The Urantia Book
PAPER 148
TRAINING EVANGELISTS AT BETHSAIDA
148:0.1 FROM May 3 to October 3, A.D. 28, Jesus
and the apostolic party were in residence at the Zebedee home at
Bethsaida. Throughout this five months' period of the dry season
an enormous camp was maintained by the seaside near the Zebedee
residence, which had been greatly enlarged to accommodate the
growing family of Jesus. This seaside camp, occupied by an
ever-changing population of truth seekers, healing candidates, and
curiosity devotees, numbered from five hundred to fifteen hundred.
This tented city was under the general supervision of David
Zebedee, assisted by the Alpheus twins. The encampment was a model
in order and sanitation as well as in its general administration.
The sick of different types were segregated and were under the
supervision of a believer physician, a Syrian named Elman.
148:0.2 Throughout this period the apostles
would go fishing at least one day a week, selling their catch to
David for consumption by the seaside encampment. The funds thus
received were turned over to the group treasury. The twelve were
permitted to spend one week out of each month with their families
or friends.
148:0.3 While Andrew continued in general charge
of the apostolic activities, Peter was in full charge of the
school of the evangelists. The apostles all did their share in
teaching groups of evangelists each forenoon, and both teachers
and pupils taught the people during the afternoons. After the
evening meal, five nights a week, the apostles conducted question
classes for the benefit of the evangelists. Once a week Jesus
presided at this question hour, answering the holdover questions
from previous sessions.
148:0.4 In five months several thousand came and
went at this encampment. Interested persons from every part of the
Roman Empire and from the lands east of the Euphrates were in
frequent attendance. This was the longest settled and
well-organized period of the Master's teaching. Jesus' immediate
family spent most of this time at either Nazareth or Cana.
148:0.5 The encampment was not conducted as a
community of common interests, as was the apostolic family. David
Zebedee managed this large tent city so that it became a
self-sustaining enterprise, notwithstanding that no one was ever
turned away. This ever-changing camp was an indispensable feature
of Peter's evangelistic training school.
1. A NEW SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS
148:1.1 Peter, James, and Andrew were the
committee designated by Jesus to pass upon applicants for
admission to the school of evangelists. All the races and
nationalities of the Roman world and the East, as far as India,
were represented among the students in this new school of the
prophets. This school was conducted on the plan of learning and
doing. What the students learned during the forenoon they taught
to the assembly by the seaside during the afternoon. After supper
they informally discussed both the learning of the forenoon and
the teaching of the afternoon.
148:1.2 Each of the apostolic teachers taught
his own view of the gospel of the kingdom. They made no effort to
teach just alike; there was no standardized or dogmatic
formulation of theologic doctrines. Though they all taught the
same truth, each apostle presented his own personal
interpretation of the Master's teaching. And Jesus upheld this
presentation of the diversity of personal experience in the things
of the kingdom, unfailingly harmonizing and co-ordinating these
many and divergent views of the gospel at his weekly question
hours. Notwithstanding this great degree of personal liberty in
matters of teaching, Simon Peter tended to dominate the theology
of the school of evangelists. Next to Peter, James Zebedee exerted
the greatest personal influence.
148:1.3 The one hundred and more evangelists
trained during this five months by the seaside represented the
material from which (excepting Abner and John's apostles) the
later seventy gospel teachers and preachers were drawn. The school
of evangelists did not have everything in common to the same
degree as did the twelve.
148:1.4 These evangelists, though they taught
and preached the gospel, did not baptize believers until after
they were later ordained and commissioned by Jesus as the seventy
messengers of the kingdom. Only seven of the large number healed
at the sundown scene at this place were to be found among these
evangelistic students. The nobleman's son of Capernaum was one of
those trained for gospel service in Peter's school.
2. THE BETHSAIDA HOSPITAL
148:2.1 In connection with the seaside
encampment, Elman, the Syrian physician, with the assistance of a
corps of twenty-five young women and twelve men, organized and
conducted for four months what should be regarded as the kingdom's
first hospital. At this infirmary, located a short distance to the
south of the main tented city, they treated the sick in accordance
with all known material methods as well as by the spiritual
practices of prayer and faith encouragement. Jesus visited the
sick of this encampment not less than three times a week and made
personal contact with each sufferer. As far as we know, no
so-called miracles of supernatural healing occurred among the one
thousand afflicted and ailing persons who went away from this
infirmary improved or cured. However, the vast majority of these
benefited individuals ceased not to proclaim that Jesus had healed
them.
