Ch. 34, Fleeing Through Northern Galilee
“Son of Man: Urantia,” 2nd edition
Fleeing Through Northern Galilee
Jesus and the twenty-four apostles and evangelists beached their boats near Kheresa and then trekked north to the beautiful park south of Bethsaida-Julias. After supper Jesus gathered everyone around to discuss his plans for their trip through Batanea and northern Galilee.
Why Do the Heathens Rage?
When they were all seated, Jesus said “You should all remember what the Psalmist said of these times, saying ‘Why do the heathens rage and hopelessly plot with the people? The kings of the Earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel against the Lord and his followers saying ‘Let us break the bonds of mercy in pieces, and let us cast away the cords of love.’
“Today you see this come true before your eyes. But you will not see the rest of the Psalmist’s prophecy fulfilled because he had wrong ideas about the Son of Man and his mission on Earth. My kingdom is founded on love, broadcast in mercy, and created by unselfish service. My Father does not sit in heaven laughing in contempt at those who do not know God. He is immensely displeased, but not angry. The promise is true that the Son will have these so-called heathens—in reality his untaught and unknowing members of the kingdom—for an inheritance. And I will receive these gentiles with open arms of mercy and warmth. All of this loving-kindness will be shown to the so-called heathens, even though the record unfortunately declares that the triumphant Son ‘will break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’
“The Psalmist goaded you to ‘serve the Lord with fear.’ I ask you to enter into the glorious privilege of divine sonship by faith. He commanded you to rejoice with trembling: I tell you to rejoice with assurance. He says ‘Kiss the Son in case he gets angry and you die when his anger is lit.’ But you who have lived with me well know that anger in not part of creating the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of humanity. But the Psalmist did glimpse the truth when in finishing this advice he said ‘Blessed are they who put their trust in this Son.’”
Jesus continued to teach the twenty-four, saying “The God-less are not without excuse when they explode in anger at us. Because their outlook is small and narrow, they are able to strongly focus their energies. Their goal is close and more or less visible, and because of that they are fearless and effective. You who claim to be in the kingdom of heaven are altogether too fickle in how you teach. The heathen aim straight for their goals, where you are constantly yearning. If you want to enter the kingdom why not take it by spiritual assault, just like the heathens lay siege to a city? You are hardly worthy to be in the kingdom when all you do is regret the past, whine over the present, and yearn for the future. Why do the heathen rage? Because they do not know the truth. Why do you waste away in pointless yearning? Because you do not obey the truth. Quit your useless hoping and go forth bravely doing what needs to be done to establish the kingdom.’
“Do not become one-sided and overspecialized. The Pharisees who want to destroy us think that they are doing God’s service. They have become so narrow-minded by tradition that they are hardened by fear and blinded by prejudice. Consider the Greeks who have a science without religion, while the Jews have a religion without science. And when people become so misled that they only accept a narrow and confused remnant of the truth, their only hope to be saved is to learn and coordinate greater truth.’
“Let me emphasize this eternal truth: If you are able to coordinate the truth and learn to demonstrate in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, people who want what you have will come looking for you. The degree that people seeking the truth are drawn to you, represents the level of your righteousness: the degree that you have to go to them to get your message across, measures in a way your failure to live a whole and righteous life.”
The Evangelists in Chorazin
On Monday morning, May 23rd Jesus told Peter to take the twelve evangelists over to Chorazin. Jesus and the other eleven apostles then left for Caesarea-Philippi: they followed the Jordan to the Damascus-Capernaum road, and then continued northeast until they took the junction to Caesarea-Philippi arriving the next afternoon, Tuesday, May 24th. They stayed and taught there for two weeks.
Meanwhile in Chorazin, Peter and his group were facing the most unproductive time of their careers. The twelve evangelists had been told to focus their preaching on the spiritual truths of the kingdom and to say less about healing and other things physical. But other than a small group of believers no one was interested in what they had to say: nowhere else in Galilee did they bring in so few new converts. For these twelve men of God this two weeks was nothing less than a baptism by fire: it was the most trying time up to this point in their careers. But while they did not have the satisfaction of winning new souls for the kingdom, each of them had time to take stock of his own soul’s progress. On Tuesday, June 7th since the people had no interest in the gospel Peter called his group together and they left for Caesarea-Philippi. They arrived about noon and then spent the entire evening discussing their experiences with the unbelievers in Chorazin. Jesus brought up the parable of the sower again and taught them more on the meaning of apparent failure in life.
At Caesarea-Philippi
During this two weeks stay near Caesarea-Philippi, Jesus did not work in public. The apostles held many quiet meetings in the city during the evenings, and other believers came out to the camp to talk to Jesus during the day. Again there were few new converts. Jesus and the apostles were now more aware that they were entering a new phase in spreading the gospel. They were starting to understand that, “the kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink, but realizing the spiritual joy of accepting divine sonship.”
