PAPER 139
THE TWELVE APOSTLES
139:0.1
IT IS an eloquent testimony to the charm and
righteousness of Jesus' earth life that, although he
repeatedly dashed to pieces the hopes of his
apostles and tore to shreds their every ambition for
personal exaltation, only one deserted him.
139:0.2
The apostles learned from Jesus about the kingdom of
heaven, and Jesus learned much from them about the
kingdom of men, human nature as it lives on Urantia
and on the other evolutionary worlds of time and
space. These twelve men represented many different
types of human temperament, and they had not been
made alike
by schooling. Many of these Galilean fishermen
carried heavy strains of gentile blood as a result
of the forcible conversion of the gentile population
of Galilee one hundred years previously.
139:0.3
Do not make the mistake of regarding the apostles as
being altogether ignorant and unlearned. All of
them, except the Alpheus twins, were graduates of
the synagogue schools, having been thoroughly
trained in the Hebrew scriptures and in much of the
current knowledge of that day. Seven were graduates
of the Capernaum synagogue schools, and there were
no better Jewish schools in all Galilee.
139:0.4
When your records refer to these messengers of the
kingdom as being "ignorant and unlearned," it was
intended to convey the idea that they were laymen,
unlearned in the lore of the rabbis and untrained in
the methods of rabbinical interpretation of the
Scriptures. They were lacking in so-called higher
education. In modern times they would certainly be
considered uneducated, and in some circles of
society even uncultured. One thing is certain: They
had not all been put through the same rigid and
stereotyped educational curriculum. From adolescence
on they had enjoyed separate experiences of learning
how to live.
1. ANDREW, THE FIRST CHOSEN
139:1.1
Andrew, chairman of the apostolic corps of the
kingdom, was born in Capernaum. He was the oldest
child in a family of five -- himself, his brother
Simon, and three sisters. His father, now dead, had
been a partner of Zebedee in the fish-drying
business at Bethsaida, the fishing harbor of
Capernaum. When he became an apostle, Andrew was
unmarried but made his home with his married
brother, Simon Peter. Both were fishermen and
partners of James and John the sons of Zebedee.
139:1.2
In A.D. 26, the year he was chosen as an apostle,
Andrew was 33, a full year older than Jesus and the
oldest of the apostles. He sprang from an excellent
line of ancestors and was the ablest man of the
twelve. Excepting oratory, he was the peer of his
associates in almost every imaginable ability. Jesus
never gave Andrew a nickname, a fraternal
designation. But even as the apostles soon began to
call Jesus Master, so they also designated Andrew by
a term the equivalent of Chief.
139:1.3
Andrew was a good organizer but a better
administrator. He was one of the inner circle of
four apostles, but his appointment by Jesus as the
head of the apostolic group made it necessary for
him to remain on duty with his brethren while the
other three enjoyed very close communion with the
Master. To the very end Andrew remained dean of the
apostolic corps.
139:1.4
Although Andrew was never an effective preacher, he
was an efficient personal worker, being the pioneer
missionary of the kingdom in that, as the first
chosen apostle, he immediately brought to Jesus his
brother, Simon, who subsequently became one of the
greatest preachers of the kingdom. Andrew was the
chief supporter of Jesus' policy of utilizing the
program of personal work as a means of training the
twelve as messengers of the kingdom.
139:1.5
Whether Jesus privately taught the apostles or
preached to the multitude, Andrew was usually
conversant with what was going on; he was an
understanding executive and an efficient
administrator. He rendered a prompt decision on
every matter brought to his notice unless he deemed
the problem one beyond the domain of his authority,
in which event he would take it straight to Jesus.
139:1.6
Andrew and Peter were very unlike in character and
temperament, but it must be recorded everlastingly
to their credit that they got along together
splendidly. Andrew was never jealous of Peter's
oratorical ability. Not often will an older man of
Andrew's type be observed exerting such a profound
influence over a younger and talented brother.
Andrew and Peter never seemed to be in the least
jealous of each other's abilities or achievements.
Late on the evening of the day of Pentecost, when,
largely through the energetic and inspiring
preaching of Peter, two thousand souls were added to
the kingdom, Andrew said to his brother: "I could
not do that, but I am glad I have a brother who
could." To which Peter replied: "And but for your
bringing me to the Master and by your steadfastness
keeping
me with him, I should not have been here to do
this." Andrew and Peter were the exceptions to the
rule, proving that even brothers can live together
peaceably and work together effectively.
139:1.7
After Pentecost Peter was famous, but it never
irritated the older Andrew to spend the rest of his
life being introduced as "Simon Peter's brother."
139:1.8
Of all the apostles, Andrew was the best judge of
men. He knew that trouble was brewing in the heart
of Judas Iscariot even when none of the others
suspected that anything was wrong with their
treasurer; but he told none of them his fears.
Andrew's great service to the kingdom was in
advising Peter, James, and John concerning the
choice of the first missionaries who were sent out
to proclaim the gospel, and also in counseling these
early leaders about the organization of the
administrative affairs of the kingdom. Andrew had a
great gift for discovering the hidden resources and
latent talents of young people.
139:1.9
Very soon after Jesus' ascension on high, Andrew
began the writing of a personal record of many of
the sayings and doings of his departed Master. After
Andrew's death other copies of this private record
were made and circulated freely among the early
teachers of the Christian church. These informal
notes of Andrew's were subsequently edited, amended,
altered, and added to until they made up a fairly
consecutive narrative of the Master's life on earth.
The last of these few altered and amended copies was
destroyed by fire at Alexandria about one hundred
years after the original was written by the first
chosen of the twelve apostles.
139:1.10
Andrew was a man of clear insight, logical thought,
and firm decision, whose great strength of character
consisted in his superb stability. His temperamental
handicap was his lack of enthusiasm; he many times
failed to encourage his associates by judicious
commendation. And this reticence to praise the
worthy accomplishments of his friends grew out of
his abhorrence of flattery and insincerity. Andrew
was one of those all-round, even-tempered,
self-made, and successful men of modest affairs.
139:1.11
Every one of the apostles loved Jesus, but it
remains true that each of the twelve was drawn
toward him because of some certain trait of
personality which made a special appeal to the
individual apostle. Andrew admired Jesus because of
his consistent sincerity, his unaffected dignity.
When men once knew Jesus, they were possessed with
the urge to share him with their friends; they
really wanted all the world to know him.
139:1.12
When the later persecutions finally scattered the
apostles from Jerusalem, Andrew journeyed through
Armenia, Asia Minor, and Macedonia and, after
bringing many thousands into the kingdom, was
finally apprehended and crucified in Patrae in
Achaia. It was two full days before this robust man
expired on the cross, and throughout these tragic
hours he continued effectively to proclaim the glad
tidings of the salvation of the kingdom of heaven.
2. SIMON PETER
139:2.1
When Simon joined the apostles, he was thirty years
of age. He was married, had three children, and
lived at Bethsaida, near Capernaum. His brother,
Andrew, and his wife's mother lived with him. Both
Peter and Andrew were fisher partners of the sons of
Zebedee.
139:2.2
The Master had known Simon for some time before
Andrew presented him as the second of the apostles.
When Jesus gave Simon the name Peter, he did it with
a smile; it was to be a sort of nickname. Simon was
well known to all his friends as an erratic and
impulsive fellow. True, later on, Jesus did attach a
new and significant import to this lightly bestowed
nickname.
