PAPER 156
THE SOJOURN AT TYRE AND SIDON
156:0.1 ON FRIDAY afternoon, June 10, Jesus and his
associates arrived in the environs of Sidon, where they stopped at the home of
a well-to-do woman who had been a patient in the Bethsaida hospital during the
times when Jesus was at the height of his popular favor. The evangelists and
the apostles were lodged with her friends in the immediate neighborhood, and
they rested over the Sabbath day amid these refreshing surroundings. They
spent almost two and one-half weeks in Sidon and vicinity before they prepared
to visit the coast cities to the north.
156:0.2 This June Sabbath day was one of great
quiet. The evangelists and apostles were altogether absorbed in their
meditations regarding the discourses of the Master on religion to which they
had listened en route to Sidon. They were all able to appreciate something of
what he had told them, but none of them fully grasped the import of his
teaching.
1. THE SYRIAN WOMAN
156:1.1 There lived near the home of Karuska, where
the Master lodged, a Syrian woman who had heard much of Jesus as a great
healer and teacher, and on this Sabbath afternoon she came over, bringing her
little daughter. The child, about twelve years old, was afflicted with a
grievous nervous disorder characterized by convulsions and other distressing
manifestations.
156:1.2 Jesus had charged his associates to tell no
one of his presence at the home of Karuska, explaining that he desired to have
a rest. While they had obeyed their Master's instructions, the servant of
Karuska had gone over to the house of this Syrian woman, Norana, to inform her
that Jesus lodged at the home of her mistress and had urged this anxious
mother to bring her afflicted daughter for healing. This mother, of course,
believed that her child was possessed by a demon, an unclean
spirit.
156:1.3 When Norana arrived with her daughter, the
Alpheus twins explained through an interpreter that the Master was resting and
could not be disturbed; whereupon Norana replied that she and the child would
remain right there until the Master had finished his rest. Peter also
endeavored to reason with her and to persuade her to go home. He explained
that Jesus was weary with much teaching and healing, and that he had come to
Phoenicia for a period of quiet and rest. But it was futile; Norana would not
leave. To Peter's entreaties she replied only: "I will not depart until I have
seen your Master. I know he can cast the demon out of my child, and I will not
go until the healer has looked upon my daughter."
156:1.4 Then Thomas sought to send the woman away
but met only with failure. To him she said: "I have faith that your Master can
cast out this demon which torments my child. I have heard of his mighty works
in Galilee, and I believe in him. What has happened to you, his disciples,
that you would send away those who come seeking your Master's help?" And when
she had thus spoken, Thomas withdrew.
156:1.5 Then came forward Simon Zelotes to
remonstrate with Norana. Said Simon: "Woman, you are a Greek-speaking gentile.
It is not right that you should expect the Master to take the bread intended
for the children of the favored household and cast it to the dogs." But Norana
refused to take offense at Simon's thrust. She replied only: "Yes, teacher, I
understand your words. I am only a dog in the eyes of the Jews, but as
concerns your Master, I am a believing dog. I am determined that he shall see
my daughter, for I am persuaded that, if he shall but look upon her, he will
heal her. And even you, my good man, would not dare to deprive the dogs of the
privilege of obtaining the crumbs which chance to fall from the children's
table."
156:1.6 At just this time the little girl was seized
with a violent convulsion before them all, and the mother cried out: "There,
you can see that my child is possessed by an evil spirit. If our need does not
impress you, it would appeal to your Master, who I have been told loves all
men and dares even to heal the gentiles when they believe. You are not worthy
to be his disciples. I will not go until my child has been cured."
156:1.7 Jesus, who had heard all of this
conversation through an open window, now came outside, much to their surprise,
and said: "O woman, great is your faith, so great that I cannot withhold that
which you desire; go your way in peace. Your daughter already has been made
whole." And the little girl was well from that hour. As Norana and the child
took leave, Jesus entreated them to tell no one of this occurrence; and while
his associates did comply with this request, the mother and the child ceased
not to proclaim the fact of the little girl's healing throughout all the
countryside and even in Sidon, so much so that Jesus found it advisable to
change his lodgings within a few days.
