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                Urantia Book Paper 153 The Crisis At Capernaum
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 Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART IV: The Life and Teachings
  of Jesus : The Bestowal Of Michael On Urantia The Times Of Michael's Bestowal
 Birth And Infancy Of Jesus The Early Childhood Of Jesus The Later Childhood Of
   Jesus Jesus At Jerusalem The Two Crucial Years The Adolescent Years Jesus'
   Early Manhood The Later Adult Life Of Jesus On The Way To Rome The World's
  Religions The Sojourn At Rome The Return From Rome The Transition Years John
  The Baptist Baptism And The Forty Days Tarrying Time In Galilee Training The
Kingdom's Messengers The Twelve Apostles The Ordination Of The Twelve Beginning
  The Public Work The Passover At Jerusalem Going Through Samaria At Gilboa And
    In The Decapolis Four Eventful Days At Capernaum First Preaching Tour Of
 Galilee The Interlude Visit To Jerusalem Training Evangelists At Bethsaida The
  Second Preaching Tour The Third Preaching Tour Tarrying And Teaching By The
 Seaside Events Leading Up To The Capernaum Crisis The Crisis At Capernaum Last
   Days At Capernaum Fleeing Through Northern Galilee The Sojourn At Tyre And
   Sidon At Caesarea-philippi The Mount Of Transfiguration The Decapolis Tour
 Rodan Of Alexandria Further Discussions With Rodan At The Feast Of Tabernacles
   Ordination Of The Seventy At Magadan At The Feast Of Dedication The Perean
    Mission Begins Last Visit To Northern Perea The Visit To Philadelphia The
Resurrection Of Lazarus Last Teaching At Pella The Kingdom Of Heaven On The Way
           To Jerusalem Going Into Jerusalem Monday In Jerusalem ...
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                      Paper 153 The Crisis At Capernaum

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Introduction

ON FRIDAY evening, the day of their arrival at Bethsaida, and on Sabbath
morning, the apostles noticed that Jesus was seriously occupied with some
momentous problem; they were cognizant that the Master was giving unusual
thought to some important matter. He ate no breakfast and but little at
noontide. All of Sabbath morning and the evening before, the twelve and their
associates were gathered together in small groups about the house, in the
garden, and along the seashore. There was a tension of uncertainty and a
suspense of apprehension resting upon all of them. Jesus had said little to
them since they left Jerusalem.

Not in months had they seen the Master so preoccupied and uncommunicative. Even
Simon Peter was depressed, if not downcast. Andrew was at a loss to know what
to do for his dejected associates. Nathaniel said they were in the midst of the
"lull before the storm." Thomas expressed the opinion that "something out of
the ordinary is about to happen." Philip advised David Zebedee to "forget about
plans for feeding and lodging the multitude until we know what the Master is
thinking about." Matthew was putting forth renewed efforts to replenish the
treasury. James and John talked over the forthcoming sermon in the synagogue
and speculated much as to its probable nature and scope. Simon Zelotes
expressed the belief, in reality a hope, that "the Father in heaven may be
about to intervene in some unexpected manner for the vindication and support of
his Son," while Judas Iscariot dared to indulge the thought that possibly Jesus
was oppressed with regrets that "he did not have the courage and daring to
permit the five thousand to proclaim him king of the Jews."

It was from among such a group of depressed and disconsolate followers that
Jesus went forth on this beautiful Sabbath afternoon to preach his epoch-making
sermon in the Capernaum synagogue. The only word of cheerful greeting or
well-wishing from any of his immediate followers came from one of the
unsuspecting Alpheus twins, who, as Jesus left the house on his way to the
synagogue, saluted him cheerily and said: "We pray the Father will help you,
and that we may have bigger multitudes than ever."

1. THE SETTING OF THE STAGE

A distinguished congregation greeted Jesus at three o'clock on this exquisite
Sabbath afternoon in the new Capernaum synagogue. Jairus presided and handed
Jesus the Scriptures to read. The day before, fifty-three Pharisees and
Sadducees had arrived from Jerusalem; more than thirty of the leaders and
rulers of the neighboring synagogues were also present. These Jewish religious
leaders were acting directly under orders from the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, and
they constituted the orthodox vanguard which had come to inaugurate

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open warfare on Jesus and his disciples. Sitting by the side of these Jewish
leaders, in the synagogue seats of honor, were the official observers of Herod
Antipas, who had been directed to ascertain the truth concerning the disturbing
reports that an attempt had been made by the populace to proclaim Jesus the
king of the Jews, over in the domains of his brother Philip.

