The Urantia Book
PAPER 173
MONDAY IN JERUSALEM
173:0.1 EARLY on this Monday morning, by
prearrangement, Jesus and the apostles assembled at the home of
Simon in Bethany, and after a brief conference they set out for
Jerusalem. The twelve were strangely silent as they journeyed on
toward the temple; they had not recovered from the experience of
the preceding day. They were expectant, fearful, and profoundly
affected by a certain feeling of detachment growing out of the
Master's sudden change of tactics, coupled with his instruction
that they were to engage in no public teaching throughout this
Passover week.
173:0.2 As this group journeyed down Mount
Olivet, Jesus led the way, the apostles following closely behind
in meditative silence. There was just one thought uppermost in the
minds of all save Judas Iscariot, and that was: What will the
Master do today? The one absorbing thought of Judas was: What
shall I do? Shall I go on with Jesus and my associates, or shall I
withdraw? And if I am going to quit, how shall I break off?
173:0.3 It was about nine o'clock on this
beautiful morning when these men arrived at the temple. They went
at once to the large court where Jesus so often taught, and after
greeting the believers who were awaiting him, Jesus mounted one of
the teaching platforms and began to address the gathering crowd.
The apostles withdrew for a short distance and awaited
developments.
1.
CLEANSING THE TEMPLE
173:1.1 A huge commercial traffic had grown up
in association with the services and ceremonies of the temple
worship. There was the business of providing suitable animals for
the various sacrifices. Though it was permissible for a worshiper
to provide his own sacrifice, the fact remained that this animal
must be free from all "blemish" in the meaning of the Levitical
law and as interpreted by official inspectors of the temple. Many
a worshiper had experienced the humiliation of having his
supposedly perfect animal rejected by the temple examiners. It
therefore became the more general practice to purchase sacrificial
animals at the temple, and although there were several stations on
near-by Olivet where they could be bought, it had become the vogue
to buy these animals directly from the temple pens. Gradually
there had grown up this custom of selling all kinds of sacrificial
animals in the temple courts. An extensive business, in which
enormous profits were made, had thus been brought into existence.
Part of these gains was reserved for the temple treasury, but the
larger part went indirectly into the hands of the ruling
high-priestly families.
173:1.2 This sale of animals in the temple
prospered because, when the worshiper purchased such an animal,
although the price might be somewhat high, no more fees had to be
paid, and he could be sure the intended sacrifice would not be
rejected on the ground of possessing real or technical blemishes.
At one time or another systems of exorbitant overcharge were
practiced upon the common people, especially during the great
national feasts. At one time the greedy priests went so far as to
demand the equivalent of the value of a week's labor for a pair of
doves which should have been sold to the poor for a few pennies.
The "sons of Annas" had already begun to establish their bazaars
in the temple precincts, those very merchandise marts which
persisted to the time of their final overthrow by a mob three
years before the destruction of the temple itself.
173:1.3 But traffic in sacrificial animals and
sundry merchandise was not the only way in which the courts of the
temple were profaned. At this time there was fostered an extensive
system of banking and commercial exchange which was carried on
right within the temple precincts. And this all came about in the
following manner: During the Asmonean dynasty the Jews coined
their own silver money, and it had become the practice to require
the temple dues of one-half shekel and all other temple fees to be
paid with this Jewish coin. This regulation necessitated that
money-changers be licensed to exchange the many sorts of currency
in circulation throughout Palestine and other provinces of the
Roman Empire for this orthodox shekel of Jewish coining. The
temple head tax, payable by all except women, slaves, and minors,
was one-half shekel, a coin about the size of a ten cent piece but
twice as thick. By the times of Jesus the priests had also been
exempted from the payment of temple dues. Accordingly, from the
15th to the 25th of the month preceding the Passover, accredited
money-changers erected their booths in the principal cities of
Palestine for the purpose of providing the Jewish people with
proper money to meet the temple dues after they had reached
Jerusalem. After this ten-day period these money-changers moved on
to Jerusalem and proceeded to set up their exchange tables in the
courts of the temple. They were permitted to charge the equivalent
of from three to four cents commission for the exchange of a coin
valued at about ten cents, and in case a coin of larger value was
offered for exchange, they were allowed to collect double.
