Episode:Jesus of Nazareth—Childhood Career (Part 5)
As regards graven images, Joseph felt impelled to rule that the rabbinical interpretation of the second commandment should prevail. And so Jesus no more drew or modeled the likeness of anything from that day as long as he lived in his father’s house. But he was unconvinced of the wrong of what he had done, and to give up such a favorite pastime constituted one of the great trials of his young life.
Listen to the Friday 25-minute podcast
Keywords: Urantia, Jesus, Curiosity, Questions, Controversy
Opening thought: The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the distant shores rejoice.…All who worship graven images are put to shame. Those who boast themselves of idols: worship him, all you gods! Psalms 97:1-7
Summary by Justin
Commentary after review
As a child, Jesus achieved a genuine faith grasp through developing a recognition of spirit values. His worship urge was directed by a wisdom that was centered upon a spirit nucleus. It is only after the establishment of a religious nature that he attempted to sharpen this innate insight of his mind. There is a sequence that starts with spirit values that are founded upon a faith nucleus; a sequence in which we must, “Seek first the kingdom of heaven,” by establishing an unquestioning loyalty to the Father’s will.
Once this religious foundation is centered and established, the never-ending experiential journey of sharpening a greater philosophical attainment begins, through a wholehearted devotion to supreme values.
We read in [98:2]:
Religions have long endured without philosophical support, but few philosophies, as such, have long persisted without some identification with religion.
Regarding the temperamental balance passed down to Jesus from his parents concerning religious and philosophical domains, consider the following passage [122:5]:
Joseph held vigorously to the Eastern, or Babylonian, views of the Jewish religion; Mary leaned strongly toward the more liberal and broader Western, or Hellenistic, interpretation of the law and the prophets.
Personality is in total control of how our mind is framed. Consider the geometric consequences to exercising your will. There is a holistic influence regarding “inner creativity contributing to the ennoblement of character through personality integration and selfhood unification.” There is also the potential for destructivity in the inner life. Our concept frame of preconceived opinions, settled ideas and long-standing prejudices controls every thought we have, and encompasses our mind in a holistic way.
We read in [111:4]:
Since this inner life of man is truly creative, there rests upon each person the responsibility of choosing as to whether this creativity shall be spontaneous and wholly haphazard or controlled, directed, and constructive. How can a creative imagination produce worthy children when the stage whereon it functions is already preoccupied by prejudice, hate, fears, resentments, revenge, and bigotries?
The Volitional Absolute has handed over full sovereignty of your inner life to you alone. May you find eternal guidance, by seeking a personal realization of divine fellowship with the Universal Father.
Paper 124. The Later Childhood of Jesus
In reflecting on the third developmental stage of the later childhood of Jesus (approximately ages 8 through 12), we notice that his environment consists of both diversity and stability. His education at Nazareth encompassed a balanced approach to the relative merits of both eastern and western views of Hebrew theology. His religious guidance was tempered by a Hellenic philosophical influence.
124:1. Jesus’ Ninth Year (A.D. 3)
In late winter, Jesus dared to challenge the teaching that all images, pictures, and drawings were idolatrous in nature, when he was discovered to be drawing a charcoal picture of the teacher on the floor of the schoolroom. Many of the elders approached Joseph regarding the lawless nature of this incident. Jesus resented the elders blaming his father for his alleged misdeeds, and he courageously defended his viewpoint while also declaring that he would abide by his father in this as in all other matters controversial.
Joseph felt impelled to rule that the rabbinical interpretation of the second commandment should prevail, and although Jesus was unconvinced of the wrong of what he had done, he followed his father’s instructions.
The young Jesus demonstrated faith in following the instructions of the fifth commandment in honoring his father and mother. Shortly thereafter he observed his father’s faith in following the instructions of the second commandment.
The “Father’s Way” was presented to the early races during the first epochal revelation. Melchizedek patterned seven commandments after the ancient Dalamatian supreme law, and the ten commandments which Moses promulgated in the name of Yahweh were predicated on the teachings of Melchizedek. The “Father’s Way” was revealed to mankind over five hundred thousand years ago, and we must strive to manifest a living faith by believing in God’s promises and following his instructions.
In following these instructions into his adulthood, Jesus eventually taught that man’s whole duty is summed up in this one commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your mind and soul and your neighbor as yourself. In the spirit of this one commandment, we must also recognize that faith is not merely the acceptance of a pre-constructed dogma. It is the living and dynamic mode in which a person develops a realization of divine fellowship with the presence of God in the inner life.
124:2. The Tenth Year (A.D. 4)
As a humble child on earth, the young Jesus developed a moral consciousness in realizing that his values were being translated from the the material to the spiritual, from the human to the divine, from time to eternity. This awakening to the picturizations of destiny in the evolving consciousness of Jesus, gave expression to feelings and ideas which indicated that he was becoming self-conscious of the unusual nature of his life mission.
Both Joseph and Mary listened attentively to the momentous words of their son but volunteered no information in response. It was almost two years before Jesus again spoke to his parents concerning this increasing revelation within his own consciousness regarding the nature of his personality and the character of his mission on earth.
Brad's Notes
- Being a serious student. Be cautious. Are you:
- Reading quotes from The Urantia Book as platitudes?
- Programming your kids with random factoids from The Urantia Book they spew smugly in the schoolyard?
- Applying those platitudes and their implications religiously to others instead of yourself?
- Preconceived opinions, settled ideas, and long-standing prejudices for example, is not a platitude.
- No! It is your concept frame.
- When young, we don't understand how much control we have over our mind. But grown-ups know about this. And some of those grown-up are trying to have control over young minds, and they are wicked in this way.
- Exercising your will has geometric consequences.
- This paper gets us our of that developmental phase of ages 3 to 8. Now its ages 8 to 12.
- Jesus' "aggressive," precocious course is continuing. Now with a more complex mind.
- He received a "minimum of educational guidance."
- YES, lest he get "pitifully" stuck in the 3rd phase of religious philosophy.
- But the balance here was Jesus' parents helping with this "minimum" of restraints where the schools did not.
- Joseph was more of a literal, eastern, Babylonian sensibility. Mary was more fluid in interpretation, liberal, Hellenic. See [195:2.3]
