PAPER 127
THE ADOLESCENT YEARS
127:0.1
AS JESUS entered upon his adolescent years, he found
himself the head and sole support of a large family.
Within a few years after his father's death all
their property was gone. As time passed, he became
increasingly conscious of his pre-existence; at the
same time he began more fully to realize that he was
present on earth and in the flesh for the express
purpose of revealing his Paradise Father to the
children of men.
127:0.2
No adolescent youth who has lived or ever will live
on this world or any other world has had or ever
will have more weighty problems to resolve or more
intricate difficulties to untangle. No youth of
Urantia will ever be called upon to pass through
more testing conflicts or more trying situations
than Jesus himself endured during those strenuous
years from fifteen to twenty.
127:0.3
Having thus tasted the actual experience of living
these adolescent years on a world beset by evil and
distraught by sin, the Son of Man became possessed
of full knowledge about the life experience of the
youth of all the realms of Nebadon, and thus forever
he became the understanding refuge for the
distressed and perplexed adolescents of all ages and
on all worlds throughout the local universe.
127:0.4
Slowly, but certainly and by actual experience, this
divine Son is
earning the right to become sovereign of his
universe, the unquestioned and supreme ruler of all
created intelligences on all local universe worlds,
the understanding refuge of the beings of all ages
and of all degrees of personal endowment and
experience.
1. THE SIXTEENTH YEAR (A.D. 10)
127:1.1
The incarnated Son passed through infancy and
experienced an uneventful childhood. Then he emerged
from that testing and trying transition stage
between childhood and young manhood -- he became the
adolescent Jesus.
127:1.2
This year he attained his full physical growth. He
was a virile and comely youth. He became
increasingly sober and serious, but he was kind and
sympathetic. His eye was kind but searching; his
smile was always engaging and reassuring. His voice
was musical but authoritative; his greeting cordial
but unaffected. Always, even in the most commonplace
of contacts, there seemed to be in evidence the
touch of a twofold nature, the human and the divine.
Ever he displayed this combination of the
sympathizing friend and the authoritative teacher.
And these personality traits began early to become
manifest, even in these adolescent years.
127:1.3
This physically strong and robust youth also
acquired the full growth of his human intellect, not
the full experience of human thinking but the
fullness of capacity for such intellectual
development. He possessed a healthy and
well-proportioned body, a keen and analytical mind,
a kind and sympathetic disposition, a somewhat
fluctuating but aggressive temperament, all of which
were becoming organized into a strong, striking, and
attractive personality.
127:1.4
As time went on, it became more difficult for his
mother and his brothers and sisters to understand
him; they stumbled over his sayings and
misinterpreted his doings. They were all unfitted to
comprehend their eldest brother's life because their
mother had given them to understand that he was
destined to become the deliverer of the Jewish
people. After they had received from Mary such
intimations as family secrets, imagine their
confusion when Jesus would make frank denials of all
such ideas and intentions.
127:1.5
This year Simon started to school, and they were
compelled to sell another house. James now took
charge of the teaching of his three sisters, two of
whom were old enough to begin serious study. As soon
as Ruth grew up, she was taken in hand by Miriam and
Martha. Ordinarily the girls of Jewish families
received little education, but Jesus maintained (and
his mother agreed) that girls should go to school
the same as boys, and since the synagogue school
would not receive them, there was nothing to do but
conduct a home school especially for them.
127:1.6
Throughout this year Jesus was closely confined to
the workbench. Fortunately he had plenty of work;
his was of such a superior grade that he was never
idle no matter how slack work might be in that
region. At times he had so much to do that James
would help him.
127:1.7
By the end of this year he had just about made up
his mind that he would, after rearing his family and
seeing them married, enter publicly upon his work as
a teacher of truth and as a revealer of the heavenly
Father to the world. He knew he was not to become
the expected Jewish Messiah, and he concluded that
it was next to useless to discuss these matters with
his mother; he decided to allow her to entertain
whatever ideas she might choose since all he had
said in the past had made little or no impression
upon her and he recalled that his father had never
been able to say anything that would change her
mind. From this year on he talked less and less with
his mother, or anyone else, about these problems.