148:2.2 Many of the cures effected by Jesus in
connection with his ministry in behalf of Elman's patients did,
indeed, appear to resemble the working of miracles, but we were
instructed that they were only just such transformations of mind
and spirit as may occur in the experience of expectant and
faith-dominated persons who are under the immediate and
inspirational influence of a strong, positive, and beneficent
personality whose ministry banishes fear and destroys anxiety.
148:2.3 Elman and his associates endeavored to
teach the truth to these sick ones concerning the "possession of
evil spirits," but they met with little success. The belief that
physical sickness and mental derangement could be caused by the
dwelling of a so-called unclean spirit in the mind or body of the
afflicted person was well-nigh universal.
148:2.4 In all his contact with the sick and
afflicted, when it came to the technique of treatment or the
revelation of the unknown causes of disease, Jesus did not
disregard the instructions of his Paradise brother, Immanuel,
given ere he embarked upon the venture of the Urantia incarnation.
Notwithstanding this, those who ministered to the sick learned
many helpful lessons by observing the manner in which Jesus
inspired the faith and confidence of the sick and suffering.
148:2.5 The camp disbanded a short time before
the season for the increase in chills and fever drew on.
3. THE FATHER'S BUSINESS
148:3.1 Throughout this period Jesus conducted
public services at the encampment less than a dozen times and
spoke only once in the Capernaum synagogue, the second Sabbath
before their departure with the newly trained evangelists upon
their second public preaching tour of Galilee.
148:3.2 Not since his baptism had the Master
been so much alone as during this period of the evangelists'
training encampment at Bethsaida. Whenever any one of the apostles
ventured to ask Jesus why he was absent so much from their midst,
he would invariably answer that he was "about the Father's
business."
148:3.3 During these periods of absence, Jesus
was accompanied by only two of the apostles. He had released
Peter, James, and John temporarily from their assignment as his
personal companions that they might also participate in the work
of training the new evangelistic candidates, numbering more than
one hundred. When the Master desired to go to the hills about the
Father's business, he would summon to accompany him any two of the
apostles who might be at liberty. In this way each of the twelve
enjoyed an opportunity for close association and intimate contact
with Jesus.
148:3.4 It has not been revealed for the
purposes of this record, but we have been led to infer that the
Master, during many of these solitary seasons in the hills, was in
direct and executive association with many of his chief directors
of universe affairs. Ever since about the time of his baptism this
incarnated Sovereign of our universe had become increasingly and
consciously active in the direction of certain phases of universe
administration. And we have always held the opinion that, in some
way not revealed to his immediate associates, during these weeks
of decreased participation in the affairs of earth he was engaged
in the direction of those high spirit intelligences who were
charged with the running of a vast universe, and that the human
Jesus chose to designate such activities on his part as being
"about his Father's business."
148:3.5 Many times, when Jesus was alone for
hours, but when two of his apostles were near by, they observed
his features undergo rapid and multitudinous changes, although
they heard him speak no words. Neither did they observe any
visible manifestation of celestial beings who might have been in
communication with their Master, such as some of them did witness
on a subsequent occasion.
4. EVIL, SIN, AND INIQUITY
148:4.1 It was the habit of Jesus two evenings
each week to hold special converse with individuals who desired to
talk with him, in a certain secluded and sheltered corner of the
Zebedee garden. At one of these evening conversations in private
Thomas asked the Master this question: "Why is it necessary for
men to be born of the spirit in order to enter the kingdom? Is
rebirth necessary to escape the control of the evil one? Master,
what is evil?" When Jesus heard these questions, he said to
Thomas:
148:4.2 "Do not make the mistake of confusing
evil with the evil one, more correctly the iniquitous
one. He whom you call the evil one is the son of self-love,
the high administrator who knowingly went into deliberate
rebellion against the rule of my Father and his loyal Sons. But I
have already vanquished these sinful rebels. Make clear in your
mind these different attitudes toward the Father and his universe.
Never forget these laws of relation to the Father's will:
148:4.3 "Evil is the unconscious or unintended
transgression of the divine law, the Father's will. Evil is
likewise the measure of the imperfectness of obedience to the
Father's will.
148:4.4 "Sin is the conscious, knowing, and
deliberate transgression of the divine law, the Father's will. Sin
is the measure of unwillingness to be divinely led and spiritually
directed.