Likewise did these temple bankers profit from the exchange of all
money intended for the purchase of sacrificial animals and for the
payment of vows and the making of offerings.
173:1.4 These temple money-changers not only
conducted a regular banking business for profit in the exchange of
more than twenty sorts of money which the visiting pilgrims would
periodically bring to Jerusalem, but they also engaged in all
other kinds of transactions pertaining to the banking business.
Both the temple treasury and the temple rulers profited
tremendously from these commercial activities. It was not uncommon
for the temple treasury to hold upwards of ten million dollars
while the common people languished in poverty and continued to pay
these unjust levies.
173:1.5 In the midst of this noisy aggregation
of money-changers, merchandisers, and cattle sellers, Jesus, on
this Monday morning, attempted to teach the gospel of the heavenly
kingdom. He was not alone in resenting this profanation of the
temple; the common people, especially the Jewish visitors from
foreign provinces, also heartily resented this profiteering
desecration of their national house of worship. At this time the
Sanhedrin itself held its regular meetings in a chamber surrounded
by all this babble and confusion of trade and barter.
173:1.6 As Jesus was about to begin his address,
two things happened to arrest his attention. At the money table of
a near-by exchanger a violent and heated argument had arisen over
the alleged overcharging of a Jew from Alexandria, while at the
same moment the air was rent by the bellowing of a drove of some
one hundred bullocks which was being driven from one section of
the animal pens to another. As Jesus paused, silently but
thoughtfully contemplating this scene of commerce and confusion,
close by he beheld a simple-minded Galilean, a man he had once
talked with in Iron, being ridiculed and jostled about by
supercilious and would-be superior Judeans; and all of this
combined to produce one of those strange and periodic uprisings of
indignant emotion in the soul of Jesus.
173:1.7 To the amazement of his apostles,
standing near at hand, who refrained from participation in what so
soon followed, Jesus stepped down from the teaching platform and,
going over to the lad who was driving the cattle through the
court, took from him his whip of cords and swiftly drove the
animals from the temple. But that was not all; he strode
majestically before the wondering gaze of the thousands assembled
in the temple court to the farthest cattle pen and proceeded to
open the gates of every stall and to drive out the imprisoned
animals. By this time the assembled pilgrims were electrified, and
with uproarious shouting they moved toward the bazaars and began
to overturn the tables of the money-changers. In less than five
minutes all commerce had been swept from the temple. By the time
the near-by Roman guards had appeared on the scene, all was quiet,
and the crowds had become orderly; Jesus, returning to the
speaker's stand, spoke to the multitude: "You have this day
witnessed that which is written in the Scriptures: `My house shall
be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it
a den of robbers.'"
173:1.8 But before he could utter other words,
the great assembly broke out in hosannas of praise, and presently
a throng of youths stepped out from the crowd to sing grateful
hymns of appreciation that the profane and profiteering
merchandisers had been ejected from the sacred temple. By this
time certain of the priests had arrived on the scene, and one of
them said to Jesus, "Do you not hear what the children of the
Levites say?" And the Master replied, "Have you never read, `Out
of the mouths of babes and sucklings has praise been perfected'?"
And all the rest of that day while Jesus taught, guards set by the
people stood watch at every archway, and they would not permit
anyone to carry even an empty vessel across the temple courts.
173:1.9 When the chief priests and the scribes
heard about these happenings, they were dumfounded. All the more
they feared the Master, and all the more they determined to
destroy him. But they were nonplused. They did not know how to
accomplish his death, for they greatly feared the multitudes, who
were now so outspoken in their approval of his overthrow of the
profane profiteers. And all this day, a day of quiet and peace in
the temple courts, the people heard Jesus' teaching and literally
hung on his words.
