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Urantia Book Paper 133 The Return From Rome
SPIRITWEB ORG, PROMOTING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE INTERNET.
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART IV: The Life and Teachings
of Jesus : The Bestowal Of Michael On Urantia The Times Of Michael's Bestowal
Birth And Infancy Of Jesus The Early Childhood Of Jesus The Later Childhood Of
Jesus Jesus At Jerusalem The Two Crucial Years The Adolescent Years Jesus'
Early Manhood The Later Adult Life Of Jesus On The Way To Rome The World's
Religions The Sojourn At Rome The Return From Rome The Transition Years John
The Baptist Baptism And The Forty Days Tarrying Time In Galilee Training The
Kingdom's Messengers The Twelve Apostles The Ordination Of The Twelve Beginning
The Public Work The Passover At Jerusalem Going Through Samaria At Gilboa And
In The Decapolis Four Eventful Days At Capernaum First Preaching Tour Of
Galilee The Interlude Visit To Jerusalem Training Evangelists At Bethsaida The
Second Preaching Tour The Third Preaching Tour Tarrying And Teaching By The
Seaside Events Leading Up To The Capernaum Crisis The Crisis At Capernaum Last
Days At Capernaum Fleeing Through Northern Galilee The Sojourn At Tyre And
Sidon At Caesarea-philippi The Mount Of Transfiguration The Decapolis Tour
Rodan Of Alexandria Further Discussions With Rodan At The Feast Of Tabernacles
Ordination Of The Seventy At Magadan At The Feast Of Dedication The Perean
Mission Begins Last Visit To Northern Perea The Visit To Philadelphia The
Resurrection Of Lazarus Last Teaching At Pella The Kingdom Of Heaven On The Way
To Jerusalem Going Into Jerusalem Monday In Jerusalem ...
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Paper 133 The Return From Rome
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Introduction
WHEN preparing to leave Rome, Jesus said good-bye to none of his friends. The
scribe of Damascus appeared in Rome without announcement and disappeared in
like manner. It was a full year before those who knew and loved him gave up
hope of seeing him again. Before the end of the second year small groups of
those who had known him found themselves drawn together by their common
interest in his teachings and through mutual memory of their good times with
him. And these small groups of Stoics, Cynics, and mystery cultists continued
to hold these irregular and informal meetings right up to the time of the
appearance in Rome of the first preachers of the Christian religion.
Gonod and Ganid had purchased so many things in Alexandria and Rome that they
sent all their belongings on ahead by pack train to Tarentum, while the three
travelers walked leisurely across Italy over the great Appian Way. On this
journey they encountered all sorts of human beings. Many noble Roman citizens
and Greek colonists lived along this road, but already the progeny of great
numbers of inferior slaves were beginning to make their appearance.
One day while resting at lunch, about halfway to Tarentum, Ganid asked Jesus a
direct question as to what he thought of India's caste system. Said Jesus:
"Though human beings differ in many ways, the one from another, before God and
in the spiritual world all mortals stand on an equal footing. There are only
two groups of mortals in the eyes of God: those who desire to do his will and
those who do not. As the universe looks upon an inhabited world, it likewise
discerns two great classes: those who know God and those who do not. Those who
cannot know God are reckoned among the animals of any given realm. Mankind can
appropriately be divided into many classes in accordance with differing
qualifications, as they may be viewed physically, mentally, socially,
vocationally, or morally, but as these different classes of mortals appear
before the judgment bar of God, they stand on an equal footing; God is truly no
respecter of persons. Although you cannot escape the recognition of
differential human abilities and endowments in matters intellectual, social,
and moral, you should make no such distinctions in the spiritual brotherhood of
men when assembled for worship in the presence of God."
1. MERCY AND JUSTICE
A very interesting incident occurred one afternoon by the roadside as they
neared Tarentum. They observed a rough and bullying youth brutally attacking a
smaller lad. Jesus hastened to the assistance of the assaulted youth, and when
he had rescued him, he tightly held on to the offender until the smaller lad
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had made his escape. The moment Jesus released the little bully, Ganid pounced
upon the boy and began soundly to thrash him, and to Ganid's astonishment Jesus
promptly interfered. After he had restrained Ganid and permitted the frightened
boy to escape, the young man, as soon as he got his breath, excitedly
exclaimed: "I cannot understand you, Teacher. If mercy requires that you rescue
the smaller lad, does not justice demand the punishment of the larger and
offending youth?" In answering, Jesus said:
"Ganid, it is true, you do not understand. Mercy ministry is always the work of
the individual, but justice punishment is the function of the social,
governmental, or universe administrative groups. As an individual I am beholden
to show mercy; I must go to the rescue of the assaulted lad, and in all
consistency I may employ sufficient force to restrain the aggressor. And that
is just what I did. I achieved the deliverance of the assaulted lad; that was
the end of mercy ministry. Then I forcibly detained the aggressor a sufficient
length of time to enable the weaker party to the dispute to make his escape,
after which I withdrew from the affair. I did not proceed to sit in judgment on
the aggressor, thus to pass upon his motive--to adjudicate all that entered
into his attack upon his fellow--and then undertake to execute the punishment
which my mind might dictate as just recompense for his wrongdoing. Ganid, mercy
may be lavish, but justice is precise. Cannot you discern that no two persons
are likely to agree as to the punishment which would satisfy the demands of
justice? One would impose forty lashes, another twenty, while still another
would advise solitary confinement as a just punishment. Can you not see that on
this world such responsibilities had better rest upon the group or be
administered by chosen representatives of the group? In the universe, judgment
is vested in those who fully know the antecedents of all wrongdoing as well as
its motivation. In civilized society and in an organized universe the
administration of justice presupposes the passing of just sentence consequent
upon fair judgment, and such prerogatives are vested in the juridical groups of
the worlds and in the all-knowing administrators of the higher universes of all
creation."
