Ch. 12, Chapter 12: The Return from Rome (Text)
"Son of Man: Urantia—The Life and Teachings of Jesus from The Urantia Book"
Dear family in the light—Chapter 12: The Return from Rome -
is live now, and the Master’s journey homeward is unfolding beautifully.
Watch as Jesus walks the Appian Way, teaches mercy over vengeance, gently awakens a husband’s heart toward his wife, and plants seeds of truth across Corinth, Athens, and beyond—proving that divine love flows through quiet acts and profound conversations.
These moments on the road back from Rome reveal the Father’s equal regard for all souls and the eternal partnership of men and women in creation.
Hit like if this chapter touched your heart, and stay tuned for more sparks all week.
One heart, one view, one step closer to the Father at a time.”
Quick cosmic hit this week:
• God Sees No Castes or Classes – Only Seekers of His Will→ https://youtube.com/shorts/Hb0GPpxO7bk
Next Sunday: Chapter 13, The Transition Years — get ready!
Dive deeper in the book:
Kindle → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FLWSX67S
Paperback → https://www.amazon.com/dp/0996358080
Comment your thoughts below—what revelation hit hardest this week?
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Chapter 12: The Return from Rome
Jesus entered Rome unannounced and departed in silence. Nearly a year passed before his acquaintances discovered he had left. Those whom Jesus taught felt drawn to unite around his teachings. They continued to gather and discuss his lessons until the first preachers of the gospel found their way to Rome.
Jesus, Gonod, and Ganid strolled the Appian Way while their goods traveled ahead by pack train to Tarentum. Greek and Roman colonists lined the route, and the trio encountered diverse travelers. One day, over lunch, Ganid asked Jesus his view on India’s caste system. Jesus explained that differences in abilities and moral, social, mental, and physical traits naturally distinguish people into classes, but these matter only to humanity. God beholds only two groups: those who pursue His will, and those who do not. Nothing else matters: God is no respecter of persons. All stand equally before the Father, and no distinctions should divide the spiritual brotherhood in worship. Likewise, celestial beings view inhabited worlds as mortals who know God and those who do not, the latter deemed mere animals of the realm.
Mercy and Justice
As they approached Tarentum, they encountered a bully assaulting a younger boy. Jesus intervened and restrained the bully until the smaller boy could escape. When Jesus let go of the bully, Ganid jumped in and started to beat him up. Again Jesus intervened and restrained Ganid as the bully escaped down the road. Ganid, agitated and breathless, questioned why Jesus had stopped him—If mercy required saving the boy, did not justice demand punishing the offender?
Jesus explained that mercy is the duty of the individual, while justice is the function of the government. Jesus was beholden to show mercy and rescue the boy, but that was all. It was not his place to then sit in judgment of the bully and punish him. Mercy is abundant, but justice must be precise. No two people would ever agree exactly on what punishment the bully deserved, so those decisions are best administered by society’s chosen authorities.
Ganid inquired how Jesus would respond if someone attacked him and tried to kill him. Jesus could not tell Ganid everything because he could not yet reveal who he was. But Jesus did say that he would first determine if the person attacking him was a child of God, and if not he would do whatever it took to defend himself regardless of what happened to the other person. But if the person was a brother in divine sonship, Jesus said he would not hit back: he would do everything he could to talk the person out of hurting him, but that was all. Jesus told Ganid that he had unwavering trust that his Father was watching over him and that no real harm could ever happen to him.
Catching the Boat at Tarentum
Upon reaching Tarentum, they boarded a vessel to Nicopolis, and then Corinth. While waiting, they witnessed a man hitting his wife. Jesus went up behind the man, gently touched his shoulder, and inquired if they could speak privately. After taking the man aside, Jesus asked what provoked such actions to warrant beating his wife in public. Jesus said he was sure the man had a noble heart; were he to find Jesus beaten by robbers along the road, he would surely help him. Why, then, would a noble-hearted man strike the mother of his children? Had she done something to deserve it, or did he just lose his temper?
Jesus’ words and compassionate gaze touched the man’s heart. Mistaking Jesus for a Cynic priest, he thanked him for restraining him and pledged to live better in the future. Before parting, Jesus urged him to recall that a man holds no authority over a woman unless she freely grants it. He said that the love and consideration a man bestows on his wife and children is the measure of his spiritual advancement. Men and women share a divine partnership with the Father in creating eternal souls, and it is Godlike to pursue this on equal terms. Love your children as God loves you, and honor your wife as the Father exalts the Infinite Spirit Mother of a vast universe’s children.
