PAPER 166
LAST VISIT TO NORTHERN PEREA
166:0.1 FROM February 11 to 20, Jesus and the twelve
made a tour of all the cities and villages of northern Perea where the
associates of Abner and the members of the women's corps were working. They
found these messengers of the gospel meeting with success, and Jesus
repeatedly called the attention of his apostles to the fact that the gospel of
the kingdom could spread without the accompaniment of miracles and
wonders.
166:0.2 This entire mission of three months in Perea
was successfully carried on with little help from the twelve apostles, and the
gospel from this time on reflected, not so much Jesus' personality, as his
teachings. But his followers did not long follow his instructions, for
soon after Jesus' death and resurrection they departed from his teachings and
began to build the early church around the miraculous concepts and the
glorified memories of his divine-human personality.
1. THE PHARISEES AT RAGABA
166:1.1 On Sabbath, February 18, Jesus was at
Ragaba, where there lived a wealthy Pharisee named Nathaniel; and since quite
a number of his fellow Pharisees were following Jesus and the twelve around
the country, he made a breakfast on this Sabbath morning for all of them,
about twenty in number, and invited Jesus as the guest of honor.
166:1.2 By the time Jesus arrived at this breakfast,
most of the Pharisees, with two or three lawyers, were already there and
seated at the table. The Master immediately took his seat at the left of
Nathaniel without going to the water basins to wash his hands. Many of the
Pharisees, especially those favorable to Jesus' teachings, knew that he washed
his hands only for purposes of cleanliness, that he abhorred these purely
ceremonial performances; so they were not surprised at his coming directly to
the table without having twice washed his hands. But Nathaniel was shocked by
this failure of the Master to comply with the strict requirements of Pharisaic
practice. Neither did Jesus wash his hands, as did the Pharisees, after each
course of food nor at the end of the meal.
166:1.3 After considerable whispering between
Nathaniel and an unfriendly Pharisee on his right and after much lifting of
eyebrows and sneering curling of lips by those who sat opposite the Master,
Jesus finally said: "I had thought that you invited me to this house to break
bread with you and perchance to inquire of me concerning the proclamation of
the new gospel of the kingdom of God; but I perceive that you have brought me
here to witness an exhibition of ceremonial devotion to your own
self-righteousness. That service you have now done me; what next will you
honor me with as your guest on this occasion?"
166:1.4 When the Master had thus spoken, they cast
their eyes upon the table and remained silent. And since no one spoke, Jesus
continued: "Many of you Pharisees are here with me as friends, some are even
my disciples, but the majority of the Pharisees are persistent in their
refusal to see the light and acknowledge the truth, even when the work of the
gospel is brought before them in great power. How carefully you cleanse the
outside of the cups and the platters while the spiritual-food vessels are
filthy and polluted! You make sure to present a pious and holy appearance to
the people, but your inner souls are filled with self-righteousness,
covetousness, extortion, and all manner of spiritual wickedness. Your leaders
even dare to plot and plan the murder of the Son of Man. Do not you foolish
men understand that the God of heaven looks at the inner motives of the soul
as well as on your outer pretenses and your pious professions? Think not that
the giving of alms and the paying of tithes will cleanse you from
unrighteousness and enable you to stand clean in the presence of the Judge of
all men. Woe upon you Pharisees who have persisted in rejecting the light of
life! You are meticulous in tithing and ostentatious in almsgiving, but you
knowingly spurn the visitation of God and reject the revelation of his love.
Though it is all right for you to give attention to these minor duties, you
should not have left these weightier requirements undone. Woe upon all who
shun justice, spurn mercy, and reject truth! Woe upon all those who despise
the revelation of the Father while they seek the chief seats in the synagogue
and crave flattering salutations in the market places!"