Jesus comprehended that he faced the immediate declaration of avowed and open
warfare by his increasing enemies, and he elected boldly to assume the
offensive. At the feeding of the five thousand he had challenged their ideas of
the material Messiah; now he chose again openly to attack their concept of the
Jewish deliverer. This crisis, which began with the feeding of the five
thousand, and which terminated with this Sabbath afternoon sermon, was the
outward turning of the tide of popular fame and acclaim. Henceforth, the work
of the kingdom was to be increasingly concerned with the more important task of
winning lasting spiritual converts for the truly religious brotherhood of
mankind. This sermon marks the crisis in the transition from the period of
discussion, controversy, and decision to that of open warfare and final
acceptance or final rejection.

The Master well knew that many of his followers were slowly but surely
preparing their minds finally to reject him. He likewise knew that many of his
disciples were slowly but certainly passing through that training of mind and
that discipline of soul which would enable them to triumph over doubt and
courageously to assert their full-fledged faith in the gospel of the kingdom.
Jesus fully understood how men prepare themselves for the decisions of a crisis
and the performance of sudden deeds of courageous choosing by the slow process
of the reiterated choosing between the recurring situations of good and evil.
He subjected his chosen messengers to repeated rehearsals in disappointment and
provided them with frequent and testing opportunities for choosing between the
right and the wrong way of meeting spiritual trials. He knew he could depend on
his followers, when they met the final test, to make their vital decisions in
accordance with prior and habitual mental attitudes and spirit reactions.

This crisis in Jesus' earth life began with the feeding of the five thousand
and ended with this sermon in the synagogue; the crisis in the lives of the
apostles began with this sermon in the synagogue and continued for a whole
year, ending only with the Master's trial and crucifixion.

As they sat there in the synagogue that afternoon before Jesus began to speak,
there was just one great mystery, just one supreme question, in the minds of
all. Both his friends and his foes pondered just one thought, and that was:
"Why did he himself so deliberately and effectively turn back the tide of
popular enthusiasm?" And it was immediately before and immediately after this
sermon that the doubts and disappointments of his disgruntled adherents grew
into unconscious opposition and eventually turned into actual hatred. It was
after this sermon in the synagogue that Judas Iscariot entertained his first
conscious thought of deserting. But he did, for the time being, effectively
master all such inclinations.

Everyone was in a state of perplexity. Jesus had left them dumfounded and
confounded. He had recently engaged in the greatest demonstration of
supernatural power to characterize his whole career. The feeding of the five
thousand was the one event of his earth life which made the greatest appeal

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to the Jewish concept of the expected Messiah. But this extraordinary advantage
was immediately and unexplainedly offset by his prompt and unequivocal refusal
to be made king.

On Friday evening, and again on Sabbath morning, the Jerusalem leaders had
labored long and earnestly with Jairus to prevent Jesus' speaking in the
synagogue, but it was of no avail. Jairus' only reply to all this pleading was:
"I have granted this request, and I will not violate my word."

2. THE EPOCHAL SERMON

Jesus introduced this sermon by reading from the law as found in Deuteronomy:
"But it shall come to pass, if this people will not hearken to the voice of
God, that the curses of transgression shall surely overtake them. The Lord
shall cause you to be smitten by your enemies; you shall be removed into all
the kingdoms of the earth. And the Lord shall bring you and the king you have
set up over you into the hands of a strange nation. You shall become an
astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations. Your sons and your
daughters shall go into captivity. The strangers among you shall rise high in
authority while you are brought very low. And these things shall be upon you
and your seed forever because you would not hearken to the word of the Lord.
Therefore shall you serve your enemies who shall come against you. You shall
endure hunger and thirst and wear this alien yoke of iron. The Lord shall bring
against you a nation from afar, from the end of the earth, a nation whose
tongue you shall not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, a nation which
will have little regard for you. And they shall besiege you in all your towns
until the high fortified walls wherein you have trusted come down; and all the
land shall fall into their hands. And it shall come to pass that you will be
driven to eat the fruit of your own bodies, the flesh of your sons and
daughters, during this time of siege, because of the straitness wherewith your
enemies shall press you."