For days they talked about this problem of manifesting mercy and administering
justice. And Ganid, at least to some extent, understood why Jesus would not
engage in personal combat. But Ganid asked one last question, to which he never
received a fully satisfactory answer; and that question was: "But, Teacher, if
a stronger and ill-tempered creature should attack you and threaten to destroy
you, what would you do? Would you make no effort to defend yourself?" Although
Jesus could not fully and satisfactorily answer the lad's question, inasmuch as
he was not willing to disclose to him that he (Jesus) was living on earth as
the exemplification of the Paradise Father's love to an onlooking universe, he
did say this much:
"Ganid, I can well understand how some of these problems perplex you, and I
will endeavor to answer your question. First, in all attacks which might be
made upon my person, I would determine whether or not the aggressor was a son
of God--my brother in the flesh--and if I thought such a creature did not
possess moral judgment and spiritual reason, I would unhesitatingly defend
myself to the full capacity of my powers of resistance, regardless of
consequences to the attacker. But I would not thus assault a fellow man of
sonship status, even in self-defense. That is, I would not punish him in
advance and without judgment for his assault upon me. I would by every possible
artifice seek to prevent and dissuade him from making such an attack and to
mitigate it in case of my failure
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to abort it. Ganid, I have absolute confidence in my heavenly Father's
overcare; I am consecrated to doing the will of my Father in heaven. I do not
believe that real harm can befall me; I do not believe that my lifework can
really be jeopardized by anything my enemies might wish to visit upon me, and
surely we have no violence to fear from our friends. I am absolutely assured
that the entire universe is friendly to me--this all-powerful truth I insist on
believing with a wholehearted trust in spite of all appearances to the
contrary."
But Ganid was not fully satisfied. Many times they talked over these matters,
and Jesus told him some of his boyhood experiences and also about Jacob the
stone mason's son. On learning how Jacob appointed himself to defend Jesus,
Ganid said: "Oh, I begin to see! In the first place very seldom would any
normal human being want to attack such a kindly person as you, and even if any
one should be so unthinking as to do such a thing, there is pretty sure to be
near at hand some other mortal who will fly to your assistance, even as you
always go to the rescue of any person you observe to be in distress. In my
heart, Teacher, I agree with you, but in my head I still think that if I had
been Jacob, I would have enjoyed punishing those rude fellows who presumed to
attack you just because they thought you would not defend yourself. I presume
you are fairly safe in your journey through life since you spend much of your
time helping others and ministering to your fellows in distress--well, most
likely there'll always be someone on hand to defend you." And Jesus replied:
"That test has not yet come, Ganid, and when it does, we will have to abide by
the Father's will." And that was about all the lad could get his teacher to say
on this difficult subject of self-defense and nonresistance. On another
occasion he did draw from Jesus the opinion that organized society had every
right to employ force in the execution of its just mandates.
2. EMBARKING AT TARENTUM
While tarrying at the ship landing, waiting for the boat to unload cargo, the
travelers observed a man mistreating his wife. As was his custom, Jesus
intervened in behalf of the person subjected to attack. He stepped up behind
the irate husband and, tapping him gently on the shoulder, said: "My friend,
may I speak with you in private for a moment?" The angry man was nonplused by
such an approach and, after a moment of embarrassing hesitation, stammered
out--"er--why--yes, what do you want with me?" When Jesus had led him to one
side, he said: "My friend, I perceive that something terrible must have
happened to you; I very much desire that you tell me what could happen to such
a strong man to lead him to attack his wife, the mother of his children, and
that right out here before all eyes. I am sure you must feel that you have some
good reason for this assault. What did the woman do to deserve such treatment
from her husband? As I look upon you, I think I discern in your face the love
of justice if not the desire to show mercy. I venture to say that, if you found
me out by the wayside, attacked by robbers, you would unhesitatingly rush to my
rescue. I dare say you have done many such brave things in the course of your
life. Now, my friend, tell me what is the matter? Did the woman do something
wrong, or did you foolishly lose your head and thoughtlessly assault her?" It
was not so much what he said that touched this man's heart as the kindly look
and the sympathetic smile which Jesus bestowed upon him at the conclusion of
his remarks. Said the man: "I perceive you are a priest of the Cynics, and I am
thankful you restrained
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me. My wife has done no great wrong; she is a good woman, but she irritates me
by the manner in which she picks on me in public, and I lose my temper. I am
sorry for my lack of self-control, and I promise to try to live up to my former
pledge to one of your brothers who taught me the better way many years ago. I
promise you."
And then, in bidding him farewell, Jesus said: "My brother, always remember
that man has no rightful authority over woman unless the woman has willingly
and voluntarily given him such authority. Your wife has engaged to go through
life with you, to help you fight its battles, and to assume the far greater
share of the burden of bearing and rearing your children; and in return for
this special service it is only fair that she receive from you that special
protection which man can give to woman as the partner who must carry, bear, and
nurture the children. The loving care and consideration which a man is willing
to bestow upon his wife and their children are the measure of that man's
attainment of the higher levels of creative and spiritual self-consciousness.