148:4.5 "Iniquity is the willful, determined,
and persistent transgression of the divine law, the Father's will.
Iniquity is the measure of the continued rejection of the Father's
loving plan of personality survival and the Sons' merciful
ministry of salvation.
148:4.6 "By nature, before the rebirth of the
spirit, mortal man is subject to inherent evil tendencies, but
such natural imperfections of behavior are neither sin nor
iniquity. Mortal man is just beginning his long ascent to the
perfection of the Father in Paradise. To be imperfect or partial
in natural endowment is not sinful. Man is indeed subject to evil,
but he is in no sense the child of the evil one unless he has
knowingly and deliberately chosen the paths of sin and the life of
iniquity. Evil is inherent in the natural order of this world, but
sin is an attitude of conscious rebellion which was brought to
this world by those who fell from spiritual light into gross
darkness.
148:4.7 "You are confused, Thomas, by the
doctrines of the Greeks and the errors of the Persians. You do not
understand the relationships of evil and sin because you view
mankind as beginning on earth with a perfect Adam and rapidly
degenerating, through sin, to man's present deplorable estate. But
why do you refuse to comprehend the meaning of the record which
discloses how Cain, the son of Adam, went over into the land of
Nod and there got himself a wife? And why do you refuse to
interpret the meaning of the record which portrays the sons of God
finding wives for themselves among the daughters of men?
148:4.8 "Men are, indeed, by nature evil, but
not necessarily sinful. The new birth -- the baptism of the spirit
-- is essential to deliverance from evil and necessary for
entrance into the kingdom of heaven, but none of this detracts
from the fact that man is the son of God. Neither does this
inherent presence of potential evil mean that man is in some
mysterious way estranged from the Father in heaven so that, as an
alien, foreigner, or stepchild, he must in some manner seek for
legal adoption by the Father. All such notions are born, first, of
your misunderstanding of the Father and, second, of your ignorance
of the origin, nature, and destiny of man.
148:4.9 "The Greeks and others have taught you
that man is descending from godly perfection steadily down toward
oblivion or destruction; I have come to show that man, by entrance
into the kingdom, is ascending certainly and surely up to God and
divine perfection. Any being who in any manner falls short of the
divine and spiritual ideals of the eternal Father's will is
potentially evil, but such beings are in no sense sinful, much
less iniquitous.
148:4.10 "Thomas, have you not read about this
in the Scriptures, where it is written: `You are the children of
the Lord your God.' `I will be his Father and he shall be my son.'
`I have chosen him to be my son -- I will be his Father.' `Bring
my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth; even
every one who is called by my name, for I have created them for my
glory.' `You are the sons of the living God.' `They who have the
spirit of God are indeed the sons of God.' While there is a
material part of the human father in the natural child, there is a
spiritual part of the heavenly Father in every faith son of the
kingdom."
148:4.11 All this and much more Jesus said to
Thomas, and much of it the apostle comprehended, although Jesus
admonished him to "speak not to the others concerning these
matters until after I shall have returned to the Father." And
Thomas did not mention this interview until after the Master had
departed from this world.
5. THE PURPOSE OF AFFLICTION
148:5.1 At another of these private interviews
in the garden Nathaniel asked Jesus: "Master, though I am
beginning to understand why you refuse to practice healing
indiscriminately, I am still at a loss to understand why the
loving Father in heaven permits so many of his children on earth
to suffer so many afflictions." The Master answered Nathaniel,
saying:
148:5.2 "Nathaniel, you and many others are thus
perplexed because you do not comprehend how the natural order of
this world has been so many times upset by the sinful adventures
of certain rebellious traitors to the Father's will. And I have
come to make a beginning of setting these things in order. But
many ages will be required to restore this part of the universe to
former paths and thus release the children of men from the extra
burdens of sin and rebellion. The presence of evil alone is
sufficient test for the ascension of man -- sin is not essential
to survival.
148:5.3 "But, my son, you should know that the
Father does not purposely afflict his children. Man brings down
upon himself unnecessary affliction as a result of his persistent
refusal to walk in the better ways of the divine will. Affliction
is potential in evil, but much of it has been produced by sin and
iniquity. Many unusual events have transpired on this world, and
it is not strange that all thinking men should be perplexed by the
scenes of suffering and affliction which they witness. But of one
thing you may be sure: The Father does not send affliction as an
arbitrary punishment for wrongdoing. The imperfections and
handicaps of evil are inherent; the penalties of sin are
inevitable; the destroying consequences of iniquity are
inexorable. Man should not blame God for those afflictions which
are the natural result of the life which he chooses to live;
neither should man complain of those experiences which are a part
of life as it is lived on this world. It is the Father's will that
mortal man should work persistently and consistently toward the
betterment of his estate on earth. Intelligent application would
enable man to overcome much of his earthly misery.
