The Urantia Book
PAPER 166
LAST VISIT TO NORTHERN PEREA
166:0.1 FROM February 11 to 20, Jesus and the
twelve made a tour of all the cities and villages of northern
Perea where the associates of Abner and the members of the women's
corps were working. They found these messengers of the gospel
meeting with success, and Jesus repeatedly called the attention of
his apostles to the fact that the gospel of the kingdom could
spread without the accompaniment of miracles and wonders.
166:0.2 This entire mission of three months in
Perea was successfully carried on with little help from the twelve
apostles, and the gospel from this time on reflected, not so much
Jesus' personality, as his teachings. But his followers did
not long follow his instructions, for soon after Jesus' death and
resurrection they departed from his teachings and began to build
the early church around the miraculous concepts and the glorified
memories of his divine-human personality.
1. THE PHARISEES AT RAGABA
166:1.1 On Sabbath, February 18, Jesus was at
Ragaba, where there lived a wealthy Pharisee named Nathaniel; and
since quite a number of his fellow Pharisees were following Jesus
and the twelve around the country, he made a breakfast on this
Sabbath morning for all of them, about twenty in number, and
invited Jesus as the guest of honor.
166:1.2 By the time Jesus arrived at this
breakfast, most of the Pharisees, with two or three lawyers, were
already there and seated at the table. The Master immediately took
his seat at the left of Nathaniel without going to the water
basins to wash his hands. Many of the Pharisees, especially those
favorable to Jesus' teachings, knew that he washed his hands only
for purposes of cleanliness, that he abhorred these purely
ceremonial performances; so they were not surprised at his coming
directly to the table without having twice washed his hands. But
Nathaniel was shocked by this failure of the Master to comply with
the strict requirements of Pharisaic practice. Neither did Jesus
wash his hands, as did the Pharisees, after each course of food
nor at the end of the meal.
166:1.3 After considerable whispering between
Nathaniel and an unfriendly Pharisee on his right and after much
lifting of eyebrows and sneering curling of lips by those who sat
opposite the Master, Jesus finally said: "I had thought that you
invited me to this house to break bread with you and perchance to
inquire of me concerning the proclamation of the new gospel of the
kingdom of God; but I perceive that you have brought me here to
witness an exhibition of ceremonial devotion to your own
self-righteousness. That service you have now done me; what next
will you honor me with as your guest on this occasion?"
166:1.4 When the Master had thus spoken, they
cast their eyes upon the table and remained silent. And since no
one spoke, Jesus continued: "Many of you Pharisees are here with
me as friends, some are even my disciples, but the majority of the
Pharisees are persistent in their refusal to see the light and
acknowledge the truth, even when the work of the gospel is brought
before them in great power. How carefully you cleanse the outside
of the cups and the platters while the spiritual-food vessels are
filthy and polluted! You make sure to present a pious and holy
appearance to the people, but your inner souls are filled with
self-righteousness, covetousness, extortion, and all manner of
spiritual wickedness. Your leaders even dare to plot and plan the
murder of the Son of Man. Do not you foolish men understand that
the God of heaven looks at the inner motives of the soul as well
as on your outer pretenses and your pious professions? Think not
that the giving of alms and the paying of tithes will cleanse you
from unrighteousness and enable you to stand clean in the presence
of the Judge of all men. Woe upon you Pharisees who have persisted
in rejecting the light of life! You are meticulous in tithing and
ostentatious in almsgiving, but you knowingly spurn the visitation
of God and reject the revelation of his love. Though it is all
right for you to give attention to these minor duties, you should
not have left these weightier requirements undone. Woe upon all
who shun justice, spurn mercy, and reject truth! Woe upon all
those who despise the revelation of the Father while they seek the
chief seats in the synagogue and crave flattering salutations in
the market places!"
166:1.5
When Jesus would have risen to depart,
one of the lawyers who was at the table, addressing him, said:
"But, Master, in some of your statements you reproach us also. Is
there nothing good in the scribes, the Pharisees, or the lawyers?"