Do you not know that men and women are partners with God in that they
co-operate to create beings who grow up to possess themselves of the potential
of immortal souls? The Father in heaven treats the Spirit Mother of the
children of the universe as one equal to himself. It is Godlike to share your
life and all that relates thereto on equal terms with the mother partner who so
fully shares with you that divine experience of reproducing yourselves in the
lives of your children. If you can only love your children as God loves you,
you will love and cherish your wife as the Father in heaven honors and exalts
the Infinite Spirit, the mother of all the spirit children of a vast universe."
As they went on board the boat, they looked back upon the scene of the
teary-eyed couple standing in silent embrace. Having heard the latter half of
Jesus' message to the man, Gonod was all day occupied with meditations thereon,
and he resolved to reorganize his home when he returned to India.
The journey to Nicopolis was pleasant but slow as the wind was not favorable.
The three spent many hours recounting their experiences in Rome and reminiscing
about all that had happened to them since they first met in Jerusalem. Ganid
was becoming imbued with the spirit of personal ministry. He began work on the
steward of the ship, but on the second day, when he got into deep religious
water, he called on Joshua to help him out.
They spent several days at Nicopolis, the city which Augustus had founded some
fifty years before as the "city of victory" in commemoration of the battle of
Actium, this site being the land whereon he camped with his army before the
battle. They lodged in the home of one Jeramy, a Greek proselyte of the Jewish
faith, whom they had met on shipboard. The Apostle Paul spent all winter with
the son of Jeramy in the same house in the course of his third missionary
journey. From Nicopolis they sailed on the same boat for Corinth, the capital
of the Roman province of Achaia.
3. AT CORINTH
By the time they reached Corinth, Ganid was becoming very much interested in
the Jewish religion, and so it was not strange that, one day as they passed the
synagogue and saw the people going in, he requested Jesus to take him to the
service. That day they heard a learned rabbi discourse on the "Destiny of
Israel," and after the service they met one Crispus, the chief ruler of this
synagogue.
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Many times they went back to the synagogue services, but chiefly to meet
Crispus. Ganid grew to be very fond of Crispus, his wife, and their family of
five children. He much enjoyed observing how a Jew conducted his family life.
While Ganid studied family life, Jesus was teaching Crispus the better ways of
religious living. Jesus held more than twenty sessions with this
forward-looking Jew; and it is not surprising, years afterward, when Paul was
preaching in this very synagogue, and when the Jews had rejected his message
and had voted to forbid his further preaching in the synagogue, and when he
then went to the gentiles, that Crispus with his entire family embraced the new
religion, and that he became one of the chief supports of the Christian church
which Paul subsequently organized at Corinth.
During the eighteen months Paul preached in Corinth, being later joined by
Silas and Timothy, he met many others who had been taught by the "Jewish tutor
of the son of an Indian merchant."
At Corinth they met people of every race hailing from three continents. Next to
Alexandria and Rome, it was the most cosmopolitan city of the Mediterranean
empire. There was much to attract one's attention in this city, and Ganid never
grew weary of visiting the citadel which stood almost two thousand feet above
the sea. He also spent a great deal of his spare time about the synagogue and
in the home of Crispus. He was at first shocked, and later on charmed, by the
status of woman in the Jewish home; it was a revelation to this young Indian.
Jesus and Ganid were often guests in another Jewish home, that of Justus, a
devout merchant, who lived alongside the synagogue. And many times,
subsequently, when the Apostle Paul sojourned in this home, did he listen to
the recounting of these visits with the Indian lad and his Jewish tutor, while
both Paul and Justus wondered whatever became of such a wise and brilliant
Hebrew teacher.
When in Rome, Ganid observed that Jesus refused to accompany them to the public
baths. Several times afterward the young man sought to induce Jesus further to
express himself in regard to the relations of the sexes. Though he would answer
the lad's questions, he never seemed disposed to discuss these subjects at
great length. One evening as they strolled about Corinth out near where the
wall of the citadel ran down to the sea, they were accosted by two public
women. Ganid had imbibed the idea, and rightly, that Jesus was a man of high
ideals, and that he abhorred everything which partook of uncleanness or savored
of evil; accordingly he spoke sharply to these women and rudely motioned them
away. When Jesus saw this, he said to Ganid: "You mean well, but you should not
presume thus to speak to the children of God, even though they chance to be his
erring children. Who are we that we should sit in judgment on these women? Do
you happen to know all of the circumstances which led them to resort to such
methods of obtaining a livelihood? Stop here with me while we talk about these
matters." The courtesans were astonished at what he said even more than was
Ganid.
As they stood there in the moonlight, Jesus went on to say: "There lives within
every human mind a divine spirit, the gift of the Father in heaven. This good
spirit ever strives to lead us to God, to help us to find God and to know God;
but also within mortals there are many natural physical tendencies which the
Creator put there to serve the well-being of the individual and the race. Now,
oftentimes, men and women become confused in their efforts to understand
themselves and to grapple with the manifold difficulties of making a living in
a world
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so largely dominated by selfishness and sin. I perceive, Ganid, that neither of
these women is willfully wicked. I can tell by their faces that they have
experienced much sorrow; they have suffered much at the hands of an apparently
cruel fate; they have not intentionally chosen this sort of life; they have, in
discouragement bordering on despair, surrendered to the pressure of the hour
and accepted this distasteful means of obtaining a livelihood as the best way
out of a situation that to them appeared hopeless. Ganid, some people are
really wicked at heart; they deliberately choose to do mean things, but, tell
me, as you look into these now tear-stained faces, do you see anything bad or
wicked?" And as Jesus paused for his reply, Ganid's voice choked up as he
stammered out his answer: "No, Teacher, I do not. And I apologize for my
rudeness to them--I crave their forgiveness." Then said Jesus: "And I bespeak
for them that they have forgiven you as I speak for my Father in heaven that he
has forgiven them. Now all of you come with me to a friend's house where we
will seek refreshment and plan for the new and better life ahead." Up to this
time the amazed women had not uttered a word; they looked at each other and
silently followed as the men led the way.
