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On Sunday morning, January 19th, A.D. 27, Jesus and the apostles started gearing-up to leave their Bethsaida (beth’sāidə) headquarters at Zebedee’s house. All that the apostles knew of Jesus’ plans was that they were going to travel through the Jordan valley on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover feast in April. Their families and some of the other disciples showed up to say good-bye and wish them well on their journey, and because of this Jesus and the twelve didn’t manage to leave until almost noon.
But when they were about to leave, they couldn’t find Jesus. Andrew went out to look for him, and found Jesus sitting by himself down in a boat on the beach; he was weeping. Seeing Jesus cry startled Andrew. All of the apostles had seen him grieve before, and at times become serious and preoccupied, but none of them had actually seen him shed tears. After Andrew pulled himself together, he asked Jesus what had happened to cause him to weep on this great day; had one of them had offended him, he asked?
Jesus, walking back with Andrew to rejoin the other apostles, said that none of the apostles had done anything wrong. Continuing on, he said he was sad because none of his family had remembered to come and wish them Godspeed. At the time, Ruth was visiting brother Joseph in Nazareth, which is why she was absent. But with the others it was pride, disappointment, misunderstanding, hurt-feelings, and petty resentment that kept them from supporting their family’s eldest son in his father’s work.
Leaving Galilee
Jesus, and news about him, had spread far and wide throughout Galilee and beyond. Since Capernaum (kə’pərnāəm) wasn’t far from Tiberias, and knowing that Herod would soon start to take interest in him, Jesus decide to head south into Judea with his apostles. About a hundred people who had come to believe in Jesus wanted to follow along with them down the Jordan, but Jesus talked them out of it. At least he did for a few days, and then a bunch of the group decided to follow along anyway.
Our crew only made it as far as Tarichea (tə’rēkēə) the first night. Then, the next day they went to the place on the Jordan river near Pella where John had baptized Jesus about a year earlier, and set up camp. They hung-out there for over a couple of weeks teaching and preaching. By the end of the first week, several hundred people from Perea (pē’rēə), Judea, Syria, Galilee, Phoenicia, and the Decapolis had come to camp out nearby.
Jesus left the public preaching to the Apostles. Andrew organized it all, dividing up the people and assigning the apostles to teach at various times in the day. After dinner, Jesus would talk with the twelve. He stayed away from teaching them anything new, instead reviewing what he had taught them in the past and answering all of their questions. At some point in these talks, Jesus told them a little bit about his experiences during the forty days he was up in the hills nearby.
All of the year A.D. 27 was spent quietly bringing in the people who had been baptized by John. Andrew had to constantly advise the other apostles on the tack and diplomacy they needed to get along smoothly with John’s followers. They did fairly well at this since they weren’t saying anything against John or his teachings, and they were not yet baptizing people. Three quarters of Jesus’ followers this first year of public work had in the past followed John. Still, there was tension: the fact that Jesus hadn’t saved John from his cruel death remained difficult for many of them to accept.
God’s Law and the Father’s Will
The night before they broke camp and left Pella, Jesus taught the apostles more about the kingdom of heaven.
He said, “You’ve been taught to watch for the kingdom of God. I’ve come to tell you that this long-awaited kingdom is already here among us. Every kingdom needs a king on his throne to decide the laws of the realm. Because of this fact you think the kingdom of heaven means that the Jewish people will rule in glory over the whole Earth; your Messiah sitting on David’s throne using miracles to enforce his law on everyone in the world.
“But, my children, you’re not seeing with the eye of faith, and you’re not hearing with the understanding of the spirit.
“Instead, I’m telling you that the kingdom of heaven is the realization and acknowledgment of God’s rule in the hearts of all men. That the king in this kingdom is my Father and your Father; that we are indeed his loyal subjects.
“But much more important than that fact is the transforming truth that we are God’s sons. And it is through the life I am living with you on Earth now, that this truth is being shown to be real to everyone.
“Our Father also sits on a throne, but it’s not one made with mortal hands. The throne of the Infinite is the eternal dwelling place of the Father in the heaven of heavens; he fills all things and proclaims his laws to many universes upon universes.
“And the Father also rules within the hearts of his children on Earth through the spirit that he’s sent to live in the minds of mortal men.
“As the subjects of this kingdom, it’s true that you are expected to follow the law of the ruler of the universe. But when you, by faith, discover that you yourselves are sons of God because of the gospel of the kingdom that I’m declaring, you will from then on stop looking at yourselves as people having to follow the laws of an all-powerful king, but instead as privileged sons doing the will of your loving and divine Father.
“But understand this – if you look at the Father’s will as your law, that won’t bring you into the kingdom. It’s only through the personal experience of the Father’s will fully becoming your will that you gain entrance into the kingdom of heaven. In other words, when God’s will is your law, you’re noble slave subjects. But when you believe in this new gospel of divine sonship, my Father’s will becomes your will, and that elevates you to the high position of being free children of God, liberated sons of the kingdom.”
Some of the apostles got part of this teaching, but none of them, except maybe James Zebedee, really understood the full significance of what Jesus said. Still, they all remembered his words and they would cheer the twelve later in their ministry.