139:2.3
Simon Peter was a man of impulse, an optimist. He
had grown up permitting himself freely to indulge
strong feelings; he was constantly getting into
difficulties because he persisted in speaking
without thinking. This sort of thoughtlessness also
made incessant trouble for all of his friends and
associates and was the cause of his receiving many
mild rebukes from his Master. The only reason Peter
did not get into more trouble because of his
thoughtless speaking was that he very early learned
to talk over many of his plans and schemes with his
brother, Andrew, before he ventured to make public
proposals.
139:2.4
Peter was a fluent speaker, eloquent and dramatic.
He was also a natural and inspirational leader of
men, a quick thinker but not a deep reasoner. He
asked many questions, more than all the apostles put
together, and while the majority of these questions
were good and relevant, many of them were
thoughtless and foolish. Peter did not have a deep
mind, but he knew his mind fairly well. He was
therefore a man of quick decision and sudden action.
While others talked in their astonishment at seeing
Jesus on the beach, Peter jumped in and swam ashore
to meet the Master.
139:2.5
The one trait which Peter most admired in Jesus was
his supernal tenderness. Peter never grew weary of
contemplating Jesus' forbearance. He never forgot
the lesson about forgiving the wrongdoer, not only
seven times but seventy times and seven. He thought
much about these impressions of the Master's
forgiving character during those dark and dismal
days immediately following his thoughtless and
unintended denial of Jesus in the high priest's
courtyard.
139:2.6
Simon Peter was distressingly vacillating; he would
suddenly swing from one extreme to the other. First
he refused to let Jesus wash his feet and then, on
hearing the Master's reply, begged to be washed all
over. But, after all, Jesus knew that Peter's faults
were of the head and not of the heart. He was one of
the most inexplicable combinations of courage and
cowardice that ever lived on earth. His great
strength of character was loyalty, friendship. Peter
really and truly loved Jesus. And yet despite this
towering strength of devotion he was so unstable and
inconstant that he permitted a servant girl to tease
him into denying his Lord and Master. Peter could
withstand persecution and any other form of direct
assault, but he withered and shrank before ridicule.
He was a brave soldier when facing a frontal attack,
but he was a fear-cringing coward when surprised
with an assault from the rear.
139:2.7
Peter was the first of Jesus' apostles to come
forward to defend the work of Philip among the
Samaritans and Paul among the gentiles; yet later on
at Antioch he reversed himself when confronted by
ridiculing Judaizers, temporarily withdrawing from
the gentiles only to bring down upon his head the
fearless denunciation of Paul.
139:2.8
He was the first one of the apostles to make
wholehearted confession of Jesus' combined humanity
and divinity and the first -- save Judas -- to deny
him. Peter was not so much of a dreamer, but he
disliked to descend from the clouds of ecstasy and
the enthusiasm of dramatic indulgence to the plain
and matter-of-fact world of reality.
139:2.9
In following Jesus, literally and figuratively, he
was either leading the procession or else trailing
behind -- "following afar off." But he was the
outstanding preacher of the twelve; he did more than
any other one man, aside from Paul, to establish the
kingdom and send its messengers to the four corners
of the earth in one generation.
139:2.10
After his rash denials of the Master he found
himself, and with Andrew's sympathetic and
understanding guidance he again led the way back to
the fish nets while the apostles tarried to find out
what was to happen after the crucifixion. When he
was fully assured that Jesus had forgiven him and
knew he had been received back into the Master's
fold, the fires of the kingdom burned so brightly
within his soul that he became a great and saving
light to thousands who sat in darkness.
139:2.11
After leaving Jerusalem and before Paul became the
leading spirit among the gentile Christian churches,
Peter traveled extensively, visiting all the
churches from Babylon to Corinth. He even visited
and ministered to many of the churches which had
been raised up by Paul. Although Peter and Paul
differed much in temperament and education, even in
theology, they worked together harmoniously for the
upbuilding of the churches during their later years.
139:2.12
Something of Peter's style and teaching is shown in
the sermons partially recorded by Luke and in the
Gospel of Mark. His vigorous style was better shown
in his letter known as the First Epistle of Peter;
at least this was true before it was subsequently
altered by a disciple of Paul.
139:2.13
But Peter persisted in making the mistake of trying
to convince the Jews that Jesus was, after all,
really and truly the Jewish Messiah. Right up to the
day of his death, Simon Peter continued to suffer
confusion in his mind between the concepts of Jesus
as the Jewish Messiah, Christ as the world's
redeemer, and the Son of Man as the revelation of
God, the loving Father of all mankind.
139:2.14
Peter's wife was a very able woman. For years she
labored acceptably as a member of the women's corps,
and when Peter was driven out of Jerusalem, she
accompanied him upon all his journeys to the
churches as well as on all his missionary
excursions. And the day her illustrious husband
yielded up his life, she was thrown to the wild
beasts in the arena at Rome.
139:2.15
And so this man Peter, an intimate of Jesus, one of
the inner circle, went forth from Jerusalem
proclaiming the glad tidings of the kingdom with
power and glory until the fullness of his ministry
had been accomplished; and he regarded himself as
the recipient of high honors when his captors
informed him that he must die as his Master had died
-- on the cross. And thus was Simon Peter crucified
in Rome.
3. JAMES ZEBEDEE
139:3.1
James, the older of the two apostle sons of Zebedee,
whom Jesus nicknamed "sons of thunder," was thirty
years old when he became an apostle. He was married,
had four children, and lived near his parents in the
outskirts of Capernaum, Bethsaida. He was a
fisherman, plying his calling in company with his
younger brother John and in association with Andrew
and Simon. James and his brother John enjoyed the
advantage of having known Jesus longer than any of
the other apostles.
139:3.2
This able apostle was a temperamental contradiction;
he seemed really to possess two natures, both of
which were actuated by strong feelings. He was
particularly vehement when his indignation was once
fully aroused. He had a fiery temper when once it
was adequately provoked, and when the storm was
over, he was always wont to justify and excuse his
anger under the pretense that it was wholly a
manifestation of righteous indignation. Except for
these periodic upheavals of wrath, James's
personality was much like that of Andrew. He did not
have Andrew's discretion or insight into human
nature, but he was a much better public speaker.
Next to Peter, unless it was Matthew, James was the
best public orator among the twelve.
139:3.3
Though James was in no sense moody, he could be
quiet and taciturn one day and a very good talker
and storyteller the next. He usually talked freely
with Jesus, but among the twelve, for days at a time
he was the silent man. His one great weakness was
these spells of unaccountable silence.
139:3.4
The outstanding feature of James's personality was
his ability to see all sides of a proposition. Of
all the twelve, he came the nearest to grasping the
real import and significance of Jesus' teaching. He,
too, was slow at first to comprehend the Master's
meaning, but ere they had finished their training,
he had acquired a superior concept of Jesus'
message. James was able to understand a wide range
of human nature; he got along well with the
versatile Andrew, the impetuous Peter, and his
self-contained brother John.
139:3.5
Though James and John had their troubles trying to
work together, it was inspiring to observe how well
they got along. They did not succeed quite so well
as Andrew and Peter, but they did much better than
would ordinarily be expected of two brothers,
especially such headstrong and determined brothers.
But, strange as it may seem, these two sons of
Zebedee were much more tolerant of each other than
they were of strangers. They had great affection for
one another; they had always been happy playmates.