156:1.8 The next day, as Jesus taught his apostles,
commenting on the cure of the daughter of the Syrian woman, he said: "And so
it has been all the way along; you see for yourselves how the gentiles are
able to exercise saving faith in the teachings of the gospel of the kingdom of
heaven. Verily, verily, I tell you that the Father's kingdom shall be taken by
the gentiles if the children of Abraham are not minded to show faith enough to
enter therein."
2. TEACHING IN SIDON
156:2.1 In entering Sidon, Jesus and his associates
passed over a bridge, the first one many of them had ever seen. As they walked
over this bridge, Jesus, among other things, said: "This world is only a
bridge; you may pass over it, but you should not think to build a dwelling
place upon it."
156:2.2 As the twenty-four began their labors in
Sidon, Jesus went to stay in a home just north of the city, the house of Justa
and her mother, Bernice. Jesus taught the twenty-four each morning at the home
of Justa, and they went abroad in Sidon to teach and preach during the
afternoons and evenings.
156:2.3 The apostles and the evangelists were
greatly cheered by the manner in which the gentiles of Sidon received their
message; during their short sojourn many were added to the kingdom. This
period of about six weeks in Phoenicia was a very fruitful time in the work of
winning souls, but the later Jewish writers of the Gospels were wont lightly
to pass over the record of this warm reception of Jesus' teachings by these
gentiles at this very time when such a large number of his own people were in
hostile array against him.
156:2.4 In many ways these gentile believers
appreciated Jesus' teachings more fully than the Jews. Many of these
Greek-speaking Syrophoenicians came to know not only that Jesus was like God
but also that God was like Jesus. These so-called heathen achieved a good
understanding of the Master's teachings about the uniformity of the laws of
this world and the entire universe. They grasped the teaching that God is no
respecter of persons, races, or nations; that there is no favoritism with the
Universal Father; that the universe is wholly and ever law-abiding and
unfailingly dependable. These gentiles were not afraid of Jesus; they dared to
accept his message. All down through the ages men have not been unable to
comprehend Jesus; they have been afraid to.
156:2.5 Jesus made it clear to the twenty-four that
he had not fled from Galilee because he lacked courage to confront his
enemies. They comprehended that he was not yet ready for an open clash with
established religion, and that he did not seek to become a martyr. It was
during one of these conferences at the home of Justa that the Master first
told his disciples that "even though heaven and earth shall pass away, my
words of truth shall not."
156:2.6 The theme of Jesus' instructions during the
sojourn at Sidon was spiritual progression. He told them they could not stand
still; they must go forward in righteousness or retrogress into evil and sin.
He admonished them to "forget those things which are in the past while you
push forward to embrace the greater realities of the kingdom." He besought
them not to be content with their childhood in the gospel but to strive for
the attainment of the full stature of divine sonship in the communion of the
spirit and in the fellowship of believers.
156:2.7 Said Jesus: "My disciples must not only
cease to do evil but learn to do well; you must not only be cleansed from all
conscious sin, but you must refuse to harbor even the feelings of guilt. If
you confess your sins, they are forgiven; therefore must you maintain a
conscience void of offense."
156:2.8 Jesus greatly enjoyed the keen sense of
humor which these gentiles exhibited. It was the sense of humor displayed by
Norana, the Syrian woman, as well as her great and persistent faith, that so
touched the Master's heart and appealed to his mercy. Jesus greatly regretted
that his people -- the Jews -- were so lacking in humor. He once said to
Thomas: "My people take themselves too seriously; they are just about devoid
of an appreciation of humor. The burdensome religion of the Pharisees could
never have had origin among a people with a sense of humor. They also lack
consistency; they strain at gnats and swallow camels."