Gonod eavesdropped on this conversation, and though silent, he resolved to change his household upon returning to India.
At Corinth
Corinth, third in size after Rome and Alexandria in the Mediterranean, blended people from three continents. Years later, when Paul preached there for eighteen months, he encountered many people who knew Jesus as the Jewish tutor of an Indian merchant’s son.
Jesus, Gonod, and Ganid befriended Crispus, the synagogue leader, and Justus, a nearby merchant. Jesus and Ganid often visited these two men’s households, where Jesus had over twenty profound discussions with Crispus on spiritual truths. Those conversations paved the way for Crispus to later support Paul’s Christian church. Ganid, observing how Crispus and Justus governed their households, was first astonished, then charmed, by the status of women in a Jewish home.
One evening, as Jesus and Ganid strolled, two prostitutes propositioned them. Ganid, angry, told them to leave. Jesus calmed Ganid, and said that despite his good intentions, he lacked the right to judge the two women. Jesus asked Ganid whether he knew the hardships that led these women to choose this line of work. This surprised the women even more than Ganid.
Jesus continued speaking to Ganid in front of the prostitutes, explaining that while the Father guides our minds, natural human impulses also serve us. In a world dominated by sin, selfishness, and economic necessity, people get confused and lose their way. Gazing upon these women, Jesus declared, I see nothing wicked in their faces, only much sorrow and suffering leading them to surrender to this trade. Do you see wickedness in them? he asked Ganid. Ganid stammered out “No,” and apologized. Jesus proposed they all go to their friend’s house and seek a better way for the women. When they arrived at Justus’ house, Jesus requested his wife Martha prepare a meal. He suggested that she converse with the two women and assist them in renewing their lives. Jesus and Ganid then left, leaving the three women to confer. Martha did as requested, and her efforts bore fruit. Though the elder woman soon passed, she did so with the hope of eternal life, while the younger joined Justus’ household and later embraced the gospel community.
Personal Work in Corinth
In Corinth, Jesus guided diverse people. To the miller, he counseled grinding divine truth so that even the weak could receive it, and serving his truth according to the other person’s capacity. To the Roman centurion, he proclaimed, “Render to Caesar what is his, and to God what is God’s,” noting no conflict as long as Caesar did not presume to claim divine rights. To the Mithraic priest, he urged not seeking God in humanity’s mysteries and philosophies, but instead to know the Father’s Spirit indwelling all people, and that those desiring to be like Him are His children. To the Epicurean teacher, he revealed that the supreme joy is knowing the Spirit of God inside you, and embarking on the journey to Him in heaven.To a Greek contractor, he counseled while you build homes on Earth, never neglect building your own mansion in eternity—”that there is a city built on truth and righteousness whose maker is God.” To a Roman judge, he cautioned that as he judges people now, Someday he will be judged by the rulers of the universe. To a runaway youth, he exhorted him to remember he could never run from himself or the Spirit of God inside him: to quit lying to yourself, choose to be a real man, and go forth with courage and the assurance you are a son of God with eternal life. And to the condemned criminal, he assured him that if his repentance is true and his faith sincere, he could secure divine forgiveness and not fear meeting the judgment in the heavenly courts.
After two months in Corinth, Gonod concluded his affairs, and they set sail on a small boat for Athens.
At Athens: The Talk on Science
Athens was the ancient cultural hub of Greek knowledge during the Alexandrian empire, which had stretched all the way to India. With no business in Athens, Gonod joined Jesus and Ganid in their discussions. One evening, Jesus spoke of science with a Greek philosopher.
Jesus explained that religions exalt eternal values, science governs physical energy, and philosophy harmonizes the two. Logic thrives in the material realm and mathematics holds true for physical matters, but both lack when addressing life’s problems, which transcend the material. For instance, mathematics says if one man can shear a sheep in ten minutes, then ten men could do so in one minute. But life defies such calculations. Likewise, a harmonious group of people produces greater results than the mere sum of their parts. Both science and religion must shed dogma and embrace critique to forge the unity needed to discern cosmic truth.
At Ephesus: The Talk on the Soul
After leaving Athens, Jesus, Gonod, and Ganid journeyed to Ephesus, the Roman capital of Asia Minor, where devotion to the mother goddess Artemis of ancient times persisted. Out of caution, Ganid bought a small silver shrine to honor her, prompting a long conversation with Jesus about venerating material idols. When they encountered a young man disheartened that a coworker had been promoted over him, Jesus consoled him, affirming that a person’s divine gift, if cultivated, makes room for him before eminent people. When a Greek philosopher inquired about the meaning of “soul,” Jesus taught that the potential to grow with God and become an eternal soul one with Him begins with a child’s first moral choice, when God’s spirit enters the mind to guide its actions. Yet it is the mortal’s duty to align their actions with God’s will; those who do so ensure their survival, while those who stagnate or willfully reject His will lose their yearning for God. These people lose their potential to survive, their personalities ceasing to exist when they die.
