin
to lay hold upon this spirit which is to remake me in preparation
for entering into the kingdom?" Jesus answered: "Already does the
spirit of the Father in heaven indwell you. If you would be led by
this spirit from above, very soon would you begin to see with the
eyes of the spirit, and then by the wholehearted choice of spirit
guidance would you be born of the spirit since your only purpose
in living would be to do the will of your Father who is in heaven.
And so finding yourself born of the spirit and happily in the
kingdom of God, you would begin to bear in your daily life the
abundant fruits of the spirit."
142:6.8 Nicodemus was thoroughly sincere. He was
deeply impressed but went away bewildered. Nicodemus was
accomplished in self-development, in self-restraint, and even in
high moral qualities. He was refined, egoistic, and altruistic;
but he did not know how to submit his will to the will of
the divine Father as a little child is willing to submit to the
guidance and leading of a wise and loving earthly father, thereby
becoming in reality a son of God, a progressive heir of the
eternal kingdom.
142:6.9 But Nicodemus did summon faith enough to
lay hold of the kingdom. He faintly protested when his colleagues
of the Sanhedrin sought to condemn Jesus without a hearing; and
with Joseph of Arimathea, he later boldly acknowledged his faith
and claimed the body of Jesus, even when most of the disciples had
fled in fear from the scenes of their Master's final suffering and
death.
7. THE LESSON ON THE FAMILY
142:7.1 After the busy period of teaching and
personal work of Passover week in Jerusalem, Jesus spent the next
Wednesday at Bethany with his apostles, resting. That afternoon,
Thomas asked a question which elicited a long and instructive
answer. Said Thomas: "Master, on the day we were set apart as
ambassadors of the kingdom, you told us many things, instructed us
regarding our personal mode of life, but what shall we teach the
multitude? How are these people to live after the kingdom more
fully comes? Shall your disciples own slaves? Shall your believers
court poverty and shun property? Shall mercy alone prevail so that
we shall have no more law and justice?" Jesus and the twelve spent
all afternoon and all that evening, after supper, discussing
Thomas's questions. For the purposes of this record we present the
following summary of the Master's instruction:
142:7.2 Jesus sought first to make plain to his
apostles that he himself was on earth living a unique life in the
flesh, and that they, the twelve, had been called to participate
in this bestowal experience of the Son of Man; and as such
coworkers, they, too, must share in many of the special
restrictions and obligations of the entire bestowal experience.
There was a veiled intimation that the Son of Man was the only
person who had ever lived on earth who could simultaneously see
into the very heart of God and into the very depths of man's soul.
142:7.3 Very plainly Jesus explained that the
kingdom of heaven was an evolutionary experience, beginning here
on earth and progressing up through successive life stations to
Paradise. In the course of the evening he definitely stated that
at some future stage of kingdom development he would revisit this
world in spiritual power and divine glory.
142:7.4 He next explained that the "kingdom
idea" was not the best way to illustrate man's relation to God;
that he employed such figures of speech because the Jewish people
were expecting the kingdom, and because John had preached in terms
of the coming kingdom. Jesus said: "The people of another age will
better understand the gospel of the kingdom when it is presented
in terms expressive of the family relationship -- when man
understands religion as the teaching of the fatherhood of God and
the brotherhood of man, sonship with God." Then the Master
discoursed at some length on the earthly family as an illustration
of the heavenly family, restating the two fundamental laws of
living: the first commandment of love for the father, the head of
the family, and the second commandment of mutual love among the
children, to love your brother as yourself. And then he explained
that such a quality of brotherly affection would invariably
manifest itself in unselfish and loving social service.
142:7.5 Following that, came the memorable
discussion of the fundamental characteristics of family life and
their application to the relationship existing between God and
man. Jesus stated that a true family is founded on the following
seven facts:
142:7.6 1. The fact of existence. The
relationships of nature and the phenomena of mortal likenesses are
bound up in the family: Children inherit certain parental traits.
The children take origin in the parents; personality existence
depends on the act of the parent. The relationship of father and
child is inherent in all nature and pervades all living
existences.
142:7.7 2. Security and pleasure. True
fathers take great pleasure in providing for the needs of their
children. Many fathers are not content with supplying the mere
wants of their children but enjoy making provision for their
pleasures also.
142:7.8 3. Education and training. Wise
fathers carefully plan for the education and adequate training of
their sons and daughters. When young they are prepared for the
greater responsibilities of later life.
142:7.9 4. Discipline and restraint.
Farseeing fathers also make provision for the necessary
discipline, guidance, correction, and sometimes restraint of their
young and immature offspring.
142:7.10 5. Companionship and loyalty.
The affectionate father holds intimate and loving intercourse with
his children. Always is his ear open to their petitions; he is
ever ready to share their hardships and assist them over their
difficulties. The father is supremely interested in the
progressive welfare of his progeny.
142:7.11 6. Love and mercy. A
compassionate father is freely forgiving; fathers do not hold
vengeful memories against their children. Fathers are not like
judges, enemies, or creditors. Real families are built upon
tolerance, patience, and forgiveness.
142:7.12 7. Provision for the future.
Temporal fathers like to leave an inheritance for their sons. The
family continues from one generation to another. Death only ends
one generation to mark the beginning of another. Death terminates
an individual life but not necessarily the family.