And when Jesus had finished this reading, he turned to the Prophets and read
from Jeremiah: "`If you will not hearken to the words of my servants the
prophets whom I have sent you, then will I make this house like Shiloh, and I
will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.' And the priests
and the teachers heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the Lord. And
it came to pass that, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the
Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and teachers
laid hold of him, saying, 'You shall surely die.' And all the people crowded
around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. And when the princes of Judah heard
these things, they sat in judgment on Jeremiah. Then spoke the priests and the
teachers to the princes and to all the people, saying: `This man is worthy to
die, for he has prophesied against our city, and you have heard him with your
own ears.'

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Then spoke Jeremiah to all the princes and to all the people: `The Lord sent me
to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words which you
have heard. Now, therefore, amend your ways and reform your doings and obey the
voice of the Lord your God that you may escape the evil which has been
pronounced against you. As for me, behold I am in your hands. Do with me as
seems good and right in your eyes. But know you for certain that, if you put me
to death, you shall bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this people,
for of a truth the Lord has sent me to speak all these words in your ears.'

"The priests and teachers of that day sought to kill Jeremiah, but the judges
would not consent, albeit, for his words of warning, they did let him down by
cords in a filthy dungeon until he sank in mire up to his armpits. That is what
this people did to the Prophet Jeremiah when he obeyed the Lord's command to
warn his brethren of their impending political downfall. Today, I desire to ask
you: What will the chief priests and religious leaders of this people do with
the man who dares to warn them of the day of their spiritual doom? Will you
also seek to put to death the teacher who dares to proclaim the word of the
Lord, and who fears not to point out wherein you refuse to walk in the way of
light which leads to the entrance to the kingdom of heaven?

"What is it you seek as evidence of my mission on earth? We have left you
undisturbed in your positions of influence and power while we preached glad
tidings to the poor and the outcast. We have made no hostile attack upon that
which you hold in reverence but have rather proclaimed new liberty for man's
fear-ridden soul. I came into the world to reveal my Father and to establish on
earth the spiritual brotherhood of the sons of God, the kingdom of heaven. And
notwithstanding that I have so many times reminded you that my kingdom is not
of this world, still has my Father granted you many manifestations of material
wonders in addition to more evidential spiritual transformations and
regenerations.

"What new sign is it that you seek at my hands? I declare that you already have
sufficient evidence to enable you to make your decision. Verily, verily, I say
to many who sit before me this day, you are confronted with the necessity of
choosing which way you will go; and I say to you, as Joshua said to your
forefathers, `choose you this day whom you will serve.' Today, many of you
stand at the parting of the ways.

"Some of you, when you could not find me after the feasting of the multitude on
the other side, hired the Tiberias fishing fleet, which a week before had taken
shelter near by during a storm, to go in pursuit of me, and what for? Not for
truth and righteousness or that you might the better know how to serve and
minister to your fellow men! No, but rather that you might have more bread for
which you had not labored. It was not to fill your souls with the word of life,
but only that you might fill the belly with the bread of ease. And long have
you been taught that the Messiah, when he should come, would work those wonders
which would make life pleasant and easy for all the chosen people. It is not
strange, then, that you who have been thus taught should long for the loaves
and the fishes. But I declare to you that such is not the mission of the Son of
Man. I have come to proclaim spiritual liberty, teach eternal truth, and foster
living faith.

"My brethren, hanker not after the meat which perishes but rather seek for the
spiritual food that nourishes even to eternal life; and this is the bread of
life which the Son gives to all who will take it and eat, for the Father has
given the Son this life without measure. And when you asked me, `What must we
do to perform the works of God?' I plainly told you: `This is the work of God,
that you believe him whom he has sent.'"