166:1.5 When Jesus would have risen to depart, one
of the lawyers who was at the table, addressing him, said: "But, Master, in
some of your statements you reproach us also. Is there nothing good in the
scribes, the Pharisees, or the lawyers?" And Jesus, standing, replied to the
lawyer: "You, like the Pharisees, delight in the first places at the feasts
and in wearing long robes while you put heavy burdens, grievous to be borne,
on men's shoulders. And when the souls of men stagger under these heavy
burdens, you will not so much as lift with one of your fingers. Woe upon you
who take your greatest delight in building tombs for the prophets your fathers
killed! And that you consent to what your fathers did is made manifest when
you now plan to kill those who come in this day doing what the prophets did in
their day -- proclaiming the righteousness of God and revealing the mercy of
the heavenly Father. But of all the generations that are past, the blood of
the prophets and the apostles shall be required of this perverse and
self-righteous generation. Woe upon all of you lawyers who have taken away the
key of knowledge from the common people! You yourselves refuse to enter into
the way of truth, and at the same time you would hinder all others who seek to
enter therein. But you cannot thus shut up the doors of the kingdom of heaven;
these we have opened to all who have the faith to enter, and these portals of
mercy shall not be closed by the prejudice and arrogance of false teachers and
untrue shepherds who are like whited sepulchres which, while outwardly they
appear beautiful, are inwardly full of dead men's bones and all manner of
spiritual uncleanness."
166:1.6 And when Jesus had finished speaking at
Nathaniel's table, he went out of the house without partaking of food. And of
the Pharisees who heard these words, some became believers in his teaching and
entered into the kingdom, but the larger number persisted in the way of
darkness, becoming all the more determined to lie in wait for him that they
might catch some of his words which could be used to bring him to trial and
judgment before the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem.
166:1.7 There were just three things to which the
Pharisees paid particular attention:
1. The practice of strict tithing.
2. Scrupulous observance of the laws of
purification.
3. Avoidance of association with all
non-Pharisees.
166:1.8 At this time Jesus sought to expose the
spiritual barrenness of the first two practices, while he reserved his remarks
designed to rebuke the Pharisees' refusal to engage in social intercourse with
non-Pharisees for another and subsequent occasion when he would again be
dining with many of these same men.
2. THE TEN LEPERS
166:2.1 The next day Jesus went with the twelve over
to Amathus, near the border of Samaria, and as they approached the city, they
encountered a group of ten lepers who sojourned near this place. Nine of this
group were Jews, one a Samaritan. Ordinarily these Jews would have refrained
from all association or contact with this Samaritan, but their common
affliction was more than enough to overcome all religious prejudice. They had
heard much of Jesus and his earlier miracles of healing, and since the seventy
made a practice of announcing the time of Jesus' expected arrival when the
Master was out with the twelve on these tours, the ten lepers had been made
aware that he was expected to appear in this vicinity at about this time; and
they were, accordingly, posted here on the outskirts of the city where they
hoped to attract his attention and ask for healing. When the lepers saw Jesus
drawing near them, not daring to approach him, they stood afar off and cried
to him: "Master, have mercy on us; cleanse us from our affliction. Heal us as
you have healed others."
166:2.2 Jesus had just been explaining to the twelve
why the gentiles of Perea, together with the less orthodox Jews, were more
willing to believe the gospel preached by the seventy than were the more
orthodox and tradition-bound Jews of Judea. He had called their attention to
the fact that their message had likewise been more readily received by the
Galileans, and even by the Samaritans. But the twelve apostles were hardly yet
willing to entertain kind feelings for the long-despised
Samaritans.
166:2.3 Accordingly, when Simon Zelotes observed the
Samaritan among the lepers, he sought to induce the Master to pass on into the
city without even hesitating to exchange greetings with them. Said Jesus to
Simon: "But what if the Samaritan loves God as well as the Jews? Should we sit
in judgment on our fellow men? Who can tell? if we make these ten men whole,
perhaps the Samaritan will prove more grateful even than the Jews. Do you feel
certain about your opinions, Simon?" And Simon quickly replied, "If you
cleanse them, you will soon find out." And Jesus replied: "So shall it be,
Simon, and you will soon know the truth regarding the gratitude of men and the
loving mercy of God."
166:2.4 Jesus, going near the lepers, said: "If you
would be made whole, go forthwith and show yourselves to the priests as
required by the law of Moses." And as they went, they were made whole. But
when the Samaritan saw that he was being healed, he turned back and, going in
quest of Jesus, began to glorify God with a loud voice. And when he had found
the Master, he fell on his knees at his feet and gave thanks for his
cleansing. The nine others, the Jews, had also discovered their healing, and
while they also were grateful for their cleansing, they continued on their way
to show themselves to the priests.
