© 2018 Georges Michelson-Dupont
© 2018 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
| In Search of the Beyond | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 82 — June 2018 | Being Sensitive to the Personality Circuit |
Georges Michelson-Dupont
During our last study group in April 2018, we studied booklet 125 entitled “Jesus in Jerusalem” and we spent a long time on the questions addressed by the child Jesus, then aged thirteen, to the scribes and doctors of the law. These questions profoundly call into question the organization of Jewish society at the time, religious ceremonies, the authority of the Law and the future of the Jewish nation.
Nowadays, these conditions have not changed much as we will see.
¶ The Law of Moses in the context of the time of Jesus.
Moses taught the Hebrews that if they would obey God, “He will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will multiply the fruit of your wombs and the fruit of your land—wheat, wine, oil, and your livestock. You will prosper above all peoples, and the Lord your God will take away from you all diseases and will not bring upon you any of the evil plagues of Egypt.”
Moses even says: “Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives the power to obtain wealth.” “You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.” (UB 96:5.4)
For the Hebrew people, obeying God and maintaining his esteem and protection consisted of scrupulously observing, individually and collectively, the Law that Moses had brought back from Mount Sinai in the form of the “Tablets of the Law”.
By the time of Jesus, the Law had become an instrument of religious and social power to control and enslave the people.
Booklet 121 describes the social, economic and religious conditions of that time as follows:
“The scribes, the Pharisees, and the priesthood held the Jews in a terrible bondage of ritualism and legalism, a bondage far more real than that of the Roman political rule. The Jews of Jesus’ time were not only held in subjugation to the law but were equally bound by the slavish demands of the traditions, which involved and invaded every domain of personal and social life. These minute regulations of conduct pursued and dominated every loyal Jew, and it is not strange that they promptly rejected one of their number who presumed to ignore their sacred traditions, and who dared to flout their long-honored regulations of social conduct. They could hardly regard with favor the teachings of one who did not hesitate to clash with dogmas which they regarded as having been ordained by Father Abraham himself. Moses had given them their law and they would not compromise.” (UB 121:7.3)
Jewish society at the time of Jesus was profoundly unequal. The notables, the priesthood and the wealthy landowners lived in Jerusalem and the large cities in palaces and opulent estates, the common people lived miserably in the countryside, burdened by the exorbitant rents demanded by the landowners, the taxes paid to the priesthood serving the Temple and the taxes exacted by Caesar.
In Jewish society, wealth was seen as a divine favor granted by strict observance of Jewish law and poverty as the result of supposedly impious conduct. The infirm, lepers, and those possessed by demons were shunned by the Jewish people. Women were considered inferior and kept under strict male domination.
¶ Jesus’ questioning.
1. What is really in the Holy of Holies behind the veil?
Only the high priest could access once a year, on Yom Kippur, the “Holy of Holies”, behind the thick veil supposed to shelter the “Holy Ark” in which the Table of the Law of Moses was to be found.
The Tablets of the Law represented, for the Hebrews, the great agreement of the people with their God, Yahweh. “Their worship followed the letter of the law and they indulged in a form of self-satisfaction based on the false pride of their genealogy.” (UB 121:7.1)
The successive High Priests derived their legitimacy, their prestige and their authority over the people from the exclusive prerogative of having, alone, access to the Law. “In the first century AD, the oral interpretation of the law by recognized educators, the scribes, had acquired a higher authority than the written law itself.” (UB 121:7.4)"
Why did Jesus ask this question? Was it simple curiosity born from his studies of the Law or did he want to understand why, with his young mind of thirteen, his Father who is in heaven needed to hide from the eyes of men behind a curtain, or was he already calling into question the authority of Caiaphas and the letter of the law which held his father’s people in spiritual slavery?
The fact remains that when Pompey, in 63 BCE, seized the temple of Jerusalem, he was astonished to find that the innermost part of the temple, its center, was an empty space! There was nothing. (https://www. idixa.net/Pixa/pagixa-0507081320.html)
2. Why, in Israel, must mothers be separated from male worshipers in the temple?
"The place of women in Israel at the time of Jesus is certainly superior to that which they occupied in the ancient oriental world: as wives and as mothers, they are, among the Jews, much more respected than in the surrounding civilizations. Thus, following rabbinical tradition, the man is required to respect his wife. He cannot abandon her for more than thirty days, nor force her to have marital relations. Furthermore, in the home and in the material organization of daily life, she has significant power.
