Ch. 20, Beginning the Public Work
“Son of Man: Urantia,” 2nd edition
Beginning the Public Work
On Sunday morning January 19, A.D. 27 Jesus and the apostles left their Bethsaida headquarters at Zebedee’s house. Jesus had only told the twelve that they were traveling through the Jordan valley on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover feast in April, and nothing else. Their families and some of the other disciples arrived to wish them well, and because of this they were not ready to leave until almost noon. But when everyone was ready to depart they could not 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 they had seen him become serious and preoccupied, but none of them had actually seen him shed tears. After Andrew composed himself he asked Jesus what had happened to cause him to weep on such a wonderful day, and if one of the apostles had offended him?
Jesus, while walking back with Andrew to rejoin the other apostles, said that none of the apostles had done anything wrong. He was sad because his family had not remembered to come and wish them Godspeed. At the time Ruth was visiting their brother Joseph in Nazareth, which was why she was absent, but with the others it was pride, hurt-feelings, disappointment, misunderstanding, and petty resentment that kept them from supporting their family’s eldest son in his father’s work.
Leaving Galilee
News about Jesus’ activities had spread far and wide throughout Galilee and the lands beyond. Since Capernaum was not far from Tiberias and knowing that Herod would soon begin to take interest in him, Jesus decided to head south into Judea with his apostles. About a hundred people wanted to follow along with them down the Jordan, but Jesus persuaded them to stay behind. They obeyed him for a few days and then some of the group left to catch up with them.
Jesus and the apostles only made it as far as Tarichea the first night. The next day they walked to the Jordan River near Pella and set up camp where John had baptized Jesus about a year earlier. They rested there for over a couple of weeks teaching and preaching. By the end of the first week several hundred people from Perea, Judea, Syria, Galilee, Phoenicia, and the Decapolis had arrived and were camped close by.
Jesus left the public preaching to the apostles. Andrew organized the schedule and assigned the apostles to teach at various times during the day. After dinner Jesus would meet with the twelve. He resisted teaching them anything new and instead reviewed what he had taught them in the past. Jesus also told them some of his experiences during the forty days he had been up in the hills.
All of A.D. 27 was spent quietly bringing into the kingdom the people who had before been baptized by John. During this first year of public work, three-quarters of Jesus’ followers had in the past followed John, and Andrew had to constantly help the other apostles get along with them. They all did fairly well since they were not saying anything against John or his teachings, and they were not yet baptizing believers. Still, there was tension; it remained difficult for many of John’s remnants to accept that Jesus had not saved him from his cruel death.
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 have been taught to watch for the kingdom of God. I have come to tell you that this long-awaited kingdom is already here among you. 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: that yourmessiah will sit on David’s throne using miracles to enforce his law on everyone in the world.’
“But my children, you are not seeing with the eye of faith and you are not hearing with the understanding of the spirit. Instead, I am telling you that the kingdom of heaven is the realization and acknowledgment of God’s rule in the hearts of all people: that the king in this kingdom is my Father and your Father, and that we are indeed his loyal subjects.’
“But even 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 real to everyone. Our Father also sits on a throne, but it is 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 announces his laws to many universes.’
“The Father also rules in the hearts of his children on Earth through the spirit that he sent to live in people’s minds. As the subjects of this kingdom it is true that you are expected to follow the law of the ruler of the universe. But when by faith you discover that you yourselves are sons of God because of the gospel that I am declaring, you will from then on stop looking at yourselves as people obeying the laws of an all-powerful king and instead as privileged sons gladly doing the will of your loving and divine Father.’
“But understand this: if you look at the Father’s will as your law, that will not bring you into the kingdom. It is only through the personal experience of the Father’s will becoming your will that you gain entrance into the kingdom of heaven. When God’s will is your law, you are 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 free children of God—liberated sons of the kingdom.”
Some of the apostles understood part of this teaching but none of them, except maybe James Zebedee, understood the full significance of what Jesus said. Still, they all remembered his words later in their ministries.