And then said Jesus, pointing up to the device of a pot of manna which
decorated the lintel of this new synagogue, and which was embellished with
grape clusters: "You have thought that your forefathers in the wilderness ate
manna--the bread of heaven--but I say to you that this was the bread of earth.
While Moses did not give your fathers bread from heaven, my Father now

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stands ready to give you the true bread of life. The bread of heaven is that
which comes down from God and gives eternal life to the men of the world. And
when you say to me, Give us this living bread, I will answer: I am this bread
of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger, while he who believes me shall
never thirst. You have seen me, lived with me, and beheld my works, yet you
believe not that I came forth from the Father. But to those who do
believe--fear not. All those led of the Father shall come to me, and he who
comes to me shall in nowise be cast out.

"And now let me declare to you, once and for all time, that I have come down
upon the earth, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And
this is the final will of Him who sent me, that of all those he has given me I
should not lose one. And this is the will of the Father: That every one who
beholds the Son and who believes him shall have eternal life. Only yesterday
did I feed you with bread for your bodies; today I offer you the bread of life
for your hungry souls. Will you now take the bread of the spirit as you then so
willingly ate the bread of this world?"

As Jesus paused for a moment to look over the congregation, one of the teachers
from Jerusalem (a member of the Sanhedrin) rose up and asked: "Do I understand
you to say that you are the bread which comes down from heaven, and that the
manna which Moses gave to our fathers in the wilderness did not?" And Jesus
answered the Pharisee, "You understood aright." Then said the Pharisee: "But
are you not Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, the carpenter? Are not your
father and mother, as well as your brothers and sisters, well known to many of
us? How then is it that you appear here in God's house and declare that you
have come down from heaven?"

By this time there was much murmuring in the synagogue, and such a tumult was
threatened that Jesus stood up and said: "Let us be patient; the truth never
suffers from honest examination. I am all that you say but more. The Father and
I are one; the Son does only that which the Father teaches him, while all those
who are given to the Son by the Father, the Son will receive to himself. You
have read where it is written in the Prophets, `You shall all be taught by
God,' and that `Those whom the Father teaches will hear also his Son.' Every
one who yields to the teaching of the Father's indwelling spirit will
eventually come to me. Not that any man has seen the Father, but the Father's
spirit does live within man. And the Son who came down from heaven, he has
surely seen the Father. And those who truly believe this Son already have
eternal life.

"I am this bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are
dead. But this bread which comes down from God, if a man eats thereof, he shall
never die in spirit. I repeat, I am this living bread, and every soul who
attains the realization of this united nature of God and man shall live
forever. And this bread of life which I give to all who will receive is my own
living and combined nature. The Father in the Son and the Son one with the
Father--that is my life-giving revelation to the world and my saving gift to
all nations."

When Jesus had finished speaking, the ruler of the synagogue dismissed the
congregation, but they would not depart. They crowded up around Jesus to ask
more questions while others murmured and disputed among themselves. And this
state of affairs continued for more than three hours. It was well past seven
o'clock before the audience finally dispersed.

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3. THE AFTER MEETING

Many were the questions asked Jesus during this after meeting. Some were asked
by his perplexed disciples, but more were asked by caviling unbelievers who
sought only to embarrass and entrap him.

One of the visiting Pharisees, mounting a lampstand, shouted out this question:
"You tell us that you are the bread of life. How can you give us your flesh to
eat or your blood to drink? What avail is your teaching if it cannot be carried
out?" And Jesus answered this question, saying: "I did not teach you that my
flesh is the bread of life nor that my blood is the water thereof. But I did
say that my life in the flesh is a bestowal of the bread of heaven. The fact of
the Word of God bestowed in the flesh and the phenomenon of the Son of Man
subject to the will of God, constitute a reality of experience which is
equivalent to the divine sustenance. You cannot eat my flesh nor can you drink
my blood, but you can become one in spirit with me even as I am one in spirit
with the Father. You can be nourished by the eternal word of God, which is
indeed the bread of life, and which has been bestowed in the likeness of mortal
flesh; and you can be watered in soul by the divine spirit, which is truly the
water of life. The Father has sent me into the world to show how he desires to
indwell and direct all men; and I have so lived this life in the flesh as to
inspire all men likewise ever to seek to know and do the will of the indwelling
heavenly Father."

