The Urantia Book
PAPER 172
GOING INTO JERUSALEM
172:0.1 JESUS and the apostles arrived at
Bethany shortly after four o'clock on Friday afternoon, March 31,
A.D. 30. Lazarus, his sisters, and their friends were expecting
them; and since so many people came every day to talk with Lazarus
about his resurrection, Jesus was informed that arrangements had
been made for him to stay with a neighboring believer, one Simon,
the leading citizen of the little village since the death of
Lazarus's father.
172:0.2
That evening, Jesus received many visitors, and the common folks
of Bethany and Bethpage did their best to make him feel welcome.
Although many thought Jesus was now going into Jerusalem, in utter
defiance of the Sanhedrin's decree of death, to proclaim himself
king of the Jews, the Bethany family -- Lazarus, Martha, and Mary
-- more fully realized that the Master was not that kind of a
king; they dimly felt that this might be his last visit to
Jerusalem and Bethany.
172:0.3 The chief priests were informed that
Jesus lodged at Bethany, but they thought best not to attempt to
seize him among his friends; they decided to await his coming on
into Jerusalem. Jesus knew about all this, but he was majestically
calm; his friends had never seen him more composed and congenial;
even the apostles were astounded that he should be so unconcerned
when the Sanhedrin had called upon all Jewry to deliver him into
their hands. While the Master slept that night, the apostles
watched over him by twos, and many of them were girded with
swords. Early the next morning they were awakened by hundreds of
pilgrims who came out from Jerusalem, even on the Sabbath day, to
see Jesus and Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
1. SABBATH AT BETHANY
172:1.1 Pilgrims from outside of Judea, as well
as the Jewish authorities, had all been asking: "What do you
think? will Jesus come up to the feast?" Therefore, when the
people heard that Jesus was at Bethany, they were glad, but the
chief priests and Pharisees were somewhat perplexed. They were
pleased to have him under their jurisdiction, but they were a
trifle disconcerted by his boldness; they remembered that on his
previous visit to Bethany, Lazarus had been raised from the dead,
and Lazarus was becoming a big problem to the enemies of Jesus.
172:1.2 Six days before the Passover, on the
evening after the Sabbath, all Bethany and Bethpage joined in
celebrating the arrival of Jesus by a public banquet at the home
of Simon. This supper was in honor of both Jesus and Lazarus; it
was tendered in defiance of the Sanhedrin. Martha directed the
serving of the food; her sister Mary was among the women onlookers
as it was against the custom of the Jews for a woman to sit at a
public banquet. The agents of the Sanhedrin were present, but they
feared to apprehend Jesus in the midst of his friends.
172:1.3 Jesus talked with Simon about Joshua of
old, whose namesake he was, and recited how Joshua and the
Israelites had come up to Jerusalem through Jericho. In commenting
on the legend of the walls of Jericho falling down, Jesus said: "I
am not concerned with such walls of brick and stone; but I would
cause the walls of prejudice, self-righteousness, and hate to
crumble before this preaching of the Father's love for all men."
172:1.4 The banquet went along in a very
cheerful and normal manner except that all the apostles were
unusually sober. Jesus was exceptionally cheerful and had been
playing with the children up to the time of coming to the table.
172:1.5 Nothing out of the ordinary happened
until near the close of the feasting when Mary the sister of
Lazarus stepped forward from among the group of women onlookers
and, going up to where Jesus reclined as the guest of honor,
proceeded to open a large alabaster cruse of very rare and costly
ointment; and after anointing the Master's head, she began to pour
it upon his feet as she took down her hair and wiped them with it.
The whole house became filled with the odor of the ointment, and
everybody present was amazed at what Mary had done. Lazarus said
nothing, but when some of the people murmured, showing indignation
that so costly an ointment should be thus used, Judas Iscariot
stepped over to where Andrew reclined and said: "Why was this
ointment not sold and the money bestowed to feed the poor? You
should speak to the Master that he rebuke such waste."