His was such a peculiar mission that no one living
on earth could give him advice concerning its
prosecution.
127:1.8
He was a real though youthful father to the family;
he spent every possible hour with the youngsters,
and they truly loved him. His mother grieved to see
him work so hard; she sorrowed that he was day by
day toiling at the carpenter's bench earning a
living for the family instead of being, as they had
so fondly planned, at Jerusalem studying with the
rabbis. While there was much about her son that Mary
could not understand, she did love him, and she most
thoroughly appreciated the willing manner in which
he shouldered the responsibility of the home.
2. THE SEVENTEENTH YEAR (A.D. 11)
127:2.1
At about this time there was considerable agitation,
especially at Jerusalem and in Judea, in favor of
rebellion against the payment of taxes to Rome.
There was coming into existence a strong nationalist
party, presently to be called the Zealots. The
Zealots, unlike the Pharisees, were not willing to
await the coming of the Messiah. They proposed to
bring things to a head through political revolt.
127:2.2
A group of organizers from Jerusalem arrived in
Galilee and were making good headway until they
reached Nazareth. When they came to see Jesus, he
listened carefully to them and asked many questions
but refused to join the party. He declined fully to
disclose his reasons for not enlisting, and his
refusal had the effect of keeping out many of his
youthful fellows in Nazareth.
127:2.3
Mary did her best to induce him to enlist, but she
could not budge him. She went so far as to intimate
that his refusal to espouse the nationalist cause at
her behest was insubordination, a violation of his
pledge made upon their return from Jerusalem that he
would be subject to his parents; but in answer to
this insinuation he only laid a kindly hand on her
shoulder and, looking into her face, said: "My
mother, how could you?" And Mary withdrew her
statement.
127:2.4
One of Jesus' uncles (Mary's brother Simon) had
already joined this group, subsequently becoming an
officer in the Galilean division. And for several
years there was something of an estrangement between
Jesus and his uncle.
127:2.5
But trouble began to brew in Nazareth. Jesus'
attitude in these matters had resulted in creating a
division among the Jewish youths of the city. About
half had joined the nationalist organization, and
the other half began the formation of an opposing
group of more moderate patriots, expecting Jesus to
assume the leadership. They were amazed when he
refused the honor offered him, pleading as an excuse
his heavy family responsibilities, which they all
allowed. But the situation was still further
complicated when, presently, a wealthy Jew, Isaac, a
moneylender to the gentiles, came forward agreeing
to support Jesus' family if he would lay down his
tools and assume leadership of these Nazareth
patriots.
127:2.6
Jesus, then scarcely seventeen years of age, was
confronted with one of the most delicate and
difficult situations of his early life. Patriotic
issues, especially when complicated by tax-gathering
foreign oppressors, are always difficult for
spiritual leaders to relate themselves to, and it
was doubly so in this case since the Jewish religion
was involved in all this agitation against Rome.
127:2.7
Jesus' position was made more difficult because his
mother and uncle, and even his younger brother
James, all urged him to join the nationalist cause.
All the better Jews of Nazareth had enlisted, and
those young men who had not joined the movement
would all enlist the moment Jesus changed his mind.
He had but one wise counselor in all Nazareth, his
old teacher, the chazan, who counseled him about his
reply to the citizens' committee of Nazareth when
they came to ask for his answer to the public appeal
which had been made. In all Jesus' young life this
was the very first time he had consciously resorted
to public strategy. Theretofore, always had he
depended upon a frank statement of truth to clarify
the situation, but now he could not declare the full
truth. He could not intimate that he was more than a
man; he could not disclose his idea of the mission
which awaited his attainment of a riper manhood.
Despite these limitations his religious fealty and
national loyalty were directly challenged. His
family was in a turmoil, his youthful friends in
division, and the entire Jewish contingent of the
town in a hubbub. And to think that he was to blame
for it all! And how innocent he had been of all
intention to make trouble of any kind, much less a
disturbance of this sort.