148:5.4 "Nathaniel, it is our mission to help
men solve their spiritual problems and in this way to quicken
their minds so that they may be the better prepared and inspired
to go about solving their manifold material problems. I know of
your confusion as you have read the Scriptures. All too often
there has prevailed a tendency to ascribe to God the
responsibility for everything which ignorant man fails to
understand. The Father is not personally responsible for all you
may fail to comprehend. Do not doubt the love of the Father just
because some just and wise law of his ordaining chances to afflict
you because you have innocently or deliberately transgressed such
a divine ordinance.
148:5.5 "But, Nathaniel, there is much in the
Scriptures which would have instructed you if you had only read
with discernment. Do you not remember that it is written: `My son,
despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his
correction, for whom the Lord loves he corrects, even as the
father corrects the son in whom he takes delight.' `The Lord does
not afflict willingly.' `Before I was afflicted, I went astray,
but now do I keep the law. Affliction was good for me that I might
thereby learn the divine statutes.' `I know your sorrows. The
eternal God is your refuge, while underneath are the everlasting
arms.' `The Lord also is a refuge for the oppressed, a haven of
rest in times of trouble.' `The Lord will strengthen him upon the
bed of affliction; the Lord will not forget the sick.' `As a
father shows compassion for his children, so is the Lord
compassionate to those who fear him. He knows your body; he
remembers that you are dust.' `He heals the brokenhearted and
binds up their wounds.' `He is the hope of the poor, the strength
of the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, and a
shadow from the devastating heat.' `He gives power to the faint,
and to them who have no might he increases strength.' `A bruised
reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax he will not quench.'
`When you pass through the waters of affliction, I will be with
you, and when the rivers of adversity overflow you, I will not
forsake you.' `He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and to comfort all who mourn.'
`There is correction in suffering; affliction does not spring
forth from the dust.'"
6. THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF SUFFERING --
DISCOURSE ON JOB
148:6.1 It was this same evening at Bethsaida
that John also asked Jesus why so many apparently innocent people
suffered from so many diseases and experienced so many
afflictions. In answering John's questions, among many other
things, the Master said:
148:6.2 "My son, you do not comprehend the
meaning of adversity or the mission of suffering. Have you not
read that masterpiece of Semitic literature -- the Scripture story
of the afflictions of Job? Do you not recall how this wonderful
parable begins with the recital of the material prosperity of the
Lord's servant? You well remember that Job was blessed with
children, wealth, dignity, position, health, and everything else
which men value in this temporal life. According to the
time-honored teachings of the children of Abraham such material
prosperity was all-sufficient evidence of divine favor. But such
material possessions and such temporal prosperity do not indicate
God's favor. My Father in heaven loves the poor just as much as
the rich; he is no respecter of persons.
148:6.3 "Although transgression of divine law is
sooner or later followed by the harvest of punishment, while men
certainly eventually do reap what they sow, still you should know
that human suffering is not always a punishment for antecedent
sin. Both Job and his friends failed to find the true answer for
their perplexities. And with the light you now enjoy you would
hardly assign to either Satan or God the parts they play in this
unique parable. While Job did not, through suffering, find the
resolution of his intellectual troubles or the solution of his
philosophical difficulties, he did achieve great victories; even
in the very face of the breakdown of his theological defenses he
ascended to those spiritual heights where he could sincerely say,
`I abhor myself'; then was there granted him the salvation of a
vision of God. So even through misunderstood suffering, Job
ascended to the superhuman plane of moral understanding and
spiritual insight. When the suffering servant obtains a vision of
God, there follows a soul peace which passes all human
understanding.
148:6.4 "The first of Job's friends, Eliphaz,
exhorted the sufferer to exhibit in his afflictions the same
fortitude he had prescribed for others during the days of his
prosperity. Said this false comforter: `Trust in your religion,
Job; remember that it is the wicked and not the righteous who
suffer. You must deserve this punishment, else you would not be
afflicted. You well know that no man can be righteous in God's
sight. You know that the wicked never really prosper. Anyway, man
seems predestined to trouble, and perhaps the Lord is only
chastising you for your own good.' No wonder poor Job failed to
get much comfort from such an interpretation of the problem of
human suffering.