And yet, despite these undeniable advances in her status, women are still considered inferior to men. Constantly considered a minor in the legal sense of the term, they depend on a man all their life: after their father, it is their husband or their eldest son who serves as their guardian. A husband can repudiate his wife for various serious reasons, without the latter being able to protest in any way. On the other hand, there is no question of the woman being able, of her own free will, to separate from her husband. Jewish society at the time therefore does not call into question male superiority. » (https:// www.bible-service.net/extranet/current/pages/200293.html)
A traditional Jewish prayer expressly underlines this: “Blessed are you our God for you have made me neither gentile (that is to say pagan), nor woman, nor ignorant!” (https://www.bible-service.net/extranet/current/pages/200293.html)
In the young mind of Jesus, the idea reigns that his Father in heaven loves his children, women and men, without distinction of race, status or sex. This idea is reinforced by the life he leads in the home of Nazareth and by the love that Mary and Joseph have for their children. In the heart and mind of Jesus, the Father in heaven is no respecter of persons, all human beings are children of God and must benefit from divine love and mercy equally.
During the festivities he attended at the Temple in Jerusalem, the heart of Jesus, filled with love and justice, was very shocked by the difference in treatment that Jewish society reserved for women:
“The first great shock of the day came when his mother left them to go to the women’s gallery. It had never occurred to Jesus that his mother would not accompany him to the consecration ceremonies, and he was quite indignant that she should have to endure such unjust discrimination. He was deeply offended, but, apart from a few protests to his father, he said nothing. On the other hand, he thought, and thought deeply, as his questions to the scribes and doctors of the law proved a week later.”
Plan of the temple of Jerusalem around 60 AD.
http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/bible-critique-jesus-politique-leader2.htm
He asks the question: why were women separated from men and remained confined in the galleries surrounding the temple without being able to take part in the ceremonies and worship of Yahweh. Was it reserved for men alone to be able to worship the Father who is in heaven?
This inner revolt is already present in his heart when the men of the village prepare to leave Nazareth to go to the Temple without the women and it is through his insistence and determination that, finally, the women will be part of the journey. Through this question, he calls into question one of the foundations of Jewish order and law.
3. If God is a father who loves his children, why all this slaughter of animals to gain divine favor—has the teaching of Moses been misunderstood?
“The Hebrews believed that “without the shedding of blood there could be no remission of sin.” They had not found deliverance from the old and pagan idea that the Gods could not be appeased except by the sight of blood, though Moses did make a distinct advance when he forbade human sacrifices and substituted therefor, in the primitive minds of his childlike Bedouin followers, the ceremonial sacrifice of animals.” (UB 4:5.5)
Jesus’ questioning challenges man’s servitude to the law of Moses and the belief in God’s wrath; to slavishly obey God for fear of enduring His wrath is unacceptable to Jesus’ young mind. For him, the love of his heavenly Father took precedence over all other considerations; how was it possible that this God of love and mercy could change his mind and become so angry with his children that he would demand the shedding of blood for the remission of their sins?
This argument is developed during a discussion with his father Joseph:
“My father, this cannot be true—the Father in heaven cannot look upon his lost children on earth in this way—the Heavenly Father cannot love his children less than you love me. However misguided my actions may be, I know well that you could never pour out your anger on me or give free rein to your wrath. If you, my earthly father, reflect the Divine so humanly, how much more must the Heavenly Father be filled with goodness and overflowing with mercy. I refuse to believe that my Heavenly Father loves me less than my earthly father.”
4. Since the temple is dedicated to the worship of the Heavenly Father, is it logical to tolerate the presence there of those who exercise a profane profession of barter or commerce?