And Jesus, standing, replied to the lawyer: "You, like the
Pharisees, delight in the first places at the feasts and in
wearing long robes while you put heavy burdens, grievous to be
borne, on men's shoulders. And when the souls of men stagger under
these heavy burdens, you will not so much as lift with one of your
fingers. Woe upon you who take your greatest delight in building
tombs for the prophets your fathers killed! And that you consent
to what your fathers did is made manifest when you now plan to
kill those who come in this day doing what the prophets did in
their day -- proclaiming the righteousness of God and revealing
the mercy of the heavenly Father. But of all the generations that
are past, the blood of the prophets and the apostles shall be
required of this perverse and self-righteous generation. Woe upon
all of you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge from
the common people! You yourselves refuse to enter into the way of
truth, and at the same time you would hinder all others who seek
to enter therein. But you cannot thus shut up the doors of the
kingdom of heaven; these we have opened to all who have the faith
to enter, and these portals of mercy shall not be closed by the
prejudice and arrogance of false teachers and untrue shepherds who
are like whited sepulchres which, while outwardly they appear
beautiful, are inwardly full of dead men's bones and all manner of
spiritual uncleanness."
166:1.6 And when Jesus had finished speaking at
Nathaniel's table, he went out of the house without partaking of
food. And of the Pharisees who heard these words, some became
believers in his teaching and entered into the kingdom, but the
larger number persisted in the way of darkness, becoming all the
more determined to lie in wait for him that they might catch some
of his words which could be used to bring him to trial and
judgment before the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem.
166:1.7 There were just three things to which
the Pharisees paid particular attention:
1. The practice of strict tithing.
2. Scrupulous observance of the laws
of purification.
3. Avoidance of association with all
non-Pharisees.
166:1.8 At this time Jesus sought to expose the
spiritual barrenness of the first two practices, while he reserved
his remarks designed to rebuke the Pharisees' refusal to engage in
social intercourse with non-Pharisees for another and subsequent
occasion when he would again be dining with many of these same
men.
2. THE TEN LEPERS
166:2.1 The next day Jesus went with the twelve
over to Amathus, near the border of Samaria, and as they
approached the city, they encountered a group of ten lepers who
sojourned near this place. Nine of this group were Jews, one a
Samaritan. Ordinarily these Jews would have refrained from all
association or contact with this Samaritan, but their common
affliction was more than enough to overcome all religious
prejudice. They had heard much of Jesus and his earlier miracles
of healing, and since the seventy made a practice of announcing
the time of Jesus' expected arrival when the Master was out with
the twelve on these tours, the ten lepers had been made aware that
he was expected to appear in this vicinity at about this time; and
they were, accordingly, posted here on the outskirts of the city
where they hoped to attract his attention and ask for healing.
When the lepers saw Jesus drawing near them, not daring to
approach him, they stood afar off and cried to him: "Master, have
mercy on us; cleanse us from our affliction. Heal us as you have
healed others."
166:2.2 Jesus had just been explaining to the
twelve why the gentiles of Perea, together with the less orthodox
Jews, were more willing to believe the gospel preached by the
seventy than were the more orthodox and tradition-bound Jews of
Judea. He had called their attention to the fact that their
message had likewise been more readily received by the Galileans,
and even by the Samaritans. But the twelve apostles were hardly
yet willing to entertain kind feelings for the long-despised
Samaritans.
166:2.3 Accordingly, when Simon Zelotes observed
the Samaritan among the lepers, he sought to induce the Master to
pass on into the city without even hesitating to exchange
greetings with them. Said Jesus to Simon: "But what if the
Samaritan loves God as well as the Jews? Should we sit in judgment
on our fellow men? Who can tell? if we make these ten men whole,
perhaps the Samaritan will prove more grateful even than the Jews.
Do you feel certain about your opinions, Simon?" And Simon quickly
replied, "If you cleanse them, you will soon find out." And Jesus
replied: "So shall it be, Simon, and you will soon know the truth
regarding the gratitude of men and the loving mercy of God."
166:2.4 Jesus, going near the lepers, said: "If
you would be made whole, go forthwith and show yourselves to the
priests as required by the law of Moses." And as they went, they
were made whole. But when the Samaritan saw that he was being
healed, he turned back and, going in quest of Jesus, began to
glorify God with a loud voice. And when he had found the Master,
he fell on his knees at his feet and gave thanks for his
cleansing. The nine others, the Jews, had also discovered their
healing, and while they also were grateful for their cleansing,
they continued on their way to show themselves to the priests.