Then one of the Jerusalem spies who had been observing Jesus and his apostles,
said: "We notice that neither you nor your apostles wash your hands properly
before you eat bread. You must well know that such a practice as eating with
defiled and unwashed hands is a transgression of the law of the elders. Neither
do you properly wash your drinking cups and eating vessels. Why is it that you
show such disrespect for the traditions of the fathers and the laws of our
elders?" And when Jesus heard him speak, he answered: "Why is it that you
transgress the commandments of God by the laws of your tradition? The
commandment says, `Honor your father and your mother,' and directs that you
share with them your substance if necessary; but you enact a law of tradition
which permits undutiful children to say that the money wherewith the parents
might have been assisted has been `given to God.' The law of the elders thus
relieves such crafty children of their responsibility, notwithstanding that the
children subsequently use all such monies for their own comfort. Why is it that
you in this way make void the commandment by your own tradition? Well did
Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, saying: `This people honors me with their
lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as
their doctrines the precepts of men.'

"You can see how it is that you desert the commandment while you hold fast to
the tradition of men. Altogether willing are you to reject the word of God
while you maintain your own traditions. And in many other ways do you dare to
set up your own teachings above the law and the prophets."

Jesus then directed his remarks to all present. He said: "But hearken to me all
of you. It is not that which enters into the mouth that spiritually defiles the
man, but rather that which proceeds out of the mouth and from the heart." But
even the apostles failed fully to grasp the meaning of his words, for Simon
Peter also asked him: "Lest some of your hearers be unnecessarily offended,
would you explain to us the meaning of these words?" And then said Jesus to
Peter:

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"Are you also hard of understanding? Know you not that every plant which my
heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up? Turn now your attention to
those who would know the truth. You cannot compel men to love the truth. Many
of these teachers are blind guides. And you know that, if the blind lead the
blind, both shall fall into the pit. But hearken while I tell you the truth
concerning those things which morally defile and spiritually contaminate men. I
declare it is not that which enters the body by the mouth or gains access to
the mind through the eyes and ears, that defiles the man. Man is only defiled
by that evil which may originate within the heart, and which finds expression
in the words and deeds of such unholy persons. Do you not know it is from the
heart that there come forth evil thoughts, wicked projects of murder, theft,
and adulteries, together with jealousy, pride, anger, revenge, railings, and
false witness? And it is just such things that defile men, and not that they
eat bread with ceremonially unclean hands."

The Pharisaic commissioners of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin were now almost
convinced that Jesus must be apprehended on a charge of blasphemy or on one of
flouting the sacred law of the Jews; wherefore their efforts to involve him in
the discussion of, and possible attack upon, some of the traditions of the
elders, or so-called oral laws of the nation. No matter how scarce water might
be, these traditionally enslaved Jews would never fail to go through with the
required ceremonial washing of the hands before every meal. It was their belief
that "it is better to die than to transgress the commandments of the elders."
The spies asked this question because it had been reported that Jesus had said,
"Salvation is a matter of clean hearts rather than of clean hands." But such
beliefs, when they once become a part of one's religion, are hard to get away
from. Even many years after this day the Apostle Peter was still held in the
bondage of fear to many of these traditions about things clean and unclean,
only being finally delivered by experiencing an extraordinary and vivid dream.
All of this can the better be understood when it is recalled that these Jews
looked upon eating with unwashed hands in the same light as commerce with a
harlot, and both were equally punishable by excommunication.

Thus did the Master elect to discuss and expose the folly of the whole rabbinic
system of rules and regulations which was represented by the oral law--the
traditions of the elders, all of which were regarded as more sacred and more
binding upon the Jews than even the teachings of the Scriptures. And Jesus
spoke out with less reserve because he knew the hour had come when he could do
nothing more to prevent an open rupture of relations with these religious
leaders.

4. LAST WORDS IN THE SYNAGOGUE

In the midst of the discussions of this after meeting, one of the Pharisees
from Jerusalem brought to Jesus a distraught youth who was possessed of an
unruly and rebellious spirit. Leading this demented lad up to Jesus, he said:
"What can you do for such affliction as this? Can you cast out devils?" And
when the Master looked upon the youth, he was moved with compassion and,
beckoning for the lad to come to him, took him by the hand and said: "You know
who I am; come out of him; and I charge one of your loyal fellows to see that
you do not return." And immediately the lad was normal and in his right mind.
And this is the first case where Jesus really cast an "evil spirit" out of a

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human being. All of the previous cases were only supposed possession of the
devil; but this was a genuine case of demoniac possession, even such as
sometimes occurred in those days and right up to the day of Pentecost, when the
Master's spirit was poured out upon all flesh, making it forever impossible for
these few celestial rebels to take such advantage of certain unstable types of
human beings.