172:1.6 Jesus, knowing what they thought and
hearing what they said, put his hand upon Mary's head as she knelt
by his side and, with a kindly expression upon his face, said:
"Let her alone, every one of you. Why do you trouble her about
this, seeing that she has done a good thing in her heart? To you
who murmur and say that this ointment should have been sold and
the money given to the poor, let me say that you have the poor
always with you so that you may minister to them at any time it
seems good to you; but I shall not always be with you; I go soon
to my Father. This woman has long saved this ointment for my body
at its burial, and now that it has seemed good to her to make this
anointing in anticipation of my death, she shall not be denied
such satisfaction. In the doing of this, Mary has reproved all of
you in that by this act she evinces faith in what I have said
about my death and ascension to my Father in heaven. This woman
shall not be reproved for that which she has this night done;
rather do I say to you that in the ages to come, wherever this
gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, what she has
done will be spoken of in memory of her."
172:1.7 It was because of this rebuke, which he
took as a personal reproof, that Judas Iscariot finally made up
his mind to seek revenge for his hurt feelings. Many times had he
entertained such ideas subconsciously, but now he dared to think
such wicked thoughts in his open and conscious mind. And many
others encouraged him in this attitude since the cost of this
ointment was a sum equal to the earnings of one man for one year
-- enough to provide bread for five thousand persons. But Mary
loved Jesus; she had provided this precious ointment with which to
embalm his body in death, for she believed his words when he
forewarned them that he must die, and it was not to be denied her
if she changed her mind and chose to bestow this offering upon the
Master while he yet lived.
172:1.8 Both Lazarus and Martha knew that Mary
had long saved the money wherewith to buy this cruse of spikenard,
and they heartily approved of her doing as her heart desired in
such a matter, for they were well-to-do and could easily afford to
make such an offering.
172:1.9 When the chief priests heard of this
dinner in Bethany for Jesus and Lazarus, they began to take
counsel among themselves as to what should be done with Lazarus.
And presently they decided that Lazarus must also die. They
rightly concluded that it would be useless to put Jesus to death
if they permitted Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, to
live.
2. SUNDAY MORNING WITH THE APOSTLES
172:2.1 On this Sunday morning, in Simon's
beautiful garden, the Master called his twelve apostles around him
and gave them their final instructions preparatory to entering
Jerusalem. He told them that he would probably deliver many
addresses and teach many lessons before returning to the Father
but advised the apostles to refrain from doing any public work
during this Passover sojourn in Jerusalem. He instructed them to
remain near him and to "watch and pray." Jesus knew that many of
his apostles and immediate followers even then carried swords
concealed on their persons, but he made no reference to this fact.
172:2.2 This morning's instructions embraced a
brief review of their ministry from the day of their ordination
near Capernaum down to this day when they were preparing to enter
Jerusalem. The apostles listened in silence; they asked no
questions.
172:2.3 Early that morning David Zebedee had
turned over to Judas the funds realized from the sale of the
equipment of the Pella encampment, and Judas, in turn, had placed
the greater part of this money in the hands of Simon, their host,
for safekeeping in anticipation of the exigencies of their entry
into Jerusalem.
172:2.4 After the conference with the apostles
Jesus held converse with Lazarus and instructed him to avoid the
sacrifice of his life to the vengefulness of the Sanhedrin. It was
in obedience to this admonition that Lazarus, a few days later,
fled to Philadelphia when the officers of the Sanhedrin sent men
to arrest him.
172:2.5 In a way, all of Jesus' followers sensed
the impending crisis, but they were prevented from fully realizing
its seriousness by the unusual cheerfulness and exceptional good
humor of the Master.
3. THE START FOR JERUSALEM
172:3.1 Bethany was about two miles from the
temple, and it was half past one that Sunday afternoon when Jesus
made ready to start for Jerusalem. He had feelings of profound
affection for Bethany and its simple people. Nazareth, Capernaum,
and Jerusalem had rejected him, but Bethany had accepted him, had
believed in him. And it was in this small village, where almost
every man, woman, and child were believers, that he chose to
perform the mightiest work of his earth bestowal, the resurrection
of Lazarus. He did not raise Lazarus that the villagers might
believe, but rather because they already believed.
