© 2023 Claude Flibotte
© 2023 Urantia Association of Quebec
Claude Flibotte
Sainte-Julie
As a reader of The Urantia Book, we do this with our 21st century mindset, but what about Jesus’ apostles and the Jewish population in general. When Jesus asked his apostles, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Deliverer, the Son of the living God.” A statement immediately endorsed by the rest of the apostles (UB 157:3.5). What can we deduce from this statement by Peter?
¶ The Jewish mentality of that time
Being a Jew of that time is probably very different from being a Jew today. At that time, science practically did not exist. Astronomy had been studied by different peoples, but was mainly the preserve of a certain intellectual elite. The people were more into astrology and other magical beliefs. Philosophy and mathematics were more of a Greek specialty. The strong point of the Jews lay in their religious beliefs instilled from a young age with its multiple rules and dogmas imposed by their religious leaders.
Basically, the Jews were waiting for a Messiah to come who would deliver them from the yoke of the Romans, those foreign despots. In the minds of the Jews, there were several different concepts of the expected Messiah (136:1). Since Jesus did not fit into their varied concepts of the Messiah, they rejected Him, judging their ideas about the Messiah to be more accurate than the truth proclaimed by Jesus.
So, when Peter made his proclamation by saying “You are the Deliverer, the Son of the living God”, we must understand the scope of this affirmation! The first part of his words obviously concerns one of the concepts of the Jewish Deliverer combining at the same time the triple role of prophet, priest and king (UB 136:1.2). Even the second part also concerns the Jewish expectation of the Messiah, because this idea of a Messiah, Son of God, was included in the Jewish concept. However, I think that Jesus seized on this second part of Peter’s affirmation, since it contained an element of truth concerning him, to raise their thoughts a little higher and proclaim the origin of his divinity.
The idea of a Messiah as Deliverer was well established in the minds of the people. Even John the Baptist did not fully understand Jesus as he followed him on the road when he said to him, “Now I know for a certainty that you are the Deliverer,” to which Jesus did not answer (UB 135:8.7). Later, a little before the resurrection of Lazarus, Martha, going to meet Jesus, hoped that he could do something for her brother. Jesus, after telling her that he was the resurrection and the life, asked her, “Martha, do you believe this?” It was then that she said, “Yes, I have long believed that you are the Deliverer, the Son of the living God, the same who is to come into this world” (UB 168:0.7). Even Caiaphas, the high priest of the Sanhedrin believed in the coming of a Jewish messiah when he asked him, “In the name of the living God, I adjure you to tell us if you are the Liberator, the Son of God” (UB 184:3.14).
These quotes demonstrate to us in an eloquent way that the general population including the apostles, and especially Peter, the leader of the group, never fully understood what Jesus was!
UB 139:2.13 But Peter persisted in his error of wanting to convince the Jews that after all, Jesus was really and truly the Jewish Messiah. Until the very day of his death, Simon Peter continued to confuse in his mind the three concepts of Jesus as the Messiah of the Jews, as the Christ the Redeemer of the world, and as the Son of Man revealing God, the loving Father of all humanity.
So, when we read this touching account of the Master’s life and his relationship with his contemporaries, let us always keep in mind that we should not see them with our vision of the 21st century world, but with that of the 1st century. Probably, if I had lived at that time, I would not have done better than the apostles!
¶ Jesus was however a Jew of that time
The case of Jesus is very special, because it is the one and only event where a Son of God incarnated on our planet in the body of a human baby without any awareness of his divine antecedents, at least not during his early years. He was endowed with a temporary human mind like all of us. Since his birth, he learned to use the ministry of the adjutant mind-spirits. After the reorganization of these seven spirits, the spiritual circuit of the Divine Minister, the Holy Spirit, was granted to him. This prepared his human mind for the reception of an Adjuster. Which happened in his time. He was endowed with a very experienced Thought Adjuster who had previously inhabited the mind of Machiventa Melchizedek. Since his bestowal, we too have benefited from the same type of experienced Adjuster without obviously the experience of having previously inhabited a divine Son.