127:2.8
Something had to be done. He must state his
position, and this he did bravely and diplomatically
to the satisfaction of many, but not all. He adhered
to the terms of his original plea, maintaining that
his first duty was to his family, that a widowed
mother and eight brothers and sisters needed
something more than mere money could buy -- the
physical necessities of life -- that they were
entitled to a father's watchcare and guidance, and
that he could not in clear conscience release
himself from the obligation which a cruel accident
had thrust upon him. He paid compliment to his
mother and eldest brother for being willing to
release him but reiterated that loyalty to a dead
father forbade his leaving the family no matter how
much money was forthcoming for their material
support, making his never-to-be-forgotten statement
that "money cannot love." In the course of this
address Jesus made several veiled references to his
"life mission" but explained that, regardless of
whether or not it might be inconsistent with the
military idea, it, along with everything else in his
life, had been given up in order that he might be
able to discharge faithfully his obligation to his
family. Everyone in Nazareth well knew he was a good
father to his family, and this was a matter so near
the heart of every noble Jew that Jesus' plea found
an appreciative response in the hearts of many of
his hearers; and some of those who were not thus
minded were disarmed by a speech made by James,
which, while not on the program, was delivered at
this time. That very day the chazan had rehearsed
James in his speech, but that was their secret.
127:2.9
James stated that he was sure Jesus would help to
liberate his people if he (James) were only old
enough to assume responsibility for the family, and
that, if they would only consent to allow Jesus to
remain "with us, to be our father and teacher, then
you will have not just one leader from Joseph's
family, but presently you will have five loyal
nationalists, for are there not five of us boys to
grow up and come forth from our brother-father's
guidance to serve our nation?" And thus did the lad
bring to a fairly happy ending a very tense and
threatening situation.
127:2.10
The crisis for the time being was over, but never
was this incident forgotten in Nazareth. The
agitation persisted; not again was Jesus in
universal favor; the division of sentiment was never
fully overcome. And this, augmented by other and
subsequent occurrences, was one of the chief reasons
why he moved to Capernaum in later years. Henceforth
Nazareth maintained a division of sentiment
regarding the Son of Man.
127:2.11
James graduated at school this year and began
full-time work at home in the carpenter shop. He had
become a clever worker with tools and now took over
the making of yokes and plows while Jesus began to
do more house finishing and expert cabinet work.
127:2.12
This year Jesus made great progress in the
organization of his mind. Gradually he had brought
his divine and human natures together, and he
accomplished all this organization of intellect by
the force of his own
decisions
and with only the aid of his indwelling Monitor,
just such a Monitor as all normal mortals on all
postbestowal-Son worlds have within their minds. So
far, nothing supernatural had happened in this young
man's career except the visit of a messenger,
dispatched by his elder brother Immanuel, who once
appeared to him during the night at Jerusalem.
3. THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR (A.D. 12)
127:3.1
In the course of this year all the family property,
except the home and garden, was disposed of. The
last piece of Capernaum property (except an equity
in one other), already mortgaged, was sold. The
proceeds were used for taxes, to buy some new tools
for James, and to make a payment on the old family
supply and repair shop near the caravan lot, which
Jesus now proposed to buy back since James was old
enough to work at the house shop and help Mary about
the home. With the financial pressure thus eased for
the time being, Jesus decided to take James to the
Passover. They went up to Jerusalem a day early, to
be alone, going by way of Samaria. They walked, and
Jesus told James about the historic places en route
as his father had taught him on a similar journey
five years before.
127:3.2
In passing through Samaria, they saw many strange
sights. On this journey they talked over many of
their problems, personal, family, and national.
James was a very religious type of lad, and while he
did not fully agree with his mother regarding the
little he knew of the plans concerning Jesus'
lifework, he did look forward to the time when he
would be able to assume responsibility for the
family so that Jesus could begin his mission. He was
very appreciative of Jesus' taking him up to the
Passover, and they talked over the future more fully
than ever before.
127:3.3
Jesus did much thinking as they journeyed through
Samaria, particularly at Bethel and when drinking
from Jacob's well. He and his brother discussed the
traditions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He did much
to prepare James for what he was about to witness at
Jerusalem, thus seeking to lessen the shock such as
he himself had experienced on his first visit to the
temple. But James was not so sensitive to some of
these sights. He commented on the perfunctory and
heartless manner in which some of the priests
performed their duties but on the whole greatly
enjoyed his sojourn at Jerusalem.