166:2.5 As the Samaritan remained kneeling at
Jesus' feet, the Master, looking about at the twelve, especially
at Simon Zelotes, said: "Were not ten cleansed? Where, then, are
the other nine, the Jews? Only one, this alien, has returned to
give glory to God." And then he said to the Samaritan, "Arise and
go your way; your faith has made you whole."
166:2.6 Jesus looked again at his apostles as
the stranger departed. And the apostles all looked at Jesus, save
Simon Zelotes, whose eyes were downcast. The twelve said not a
word. Neither did Jesus speak; it was not necessary that he
should.
166:2.7 Though all ten of these men really
believed they had leprosy, only four were thus afflicted. The
other six were cured of a skin disease which had been mistaken for
leprosy. But the Samaritan really had leprosy.
166:2.8 Jesus enjoined the twelve to say nothing
about the cleansing of the lepers, and as they went on into
Amathus, he remarked: "You see how it is that the children of the
house, even when they are insubordinate to their Father's will,
take their blessings for granted. They think it a small matter if
they neglect to give thanks when the Father bestows healing upon
them, but the strangers, when they receive gifts from the head of
the house, are filled with wonder and are constrained to give
thanks in recognition of the good things bestowed upon them." And
still the apostles said nothing in reply to the Master's words.
3. THE SERMON AT GERASA
166:3.1 As Jesus and the twelve visited with the
messengers of the kingdom at Gerasa, one of the Pharisees who
believed in him asked this question: "Lord, will there be few or
many really saved?" And Jesus, answering, said:
166:3.2 "You have been taught that only the
children of Abraham will be saved; that only the gentiles of
adoption can hope for salvation. Some of you have reasoned that,
since the Scriptures record that only Caleb and Joshua from among
all the hosts that went out of Egypt lived to enter the promised
land, only a comparatively few of those who seek the kingdom of
heaven shall find entrance thereto.
166:3.3 "You also have another saying among you,
and one that contains much truth: That the way which leads to
eternal life is straight and narrow, that the door which leads
thereto is likewise narrow so that, of those who seek salvation,
few can find entrance through this door. You also have a teaching
that the way which leads to destruction is broad, that the
entrance thereto is wide, and that there are many who choose to go
this way. And this proverb is not without its meaning. But I
declare that salvation is first a matter of your personal
choosing. Even if the door to the way of life is narrow, it is
wide enough to admit all who sincerely seek to enter, for I am
that door. And the Son will never refuse entrance to any child of
the universe who, by faith, seeks to find the Father through the
Son.
166:3.4 "But herein is the danger to all who
would postpone their entrance into the kingdom while they continue
to pursue the pleasures of immaturity and indulge the
satisfactions of selfishness: Having refused to enter the kingdom
as a spiritual experience, they may subsequently seek entrance
thereto when the glory of the better way becomes revealed in the
age to come. And when, therefore, those who spurned the kingdom
when I came in the likeness of humanity seek to find an entrance
when it is revealed in the likeness of divinity, then will I say
to all such selfish ones: I know not whence you are. You had your
chance to prepare for this heavenly citizenship, but you refused
all such proffers of mercy; you rejected all invitations to come
while the door was open. Now, to you who have refused salvation,
the door is shut. This door is not open to those who would enter
the kingdom for selfish glory. Salvation is not for those who are
unwilling to pay the price of wholehearted dedication to doing my
Father's will. When in spirit and soul you have turned your backs
upon the Father's kingdom, it is useless in mind and body to stand
before this door and knock, saying, `Lord open to us; we would
also be great in the kingdom.' Then will I declare that you are
not of my fold. I will not receive you to be among those who have
fought the good fight of faith and won the reward of unselfish
service in the kingdom on earth. And when you say, `Did we not eat
and drink with you, and did you not teach in our streets?' then
shall I again declare that you are spiritual strangers; that we
were not fellow servants in the Father's ministry of mercy on
earth; that I do not know you; and then shall the Judge of all the
earth say to you: `Depart from us, all you who have taken delight
in the works of iniquity.'