166:2.5 As the Samaritan remained kneeling at Jesus'
feet, the Master, looking about at the twelve, especially at Simon Zelotes,
said: "Were not ten cleansed? Where, then, are the other nine, the Jews? Only
one, this alien, has returned to give glory to God." And then he said to the
Samaritan, "Arise and go your way; your faith has made you whole."
166:2.6 Jesus looked again at his apostles as the
stranger departed. And the apostles all looked at Jesus, save Simon Zelotes,
whose eyes were downcast. The twelve said not a word. Neither did Jesus speak;
it was not necessary that he should.
166:2.7 Though all ten of these men really believed
they had leprosy, only four were thus afflicted. The other six were cured of a
skin disease which had been mistaken for leprosy. But the Samaritan really had
leprosy.
166:2.8 Jesus enjoined the twelve to say nothing
about the cleansing of the lepers, and as they went on into Amathus, he
remarked: "You see how it is that the children of the house, even when they
are insubordinate to their Father's will, take their blessings for granted.
They think it a small matter if they neglect to give thanks when the Father
bestows healing upon them, but the strangers, when they receive gifts from the
head of the house, are filled with wonder and are constrained to give thanks
in recognition of the good things bestowed upon them." And still the apostles
said nothing in reply to the Master's words.
3. THE SERMON AT GERASA
166:3.1 As Jesus and the twelve visited with the
messengers of the kingdom at Gerasa, one of the Pharisees who believed in him
asked this question: "Lord, will there be few or many really saved?" And
Jesus, answering, said:
166:3.2 "You have been taught that only the children
of Abraham will be saved; that only the gentiles of adoption can hope for
salvation. Some of you have reasoned that, since the Scriptures record that
only Caleb and Joshua from among all the hosts that went out of Egypt lived to
enter the promised land, only a comparatively few of those who seek the
kingdom of heaven shall find entrance thereto.
166:3.3 "You also have another saying among you, and
one that contains much truth: That the way which leads to eternal life is
straight and narrow, that the door which leads thereto is likewise narrow so
that, of those who seek salvation, few can find entrance through this door.
You also have a teaching that the way which leads to destruction is broad,
that the entrance thereto is wide, and that there are many who choose to go
this way. And this proverb is not without its meaning. But I declare that
salvation is first a matter of your personal choosing. Even if the door to the
way of life is narrow, it is wide enough to admit all who sincerely seek to
enter, for I am that door. And the Son will never refuse entrance to any child
of the universe who, by faith, seeks to find the Father through the
Son.
166:3.4 "But herein is the danger to all who would
postpone their entrance into the kingdom while they continue to pursue the
pleasures of immaturity and indulge the satisfactions of selfishness: Having
refused to enter the kingdom as a spiritual experience, they may subsequently
seek entrance thereto when the glory of the better way becomes revealed in the
age to come. And when, therefore, those who spurned the kingdom when I came in
the likeness of humanity seek to find an entrance when it is revealed in the
likeness of divinity, then will I say to all such selfish ones: I know not
whence you are. You had your chance to prepare for this heavenly citizenship,
but you refused all such proffers of mercy; you rejected all invitations to
come while the door was open. Now, to you who have refused salvation, the door
is shut. This door is not open to those who would enter the kingdom for
selfish glory. Salvation is not for those who are unwilling to pay the price
of wholehearted dedication to doing my Father's will. When in spirit and soul
you have turned your backs upon the Father's kingdom, it is useless in mind
and body to stand before this door and knock, saying, `Lord open to us; we
would also be great in the kingdom.' Then will I declare that you are not of
my fold. I will not receive you to be among those who have fought the good
fight of faith and won the reward of unselfish service in the kingdom on
earth. And when you say, `Did we not eat and drink with you, and did you not
teach in our streets?' then shall I again declare that you are spiritual
strangers; that we were not fellow servants in the Father's ministry of mercy
on earth; that I do not know you; and then shall the Judge of all the earth
say to you: `Depart from us, all you who have taken delight in the works of
iniquity.'