127:3.4
Jesus took James to Bethany for the Passover supper.
Simon had been laid to rest with his fathers, and
Jesus presided over this household as the head of
the Passover family, having brought the paschal lamb
from the temple.
127:3.5
After the Passover supper Mary sat down to talk with
James while Martha, Lazarus, and Jesus talked
together far into the night. The next day they
attended the temple services, and James was received
into the commonwealth of Israel. That morning, as
they paused on the brow of Olivet to view the
temple, while James exclaimed in wonder, Jesus gazed
on Jerusalem in silence. James could not comprehend
his brother's demeanor. That night they again
returned to Bethany and would have departed for home
the next day, but James was insistent on their going
back to visit the temple, explaining that he wanted
to hear the teachers. And while this was true,
secretly in his heart he wanted to hear Jesus
participate in the discussions, as he had heard his
mother tell about. Accordingly, they went to the
temple and heard the discussions, but Jesus asked no
questions. It all seemed so puerile and
insignificant to this awakening mind of man and God
-- he could only pity them. James was disappointed
that Jesus said nothing. To his inquiries Jesus only
made reply, "My hour has not yet come."
127:3.6
The next day they journeyed home by Jericho and the
Jordan valley, and Jesus recounted many things by
the way, including his former trip over this road
when he was thirteen years old.
127:3.7
Upon returning to Nazareth, Jesus began work in the
old family repair shop and was greatly cheered by
being able to meet so many people each day from all
parts of the country and surrounding districts.
Jesus truly loved people -- just common folks. Each
month he made his payments on the shop and, with
James's help, continued to provide for the family.
127:3.8
Several times a year, when visitors were not present
thus to function, Jesus continued to read the
Sabbath scriptures at the synagogue and many times
offered comments on the lesson, but usually he so
selected the passages that comment was unnecessary.
He was skillful, so arranging the order of the
reading of the various passages that the one would
illuminate the other. He never failed, weather
permitting, to take his brothers and sisters out on
Sabbath afternoons for their nature strolls.
127:3.9
About this time the chazan inaugurated a young men's
club for philosophic discussion which met at the
homes of different members and often at his own
home, and Jesus became a prominent member of this
group. By this means he was enabled to regain some
of the local prestige which he had lost at the time
of the recent nationalistic controversies.
127:3.10
His social life, while restricted, was not wholly
neglected. He had many warm friends and stanch
admirers among both the young men and the young
women of Nazareth.
127:3.11
In September, Elizabeth and John came to visit the
Nazareth family. John, having lost his father,
intended to return to the Judean hills to engage in
agriculture and sheep raising unless Jesus advised
him to remain in Nazareth to take up carpentry or
some other line of work. They did not know that the
Nazareth family was practically penniless. The more
Mary and Elizabeth talked about their sons, the more
they became convinced that it would be good for the
two young men to work together and see more of each
other.
127:3.12
Jesus and John had many talks together; and they
talked over some very intimate and personal matters.
When they had finished this visit, they decided not
again to see each other until they should meet in
their public service after "the heavenly Father
should call" them to their work. John was
tremendously impressed by what he saw at Nazareth
that he should return home and labor for the support
of his mother. He became convinced that he was to be
a part of Jesus' life mission, but he saw that Jesus
was to occupy many years with the rearing of his
family; so he was much more content to return to his
home and settle down to the care of their little
farm and to minister to the needs of his mother. And
never again did John and Jesus see each other until
that day by the Jordan when the Son of Man presented
himself for baptism.
127:3.13
On Saturday afternoon, December 3, of this year,
death for the second time struck at this Nazareth
family. Little Amos, their baby brother, died after
a week's illness with a high fever. After passing
through this time of sorrow with her first-born son
as her only support, Mary at last and in the fullest
sense recognized Jesus as the real head of the
family; and he was truly a worthy head.
