Episode:Jesus Goes Public—Preparation and Preaching (Part 7)
Just before noon on Sunday, January 12, A.D. 27, Jesus called the apostles together for their ordination as public preachers of the gospel of the kingdom. At last the long-waited-for hour had come! They were thrilled to be going apart with the Master to participate in some sort of solemn ceremony of personal consecration and collective dedication to the sacred work of representing their Master.
Keywords: Urantia, Jesus, Ordination of the Twelve, Sermon on the Mount, The Beatitudes
Opening thought: What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more. Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, looking before and after, gave us not that capability and god-like reason to fust in us unused. —Hamlet
Summary by Kermit
Commentary after Review
We began with more discussion about differences between secular and religious thought. Modern secular arguments attempting to discredit religious versions of reality are the product of lazy, simpleminded, and shallow reasoning in that they reduce the consequential concepts of genuine religion to trivial strawman arguments posited to represent the whole of religious philosophy which are then easily dismissed as without merit. If such are the product of immaturity perhaps time and life experience can rehabilitate the proponents. However, if these specious arguments are promoted by the insincere the consequences become much more serious, even dangerous.
It is worth a revisit to the broadcast archives to catch the brief explication of the physics of the function of the adjutants, cosmic discriminators, and personality in the origin of enthusiasm and the personality management necessary to prevent ungoverned enthusiasm from ending in fanaticism. These considerations feed into the larger context of the Paradise ascent. After all, the Paradise ascent must be chosen and purposefully executed to perfection. It is not a Paradise a-s-s-e-n-t, a passive ride on the wave of grace. The by grace encircuitment in the Holy Spirit must be reified by creature choice.
Paper 140 The Ordination of the Twelve
In the solemnity and formality of the ensuing ordination, Jesus is securing the new kingdom of heaven firmly to the law-and-order religious foundations of the preceding epochal revelations and in keeping with the religious practices and traditions with which these sons of Abraham are familiar and comfortable. Righteousness is not a foreign ideal to these men, but it has primarily been associated with God’s displeasure. Jesus now prepares these men for the proclamation of a God of righteousness and love in his role of spiritual uplifter.
Note the major coordination of essential knowledge concerning the ensuing Sermon on the Mount in that it is addressed solely to the twelve apostles and not the multitudes as portrayed in the gospel records.
140:1 Preliminary Instruction
Preparatory to the sermon, Jesus emphasizes the establishment of the kingdom in the hearts of believers as an eternal and universal kingdom transcending sectarian divisions. Entry to this kingdom is dependent upon the desire of the individual to do the Father’s will. He forecasts the kingdom to include non-jews as well as its rejection by many of the children of Abraham.
The kingdom’s power and authority is entirely spiritual, derived from the indwelling spirit of the Father teaching the minds and ruling the hearts of its reborn citizens. It is a brotherhood of love wherein righteousness reigns, a fulfillment of the wise promises of all the prophets. Note the kingdom’s continuity with the past, not a revolutionary break therefrom, yet possessing a quantum uplift from fear to love.
Entrance to the kingdom is had by faith, progress and continuance therein is secured and maintained by bearing the fruits of the spirit in your lives. It is the bearing of these fruits of the spirit that will serve as eloquent testimony to your fellows that you are indeed representing the Master in the world. Even though the sermon was intended only for the apostles, the responsibilities of representing the Master in the world apply to those who would enter the kingdom today. Do not view these kingdom requirements as grievous burdens of mind, but solemn responsibilities upon your souls, bearable by the grace of God.
140:2 The Ordination
Again, the actual ordination reinforces solemnity, formality, and consecration, with Jesus’ laying on of hands, blessing each apostle in turn. As on other occasions, Jesus prayed aloud to the Father in the spirit of modeling for his twelve chosen men rather than for himself. Within the prayer he reminds the twelve that his time with them is short.
And here Jesus demonstrates for the onlooking celestials his trust in the Father by putting the affairs of the divine brotherhood of man under the direction of human minds.
140:3 The Ordination Sermon
In studying the sermon note many facts are specific to the apostles and not the general population. Be mindful of this when attempting to access the truth of the revelation. Jesus prefaces the beatitudes to follow with instructions to speak them encouragingly to those in distress.
These beatitudes are presented in a different order from that found in the gospel records. Note also that they begin with “Happy are…”, not “Blessed are…”. The etymological root of “beatitude” is “happy”.
More detailed examination of these beatitudes follows in this paper.
Notes by Brad
- A humanist not citing their source of goodness -- really? How ungrateful. A lazy, simple-minded approach.
