© 2000 Jeanmarie Chaise
© 200 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
In issue 130 of “Reflectivity” several answers were provided to the question posed in issue 129. I personally thank their authors with all my heart. The question asked referred to Jesus’ prayer to save Judas, exhorting him not to tire of doing good, and telling him:
“This morning he greeted each of the twelve with a personal salutation. To Andrew he said: “Be not dismayed by the events just ahead. Keep a firm hold on your brethren and see that they do not find you downcast.” To Peter he said: “Put not your trust in the arm of flesh nor in weapons of steel. Establish yourself on the spiritual foundations of the eternal rocks.” To James he said: “Falter not because of outward appearances. Remain firm in your faith, and you shall soon know of the reality of that which you believe.” To John he said: “Be gentle; love even your enemies; be tolerant. And remember that I have trusted you with many things.” To Nathaniel he said: “Judge not by appearances; remain firm in your faith when all appears to vanish; be true to your commission as an ambassador of the kingdom.” To Philip he said: “Be unmoved by the events now impending. Remain unshaken, even when you cannot see the way. Be loyal to your oath of consecration.” To Matthew he said: “Forget not the mercy that received you into the kingdom. Let no man cheat you of your eternal reward. As you have withstood the inclinations of the mortal nature, be willing to be steadfast.” To Thomas he said: “No matter how difficult it may be, just now you must walk by faith and not by sight. Doubt not that I am able to finish the work I have begun, and that I shall eventually see all of my faithful ambassadors in the kingdom beyond.” To the Alpheus twins he said: “Do not allow the things which you cannot understand to crush you. Be true to the affections of your hearts and put not your trust in either great men or the changing attitude of the people. Stand by your brethren.” And to Simon Zelotes he said: “Simon, you may be crushed by disappointment, but your spirit shall rise above all that may come upon you. What you have failed to learn from me, my spirit will teach you. Seek the true realities of the spirit and cease to be attracted by unreal and material shadows.” And to Judas Iscariot he said: “Judas, I have loved you and have prayed that you would love your brethren. Be not weary in well doing; and I would warn you to beware the slippery paths of flattery and the poison darts of ridicule.”” (UB 174:0.2)
My opinion was not that this prayer is in contradiction with the proven and known facts that followed, I was only asking the question of the “apparent contradiction” between the Word and the facts, because it is one of those that are asked by those who want to understand the message by going to the bottom of things, and are not yet satisfied with simple faith. If it had been up to me, I would undoubtedly have been able to answer this question, But the problem seemed more complex to me from the start and I wanted to open up to others. It is done.
It did not escape François Brunet that the question thus posed immediately highlighted the dual nature of Jesus and Michael. And, it is difficult to see, in fact, Jesus praying to Michael to save Judas. But it is above all a question of Jesus the dispenser of divine love. Now, Jesus, obeying his divine nature cannot not act as God acts, out of love. He has before him one of his least loving creatures that can be in this world, whose existence he still shares for some time, as a being in the likeness of mortal flesh. Now, Jesus tells us elsewhere: “The less love there is in the nature of a creature, the more this creature needs to be loved and the more divine love seeks to satisfy this need.” UB 156:5.11. Thus Jesus prays for Judas in his own way, because for him, Judas is to be saved. “Do not make the mistake, he tells us again in § 4 of the same page, of estimating the value of a soul according to mental imperfections or bodily appetites. Do not judge a soul and do not evaluate its destiny on the basis of a single unfortunate human episode. Your spiritual destiny is conditioned only by your aspirations and your spiritual designs.” UB 156:5.9
Indeed, I think that there can be no failure following this attitude of love and prayer on the part of Jesus, even if Judas fails to love his fellow men. This “unfortunate human episode” does not necessarily lead to the irremediable condemnation to which we humans are led, in our fragile and intemperate blindness. We do not even know if Judas has not already amended himself on the mansion worlds or if he is not in the process of doing so. In any case, we understand in the light of this immense divine leniency how untimely would be any attack on the freedom of anyone to evolve according to the gifts and shortcomings of a first life on a material planet such as ours.
Perhaps we should also agree on the type of prayer that Jesus evokes when he comes to Judas and says to him: “I have loved you and I have prayed that you love your brothers.” Because does this formula not come close to the one quoted by Germaine Dubé: UB 138:5.1 “Judas, we are all of the same flesh and, in receiving you among us, I pray that you will always be loyal to your Galilean brothers. — Follow me.”
This prayer is here more of a piece of advice given to Judas. And in terms of prayer according to Jesus, it must be said that there are several kinds that hardly resemble those to which we have been accustomed by our religious mentors.
Following the example of the quotes noted by Germaine Dubé, and citing The Urantia Book, we can affirm that “it is hardly accurate to describe as prayer these periods of comprehensive communion of Jesus with his Father, and it is also not logical to say that Jesus was in adoration.” UB 144:1.8. The man Jesus was also God Michael who maintained an intimate communion with his Father in Paradise. This is how we are told: UB 144:4.4 “Prayer raised Jesus to the super communion of his soul with the Supreme Chiefs of the universe of universes.” Prayer is then communion above all and not solicitation. “Prayer will raise earth’s mortals to the communion of true worship,” For “The soul’s spiritual receptive capacity determines the amount of heavenly blessings one can consciously comprehend and personally appropriate as an answer to prayer.”
Thus, Jesus’ prayer was more of a directive addressed to his disciples, an example to follow. This is how he arranged for them to hear what he expected of them during the prayer to his Father that he proclaimed in their midst on the mountain. Thus, Jesus’ prayer cannot be defeated since it is nothing other than an expression of faith given permanently and as an example through his own faith expressed by his life and all his teachings.
As Pierre Routhier then so rightly points out, It is not even up to God, I would even say especially up to God, since he is the author of this intangible law, to “force the free will” of any thinking creature whatsoever. Whatever the case, and whatever prayer Jesus may have formulated to guide Judas on the right path, he could in no way deviate from universal laws to do so, because "There exists in the universe a fundamental law of justice that mercy is powerless to turn. The disinterested glories of Paradise cannot be received by a completely selfish creature from the realms of time and space. Even the infinite love of God cannot impose the salvation of eternal survival on a mortal creature who does not choose to survive. Mercy has great latitude of outpouring, but, after all, there are mandates of justice which love, even when combined with mercy, cannot effectively abrogate.** » UB 146:2.5.
When Jesus tells Judas, or any other human, that he is praying for a change in his attitude, he is simply giving him in his own way advice to follow, a directive in line with what his own life and his many teachings have continually shown and taught them. For his speech is unambiguous when it comes to revealing the conditions under which a prayer can be received. He says to them: 146:2.7:
“6. When you have become wholly dedicated to the doing of the will of the Father in heaven, the answer to all your petitions will be forthcoming because your prayers will be in full accordance with the Father’s will, and the Father’s will is ever manifest throughout his vast universe. What the true son desires and the infinite Father wills IS. Such a prayer cannot remain unanswered, and no other sort of petition can possibly be fully answered.” (UB 146:2.7)
So, when Jesus tells Judas that he prayed that he might come to love his brothers, it is clearly not a prayer in the sense that we ordinarily understand it, because Jesus tells us elsewhere that “What the true son desires and the Infinite Father wants IS. Such a prayer cannot remain unanswered, and no other kind of request can be fully answered” UB 146:2.7
Jeanmarie Chair