Adapted from the Urantia Book original paper here
James and Judas Alpheus
James and Judas, the sons of Alpheus, were twins living and fishing near Kheresa (kə’resə). They were twenty-six years old and married, with James having three children, and Judas two. They were the ninth and tenth apostles brought into the group, and they were chosen by James and John Zebedee.
There’s not much to be said about James and Judas. They were two commonplace fishermen. They loved Jesus and he loved them, but they almost never asked him questions. James and Judas Alpheus couldn’t understand much of what Jesus taught, and pretty much stayed out of the religious debates that went on between the other apostles. That said, they were super happy to find themselves numbered among such a mighty group of men. James and Judas were almost identical in appearance, mentality, and spiritual perception. What’s said of one can be recorded of the other.
Andrew assigned James and Judas to be in charge of all of the people that would come to hear Jesus speak. The common folk were encouraged to see two people like themselves honored as apostles, and this alone brought a lot of fainthearted believers into the kingdom. They also appreciated that it was two ordinary people like themselves acting as the official ushers who told them what to do. James and Judas were, in effect, the expediters or all-around errand runners for the twelve. They helped Philip with the supplies, took money to the families for Nathaniel, and were always ready help-out as needed.
James and Judas, were also called Thaddeus and Lebbeus (‘le’bēəs). They really had no strong points or weak points: there was nothing outstanding about either of them. They didn’t have the same brain power as the others, they knew it, and were actually happy about it. The other apostles gave these two nicknames, all in fun, that pretty much meant they were average, ordinary, and commonplace guys. The twins were good-natured and simple-minded helpers, but they were also, kind, generous, faithful, and big-hearted. Everybody loved them. Jesus took them on as apostles because he didn’t look down on a lack of talent, just evil and the making of it sin, and because James and Judas were like so many other fear-minded people on his worlds of time and space. When Jesus refused to allow a certain rich man to become an evangelist unless he sold his goods to help the poor, and yet the people saw the twins as apostles, they were then certain that Jesus was no respecter of persons, i.e., for Jesus a person’s status or position on any of the material worlds of time and space means nothing: faith is all that matters. Only the kingdom of heaven could be built on such a fragile human foundation, and the twins were proud yet humbled at being included.
For James Alpheus, it was Jesus’ simplicity that he admired the most. While the twins couldn’t understand Jesus mentally, they did feel the love bonding them together. They didn’t benefit much intellectually from their time with Jesus, but the spiritual experience they had was significant. They believed in Jesus, and they knew that they were sons of God with him in the kingdom of heaven. For Judas Alpheus it, was Jesus’ dignity and humility that he admired the most: Jesus never tried to bring attention to himself for his deeds, always telling the apostles to keep silent about them. This made a great impression on Judas.
James and Judas Alpheus served faithfully to the end despairing with the others through the dark days of the trial and crucifixion. They never lost faith in Jesus, and except for John Zebedee they were the first to believe in Jesus’ resurrection. But the twins never did understand what was meant by establishing the kingdom of heaven here on Earth. When the other apostles went out to continue their work, James and Judas returned home to their families, went back to fishing, and were honored and blessed for their four years of service with Jesus, a Son of God and the creator of our very universe.
Simon the Zealot
Simon Zelotes (zē’lōtēz) was the eleventh apostle, and was twenty-eight years old when he chosen by Simon Peter. He was capable, came from good ancestry, and lived with his family at Capernaum (kə’pərnāəm). Simon was a bit of a wild man when it came to stirring things up, and he had a bad habit of speaking without thinking. He’d been a merchant in Capernaum before turning all of his attention to the Jewish patriotic organization, the Zealots.
Simon was put in charge of organizing the fun and recreation for the group, and he did well at it. He was a rebel by nature and a revolutionary by training. Simon had always leaned toward protest, but Jesus guided him on the path of eternal progression to spirit and truth. He was a man of intense loyalties with warm personal friendships, and he deeply loved Jesus. The one thing that Simon admired the most about Jesus was his composure: he was always calm, poised, and sure he was right.
Simon’s strength was his ability to inspire people. When the apostles found someone that was unsure about entering the kingdom, they’d send for Simon and it would usually only take him about fifteen minutes to help the person see their salvation through faith in God. Simon’s great weakness was that he was material-minded. Even though Jesus had many talks with him over the four years, Simon couldn’t make the transition from being a worldly based Jewish nationalist to one who could take a more spiritual view of including others in the kingdom. Jesus told him that it was proper to want to see the social, economic, and political orders improved, but then he would always add:
“That is not the business of the kingdom of heaven. We must be dedicated to the doing of the Father’s will. Our business is to be ambassadors of a spiritual government on high, and we must not immediately concern ourselves with aught but the representation of the will and character of the divine Father who stands at the head of the government whose credentials we bear.”
This was all hard for Simon to get, and it took him a long time to grasp even a part of Jesus’ teaching. Still, Jesus was always patient with him. Jesus wasn’t afraid to identify himself with laborers, businessmen, optimists, pessimists, philosophers, skeptics, publicans, politicians, and patriots.
While Simon started out as a fearless revolutionary agitating people wherever he went, he eventually calmed down and became a powerful and effective preacher of peace on earth and good will among men. He loved to argue, and when it came to dealing with the legalistic minds of the educated Jews or the intellectual quibbling of the Greeks, the apostles always sent Simon.
When the apostles were scattered from Jerusalem because of the persecutions, Simon was emotionally crushed and went into semi-retirement. He had given up his patriotic mission to follow Jesus, and then after everything he thought he had lost it all. It took Simon a few years, but he eventually got his spirits up and went out to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. He first went to Alexandria, and then after working his way up the Nile he went deep into the heart of Africa, preaching the gospel of Jesus and baptizing believers along the way until he died a frail old man.