127:3.14
For four years their standard of living had steadily
declined; year by year they felt the pinch of
increasing poverty. By the close of this year they
faced one of the most difficult experiences of all
their uphill struggles. James had not yet begun to
earn much, and the expenses of a funeral on top of
everything else staggered them. But Jesus would only
say to his anxious and grieving mother:
"Mother-Mary, sorrow will not help us; we are all
doing our best, and mother's smile, perchance, might
even inspire us to do better. Day by day we are
strengthened for these tasks by our hope of better
days ahead." His sturdy and practical optimism was
truly contagious; all the children lived in an
atmosphere of anticipation of better times and
better things. And this hopeful courage contributed
mightily to the development of strong and noble
characters, in spite of the depressiveness of their
poverty.
127:3.15
Jesus possessed the ability effectively to mobilize
all his powers of mind, soul, and body on the task
immediately in hand. He could concentrate his
deep-thinking mind on the one problem which he
wished to solve, and this, in connection with his
untiring
patience, enabled him serenely to endure the
trials of a difficult mortal existence -- to live as
if he were "seeing Him who is invisible."
4. THE NINETEENTH YEAR (A.D. 13)
127:4.1
By this time Jesus and Mary were getting along much
better. She regarded him less as a son; he had
become to her more a father to her children. Each
day's life swarmed with practical and immediate
difficulties. Less frequently they spoke of his
lifework, for, as time passed, all their thought was
mutually devoted to the support and upbringing of
their family of four boys and three girls.
127:4.2
By the beginning of this year Jesus had fully won
his mother to the acceptance of his methods of child
training -- the positive injunction to do good in
the place of the older Jewish method of forbidding
to do evil. In his home and throughout his
public-teaching career Jesus invariably employed the
positive
form of exhortation. Always and everywhere did he
say, "You shall do this -- you ought to do that."
Never did he employ the negative mode of teaching
derived from the ancient taboos. He refrained from
placing emphasis on evil by forbidding it, while he
exalted the good by commanding its performance.
Prayer time in this household was the occasion for
discussing anything and everything relating to the
welfare of the family.
127:4.3
Jesus began wise discipline upon his brothers and
sisters at such an early age that little or no
punishment was ever required to secure their prompt
and wholehearted obedience. The only exception was
Jude, upon whom on sundry occasions Jesus found it
necessary to impose penalties for his infractions of
the rules of the home. On three occasions when it
was deemed wise to punish Jude for self-confessed
and deliberate violations of the family rules of
conduct, his punishment was fixed by the unanimous
decree of the older children and was assented to by
Jude himself before it was inflicted.
127:4.4
While Jesus was most methodical and systematic in
everything he did, there was also in all his
administrative rulings a refreshing elasticity of
interpretation and an individuality of adaptation
that greatly impressed all the children with the
spirit of justice which actuated their
father-brother. He never arbitrarily disciplined his
brothers and sisters, and such uniform fairness and
personal consideration greatly endeared Jesus to all
his family.
127:4.5
James and Simon grew up trying to follow Jesus' plan
of placating their bellicose and sometimes irate
playmates by persuasion and nonresistance, and they
were fairly successful; but Joseph and Jude, while
assenting to such teachings at home, made haste to
defend themselves when assailed by their comrades;
in particular was Jude guilty of violating the
spirit of these teachings. But nonresistance was not
a rule of
the family. No penalty was attached to the violation
of personal teachings.
127:4.6
In general, all of the children, particularly the
girls, would consult Jesus about their childhood
troubles and confide in him just as they would have
in an affectionate father.
127:4.7
James was growing up to be a well-balanced and
even-tempered youth, but he was not so spiritually
inclined as Jesus. He was a much better student than
Joseph, who, while a faithful worker, was even less
spiritually minded. Joseph was a plodder and not up
to the intellectual level of the other children.
Simon was a well-meaning boy but too much of a
dreamer. He was slow in getting settled down in life
and was the cause of considerable anxiety to Jesus
and Mary. But he was always a good and
well-intentioned lad. Jude was a firebrand. He had
the highest of ideals, but he was unstable in
temperament. He had all and more of his mother's
determination and aggressiveness, but he lacked much
of her sense of proportion and discretion.