173:1.10 This surprising act of Jesus was beyond
the comprehension of his apostles. They were so taken aback by
this sudden and unexpected move of their Master that they remained
throughout the whole episode huddled together near the speaker's
stand; they never lifted a hand to further this cleansing of the
temple. If this spectacular event had occurred the day before, at
the time of Jesus' triumphal arrival at the temple at the
termination of his tumultuous procession through the gates of the
city, all the while loudly acclaimed by the multitude, they would
have been ready for it, but coming as it did, they were wholly
unprepared to participate.
173:1.11 This cleansing of the temple discloses
the Master's attitude toward commercializing the practices of
religion as well as his detestation of all forms of unfairness and
profiteering at the expense of the poor and the unlearned. This
episode also demonstrates that Jesus did not look with approval
upon the refusal to employ force to protect the majority of any
given human group against the unfair and enslaving practices of
unjust minorities who may be able to entrench themselves behind
political, financial, or ecclesiastical power. Shrewd, wicked, and
designing men are not to be permitted to organize themselves for
the exploitation and oppression of those who, because of their
idealism, are not disposed to resort to force for self-protection
or for the furtherance of their laudable life projects.
2. CHALLENGING THE MASTER'S AUTHORITY
173:2.1 On Sunday the triumphal entry into
Jerusalem so overawed the Jewish leaders that they refrained from
placing Jesus under arrest. Today, this spectacular cleansing of
the temple likewise effectively postponed the Master's
apprehension. Day by day the rulers of the Jews were becoming more
and more determined to destroy him, but they were distraught by
two fears, which conspired to delay the hour of striking. The
chief priests and the scribes were unwilling to arrest Jesus in
public for fear the multitude might turn upon them in a fury of
resentment; they also dreaded the possibility of the Roman guards
being called upon to quell a popular uprising.
173:2.2 At the noon session of the Sanhedrin it
was unanimously agreed that Jesus must be speedily destroyed,
inasmuch as no friend of the Master attended this meeting. But
they could not agree as to when and how he should be taken into
custody. Finally they agreed upon appointing five groups to go out
among the people and seek to entangle him in his teaching or
otherwise to discredit him in the sight of those who listened to
his instruction. Accordingly, about two o'clock, when Jesus had
just begun his discourse on "The Liberty of Sonship," a group of
these elders of Israel made their way up near Jesus and,
interrupting him in the customary manner, asked this question: "By
what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this
authority?"
173:2.3 It was altogether proper that the temple
rulers and the officers of the Jewish Sanhedrin should ask this
question of anyone who presumed to teach and perform in the
extraordinary manner which had been characteristic of Jesus,
especially as concerned his recent conduct in clearing the temple
of all commerce. These traders and money-changers all operated by
direct license from the highest rulers, and a percentage of their
gains was supposed to go directly into the temple treasury. Do not
forget that authority was the watchword of all Jewry. The
prophets were always stirring up trouble because they so boldly
presumed to teach without authority, without having been duly
instructed in the rabbinic academies and subsequently regularly
ordained by the Sanhedrin. Lack of this authority in pretentious
public teaching was looked upon as indicating either ignorant
presumption or open rebellion. At this time only the Sanhedrin
could ordain an elder or teacher, and such a ceremony had to take
place in the presence of at least three persons who had previously
been so ordained. Such an ordination conferred the title of
"rabbi" upon the teacher and also qualified him to act as a judge,
"binding and loosing such matters as might be brought to him for
adjudication."
173:2.4 The rulers of the temple came before
Jesus at this afternoon hour challenging not only his teaching but
his acts. Jesus well knew that these very men had long publicly
taught that his authority for teaching was Satanic, and that all
his mighty works had been wrought by the power of the prince of
devils. Therefore did the Master begin his answer to their
question by asking them a counter-question. Said Jesus: "I would
also like to ask you one question which, if you will answer me, I
likewise will tell you by what authority I do these works. The
baptism of John, whence was it? Did John get his authority from
heaven or from men?"