148:6.5 "But the counsel of his second friend,
Bildad, was even more depressing, notwithstanding its soundness
from the standpoint of the then accepted theology. Said Bildad:
`God cannot be unjust. Your children must have been sinners since
they perished; you must be in error, else you would not be so
afflicted. And if you are really righteous, God will certainly
deliver you from your afflictions. You should learn from the
history of God's dealings with man that the Almighty destroys only
the wicked.'
148:6.6 "And then you remember how Job replied
to his friends, saying: `I well know that God does not hear my cry
for help. How can God be just and at the same time so utterly
disregard my innocence? I am learning that I can get no
satisfaction from appealing to the Almighty. Cannot you discern
that God tolerates the persecution of the good by the wicked? And
since man is so weak, what chance has he for consideration at the
hands of an omnipotent God? God has made me as I am, and when he
thus turns upon me, I am defenseless. And why did God ever create
me just to suffer in this miserable fashion?'
148:6.7 "And who can challenge the attitude of
Job in view of the counsel of his friends and the erroneous ideas
of God which occupied his own mind? Do you not see that Job longed
for a human God, that he hungered to commune with a divine
Being who knows man's mortal estate and understands that the just
must often suffer in innocence as a part of this first life of the
long Paradise ascent? Wherefore has the Son of Man come forth from
the Father to live such a life in the flesh that he will be able
to comfort and succor all those who must henceforth be called upon
to endure the afflictions of Job.
148:6.8 "Job's third friend, Zophar, then spoke
still less comforting words when he said: `You are foolish to
claim to be righteous, seeing that you are thus afflicted. But I
admit that it is impossible to comprehend God's ways. Perhaps
there is some hidden purpose in all your miseries.' And when Job
had listened to all three of his friends, he appealed directly to
God for help, pleading the fact that `man, born of woman, is few
of days and full of trouble.'
148:6.9 "Then began the second session with his
friends. Eliphaz grew more stern, accusing, and sarcastic. Bildad
became indignant at Job's contempt for his friends. Zophar
reiterated his melancholy advice. Job by this time had become
disgusted with his friends and appealed again to God, and now he
appealed to a just God against the God of injustice embodied in
the philosophy of his friends and enshrined even in his own
religious attitude. Next Job took refuge in the consolation of a
future life in which the inequities of mortal existence may be
more justly rectified. Failure to receive help from man drives Job
to God. Then ensues the great struggle in his heart between faith
and doubt. Finally, the human sufferer begins to see the light of
life; his tortured soul ascends to new heights of hope and
courage; he may suffer on and even die, but his enlightened soul
now utters that cry of triumph, `My Vindicator lives!'
148:6.10 "Job was altogether right when he
challenged the doctrine that God afflicts children in order to
punish their parents. Job was ever ready to admit that God is
righteous, but he longed for some soul-satisfying revelation of
the personal character of the Eternal. And that is our mission on
earth. No more shall suffering mortals be denied the comfort of
knowing the love of God and understanding the mercy of the Father
in heaven. While the speech of God spoken from the whirlwind was a
majestic concept for the day of its utterance, you have already
learned that the Father does not thus reveal himself, but rather
that he speaks within the human heart as a still, small voice,
saying, `This is the way; walk therein.' Do you not comprehend
that God dwells within you, that he has become what you are that
he may make you what he is!"
148:6.11 Then Jesus made this final statement:
"The Father in heaven does not willingly afflict the children of
men. Man suffers, first, from the accidents of time and the
imperfections of the evil of an immature physical existence. Next,
he suffers the inexorable consequences of sin -- the transgression
of the laws of life and light. And finally, man reaps the harvest
of his own iniquitous persistence in rebellion against the
righteous rule of heaven on earth. But man's miseries are not a
personal visitation of divine judgment. Man can, and will, do
much to lessen his temporal sufferings. But once and for all be
delivered from the superstition that God afflicts man at the
behest of the evil one. Study the Book of Job just to discover how
many wrong ideas of God even good men may honestly entertain; and
then note how even the painfully afflicted Job found the God of
comfort and salvation in spite of such erroneous teachings. At
last his faith pierced the clouds of suffering to discern the
light of life pouring forth from the Father as healing mercy and
everlasting righteousness."