The Stay at Amathus
Jesus and the apostles camped near Amathus for almost three weeks. The apostles continued to preach twice daily to the throngs of people while Jesus preached Saturday afternoons. The twelve were so busy that they could not take Wednesday off anymore for rest and recreation. Andrew changed the schedule so that for six days of the week two apostles at a time took a day off, and then on Saturdays they were all on duty for Jesus’ sermon. John, James, and Peter did most of the public preaching. Simon, Philip, Thomas, and Nathaniel did 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 Judas, Andrew, and Matthew became more or less the management committee, although each of them also did religious-type work.
Andrew was occupied keeping the peace between John’s old disciples and Jesus’ new followers. Serious problems would pop up daily. Jesus stayed out of these squabbles, and also refused to offer solutions to handle them. When Andrew asked him what he should do in these cases, Jesus just said that it was not smart for the host to get involved in the family troubles of his guests: 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 people and between his charm and forceful personality he held enormous 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’ mind was alert and his logic clear; his insight was wise and his reasoning strong; his bearing was matchless and his tolerance inspiring. Jesus was manly, simple, honest, and fearless. Adding to his physical and intellectual attributes were all of the spiritual charms that have become associated with his personality: humility, patience, meekness, gentleness, and tenderness.
Jesus of Nazareth was a strong and forceful personality: he was a spiritual stronghold; an intellectual powerhouse. 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 when he had finished watching the Master die said “Truly, this was a Son of God.” The pictures depicting Jesus as weak and feminine have hurt young men. The temple merchants would not have run from the man your art depicts. Jesus was not a mild, kind, sweet, and gentle mystic: he was instead natural, dignified, and thrilling when he went about actually doing good.
Jesus never said “Come to me all of you who are lazy and all who are dreamers.” But many times he did say “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 taught us the way to spiritual deliverance from all anger, grudges, grievances, and lust for revenge and selfish power. While Jesus told us to not to resist evil he later explained that he did not mean we were supposed to accommodate sin or associate with the people committing it, but instead that we were supposed to forgive those who harmed us.
Teaching about the Father
At Amathus Jesus explained the difference between the apostles’ ideas of God, and the new revelation that he was bringing to Earth. While the Jews saw God as a king and the father of their nation, Jesus said that God was every person’s loving father. Repeatedly he impressed on the apostles that each person was supposed to relate to God as their own personal Father; that God was not a judge or bookkeeper recording our sins to use against us when sitting in final judgement over creation.
When Thomas asked who this God 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 with you in human form to make both of these ideas clear through my life and teachings.”
Jesus also tried to stop the apostles from offering daily animal sacrifices to God as part of their religious duties, but they could not understand why and it was a hard habit for them to break. Still, Jesus did not give up: if one way did not work for everyone, he would try another. At the same time Jesus began teaching the apostles how to minister to the 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. These were actual physical sickness, possession by evil spirits, and mental and emotional issues. Throughout this year the apostles paid increasing attention to healing the sick.
Jesus explained the origin and nature of evil spirits, which in that day were also known as unclean spirits. While the apostles did not know the difference between insanity and someone being possessed by an evil spirit, Jesus did, and given that the apostles did not know about the early history of the Earth he could not explain everything to them. But 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 majestic power and spiritual glory that evil spirits would no long bother people.
Spiritual Unity
One of the most eventful evening conferences at Amathus was the session on spiritual unity. James Zebedee said “Master, how do we learn to see alike and enjoy more harmony among ourselves?”
Jesus’ spirit was stirred to the point that he said “James, James when did I teach you that you should all see alike? I have come into the world to announce spiritual liberty so that people can live free, original, and individual lives before God. I do not want social harmony and fraternal peace to be the result of people sacrificing their free personality and spiritual originality. What I require of you my apostles is spirit unity, and you experience it through the joy you receive from uniting in dedication to the wholehearted will of my Father. You do not have to see alike or feel alike or even think alike to be spiritually alike. Spiritual unity comes from knowing that each of you is indwelt, and increasingly dominated by, the spirit that the heavenly Father has sent into your minds, and that the harmony between you results from the fact that the spirit in each of you is identical in origin, nature, and destiny.’