173:2.5 And when his questioners heard this,
they withdrew to one side to take counsel among themselves as to
what answer they might give. They had thought to embarrass Jesus
before the multitude, but now they found themselves much confused
before all who were assembled at that time in the temple court.
And their discomfiture was all the more apparent when they
returned to Jesus, saying: "Concerning the baptism of John, we
cannot answer; we do not know." And they so answered the Master
because they had reasoned among themselves: If we shall say from
heaven, then will he say, Why did you not believe him, and
perchance will add that he received his authority from John; and
if we shall say from men, then might the multitude turn upon us,
for most of them hold that John was a prophet; and so they were
compelled to come before Jesus and the people confessing that
they, the religious teachers and leaders of Israel, could not (or
would not) express an opinion about John's mission. And when they
had spoken, Jesus, looking down upon them, said, "Neither will I
tell you by what authority I do these things."
173:2.6 Jesus never intended to appeal to John
for his authority; John had never been ordained by the Sanhedrin.
Jesus' authority was in himself and in his Father's eternal
supremacy.
173:2.7 In employing this method of dealing with
his adversaries, Jesus did not mean to dodge the question. At
first it may seem that he was guilty of a masterly evasion, but it
was not so. Jesus was never disposed to take unfair advantage of
even his enemies. In this apparent evasion he really supplied all
his hearers with the answer to the Pharisees' question as to the
authority behind his mission. They had asserted that he performed
by authority of the prince of devils. Jesus had repeatedly
asserted that all his teaching and works were by the power and
authority of his Father in heaven. This the Jewish leaders refused
to accept and were seeking to corner him into admitting that he
was an irregular teacher since he had never been sanctioned by the
Sanhedrin. In answering them as he did, while not claiming
authority from John, he so satisfied the people with the inference
that the effort of his enemies to ensnare him was effectively
turned upon themselves and was much to their discredit in the eyes
of all present.
173:2.8 And it was this genius of the Master for
dealing with his adversaries that made them so afraid of him. They
attempted no more questions that day; they retired to take further
counsel among themselves. But the people were not slow to discern
the dishonesty and insincerity in these questions asked by the
Jewish rulers. Even the common folk could not fail to distinguish
between the moral majesty of the Master and the designing
hypocrisy of his enemies. But the cleansing of the temple had
brought the Sadducees over to the side of the Pharisees in
perfecting the plan to destroy Jesus. And the Sadducees now
represented a majority of the Sanhedrin.
3. PARABLE OF THE TWO SONS
173:3.1 As the caviling Pharisees stood there in
silence before Jesus, he looked down on them and said: "Since you
are in doubt about John's mission and arrayed in enmity against
the teaching and the works of the Son of Man, give ear while I
tell you a parable: A certain great and respected landholder had
two sons, and desiring the help of his sons in the management of
his large estates, he came to one of them, saying, `Son, go work
today in my vineyard.' And this unthinking son answered his
father, saying, `I will not go'; but afterward he repented and
went. When he had found his older son, likewise he said to him,
`Son, go work in my vineyard.' And this hypocritical and
unfaithful son answered, `Yes, my father, I will go.' But when his
father had departed, he went not. Let me ask you, which of these
sons really did his father's will?"
173:3.2 And the people spoke with one accord,
saying, "The first son." And then said Jesus: "Even so; and now do
I declare that the publicans and harlots, even though they appear
to refuse the call to repentance, shall see the error of their way
and go on into the kingdom of God before you, who make great
pretensions of serving the Father in heaven while you refuse to do
the works of the Father. It was not you, the Pharisees and
scribes, who believed John, but rather the publicans and sinners;
neither do you believe my teaching, but the common people hear my
words gladly."
173:3.3 Jesus did not despise the Pharisees and
Sadducees personally. It was their systems of teaching and
practice which he sought to discredit. He was hostile to no man,
but here was occurring the inevitable clash between a new and
living religion of the spirit and the older religion of ceremony,
tradition, and authority.