Imagine the surprise of Justus' wife when, at this late hour, Jesus appeared
with Ganid and these two strangers, saying: "You will forgive us for coming at
this hour, but Ganid and I desire a bite to eat, and we would share it with
these our new-found friends, who are also in need of nourishment; and besides
all this, we come to you with the thought that you will be interested in
counseling with us as to the best way to help these women get a new start in
life. They can tell you their story, but I surmise they have had much trouble,
and their very presence here in your house testifies how earnestly they crave
to know good people, and how willingly they will embrace the opportunity to
show all the world--and even the angels of heaven--what brave and noble women
they can become."
When Martha, Justus' wife, had spread the food on the table, Jesus, taking
unexpected leave of them, said: "As it is getting late, and since the young
man's father will be awaiting us, we pray to be excused while we leave you here
together--three women--the beloved children of the Most High. And I will pray
for your spiritual guidance while you make plans for a new and better life on
earth and eternal life in the great beyond."
Thus did Jesus and Ganid take leave of the women. So far the two courtesans had
said nothing; likewise was Ganid speechless. And for a few moments so was
Martha, but presently she rose to the occasion and did everything for these
strangers that Jesus had hoped for. The elder of these two women died a short
time thereafter, with bright hopes of eternal survival, and the younger woman
worked at Justus' place of business and later became a lifelong member of the
first Christian church in Corinth.
Several times in the home of Crispus, Jesus and Ganid met one Gaius, who
subsequently became a loyal supporter of Paul. During these two months in
Corinth they held intimate conversations with scores of worth-while
individuals, and as a result of all these apparently casual contacts more than
half of the individuals so affected became members of the subsequent Christian
community.
When Paul first went to Corinth, he had not intended to make a prolonged visit.
But he did not know how well the Jewish tutor had prepared the way for his
labors. And further, he discovered that great interest had already been aroused
by Aquila and Priscilla, Aquila being one of the Cynics with whom Jesus had
come in contact when in Rome. This couple were Jewish refugees from Rome,
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and they quickly embraced Paul's teachings. He lived with them and worked with
them, for they were also tentmakers. It was because of these circumstances that
Paul prolonged his stay in Corinth.
4. PERSONAL WORK IN CORINTH
Jesus and Ganid had many more interesting experiences in Corinth. They had
close converse with a great number of persons who greatly profited by the
instruction received from Jesus.
The miller he taught about grinding up the grains of truth in the mill of
living experience so as to render the difficult things of divine life readily
receivable by even the weak and feeble among one's fellow mortals. Said Jesus:
"Give the milk of truth to those who are babes in spiritual perception. In your
living and loving ministry serve spiritual food in attractive form and suited
to the capacity of receptivity of each of your inquirers."
To the Roman centurion he said: "Render unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's. The sincere service of God
and the loyal service of Caesar do not conflict unless Caesar should presume to
arrogate to himself that homage which alone can be claimed by Deity. Loyalty to
God, if you should come to know him, would render you all the more loyal and
faithful in your devotion to a worthy emperor."
To the earnest leader of the Mithraic cult he said: "You do well to seek for a
religion of eternal salvation, but you err to go in quest of such a glorious
truth among man-made mysteries and human philosophies. Know you not that the
mystery of eternal salvation dwells within your own soul? Do you not know that
the God of heaven has sent his spirit to live within you, and that this spirit
will lead all truth-loving and God-serving mortals out of this life and through
the portals of death up to the eternal heights of light where God waits to
receive his children? And never forget: You who know God are the sons of God if
you truly yearn to be like him."
To the Epicurean teacher he said: "You do well to choose the best and esteem
the good, but are you wise when you fail to discern the greater things of
mortal life which are embodied in the spirit realms derived from the
realization of the presence of God in the human heart? The great thing in all
human experience is the realization of knowing the God whose spirit lives
within you and seeks to lead you forth on that long and almost endless journey
of attaining the personal presence of our common Father, the God of all
creation, the Lord of universes."
To the Greek contractor and builder he said: "My friend, as you build the
material structures of men, grow a spiritual character in the similitude of the
divine spirit within your soul. Do not let your achievement as a temporal
builder outrun your attainment as a spiritual son of the kingdom of heaven.
While you build the mansions of time for another, neglect not to secure your
title to the mansions of eternity for yourself. Ever remember, there is a city
whose foundations are righteousness and truth, and whose builder and maker is
God."
To the Roman judge he said: "As you judge men, remember that you yourself will
also some day come to judgment before the bar of the Rulers of a uni-
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verse. Judge justly, even mercifully, even as you shall some day thus crave
merciful consideration at the hands of the Supreme Arbiter. Judge as you would
be judged under similar circumstances, thus being guided by the spirit of the
law as well as by its letter. And even as you accord justice dominated by
fairness in the light of the need of those who are brought before you, so shall
you have the right to expect justice tempered by mercy when you sometime stand
before the Judge of all the earth."