166:3.5 "But fear not; every one who sincerely
desires to find eternal life by entrance into the kingdom of God shall
certainly find such everlasting salvation. But you who refuse this salvation
will some day see the prophets of the seed of Abraham sit down with the
believers of the gentile nations in this glorified kingdom to partake of the
bread of life and to refresh themselves with the water thereof. And they who
shall thus take the kingdom in spiritual power and by the persistent assaults
of living faith will come from the north and the south and from the east and
the west. And, behold, many who are first will be last, and those who are last
will many times be first."
166:3.6 This was indeed a new and strange version of
the old and familiar proverb of the straight and narrow way.
166:3.7 Slowly the apostles and many of the
disciples were learning the meaning of Jesus' early declaration: "Unless you
are born again, born of the spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God."
Nevertheless, to all who are honest of heart and sincere in faith, it remains
eternally true: "Behold, I stand at the doors of men's hearts and knock, and
if any man will open to me, I will come in and sup with him and will feed him
with the bread of life; we shall be one in spirit and purpose, and so shall we
ever be brethren in the long and fruitful service of the search for the
Paradise Father." And so, whether few or many are to be saved altogether
depends on whether few or many will heed the invitation: "I am the door, I am
the new and living way, and whosoever wills may enter to embark upon the
endless truth-search for eternal life."
166:3.8 Even the apostles were unable fully to
comprehend his teaching as to the necessity for using spiritual force for the
purpose of breaking through all material resistance and for surmounting every
earthly obstacle which might chance to stand in the way of grasping the
all-important spiritual values of the new life in the spirit as the liberated
sons of God.
4. TEACHING ABOUT ACCIDENTS
166:4.1 While most Palestinians ate only two meals a
day, it was the custom of Jesus and the apostles, when on a journey, to pause
at midday for rest and refreshment. And it was at such a noontide stop on the
way to Philadelphia that Thomas asked Jesus: "Master, from hearing your
remarks as we journeyed this morning, I would like to inquire whether
spiritual beings are concerned in the production of strange and extraordinary
events in the material world and, further, to ask whether the angels and other
spirit beings are able to prevent accidents."
166:4.2 In answer to Thomas's inquiry, Jesus said:
"Have I been so long with you, and yet you continue to ask me such questions?
Have you failed to observe how the Son of Man lives as one with you and
consistently refuses to employ the forces of heaven for his personal
sustenance? Do we not all live by the same means whereby all men exist? Do you
see the power of the spiritual world manifested in the material life of this
world, save for the revelation of the Father and the sometime healing of his
afflicted children?
166:4.3 "All too long have your fathers believed
that prosperity was the token of divine approval; that adversity was the proof
of God's displeasure. I declare that such beliefs are superstitions. Do you
not observe that far greater numbers of the poor joyfully receive the gospel
and immediately enter the kingdom? If riches evidence divine favor, why do the
rich so many times refuse to believe this good news from heaven?
166:4.4 "The Father causes his rain to fall on the
just and the unjust; the sun likewise shines on the righteous and the
unrighteous. You know about those Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with
the sacrifices, but I tell you these Galileans were not in any manner sinners
above all their fellows just because this happened to them. You also know
about the eighteen men upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, killing them. Think
not that these men who were thus destroyed were offenders above all their
brethren in Jerusalem. These folks were simply innocent victims of one of the
accidents of time.
166:4.5 "There are three groups of events which may
occur in your lives:
166:4.6 "1. You may share in those normal happenings
which are a part of the life you and your fellows live on the face of the
earth.
166:4.7 "2. You may chance to fall victim to one of
the accidents of nature, one of the mischances of men, knowing full well that
such occurrences are in no way prearranged or otherwise produced by the
spiritual forces of the realm.
166:4.8 "3. You may reap the harvest of your direct
efforts to comply with the natural laws governing the world.
166:4.9 "There was a certain man who planted a fig
tree in his yard, and when he had many times sought fruit thereon and found
none, he called the vinedressers before him and said: `Here have I come these
three seasons looking for fruit on this fig tree and have found none. Cut down
this barren tree; why should it encumber the ground?' But the head gardener
answered his master: `Let it alone for one more year so that I may dig around
it and put on fertilizer, and then, next year, if it bears no fruit, it shall
be cut down.' And when they had thus complied with the laws of fruitfulness,
since the tree was living and good, they were rewarded with an abundant
yield.