148:6.12 John pondered these sayings in his
heart for many days. His entire afterlife was markedly changed as
a result of this conversation with the Master in the garden, and
he did much, in later times, to cause the other apostles to change
their viewpoints regarding the source, nature, and purpose of
commonplace human afflictions. But John never spoke of this
conference until after the Master had departed.
7. THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND
148:7.1 The second Sabbath before the departure
of the apostles and the new corps of evangelists on the second
preaching tour of Galilee, Jesus spoke in the Capernaum synagogue
on the "Joys of Righteous Living." When Jesus had finished
speaking, a large group of those who were maimed, halt, sick, and
afflicted crowded up around him, seeking healing. Also in this
group were the apostles, many of the new evangelists, and the
Pharisaic spies from Jerusalem. Everywhere that Jesus went (except
when in the hills about the Father's business) the six Jerusalem
spies were sure to follow.
148:7.2 The leader of the spying Pharisees, as
Jesus stood talking to the people, induced a man with a withered
hand to approach him and ask if it would be lawful to be healed on
the Sabbath day or should he seek help on another day. When Jesus
saw the man, heard his words, and perceived that he had been sent
by the Pharisees, he said: "Come forward while I ask you a
question. If you had a sheep and it should fall into a pit on the
Sabbath day, would you reach down, lay hold on it, and lift it
out? Is it lawful to do such things on the Sabbath day?" And the
man answered: "Yes, Master, it would be lawful thus to do well on
the Sabbath day." Then said Jesus, speaking to all of them: "I
know wherefore you have sent this man into my presence. You would
find cause for offense in me if you could tempt me to show mercy
on the Sabbath day. In silence you all agreed that it was lawful
to lift the unfortunate sheep out of the pit, even on the Sabbath,
and I call you to witness that it is lawful to exhibit
loving-kindness on the Sabbath day not only to animals but also to
men. How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! I proclaim that
it is lawful to do good to men on the Sabbath day." And as they
all stood before him in silence, Jesus, addressing the man with
the withered hand, said: "Stand up here by my side that all may
see you. And now that you may know that it is my Father's will
that you do good on the Sabbath day, if you have the faith to be
healed, I bid you stretch out your hand."
148:7.3 And as this man stretched forth his
withered hand, it was made whole. The people were minded to turn
upon the Pharisees, but Jesus bade them be calm, saying: "I have
just told you that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, to save
life, but I did not instruct you to do harm and give way to the
desire to kill." The angered Pharisees went away, and
notwithstanding it was the Sabbath day, they hastened forthwith to
Tiberias and took counsel with Herod, doing everything in their
power to arouse his prejudice in order to secure the Herodians as
allies against Jesus. But Herod refused to take action against
Jesus, advising that they carry their complaints to Jerusalem.
148:7.4 This is the first case of a miracle to
be wrought by Jesus in response to the challenge of his enemies.
And the Master performed this so-called miracle, not as a
demonstration of his healing power, but as an effective protest
against making the Sabbath rest of religion a veritable bondage of
meaningless restrictions upon all mankind. This man returned to
his work as a stone mason, proving to be one of those whose
healing was followed by a life of thanksgiving and righteousness.
8. LAST WEEK AT BETHSAIDA
148:8.1 The last week of the sojourn at
Bethsaida the Jerusalem spies became much divided in their
attitude toward Jesus and his teachings. Three of these Pharisees
were tremendously impressed by what they had seen and heard.
Meanwhile, at Jerusalem, Abraham, a young and influential member
of the Sanhedrin, publicly espoused the teachings of Jesus and was
baptized in the pool of Siloam by Abner. All Jerusalem was agog
over this event, and messengers were immediately dispatched to
Bethsaida recalling the six spying Pharisees.
148:8.2 The Greek philosopher who had been won
for the kingdom on the previous tour of Galilee returned with
certain wealthy Jews of Alexandria, and once more they invited
Jesus to come to their city for the purpose of establishing a
joint school of philosophy and religion as well as an infirmary
for the sick. But Jesus courteously declined the invitation.
148:8.3 About this time there arrived at the
Bethsaida encampment a trance prophet from Bagdad, one Kirmeth.