To the mistress of the Greek inn he said: "Minister your hospitality as one who
entertains the children of the Most High. Elevate the drudgery of your daily
toil to the high levels of a fine art through the increasing realization that
you minister to God in the persons whom he indwells by his spirit which has
descended to live within the hearts of men, thereby seeking to transform their
minds and lead their souls to the knowledge of the Paradise Father of all these
bestowed gifts of the divine spirit."
Jesus had many visits with a Chinese merchant. In saying good-bye, he
admonished him: "Worship only God, who is your true spirit ancestor. Remember
that the Father's spirit ever lives within you and always points your
soul-direction heavenward. If you follow the unconscious leadings of this
immortal spirit, you are certain to continue on in the uplifted way of finding
God. And when you do attain the Father in heaven, it will be because by seeking
him you have become more and more like him. And so farewell, Chang, but only
for a season, for we shall meet again in the worlds of light where the Father
of spirit souls has provided many delightful stopping-places for those who are
Paradise-bound."
To the traveler from Britain he said: "My brother, I perceive you are seeking
for truth, and I suggest that the spirit of the Father of all truth may chance
to dwell within you. Did you ever sincerely endeavor to talk with the spirit of
your own soul? Such a thing is indeed difficult and seldom yields consciousness
of success; but every honest attempt of the material mind to communicate with
its indwelling spirit meets with certain success, notwithstanding that the
majority of all such magnificent human experiences must long remain as
superconscious registrations in the souls of such God-knowing mortals."
To the runaway lad Jesus said: "Remember, there are two things you cannot run
away from--God and yourself. Wherever you may go, you take with you yourself
and the spirit of the heavenly Father which lives within your heart. My son,
stop trying to deceive yourself; settle down to the courageous practice of
facing the facts of life; lay firm hold on the assurances of sonship with God
and the certainty of eternal life, as I have instructed you. From this day on
purpose to be a real man, a man determined to face life bravely and
intelligently."
To the condemned criminal he said at the last hour: "My brother, you have
fallen on evil times. You lost your way; you became entangled in the meshes of
crime. From talking to you, I well know you did not plan to do the thing which
is about to cost you your temporal life. But you did do this evil, and your
fellows have adjudged you guilty; they have determined that you shall die. You
or I may not deny the state this right of self-defense in the manner of its own
choosing. There seems to be no way of humanly escaping the penalty of your
wrong-doing. Your fellows must judge you by what you did, but there is a Judge
to whom you may appeal for forgiveness, and who will judge you by your real
motives
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and better intentions. You need not fear to meet the judgment of God if your
repentance is genuine and your faith sincere. The fact that your error carries
with it the death penalty imposed by man does not prejudice the chance of your
soul to obtain justice and enjoy mercy before the heavenly courts."
Jesus enjoyed many intimate talks with a large number of hungry souls, too many
to find a place in this record. The three travelers enjoyed their sojourn in
Corinth. Excepting Athens, which was more renowned as an educational center,
Corinth was the most important city in Greece during these Roman times, and
their two months' stay in this thriving commercial center afforded opportunity
for all three of them to gain much valuable experience. Their sojourn in this
city was one of the most interesting of all their stops on the way back from
Rome.
Gonod had many interests in Corinth, but finally his business was finished, and
they prepared to sail for Athens. They traveled on a small boat which could be
carried overland on a land track from one of Corinth's harbors to the other, a
distance of ten miles.
5. AT ATHENS--DISCOURSE ON SCIENCE
They shortly arrived at the olden center of Greek science and learning, and
Ganid was thrilled with the thought of being in Athens, of being in Greece, the
cultural center of the onetime Alexandrian empire, which had extended its
borders even to his own land of India. There was little business to transact;
so Gonod spent most of his time with Jesus and Ganid, visiting the many points
of interest and listening to the interesting discussions of the lad and his
versatile teacher.
A great university still thrived in Athens, and the trio made frequent visits
to its halls of learning. Jesus and Ganid had thoroughly discussed the
teachings of Plato when they attended the lectures in the museum at Alexandria.
They all enjoyed the art of Greece, examples of which were still to be found
here and there about the city.
Both the father and the son greatly enjoyed the discussion on science which
Jesus had at their inn one evening with a Greek philosopher. After this pedant
had talked for almost three hours, and when he had finished his discourse,
Jesus, in terms of modern thought, said:
Scientists may some day measure the energy, or force manifestations, of
gravitation, light, and electricity, but these same scientists can never
(scientifically) tell you what these universe phenomena are. Science deals with
physical-energy activities; religion deals with eternal values. True philosophy
grows out of the wisdom which does its best to correlate these quantitative and
qualitative observations. There always exists the danger that the purely
physical scientist may become afflicted with mathematical pride and statistical
egotism, not to mention spiritual blindness.
Logic is valid in the material world, and mathematics is reliable when limited
in its application to physical things; but neither is to be regarded as wholly
dependable or infallible when applied to life problems. Life embraces phenomena
which are not wholly material. Arithmetic says that, if one man could shear a
sheep in ten minutes, ten men could shear it in one minute. That is sound
mathematics, but it is not true, for the ten men could not so do it; they would
get in one another's way so badly that the work would be greatly delayed.
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Mathematics asserts that, if one person stands for a certain unit of
intellectual and moral value, ten persons would stand for ten times this value.