166:4.10 "In the matter of sickness and health, you
should know that these bodily states are the result of material causes; health
is not the smile of heaven, neither is affliction the frown of God.
166:4.11 "The Father's human children have equal
capacity for the reception of material blessings; therefore does he bestow
things physical upon the children of men without discrimination. When it comes
to the bestowal of spiritual gifts, the Father is limited by man's capacity
for receiving these divine endowments. Although the Father is no respecter of
persons, in the bestowal of spiritual gifts he is limited by man's faith and
by his willingness always to abide by the Father's will."
166:4.12 As they journeyed on toward Philadelphia,
Jesus continued to teach them and to answer their questions having to do with
accidents, sickness, and miracles, but they were not able fully to comprehend
this instruction. One hour of teaching will not wholly change the beliefs of a
lifetime, and so Jesus found it necessary to reiterate his message, to tell
again and again that which he wished them to understand; and even then they
failed to grasp the meaning of his earth mission until after his death and
resurrection.
5. THE CONGREGATION AT PHILADELPHIA
166:5.1 Jesus and the twelve were on their way to
visit Abner and his associates, who were preaching and teaching in
Philadelphia. Of all the cities of Perea, in Philadelphia the largest group of
Jews and gentiles, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, embraced the
teachings of the seventy, thereby entering into the kingdom of heaven. The
synagogue of Philadelphia had never been subject to the supervision of the
Sanhedrin at Jerusalem and therefore had never been closed to the teachings of
Jesus and his associates. At this very time, Abner was teaching three times a
day in the Philadelphia synagogue.
166:5.2 This very synagogue later on became a
Christian church and was the missionary headquarters for the promulgation of
the gospel through the regions to the east. It was long a stronghold of the
Master's teachings and stood alone in this region as a center of Christian
learning for centuries.
166:5.3 The Jews at Jerusalem had always had trouble
with the Jews of Philadelphia. And after the death and resurrection of Jesus
the Jerusalem church, of which James the Lord's brother was head, began to
have serious difficulties with the Philadelphia congregation of believers.
Abner became the head of the Philadelphia church, continuing as such until his
death. And this estrangement with Jerusalem explains why nothing is heard of
Abner and his work in the Gospel records of the New Testament. This feud
between Jerusalem and Philadelphia lasted throughout the lifetimes of James
and Abner and continued for some time after the destruction of Jerusalem.
Philadelphia was really the headquarters of the early church in the south and
east as Antioch was in the north and west.
166:5.4 It was the apparent misfortune of Abner to
be at variance with all of the leaders of the early Christian church. He fell
out with Peter and James (Jesus' brother) over questions of administration and
the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem church; he parted company with Paul over
differences of philosophy and theology. Abner was more Babylonian than
Hellenic in his philosophy, and he stubbornly resisted all attempts of Paul to
remake the teachings of Jesus so as to present less that was objectionable,
first to the Jews, then to the Greco-Roman believers in the
mysteries.
166:5.5 Thus was Abner compelled to live a life of
isolation. He was head of a church which was without standing at Jerusalem. He
had dared to defy James the Lord's brother, who was subsequently supported by
Peter. Such conduct effectively separated him from all his former associates.
Then he dared to withstand Paul. Although he was wholly sympathetic with Paul
in his mission to the gentiles, and though he supported him in his contentions
with the church at Jerusalem, he bitterly opposed the version of Jesus'
teachings which Paul elected to preach. In his last years Abner denounced Paul
as the "clever corrupter of the life teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son
of the living God."
166:5.6 During the later years of Abner and for some
time thereafter, the believers at Philadelphia held more strictly to the
religion of Jesus, as he lived and taught, than any other group on
earth.
166:5.7 Abner lived to be 89 years old, dying at
Philadelphia on the 21st day of November, A.D. 74. And to the very end he was
a faithful believer in, and teacher of, the gospel of the heavenly kingdom.