142:7.13 For hours the Master discussed the
application of these features of family life to the relations of
man, the earth child, to God, the Paradise Father. And this was
his conclusion: "This entire relationship of a son to the Father,
I know in perfection, for all that you must attain of sonship in
the eternal future I have now already attained. The Son of Man is
prepared to ascend to the right hand of the Father, so that in me
is the way now open still wider for all of you to see God and, ere
you have finished the glorious progression, to become perfect,
even as your Father in heaven is perfect."
142:7.14 When the apostles heard these startling
words, they recalled the pronouncements which John made at the
time of Jesus' baptism, and they also vividly recalled this
experience in connection with their preaching and teaching
subsequent to the Master's death and resurrection.
142:7.15 Jesus is a divine Son, one in the
Universal Father's full confidence. He had been with the Father
and comprehended him fully. He had now lived his earth life to the
full satisfaction of the Father, and this incarnation in the flesh
had enabled him fully to comprehend man. Jesus was the perfection
of man; he had attained just such perfection as all true believers
are destined to attain in him and through him. Jesus revealed a
God of perfection to man and presented in himself the perfected
son of the realms to God.
142:7.16 Although Jesus discoursed for several
hours, Thomas was not yet satisfied, for he said: "But, Master, we
do not find that the Father in heaven always deals kindly and
mercifully with us. Many times we grievously suffer on earth, and
not always are our prayers answered. Where do we fail to grasp the
meaning of your teaching?"
142:7.17 Jesus replied: "Thomas, Thomas, how
long before you will acquire the ability to listen with the ear of
the spirit? How long will it be before you discern that this
kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, and that my Father is also a
spiritual being? Do you not understand that I am teaching you as
spiritual children in the spirit family of heaven, of which the
fatherhead is an infinite and eternal spirit? Will you not allow
me to use the earth family as an illustration of divine
relationships without so literally applying my teaching to
material affairs? In your minds cannot you separate the spiritual
realities of the kingdom from the material, social, economic, and
political problems of the age? When I speak the language of the
spirit, why do you insist on translating my meaning into the
language of the flesh just because I presume to employ commonplace
and literal relationships for purposes of illustration? My
children, I implore that you cease to apply the teaching of the
kingdom of the spirit to the sordid affairs of slavery, poverty,
houses, and lands, and to the material problems of human equity
and justice. These temporal matters are the concern of the men of
this world, and while in a way they affect all men, you have been
called to represent me in the world, even as I represent my
Father. You are spiritual ambassadors of a spiritual kingdom,
special representatives of the spirit Father. By this time it
should be possible for me to instruct you as full-grown men of the
spirit kingdom. Must I ever address you only as children? Will you
never grow up in spirit perception? Nevertheless, I love you and
will bear with you, even to the very end of our association in the
flesh. And even then shall my spirit go before you into all the
world."
8. IN SOUTHERN JUDEA
142:8.1 By the end of April the opposition to
Jesus among the Pharisees and Sadducees had become so pronounced
that the Master and his apostles decided to leave Jerusalem for a
while, going south to work in Bethlehem and Hebron. The entire
month of May was spent in doing personal work in these cities and
among the people of the surrounding villages. No public preaching
was done on this trip, only house-to-house visitation. A part of
this time, while the apostles taught the gospel and ministered to
the sick, Jesus and Abner spent at Engedi, visiting the Nazarite
colony. John the Baptist had gone forth from this place, and Abner
had been head of this group. Many of the Nazarite brotherhood
became believers in Jesus, but the majority of these ascetic and
eccentric men refused to accept him as a teacher sent from heaven
because he did not teach fasting and other forms of self-denial.
142:8.2 The people living in this region did not
know that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem. They always supposed
the Master had been born at Nazareth, as did the vast majority of
his disciples, but the twelve knew the facts.
142:8.3 This sojourn in the south of Judea was a
restful and fruitful season of labor; many souls were added to the
kingdom. By the first days of June the agitation against Jesus had
so quieted down in Jerusalem that the Master and the apostles
returned to instruct and comfort believers.
142:8.4 Although Jesus and the apostles spent
the entire month of June in or near Jerusalem, they did no public
teaching during this period. They lived for the most part in
tents, which they pitched in a shaded park, or garden, known in
that day as Gethsemane. This park was situated on the western
slope of the Mount of Olives not far from the brook Kidron. The
Sabbath week ends they usually spent with Lazarus and his sisters
at Bethany. Jesus entered within the walls of Jerusalem only a few
times, but a large number of interested inquirers came out to
Gethsemane to visit with him. One Friday evening Nicodemus and one
Joseph of Arimathea ventured out to see Jesus but turned back
through fear even after they were standing before the entrance to
the Master's tent. And, of course, they did not perceive that
Jesus knew all about their doings.
142:8.5 When the rulers of the Jews learned that
Jesus had returned to Jerusalem, they prepared to arrest him; but
when they observed that he did no public preaching, they concluded
that he had become frightened by their previous agitation and
decided to allow him to carry on his teaching in this private
manner without further molestation. And thus affairs moved along
quietly until the last days of June, when one Simon, a member of
the Sanhedrin, publicly espoused the teachings of Jesus, after so
declaring himself before the rulers of the Jews. Immediately a new
agitation for Jesus' apprehension sprang up and grew so strong
that the Master decided to retire into the cities of Samaria and
the Decapolis.
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