172:3.2 All morning Jesus had thought about his
entry into Jerusalem. Heretofore he had always endeavored to
suppress all public acclaim of him as the Messiah, but it was
different now; he was nearing the end of his career in the flesh,
his death had been decreed by the Sanhedrin, and no harm could
come from allowing his disciples to give free expression to their
feelings, just as might occur if he elected to make a formal and
public entry into the city.
172:3.3 Jesus did not decide to make this public
entrance into Jerusalem as a last bid for popular favor nor as a
final grasp for power. Neither did he do it altogether to satisfy
the human longings of his disciples and apostles. Jesus
entertained none of the illusions of a fantastic dreamer; he well
knew what was to be the outcome of this visit.
172:3.4 Having decided upon making a public
entrance into Jerusalem, the Master was confronted with the
necessity of choosing a proper method of executing such a resolve.
Jesus thought over all of the many more or less contradictory
so-called Messianic prophesies, but there seemed to be only one
which was at all appropriate for him to follow. Most of these
prophetic utterances depicted a king, the son and successor of
David, a bold and aggressive temporal deliverer of all Israel from
the yoke of foreign domination. But there was one Scripture that
had sometimes been associated with the Messiah by those who held
more to the spiritual concept of his mission, which Jesus thought
might consistently be taken as a guide for his projected entry
into Jerusalem. This Scripture was found in Zechariah, and it
said: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem. Behold, your king comes to you. He is just and he
brings salvation. He comes as the lowly one, riding upon an ass,
upon a colt, the foal of an ass."
172:3.5 A warrior king always entered a city
riding upon a horse; a king on a mission of peace and friendship
always entered riding upon an ass. Jesus would not enter Jerusalem
as a man on horseback, but he was willing to enter peacefully and
with good will as the Son of Man on a donkey.
172:3.6 Jesus had long tried by direct teaching
to impress upon his apostles and his disciples that his kingdom
was not of this world, that it was a purely spiritual matter; but
he had not succeeded in this effort. Now, what he had failed to do
by plain and personal teaching, he would attempt to accomplish by
a symbolic appeal. Accordingly, right after the noon lunch, Jesus
called Peter and John, and after directing them to go over to
Bethpage, a neighboring village a little off the main road and a
short distance northwest of Bethany, he further said: "Go to
Bethpage, and when you come to the junction of the roads, you will
find the colt of an ass tied there. Loose the colt and bring it
back with you. If any one asks you why you do this, merely say,
`The Master has need of him.'" And when the two apostles had gone
into Bethpage as the Master had directed, they found the colt tied
near his mother in the open street and close to a house on the
corner. As Peter began to untie the colt, the owner came over and
asked why they did this, and when Peter answered him as Jesus had
directed, the man said: "If your Master is Jesus from Galilee, let
him have the colt." And so they returned bringing the colt with
them.
172:3.7 By this time several hundred pilgrims
had gathered around Jesus and his apostles. Since midforenoon the
visitors passing by on their way to the Passover had tarried.
Meanwhile, David Zebedee and some of his former messenger
associates took it upon themselves to hasten on down to Jerusalem,
where they effectively spread the report among the throngs of
visiting pilgrims about the temple that Jesus of Nazareth was
making a triumphal entry into the city. Accordingly, several
thousand of these visitors flocked forth to greet this
much-talked-of prophet and wonder-worker, whom some believed to be
the Messiah. This multitude, coming out from Jerusalem, met Jesus
and the crowd going into the city just after they had passed over
the brow of Olivet and had begun the descent into the city.
172:3.8 As the procession started out from
Bethany, there was great enthusiasm among the festive crowd of
disciples, believers, and visiting pilgrims, many hailing from
Galilee and Perea. Just before they started, the twelve women of
the original women's corps, accompanied by some of their
associates, arrived on the scene and joined this unique procession
as it moved on joyously toward the city.