173:3.4 All this time the twelve apostles stood
near the Master, but they did not in any manner participate in
these transactions. Each one of the twelve was reacting in his own
peculiar way to the events of these closing days of Jesus'
ministry in the flesh, and each one likewise remained obedient to
the Master's injunction to refrain from all public teaching and
preaching during this Passover week.
4. PARABLE OF THE ABSENT LANDLORD
173:4.1 When the chief Pharisees and the scribes
who had sought to entangle Jesus with their questions had finished
listening to the story of the two sons, they withdrew to take
further counsel, and the Master, turning his attention to the
listening multitude, told another parable:
173:4.2 "There was a good man who was a
householder, and he planted a vineyard. He set a hedge about it,
dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower for the
guards. Then he let this vineyard out to tenants while he went on
a long journey into another country. And when the season of the
fruits drew near, he sent servants to the tenants to receive his
rental. But they took counsel among themselves and refused to give
these servants the fruits due their master; instead, they fell
upon his servants, beating one, stoning another, and sending the
others away empty-handed. And when the householder heard about all
this, he sent other and more trusted servants to deal with these
wicked tenants, and these they wounded and also treated
shamefully. And then the householder sent his favorite servant,
his steward, and him they killed. And still, in patience and with
forbearance, he dispatched many other servants, but none would
they receive. Some they beat, others they killed, and when the
householder had been so dealt with, he decided to send his son to
deal with these ungrateful tenants, saying to himself, `They may
mistreat my servants, but they will surely show respect for my
beloved son.' But when these unrepentant and wicked tenants saw
the son, they reasoned among themselves: `This is the heir; come,
let us kill him and then the inheritance will be ours.' So they
laid hold on him, and after casting him out of the vineyard, they
killed him. When the lord of that vineyard shall hear how they
have rejected and killed his son, what will he do to those
ungrateful and wicked tenants?"
173:4.3 And when the people heard this parable
and the question Jesus asked, they answered, "He will destroy
those miserable men and let out his vineyard to other and honest
farmers who will render to him the fruits in their season." And
when some of them who heard perceived that this parable referred
to the Jewish nation and its treatment of the prophets and to the
impending rejection of Jesus and the gospel of the kingdom, they
said in sorrow, "God forbid that we should go on doing these
things."
173:4.4 Jesus saw a group of the Sadducees and
Pharisees making their way through the crowd, and he paused for a
moment until they drew near him, when he said: "You know how your
fathers rejected the prophets, and you well know that you are set
in your hearts to reject the Son of Man." And then, looking with
searching gaze upon those priests and elders who were standing
near him, Jesus said: "Did you never read in the Scripture about
the stone which the builders rejected, and which, when the people
had discovered it, was made into the cornerstone? And so once more
do I warn you that, if you continue to reject this gospel,
presently will the kingdom of God be taken away from you and be
given to a people willing to receive the good news and to bring
forth the fruits of the spirit. And there is a mystery about this
stone, seeing that whoso falls upon it, while he is thereby broken
in pieces, shall be saved; but on whomsoever this stone falls, he
will be ground to dust and his ashes scattered to the four winds."
173:4.5 When the Pharisees heard these words,
they understood that Jesus referred to themselves and the other
Jewish leaders. They greatly desired to lay hold on him then and
there, but they feared the multitude. However, they were so
angered by the Master's words that they withdrew and held further
counsel among themselves as to how they might bring about his
death. And that night both the Sadducees and the Pharisees joined
hands in the plan to entrap him the next day.