3. THE JOURNEY UP THE COAST
156:3.1 On Tuesday, June 28, the Master and his
associates left Sidon, going up the coast to Porphyreon and Heldua. They were
well received by the gentiles, and many were added to the kingdom during this
week of teaching and preaching. The apostles preached in Porphyreon and the
evangelists taught in Heldua. While the twenty-four were thus engaged in their
work, Jesus left them for a period of three or four days, paying a visit to
the coast city of Beirut, where he visited with a Syrian named Malach, who was
a believer, and who had been at Bethsaida the year before.
156:3.2 On Wednesday, July 6, they all returned to
Sidon and tarried at the home of Justa until Sunday morning, when they
departed for Tyre, going south along the coast by way of Sarepta, arriving at
Tyre on Monday, July 11. By this time the apostles and the evangelists were
becoming accustomed to working among these so-called gentiles, who were in
reality mainly descended from the earlier Canaanite tribes of still earlier
Semitic origin. All of these peoples spoke the Greek language. It was a great
surprise to the apostles and evangelists to observe the eagerness of these
gentiles to hear the gospel and to note the readiness with which many of them
believed.
4. AT TYRE
156:4.1 From July 11 to July 24 they taught in Tyre.
Each of the apostles took with him one of the evangelists, and thus two and
two they taught and preached in all parts of Tyre and its environs. The
polyglot population of this busy seaport heard them gladly, and many were
baptized into the outward fellowship of the kingdom. Jesus maintained his
headquarters at the home of a Jew named Joseph, a believer, who lived three or
four miles south of Tyre, not far from the tomb of Hiram who had been king of
the city-state of Tyre during the times of David and Solomon.
156:4.2 Daily, for this period of two weeks, the
apostles and evangelists entered Tyre by way of Alexander's mole to conduct
small meetings, and each night most of them would return to the encampment at
Joseph's house south of the city. Every day believers came out from the city
to talk with Jesus at his resting place. The Master spoke in Tyre only once,
on the afternoon of July 20, when he taught the believers concerning the
Father's love for all mankind and about the mission of the Son to reveal the
Father to all races of men. There was such an interest in the gospel of the
kingdom among these gentiles that, on this occasion, the doors of the Melkarth
temple were opened to him, and it is interesting to record that in subsequent
years a Christian church was built on the very site of this ancient
temple.
156:4.3 Many of the leaders in the manufacture of
Tyrian purple, the dye that made Tyre and Sidon famous the world over, and
which contributed so much to their world-wide commerce and consequent
enrichment, believed in the kingdom. When, shortly thereafter, the supply of
the sea animals which were the source of this dye began to diminish, these dye
makers went forth in search of new habitats of these shellfish. And thus
migrating to the ends of the earth, they carried with them the message of the
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man -- the gospel of the kingdom.
5. JESUS' TEACHING AT TYRE
156:5.1 On this Wednesday afternoon, in the course
of his address, Jesus first told his followers the story of the white lily
which rears its pure and snowy head high into the sunshine while its roots are
grounded in the slime and muck of the darkened soil beneath. "Likewise," said
he, "mortal man, while he has his roots of origin and being in the animal soil
of human nature, can by faith raise his spiritual nature up into the sunlight
of heavenly truth and actually bear the noble fruits of the
spirit."
156:5.2 It was during this same sermon that Jesus
made use of his first and only parable having to do with his own trade --
carpentry. In the course of his admonition to "Build well the foundations for
the growth of a noble character of spiritual endowments," he said: "In order
to yield the fruits of the spirit, you must be born of the spirit. You must be
taught by the spirit and be led by the spirit if you would live the
spirit-filled life among your fellows. But do not make the mistake of the
foolish carpenter who wastes valuable time squaring, measuring, and smoothing
his worm-eaten and inwardly rotting timber and then, when he has thus bestowed
all of his labor upon the unsound beam, must reject it as unfit to enter into
the foundations of the building which he would construct to withstand the
assaults of time and storm. Let every man make sure that the intellectual and
moral foundations of character are such as will adequately support the
superstructure of the enlarging and ennobling spiritual nature, which is thus
to transform the mortal mind and then, in association with that re-created
mind, is to achieve the evolvement of the soul of immortal destiny. Your
spirit nature -- the jointly created soul -- is a living growth, but the mind
and morals of the individual are the soil from which these higher
manifestations of human development and divine destiny must spring. The soil
of the evolving soul is human and material, but the destiny of this combined
creature of mind and spirit is spiritual and divine."