Jesus received from his parents and community the Jewish culture of that time. His human mind progressed in a manner similar to those of his contemporaries, except that he developed, at a very early age, the consciousness of his intimate relationship with his concept of God, whom he called my Father in heaven (UB 123:3.6). It was this constant, personal, living relationship exalting the highest ideals of the ideal religious life in connection with the divinity of his Adjuster that guided him throughout his pre-baptismal life, enabling him to attain the attainable pinnacle of a human mind perfectly synchronized with the divine premind of his Adjuster.
Although the human mind of Jesus had reached the state where fusion with his Adjuster would have been a fact for an ordinary man, his human mind still remained the mind of an evolutionary man. It is possible and touching, then, to see this material mind at work, after the event of Jesus’ baptism, in its capacity to seek to adapt itself to this new and strange situation.
Jesus-Michael, an association of a human mind and a divine mind unified by a single personality
Imagine for a moment what it must have been like for the human mind of Jesus, at the age of thirty-one and a half, at his baptism (UB 136:2.8), to realize that another mind, a divine mind, was opening up to his consciousness! A single personality in possession of a human mind and a divine mind. This divine mind, being that of a Son of God, creator of an entire universe of things and beings. A mind of a Creator Son having as its origin the fullness of the spiritual ideation of the Eternal Son, his mother, and the fullness of the absolute concept of personality of the Universal Father, his father (UB 21:1.1).
Let us try to visualize the career of Michael of Nebadon to better understand the phenomenon that is unfolding before our eyes as we read his bestowal. For four hundred billion years, he created and organized his universe with his companion, the Divine Minister. Together, they created life models for each of the many systems of their universe still in evolution. But, before this cosmic adventure, Michael had followed intensive training on Paradise and in Havona to learn about the choices of possible life models for his future creation. Then, he continued his training by observing the successes of his many brothers (Michael of Nebadon being the 611,121st Creator Son) in the process of creating their own universes in one or more superuniverses.
Then, in the process of creating his universe, he undertook his series of seven bestowals in the likeness of his creatures. These seven bestowals were intended to experience his own children in submission to the sevenfold will of the Paradise Deities while participating in the evolving sovereignty of God the Supreme.
His first bestowal, almost 1 billion years ago, he made as Melchizedek on the Melchizedek sphere, subject to the will of the Father, the Son and the Spirit (UB 119:1.5). His second bestowal, he made a little over 850 million years ago, as Primary Lanonandek Son with the function of interim Systemic Sovereign in constellation number 37 of system 11 of Polonia, subject to the will of the Father and the Son (UB 119:2.4). His third bestowal, he made as Material Son with the function of Planetary Prince in constellation number 61, of system 87, on planet number 217, subject to the will of the Father and the Spirit (UB 119:3.3). His fourth bestowal he made as a seraph of the supreme order as Seraphic Counselor-Instructor at the seraphic headquarters of Nebadon, subject to the will of the Son and the Spirit. His fifth bestowal he made a little over 300,000,000 years ago as an ascending pilgrim of human origin (true spirit) on Uversa, the capital of the superuniverse of Orvonton, subject to the will of the Conjoint Actor (UB 119:5.1). His sixth bestowal he made as a morontia human in constellation number 5, on the headquarters planet of Endantum, subject to the will of the Eternal Son (UB 119:6.3). His seventh bestowal he made, as you know, a little over 2000 years ago, as the evolutionary human Jesus on Urantia, in the constellation of Norlatiadek, of the Satania system, on planet number 606, subject to the will of the Universal Father (UB 119:7.3).
I think, as you will have surely noticed, that the immensity of the divine mind and its vast experience of almost eternal life must have been too great for the material capacity of his human mind, just as it would be futile to include all the water of an ocean in a simple glass of water! According to the course of conduct he had followed all his life and the purpose of his bestowal mission, Jesus continued the rest of his human life always subject to the will of his Paradise Father, and using the capacities of his human mind, sometimes of his divine mind, and even of a combination of the two minds!
¶ Conclusion
I believe it is very important to keep in mind as you read Part IV of The Urantia Book the simple mentality of the Urantians of that time, the evolving human mentality of Jesus in relation to his Adjuster, and the combined mentality of that human mind after his baptism and his divine mind as Creator Son. As you bear this in mind, you will likely see the life and teachings of Jesus from quite a different point of view!