It was these "sons of thunder" who wanted to call
fire down from heaven to destroy the Samaritans who
presumed to show disrespect for their Master. But
the untimely death of James greatly modified the
vehement temperament of his younger brother John.
139:3.6
That characteristic of Jesus which James most
admired was the Master's sympathetic affection.
Jesus' understanding interest in the small and the
great, the rich and the poor, made a great appeal to
him.
139:3.7
James Zebedee was a well-balanced thinker and
planner. Along with Andrew, he was one of the more
level-headed of the apostolic group. He was a
vigorous individual but was never in a hurry. He was
an excellent balance wheel for Peter.
139:3.8
He was modest and undramatic, a daily server, an
unpretentious worker, seeking no special reward when
he once grasped something of the real meaning of the
kingdom. And even in the story about the mother of
James and John, who asked that her sons be granted
places on the right hand and the left hand of Jesus,
it should be remembered that it was the mother who
made this request. And when they signified that they
were ready to assume such responsibilities, it
should be recognized that they were cognizant of the
dangers accompanying the Master's supposed revolt
against the Roman power, and that they were also
willing to pay the price. When Jesus asked if they
were ready to drink the cup, they replied that they
were. And as concerns James, it was literally true
-- he did drink the cup with the Master, seeing that
he was the first of the apostles to experience
martyrdom, being early put to death with the sword
by Herod Agrippa. James was thus the first of the
twelve to sacrifice his life upon the new battle
line of the kingdom. Herod Agrippa feared James
above all the other apostles. He was indeed often
quiet and silent, but he was brave and determined
when his convictions were aroused and challenged.
139:3.9
James lived his life to the full, and when the end
came, he bore himself with such grace and fortitude
that even his accuser and informer, who attended his
trial and execution, was so touched that he rushed
away from the scene of James's death to join himself
to the disciples of Jesus.
4. JOHN ZEBEDEE
139:4.1
When he became an apostle, John was twenty-four
years old and was the youngest of the twelve. He was
unmarried and lived with his parents at Bethsaida;
he was a fisherman and worked with his brother James
in partnership with Andrew and Peter. Both before
and after becoming an apostle, John functioned as
the personal agent of Jesus in dealing with the
Master's family, and he continued to bear this
responsibility as long as Mary the mother of Jesus
lived.
139:4.2
Since John was the youngest of the twelve and so
closely associated with Jesus in his family affairs,
he was very dear to the Master, but it cannot be
truthfully said that he was "the disciple whom Jesus
loved." You would hardly suspect such a magnanimous
personality as Jesus to be guilty of showing
favoritism, of loving one of his apostles more than
the others. The fact that John was one of the three
personal aides of Jesus lent further color to this
mistaken idea, not to mention that John, along with
his brother James, had known Jesus longer than the
others.
139:4.3
Peter, James, and John were assigned as personal
aides to Jesus soon after they became apostles.
Shortly after the selection of the twelve and at the
time Jesus appointed Andrew to act as director of
the group, he said to him: "And now I desire that
you assign two or three of your associates to be
with me and to remain by my side, to comfort me and
to minister to my daily needs." And Andrew thought
best to select for this special duty the next three
first-chosen apostles. He would have liked to
volunteer for such a blessed service himself, but
the Master had already given him his commission; so
he immediately directed that Peter, James, and John
attach themselves to Jesus.
139:4.4
John Zebedee had many lovely traits of character,
but one which was not so lovely was his inordinate
but usually well-concealed conceit. His long
association with Jesus made many and great changes
in his character. This conceit was greatly lessened,
but after growing old and becoming more or less
childish, this self-esteem reappeared to a certain
extent, so that, when engaged in directing Nathan in
the writing of the Gospel which now bears his name,
the aged apostle did not hesitate repeatedly to
refer to himself as the "disciple whom Jesus loved."
In view of the fact that John came nearer to being
the chum of Jesus than any other earth mortal, that
he was his chosen personal representative in so many
matters, it is not strange that he should have come
to regard himself as the "disciple whom Jesus loved"
since he most certainly knew he was the disciple
whom Jesus so frequently trusted.
139:4.5
The strongest trait in John's character was his
dependability; he was prompt and courageous,
faithful and devoted. His greatest weakness was this
characteristic conceit. He was the youngest member
of his father's family and the youngest of the
apostolic group. Perhaps he was just a bit spoiled;
maybe he had been humored slightly too much. But the
John of after years was a very different type of
person than the self-admiring and arbitrary young
man who joined the ranks of Jesus' apostles when he
was twenty-four.
139:4.6
Those characteristics of Jesus which John most
appreciated were the Master's love and
unselfishness; these traits made such an impression
on him that his whole subsequent life became
dominated by the sentiment of love and brotherly
devotion. He talked about love and wrote about love.
This "son of thunder" became the "apostle of love";
and at Ephesus, when the aged bishop was no longer
able to stand in the pulpit and preach but had to be
carried to church in a chair, and when at the close
of the service he was asked to say a few words to
the believers, for years his only utterance was, "My
little children, love one another."
139:4.7
John was a man of few words except when his temper
was aroused. He thought much but said little. As he
grew older, his temper became more subdued, better
controlled, but he never overcame his disinclination
to talk; he never fully mastered this reticence. But
he was gifted with a remarkable and creative
imagination.
139:4.8
There was another side to John that one would not
expect to find in this quiet and introspective type.
He was somewhat bigoted and inordinately intolerant.
In this respect he and James were much alike -- they
both wanted to call down fire from heaven on the
heads of the disrespectful Samaritans. When John
encountered some strangers teaching in Jesus' name,
he promptly forbade them. But he was not the only
one of the twelve who was tainted with this kind of
self-esteem and superiority consciousness.
139:4.9
John's life was tremendously influenced by the sight
of Jesus' going about without a home as he knew how
faithfully he had made provision for the care of his
mother and family. John also deeply sympathized with
Jesus because of his family's failure to understand
him, being aware that they were gradually
withdrawing from him. This entire situation,
together with Jesus' ever deferring his slightest
wish to the will of the Father in heaven and his
daily life of implicit trust, made such a profound
impression on John that it produced marked and
permanent changes in his character, changes which
manifested themselves throughout his entire
subsequent life.
139:4.10
John had a cool and daring courage which few of the
other apostles possessed. He was the one apostle who
followed right along with Jesus the night of his
arrest and dared to accompany his Master into the
very jaws of death. He was present and near at hand
right up to the last earthly hour and was found
faithfully carrying out his trust with regard to
Jesus' mother and ready to receive such additional
instructions as might be given during the last
moments of the Master's mortal existence. One thing
is certain, John was thoroughly dependable. John
usually sat on Jesus' right hand when the twelve
were at meat. He was the first of the twelve really
and fully to believe in the resurrection, and he was
the first to recognize the Master when he came to
them on the seashore after his resurrection.
139:4.11
This son of Zebedee was very closely associated with
Peter in the early activities of the Christian
movement, becoming one of the chief supporters of
the Jerusalem church. He was the right-hand support
of Peter on the day of Pentecost.
139:4.12
Several years after the martyrdom of James, John
married his brother's widow. The last twenty years
of his life he was cared for by a loving
granddaughter.