“Everywhere Jesus went throughout the temple courts, he was shocked and sickened by the spirit of irreverence which he observed. He deemed the conduct of the temple throngs to be inconsistent with their presence in “his Father’s house.” But he received the shock of his young life when his father escorted him into the court of the gentiles with its noisy jargon, loud talking and cursing, mingled indiscriminately with the bleating of sheep and the babble of noises which betrayed the presence of the money-changers and the vendors of sacrificial animals and sundry other commercial commodities.” (UB 125:1.1)
“They now passed down to the priests’ court beneath the rock ledge in front of the temple, where the altar stood, to observe the killing of the droves of animals and the washing away of the blood from the hands of the officiating slaughter priests at the bronze fountain. The bloodstained pavement, the gory hands of the priests, and the sounds of the dying animals were more than this nature-loving lad could stand. The terrible sight sickened this boy of Nazareth; he clutched his father’s arm and begged to be taken away. They walked back through the court of the gentiles, and even the coarse laughter and profane jesting which he there heard were a relief from the sights he had just beheld.” (UB 125:1.4)
The temple of Jerusalem was the sacred place in which the people of Israel, scattered throughout the Roman Empire, gathered once a year to come and meditate and pray to Yahweh, their God. In the young mind of Jesus, molded by the love of his heavenly Father and the respect he has for him, coupled with the idea of traveling to Jerusalem in order to see this temple of which he had heard so often and of which he had read many descriptions, exalted his imagination. Participating in his first Passover, receiving from his fathers the consecration of Jewish citizenship and participating in this ceremony within the temple grounds created a strong spiritual expectation in his heart. Alas, the mercantile baseness of the merchants and the lure of gain in this sacred place produced a disillusionment that matched his expectation. Indignation seized his mind and his heart was revolted. He did not understand this mixture of “mercantile commerce between men” and “sacred spiritual commerce with God.”
A large part of the money collected during these ceremonies by the sale of sacrificial animals, merchandise, taxes of all kinds, and prostitution in the temple were intended for the Sanhedrin and the priesthood. Perhaps Jesus begins to realize that this abject trade was not only tolerated but encouraged by the Rabbis. Despite his disgust, he decided not to speak about it to his Father Joseph so as not to offend him. He will keep these revolting images deep inside himself and his reaction of indignation foreshadows his future attitude towards the merchants during his last and fatal visit to the Temple, before his arrest.
5. Will the expected Messiah be a temporal prince sitting on the throne of David, or will he act as the light of life in establishing a spiritual kingdom?
He asked himself this question from a very young age, but it was shortly before his visit to Jerusalem that the conviction of his destiny really took shape in his mind:
“It was about the middle of February that Jesus became humanly assured that he was destined to perform a mission on earth for the enlightenment of man and the revelation of God. Momentous decisions, coupled with far-reaching plans, were formulating in the mind of this youth, who was, to outward appearances, an average Jewish lad of Nazareth. The intelligent life of all Nebadon looked on with fascination and amazement as all this began to unfold in the thinking and acting of the now adolescent carpenter’s son.” (UB 124:5.3)
He therefore comes to confront the doctors of the Law in their dearest hope and to call into question this confidence in racial superiority rehabilitated and restored to the Jewish people by the Messiah awaited as temporal prince. This expectation, shared in large part by his apostles, is illustrated at the wedding at Cana when the crowd seizes Jesus and wants to consecrate him temporal King of Israel after the episode of the water transformed into wine and the multiplication of the loaves.
Let us also remember that this is one of the three fallacious arguments that the high priest Annas and the Sanhedrin used during the trial of Jesus to have him condemned.
3. By claiming that he was a king and the founder of a new kind of kingdom, he incited treason against the emperor.
¶ Conclusion
We see that some of the questions of the young Jesus still challenge us today:
The authority of religious hierarchies of all kinds and interpreters of the law.
The status of women in the world.
The symbolism for some and the reality for others of the shedding of blood to attract the graces of God,
Maintaining religionists under the yoke of law and religious traditions.
Religious struggles to determine the chosen people.
And many other aspects that this short study could have brought out.
I invite readers to meditate on these realities of today and to measure the luck we have to have access to the revelation and to the life of Jesus updated.
| In Search of the Beyond | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 82 — June 2018 | Being Sensitive to the Personality Circuit |