172:3.9 Before they started, the Alpheus twins
put their cloaks on the donkey and held him while the Master got
on. As the procession moved toward the summit of Olivet, the
festive crowd threw their garments on the ground and brought
branches from the near-by trees in order to make a carpet of honor
for the donkey bearing the royal Son, the promised Messiah. As the
merry crowd moved on toward Jerusalem, they began to sing, or
rather to shout in unison, the Psalm, "Hosanna to the son of
David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in
the highest. Blessed be the kingdom that comes down from heaven."
172:3.10 Jesus was lighthearted and cheerful as
they moved along until he came to the brow of Olivet, where the
city and the temple towers came into full view; there the Master
stopped the procession, and a great silence came upon all as they
beheld him weeping. Looking down upon the vast multitude coming
forth from the city to greet him, the Master, with much emotion
and with tearful voice, said: "O Jerusalem, if you had only known,
even you, at least in this your day, the things which belong to
your peace, and which you could so freely have had! But now are
these glories about to be hid from your eyes. You are about to
reject the Son of Peace and turn your backs upon the gospel of
salvation. The days will soon come upon you wherein your enemies
will cast a trench around about you and lay siege to you on every
side; they shall utterly destroy you, insomuch that not one stone
shall be left upon another. And all this shall befall you because
you knew not the time of your divine visitation. You are about to
reject the gift of God, and all men will reject you."
172:3.11 When he had finished speaking, they
began the descent of Olivet and presently were joined by the
multitude of visitors who had come from Jerusalem waving palm
branches, shouting hosannas, and otherwise expressing gleefulness
and good fellowship. The Master had not planned that these crowds
should come out from Jerusalem to meet them; that was the work of
others. He never premeditated anything which was dramatic.
172:3.12 Along with the multitude which poured
out to welcome the Master, there came also many of the Pharisees
and his other enemies. They were so much perturbed by this sudden
and unexpected outburst of popular acclaim that they feared to
arrest him lest such action precipitate an open revolt of the
populace. They greatly feared the attitude of the large numbers of
visitors, who had heard much of Jesus, and who, many of them,
believed in him.
172:3.13 As they neared Jerusalem, the crowd
became more demonstrative, so much so that some of the Pharisees
made their way up alongside Jesus and said: "Teacher, you should
rebuke your disciples and exhort them to behave more seemly."
Jesus answered: "It is only fitting that these children should
welcome the Son of Peace, whom the chief priests have rejected. It
would be useless to stop them lest in their stead these stones by
the roadside cry out."
172:3.14 The Pharisees hastened on ahead of the
procession to rejoin the Sanhedrin, which was then in session at
the temple, and they reported to their associates: "Behold, all
that we do is of no avail; we are confounded by this Galilean. The
people have gone mad over him; if we do not stop these ignorant
ones, all the world will go after him."
172:3.15 There really was no deep significance
to be attached to this superficial and spontaneous outburst of
popular enthusiasm. This welcome, although it was joyous and
sincere, did not betoken any real or deep-seated conviction in the
hearts of this festive multitude. These same crowds were equally
as willing quickly to reject Jesus later on this week when the
Sanhedrin once took a firm and decided stand against him, and when
they became disillusioned -- when they realized that Jesus was not
going to establish the kingdom in accordance with their
long-cherished expectations.
172:3.16 But the whole city was mightily stirred
up, insomuch that everyone asked, "Who is this man?" And the
multitude answered, "This is the prophet of Galilee, Jesus of
Nazareth."
4. VISITING ABOUT THE TEMPLE
172:4.1 While the Alpheus twins returned the
donkey to its owner, Jesus and the ten apostles detached
themselves from their immediate associates and strolled about the
temple, viewing the preparations for the Passover. No attempt was
made to molest Jesus as the Sanhedrin greatly feared the people,
and that was, after all, one of the reasons Jesus had for allowing
the multitude thus to acclaim him. The apostles little understood
that this was the only human procedure which could have been
effective in preventing Jesus' immediate arrest upon entering the
city. The Master desired to give the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
high and low, as well as the tens of thousands of Passover
visitors, this one more and last chance to hear the gospel and
receive, if they would, the Son of Peace.