5. PARABLE OF THE MARRIAGE FEAST
173:5.1 After the scribes and rulers had
withdrawn, Jesus addressed himself again to the assembled crowd
and spoke the parable of the wedding feast. He said:
173:5.2 "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to
a certain king who made a marriage feast for his son and
dispatched messengers to call those who had previously been
invited to the feast to come, saying, `Everything is ready for the
marriage supper at the king's palace.' Now, many of those who had
once promised to attend, at this time refused to come. When the
king heard of these rejections of his invitation, he sent other
servants and messengers, saying: `Tell all those who were bidden,
to come, for, behold, my dinner is ready. My oxen and my fatlings
are killed, and all is in readiness for the celebration of the
forthcoming marriage of my son.' But again did the thoughtless
make light of this call of their king, and they went their ways,
one to the farm, another to the pottery, and others to their
merchandise. Still others were not content thus to slight the
king's call, but in open rebellion they laid hands on the king's
messengers and shamefully mistreated them, even killing some of
them. And when the king perceived that his chosen guests, even
those who had accepted his preliminary invitation and had promised
to attend the wedding feast, had finally rejected his call and in
rebellion had assaulted and slain his chosen messengers, he was
exceedingly wroth. And then this insulted king ordered out his
armies and the armies of his allies and instructed them to destroy
these rebellious murderers and to burn down their city.
173:5.3 "And when he had punished those who
spurned his invitation, he appointed yet another day for the
wedding feast and said to his messengers: `They who were first
bidden to the wedding were not worthy; so go now into the parting
of the ways and into the highways and even beyond the borders of
the city, and as many as you shall find, bid even these strangers
to come in and attend this wedding feast.' And then these servants
went out into the highways and the out-of-the-way places, and they
gathered together as many as they found, good and bad, rich and
poor, so that at last the wedding chamber was filled with willing
guests. When all was ready, the king came in to view his guests,
and much to his surprise he saw there a man without a wedding
garment. The king , since he had freely provided wedding garments
for all his guests, addressing this man, said: `Friend, how is it
that you come into my guest chamber on this occasion without a
wedding garment?' And this unprepared man was speechless. Then
said the king to his servants: `Cast out this thoughtless guest
from my house to share the lot of all the others who have spurned
my hospitality and rejected my call. I will have none here except
those who delight to accept my invitation, and who do me the honor
to wear those guest garments so freely provided for all.'"
173:5.4 After speaking this parable, Jesus was
about to dismiss the multitude when a sympathetic believer, making
his way through the crowds toward him, asked: "But, Master, how
shall we know about these things? how shall we be ready for the
king's invitation? what sign will you give us whereby we shall
know that you are the Son of God?" And when the Master heard this,
he said, "Only one sign shall be given you." And then, pointing to
his own body, he continued, "Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up." But they did not understand him, and as
they dispersed, they talked among themselves, saying, "Almost
fifty years has this temple been in building, and yet he says he
will destroy it and raise it up in three days." Even his own
apostles did not comprehend the significance of this utterance,
but subsequently, after his resurrection, they recalled what he
had said.
173:5.5 About four o'clock this afternoon Jesus
beckoned to his apostles and indicated that he desired to leave
the temple and to go to Bethany for their evening meal and a night
of rest. On the way up Olivet Jesus instructed Andrew, Philip, and
Thomas that, on the morrow, they should establish a camp nearer
the city which they could occupy during the remainder of the
Passover week. In compliance with this instruction the following
morning they pitched their tents in the hillside ravine
overlooking the public camping park of Gethsemane, on a plot of
ground belonging to Simon of Bethany.
173:5.6 Again it was a silent group of Jews who
made their way up the western slope of Olivet on this Monday
night. These twelve men, as never before, were beginning to sense
that something tragic was about to happen. While the dramatic
cleansing of the temple during the early morning had aroused their
hopes of seeing the Master assert himself and manifest his mighty
powers, the events of the entire afternoon only operated as an
anticlimax in that they all pointed to the certain rejection of
Jesus' teaching by the Jewish authorities. The apostles were
gripped by suspense and were held in the firm grasp of a terrible
uncertainty. They realized that only a few short days could
intervene between the events of the day just passed and the crash
of an impending doom. They all felt that something tremendous was
about to happen, but they knew not what to expect. They went to
their various places for rest, but they slept very little. Even
the Alpheus twins were at last aroused to the realization that the
events of the Master's life were moving swiftly toward their final
culmination.
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