139:4.13
John was in prison several times and was banished to
the Isle of Patmos for a period of four years until
another emperor came to power in Rome. Had not John
been tactful and sagacious, he would undoubtedly
have been killed as was his more outspoken brother
James. As the years passed, John, together with
James the Lord's brother, learned to practice wise
conciliation when they appeared before the civil
magistrates. They found that a "soft answer turns
away wrath." They also learned to represent the
church as a "spiritual brotherhood devoted to the
social service of mankind" rather than as "the
kingdom of heaven." They taught loving service
rather than ruling power -- kingdom and king.
139:4.14
When in temporary exile on Patmos, John wrote the
Book of Revelation, which you now have in greatly
abridged and distorted form. This Book of Revelation
contains the surviving fragments of a great
revelation, large portions of which were lost, other
portions of which were removed, subsequent to John's
writing. It is preserved in only fragmentary and
adulterated form.
139:4.15
John traveled much, labored incessantly, and after
becoming bishop of the Asia churches, settled down
at Ephesus. He directed his associate, Nathan, in
the writing of the so-called "Gospel according to
John," at Ephesus, when he was ninety-nine years
old. Of all the twelve apostles, John Zebedee
eventually became the outstanding theologian. He
died a natural death at Ephesus in A.D. 103 when he
was one hundred and one years of age.
5. PHILIP THE CURIOUS
139:5.1
Philip was the fifth apostle to be chosen, being
called when Jesus and his first four apostles were
on their way from John's rendezvous on the Jordan to
Cana of Galilee. Since he lived at Bethsaida, Philip
had for some time known of Jesus, but it had not
occurred to him that Jesus was a really great man
until that day in the Jordan valley when he said,
"Follow me." Philip was also somewhat influenced by
the fact that Andrew, Peter, James, and John had
accepted Jesus as the Deliverer.
139:5.2
Philip was twenty-seven years of age when he joined
the apostles; he had recently been married, but he
had no children at this time. The nickname which the
apostles gave him signified "curiosity." Philip was
always wanting to be shown. He never seemed to see
very far into any proposition. He was not
necessarily dull, but he lacked imagination. This
lack of imagination was the great weakness of his
character. He was a commonplace and matter-of-fact
individual.
139:5.3
When the apostles were organized for service, Philip
was made steward; it was his duty to see that they
were at all times supplied with provisions. And he
was a good steward. His strongest characteristic was
his methodical thoroughness; he was both
mathematical and systematic.
139:5.4
Philip came from a family of seven, three boys and
four girls. He was next to the oldest, and after the
resurrection he baptized his entire family into the
kingdom. Philip's people were fisherfolk. His father
was a very able man, a deep thinker, but his mother
was of a very mediocre family. Philip was not a man
who could be expected to do big things, but he was a
man who could do little things in a big way, do them
well and acceptably. Only a few times in four years
did he fail to have food on hand to satisfy the
needs of all. Even the many emergency demands
attendant upon the life they lived seldom found him
unprepared. The commissary department of the
apostolic family was intelligently and efficiently
managed.
139:5.5
The strong point about Philip was his methodical
reliability; the weak point in his make-up was his
utter lack of imagination, the absence of the
ability to put two and two together to obtain four.
He was mathematical in the abstract but not
constructive in his imagination. He was almost
entirely lacking in certain types of imagination. He
was the typical everyday and commonplace average
man. There were a great many such men and women
among the multitudes who came to hear Jesus teach
and preach, and they derived great comfort from
observing one like themselves elevated to an honored
position in the councils of the Master; they derived
courage from the fact that one like themselves had
already found a high place in the affairs of the
kingdom. And Jesus learned much about the way some
human minds function as he so patiently listened to
Philip's foolish questions and so many times
complied with his steward's request to "be shown."
139:5.6
The one quality about Jesus which Philip so
continuously admired was the Master's unfailing
generosity. Never could Philip find anything in
Jesus which was small, niggardly, or stingy, and he
worshiped this ever-present and unfailing
liberality.
139:5.7
There was little about Philip's personality that was
impressive. He was often spoken of as "Philip of
Bethsaida, the town where Andrew and Peter live." He
was almost without discerning vision; he was unable
to grasp the dramatic possibilities of a given
situation. He was not pessimistic; he was simply
prosaic. He was also greatly lacking in spiritual
insight. He would not hesitate to interrupt Jesus in
the midst of one of the Master's most profound
discourses to ask an apparently foolish question.
But Jesus never reprimanded him for such
thoughtlessness; he was patient with him and
considerate of his inability to grasp the deeper
meanings of the teaching. Jesus well knew that, if
he once rebuked Philip for asking these annoying
questions, he would not only wound this honest soul,
but such a reprimand would so hurt Philip that he
would never again feel free to ask questions. Jesus
knew that on his worlds of space there were untold
billions of similar slow-thinking mortals, and he
wanted to encourage them all to look to him and
always to feel free to come to him with their
questions and problems. After all, Jesus was really
more interested in Philip's foolish questions than
in the sermon he might be preaching. Jesus was
supremely interested in
men, all
kinds of men.
139:5.8
The apostolic steward was not a good public speaker,
but he was a very persuasive and successful personal
worker. He was not easily discouraged; he was a
plodder and very tenacious in anything he undertook.
He had that great and rare gift of saying, "Come."
When his first convert, Nathaniel, wanted to argue
about the merits and demerits of Jesus and Nazareth,
Philip's effective reply was, "Come and see." He was
not a dogmatic preacher who exhorted his hearers to
"Go" -- do this and do that. He met all situations
as they arose in his work with "Come" -- "come with
me; I will show you the way." And that is always the
effective technique in all forms and phases of
teaching. Even parents may learn from Philip the
better way of saying to their children
not "Go
do this and go do that," but rather, "Come with us
while we show and share with you the better way."
139:5.9
The inability of Philip to adapt himself to a new
situation was well shown when the Greeks came to him
at Jerusalem, saying: "Sir, we desire to see Jesus."
Now Philip would have said to any Jew asking such a
question, "Come." But these men were foreigners, and
Philip could remember no instructions from his
superiors regarding such matters; so the only thing
he could think to do was to consult the chief,
Andrew, and then they both escorted the inquiring
Greeks to Jesus. Likewise, when he went into Samaria
preaching and baptizing believers, as he had been
instructed by his Master, he refrained from laying
hands on his converts in token of their having
received the Spirit of Truth. This was done by Peter
and John, who presently came down from Jerusalem to
observe his work in behalf of the mother church.
139:5.10
Philip went on through the trying times of the
Master's death, participated in the reorganization
of the twelve, and was the first to go forth to win
souls for the kingdom outside of the immediate
Jewish ranks, being most successful in his work for
the Samaritans and in all his subsequent labors in
behalf of the gospel.
139:5.11
Philip's wife, who was an efficient member of the
women's corps, became actively associated with her
husband in his evangelistic work after their flight
from the Jerusalem persecutions. His wife was a
fearless woman. She stood at the foot of Philip's
cross encouraging him to proclaim the glad tidings
even to his murderers, and when his strength failed,
she began the recital of the story of salvation by
faith in Jesus and was silenced only when the irate
Jews rushed upon her and stoned her to death. Their
eldest daughter, Leah, continued their work, later
on becoming the renowned prophetess of Hierapolis.
139:5.12
Philip, the onetime steward of the twelve, was a
mighty man in the kingdom, winning souls wherever he
went; and he was finally crucified for his faith and
buried at Hierapolis.