127:4.8
Miriam was a well-balanced and level-headed daughter
with a keen appreciation of things noble and
spiritual. Martha was slow in thought and action but
a very dependable and efficient child. Baby Ruth was
the sunshine of the home; though thoughtless of
speech, she was most sincere of heart. She just
about worshiped her big brother and father. But they
did not spoil her. She was a beautiful child but not
quite so comely as Miriam, who was the belle of the
family, if not of the city.
127:4.9
As time passed, Jesus did much to liberalize and
modify the family teachings and practices related to
Sabbath observance and many other phases of
religion, and to all these changes Mary gave hearty
assent. By this time Jesus had become the
unquestioned head of the house.
127:4.10
This year Jude started to school, and it was
necessary for Jesus to sell his harp in order to
defray these expenses. Thus disappeared the last of
his recreational pleasures. He much loved to play
the harp when tired in mind and weary in body, but
he comforted himself with the thought that at least
the harp was safe from seizure by the tax collector.
5. REBECCA, THE DAUGHTER OF EZRA
127:5.1
Although Jesus was poor, his social standing in
Nazareth was in no way impaired. He was one of the
foremost young men of the city and very highly
regarded by most of the young women. Since Jesus was
such a splendid specimen of robust and intellectual
manhood, and considering his reputation as a
spiritual leader, it was not strange that Rebecca,
the eldest daughter of Ezra, a wealthy merchant and
trader of Nazareth, should discover that she was
slowly falling in love with this son of Joseph. She
first confided her affection to Miriam, Jesus'
sister, and Miriam in turn talked all this over with
her mother. Mary was intensely aroused. Was she
about to lose her son, now become the indispensable
head of the family? Would troubles never cease? What
next could happen? And then she paused to
contemplate what effect marriage would have upon
Jesus' future career; not often, but at least
sometimes, did she recall the fact that Jesus was a
"child of promise." After she and Miriam had talked
this matter over, they decided to make an effort to
stop it before Jesus learned about it, by going
direct to Rebecca, laying the whole story before
her, and honestly telling her about their belief
that Jesus was a son of destiny; that he was to
become a great religious leader, perhaps the
Messiah.
127:5.2
Rebecca listened intently; she was thrilled with the
recital and more than ever determined to cast her
lot with this man of her choice and to share his
career of leadership. She argued (to herself) that
such a man would all the more need a faithful and
efficient wife. She interpreted Mary's efforts to
dissuade her as a natural reaction to the dread of
losing the head and sole support of her family; but
knowing that her father approved of her attraction
for the carpenter's son, she rightly reckoned that
he would gladly supply the family with sufficient
income fully to compensate for the loss of Jesus'
earnings. When her father agreed to such a plan,
Rebecca had further conferences with Mary and
Miriam, and when she failed to win their support,
she made bold to go directly to Jesus. This she did
with the co-operation of her father, who invited
Jesus to their home for the celebration of Rebecca's
seventeenth birthday.
127:5.3
Jesus listened attentively and sympathetically to
the recital of these things, first by the father,
then by Rebecca herself. He made kindly reply to the
effect that no amount of money could take the place
of his obligation personally to rear his father's
family, to "fulfill the most sacred of all human
trusts -- loyalty to one's own flesh and blood."
Rebecca's father was deeply touched by Jesus' words
of family devotion and retired from the conference.
His only remark to Mary, his wife, was: "We can't
have him for a son; he is too noble for us."
127:5.4
Then began that eventful talk with Rebecca. Thus far
in his life, Jesus had made little distinction in
his association with boys and girls, with young men
and young women. His mind had been altogether too
much occupied with the pressing problems of
practical earthly affairs and the intriguing
contemplation of his eventual career "about his
Father's business" ever to have given serious
consideration to the consummation of personal love
in human marriage. But now he was face to face with
another of those problems which every average human
being must confront and decide. Indeed was he
"tested in all points like as you are."
127:5.5
After listening attentively, he sincerely thanked
Rebecca for her expressed admiration, adding, "it
shall cheer and comfort me all the days of my life."
