(Rough draft)
Jesus and the apostles arrived in Capernaum on Wednesday, March 17. For two weeks the apostles taught the people on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, while Jesus spent a lot of time alone in the hills doing his Father’s business.
Twice, he took James and John Zebedee with him on secret trips to Tiberias, where they met with and taught believers the gospel of the kingdom. A lot of the people from Herod’s household believed in Jesus and were at these meetings. Their influence in Herod’s official family helped to lessen his bad feelings toward Jesus, because they explained that Jesus’s “kingdom” was a spiritual idea and not an attempt to gain political power.
Herod trusted these people, so he didn’t get too alarmed at all of the reports coming in about Jesus. He really had no problem with Jesus healing the people or spreading the message of the gospel of the kingdom. But also in Herod’s household there was a group of people who were heavily influenced by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. These people remained bitter enemies of Jesus and his work, and later on caused him and the apostles quite a few problems.
Herod wasn’t a danger to Jesus: it was the Jews and the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem who posed the problem. This is why Jesus had the apostles spend most of their time preaching in Galilee, and not Judea or Jerusalem.
The Centurion’s Servant
The day before Jesus and the apostles left to attend the Passover in Jerusalem, a Roman centurion named Mangus, who was stationed at Capernaum, came to the synagogue and said, “My faithful orderly is sick and about to die. Would you, therefore, go to Jesus on my behalf and ask him to heal my servant?”
The Roman captain had gone to the Jewish leaders because he thought they would have more influence with Jesus. So the elders from the synagogue went to Jesus and said, “Teacher, in earnest we ask that you to go over to Capernaum and save the favorite servant of the Roman centurion, who is worthy of your notice because he loves our nation and even built us the very synagogue in which you have spoken many times.”
And Jesus said, “I will go with you.”
When they got close to the centurion’s house, they were met by his friends before they could enter his yard. They told Jesus that the Roman captain had sent them out to greet him, and told them to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself to enter my house, because I’m not worthy of you being under my roof. Neither did I think myself worthy to come to you, so I sent the elders of your own people. But I know that you can speak the word from where you stand and my servant will be healed. For I am myself under the orders of others, and I have soldiers under me, and I say to this one go, and he goes; to another come, and he comes, and to my servants do this or do that, and they do it.”
When Jesus heard these words, he turned to his apostles and the others gathered around, and said, “I marvel at this gentile’s belief. Truthfully, I say to you, I have not yet found so great a faith, no, not in Israel.”
Then, Jesus, turning from the house, said, “Let’s go now.”
And the centurion’s friends went into the house and told Mangus what Jesus had said. And from that hour the servant began to heal, and he was eventually restored to his normal health and usefulness.
But we never knew just what happened on this occasion. This is simply the record, and as to whether or not invisible beings healed the centurion’s servant, wasn’t made known to those who were with Jesus. We only know of the fact of the servant’s complete recovery.
The Journey to Jerusalem
Jesus and the apostles headed out to attend the Passover in Jerusalem on Tuesday, March 30th. They went through the Jordan valley and arrived at Bethany, where they set up their main camp as usual, the afternoon of Friday, April 2nd.
When they had passed through Jericho on the way, Judas deposited some of their common funds in a bank owned by a friend of his family. This was the first time he had had any excess money that needed to be safe guarded, and it remained in the bank until they came through Jericho again right before the Jesus’ trial and crucifixion.
Our crew had little time to rest. As soon as they got settled in at Bethany, people from near and far started to show up to have their bodies healed, their minds comforted, and their souls saved. So the apostles pitched some other tents in Gethsemane, and Jesus went back and forth from there to Bethany so he could have some rest from the crowds. They all stayed in Jerusalem for almost three weeks, and during this time Jesus kept the apostles from doing any public speaking, instead having them preach to the people in private.
Jesus and his twelve apostles celebrated the Passover in Bethany, while Abner and John’s apostles spent the evening with John’s early believers. This was the second Passover that Jesus and the apostles spent together, and the first where they celebrated it as a bloodless meal.
When Jesus and his twelve apostles returned to Capernaum to work in Galilee, they split from Abner and John’s apostles, who stayed and worked quietly in Jerusalem and the surrounding country. This was the last time that all of them were together until right before Jesus commissioned and sent forth the seventy evangelists. And good feelings continued between the two groups, regardless of their differences in opinion.
The Bethesda Hot Spring
It was the second Saturday that the crew was in Jerusalem, and they were getting ready for the temple services when John said to Jesus, “Come with me, I want to show you something.” John then led Jesus out through one of the gates into Jerusalem, and took him to a natural pool of water named Bethesda.
A wooden structure of five porches had been built around the pool, and under it was a large group of people, some who were sick and some who just thought they were, waiting around to be healed.
Bethesda was a hot spring with reddish-tinged water, and the gas that accumulated in the rock caverns below would bubble up every once in a while. Many people believed that this release of gas was because of supernatural influences, and that the first person who got into the water after it happened would be healed of whatever ailed him.
The apostles had all been a bit restless because of Jesus’ restrictions on their preaching, but the constraints were naturally hardest on John who was the youngest of the twelve. He had taken Jesus to the pool hoping that when he saw all of the people suffering, that it would appeal to his heart and he would heal them. Then, John figured, everyone in Jerusalem would be astonished and won into the kingdom.