This supposed prophet had peculiar visions when in trance and
dreamed fantastic dreams when his sleep was disturbed. He created
a considerable disturbance at the camp, and Simon Zelotes was in
favor of dealing rather roughly with the self-deceived pretender,
but Jesus intervened and allowed him entire freedom of action for
a few days. All who heard his preaching soon recognized that his
teaching was not sound as judged by the gospel of the kingdom. He
shortly returned to Bagdad, taking with him only a half dozen
unstable and erratic souls. But before Jesus interceded for the
Bagdad prophet, David Zebedee, with the assistance of a
self-appointed committee, had taken Kirmeth out into the lake and,
after repeatedly plunging him into the water, had advised him to
depart hence -- to organize and build a camp of his own.
148:8.4 On this same day, Beth-Marion, a
Phoenician woman, became so fanatical that she went out of her
head and, after almost drowning from trying to walk on the water,
was sent away by her friends.
148:8.5 The new Jerusalem convert, Abraham the
Pharisee, gave all of his worldly goods to the apostolic treasury,
and this contribution did much to make possible the immediate
sending forth of the one hundred newly trained evangelists. Andrew
had already announced the closing of the encampment, and everybody
prepared either to go home or else to follow the evangelists into
Galilee.
9. HEALING THE PARALYTIC
148:9.1 On Friday afternoon, October 1, when
Jesus was holding his last meeting with the apostles, evangelists,
and other leaders of the disbanding encampment, and with the six
Pharisees from Jerusalem seated in the front row of this assembly
in the spacious and enlarged front room of the Zebedee home, there
occurred one of the strangest and most unique episodes of all
Jesus' earth life. The Master was, at this time, speaking as he
stood in this large room, which had been built to accommodate
these gatherings during the rainy season. The house was entirely
surrounded by a vast concourse of people who were straining their
ears to catch some part of Jesus' discourse.
148:9.2 While the house was thus thronged with
people and entirely surrounded by eager listeners, a man long
afflicted with paralysis was carried down from Capernaum on a
small couch by his friends. This paralytic had heard that Jesus
was about to leave Bethsaida, and having talked with Aaron the
stone mason, who had been so recently made whole, he resolved to
be carried into Jesus' presence, where he could seek healing. His
friends tried to gain entrance to Zebedee's house by both the
front and back doors, but too many people were crowded together.
But the paralytic refused to accept defeat; he directed his
friends to procure ladders by which they ascended to the roof of
the room in which Jesus was speaking, and after loosening the
tiles, they boldly lowered the sick man on his couch by ropes
until the afflicted one rested on the floor immediately in front
of the Master. When Jesus saw what they had done, he ceased
speaking, while those who were with him in the room marveled at
the perseverance of the sick man and his friends. Said the
paralytic: "Master, I would not disturb your teaching, but I am
determined to be made whole. I am not like those who received
healing and immediately forgot your teaching. I would be made
whole that I might serve in the kingdom of heaven." Now,
notwithstanding that this man's affliction had been brought upon
him by his own misspent life, Jesus, seeing his faith, said to the
paralytic: "Son, fear not; your sins are forgiven. Your faith
shall save you."
148:9.3 When the Pharisees from Jerusalem,
together with other scribes and lawyers who sat with them, heard
this pronouncement by Jesus, they began to say to themselves: "How
dare this man thus speak? Does he not understand that such words
are blasphemy? Who can forgive sin but God?" Jesus, perceiving in
his spirit that they thus reasoned within their own minds and
among themselves, spoke to them, saying: "Why do you so reason in
your hearts? Who are you that you sit in judgment over me? What is
the difference whether I say to this paralytic, your sins are
forgiven, or arise, take up your bed, and walk? But that you who
witness all this may finally know that the Son of Man has
authority and power on earth to forgive sins, I will say to this
afflicted man, Arise, take up your bed, and go to your own house."
And when Jesus had thus spoken, the paralytic arose, and as they
made way for him, he walked out before them all. And those who saw
these things were amazed. Peter dismissed the assemblage, while
many prayed and glorified God, confessing that they had never
before seen such strange happenings.
148:9.4 And it was about this time that the
messengers of the Sanhedrin arrived to bid the six spies return to
Jerusalem. When they heard this message, they fell to earnest
debate among themselves; and after they had finished their
discussions, the leader and two of his associates returned with
the messengers to Jerusalem, while three of the spying Pharisees
confessed faith in Jesus and, going immediately to the lake, were
baptized by Peter and fellowshipped by the apostles as children of
the kingdom.
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