He explained that he was not free to enter into
relations with any woman other than those of simple
brotherly regard and pure friendship. He made it
clear that his first and paramount duty was the
rearing of his father's family, that he could not
consider marriage until that was accomplished; and
then he added: "If I am a son of destiny, I must not
assume obligations of lifelong duration until such a
time as my destiny shall be made manifest."
127:5.6
Rebecca was heartbroken. She refused to be comforted
and importuned her father to leave Nazareth until he
finally consented to move to Sepphoris. In after
years, to the many men who sought her hand in
marriage, Rebecca had but one answer. She lived for
only one purpose -- to await the hour when this, to
her, the greatest man who ever lived would begin his
career as a teacher of living truth. And she
followed him devotedly through his eventful years of
public labor, being present (unobserved by Jesus)
that day when he rode triumphantly into Jerusalem;
and she stood "among the other women" by the side of
Mary on that fateful and tragic afternoon when the
Son of Man hung upon the cross, to her, as well as
to countless worlds on high, "the one altogether
lovely and the greatest among ten thousand."
6. HIS TWENTIETH YEAR (A.D. 14)
127:6.1
The story of Rebecca's love for Jesus was whispered
about Nazareth and later on at Capernaum, so that,
while in the years to follow many women loved Jesus
even as men loved him, not again did he have to
reject the personal proffer of another good woman's
devotion. From this time on human affection for
Jesus partook more of the nature of worshipful and
adoring regard. Both men and women loved him
devotedly and for what he was, not with any tinge of
self-satisfaction or desire for affectionate
possession. But for many years, whenever the story
of Jesus' human personality was recited, the
devotion of Rebecca was recounted.
127:6.2
Miriam, knowing fully about the affair of Rebecca
and knowing how her brother had forsaken even the
love of a beautiful maiden (not realizing the factor
of his future career of destiny), came to idealize
Jesus and to love him with a touching and profound
affection as for a father as well as for a brother.
127:6.3
Although they could hardly afford it, Jesus had a
strange longing to go up to Jerusalem for the
Passover. His mother, knowing of his recent
experience with Rebecca, wisely urged him to make
the journey. He was not markedly conscious of it,
but what he most wanted was an opportunity to talk
with Lazarus and to visit with Martha and Mary. Next
to his own family he loved these three most of all.
127:6.4
In making this trip to Jerusalem, he went by way of
Megiddo, Antipatris, and Lydda, in part covering the
same route traversed when he was brought back to
Nazareth on the return from Egypt. He spent four
days going up to the Passover and thought much about
the past events which had transpired in and around
Megiddo, the international battlefield of Palestine.
127:6.5
Jesus passed on through Jerusalem, only pausing to
look upon the temple and the gathering throngs of
visitors. He had a strange and increasing aversion
to this Herod-built temple with its politically
appointed priesthood. He wanted most of all to see
Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Lazarus was the same age
as Jesus and now head of the house; by the time of
this visit Lazarus's mother had also been laid to
rest. Martha was a little over one year older than
Jesus, while Mary was two years younger. And Jesus
was the idolized ideal of all three of them.
127:6.6
On this visit occurred one of those periodic
outbreaks of rebellion against tradition -- the
expression of resentment for those ceremonial
practices which Jesus deemed misrepresentative of
his Father in heaven. Not knowing Jesus was coming,
Lazarus had arranged to celebrate the Passover with
friends in an adjoining village down the Jericho
road. Jesus now proposed that they celebrate the
feast where they were, at Lazarus's house. "But,"
said Lazarus, "we have no paschal lamb." And then
Jesus entered upon a prolonged and convincing
dissertation to the effect that the Father in heaven
was not truly concerned with such childlike and
meaningless rituals. After solemn and fervent prayer
they rose, and Jesus said: "Let the childlike and
darkened minds of my people serve their God as Moses
directed; it is better that they do, but let us who
have seen the light of life no longer approach our
Father by the darkness of death. Let us be free in
the knowledge of the truth of our Father's eternal
love."
127:6.7
That evening about twilight these four sat down and
partook of the first Passover feast ever to be
celebrated by devout Jews without the paschal lamb.