172:4.2 And now, as the evening drew on and the
crowds went in quest of nourishment, Jesus and his immediate
followers were left alone. What a strange day it had been! The
apostles were thoughtful, but speechless. Never, in their years of
association with Jesus, had they seen such a day. For a moment
they sat down by the treasury, watching the people drop in their
contributions: the rich putting much in the receiving box and all
giving something in accordance with the extent of their
possessions. At last there came along a poor widow, scantily
attired, and they observed as she cast two mites (small coppers)
into the trumpet. And then said Jesus, calling the attention of
the apostles to the widow: "Heed well what you have just seen.
This poor widow cast in more than all the others, for all these
others, from their superfluity, cast in some trifle as a gift, but
this poor woman, even though she is in want, gave all that she
had, even her living."
172:4.3 As the evening drew on, they walked
about the temple courts in silence, and after Jesus had surveyed
these familiar scenes once more, recalling his emotions in
connection with previous visits, not excepting the earlier ones,
he said, "Let us go up to Bethany for our rest." Jesus, with Peter
and John, went to the home of Simon, while the other apostles
lodged among their friends in Bethany and Bethpage.
5. THE APOSTLES' ATTITUDE
172:5.1 This Sunday evening as they returned to
Bethany, Jesus walked in front of the apostles. Not a word was
spoken until they separated after arriving at Simon's house. No
twelve human beings ever experienced such diverse and inexplicable
emotions as now surged through the minds and souls of these
ambassadors of the kingdom. These sturdy Galileans were confused
and disconcerted; they did not know what to expect next; they were
too surprised to be much afraid. They knew nothing of the Master's
plans for the next day, and they asked no questions. They went to
their lodgings, though they did not sleep much, save the twins.
But they did not keep armed watch over Jesus at Simon's house.
172:5.2 Andrew was thoroughly bewildered,
well-nigh confused. He was the one apostle who did not seriously
undertake to evaluate the popular outburst of acclaim. He was too
preoccupied with the thought of his responsibility as chief of the
apostolic corps to give serious consideration to the meaning or
significance of the loud hosannas of the multitude. Andrew was
busy watching some of his associates whom he feared might be led
away by their emotions during the excitement, particularly Peter,
James, John, and Simon Zelotes. Throughout this day and those
which immediately followed, Andrew was troubled with serious
doubts, but he never expressed any of these misgivings to his
apostolic associates. He was concerned about the attitude of some
of the twelve who he knew were armed with swords; but he did not
know that his own brother, Peter, was carrying such a weapon. And
so the procession into Jerusalem made a comparatively superficial
impression upon Andrew; he was too busy with the responsibilities
of his office to be otherwise affected.
172:5.3 Simon Peter was at first almost swept
off his feet by this popular manifestation of enthusiasm; but he
was considerably sobered by the time they returned to Bethany that
night. Peter simply could not figure out what the Master was
about. He was terribly disappointed that Jesus did not follow up
this wave of popular favor with some kind of a pronouncement.
Peter could not understand why Jesus did not speak to the
multitude when they arrived at the temple, or at least permit one
of the apostles to address the crowd. Peter was a great preacher,
and he disliked to see such a large, receptive, and enthusiastic
audience go to waste. He would so much have liked to preach the
gospel of the kingdom to that throng right there in the temple;
but the Master had specifically charged them that they were to do
no teaching or preaching while in Jerusalem this Passover week.
The reaction from the spectacular procession into the city was
disastrous to Simon Peter; by night he was sobered and
inexpressibly saddened.
172:5.4 To James Zebedee, this Sunday was a day
of perplexity and profound confusion; he could not grasp the
purport of what was going on; he could not comprehend the Master's
purpose in permitting this wild acclaim and then in refusing to
say a word to the people when they arrived at the temple. As the
procession moved down Olivet toward Jerusalem, more especially
when they were met by the thousands of pilgrims who poured forth
to welcome the Master, James was cruelly torn by his conflicting
emotions of elation and gratification at what he saw and by his
profound feeling of fear as to what would happen when they reached
the temple. And then was he downcast and overcome by
disappointment when Jesus climbed off the donkey and proceeded to
walk leisurely about the temple courts. James could not understand
the reason for throwing away such a magnificent opportunity to
proclaim the kingdom. By night, his mind was held firmly in the
grip of a distressing and dreadful uncertainty.