The time at Caesarea-Philippi tested the eleven apostles. They were depressed and missed Peter’s enthusiasm. During this period in Jesus’ career it was a big challenge to believe in and follow him. While they made few converts these two weeks, they did gain much from their daily talks with Jesus. The apostles learned that the Jews were dying and spiritually stagnant because they had crystallized truth into a creed. When truth becomes a boundary line for self-righteous exclusiveness instead of a signpost for spiritual guidance, those teachings ultimately become fossilized and lose their creative life-giving power.
The apostles were learning to look at people, their human personalities, in terms of their eternal possibilities. They found that many people can be taught to love an unseen God, by first learning to love their brothers that they can see. This understanding added new meaning to the idea of unselfish service for others and Jesus’ saying that, “To the extent you did it to the least of my people, you did it to me.”
While at Caesarea, Jesus taught about the origin of religious traditions and the grave danger of making non-sacred ideas or everyday events sacred. They learned that true religion was a person’s heartfelt loyalty to their highest convictions. Jesus warned his followers that if their desire was only for material things that their increasing knowledge of the natural world would gradually replace the supernatural origin of things and ultimately deprive them of faith in God. But if their desires were based in those things spiritual, a person’s scientific knowledge could never disturb their faith in eternal divine realities.
The apostles learned that when religion is spiritually motivated it makes life more worthwhile: spirituality fills life with purpose, dignifies life with divine values, and inspires people to wonderful goals while comforting their souls with sustaining hope. True religion lessens the strain of existence; it releases faith, which promotes spiritual vitality and gives us the courage for daily living and unselfish service. Jesus repeatedly taught his apostles that no civilization could last if it lost the best of its religion, and he never grew tired of warning them about the huge danger of putting religious symbols and ceremonies in the place of religious experience. Throughout his life Jesus was intent on freeing people from frozen religious traditions and showing them the liberties of divine sonship.
On the Way to Phoenicia
On Thursday morning, June 9th David’s messengers arrived and briefed Jesus about happenings in the rest of the kingdom. Then Jesus and the twenty-four with him left Caesarea-Philippi for the Phoenician coast. They took the route through Luz going around the marsh country, passing the Magdala-Mount Lebanon trail, and then taking the road to Sidon. They arrived the next afternoon on Friday.
Near Luz they stopped for lunch under an overhanging rock ledge. They had just sat down to eat when Simon Peter said “Master, since the Father in heaven knows all things and since his spirit supports us establishing the kingdom of heaven on Earth, why is it that we flee from our enemies’ threats. Why do we refuse to confront the foes of truth?”
Before Jesus could respond, Thomas jumped in and said “Master, I would like to know just what is wrong with the religion of our enemies in Jerusalem. What is the real difference between their religion and ours? Why is it we are at such odds when we all profess to serve the same God?”
Jesus took this opportunity to give the apostles one of his most remarkable lectures yet. He replied “While I would not ignore Peter’s question knowing full well how easy it would be to misunderstand my reasons for avoiding an open clash with the Jews right now, still it will prove more helpful to all of you if I instead answer Thomas’ question. And I will do that when you have all finished your lunch.”
The Talk on True Religion
World religions come from two sources: natural and revealed by God, and at any point in time there will be three forms of religious devotion. The first is primitive religion based on the seminatural and instinctive urge to worship superior forces and fear mysterious energies. This is a religion of the physical nature: a religion based on fear. Next, is religion based on the advancing religious concepts and practices of humanity becoming more civilized. This is the religion of the mind: the intellectual religion of rule-based established tradition. Finally, there is true religion—the religion of the revelation of supernatural values, a partial insight into eternal realities, a glimpse of the beauty and goodness of the infinite character of the Father in heaven. This is the religion of the spirit as demonstrated in human experience.
Jesus refused to belittle religions based on the physical senses and superstitious fear. But he regretted that so much of that primitive type of religion was still a part of how the more intelligent people worshiped God. Jesus taught that religion centered in the mind is ruled by whatever church is involved, while religion that comes from the spirit is based only on that person’s human experience.
