© 2010 Françoise Burniat
© 2010 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
In the seven bestowals he made on the worlds he himself had created, Michael of Nebadon showed himself to be an understanding and compassionate ruler. The Melchizedeks, for example, said of him: “He loved us, he understood us, he served with us, and we are forever his loyal and devoted companions.” (UB 119:1.5)
On our Earth too, he shared our human condition, from birth to death, and even further: to the point of being resurrected, to show us the inspired path he followed, and thus help us. With women, his attitude is clear throughout his life: women are the collaborators of men. Let’s see. In what environment does he arrive?
“The story of Michael’s sojourn on Urantia, the narrative of the mortal bestowal of the Creator Son on your world, is a matter beyond the scope and purpose of this narrative.” (UB 119:7.8)
“The gentiles were, from a moral standpoint, somewhat inferior to the Jews, but there was present in the hearts of the nobler gentiles abundant soil of natural goodness and potential human affection in which it was possible for the seed of Christianity to sprout and bring forth an abundant harvest of moral character and spiritual achievement. The gentile world was then dominated by four great philosophies, all more or less derived from the earlier Platonism of the Greeks. These schools of philosophy were:” (UB 121:4.1)
His mother, Mary, was: “a person of an adventurous and very dynamic disposition” 1350.5, but when Jesus was 8 years old, the Book says of her: “his mother had become excessively concerned for his health and safety.” (UB 123:6.2)
“Before he was eight years of age, he was known to all the mothers and young women of Nazareth, who had met him and talked with him at the spring, which was not far from his home, and which was one of the social centers of contact and gossip for the entire town. This year Jesus learned to milk the family cow and care for the other animals. During this and the following year he also learned to make cheese and to weave. When he was ten years of age, he was an expert loom operator. It was about this time that Jesus and the neighbor boy Jacob became great friends of the potter who worked near the flowing spring; and as they watched Nathan’s deft fingers mold the clay on the potter’s wheel, many times both of them determined to be potters when they grew up. Nathan was very fond of the lads and often gave them clay to play with, seeking to stimulate their creative imaginations by suggesting competitive efforts in modeling various objects and animals.” (UB 123:5.15)
When Joseph dies, Jesus becomes the educator, with his mother, of his younger brothers and sisters. It is said of him on page (UB 127:4.3-5), when he is in his nineteenth year: “…Jesus had completely won his mother over to his methods of educating children…” That is to say, he practiced the positive injunction to “do well” instead of forbidding “doing wrong”. “He never arbitrarily punished his brothers and sisters. His constant impartiality and his personal consideration made Jesus very dear to his entire family.” How does he behave with his mother? Let’s take two significant examples:
From the age of thirteen until he was seventeen, she put pressure “in every possible way” to push him into a political, patriotic and nationalist role (UB 125:6.13) and (UB 127:2.4): “Mary did her best to encourage him to enlist, but she could not make him give in in the least. She went so far as to tell him that his refusal to espouse the nationalist cause, as she ordered him to do, was insubordination, a violation of his promise made on their return from Jerusalem to be subject to his parents. In response to this insinuation, Jesus only placed a benevolent hand on her shoulder, looked her in the face and said to her; ”My mother, how can you?“ And Mary retracted._”
Year 26, at the wedding at Cana, Mary and the apostles seek to push Jesus to manifest himself as a supernatural being, but “they saw that they had aroused his characteristic indignation”… “…the eloquence of his rebuke lay in the expression of his face.” (UB 137:4.4) And at the end of the meal when Mary learns from the mother of the groom that the supply of wine was exhausted, despite the reprimand received a few hours earlier, she addresses Jesus who is standing alone in a corner of the garden and says “My son, they have no more wine”. “My good mother, what does that have to do with me?,” Mary says: “But I believe your hour has come. Can’t you help us?”. Jesus replies: “Again, I declare that I have not come to act in this way. Why do you bother me with such matters?”