172:5.5 John Zebedee came somewhere near
understanding why Jesus did this; at least he grasped in part the
spiritual significance of this so-called triumphal entry into
Jerusalem. As the multitude moved on toward the temple, and as
John beheld his Master sitting there astride the colt, he recalled
hearing Jesus onetime quote the passage of Scripture, the
utterance of Zechariah, which described the coming of the Messiah
as a man of peace and riding into Jerusalem on an ass. As John
turned this Scripture over in his mind, he began to comprehend the
symbolic significance of this Sunday-afternoon pageant. At least,
he grasped enough of the meaning of this Scripture to enable him
somewhat to enjoy the episode and to prevent his becoming overmuch
depressed by the apparent purposeless ending of the triumphal
procession. John had a type of mind which naturally tended to
think and feel in symbols.
172:5.6 Philip was entirely unsettled by the
suddenness and spontaneity of the outburst. He could not collect
his thoughts sufficiently while on the way down Olivet to arrive
at any settled notion as to what all the demonstration was about.
In a way, he enjoyed the performance because his Master was being
honored. By the time they reached the temple, he was perturbed by
the thought that Jesus might possibly ask him to feed the
multitude, so that the conduct of Jesus in turning leisurely away
from the crowds, which so sorely disappointed the majority of the
apostles, was a great relief to Philip. Multitudes had sometimes
been a great trial to the steward of the twelve. After he was
relieved of these personal fears regarding the material needs of
the crowds, Philip joined with Peter in the expression of
disappointment that nothing was done to teach the multitude. That
night Philip got to thinking over these experiences and was
tempted to doubt the whole idea of the kingdom; he honestly
wondered what all these things could mean, but he expressed his
doubts to no one; he loved Jesus too much. He had great personal
faith in the Master.
172:5.7 Nathaniel, aside from the symbolic and
prophetic aspects, came the nearest to understanding the Master's
reason for enlisting the popular support of the Passover pilgrims.
He reasoned it out, before they reached the temple, that without
such a demonstrative entry into Jerusalem Jesus would have been
arrested by the Sanhedrin officials and cast into prison the
moment he presumed to enter the city. He was not, therefore, in
the least surprised that the Master made no further use of the
cheering crowds when he had once got inside the walls of the city
and had thus so forcibly impressed the Jewish leaders that they
would refrain from placing him under immediate arrest.
Understanding the real reason for the Master's entering the city
in this manner, Nathaniel naturally followed along with more poise
and was less perturbed and disappointed by Jesus' subsequent
conduct than were the other apostles. Nathaniel had great
confidence in Jesus' understanding of men as well as in his
sagacity and cleverness in handling difficult situations.
172:5.8 Matthew was at first nonplused by this
pageant performance. He did not grasp the meaning of what his eyes
were seeing until he also recalled the Scripture in Zechariah
where the prophet had alluded to the rejoicing of Jerusalem
because her king had come bringing salvation and riding upon the
colt of an ass. As the procession moved in the direction of the
city and then drew on toward the temple, Matthew became ecstatic;
he was certain that something extraordinary would happen when the
Master arrived at the temple at the head of this shouting
multitude. When one of the Pharisees mocked Jesus, saying, "Look,
everybody, see who comes here, the king of the Jews riding on an
ass!" Matthew kept his hands off of him only by exercising great
restraint. None of the twelve was more depressed on the way back
to Bethany that evening. Next to Simon Peter and Simon Zelotes, he
experienced the highest nervous tension and was in a state of
exhaustion by night. But by morning Matthew was much cheered; he
was, after all, a cheerful loser.