But in dealing with human personality it would be nearer the truth to say that
such a personality association is a sum equal to the square of the number of
personalities concerned in the equation rather than the simple arithmetical
sum. A social group of human beings in co-ordinated working harmony stands for
a force far greater than the simple sum of its parts.
Quantity may be identified as a fact, thus becoming a scientific uniformity.
Quality, being a matter of mind interpretation, represents an estimate of
values, and must, therefore, remain an experience of the individual. When both
science and religion become less dogmatic and more tolerant of criticism,
philosophy will then begin to achieve unity in the intelligent comprehension of
the universe.
There is unity in the cosmic universe if you could only discern its workings in
actuality. The real universe is friendly to every child of the eternal God. The
real problem is: How can the finite mind of man achieve a logical, true, and
corresponding unity of thought? This universe-knowing state of mind can be had
only by conceiving that the quantitative fact and the qualitative value have a
common causation in the Paradise Father. Such a conception of reality yields a
broader insight into the purposeful unity of universe phenomena; it even
reveals a spiritual goal of progressive personality achievement. And this is a
concept of unity which can sense the unchanging background of a living universe
of continually changing impersonal relations and evolving personal
relationships.
Matter and spirit and the state intervening between them are three interrelated
and interassociated levels of the true unity of the real universe. Regardless
of how divergent the universe phenomena of fact and value may appear to be,
they are, after all, unified in the Supreme.
Reality of material existence attaches to unrecognized energy as well as to
visible matter. When the energies of the universe are so slowed down that they
acquire the requisite degree of motion, then under favorable conditions, these
same energies become mass. And forget not, the mind which can alone perceive
the presence of apparent realities is itself also real. And the fundamental
cause of this universe of energy-mass, mind, and spirit, is eternal--it exists
and consists in the nature and reactions of the Universal Father and his
absolute co-ordinates.
They were all more than astounded at the words of Jesus, and when the Greek
took leave of them, he said: "At last my eyes have beheld a Jew who thinks
something besides racial superiority and talks something besides religion." And
they retired for the night.
The sojourn in Athens was pleasant and profitable, but it was not particularly
fruitful in its human contacts. Too many of the Athenians of that day were
either intellectually proud of their reputation of another day or mentally
stupid and ignorant, being the offspring of the inferior slaves of those
earlier periods when there was glory in Greece and wisdom in the minds of its
people. Even then, there were still many keen minds to be found among the
citizens of Athens.
6. AT EPHESUS--DISCOURSE ON THE SOUL
On leaving Athens, the travelers went by way of Troas to Ephesus, the capital
of the Roman province of Asia. They made many trips out to the famous temple of
Artemis of the Ephesians, about two miles from the city. Artemis was the most
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famous goddess of all Asia Minor and a perpetuation of the still earlier mother
goddess of ancient Anatolian times. The crude idol exhibited in the enormous
temple dedicated to her worship was reputed to have fallen from heaven. Not all
of Ganid's early training to respect images as symbols of divinity had been
eradicated, and he thought it best to purchase a little silver shrine in honor
of this fertility goddess of Asia Minor. That night they talked at great length
about the worship of things made with human hands.
On the third day of their stay they walked down by the river to observe the
dredging of the harbor's mouth. At noon they talked with a young Phoenician who
was homesick and much discouraged; but most of all he was envious of a certain
young man who had received promotion over his head. Jesus spoke comforting
words to him and quoted the olden Hebrew proverb: "A man's gift makes room for
him and brings him before great men."
Of all the large cities they visited on this tour of the Mediterranean, they
here accomplished the least of value to the subsequent work of the Christian
missionaries. Christianity secured its start in Ephesus largely through the
efforts of Paul, who resided here more than two years, making tents for a
living and conducting lectures on religion and philosophy each night in the
main audience chamber of the school of Tyrannus.
There was a progressive thinker connected with this local school of philosophy,
and Jesus had several profitable sessions with him. In the course of these
talks Jesus had repeatedly used the word "soul." This learned Greek finally
asked him what he meant by "soul," and he replied:
"The soul is the self-reflective, truth-discerning, and spirit-perceiving part
of man which forever elevates the human being above the level of the animal
world. Self-consciousness, in and of itself, is not the soul. Moral
self-consciousness is true human self-realization and constitutes the
foundation of the human soul, and the soul is that part of man which represents
the potential survival value of human experience. Moral choice and spiritual
attainment, the ability to know God and the urge to be like him, are the
characteristics of the soul. The soul of man cannot exist apart from moral
thinking and spiritual activity. A stagnant soul is a dying soul. But the soul
of man is distinct from the divine spirit which dwells within the mind. The
divine spirit arrives simultaneously with the first moral activity of the human
mind, and that is the occasion of the birth of the soul.
"The saving or losing of a soul has to do with whether or not the moral
consciousness attains survival status through eternal alliance with its
associated immortal spirit endowment. Salvation is the spiritualization of the
self-realization of the moral consciousness, which thereby becomes possessed of
survival value. All forms of soul conflict consist in the lack of harmony
between the moral, or spiritual, self-consciousness and the purely intellectual
self-consciousness.
"The human soul, when matured, ennobled, and spiritualized, approaches the
heavenly status in that it comes near to being an entity intervening between
the material and the spiritual, the material self and the divine spirit. The
evolving soul of a human being is difficult of description and more difficult
of demonstration because it is not discoverable by the methods of either
material investigation or spiritual proving. Material science cannot
demonstrate the existence of a soul, neither can pure spirit-testing.
