Episode:Jesus Goes Public—Precaution and Preaching (Part 2)
Said Jesus to his apostles: “My brethren, you must all learn the value of rest and the efficacy of relaxation. You must realize that the best method of solving some entangled problems is to forsake them for a time. Then when you go back fresh from your rest or worship, you are able to attack your troubles with a clearer head and a steadier hand, not to mention a more resolute heart.”
Keywords: Urantia, Jesus, Diversion and Relaxation, The Samaritans, Woman at the Well
Opening thought: Says the Lord: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes...But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.” Jeremiah 17:5-8
Closing thought: You get coordination of essential knowledge here. Now seek the revealed truth that is to be found. Reflect upon salvation.
Note: Justin Armstrong filled in for Kermit Anderson this week.
Summary by Justin
Commentary
"God is spirit, and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth." [143:5]
This twofold pattern of spirit and truth is found throughout the revelation. Think of spirit as a faith nucleus and truth as a holistic sphere. We have an existential Spiritual Father and an experiential Cosmic Mother. It is essential that we associate our religious nucleus with the rest of the universe and that we frame it in a sphere of truth and become a religionist of philosophic attainment.
The process of being grown by the Mother and developing wisdom will transpire within the context of inevitable tribulation. Remember the favorable condition of patience!
We read in [48:7], "The greatest affliction of the cosmos is never to have been afflicted. Mortals only learn wisdom by experiencing tribulation." We also read in [101:4], "While divine or spiritual insight is a gift, human wisdom must evolve."
The Father initiates (that which acts) and directionizes. The bestowal of personality by the Father is a potential directionizing influence that has been handed over to our sovereign control. There is great danger if we utilize our individuated will to pattern spirit substance in a way that does not align with the purpose of Mother Deity. Without wisdom and a wholehearted devotion to supreme values, this influence from eternity will conform with the self—in self-righteousness—and not the cosmos, resulting in wickedness.
We read in [100:1], "Some persons are too busy to grow and are therefore in grave danger of spiritual fixation."
143:3 Diversion and Relaxation
Andrew approached the master regarding a great nervous and emotional tension that had developed between the apostles and John’s disciples. After listening to his apostolic chief, Jesus concluded that you cannot talk men out of their perplexities when they reach such a stage of involvement. The master requested that Andrew speak with each of his eleven brethren privately and personally and that he inform them that Jesus wished to go apart with them for a season to rest and relax on Mount Sartaba.
Jesus clearly understood that the human mind when pulled downward by material gravity needs to be balanced and spiritually uplifted in order to attack troubles with a clearer head and a more resolute heart. He helped the twelve discover the simple truth that many human perplexities are in reality nonexistent, and that problems shrink in proportions when the body and mind are rested.
On the third day when they started down the mountain a great change had come over the twelve. With spiritually uplifted and a balanced minds they had left such problems to solve themselves. Their return from this holiday greatly improved relations with the followers of John.
143:4 The Jews and the Samaritans
The enmity and antagonisms between the Jews and the Samaritans date back to seven hundred B.C. In attempting to subdue a revolt, the king of Assyria carried away over twenty-five thousand northern Jews and replaced them with people from the outside, who are not pure descendants of the Samaritans. The twelve apostles were put to a severe test when the master said, “Let us go into Samaria.” It was personal loyalty to the Master that lifted them above their preconceived opinions, settled ideas, and long-standing prejudices.
The Jews were fixated on a racial and religious purity. What political or ideological fixations are we currently harboring? We read in [69:0], "Such legacies become traditions, and traditions ultimately metamorphose into conventions."
In the pursuit of self mastery, righteousness, and a wholehearted devotion to supreme values... can we supplement legacy, tradition and convention with wisdom, insight, and foresight?
143:5 The Woman of Sychar
When arriving at Jacob’s well, Jesus, being weary from the journey requested that the apostles assist Philip in bringing supplies from Sychar, while he briefly rested. A women with a pitcher approached the well and Jesus being thirsty, with no means of getting water, said to her “Give me a drink.” Nalda was a comely creature and being surprised that a Jewish man would converse with her asked, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?” Jesus answered: “I have indeed asked you for a drink, but if you could only understand, you would ask me for a draught of the living water.”
Nalda mistook the Master’s friendliness for commonplace familiarity and misinterpreted his speech to imply flirtation. In a commanding voice Jesus said, “Woman, go and get your husband and bring him hither.” Nalda perceived that she had misconstrued his manner of speech and that she stood in the presence of an unusual person. After declaring that she had no husband, Jesus responded “You have spoken the truth, for, while you may have once had a husband, he with whom you are now living is not your husband. Better it would be if you would cease to trifle with my words and seek for the living water which I have this day offered you.”
Nalda’s better self was awakened and she repented for her manner of speaking. She had a desire to know the better way of life and a true thirst for the living water. She was a human soul who desired salvation sincerely and wholeheartedly. Jesus pronounced his divine nature and explained that salvation comes into her heart by receiving this living water which he was offering her now.
The living water represents salvation through faith. In manifesting the Father’s name to the world the Master who was the Father incarnate could truly say: “I am the living water.” We read in [101:6], "Jesus was and is the new and living way whereby man can come into the divine inheritance which the Father has decreed shall be his for but the asking. In Jesus there is abundantly demonstrated both the beginnings and endings of the faith experience of humanity, even of divine humanity."