The unleavened bread and the wine had been made
ready for this Passover, and these emblems, which
Jesus termed "the bread of life" and "the water of
life," he served to his companions, and they ate in
solemn conformity with the teachings just imparted.
It was his custom to engage in this sacramental
ritual whenever he paid subsequent visits to
Bethany. When he returned home, he told all this to
his mother. She was shocked at first but came
gradually to see his viewpoint; nevertheless, she
was greatly relieved when Jesus assured her that he
did not intend to introduce this new idea of the
Passover in their family. At home with the children
he continued, year by year, to eat the Passover
"according to the law of Moses."
127:6.8
It was during this year that Mary had a long talk
with Jesus about marriage. She frankly asked him if
he would get married if he were free from his family
responsibilities. Jesus explained to her that, since
immediate duty forbade his marriage, he had given
the subject little thought. He expressed himself as
doubting that he would ever enter the marriage
state; he said that all such things must await "my
hour," the time when "my Father's work must begin."
Having settled already in his mind that he was not
to become the father of children in the flesh, he
gave very little thought to the subject of human
marriage.
127:6.9
This year he began anew the task of further weaving
his mortal and divine natures into a simple and
effective
human individuality. And he continued to grow in
moral status and spiritual understanding.
127:6.10
Although all their Nazareth property (except their
home) was gone, this year they received a little
financial help from the sale of an equity in a piece
of property in Capernaum. This was the last of
Joseph's entire estate. This real estate deal in
Capernaum was with a boatbuilder named Zebedee.
127:6.11
Joseph graduated at the synagogue school this year
and prepared to begin work at the small bench in the
home carpenter shop. Although the estate of their
father was exhausted, there were prospects that they
would successfully fight off poverty since three of
them were now regularly at work.
127:6.12
Jesus is rapidly becoming a man, not just a young
man but an adult. He has learned well to bear
responsibility. He knows how to carry on in the face
of disappointment. He bears up bravely when his
plans are thwarted and his purposes temporarily
defeated. He has learned how to be fair and just
even in the face of injustice. He is learning how to
adjust his ideals of spiritual living to the
practical demands of earthly existence. He is
learning how to plan for the achievement of a higher
and distant goal of idealism while he toils
earnestly for the attainment of a nearer and
immediate goal of necessity. He is steadily
acquiring the art of adjusting his aspirations to
the commonplace demands of the human occasion. He
has very nearly mastered the technique of utilizing
the energy of the spiritual drive to turn the
mechanism of material achievement. He is slowly
learning how to live the heavenly life while he
continues on with the earthly existence. More and
more he depends upon the ultimate guidance of his
heavenly Father while he assumes the fatherly role
of guiding and directing the children of his earth
family. He is becoming experienced in the skillful
wresting of victory from the very jaws of defeat; he
is learning how to transform the difficulties of
time into the triumphs of eternity.
127:6.13
And so, as the years pass, this young man of
Nazareth continues to experience life as it is lived
in mortal flesh on the worlds of time and space. He
lives a full, representative, and replete life on
Urantia. He left this world ripe in the experience
which his creatures pass through during the short
and strenuous years of their first life, the life in
the flesh. And all this human experience is an
eternal possession of the Universe Sovereign. He is
our understanding brother, sympathetic friend,
experienced sovereign, and merciful father.
127:6.14
As a child he accumulated a vast body of knowledge;
as a youth he sorted, classified, and correlated
this information; and now as a man of the realm he
begins to organize these mental possessions
preparatory to utilization in his subsequent
teaching, ministry, and service in behalf of his
fellow mortals on this world and on all other
spheres of habitation throughout the entire universe
of Nebadon.
127:6.15
Born into the world a babe of the realm, he has
lived his childhood life and passed through the
successive stages of youth and young manhood; he now
stands on the threshold of full manhood, rich in the
experience of human living, replete in the
understanding of human nature, and full of sympathy
for the frailties of human nature. He is becoming
expert in the divine art of revealing his Paradise
Father to all ages and stages of mortal creatures.
127:6.16
And now as a full-grown man -- an adult of the realm
-- he prepares to continue his supreme mission of
revealing God to men and leading men to God.
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