Episode:Jesus Goes Public—Precursor and Prelude (Part 17)
Said Jesus: "My kingdom and the gospel related thereto shall be the burden of your message. Be not sidetracked into preaching about me and about my teachings. Proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and portray my revelation of the Father in heaven but do not be misled into the bypaths of creating legends and building up a cult having to do with beliefs and teachings about my beliefs and teachings."
Keywords: Urantia, Jesus, The Alpheus Twins, Thomas and Judas, Fishers of Men
Note: Justin Armstrong filled in for Brad Garner this week.
Summary by Kermit
Commentary after Review
Further discussion on righteousness led to a brief consideration of one of Dr. Chris’ writings, Divine Ideals: The Ways of Righteous Living, wherein distinction is made between the existential divine ideal of love (in the inner life) and four experiential divine ideals—preeminence of the individual, family life, national life, and representative government. The experiential divine ideals were further associated with four domains of human activity—religion, society, politics, and science respectively. Listen to the archive for details.
We frequently point out that persons cannot cause growth, but they can supply favorable conditions for being grown. But growth in what sense? Think growth in conformity with the cosmos i.e., righteousness.
The experiential divine ideals are built and anchored on the ideal of the existential and absolute divine love of the Father. Further exploration of divine love led us to [56:10.21]: "Love is the desire to do good to others." At first glance this simple statement can be taken for a platitude. After deeper reflection we find that this desire is a purely inner life phenomenon. Loving service to our fellows requires translation of this inner desire to the cosmic totality attitude of God the Mother. Attempts to manifest the absolute exclusively focused love of the Father directly in service to our fellows becomes self-righteousness. The manifold circumstances of the external life condition the precise nature and form service must take in order for it to be cosmically harmonious and genuinely righteous. We can hardly hope to claim to be second miler kingdom builders until this desire to do good to others attains the level of universal inclusiveness of all mankind in our consecrations.
138:4 The Call of the Twins
Jesus and the apostles, now eight in number journeyed across the Sea of Galilee to formally call the Alpheus twins to service as apostles. Jesus called them with the same two-word invitation, “Follow me.” It is clear from the narrative that during the personal ministry of the first six chosen apostles, two and two about the Sea of Galilee the new nominees for apostolic service were contacted by their sponsors and were expecting the formal invitation to join the apostles.
Jesus in the wake of the lighthearted dinner arranged by Matthew, specifically instructed the apostles now numbering ten, that the Father does not despise any creature of his making. The apostles are enjoined to break bread with any and all who desire to hear of the kingdom. The kingdom is open to all who desire to know the truth and to find God.
As the twins were received into the apostolic family, Jesus gave his first lesson on the origin, nature, and destiny of unclean spirits. Not for the last time are we told that the apostles had considerable difficulty understanding what Jesus told them, but they found it very easy to love and admire him.
138:5 The Call of Thomas and Judas
The eleven now proceeded to call on Thomas and Judas Iscariot. Here we find Jesus adds a preface to his simple “follow me” invitation. To Thomas, Jesus says Thomas you lack faith; nevertheless I receive you. Follow me. To Judas he adds a more ominous comment to the effect that he prayed Judas would stay loyal to his Galilean brethren.
Jesus’ teaching on the nature and work of the Holy Spirit was again only partially comprehended by the twelve. The apostles persisted in making the mistake of trying to fit Jesus’ new gospel (in actuality Machiventa’s gospel of trust in God and salvation through faith) into their old forms of religious belief. Recall, Machiventa’s gospel had given way to the works righteousness way of securing God’s favor held by the Hebrews.
138:6 The Week of Intensive Training
In true evolutional fashion, Jesus instructed the first six apostles to review with the new ones all they had learned and experienced in preparation for the work of the kingdom. At this time Jesus instituted the practice of setting aside each Wednesday for rest and recreation. Interestingly, many Christian congregations set aside Wednesdays for church community activities.
The Master attempted to clarify the difference between his teachings and his life among them from the teachings likely to spring up about him. He earnestly endeavored to foster their comprehension of his religion (his faith) and discourage their preaching and teaching a religion about him and about his teachings. But alas, it is sad to record this distinction and practice is not at all clear even among the devotees of the 5th ER.
Even though Jesus’ endowments were stupendous, and he had unlimited power at his disposal to further his mission he was content to employ twelve ordinary men as his ambassadors.
138:7 Another Disappointment
Jesus had planned for a five months’ campaign of personal work. The apostles came to him anticipating the proclamation of the kingdom in Capernaum or Jerusalem and inquiring as to their positions in proclaiming the kingdom. They were chastened, stunned by his response, attempting once again to make clear that the kingdom of heaven is a spiritual kingdom to be established in the hearts of men, not as a reign of glory!
After taking inventory of the group’s assets Jesus established the practice of two weeks fishing for their material support and two weeks personal ministry. Jesus alternated fishing with two apostles at a time, during which time they grew to love him so. This alternating of activities continued for more than five months.
