Episode:Last Ministry of the Master—Detour for Lazarus (Part 5)
After Jesus had spent a few moments in comforting Martha and Mary—apart from the crowd of mourners, some sincere and some merely pretenders—he asked them, "Where have you laid him?" Then Martha said, "Come and see." And as the Master followed on in silence with the two sorrowing sisters, he wept. When the friendly Jews who followed after them saw his tears, one of them said, "Behold how he loved him."
Keywords: Urantia, Jesus, Lazarus's Tomb, Jesus' Personalized Adjuster, Celestial Hosts
Summary by Kermit
Commentary after Review
Topics from the previous week were briefly discussed preparatory to the reading. The topics included the seraphic natures in association with freewill and the implications for their vulnerability to going astray; the presence among the mourners of Jesus’ enemies; and a clarification of the specifics of Jesus’ teaching about being self-forgetting in your service to others. It is the mindal-self of which he speaks, not the body.
168:1 At the Tomb of Lazarus
Notwithstanding the fidelity of John’s gospel with the midwayer account of this episode, the factual expansion the midwayers provide is necessary for greater apprehension of the truth within. A balance needs be struck between presenting a factual wholeness which allows access to truth without distracting therefrom. The factual rehabilitation of many gospel accounts of the Master’s ministry constitutes the coordination of essential knowledge function of revelation.
The midwayers confess difficulty in explaining to human minds just why Jesus wept before Lazarus’s tomb. Note that the post-baptismal human Jesus is no longer like the rest of humanity. In addition to his human emotions, he now has divine thoughts which are beyond our ken. We know that midwayers are familiar with human minds and emotions, but not with the divine mind of a Creator Son. The authors cite access to registration of human emotions and divine thoughts of record in the mind of Jesus’ now Personalized Adjuster. They present three lines of thinking and feeling, which we can understand.
- He felt genuine and sorrowful sympathy for the sisters who had lost their brother.
- He was more than irritated and conflicted by the presence of mourners a number of whom were pretenders.
- Inasmuch as Jesus had his own reasons for resurrecting Lazarus, he was mindful that Lazarus would not have an easy time of it returning to this life, facing persecution.
But notice, that they admit that they are not certain about the REAL cause of his weeping. Consider the complexities of accessing the records of Jesus’ mental emotional registrations in the Personalized Adjuster.
To make things more inscrutable we are informed of some “very interesting sidelights” concerning the timeline of communications passing between the sisters, the messenger, and Jesus. We are further told that the Personalized Adjuster issued orders for the indefinite detention of Lazarus’s Thought Adjuster fifteen minutes before Lazarus expired. The baffling and mysterious omnipersonal nature of a Personalized Adjuster, touched upon in [109:7.7] is enough to account for what appear to us as anomalies in the timeline. For we recall from [112:1.17] that: This distinction is vital, for in a cosmic system the individual members are not connected with each other except in relation to the whole and through the individuality of the whole. Mother Deity is the means of time-space focalization regardless of the time-space transcendent nature of that which is being focalized. An attempt to penetrate mysterious universe phenomena in a partwise fashion always produces more mysteries. Consideration of Mother Deity allows for a philosophic logical basis for a beginning understanding of such abstruse cosmic phenomena.
The stage is set for the greatest of all works connected with Michael’s earth ministry while in the flesh, recalling that his own resurrection was accomplished following his liberation from the flesh. SoS found mild amusement in Martha’s reversion to her preoccupation with trifles as Jesus spoke the command, “Take away the stone,” for she feared that after four days dead bodily decay would be underway and Lazarus would not be presentable. Jewish beliefs of the day ensured that there was no question that Lazarus was actually dead, and what was about to transpire was really and truly a case of the raising of the dead by Jesus.
SoS further speculated on the extraordinary feat of bringing Lazarus back to life in the flesh. The complexities of such an accomplishment far exceed the transactions involved in a morontia resurrection.
Notes by Brad
- Angels may not be much like humans, but they still have free will.
- Being a serious student
- Self-forgetting is not about forgetting about your body... it's about forgetting about your mindal self
- Getting above the mind is the key
- Your are not your body.
- Be an observer of your feelings, not just the flesh (levels of meaning)
- Why would a human mind have difficulty understanding why Jesus wept?
- It suggests his weeping had a very different things going on.
- It's not like he lacks self control. His thoughts are well in control of his feelings...
- This is post baptism. Jesus is not so like you anymore. So why is he weeping?
- Recall our sentiments ("thoughtful feelings") are using rationalizing thoughts from BELOW the feelings, not above the level of feelings.
- And they're saying real cause of the weeping--usually our weeping it just time-bound actual cause.
- Recall the list of 3 items are here are only what the authors can explain. Some things, they admit, they cannot explain to human minds.
- We can understand the human part of Jesus an the weeping. But we cannot even fathom the divine thoughts of a Creator Son.
- A key element of the weeping seems to be the profound tension between time and eternity he was experiencing at the moment.
- Another element seems to be genuine sympathy, for both the sisters and also Lazarus.
- Many who mocked and sneered at Jesus were more than just behaving immaturely. They knew better.
- These sorts of people have always been around.
- Can you see them for what they are, and as a budding child of God bound your inner life away from them? (your outer life is probably being tossed about by them and you can't help that).
- This is the reflective life.
- This author notes that one certainly should not aspire to become a member of their club!
- Even beings on high have feelings--not animal feelings, but feelings. Hence they were "vibrating with expectancy" for what was about to happen.
- A mortal resurrection is incredibly complex, unlike a morontia resurrection.
- Every memory, every synapse... (many memories are left behind when we ascend)
- Rebuilding the body is not really that hard. But rebuilding a material-mindal self that has just died? Difficult!