Until more people recognize higher levels of spiritual experience we will continue to see the childlike and superstitious ceremonies of primitive religions. Most people prefer authoritarian religions because all that they have to do is agree, rather than embracing an original faith requiring the active participation of a person’s mind and soul to meet the hard realities of life. Traditional authoritarian religions have set rules and beliefs that have been in place since they originated, and they provide a handy place for people to hide when they are afraid, worried, or uncertain. The only fee to enter is acceptance, and these types of people will be with us for a long time. But by choosing to follow rules and crystalized beliefs they destroy their self-respect and abandon the right to make their own decisions: they surrender the right to search for the truth, to experience the thrill of intellectual discovery, to explore their own religious experience, and to know the supreme satisfaction of spiritual faith overcoming intellectual doubt in the search for, and the finding of, God the Father. Spiritual religion requires love, faith, effort, loyalty, conflict, struggle, determination, and in the end, progress: the evolution of our soul. Authoritarian religions require little or no progress: tradition is safe and easy for scared half-hearted souls that instinctively shy away from facing life’s problems.
Jesus said “In Jerusalem they have built an authoritarian religion, one based on their traditions and the prophets of old; it appeals mostly to people’s minds. Now we are about to fight to the death against that religion because we are going to give people a new type of religion—one that reaches out to the divine spirit in their minds and that gains their acceptance because they experience the fruits of the spirit that come forth in the lives of all true believers.”
Jesus then pointed at each of his twenty-four disciples calling them by name, and said “And now, who wants to take the easy way of conforming to the fossilized religion defended by the Pharisees, instead of suffering the difficulty and persecution that comes with declaring a new way of salvation and personally experiencing the eternal truths and supreme majesty of heaven? Are you soft, scared, and afraid to work? Do you not trust your Father? Are you afraid to trust your future to the God of truth? Will you fall back to taking the easy way of accepting traditional authority, or will you strengthen yourselves to go with me into the trouble and uncertainty of announcing the new truth, which is that the kingdom of heaven is inside all people’s hearts?”
This was one of the few emotional appeals Jesus ever made to his followers. At that point everyone stood-up, and just as they were all about to declare their unanimous loyalty to Jesus he raised his hand to stop them, and said “Each of you go off by yourself to be alone with your Father, and when you have found the true unemotional answer my question, freely and boldly tell it to our Father whose infinite love is the spirit of our religion.”
For a while each of the twenty-four did as Jesus asked: they were all stirred, uplifted, and inspired by his words. But when Andrew gathered them all back together again, all Jesus said was “We are going into Phoenicia to rest for a while, and all of you need to pray that the Father transforms your emotions into abundant spiritual loyalty and satisfying spiritual experiences.” At first as they walked down the road everyone remained silent. But soon they relaxed and by three o’clock they needed to rest. After coming to a halt, Peter went up to Jesus and said “Master, you have spoken to us the words of life and truth. We would like you to tell us more about these matters.”
The Second Talk on Religion
With everyone resting in the shade of the hillside, Jesus said “You have all separated yourselves from the others who want security and conformity, and who are satisfied with a mental religion. You have left behind the certainty they receive from following their rules, for the gifts of adventurous progressive faith. You have dared to go against the bondage of institutional religion and the traditional authority that is now thought to be the word of God. Yes, our Father did speak through Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea but that does not mean that he stopped bringing truth to the world. Our Father is no respecter of cultures or of generations: the truth is not given to one age and then kept from another. Do not make the mistake of calling something human, divine, and do not miss the truth that comes to you from other than traditional channels.’
“I have urged you to be born again: to be spiritually reborn. I have brought you out of the darkness of authority and the laziness of tradition into the divine light of making for yourselves the most momentous discovery that a human soul can experience: finding God for yourself, in yourself, and of yourself as a result of your own personal experience. And in this way you go from death to life, from darkness to light, from traditional authority to actually knowing God, and from holding to a faith you were taught to believe to embracing a new faith you have earned from actual experience. And this is how you will progress from a mental religion imposed on you by your ancestors, to creating in your souls a true and eternal religion based on spiritual experience.’
“Your religion will change from just a belief in traditional authority, to a living faith that allows you to know everything that represents the divine spirit of the Father. A religion based in the mind keeps you forever tied to the past, while religion reborn of the spirit calls you forever forward into higher and more divine achievements based in spiritual ideals and eternal realities.’
“While strict rule-based types of religions may give you a sense of security for the moment, that temporary peace of mind will cost you your spiritual freedom. My Father does not expect you to force yourself to believe in things that are unholy, untruthful, or spiritually gross and he does not expect you to submit your own sense of mercy, truth, and justice to worn-out religious rules and beliefs. But a religion based on spiritual values frees you to follow the truth wherever the spirit may lead you. And who knows—maybe spirit has something to teach this generation that those in the past have refused to learn?’
“Shame on those false religious teachers who would drag hungry souls back into the dim and distant past, and leave them there to become afraid of every new discovery and anxious over every new revelation of truth. The prophet said “He whose mind stays on God will be kept in perfect peace.” This prophet was not a mere believer in some rule-based religion: he was not just speaking about God, he had actually discovered God.’