6. HONEST NATHANIEL
139:6.1
Nathaniel, the sixth and last of the apostles to be
chosen by the Master himself, was brought to Jesus
by his friend Philip. He had been associated in
several business enterprises with Philip and, with
him, was on the way down to see John the Baptist
when they encountered Jesus.
139:6.2
When Nathaniel joined the apostles, he was
twenty-five years old and was the next to the
youngest of the group. He was the youngest of a
family of seven, was unmarried, and the only support
of aged and infirm parents, with whom he lived at
Cana; his brothers and sister were either married or
deceased, and none lived there. Nathaniel and Judas
Iscariot were the two best educated men among the
twelve. Nathaniel had thought to become a merchant.
139:6.3
Jesus did not himself give Nathaniel a nickname, but
the twelve soon began to speak of him in terms that
signified honesty, sincerity. He was "without
guile." And this was his great virtue; he was both
honest and sincere. The weakness of his character
was his pride; he was very proud of his family, his
city, his reputation, and his nation, all of which
is commendable if it is not carried too far. But
Nathaniel was inclined to go to extremes with his
personal prejudices. He was disposed to prejudge
individuals in accordance with his personal
opinions. He was not slow to ask the question, even
before he had met Jesus, "Can any good thing come
out of Nazareth?" But Nathaniel was not obstinate,
even if he was proud. He was quick to reverse
himself when he once looked into Jesus' face.
139:6.4
In many respects Nathaniel was the odd genius of the
twelve. He was the apostolic philosopher and
dreamer, but he was a very practical sort of
dreamer. He alternated between seasons of profound
philosophy and periods of rare and droll humor; when
in the proper mood, he was probably the best
storyteller among the twelve. Jesus greatly enjoyed
hearing Nathaniel discourse on things both serious
and frivolous. Nathaniel progressively took Jesus
and the kingdom more seriously, but never did he
take himself seriously.
139:6.5
The apostles all loved and respected Nathaniel, and
he got along with them splendidly, excepting Judas
Iscariot. Judas did not think Nathaniel took his
apostleship sufficiently seriously and once had the
temerity to go secretly to Jesus and lodge complaint
against him. Said Jesus: "Judas, watch carefully
your steps; do not overmagnify your office. Who of
us is competent to judge his brother? It is not the
Father's will that his children should partake only
of the serious things of life. Let me repeat: I have
come that my brethren in the flesh may have joy,
gladness, and life more abundantly. Go then, Judas,
and do well that which has been intrusted to you but
leave Nathaniel, your brother, to give account of
himself to God." And the memory of this, with that
of many similar experiences, long lived in the
self-deceiving heart of Judas Iscariot.
139:6.6
Many times, when Jesus was away on the mountain with
Peter, James, and John, and things were becoming
tense and tangled among the apostles, when even
Andrew was in doubt about what to say to his
disconsolate brethren, Nathaniel would relieve the
tension by a bit of philosophy or a flash of humor;
good humor, too.
139:6.7
Nathaniel's duty was to look after the families of
the twelve. He was often absent from the apostolic
councils, for when he heard that sickness or
anything out of the ordinary had happened to one of
his charges, he lost no time in getting to that
home. The twelve rested securely in the knowledge
that their families' welfare was safe in the hands
of Nathaniel.
139:6.8
Nathaniel most revered Jesus for his tolerance. He
never grew weary of contemplating the
broadmindedness and generous sympathy of the Son of
Man.
139:6.9
Nathaniel's father (Bartholomew) died shortly after
Pentecost, after which this apostle went into
Mesopotamia and India proclaiming the glad tidings
of the kingdom and baptizing believers. His brethren
never knew what became of their onetime philosopher,
poet, and humorist. But he also was a great man in
the kingdom and did much to spread his Master's
teachings, even though he did not participate in the
organization of the subsequent Christian church.
Nathaniel died in India.
7. MATTHEW LEVI
139:7.1
Matthew, the seventh apostle, was chosen by Andrew.
Matthew belonged to a family of tax gatherers, or
publicans, but was himself a customs collector in
Capernaum, where he lived. He was thirty-one years
old and married and had four children. He was a man
of moderate wealth, the only one of any means
belonging to the apostolic corps. He was a good
business man, a good social mixer, and was gifted
with the ability to make friends and to get along
smoothly with a great variety of people.
139:7.2
Andrew appointed Matthew the financial
representative of the apostles. In a way he was the
fiscal agent and publicity spokesman for the
apostolic organization. He was a keen judge of human
nature and a very efficient propagandist. His is a
personality difficult to visualize, but he was a
very earnest disciple and an increasing believer in
the mission of Jesus and in the certainty of the
kingdom. Jesus never gave Levi a nickname, but his
fellow apostles commonly referred to him as the
"money-getter."
139:7.3
Levi's strong point was his wholehearted devotion to
the cause. That he, a publican, had been taken in by
Jesus and his apostles was the cause for
overwhelming gratitude on the part of the former
revenue collector. However, it required some little
time for the rest of the apostles, especially Simon
Zelotes and Judas Iscariot, to become reconciled to
the publican's presence in their midst. Matthew's
weakness was his shortsighted and materialistic
viewpoint of life. But in all these matters he made
great progress as the months went by. He, of course,
had to be absent from many of the most precious
seasons of instruction as it was his duty to keep
the treasury replenished.
139:7.4
It was the Master's forgiving disposition which
Matthew most appreciated. He would never cease to
recount that faith only was necessary in the
business of finding God. He always liked to speak of
the kingdom as "this business of finding God."
139:7.5
Though Matthew was a man with a past, he gave an
excellent account of himself, and as time went on,
his associates became proud of the publican's
performances. He was one of the apostles who made
extensive notes on the sayings of Jesus, and these
notes were used as the basis of Isador's subsequent
narrative of the sayings and doings of Jesus, which
has become known as the Gospel according to Matthew.
139:7.6
The great and useful life of Matthew, the business
man and customs collector of Capernaum, has been the
means of leading thousands upon thousands of other
business men, public officials, and politicians,
down through the subsequent ages, also to hear that
engaging voice of the Master saying, "Follow me."
Matthew really was a shrewd politician, but he was
intensely loyal to Jesus and supremely devoted to
the task of seeing that the messengers of the coming
kingdom were adequately financed.
139:7.7
The presence of Matthew among the twelve was the
means of keeping the doors of the kingdom wide open
to hosts of downhearted and outcast souls who had
regarded themselves as long since without the bounds
of religious consolation. Outcast and despairing men
and women flocked to hear Jesus, and he never turned
one away.
139:7.8
Matthew received freely tendered offerings from
believing disciples and the immediate auditors of
the Master's teachings, but he never openly
solicited funds from the multitudes. He did all his
financial work in a quiet and personal way and
raised most of the money among the more substantial
class of interested believers. He gave practically
the whole of his modest fortune to the work of the
Master and his apostles, but they never knew of this
generosity, save Jesus, who knew all about it.
Matthew hesitated openly to contribute to the
apostolic funds for fear that Jesus and his
associates might regard his money as being tainted;
so he gave much in the names of other believers.
During the earlier months, when Matthew knew his
presence among them was more or less of a trial, he
was strongly tempted to let them know that his funds
often supplied them with their daily bread, but he
did not yield. When evidence of the disdain of the
publican would become manifest, Levi would burn to
reveal to them his generosity, but always he managed
to keep still.