Then, bursting into tears, Mary implored him: “But my son, I promised them that you would help us? Won’t you please do something for me? And Jesus then said: “Woman, why do you allow yourself to make such promises? See that you do not do it again. In all things, we must serve the will of the Father who is in heaven.”
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was overwhelmed; she was stunned! As she stood motionless before him, with a stream of tears streaming down her face, the human heart of Jesus was moved with deep compassion for the woman who had carried him in her womb.
He leaned over her, placed his hand tenderly on her head and said to her: “Come, come, Mother Mary, do not be upset by my apparently harsh words. Have I not told you many times that I have come only to do the will of my heavenly Father? I would gladly do what you ask of me if it were part of the Father’s will…” And Jesus stopped short. He hesitated. Mary seemed to sense that something was happening. Jumping up, she threw her arms around Jesus’ neck, kissed him and rushed into the servants’ hall, saying to them: “Whatever my son tells you, do it.” But Jesus said nothing. He now realized that he had already said too much - or rather that he had desired too much in his mind. (UB 137:4.8, UB 137:4.9)…We know the rest. The water is changed into wine without further intervention from Jesus, he who was the most surprised of all!
Now let us observe Jesus in the presence of other women on different occasions in his life.
For example, when Rebecca, the eldest daughter of a wealthy merchant from Nazareth, falls in love with him. Jesus is 19 years old at the time, Mary and the girl’s family tell him of their legitimate desire for marriage. The Urantia Book says this: Then begins a memorable conversation with Rebecca:
After listening attentively, he sincerely thanked Rebecca for her expressed admiration, adding, “it shall cheer and comfort me all the days of my life.” He explained that he was not free to enter into relations with any woman other than those of simple brotherly regard and pure friendship. He made it clear that his first and paramount duty was the rearing of his father’s family, that he could not consider marriage until that was accomplished; and then he added: “If I am a son of destiny, I must not assume obligations of lifelong duration until such a time as my destiny shall be made manifest.”
Rebecca was heartbroken. She refused to be comforted and importuned her father to leave Nazareth until he finally consented to move to Sepphoris. In after years, to the many men who sought her hand in marriage, Rebecca had but one answer. She lived for only one purpose—to await the hour when this, to her, the greatest man who ever lived would begin his career as a teacher of living truth. And she followed him devotedly through his eventful years of public labor, being present (unobserved by Jesus) that day when he rode triumphantly into Jerusalem; and she stood “among the other women” by the side of Mary on that fateful and tragic afternoon when the Son of Man hung upon the cross, to her, as well as to countless worlds on high, “the one altogether lovely and the greatest among ten thousand.” (UB 127:5.5-6)
Now we are in Taranto, Jesus is then in his twenty-ninth year and is returning from Rome with his friends, Ganid and his father Gonod. The travelers noticed a man who was mistreating his wife. As was his custom, Jesus intervened on behalf of the person being attacked. He came up behind the furious husband, tapped him gently on the shoulder and spoke to him at length and the man’s heart was touched, less by Jesus’ words than by the affectionate look and compassionate smile accompanying the conclusion of his remarks. The man told him among other things that he was grateful for having restrained him, especially since his wife was a good woman, but that she irritated him by the way she picked a fight with him in public, which made him lose his cool (…)
And then, in bidding him farewell, Jesus said: “My brother, always remember that man has no rightful authority over woman unless the woman has willingly and voluntarily given him such authority. Your wife has engaged to go through life with you, to help you fight its battles, and to assume the far greater share of the burden of bearing and rearing your children; and in return for this special service it is only fair that she receive from you that special protection which man can give to woman as the partner who must carry, bear, and nurture the children. The loving care and consideration which a man is willing to bestow upon his wife and their children are the measure of that man’s attainment of the higher levels of creative and spiritual self-consciousness. Do you not know that men and women are partners with God in that they co-operate to create beings who grow up to possess themselves of the potential of immortal souls? The Father in heaven treats the Spirit Mother of the children of the universe as one equal to himself. It is Godlike to share your life and all that relates thereto on equal terms with the mother partner who so fully shares with you that divine experience of reproducing yourselves in the lives of your children. If you can only love your children as God loves you, you will love and cherish your wife as the Father in heaven honors and exalts the Infinite Spirit, the mother of all the spirit children of a vast universe.” (UB 133:2.2)
The Master displayed great wisdom and manifested perfect fairness in all of his dealings with his apostles and with all of his disciples. Jesus was truly a master of men; he exercised great influence over his fellow men because of the combined charm and force of his personality. There was a subtle commanding influence in his rugged, nomadic, and homeless life. There was intellectual attractiveness and spiritual drawing power in his authoritative manner of teaching, in his lucid logic, his strength of reasoning, his sagacious insight, his alertness of mind, his matchless poise, and his sublime tolerance. He was simple, manly, honest, and fearless. With all of this physical and intellectual influence manifest in the Master’s presence, there were also all those spiritual charms of being which have become associated with his personality—patience, tenderness, meekness, gentleness, and humility.