The Stay at Amathus (‘aməthəs)
Jesus and the apostles stayed near Amathus for almost three weeks. The apostles continued to preach twice daily to the throngs of people, while Jesus preached each Saturday afternoon. The twelve were so busy that they couldn’t take Wednesday off anymore for rest and recreation, so Andrew organized the schedule so that for six days a week two apostles at a time got to take a day off, and then on Saturdays they were all on duty for Jesus’ sermon.
Peter, James, and John did most of the public preaching. Philip, Nathaniel, Thomas, and Simon did a lot of the personal work and held classes for special groups of people. The twins continued to be in charge of keeping order among all the people who showed up, while Andrew, Matthew, and Judas became more or less the management committee, although each of them also did a lot of religious type work.
Andrew was kept busy keeping the peace between John’s older disciples and the new people now following Jesus. Serious problems would pop up daily. But Andrew, along with help from the others, got everyone to agree to get along with each other, at least for a while. Jesus stayed out of these squabbles, and also refused to suggest solutions on how to handle them. When Andrew would ask him what he should do in these cases, Jesus would just say that it’s not smart for the host to get involved in the family troubles of his guests, and that a wise parent never takes sides in the petty quarrels of his own children.
Jesus was wise and fair when dealing with his followers. He was a master of men, and between his charm and forceful personality he held great influence over others. His rugged, nomadic, and homeless life gave him a subtle commanding influence, while his teachings were intellectually attractive and spiritually authoritative. Jesus’ logic was lucid, his reasoning strong, his insight sagacious, his mind alert, his poise matchless, and his tolerance sublime. He was simple, manly, honest, and fearless. And adding to Jesus’ physical and intellectual attributes were all the spiritual charms that have become associated with his personality—patience, tenderness, meekness, gentleness, and humility.
Jesus of Nazareth was a strong and forceful personality: he was an intellectual power and a spiritual stronghold. He not only appealed to the spiritually minded women among his followers, but also to the educated men, the rugged red-blooded Galilean fishermen, and the hardiest of Roman soldiers, like the captain who was stationed to guard the cross, and who, when he had finished watching the Master die, said, “Truly, this was a Son of God.”
The pictures showing Jesus as weak and feminine have hurt young men. The temple merchants wouldn’t have run away from the man your art depicts. Jesus was not a mild, sweet, gentle and kind mystic. He was instead natural, dignified, and thrilling when he taught and went about actually doing good.
Jesus never said, “Come to me all of you who are lazy and all who are dreamers.” But he did say many times, “Come to me all of you who labor, and I will give you rest and spiritual strength.” The Master’s yoke is indeed easy, but even so he never imposes it on anyone: every person must decide to take this yoke based on their own free will.
Jesus demonstrated for us conquest by sacrifice, specifically, the sacrifice of pride and selfishness. By showing mercy, he showed us the way to spiritual deliverance from all anger, grudges, grievances, and the lust for revenge and selfish power. And while Jesus told us to not resist evil, he later explained that he didn’t mean we were supposed to be okay with sin or hang with the people committing it, but rather that we were supposed to forgive those who harmed us or hurt our feelings.
Teaching About the Father
While at Amathus, Jesus spent a lot of time explaining to the apostles the difference between their old ideas of God, and the new revelation he was bringing to Earth. While the Jews looked at God as a king over everything and the father of their nation, Jesus was saying that God was every person’s loving father. Again and again he impressed on the apostles that we are supposed to look at God as our personal Father; that God is not a judge and bookkeeper recording everything wrong that we do wrong just so he can use our sins against us when sitting in final judgement over all creation.
When Thomas asked who this God of the kingdom was, Jesus said, “God is your Father, and religion, my gospel, is nothing more nor less than believing the truth that you are his son. And I am here among you in the flesh to make both of these ideas clear through my life and teachings.”
Jesus also tried to stop the apostles from offering up daily animal sacrifices to God as part of their religious duties, but they had a hard time understanding why and it was a hard habit for them to break. Jesus, though, didn’t give up. When one way didn’t work for everyone, he’d try another.
At the same time, Jesus started to teach the apostles how they were to comfort and minister to those who were sick. First, he taught them to look at the whole person, the union of their body, mind, and spirit, to see that unique man or woman. Then, Jesus told the apostles that they would run into three types of problems, and how to help a person with each of them. They were actual physical sickness or disease, mental and emotional problems, and possession by evil spirits.
Jesus explained to his apostles several times the nature and origin of evil spirits, which in that day were also known as unclean spirits. While the apostles didn’t know the difference between insanity and someone being possessed, Jesus did. And, given the apostles didn’t know about the early history of the Earth, he couldn’t fully explain the difference to them. But about these evil spirits, Jesus did tell the apostles many times that after he had ascended to his Father in heaven, poured out his spirit on all flesh, and brought forth the kingdom in great power and spiritual glory, that they, evil spirits, would no long bother people.
From week to week and from month to month throughout this entire year, the apostles paid more and more attention to healing the sick.
Please buy Son of Man: Urantia, Vol. 1, here.
Bob