139:7.9
When the funds for the week were short of the
estimated requirements, Levi would often draw
heavily upon his own personal resources. Also,
sometimes when he became greatly interested in
Jesus' teaching, he preferred to remain and hear the
instruction, even though he knew he must personally
make up for his failure to solicit the necessary
funds. But Levi did so wish that Jesus might know
that much of the money came from his pocket! He
little realized that the Master knew all about it.
The apostles all died without knowing that Matthew
was their benefactor to such an extent that, when he
went forth to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom
after the beginning of the persecutions, he was
practically penniless.
139:7.10
When these persecutions caused the believers to
forsake Jerusalem, Matthew journeyed north,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom and baptizing
believers. He was lost to the knowledge of his
former apostolic associates, but on he went,
preaching and baptizing, through Syria, Cappadocia,
Galatia, Bithynia, and Thrace. And it was in Thrace,
at Lysimachia, that certain unbelieving Jews
conspired with the Roman soldiers to encompass his
death. And this regenerated publican died triumphant
in the faith of a salvation he had so surely learned
from the teachings of the Master during his recent
sojourn on earth.
8. THOMAS DIDYMUS
139:8.1
Thomas was the eighth apostle, and he was chosen by
Philip. In later times he has become known as
"doubting Thomas," but his fellow apostles hardly
looked upon him as a chronic doubter. True, his was
a logical, skeptical type of mind, but he had a form
of courageous loyalty which forbade those who knew
him intimately to regard him as a trifling skeptic.
139:8.2
When Thomas joined the apostles, he was twenty-nine
years old, was married, and had four children.
Formerly he had been a carpenter and stone mason,
but latterly he had become a fisherman and resided
at Tarichea, situated on the west bank of the Jordan
where it flows out of the Sea of Galilee, and he was
regarded as the leading citizen of this little
village. He had little education, but he possessed a
keen, reasoning mind and was the son of excellent
parents, who lived at Tiberias. Thomas had the one
truly analytical mind of the twelve; he was the real
scientist of the apostolic group.
139:8.3
The early home life of Thomas had been unfortunate;
his parents were not altogether happy in their
married life, and this was reflected in Thomas's
adult experience. He grew up having a very
disagreeable and quarrelsome disposition. Even his
wife was glad to see him join the apostles; she was
relieved by the thought that her pessimistic husband
would be away from home most of the time. Thomas
also had a streak of suspicion which made it very
difficult to get along peaceably with him. Peter was
very much upset by Thomas at first, complaining to
his brother, Andrew, that Thomas was "mean, ugly,
and always suspicious." But the better his
associates knew Thomas, the more they liked him.
They found he was superbly honest and unflinchingly
loyal. He was perfectly sincere and unquestionably
truthful, but he was a natural-born faultfinder and
had grown up to become a real pessimist. His
analytical mind had become cursed with suspicion. He
was rapidly losing faith in his fellow men when he
became associated with the twelve and thus came in
contact with the noble character of Jesus. This
association with the Master began at once to
transform Thomas's whole disposition and to effect
great changes in his mental reactions to his fellow
men.
139:8.4
Thomas's great strength was his superb analytical
mind coupled with his unflinching courage -- when he
had once made up his mind. His great weakness was
his suspicious doubting, which he never fully
overcame throughout his whole lifetime in the flesh.
139:8.5
In the organization of the twelve Thomas was
assigned to arrange and manage the itinerary, and he
was an able director of the work and movements of
the apostolic corps. He was a good executive, an
excellent businessman, but he was handicapped by his
many moods; he was one man one day and another man
the next. He was inclined toward melancholic
brooding when he joined the apostles, but contact
with Jesus and the apostles largely cured him of
this morbid introspection.
139:8.6
Jesus enjoyed Thomas very much and had many long,
personal talks with him. His presence among the
apostles was a great comfort to all honest doubters
and encouraged many troubled minds to come into the
kingdom, even if they could not wholly understand
everything about the spiritual and philosophic
phases of the teachings of Jesus. Thomas's
membership in the twelve was a standing declaration
that Jesus loved even honest doubters.
139:8.7
The other apostles held Jesus in reverence because
of some special and outstanding trait of his replete
personality, but Thomas revered his Master because
of his superbly balanced character. Increasingly
Thomas admired and honored one who was so lovingly
merciful yet so inflexibly just and fair; so firm
but never obstinate; so calm but never indifferent;
so helpful and so sympathetic but never meddlesome
or dictatorial; so strong but at the same time so
gentle; so positive but never rough or rude; so
tender but never vacillating; so pure and innocent
but at the same time so virile, aggressive, and
forceful; so truly courageous but never rash or
foolhardy; such a lover of nature but so free from
all tendency to revere nature; so humorous and so
playful, but so free from levity and frivolity. It
was this matchless symmetry of personality that so
charmed Thomas. He probably enjoyed the highest
intellectual understanding and personality
appreciation of Jesus of any of the twelve.
139:8.8
In the councils of the twelve Thomas was always
cautious, advocating a policy of safety first, but
if his conservatism was voted down or overruled, he
was always the first fearlessly to move out in
execution of the program decided upon. Again and
again would he stand out against some project as
being foolhardy and presumptuous; he would debate to
the bitter end, but when Andrew would put the
proposition to a vote, and after the twelve would
elect to do that which he had so strenuously
opposed, Thomas was the first to say, "Let's go!" He
was a good loser. He did not hold grudges nor nurse
wounded feelings. Time and again did he oppose
letting Jesus expose himself to danger, but when the
Master would decide to take such risks, always was
it Thomas who rallied the apostles with his
courageous words, "Come on, comrades, let's go and
die with him."
139:8.9
Thomas was in some respects like Philip; he also
wanted "to be shown," but his outward expressions of
doubt were based on entirely different intellectual
operations. Thomas was analytical, not merely
skeptical. As far as personal physical courage was
concerned, he was one of the bravest among the
twelve.
139:8.10
Thomas had some very bad days; he was blue and
downcast at times. The loss of his twin sister when
he was nine years old had occasioned him much
youthful sorrow and had added to his temperamental
problems of later life. When Thomas would become
despondent, sometimes it was Nathaniel who helped
him to recover, sometimes Peter, and not
infrequently one of the Alpheus twins. When he was
most depressed, unfortunately he always tried to
avoid coming in direct contact with Jesus. But the
Master knew all about this and had an understanding
sympathy for his apostle when he was thus afflicted
with depression and harassed by doubts.
139:8.11
Sometimes Thomas would get permission from Andrew to
go off by himself for a day or two. But he soon
learned that such a course was not wise; he early
found that it was best, when he was downhearted, to
stick close to his work and to remain near his
associates. But no matter what happened in his
emotional life, he kept right on being an apostle.
When the time actually came to move forward, it was
always Thomas who said, "Let's go!"
139:8.12
Thomas is the great example of a human being who has
doubts, faces them, and wins. He had a great mind;
he was no carping critic. He was a logical thinker;
he was the acid test of Jesus and his fellow
apostles. If Jesus and his work had not been
genuine, it could not have held a man like Thomas
from the start to the finish. He had a keen and sure
sense of fact.