172:5.9 Thomas was the most bewildered and
puzzled man of all the twelve. Most of the time he just followed
along, gazing at the spectacle and honestly wondering what could
be the Master's motive for participating in such a peculiar
demonstration. Down deep in his heart he regarded the whole
performance as a little childish, if not downright foolish. He had
never seen Jesus do anything like this and was at a loss to
account for his strange conduct on this Sunday afternoon. By the
time they reached the temple, Thomas had deduced that the purpose
of this popular demonstration was so to frighten the Sanhedrin
that they would not dare immediately to arrest the Master. On the
way back to Bethany Thomas thought much but said nothing. By
bedtime the Master's cleverness in staging the tumultuous entry
into Jerusalem had begun to make a somewhat humorous appeal, and
he was much cheered up by this reaction.
172:5.10 This Sunday started off as a great day
for Simon Zelotes. He saw visions of wonderful doings in Jerusalem
the next few days, and in that he was right, but Simon dreamed of
the establishment of the new national rule of the Jews, with Jesus
on the throne of David. Simon saw the nationalists springing into
action as soon as the kingdom was announced, and himself in
supreme command of the assembling military forces of the new
kingdom. On the way down Olivet he even envisaged the Sanhedrin
and all of their sympathizers dead before sunset of that day. He
really believed something great was going to happen. He was the
noisiest man in the whole multitude. By five o'clock that
afternoon he was a silent, crushed, and disillusioned apostle. He
never fully recovered from the depression which settled down on
him as a result of this day's shock; at least not until long after
the Master's resurrection.
172:5.11 To the Alpheus twins this was a perfect
day. They really enjoyed it all the way through, and not being
present during the time of quiet visitation about the temple, they
escaped much of the anticlimax of the popular upheaval. They could
not possibly understand the downcast behavior of the apostles when
they came back to Bethany that evening. In the memory of the twins
this was always their day of being nearest heaven on earth. This
day was the satisfying climax of their whole career as apostles.
And the memory of the elation of this Sunday afternoon carried
them on through all of the tragedy of this eventful week, right up
to the hour of the crucifixion. It was the most befitting entry of
the king the twins could conceive; they enjoyed every moment of
the whole pageant. They fully approved of all they saw and long
cherished the memory.
172:5.12 Of all the apostles, Judas Iscariot was
the most adversely affected by this processional entry into
Jerusalem. His mind was in a disagreeable ferment because of the
Master's rebuke the preceding day in connection with Mary's
anointing at the feast in Simon's house. Judas was disgusted with
the whole spectacle. To him it seemed childish, if not indeed
ridiculous. As this vengeful apostle looked upon the proceedings
of this Sunday afternoon, Jesus seemed to him more to resemble a
clown than a king. He heartily resented the whole performance. He
shared the views of the Greeks and Romans, who looked down upon
anyone who would consent to ride upon an ass or the colt of an
ass. By the time the triumphal procession had entered the city,
Judas had about made up his mind to abandon the whole idea of such
a kingdom; he was almost resolved to forsake all such farcical
attempts to establish the kingdom of heaven. And then he thought
of the resurrection of Lazarus, and many other things, and decided
to stay on with the twelve, at least for another day. Besides, he
carried the bag, and he would not desert with the apostolic funds
in his possession. On the way back to Bethany that night his
conduct did not seem strange since all of the apostles were
equally downcast and silent.
172:5.13 Judas was tremendously influenced by
the ridicule of his Sadducean friends. No other single factor
exerted such a powerful influence on him, in his final
determination to forsake Jesus and his fellow apostles, as a
certain episode which occurred just as Jesus reached the gate of
the city: A prominent Sadducee (a friend of Judas's family) rushed
up to him in a spirit of gleeful ridicule and, slapping him on the
back, said: "Why so troubled of countenance, my good friend; cheer
up and join us all while we acclaim this Jesus of Nazareth the
king of the Jews as he rides through the gates of Jerusalem seated
on an ass." Judas had never shrunk from persecution, but he could
not stand this sort of ridicule. With the long-nourished emotion
of revenge there was now blended this fatal fear of ridicule, that
terrible and fearful feeling of being ashamed of his Master and
his fellow apostles. At heart, this ordained ambassador of the
kingdom was already a deserter; it only remained for him to find
some plausible excuse for an open break with the Master.
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