Notwithstanding the failure of both material science and spiritual standards to
discover the existence of the human soul, every
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morally conscious mortal the existence of his soul as a real and actual
personal experience."
7. THE SOJOURN AT CYPRUS--DISCOURSE ON MIND
Shortly the travelers set sail for Cyprus, stopping at Rhodes. They enjoyed the
long water voyage and arrived at their island destination much rested in body
and refreshed in spirit.
It was their plan to enjoy a period of real rest and play on this visit to
Cyprus as their tour of the Mediterranean was drawing to a close. They landed
at Paphos and at once began the assembly of supplies for their sojourn of
several weeks in the near-by mountains. On the third day after their arrival
they started for the hills with their well-loaded pack animals.
For two weeks the trio greatly enjoyed themselves, and then, without warning,
young Ganid was suddenly taken grievously ill. For two weeks he suffered from a
raging fever, oftentimes becoming delirious; both Jesus and Gonod were kept
busy attending the sick boy. Jesus skillfully and tenderly cared for the lad,
and the father was amazed by both the gentleness and adeptness manifested in
all his ministry to the afflicted youth. They were far from human habitations,
and the boy was too ill to be moved; so they prepared as best they could to
nurse him back to health right there in the mountains.
During Ganid's convalescence of three weeks Jesus told him many interesting
things about nature and her various moods. And what fun they had as they
wandered over the mountains, the boy asking questions, Jesus answering them,
and the father marveling at the whole performance.
The last week of their sojourn in the mountains Jesus and Ganid had a long talk
on the functions of the human mind. After several hours of discussion the lad
asked this question: "But, Teacher, what do you mean when you say that man
experiences a higher form of self-consciousness than do the higher animals?"
And as restated in modern phraseology, Jesus answered:
My son, I have already told you much about the mind of man and the divine
spirit that lives therein, but now let me emphasize that self-consciousness is
a reality. When any animal becomes self-conscious, it becomes a primitive man.
Such an attainment results from a co-ordination of function between impersonal
energy and spirit-conceiving mind, and it is this phenomenon which warrants the
bestowal of an absolute focal point for the human personality, the spirit of
the Father in heaven.
Ideas are not simply a record of sensations; ideas are sensations plus the
reflective interpretations of the personal self; and the self is more than the
sum of one's sensations. There begins to be something of an approach to unity
in an evolving selfhood, and that unity is derived from the indwelling presence
of a part of absolute unity which spiritually activates such a self-conscious
animal-origin mind.
No mere animal could possess a time self-consciousness. Animals possess a
physiological co-ordination of associated sensation-recognition and memory
thereof, but none experience a meaningful recognition of sensation or exhibit a
purposeful association of these combined physical experiences such as is
manifested in the conclusions of intelligent and reflective human
interpretations. And this fact of self-conscious existence, associated with the
reality of his subsequent
top of page - 1480
spiritual experience, constitutes man a potential son of the universe and
foreshadows his eventual attainment of the Supreme Unity of the universe.
Neither is the human self merely the sum of the successive states of
consciousness. Without the effective functioning of a consciousness sorter and
associater there would not exist sufficient unity to warrant the designation of
a selfhood. Such an ununified mind could hardly attain conscious levels of
human status. If the associations of consciousness were just an accident, the
minds of all men would then exhibit the uncontrolled and random associations of
certain phases of mental madness.
A human mind, built up solely out of the consciousness of physical sensations,
could never attain spiritual levels; this kind of material mind would be
utterly lacking in a sense of moral values and would be without a guiding sense
of spiritual dominance which is so essential to achieving harmonious
personality unity in time, and which is inseparable from personality survival
in eternity.
The human mind early begins to manifest qualities which are supermaterial; the
truly reflective human intellect is not altogether bound by the limits of time.
That individuals so differ in their life performances indicates, not only the
varying endowments of heredity and the different influences of the environment,
but also the degree of unification with the indwelling spirit of the Father
which has been achieved by the self, the measure of the identification of the
one with the other.
The human mind does not well stand the conflict of double allegiance. It is a
severe strain on the soul to undergo the experience of an effort to serve both
good and evil. The supremely happy and efficiently unified mind is the one
wholly dedicated to the doing of the will of the Father in heaven. Unresolved
conflicts destroy unity and may terminate in mind disruption. But the survival
character of a soul is not fostered by attempting to secure peace of mind at
any price, by the surrender of noble aspirations, and by the compromise of
spiritual ideals; rather is such peace attained by the stalwart assertion of
the triumph of that which is true, and this victory is achieved in the
overcoming of evil with the potent force of good.
The next day they departed for Salamis, where they embarked for Antioch on the
Syrian coast.
8. AT ANTIOCH
Antioch was the capital of the Roman province of Syria, and here the imperial
governor had his residence. Antioch had half a million inhabitants; it was the
third city of the empire in size and the first in wickedness and flagrant
immorality. Gonod had considerable business to transact; so Jesus and Ganid
were much by themselves. They visited everything about this polyglot city
except the grove of Daphne. Gonod and Ganid visited this notorious shrine of
shame, but Jesus declined to accompany them. Such scenes were not so shocking
to Indians, but they were repellent to an idealistic Hebrew.
Jesus became sober and reflective as he drew nearer Palestine and the end of
their journey. He visited with few people in Antioch; he seldom went about in
the city. After much questioning as to why his teacher manifested so little
interest in Antioch, Ganid finally induced Jesus to say: "This city is not far
from Palestine; maybe I shall come back here sometime."