At the first appearance of fraud or deception Thomas
would have forsaken them all. Scientists may not
fully understand all about Jesus and his work on
earth, but there lived and worked with the Master
and his human associates a man whose mind was that
of a true scientist -- Thomas Didymus -- and he
believed in Jesus of Nazareth.
139:8.13
Thomas had a trying time during the days of the
trial and crucifixion. He was for a season in the
depths of despair, but he rallied his courage, stuck
to the apostles, and was present with them to
welcome Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. For a while he
succumbed to his doubting depression but eventually
rallied his faith and courage. He gave wise counsel
to the apostles after Pentecost and, when
persecution scattered the believers, went to Cyprus,
Crete, the North African coast, and Sicily,
preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom and
baptizing believers. And Thomas continued preaching
and baptizing until he was apprehended by the agents
of the Roman government and was put to death in
Malta. Just a few weeks before his death he had
begun the writing of the life and teachings of
Jesus.
9 and 10. JAMES AND JUDAS ALPHEUS
139:9.1
James and Judas the sons of Alpheus, the twin
fishermen living near Kheresa, were the ninth and
tenth apostles and were chosen by James and John
Zebedee. They were twenty-six years old and married,
James having three children, Judas two.
139:9.2
There is not much to be said about these two
commonplace fisherfolk. They loved their Master and
Jesus loved them, but they never interrupted his
discourses with questions. They understood very
little about the philosophical discussions or the
theological debates of their fellow apostles, but
they rejoiced to find themselves numbered among such
a group of mighty men. These two men were almost
identical in personal appearance, mental
characteristics, and extent of spiritual perception.
What may be said of one should be recorded of the
other.
139:9.3
Andrew assigned them to the work of policing the
multitudes. They were the chief ushers of the
preaching hours and, in fact, the general servants
and errand boys of the twelve. They helped Philip
with the supplies, they carried money to the
families for Nathaniel, and always were they ready
to lend a helping hand to any one of the apostles.
139:9.4
The multitudes of the common people were greatly
encouraged to find two like themselves honored with
places among the apostles. By their very acceptance
as apostles these mediocre twins were the means of
bringing a host of fainthearted believers into the
kingdom. And, too, the common people took more
kindly to the idea of being directed and managed by
official ushers who were very much like themselves.
139:9.5
James and Judas, who were also called Thaddeus and
Lebbeus, had neither strong points nor weak points.
The nicknames given them by the disciples were
good-natured designations of mediocrity. They were
"the least of all the apostles"; they knew it and
felt cheerful about it.
139:9.6
James Alpheus especially loved Jesus because of the
Master's simplicity. These twins could not
comprehend the mind of Jesus, but they did grasp the
sympathetic bond between themselves and the heart of
their Master. Their minds were not of a high order;
they might even reverently be called stupid, but
they had a real experience in their spiritual
natures. They believed in Jesus; they were sons of
God and fellows of the kingdom.
139:9.7
Judas Alpheus was drawn toward Jesus because of the
Master's unostentatious humility. Such humility
linked with such personal dignity made a great
appeal to Judas. The fact that Jesus would always
enjoin silence regarding his unusual acts made a
great impression on this simple child of nature.
139:9.8
The twins were good-natured, simple-minded helpers,
and everybody loved them. Jesus welcomed these young
men of one talent to positions of honor on his
personal staff in the kingdom because there are
untold millions of other such simple and fear-ridden
souls on the worlds of space whom he likewise wishes
to welcome into active and believing fellowship with
himself and his outpoured Spirit of Truth. Jesus
does not look down upon littleness, only upon evil
and sin. James and Judas were
little,
but they were also
faithful.
They were simple and ignorant, but they were also
big-hearted, kind, and generous.
139:9.9
And how gratefully proud were these humble men on
that day when the Master refused to accept a certain
rich man as an evangelist unless he would sell his
goods and help the poor. When the people heard this
and beheld the twins among his counselors, they knew
of a certainty that Jesus was no respecter of
persons. But only a divine institution -- the
kingdom of heaven -- could ever have been built upon
such a mediocre human foundation!
139:9.10
Only once or twice in all their association with
Jesus did the twins venture to ask questions in
public. Judas was once intrigued into asking Jesus a
question when the Master had talked about revealing
himself openly to the world. He felt a little
disappointed that there were to be no more secrets
among the twelve, and he made bold to ask: "But,
Master, when you do thus declare yourself to the
world, how will you favor us with special
manifestations of your goodness?"
139:9.11
The twins served faithfully until the end, until the
dark days of trial, crucifixion, and despair. They
never lost their heart faith in Jesus, and (save
John) they were the first to believe in his
resurrection. But they could not comprehend the
establishment of the kingdom. Soon after their
Master was crucified, they returned to their
families and nets; their work was done. They had not
the ability to go on in the more complex battles of
the kingdom. But they lived and died conscious of
having been honored and blessed with four years of
close and personal association with a Son of God,
the sovereign maker of a universe.
11. SIMON THE ZEALOT
139:11.1
Simon Zelotes, the eleventh apostle, was chosen by
Simon Peter. He was an able man of good ancestry and
lived with his family at Capernaum. He was
twenty-eight years old when he became attached to
the apostles. He was a fiery agitator and was also a
man who spoke much without thinking. He had been a
merchant in Capernaum before he turned his entire
attention to the patriotic organization of the
Zealots.
139:11.2
Simon Zelotes was given charge of the diversions and
relaxation of the apostolic group, and he was a very
efficient organizer of the play life and
recreational activities of the twelve.
139:11.3
Simon's strength was his inspirational loyalty. When
the apostles found a man or woman who floundered in
indecision about entering the kingdom, they would
send for Simon. It usually required only about
fifteen minutes for this enthusiastic advocate of
salvation through faith in God to settle all doubts
and remove all indecision, to see a new soul born
into the "liberty of faith and the joy of
salvation."
139:11.4
Simon's great weakness was his material-mindedness.
He could not quickly change himself from a Jewish
nationalist to a spiritually minded
internationalist. Four years was too short a time in
which to make such an intellectual and emotional
transformation, but Jesus was always patient with
him.
139:11.5
The one thing about Jesus which Simon so much
admired was the Master's calmness, his assurance,
poise, and inexplicable composure.
139:11.6
Although Simon was a rabid revolutionist, a fearless
firebrand of agitation, he gradually subdued his
fiery nature until he became a powerful and
effective preacher of "Peace on earth and good will
among men." Simon was a great debater; he did like
to argue. And when it came to dealing with the
legalistic minds of the educated Jews or the
intellectual quibblings of the Greeks, the task was
always assigned to Simon.
139:11.7
He was a rebel by nature and an iconoclast by
training, but Jesus won him for the higher concepts
of the kingdom of heaven. He had always identified
himself with the party of protest, but he now joined
the party of progress, unlimited and eternal
progression of spirit and truth. Simon was a man of
intense loyalties and warm personal devotions, and
he did profoundly love Jesus.
139:11.8
Jesus was not afraid to identify himself with
business men, laboring men, optimists, pessimists,
philosophers, skeptics, publicans, politicians, and
patriots.
139:11.9
The Master had many talks with Simon, but he never
fully succeeded in making an internationalist out of
this ardent Jewish nationalist. Jesus often told
Simon that it was proper to want to see the social,
economic, and political orders improved, but he
would always add: "That is not the business of the
kingdom of heaven. We must be dedicated to the doing
of the Father's will. Our business is to be
ambassadors of a spiritual government on high, and
we must not immediately concern ourselves with aught
but the representation of the will and character of
the divine Father who stands at the head of the
government whose credentials we bear." It was all
difficult for Simon to comprehend, but gradually he
began to grasp something of the meaning of the
Master's teaching.