156:5.3 On the evening of this same day Nathaniel
asked Jesus: "Master, why do we pray that God will lead us not into temptation
when we well know from your revelation of the Father that he never does such
things?" Jesus answered Nathaniel:
156:5.4 "It is not strange that you ask such
questions seeing that you are beginning to know the Father as I know him, and
not as the early Hebrew prophets so dimly saw him. You well know how our
forefathers were disposed to see God in almost everything that happened. They
looked for the hand of God in all natural occurrences and in every unusual
episode of human experience. They connected God with both good and evil. They
thought he softened the heart of Moses and hardened the heart of Pharaoh. When
man had a strong urge to do something, good or evil, he was in the habit of
accounting for these unusual emotions by remarking: `The Lord spoke to me
saying, do thus and so, or go here and there.' Accordingly, since men so often
and so violently ran into temptation, it became the habit of our forefathers
to believe that God led them thither for testing, punishing, or strengthening.
But you, indeed, now know better. You know that men are all too often led into
temptation by the urge of their own selfishness and by the impulses of their
animal natures. When you are in this way tempted, I admonish you that, while
you recognize temptation honestly and sincerely for just what it is, you
intelligently redirect the energies of spirit, mind, and body, which are
seeking expression, into higher channels and toward more idealistic goals. In
this way may you transform your temptations into the highest types of
uplifting mortal ministry while you almost wholly avoid these wasteful and
weakening conflicts between the animal and spiritual natures.
156:5.5 "But let me warn you against the folly of
undertaking to surmount temptation by the effort of supplanting one desire by
another and supposedly superior desire through the mere force of the human
will. If you would be truly triumphant over the temptations of the lesser and
lower nature, you must come to that place of spiritual advantage where you
have really and truly developed an actual interest in, and love for, those
higher and more idealistic forms of conduct which your mind is desirous of
substituting for these lower and less idealistic habits of behavior that you
recognize as temptation. You will in this way be delivered through spiritual
transformation rather than be increasingly overburdened with the deceptive
suppression of mortal desires. The old and the inferior will be forgotten in
the love for the new and the superior. Beauty is always triumphant over
ugliness in the hearts of all who are illuminated by the love of truth. There
is mighty power in the expulsive energy of a new and sincere spiritual
affection. And again I say to you, be not overcome by evil but rather overcome
evil with good."
156:5.6 Long into the night the apostles and
evangelists continued to ask questions, and from the many answers we would
present the following thoughts, restated in modern phraseology:
156:5.7 Forceful ambition, intelligent judgment, and
seasoned wisdom are the essentials of material success. Leadership is
dependent on natural ability, discretion, will power, and determination.
Spiritual destiny is dependent on faith, love, and devotion to truth -- hunger
and thirst for righteousness -- the wholehearted desire to find God and to be
like him.
156:5.8 Do not become discouraged by the discovery
that you are human. Human nature may tend toward evil, but it is not
inherently sinful. Be not downcast by your failure wholly to forget some of
your regrettable experiences. The mistakes which you fail to forget in time
will be forgotten in eternity. Lighten your burdens of soul by speedily
acquiring a long-distance view of your destiny, a universe expansion of your
career.
156:5.9 Make not the mistake of estimating the
soul's worth by the imperfections of the mind or by the appetites of the body.
Judge not the soul nor evaluate its destiny by the standard of a single
unfortunate human episode. Your spiritual destiny is conditioned only by your
spiritual longings and purposes.