So, John said to Jesus, “Master, do you see all of these people suffering? Isn’t there something that we can do for them?”
And Jesus replied, “John, why would you tempt me to change the way I have chosen? Why do you keep wanting to substitute miracles and healing the sick, for proclaiming the gospel of eternal truth? My son, I won’t do as you want, but do go and get all of these sick people together so I can speak to them words of good cheer and eternal comfort.”
When Jesus spoke to the people gathered around, he said, “Many of you are sick because of your many years of wrong living. Some of you suffer from the accidents of time, others from the mistakes of their parents, and some of you are struggling with your lot in life. But while my Father would work to better your Earth life, we’d rather insure your eternal life. None of us can do much to change the difficulties of life unless we discover the Father in heaven so wills. After all, we are all beholden to do the will of the Eternal. If you could all be healed of your physical problems, you would indeed marvel, but it is even greater to be cleansed of all spiritual disease and healed of all moral sicknesses.
You are all God’s children; you are the sons of the heavenly Father. The bonds of time may seem to bother you, but the God of eternity loves you. And when the judgment times come, fear not, because you will all find not only justice, but also an abundance of mercy. It’s true when I say to you, He who hears the gospel of the kingdom and believes in this teaching of sonship with God, has eternal life; already are such believers passing from judgment and death, to light and life. And the hour is coming when even those who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the resurrection.”
And many of the sick who heard Jesus that day believed the gospel of the kingdom. Some of them were so inspired and spiritually revived that they went out and told everyone that they had also been cured of their physical diseases. One man, who for years had been downcast with mental problems, rejoiced at Jesus’ words, and picking up his bed he went back home, even though it was the Sabbath. This man had waited all these years for somebody to help him; he was such a victim of his own helplessness that he had never thought once about helping himself, which proved to be the one thing he had to do in order to heal himself: take up his bed and walk.
Then Jesus said to John, “Let us leave this place before the chief priests and the scribes come and get mad that we spoke words of life to these sick people.”
And then they returned to the temple to join their companions, and a little bit later all of them left Jerusalem to spend the night at Bethany. John never told the other apostles about him and Jesus visiting the Bethesda hot springs that Saturday afternoon.
The Rule of Living
Later that evening in Bethany, while Jesus, the twelve, and a group of believers were hanging around the fire in Lazarus’s garden, Nathaniel asked Jesus, “Master, although you have taught us the positive version of the old rule of life, instructing us that we should do to others as we wish them to do to us, I don’t really understand how we can always follow such a rule. For example, a lustful man who wickedly looks upon his intended consort in sin. How can we teach that this evil-intending man should do to others, as he would have them do to him?”
As soon as Nathaniel finished asking his question, Jesus immediately stood up and pointing his finger at the apostle, said, “Nathaniel, Nathaniel! What’s going on in your heart? Don’t you understand my teachings like one who has been born of the spirit? Don’t you hear the truth as men of wisdom and spiritual understanding? When I told you to do to others as you would have them do to you, I was speaking to men of high ideals, not to those who would be tempted to distort my teaching into a license to encourage doing evil.”
After Jesus spoke, Nathaniel stood up and said, “But, Master, don’t think that I approve of that interpretation of your teaching. I asked the question because I thought that many men like that might misjudge your command, and I hoped you would teach us more about these things.”
When Nathaniel had sat down, Jesus continued, “I know very well, Nathaniel, that you don’t approve of evil like that, but I am disappointed that all of you fail so often to put a true spiritual interpretation on my commonplace teachings. Teachings that have to be given to you in human language, and as men speak. So, now I’m going to teach you the different levels of this rule ‘do to others what you want others to do to you’
“1. The level of the flesh. This is a purely selfish and lustful interpretation of the rule, like the example of the lustful man you used.
“2. The level of the feelings. This degree of understanding is one level higher than that of the flesh, and it implies that pity and sympathy will help to condition a person’s understanding of this rule.
“3. The level of mind. At this level we bring in mental reasoning, and our lessons we’ve learned from experience. Good judgment dictates that this type of rule for living should be in agreement with the person’s highest level of self-respect.
“4. The level of brotherly love. This is the level of unselfish devotion to the welfare of one’s fellows. On this higher plane of wholehearted social service, which grows out of the consciousness of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, we discover a far more beautiful interpretation of the basic rule of life.
“5. The moral level. Then, when you reach a true philosophical level of interpretation, when you have gained real insight into the rightness and wrongness of things, when you perceive the eternal fitness of human relationships, you will be able to step back from a problem and, like an impartial third person would do, resolve it in a wise, idealistic, and high-minded way.
“6. The spiritual level. And last, but greatest of all, we attain the level of spiritual insight that impels us to recognize in this rule of life the divine order to treat all men as we understand God would treat them. That is the universe ideal of human relationships. And that will be your attitude toward all such problems when your supreme desire is to always do the Father’s will.
I would have you, then, treat all men as you know I would treat them in the same situation.”
This was the most astonishing thing that Jesus had ever said to the apostles up until this point. They all continued to discuss Jesus’ words long after he went to bed. While it took a while for Nathaniel to recover from his belief that Jesus had misunderstood the spirit of his question, the other apostles were more than thankful that their philosophic brother had had the courage to ask such a thought-provoking question.
Bob