139:11.10
After the dispersion because of the Jerusalem
persecutions, Simon went into temporary retirement.
He was literally crushed. As a nationalist patriot
he had surrendered in deference to Jesus' teachings;
now all was lost. He was in despair, but in a few
years he rallied his hopes and went forth to
proclaim the gospel of the kingdom.
139:11.11
He went to Alexandria and, after working up the
Nile, penetrated into the heart of Africa,
everywhere preaching the gospel of Jesus and
baptizing believers. Thus he labored until he was an
old man and feeble. And he died and was buried in
the heart of Africa.
12. JUDAS ISCARIOT
139:12.1
Judas Iscariot, the twelfth apostle, was chosen by
Nathaniel. He was born in Kerioth, a small town in
southern Judea. When he was a lad, his parents moved
to Jericho, where he lived and had been employed in
his father's various business enterprises until he
became interested in the preaching and work of John
the Baptist. Judas' parents were Sadducees, and when
their son joined John's disciples, they disowned
him.
139:12.2
When Nathaniel met Judas at Tarichea, he was seeking
employment with a fish-drying enterprise at the
lower end of the Sea of Galilee. He was thirty years
of age and unmarried when he joined the apostles. He
was probably the best-educated man among the twelve
and the only Judean in the Master's apostolic
family. Judas had no outstanding trait of personal
strength, though he had many outwardly appearing
traits of culture and habits of training. He was a
good thinker but not always a truly
honest
thinker. Judas did not really understand himself; he
was not really sincere in dealing with himself.
139:12.3
Andrew appointed Judas treasurer of the twelve, a
position which he was eminently fitted to hold, and
up to the time of the betrayal of his Master he
discharged the responsibilities of his office
honestly, faithfully, and most efficiently.
139:12.4
There was no special trait about Jesus which Judas
admired above the generally attractive and
exquisitely charming personality of the Master.
Judas was never able to rise above his Judean
prejudices against his Galilean associates; he would
even criticize in his mind many things about Jesus.
Him whom eleven of the apostles looked upon as the
perfect man, as the "one altogether lovely and the
chiefest among ten thousand," this self-satisfied
Judean often dared to criticize in his own heart. He
really entertained the notion that Jesus was timid
and somewhat afraid to assert his own power and
authority.
139:12.5
Judas was a good business man. It required tact,
ability, and patience, as well as painstaking
devotion, to manage the financial affairs of such an
idealist as Jesus, to say nothing of wrestling with
the helter-skelter business methods of some of his
apostles. Judas really was a great executive, a
farseeing and able financier. And he was a stickler
for organization. None of the twelve ever criticized
Judas. As far as they could see, Judas Iscariot was
a matchless treasurer, a learned man, a loyal
(though sometimes critical) apostle, and in every
sense of the word a great success. The apostles
loved Judas; he was really one of them. He must have
believed
in Jesus, but we doubt whether he really
loved the
Master with a whole heart. The case of Judas
illustrates the truthfulness of that saying: "There
is a way that seems right to a man, but the end
thereof is death." It is altogether possible to fall
victim to the peaceful deception of pleasant
adjustment to the paths of sin and death. Be assured
that Judas was always financially loyal to his
Master and his fellow apostles. Money could never
have been the motive for his betrayal of the Master.
139:12.6
Judas was an only son of unwise parents. When very
young, he was pampered and petted; he was a spoiled
child. As he grew up, he had exaggerated ideas about
his self-importance. He was a poor loser. He had
loose and distorted ideas about fairness; he was
given to the indulgence of hate and suspicion. He
was an expert at misinterpretation of the words and
acts of his friends. All through his life Judas had
cultivated the habit of getting even with those whom
he fancied had mistreated him. His sense of values
and loyalties was defective.
139:12.7
To Jesus, Judas was a faith adventure. From the
beginning the Master fully understood the weakness
of this apostle and well knew the dangers of
admitting him to fellowship. But it is the nature of
the Sons of God to give every created being a full
and equal chance for salvation and survival. Jesus
wanted not only the mortals of this world but the
onlookers of innumerable other worlds to know that,
when doubts exist as to the sincerity and
wholeheartedness of a creature's devotion to the
kingdom, it is the invariable practice of the Judges
of men fully to receive the doubtful candidate. The
door of eternal life is wide open to all; "whosoever
will may come"; there are no restrictions or
qualifications save the
faith of
the one who comes.
139:12.8
This is just the reason why Jesus permitted Judas to
go on to the very end, always doing everything
possible to transform and save this weak and
confused apostle. But when light is not honestly
received and lived up to, it tends to become
darkness within the soul. Judas grew intellectually
regarding Jesus' teachings about the kingdom, but he
did not make progress in the acquirement of
spiritual character as did the other apostles. He
failed to make satisfactory personal progress in
spiritual experience.
139:12.9
Judas became increasingly a brooder over personal
disappointment, and finally he became a victim of
resentment. His feelings had been many times hurt,
and he grew abnormally suspicious of his best
friends, even of the Master. Presently he became
obsessed with the idea of getting even, anything to
avenge himself, yes, even betrayal of his associates
and his Master.
139:12.10
But these wicked and dangerous ideas did not take
definite shape until the day when a grateful woman
broke an expensive box of incense at Jesus' feet.
This seemed wasteful to Judas, and when his public
protest was so sweepingly disallowed by Jesus right
there in the hearing of all, it was too much. That
event determined the mobilization of all the
accumulated hate, hurt, malice, prejudice, jealousy,
and revenge of a lifetime, and he made up his mind
to get even with he knew not whom; but he
crystallized all the evil of his nature upon the
one
innocent person in all the sordid drama of his
unfortunate life just because Jesus happened to be
the chief actor in the episode which marked his
passing from the progressive kingdom of light into
that self-chosen domain of darkness.
139:12.11
The Master many times, both privately and publicly,
had warned Judas that he was slipping, but divine
warnings are usually useless in dealing with
embittered human nature. Jesus did everything
possible, consistent with man's moral freedom, to
prevent Judas's choosing to go the wrong way. The
great test finally came. The son of resentment
failed; he yielded to the sour and sordid dictates
of a proud and vengeful mind of exaggerated
self-importance and swiftly plunged on down into
confusion, despair, and depravity.
139:12.12
Judas then entered into the base and shameful
intrigue to betray his Lord and Master and quickly
carried the nefarious scheme into effect. During the
outworking of his anger-conceived plans of
traitorous betrayal, he experienced moments of
regret and shame, and in these lucid intervals he
faint-heartedly conceived, as a defense in his own
mind, the idea that Jesus might possibly exert his
power and deliver himself at the last moment.
139:12.13
When the sordid and sinful business was all over,
this renegade mortal, who thought lightly of selling
his friend for thirty pieces of silver to satisfy
his long-nursed craving for revenge, rushed out and
committed the final act in the drama of fleeing from
the realities of mortal existence -- suicide.
139:12.14
The eleven apostles were horrified, stunned. Jesus
regarded the betrayer only with pity. The worlds
have found it difficult to forgive Judas, and his
name has become eschewed throughout a far-flung
universe.
*
|