156:5.10 Religion is the exclusively spiritual
experience of the evolving immortal soul of the God-knowing man, but moral
power and spiritual energy are mighty forces which may be utilized in dealing
with difficult social situations and in solving intricate economic problems.
These moral and spiritual endowments make all levels of human living richer
and more meaningful.
156:5.11 You are destined to live a narrow and mean
life if you learn to love only those who love you. Human love may indeed be
reciprocal, but divine love is outgoing in all its satisfaction-seeking. The
less of love in any creature's nature, the greater the love need, and the more
does divine love seek to satisfy such need. Love is never self-seeking, and it
cannot be self-bestowed. Divine love cannot be self-contained; it must be
unselfishly bestowed.
156:5.12 Kingdom believers should possess an
implicit faith, a whole-souled belief, in the certain triumph of
righteousness. Kingdom builders must be undoubting of the truth of the gospel
of eternal salvation. Believers must increasingly learn how to step aside from
the rush of life -- escape the harassments of material existence -- while they
refresh the soul, inspire the mind, and renew the spirit by worshipful
communion.
156:5.13 God-knowing individuals are not discouraged
by misfortune or downcast by disappointment. Believers are immune to the
depression consequent upon purely material upheavals; spirit livers are not
perturbed by the episodes of the material world. Candidates for eternal life
are practitioners of an invigorating and constructive technique for meeting
all of the vicissitudes and harassments of mortal living. Every day a true
believer lives, he finds it easier to do the right thing.
156:5.14 Spiritual living mightily increases true
self-respect. But self-respect is not self-admiration. Self-respect is always
co-ordinate with the love and service of one's fellows. It is not possible to
respect yourself more than you love your neighbor; the one is the measure of
the capacity for the other.
156:5.15 As the days pass, every true believer
becomes more skillful in alluring his fellows into the love of eternal truth.
Are you more resourceful in revealing goodness to humanity today than you were
yesterday? Are you a better righteousness recommender this year than you were
last year? Are you becoming increasingly artistic in your technique of leading
hungry souls into the spiritual kingdom?
156:5.16 Are your ideals sufficiently high to insure
your eternal salvation while your ideas are so practical as to render you a
useful citizen to function on earth in association with your mortal fellows?
In the spirit, your citizenship is in heaven; in the flesh, you are still
citizens of the earth kingdoms. Render to the Caesars the things which are
material and to God those which are spiritual.
156:5.17 The measure of the spiritual capacity of
the evolving soul is your faith in truth and your love for man, but the
measure of your human strength of character is your ability to resist the
holding of grudges and your capacity to withstand brooding in the face of deep
sorrow. Defeat is the true mirror in which you may honestly view your real
self.
156:5.18 As you grow older in years and more
experienced in the affairs of the kingdom, are you becoming more tactful in
dealing with troublesome mortals and more tolerant in living with stubborn
associates? Tact is the fulcrum of social leverage, and tolerance is the
earmark of a great soul. If you possess these rare and charming gifts, as the
days pass you will become more alert and expert in your worthy efforts to
avoid all unnecessary social misunderstandings. Such wise souls are able to
avoid much of the trouble which is certain to be the portion of all who suffer
from lack of emotional adjustment, those who refuse to grow up, and those who
refuse to grow old gracefully.
156:5.19 Avoid dishonesty and unfairness in all your
efforts to preach truth and proclaim the gospel. Seek no unearned recognition
and crave no undeserved sympathy. Love, freely receive from both divine and
human sources regardless of your deserts, and love freely in return. But in
all other things related to honor and adulation seek only that which honestly
belongs to you.
156:5.20 The God-conscious mortal is certain of
salvation; he is unafraid of life; he is honest and consistent. He knows how
bravely to endure unavoidable suffering; he is uncomplaining when faced by
inescapable hardship.