The Master displayed great wisdom and manifested perfect fairness in all of his dealings with his apostles and with all of his disciples. Jesus was truly a master of men; he exercised great influence over his fellow men because of the combined charm and force of his personality. There was a subtle commanding influence in his rugged, nomadic, and homeless life. There was intellectual attractiveness and spiritual drawing power in his authoritative manner of teaching, in his lucid logic, his strength of reasoning, his sagacious insight, his alertness of mind, his matchless poise, and his sublime tolerance. He was simple, manly, honest, and fearless. With all of this physical and intellectual influence manifest in the Master’s presence, there were also all those spiritual charms of being which have become associated with his personality—patience, tenderness, meekness, gentleness, and humility. (UB 141:3.4)
(…) Jesus did not pose as a gentle, pleasant, kind and amiable mystic. His teaching had a galvanizing dynamism. UB 141:3.7 (…) UB 142:3.14 He said: "I do not desire that social harmony and fraternal peace be purchased by the sacrifice of free personality and spiritual originality. And Jesus spoke directly to the souls of people. The encounter with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well at the end of June of the year 27, is significant in this regard: (UB 143:5.2) …in those times it was not considered proper for a self-respecting man to speak in public to a woman, and even less for a Jew to address a Samaritan woman.
The scene is long, UB 143:5.3-6, I summarize it very strongly: He is benevolent, she believes that he is making advances towards her. But Jesus looks her straight in the eyes and speaks to her of living and eternal water. She tries to avoid direct contact of her soul with him, but he treats her with patience by explaining to her what he is talking about.
Page UB 143:5.8, the text says: Interrupting Nalda, Jesus said to her with impressive assurance: “I, who speak to you, am he”, the one called The Liberator. And the text continues: This was the first direct, positive and frank proclamation of his divine nature and filiation that Jesus made on earth.
And it was made to a woman, to a Samaritan woman, and to a woman whose reputation until then was doubtful in the eyes of men.
The apostles never ceased to be shocked by Jesus’ willingness to talk with women, women of questionable character, even immoral women. It was very difficult for Jesus to teach his apostles that women, even so-called immoral women, have souls which can choose God as their Father, thereby becoming daughters of God and candidates for life everlasting. Even nineteen centuries later many show the same unwillingness to grasp the Master’s teachings. Even the Christian religion has been persistently built up around the fact of the death of Christ instead of around the truth of his life. The world should be more concerned with his happy and God-revealing life than with his tragic and sorrowful death. (UB 143:5.11)
The most astonishing and the most revolutionary feature of Michael’s mission on earth was his attitude toward women. In a day and generation when a man was not supposed to salute even his own wife in a public place, Jesus dared to take women along as teachers of the gospel in connection with his third tour of Galilee. And he had the consummate courage to do this in the face of the rabbinic teaching which declared that it was “better that the words of the law should be burned than delivered to women.” (UB 149:2.8)
In a single generation, Jesus brought women out of disrespectful oblivion and freed them from the servile drudgery of primitive ages. It is to the shame of the religion which dared to call itself by the name of Jesus, that it did not have the moral courage to follow this noble example in its subsequent attitude towards women.