When the people marveled, one of the Pharisees stood up and charged that Jesus
could do these things because he was in league with devils; that he admitted in
the language which he employed in casting out this devil that they were known
to each other; and he went on to state that the religious teachers and leaders
at Jerusalem had decided that Jesus did all his so-called miracles by the power
of Beelzebub, the prince of devils. Said the Pharisee: "Have nothing to do with
this man; he is in partnership with Satan."

Then said Jesus: "How can Satan cast out Satan? A kingdom divided against
itself cannot stand; if a house be divided against itself, it is soon brought
to desolation. Can a city withstand a siege if it is not united? If Satan casts
out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? But
you should know that no one can enter into the house of a strong man and
despoil his goods except he first overpower and bind that strong man. And so,
if I by the power of Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them
out? Therefore shall they be your judges. But if I, by the spirit of God, cast
out devils, then has the kingdom of God truly come upon you. If you were not
blinded by prejudice and misled by fear and pride, you would easily perceive
that one who is greater than devils stands in your midst. You compel me to
declare that he who is not with me is against me, while he who gathers not with
me scatters abroad. Let me utter a solemn warning to you who would presume,
with your eyes open and with premeditated malice, knowingly to ascribe the
works of God to the doings of devils! Verily, verily, I say to you, all your
sins shall be forgiven, even all of your blasphemies, but whosoever shall
blaspheme against God with deliberation and wicked intention shall never obtain
forgiveness. Since such persistent workers of iniquity will never seek nor
receive forgiveness, they are guilty of the sin of eternally rejecting divine
forgiveness.

"Many of you have this day come to the parting of the ways; you have come to a
beginning of the making of the inevitable choice between the will of the Father
and the self-chosen ways of darkness. And as you now choose, so shall you
eventually be. You must either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else
will the tree become corrupt and its fruit corrupt. I declare that in my
Father's eternal kingdom the tree is known by its fruits. But some of you who
are as vipers, how can you, having already chosen evil, bring forth good
fruits? After all, out of the abundance of the evil in your hearts your mouths
speak."

Then stood up another Pharisee, who said: "Teacher, we would have you give us a
predetermined sign which we will agree upon as establishing your authority and
right to teach. Will you agree to such an arrangement?" And when Jesus heard
this, he said: "This faithless and sign-seeking generation seeks a token, but
no sign shall be given you other than that which you already have, and that
which you shall see when the Son of Man departs from among you."

And when he had finished speaking, his apostles surrounded him and led him from
the synagogue. In silence they journeyed home with him to Bethsaida. They were
all amazed and somewhat terror-stricken by the sudden change in the

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Master's teaching tactics. They were wholly unaccustomed to seeing him perform
in such a militant manner.

5. THE SATURDAY EVENING

Time and again had Jesus dashed to pieces the hopes of his apostles, repeatedly
had he crushed their fondest expectations, but no time of disappointment or
season of sorrow had ever equaled that which now overtook them. And, too, there
was now admixed with their depression a real fear for their safety. They were
all surprisingly startled by the suddenness and completeness of the desertion
of the populace. They were also somewhat frightened and disconcerted by the
unexpected boldness and assertive determination exhibited by the Pharisees who
had come down from Jerusalem. But most of all they were bewildered by Jesus'
sudden change of tactics. Under ordinary circumstances they would have welcomed
the appearance of this more militant attitude, but coming as it did, along with
so much that was unexpected, it startled them.

And now, on top of all of these worries, when they reached home, Jesus refused
to eat. For hours he isolated himself in one of the upper rooms. It was almost
midnight when Joab, the leader of the evangelists, returned and reported that
about one third of his associates had deserted the cause. All through the
evening loyal disciples had come and gone, reporting that the revulsion of
feeling toward the Master was general in Capernaum. The leaders from Jerusalem
were not slow to feed this feeling of disaffection and in every way possible to
seek to promote the movement away from Jesus and his teachings. During these
trying hours the twelve women were in session over at Peter's house. They were
tremendously upset, but none of them deserted.