166:3.5 "But fear not; every one who sincerely
desires to find eternal life by entrance into the kingdom of God
shall certainly find such everlasting salvation. But you who
refuse this salvation will some day see the prophets of the seed
of Abraham sit down with the believers of the gentile nations in
this glorified kingdom to partake of the bread of life and to
refresh themselves with the water thereof. And they who shall thus
take the kingdom in spiritual power and by the persistent assaults
of living faith will come from the north and the south and from
the east and the west. And, behold, many who are first will be
last, and those who are last will many times be first."
166:3.6 This was indeed a new and strange
version of the old and familiar proverb of the straight and narrow
way.
166:3.7 Slowly the apostles and many of the
disciples were learning the meaning of Jesus' early declaration:
"Unless you are born again, born of the spirit, you cannot enter
the kingdom of God." Nevertheless, to all who are honest of heart
and sincere in faith, it remains eternally true: "Behold, I stand
at the doors of men's hearts and knock, and if any man will open
to me, I will come in and sup with him and will feed him with the
bread of life; we shall be one in spirit and purpose, and so shall
we ever be brethren in the long and fruitful service of the search
for the Paradise Father." And so, whether few or many are to be
saved altogether depends on whether few or many will heed the
invitation: "I am the door, I am the new and living way, and
whosoever wills may enter to embark upon the endless truth-search
for eternal life."
166:3.8 Even the apostles were unable fully to
comprehend his teaching as to the necessity for using spiritual
force for the purpose of breaking through all material resistance
and for surmounting every earthly obstacle which might chance to
stand in the way of grasping the all-important spiritual values of
the new life in the spirit as the liberated sons of God.
4. TEACHING ABOUT ACCIDENTS
166:4.1 While most Palestinians ate only two
meals a day, it was the custom of Jesus and the apostles, when on
a journey, to pause at midday for rest and refreshment. And it was
at such a noontide stop on the way to Philadelphia that Thomas
asked Jesus: "Master, from hearing your remarks as we journeyed
this morning, I would like to inquire whether spiritual beings are
concerned in the production of strange and extraordinary events in
the material world and, further, to ask whether the angels and
other spirit beings are able to prevent accidents."
166:4.2 In answer to Thomas's inquiry, Jesus
said: "Have I been so long with you, and yet you continue to ask
me such questions? Have you failed to observe how the Son of Man
lives as one with you and consistently refuses to employ the
forces of heaven for his personal sustenance? Do we not all live
by the same means whereby all men exist? Do you see the power of
the spiritual world manifested in the material life of this world,
save for the revelation of the Father and the sometime healing of
his afflicted children?
166:4.3 "All too long have your fathers believed
that prosperity was the token of divine approval; that adversity
was the proof of God's displeasure. I declare that such beliefs
are superstitions. Do you not observe that far greater numbers of
the poor joyfully receive the gospel and immediately enter the
kingdom? If riches evidence divine favor, why do the rich so many
times refuse to believe this good news from heaven?
166:4.4 "The Father causes his rain to fall on
the just and the unjust; the sun likewise shines on the righteous
and the unrighteous. You know about those Galileans whose blood
Pilate mingled with the sacrifices, but I tell you these Galileans
were not in any manner sinners above all their fellows just
because this happened to them. You also know about the eighteen
men upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, killing them. Think not
that these men who were thus destroyed were offenders above all
their brethren in Jerusalem. These folks were simply innocent
victims of one of the accidents of time.
166:4.5 "There are three groups of events which
may occur in your lives:
166:4.6 "1. You may share in those normal
happenings which are a part of the life you and your fellows live
on the face of the earth.
166:4.7 "2. You may chance to fall victim to one
of the accidents of nature, one of the mischances of men, knowing
full well that such occurrences are in no way prearranged or
otherwise produced by the spiritual forces of the realm.
166:4.8 "3. You may reap the harvest of your
direct efforts to comply with the natural laws governing the
world.
166:4.9 "There was a certain man who planted a
fig tree in his yard, and when he had many times sought fruit
thereon and found none, he called the vinedressers before him and
said: `Here have I come these three seasons looking for fruit on
this fig tree and have found none. Cut down this barren tree; why
should it encumber the ground?' But the head gardener answered his
master: `Let it alone for one more year so that I may dig around
it and put on fertilizer, and then, next year, if it bears no
fruit, it shall be cut down.' And when they had thus complied with
the laws of fruitfulness, since the tree was living and good, they
were rewarded with an abundant yield.