“I am warning you to not always quote the old prophets or the heroes of Israel. Instead, go forth aspiring to become living prophets of the Most High, and spiritual heroes of the coming kingdom. Yes, it is worthwhile to honor the God-knowing leaders of the past, but why should you have to sacrifice the most important experience of your life—finding God for yourself and knowing him in your souls—to do so?’
“Every race on Earth has its own beliefs about humanity’s existence in the universe. Because of that, all rule-based mental types of religions have to adapt themselves to the people’s underlying beliefs about reality. And since the various cultures on Earth all have different underlying beliefs about reality, they will never be able to bring together all of their different authoritarian types of religions. The realization of the brotherhood of humanity on Earth can only happen through all of the world’s rule-base religions falling under the umbrella of a spiritually based religion. While we will all think and believe differently, all of us have been gifted with the same divine and eternal spirit. Our hope for bringing forth the brotherhood of humanity will happen as all of the different religions on the world become infused with the unifying force of the spirit, and people are able to experience the dignity of their own personal spirituality.’
“Rule-based religions only divide people and set them against each other. Religion based on the spirit, over time, draws people together and makes them more sympathetic with others. Authoritarian religions crystallize into lifeless creeds. They want to force all people to believe the same things, but that is impossible given the state of this world. Religion founded on the spirit of God inside of us only requires that people come together based on having the same experience—the same insight and eternal destiny—regardless of them all having different beliefs. The religion of the spirit increasingly leads a person to loving service for others, and brings them the joy and liberty that comes from caring for their fellow human being.’
“But be careful, just in case any of you are demeaning Abraham’s children because they have fallen on these evil days of traditional barrenness. Our ancestors dedicated themselves to the passionate search for God and they found him like no other people have ever known him since the times of Adam, who knew much of these things because he himself was also a Son of God.’
“My Father has not failed to notice the long untiring struggle of Israel, ever since the days of Moses, to find God and to know God. Many weary generations of Jews have continued to work, endure the sufferings, and experience the sorrows of being despised and misunderstood all to discover the truth about God. And even with all of the failures Israel has had, our fathers increasingly from Moses to Amos and Hosea revealed to the whole world a clearer and more truthful picture of the eternal God. This is how the way was prepared for the still more magnificent revelation of the Father that you have been called to share.’
“Never forget that there is only one adventure more thrilling than trying to know the will of God, and that is honestly trying to do that divine will. Do not forget that the will of God can be done in any job on Earth: people are called to many different professions. For those people who are spirit led—in other words bound to truth, dignified by love, dominated by mercy, and restrained by fairness—all things in their lives are sacred. The spirit that my Father and I will send into the world is not only the Spirit of Truth, but also the spirit of idealistic beauty.’
“You have to stop looking for the word of God in the old scriptures. From here on those people who are born of the spirit of God will know the word of God regardless from where it comes. Just because something appears on Earth through human channels does not mean it is not divine truth. Many of your friends accept God in theory, but do not spiritually realize God. That is why I keep telling you that the kingdom of heaven is best entered with the spiritual attitude of a sincere child. And this does not mean being ignorant or mentally immature. It means taking on the spiritual simplicity of an easily trusting child. It is not that important to know the fact of God, as it is to continually grow in your ability to feel thepresence of God.’
“As you begin to find God in your own soul you will start to see him in other people’s souls, and eventually in all of the creatures and creations of a mighty universe. But tell me, what chance does our Father have to show himself to be a God of divine ideals and supreme loyalties when people give little or no time to thinking about these eternal realities? While the mind is not the seat of our spiritual nature, it is definitely the gateway to it.’
“Do not make the mistake of trying to prove to other people that you have found God: you cannot do that. But there are two positive and powerful ways to show that you in fact know God. They are the fruits of the spirit of God showing forth in your everyday life, and the fact that you have risked everything you are in the fantastic adventure of finding him.’
“My Father will always respond to even the faintest flicker of faith. He knows all about the physical and superstitious tendencies of primitive people. And with those honest but scared souls whose faith is so weak that it amounts to little more than following the rules of some religion, our Father will still honor and foster those feeble attempts to know him. But those of you who have been called out of the darkness and into the light are expected to believe with a whole heart and let your faith dominate your body, mind, and spirit.’
“You are my apostles, and to you religion will not become a theological shelter where you can run and hide because you are afraid to face the rugged reality of spiritual progress and idealistic adventure. Instead, your religion is enlisting in the eternal adventure of finding God, and through your experience of sonship with God showing others that he has dignified, idealized, and spiritualized you.’
After Jesus finished speaking he motioned to Andrew, and pointing to the west toward Phoenicia said “Let us be on our way.”