Of all the daring things which Jesus did in connection with his earth career, the most amazing was his sudden announcement on the evening of January 16: “On the morrow we will set apart ten women for the ministering work of the kingdom.” At the beginning of the two weeks’ period during which the apostles and the evangelists were to be absent from Bethsaida on their furlough, Jesus requested David to summon his parents back to their home and to dispatch messengers calling to Bethsaida ten devout women who had served in the administration of the former encampment and the tented infirmary. These women had all listened to the instruction given the young evangelists, but it had never occurred to either themselves or their teachers that Jesus would dare to commission women to teach the gospel of the kingdom and minister to the sick. These ten women selected and commissioned by Jesus were: Susanna, the daughter of the former chazan of the Nazareth synagogue; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the steward of Herod Antipas; Elizabeth, the daughter of a wealthy Jew of Tiberias and Sepphoris; Martha, the elder sister of Andrew and Peter; Rachel, the sister-in-law of Jude, the Master’s brother in the flesh; Nasanta, the daughter of Elman, the Syrian physician; Milcha, a cousin of the Apostle Thomas; Ruth, the eldest daughter of Matthew Levi; Celta, the daughter of a Roman centurion; and Agaman, a widow of Damascus. Subsequently, Jesus added two other women to this group—Mary Magdalene and Rebecca, the daughter of Joseph of Arimathea. (UB 150:1.1)
It was most astounding in that day, when women were not even allowed on the main floor of the synagogue (being confined to the women’s gallery), to behold them being recognized as authorized teachers of the new gospel of the kingdom. The charge which Jesus gave these ten women as he set them apart for gospel teaching and ministry was the emancipation proclamation which set free all women and for all time; no more was man to look upon woman as his spiritual inferior. This was a decided shock to even the twelve apostles. Notwithstanding they had many times heard the Master say that “in the kingdom of heaven there is neither rich nor poor, free nor bond, male nor female, all are equally the sons and daughters of God,” they were literally stunned when he proposed formally to commission these ten women as religious teachers and even to permit their traveling about with them. The whole country was stirred up by this proceeding, the enemies of Jesus making great capital out of this move, but everywhere the women believers in the good news stood stanchly behind their chosen sisters and voiced no uncertain approval of this tardy acknowledgment of woman’s place in religious work. And this liberation of women, giving them due recognition, was practiced by the apostles immediately after the Master’s departure, albeit they fell back to the olden customs in subsequent generations. Throughout the early days of the Christian church women teachers and ministers were called deaconesses and were accorded general recognition. But Paul, despite the fact that he conceded all this in theory, never really incorporated it into his own attitude and personally found it difficult to carry out in practice. (UB 150:1.3)
Despite this, the apostles were literally stunned when Jesus officially proposed to appoint ten women as religious educators, and even to allow them to travel with them. The whole country was stirred up by this course of action, and the enemies of Jesus took great advantage of this decision. But, everywhere, the women who believed in the good news resolutely supported their chosen sisters and everywhere approved, without hesitation, this belated recognition of the place of women in religious work.
Later and immediately after the Master’s final departure, the apostles put this liberation of women into practice by granting them the appropriate place, but the following generations returned to their old customs. Throughout the early period of the Christian Church, women educators and ministers were called “deaconesses”, and were granted general recognition. As for Paul, he accepted this in theory, but never really incorporated it into his behavior and personally found it difficult to put it into practice.
Let’s go back: When the company of disciples and apostles arrived one day in Magdala, these ten women were free to enter the bad places and when they visited the sick, they entered into the intimacy of their tested sisters. It was in this city that Mary Magdalene, who had failed in one of these bad places, was won to the kingdom. Mary believed and was baptized the next day by Peter.
She became the most effective teacher of the gospel among the twelve women evangelists. Mary, Rebecca and their companions worked faithfully until the end.
Francoise Burniat