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Ganid had a very interesting experience in Antioch. This young man had proved
himself an apt pupil and already had begun to make practical use of some of
Jesus' teachings. There was a certain Indian connected with his father's
business in Antioch who had become so unpleasant and disgruntled that his
dismissal had been considered. When Ganid heard this, he betook himself to his
father's place of business and held a long conference with his fellow
countryman. This man felt he had been put at the wrong job. Ganid told him
about the Father in heaven and in many ways expanded his views of religion. But
of all that Ganid said, the quotation of a Hebrew proverb did the most good,
and that word of wisdom was: "Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do that with
all your might."
After preparing their luggage for the camel caravan, they passed on down to
Sidon and thence over to Damascus, and after three days they made ready for the
long trek across the desert sands.
9. IN MESOPOTAMIA
The caravan trip across the desert was not a new experience for these
much-traveled men. After Ganid had watched his teacher help with the loading of
their twenty camels and observed him volunteer to drive their own animal, he
exclaimed, "Teacher, is there anything that you cannot do?" Jesus only smiled,
saying, "The teacher surely is not without honor in the eyes of a diligent
pupil." And so they set forth for the ancient city of Ur.
Jesus was much interested in the early history of Ur, the birthplace of
Abraham, and he was equally fascinated with the ruins and traditions of Susa,
so much so that Gonod and Ganid extended their stay in these parts three weeks
in order to afford Jesus more time to conduct his investigations and also to
provide the better opportunity to persuade him to go back to India with them.
It was at Ur that Ganid had a long talk with Jesus regarding the difference
between knowledge, wisdom, and truth. And he was greatly charmed with the
saying of the Hebrew wise man: "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get
wisdom. With all your quest for knowledge, get understanding. Exalt wisdom and
she will promote you. She will bring you to honor if you will but embrace her."
At last the day came for the separation. They were all brave, especially the
lad, but it was a trying ordeal. They were tearful of eye but courageous of
heart. In bidding his teacher farewell, Ganid said: "Farewell, Teacher, but not
forever. When I come again to Damascus, I will look for you. I love you, for I
think the Father in heaven must be something like you; at least I know you are
much like what you have told me about him. I will remember your teaching, but
most of all, I will never forget you." Said the father, "Farewell to a great
teacher, one who has made us better and helped us to know God." And Jesus
replied, "Peace be upon you, and may the blessing of the Father in heaven ever
abide with you." And Jesus stood on the shore and watched as the small boat
carried them out to their anchored ship. Thus the Master left his friends from
India at Charax, never to see them again in this world; nor were they, in this
world, ever to know that the man who later appeared as Jesus of Nazareth was
this same friend they had just taken leave of--Joshua their teacher.
In India, Ganid grew up to become an influential man, a worthy successor of his
eminent father, and he spread abroad many of the noble truths which he had
top of page - 1482
learned from Jesus, his beloved teacher. Later on in life, when Ganid heard of
the strange teacher in Palestine who terminated his career on a cross, though
he recognized the similarity between the gospel of this Son of Man and the
teachings of his Jewish tutor, it never occurred to him that these two were
actually the same person.
Thus ended that chapter in the life of the Son of Man which might be termed:
The mission of Joshua the teacher.
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Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART IV: The Life and Teachings
of Jesus : The Bestowal Of Michael On Urantia The Times Of Michael's Bestowal
Birth And Infancy Of Jesus The Early Childhood Of Jesus The Later Childhood Of
Jesus Jesus At Jerusalem The Two Crucial Years The Adolescent Years Jesus'
Early Manhood The Later Adult Life Of Jesus On The Way To Rome The World's
Religions The Sojourn At Rome The Return From Rome The Transition Years John
The Baptist Baptism And The Forty Days Tarrying Time In Galilee Training The
Kingdom's Messengers The Twelve Apostles The Ordination Of The Twelve Beginning
The Public Work The Passover At Jerusalem Going Through Samaria At Gilboa And
In The Decapolis Four Eventful Days At Capernaum First Preaching Tour Of
Galilee The Interlude Visit To Jerusalem Training Evangelists At Bethsaida The
Second Preaching Tour The Third Preaching Tour Tarrying And Teaching By The
Seaside Events Leading Up To The Capernaum Crisis The Crisis At Capernaum Last
Days At Capernaum Fleeing Through Northern Galilee The Sojourn At Tyre And
Sidon At Caesarea-philippi The Mount Of Transfiguration The Decapolis Tour
Rodan Of Alexandria Further Discussions With Rodan At The Feast Of Tabernacles
Ordination Of The Seventy At Magadan At The Feast Of Dedication The Perean
Mission Begins Last Visit To Northern Perea The Visit To Philadelphia The
Resurrection Of Lazarus Last Teaching At Pella The Kingdom Of Heaven On The Way
To Jerusalem Going Into Jerusalem Monday In Jerusalem Tuesday Morning In The
Temple The Last Temple Discourse Tuesday Evening On Mount Olivet Wednesday, The
Rest Day Last Day At The Camp The Last Supper The Farewell Discourse Final
Admonitions And Warnings In Gethsemane The Betrayal And Arrest Of Jesus Before
The Sanhedrin Court The Trial Before Pilate Just Before The Crucifixion The
Crucifixion The Time Of The Tomb The Resurrection Morontia Appearances Of Jesus
Appearances To The Apostles And Other Leaders Appearances In Galilee Final
Appearances And Ascension Bestowal Of The Spirit Of Truth After Pentecost The
Faith Of Jesus
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