“By each of you accepting that the spirit of God in you is one and the same with God the Ultimate, you become spiritually united in purpose and understanding. You can enjoy this spiritual brotherhood regardless of how different your thoughts, attitudes, temperaments, and social abilities. Everyone who sees this spiritual unity among you will know that you have been with me and have learned how to do the will of the Father in heaven. Each of you can and will use your own original endowments of mind, body, and soul when joining in service of God.’
“Spiritual unity in a group harmonizes to imply two things between the people involved. One, that all of the people have a common motive in doing the will of the Father over all other things and two, each person in the group has the same reason for existence: finding the Father in heaven and proving to the universe that we have become like him.” Jesus came back to this theme many times when training his apostles. Repeatedly he told them that he did not want his believers becoming dogmatic or standardizing creeds and traditions to guide and control people who believe in the gospel of the kingdom.
Last Week at Amathus
Toward the end of their stay at Amathus, Simon Zelotes introduced Jesus to a Persian named Teherma who was doing business in Damascus. He had gone to Capernaum to see Jesus and when he learned that Jesus and the apostles had gone down the Jordan on their way to Jerusalem, he followed hoping to find them. On learning of Teherma, Andrew assigned Simon to instruct him on the kingdom of heaven. But that was a difficult task for Simon because he considered Teherma a fire worshiper even though the he had tried to explain that fire was only the visible sign of the Holy and Pure One. Finally Simon took Teherma to Jesus, and after a short conversation with Jesus Teherma decided to stay for a few days and listen to the apostles teach and preach.
Later when Jesus and Simon Zelotes were alone, Simon asked Jesus why Teherma would not listen to him but he would listen to Jesus. Jesus said “Simon, Simon, how many times have I told you to not try and take something out of the hearts of those who seek salvation? How often have I told you to work only to put something into these hungry souls? If you lead people into the kingdom, the living and magnificent truths of the kingdom will in turn drive out all serious errors. When you have shown people the good news that God is their Father, it is easier to persuade them that they are in reality sons of God. When you have done that you have brought the light of salvation to someone who was sitting in darkness. Simon, when the Son of Man came to you did he come denouncing Moses and the prophets and announcing a new and better way of life? No. I did not come to take away what you had from your forefathers, but rather to show you the complete perfect vision of what your fathers saw only a part. So Simon, go and preach the kingdom and when you have a person safely inside and they come to you with questions, that is when you teach about the progressive advancement of the soul.” Simon was astonished but did as he was told, and Teherma the Persian fire worshiper entered the kingdom.
That night Jesus spoke to the apostles about the new life in the kingdom. In part, he said “When you enter the kingdom you are reborn. You cannot teach the deep things of the spirit to those who have only been born of the flesh: first see that people are born of the spirit before you try to teach them the advanced ways of the spirit. Do not try to show people the beauties of the temple until you have first taken them into the temple. Introduce people to God as the sons of God before you tell them about the fatherhood of God and the sonship of humanity. Do not strive with people: always be patient; it is not your kingdom, you are only its ambassadors. Simply go out and tell people that the kingdom of heaven is “God is your Father and you are his sons, and if you wholeheartedly believe this good news, that is your eternal salvation.”
The apostles made progress while at Amathus. But they were also disappointed that Jesus would not tell them how to deal with John’s disciples. Even when asked about baptizing people, all Jesus said was “John did indeed baptize with water, but when you enter the kingdom of heaven you will be baptized with the Spirit.”
At Bethany Beyond the Jordan
On February 26th Jesus, his apostles, and a large group of followers traveled down the Jordan to Perea near the ford at Bethany where John had first announced the coming kingdom. Jesus and the apostles remained there teaching and preaching for four weeks before they went up to Jerusalem. The second week they were at Bethany, Jesus took John, James, and Peter into the hills across the river and south of Jericho for three days to rest. While there, Jesus taught the three many advanced truths about the kingdom of heaven. These talks were reorganized as follows for this record.
Jesus emphasized that he wanted his disciples to live their lives in such a way that they made people conscious of the kingdom and encouraged them to ask the apostles about it. He impressed on his teachers that their only job was to reveal God to the individual as their Father: to lead the person to first becoming son-conscious, and then presenting this same person to God as his faithful son. Both of these essential revelations are in Jesus. He became the way, the life, and the truth. Jesus’ entire religion was based only on his life on Earth. When he exited this world Jesus left behind no laws, books, or anything else dictating a person’s religious life.