Self-reflection, sparked by divine guidance, distinguishes humans from animals. Animals are aware of life, but lack the capacity to ponder why they are alive. Conflict arises when moral awareness clashes with purely intellectual beliefs. Until achieving divine perfection, the evolving soul exists between the material and spiritual realms, unprovable by either. Nevertheless, those who have received their spirit of God can experience their evolving soul as a reality.
The Stay at Cyprus: The Talk on Mind
As their Mediterranean journey neared its end, Jesus, Gonod, and Ganid sailed to Cyprus to camp in the hills and rest. They enjoyed the first couple of weeks, and then suddenly Ganid fell gravely ill. They were too remote to seek aid, so Jesus and Gonod tended Ganid where they were, the fever ravaging his mind and body. As Ganid improved, they had time to talk, and he again probed Jesus on the difference between higher human and lower animal consciousness.
Jesus said that if what starts as a human mind does not receive the spirit of God and hence only matures through physical sensations, it cannot attain the Father—it would be animalistic mind without moral bearing, a sense of eternal values, or a guiding spiritual presence giving it survival status. But a human mind imbued with God’s spirit is self-reflective; it is not bound by time and space, and as the mortal and divine increasingly become one, it shines through in those people’s lives. Jesus explained that evolving souls cannot survive a dual allegiance to both good and evil—that the disruption of the mind will eventually destroy it. Instead, we live best when wholly dedicated to the will of the Father in Heaven by boldly embracing the truth and vanquishing evil with goodness.
Restored, Ganid descended from Cyprus’s hills with Jesus and Gonod, and they sailed to Antioch on the Syrian coast. In Antioch, Gonod handled his affairs while Jesus and Ganid roamed the city. Though they engaged fewer souls this time, Ganid did practice Jesus’ teachings. A disgruntled worker who was resentful over the job he had been assigned intended to quit. Ganid counseled him, and while he did deepen the man’s spiritual insight, it was the ancient Hebrew proverb that anchored his resolve: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your strength.”
With Gonod’s business concluded, they packed twenty camels with their luggage for the desert trek to Ur. Observing Jesus help the caravan drivers prepare for the trip, Ganid marveled, asking if there was anything he could not do. Jesus smiled, replying, “The master surely is not without honor in the eyes of a devoted disciple.”
Ur was Abraham’s cradle and home of Susa’s ruins and traditions. Jesus lingered weeks to explore its heritage. While there, Jesus and Ganid again discussed wisdom and knowledge. Jesus taught him that wisdom was paramount, so get wisdom, and with knowledge, get understanding.
The day arrived for the three friends to part ways. Sad but brave, they bid one another farewell. Ganid said it was not forever, vowing to seek him the next time he was in Damascus. Ganid told Jesus that he thought the Father in Heaven must be something like him, because Jesus was so much like how he had described God. Ending his farewell, Ganid said he would never forget Jesus’ teachings, but most of all he would never forget him, the man. The father, Gonod, told Jesus that he was an excellent teacher, he had made him and Ganid better men and drawn them closer to God. Jesus replied, “Peace be upon you, and may the blessing of the Father in Heaven ever abide with you.”
The three parted never to meet again. Ganid rose to prominence as an eminent businessman like his father Gonod, and spread many of the noble truths he learned from Jesus, his cherished mentor. Ganid never discovered that Joshua, his Jewish tutor, was the later Jesus of Nazareth. For Jesus, this parting of the ways with Gonod and Ganid signaled the end of his time as Joshua, the teacher.
Okay folks, that was Chapter 12, The Return from Rome.
Up next is Chapter 13, The Transition Years, from the Son of Man: Urantia—The Life and Teachings of Jesus from The Urantia Book.
Grab your copy on Amazon, hit that like and subscribe, and then let’s get out there and demonstrate Jesus’ message of love, mercy, and forgiveness.
Bobby Kezer, out here.
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The Life & Teachings of Jesus from The Urantia Book
Kindle → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FLWSX67S
Paperback → https://www.amazon.com/dp/0996358080
One cosmic revelation at a time.
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#Urantia #JesusLife #SpiritualBiography #JesusTeachings #SpiritualGrowth