166:4.10 "In the matter of sickness and health,
you should know that these bodily states are the result of
material causes; health is not the smile of heaven, neither is
affliction the frown of God.
166:4.11 "The Father's human children have equal
capacity for the reception of material blessings; therefore does
he bestow things physical upon the children of men without
discrimination. When it comes to the bestowal of spiritual gifts,
the Father is limited by man's capacity for receiving these divine
endowments. Although the Father is no respecter of persons, in the
bestowal of spiritual gifts he is limited by man's faith and by
his willingness always to abide by the Father's will."
166:4.12 As they journeyed on toward
Philadelphia, Jesus continued to teach them and to answer their
questions having to do with accidents, sickness, and miracles, but
they were not able fully to comprehend this instruction. One hour
of teaching will not wholly change the beliefs of a lifetime, and
so Jesus found it necessary to reiterate his message, to tell
again and again that which he wished them to understand; and even
then they failed to grasp the meaning of his earth mission until
after his death and resurrection.
5. THE CONGREGATION AT PHILADELPHIA
166:5.1 Jesus and the twelve were on their way
to visit Abner and his associates, who were preaching and teaching
in Philadelphia. Of all the cities of Perea, in Philadelphia the
largest group of Jews and gentiles, rich and poor, learned and
unlearned, embraced the teachings of the seventy, thereby entering
into the kingdom of heaven. The synagogue of Philadelphia had
never been subject to the supervision of the Sanhedrin at
Jerusalem and therefore had never been closed to the teachings of
Jesus and his associates. At this very time, Abner was teaching
three times a day in the Philadelphia synagogue.
166:5.2 This very synagogue later on became a
Christian church and was the missionary headquarters for the
promulgation of the gospel through the regions to the east. It was
long a stronghold of the Master's teachings and stood alone in
this region as a center of Christian learning for centuries.
166:5.3 The Jews at Jerusalem had always had
trouble with the Jews of Philadelphia. And after the death and
resurrection of Jesus the Jerusalem church, of which James the
Lord's brother was head, began to have serious difficulties with
the Philadelphia congregation of believers. Abner became the head
of the Philadelphia church, continuing as such until his death.
And this estrangement with Jerusalem explains why nothing is heard
of Abner and his work in the Gospel records of the New Testament.
This feud between Jerusalem and Philadelphia lasted throughout the
lifetimes of James and Abner and continued for some time after the
destruction of Jerusalem. Philadelphia was really the headquarters
of the early church in the south and east as Antioch was in the
north and west.
166:5.4 It was the apparent misfortune of Abner
to be at variance with all of the leaders of the early Christian
church. He fell out with Peter and James (Jesus' brother) over
questions of administration and the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem
church; he parted company with Paul over differences of philosophy
and theology. Abner was more Babylonian than Hellenic in his
philosophy, and he stubbornly resisted all attempts of Paul to
remake the teachings of Jesus so as to present less that was
objectionable, first to the Jews, then to the Greco-Roman
believers in the mysteries.
166:5.5 Thus was Abner compelled to live a life
of isolation. He was head of a church which was without standing
at Jerusalem. He had dared to defy James the Lord's brother, who
was subsequently supported by Peter. Such conduct effectively
separated him from all his former associates. Then he dared to
withstand Paul. Although he was wholly sympathetic with Paul in
his mission to the gentiles, and though he supported him in his
contentions with the church at Jerusalem, he bitterly opposed the
version of Jesus' teachings which Paul elected to preach. In his
last years Abner denounced Paul as the "clever corrupter of the
life teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of the living God."
166:5.6 During the later years of Abner and for
some time thereafter, the believers at Philadelphia held more
strictly to the religion of Jesus, as he lived and taught, than
any other group on earth.
166:5.7 Abner lived to be 89 years old, dying at
Philadelphia on the 21st day of November, A.D. 74. And to the very
end he was a faithful believer in, and teacher of, the gospel of
the heavenly kingdom.
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