156:5.21 The true believer does not grow weary in
well-doing just because he is thwarted. Difficulty whets the ardor of the
truth lover, while obstacles only challenge the exertions of the undaunted
kingdom builder.
156:5.22 And many other things Jesus taught them
before they made ready to depart from Tyre.
156:5.23 The day before Jesus left Tyre for the
return to the region of the Sea of Galilee, he called his associates together
and directed the twelve evangelists to go back by a route different from that
which he and the twelve apostles were to take. And after the evangelists here
left Jesus, they were never again so intimately associated with him.
6. THE RETURN FROM PHOENICIA
156:6.1 About noon on Sunday, July 24, Jesus and the
twelve left the home of Joseph, south of Tyre, going down the coast to
Ptolemais. Here they tarried for a day, speaking words of comfort to the
company of believers resident there. Peter preached to them on the evening of
July 25.
156:6.2 On Tuesday they left Ptolemais, going east
inland to near Jotapata by way of the Tiberias road. Wednesday they stopped at
Jotapata and instructed the believers further in the things of the kingdom.
Thursday they left Jotapata, going north on the Nazareth-Mount Lebanon trail
to the village of Zebulun, by way of Ramah. They held meetings at Ramah on
Friday and remained over the Sabbath. They reached Zebulun on Sunday, the
31st, holding a meeting that evening and departing the next
morning.
156:6.3 Leaving Zebulun, they journeyed over to the
junction with the Magdala-Sidon road near Gischala, and thence they made their
way to Gennesaret on the western shores of the lake of Galilee, south of
Capernaum, where they had appointed to meet with David Zebedee, and where they
intended to take counsel as to the next move to be made in the work of
preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
156:6.4 During a brief conference with David they
learned that many leaders were then gathered together on the opposite side of
the lake near Kheresa, and accordingly, that very evening a boat took them
across. For one day they rested quietly in the hills, going on the next day to
the park, near by, where the Master once fed the five thousand. Here they
rested for three days and held daily conferences, which were attended by about
fifty men and women, the remnants of the once numerous company of believers
resident in Capernaum and its environs.
156:6.5 While Jesus was absent from Capernaum and
Galilee, the period of the Phoenician sojourn, his enemies reckoned that the
whole movement had been broken up and concluded that Jesus' haste in
withdrawing indicated he was so thoroughly frightened that he would not likely
ever return to bother them. All active opposition to his teachings had about
subsided. The believers were beginning to hold public meetings once more, and
there was occurring a gradual but effective consolidation of the tried and
true survivors of the great sifting through which the gospel believers had
just passed.
156:6.6 Philip, the brother of Herod, had become a
halfhearted believer in Jesus and sent word that the Master was free to live
and work in his domains.
156:6.7 The mandate to close the synagogues of all
Jewry to the teachings of Jesus and all his followers had worked adversely
upon the scribes and Pharisees. Immediately upon Jesus' removing himself as an
object of controversy, there occurred a reaction among the entire Jewish
people; there was general resentment against the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin
leaders at Jerusalem. Many of the rulers of the synagogues began
surreptitiously to open their synagogues to Abner and his associates, claiming
that these teachers were followers of John and not disciples of
Jesus.
156:6.8 Even Herod Antipas experienced a change of
heart and, on learning that Jesus was sojourning across the lake in the
territory of his brother Philip, sent word to him that, while he had signed
warrants for his arrest in Galilee, he had not so authorized his apprehension
in Perea, thus indicating that Jesus would not be molested if he remained
outside of Galilee; and he communicated this same ruling to the Jews at
Jerusalem.
156:6.9 And that was the situation about the first
of August, A.D. 29, when the Master returned from the Phoenician mission and
began the reorganization of his scattered, tested, and depleted forces for
this last and eventful year of his mission on earth.
156:6.10 The issues of battle are clearly drawn as
the Master and his associates prepare to begin the proclamation of a new
religion, the religion of the spirit of the living God who dwells in the minds
of men.