It was a little after midnight when Jesus came down from the upper chamber and
stood among the twelve and their associates, numbering about thirty in all. He
said: "I recognize that this sifting of the kingdom distresses you, but it is
unavoidable. Still, after all the training you have had, was there any good
reason why you should stumble at my words? Why is it that you are filled with
fear and consternation when you see the kingdom being divested of these
lukewarm multitudes and these halfhearted disciples? Why do you grieve when the
new day is dawning for the shining forth in new glory of the spiritual
teachings of the kingdom of heaven? If you find it difficult to endure this
test, what, then, will you do when the Son of Man must return to the Father?
When and how will you prepare yourselves for the time when I ascend to the
place whence I came to this world?

"My beloved, you must remember that it is the spirit that quickens; the flesh
and all that pertains thereto is of little profit. The words which I have
spoken to you are spirit and life. Be of good cheer! I have not deserted you.
Many shall be offended by the plain speaking of these days. Already you have
heard that many of my disciples have turned back; they walk no more with me.
From the beginning I knew that these halfhearted believers would fall out by
the way. Did I not choose you twelve men and set you apart as ambassadors of
the kingdom? And now at such a time as this would you also desert? Let each of
you look to his own faith, for one of you stands in grave danger." And when
Jesus had finished speaking, Simon Peter said: "Yes, Lord, we are sad and
perplexed, but we will never forsake you. You have taught us the words of
eternal life. We have believed in you and followed with you all this time. We

                               top of page - 1716

will not turn back, for we know that you are sent by God." And as Peter ceased
speaking, they all with one accord nodded their approval of his pledge of
loyalty.

Then said Jesus: "Go to your rest, for busy times are upon us; active days are
just ahead."

                               top of page - 1717

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 Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART IV: The Life and Teachings
  of Jesus : The Bestowal Of Michael On Urantia The Times Of Michael's Bestowal
 Birth And Infancy Of Jesus The Early Childhood Of Jesus The Later Childhood Of
   Jesus Jesus At Jerusalem The Two Crucial Years The Adolescent Years Jesus'
   Early Manhood The Later Adult Life Of Jesus On The Way To Rome The World's
  Religions The Sojourn At Rome The Return From Rome The Transition Years John
  The Baptist Baptism And The Forty Days Tarrying Time In Galilee Training The
Kingdom's Messengers The Twelve Apostles The Ordination Of The Twelve Beginning
  The Public Work The Passover At Jerusalem Going Through Samaria At Gilboa And
    In The Decapolis Four Eventful Days At Capernaum First Preaching Tour Of
 Galilee The Interlude Visit To Jerusalem Training Evangelists At Bethsaida The
  Second Preaching Tour The Third Preaching Tour Tarrying And Teaching By The
 Seaside Events Leading Up To The Capernaum Crisis The Crisis At Capernaum Last
   Days At Capernaum Fleeing Through Northern Galilee The Sojourn At Tyre And
   Sidon At Caesarea-philippi The Mount Of Transfiguration The Decapolis Tour
 Rodan Of Alexandria Further Discussions With Rodan At The Feast Of Tabernacles
   Ordination Of The Seventy At Magadan At The Feast Of Dedication The Perean
    Mission Begins Last Visit To Northern Perea The Visit To Philadelphia The
Resurrection Of Lazarus Last Teaching At Pella The Kingdom Of Heaven On The Way
  To Jerusalem Going Into Jerusalem Monday In Jerusalem Tuesday Morning In The
Temple The Last Temple Discourse Tuesday Evening On Mount Olivet Wednesday, The
   Rest Day Last Day At The Camp The Last Supper The Farewell Discourse Final
 Admonitions And Warnings In Gethsemane The Betrayal And Arrest Of Jesus Before
  The Sanhedrin Court The Trial Before Pilate Just Before The Crucifixion The
Crucifixion The Time Of The Tomb The Resurrection Morontia Appearances Of Jesus
   Appearances To The Apostles And Other Leaders Appearances In Galilee Final
  Appearances And Ascension Bestowal Of The Spirit Of Truth After Pentecost The
                                 Faith Of Jesus

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