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot (is’kerēət) was the twelfth apostle, and was chosen by Nathaniel. He was thirty years old and unmarried when he joined the apostles. Judas was born in Kerioth (‘kērēäth), a small town in southern Judea. When he was a kid, his parents moved to Jericho. He’d worked for his dad who had several businesses up until he started to follow John the Baptist. Judas’s parents were Sadducees (‘sajəsē(z)), and when he joined John’s disciples they disowned him. Judas was trying to get a job drying fish on the lower end of the Sea of Galilee when Nathaniel met him at Tarichea (tə’rēkēə).
Judas was probably the best-educated of the twelve, and the only Judean of the apostles. He didn’t have any natural outstanding traits, but he did have a lot culture and social training. Judas was a good thinker, but not always an honest thinker; he didn’t understand himself that well and at times he’d lie to himself. Andrew made Judas the treasurer for the twelve. He was well trained for the job, and did his duties honestly, faithfully, and efficiently up until he betrayed Jesus.
For Judas, there wasn’t anything he thought that was really special about Jesus. He could never get over his prejudice: he was a true Judean and the rest were Galileans. While the other eleven apostles looked on Jesus as the perfect man, the self-satisfied Judas would criticize him, not out loud but in his heart, about many things. Judas actually thought that Jesus was timid and a little afraid to assert his power and authority.
Judas was a great executive, a stickler for organization, and could plan ahead. He had the tact, ability, patience, and devotion needed to manage the finances of an idealist like Jesus, to say nothing of dealing with the chaotic business methods of some of the apostles. None of the twelve ever criticized Judas. As far as they could tell he was able, educated, and loyal even if at times critical. To them, he was in every sense of the word a great success for a man of that time. They loved Judas, and in all ways they considered him one of them.
Judas was an only son of unwise parents. When he was young he was pampered and spoiled. As an adult, he grew up to be a bit full of himself. He was a poor loser, and he had lax and screwed up ideas about fairness. He also had no problem being hateful or suspicious of others. Judas would make assumptions and misinterpret what his friends would do or say, and all his life he was in the habit of harboring grudges against those he thought had offended him. All taken together, his sense of values and loyalties were a bit off.
Judas must have believed in Jesus, but we doubt whether he really loved the Master with a whole heart.
The situation with Judas illustrated the truth in the saying that, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death.” In other words, the path to sin and death is a slippery slope…it’s easy to be deceived by making peace with evil a little bit at a time.
And no, money wasn’t the motive for his betrayal of Jesus: Judas was always financially loyal to his Master and his fellow apostles.
To Jesus, Judas was an adventure in faith. From the beginning, Jesus knew about Judas’ weakness and the dangers of letting him into the group. But the Sons of God in all universes give every created being a full and equal chance for salvation and survival. What happened here on Earth wasn’t only about Judas. Jesus wanted the mortals on all of his other material worlds of time and space to know that even when a Creator Son questions the sincerity and wholehearted devotion of the person to the kingdom, that they will be received. The door of eternal life is wide open to all: there are no restrictions or qualifications except for the faith of the one who comes.
This is why Jesus let Judas go on to the very end, and why he always did everything possible to transform and save this weak and confused apostle.
But when the light of God isn’t honestly received and lived up to, it tends to become darkness in the soul.
In his mind, Judas grew intellectually from Jesus’ teachings of the kingdom, but in his heart he didn’t grow spiritually like the other apostles.
Because of his attitude, Judas had his feelings hurt many times and he became more and more disappointed each day. He got suspicious, and finally resentful, of Jesus and the other apostles. In the end, he was obsessed with getting even, even if it meant betraying his Master. These wicked and dangerous ideas took shape in Judas’ mind when a woman, in gratitude, broke an expensive box of incense at Jesus’ feet, and when Judas tried to complain about the loss Jesus swept his concerns aside in front of everyone. That was too much for Judas, and it brought forth all of the stored-up hate, hurt, malice, prejudice, jealousy, and revenge that had been building up over his lifetime.
Judas focused this evil side of his nature on the one innocent person in his entire life, Jesus, and in doing so he chose death and darkness over the progressive kingdom of light. Jesus had, both privately and publicly, warned Judas that he was slipping. But divine warnings are mostly useless when dealing with an embittered human mind.
Jesus did everything possible, consistent with Judas’ free choice of will, to prevent him from choosing the wrong path. But when the great test finally came, Judas, the son of resentment, failed. He gave in to his bad side and let his pride and resentment and desire for revenge take over his mind, and this quickly sent him into a pit of despair, confusion, and depravity.
Judas devised his plan to betray Jesus and the others, and quickly put it into action. There were times when he’d have moments of shame and regret, but he’d defend his actions thinking that there was still the possibility that Jesus would exert his power and save himself at the last minute.
When the whole rotten plan was done and over, this renegade mortal who thought so little of selling out Jesus for thirty pieces of silver just to get even, went out and committed suicide to escape the reality of what he’d done. The other eleven apostles were stunned and horrified at what Judas did, but Jesus just felt pity for his betrayer. The rest of the celestial host have found it hard to forgive Judas, and his name has become shunned across our entire universe.
Okay, folks, that’s it for Son of Man: Urantia, Chapter 18, part 4, “The Twelve Apostles.” Next week we continue with Chapter 19, “The Ordination of the Twelve.”
Have a fantastic week out there, everybody.
Bob