Jesus came to establish eternal and personal relationships with people that would forever take precedence over all others. He emphasized that intimate spiritual fellowship with him was to be extended to all people of all ages and all social conditions. The only rewards he held out for his children were in this world, spiritual joy and divine communion, and in the next world eternal life and the ascent to the Paradise Father.
Jesus emphasized the two most important points of the kingdom: achieving salvation by faith and faith alone, and attaining liberty through the sincere recognition of the truth: “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” Jesus was truth in the flesh, and he promised to send his Spirit of Truth into the hearts of all of his children after he returned to the Father in heaven.
Jesus taught the apostles the truth for an entire age on Earth. Often the teachings were actually intended for the inspiration and instruction of other worlds. Jesus demonstrated a new and original plan for life. In human terms he was indeed a Jew, but he lived his life for the whole world as a mortal of the realm.
To ensure his Father was recognized as the kingdom unfolded, Jesus explained that he had on purpose ignored the distinguished people of Earth. He began his work with the poor, the class that had been neglected by most of the evolutionary religions of preceding times. Jesus despised no person: his plan was world-wide, even universal. Jesus was so bold and emphatic in these announcements that even John, James, and Peter were tempted to think he could possibly be beside himself.
Jesus was easy on his apostles as he told them that he had not come to set an example for a few creatures on Earth, but instead to demonstrate a way of human life for mortals on all worlds throughout his entire universe. This standard approached the highest perfection, even the final goodness, of the Universal Father. But the apostles did not understand what he told them.
Jesus announced that he had come to Earth as a teacher, not a preacher: a teacher sent from heaven to present spiritual truth to the material mind. From the human standpoint, Peter was a more effective preacher than Jesus. Jesus’ preaching was effective because of his unique personality, not because of his compelling oratory or emotional appeal: he spoke directly to people’s souls. He was a teacher of people’s spirits, but he approached them through their minds.
Jesus hinted to John, James, and Peter that his work on Earth was limited by his elder brother Immanuel’s instructions that were given to him right before coming to Earth: Jesus was to do his Father’s will, and only his Father’s will. This single purpose kept him focused and unbothered by the evil in the world.
The apostles began to realize that even though Jesus was easy to approach he always seemed separate from and above other people. He was never subject to human frailty, and he never paid attention to flattery or public opinion. Jesus almost never corrected people’s mistakes or resented it when they misunderstood him. He never asked people for their prayers or anyone for their advice.
James was astonished at how Jesus was able to see the end from the beginning. He was almost never surprised by anything. Jesus never became excited, rattled, or aggravated and he never apologized to anyone. While at times he became sad, he never became discouraged. John saw that even with all of his divine endowments Jesus was still human, yet faultless. And he was always unselfish.
Although John, James, and Peter could not understand all that Jesus said because he was in effect describing his plan for a new age, his kind words lingered in their hearts. After the crucifixion and resurrection had passed what Jesus told them these three days did much to enrich their later ministries.
Working in Jericho
Throughout the four weeks they remained at Bethany beyond the Jordan, several times each week Andrew would assign two of the apostles to go up into Jericho and work for a few days. John had many believers in Jericho, and most of those people were friendly to Jesus and his apostles. These visits to Jericho were the apostles’ first attempts to minister to the sick and they visited every house comforting those who were ill: they learned that the good news of the kingdom was healing and comforting the sick.
Departing for Jerusalem
Jesus and the apostles began hiking through the hills to Jerusalem on the last day of March, a Monday. Lazarus had come down from Bethany twice already to see them on the Jordan, and he had arranged everything for Jesus and the apostles to make their headquarters at his house with him and his sisters. For Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha, it was a grand honor to care for Jesus and the apostles. It was only Jesus and the twelve that went to Lazarus’ house—John’s disciples stayed at Bethany beyond the Jordan teaching and baptizing people. Jesus and the twelve rested for five days and then on Sunday morning, April 6th they went down to Jerusalem, the first time they were ever all in the city together.