© 2013 Jesús Rodríguez
© 2013 Urantia Association of Spain
¶ INTRODUCTION
For an adequate study of THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS we must keep in mind the following, the human life of JESUS goes through two periods:
1.-THROUGH HIS PERSONAL MINISTRY (his personal life)
2.-THROUGH HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY (his preaching life)
HIS PERSONAL MINISTRY.- This period will take place within his closest circle (within his family and social environment) which It will cover his infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth and the first years of his adult life “until he was twenty-nine years old”, in this period Jesus has already experienced the full range of human emotions, ranging from the most splendid joy to the deepest pain, and he already knows through experience the thoughts, desires and impulses of the men of his time. From an early age, Jesus began to live mortal life through his “physical, intellectual and spiritual self”, always depending on the loving guidance of his “thought adjuster”. At twenty-nine years of age, Jesus virtually finished the experience of living a full, normal, natural and common mortal life. He practically already knows the equivalent of human living that is required of mortal creatures of the material worlds of time and space.
Throughout these common and familiar periods of intellectual and spiritual advancement, Jesus fully experienced the highest and most advanced phases that the human self can experience with its indwelling adjuster; that is, when Jesus attained the most intimate communication with God.
Jesus of Nazareth by the end of his twentieth year had virtually completed the experience of living life as required of evolving mortals of time and space, having almost become the perfection of man awaiting the opportunity to manifest himself to GOD.
The Human Jesus at the end of his personal ministry is already that new and living path that goes from man to GOD, from the partial to the perfect, from the earthly to the heavenly, and from time to eternity. Jesus at the age of twenty-nine years of age shows us in full how GOD reveals himself to man.
In this way he also shows us the presentation of a perfected human personality who has submitted his will to the will of the UNIVERSAL FATHER; that is, a will that is always ready to fulfill the mandate of human perfection that GOD demands of all his evolving mortal creatures who inhabit the material worlds of time and space.
Jesus, through his personal ministry, showed man at his best before GOD, and thus man becomes so beautifully real because he had so much of GOD in his life that he always enjoyed the invigorating certainty of possessing a faith without uncertainty; he always exhibited an unswerving loyalty to fulfill the will of the UNIVERSAL FATHER.
Thus, Jesus, through his personal ministry, is showing the mortal races of Urantia that new path of mortal life which they must travel if they wish to attain the accomplishment of immortal survival.
Within the life of Jesus there exists a transition period that runs from the age of thirty to thirty-three; Within this stage of his life, Jesus completed the task of achieving the conquest of his human mind (when his divine mind managed to spiritually dominate his human intellect), during this period he also drew up plans for the beginning of his already imminent public ministry (the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom), as well as undertaking the task of selecting and training his apostles (the future messengers of the kingdom) so that they would proclaim, after his departure, the greatest truths of spiritual teaching that humanity has ever heard.
HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY. - This period runs through his adulthood and until his death; during this stage of his life, Jesus, as a “public teacher of truth,” dedicated himself completely to the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom. Urantia mortals, through the living voice of Jesus, have the enormous privilege of closely knowing the greatest truths of spiritual teaching ever heard on all the inhabited worlds of a universe, since Jesus’ teachings are not only limited to this world and its creatures; the gospel of the kingdom that “the teacher” preached is intended for the spiritual instruction of the many creatures that exist within his vast universe.
The gospel of the kingdom that Jesus preached consists of making known to the evolving mortals of time and space the most comprehensive revelation that can exist about the divine and perfect nature of the “Universal Father,” of the paternity that GOD has over his children, of the great divine love that he spreads throughout his great universal family and of the great universal brotherhood of man.
But due to the limited knowledge that we have about the life of human perfection that Jesus developed during his first twenty-nine years of earthly life, believers in Christianity are unaware of the enormous importance that this period (his personal ministry) has for their personal spiritual growth and have only dedicated themselves to studying his gospels, which certainly cannot be fully understood unless they first carry out a detailed study of the personal life that Jesus forged within his most immediate environment, that is, within his family and social circle, and in this way be better prepared to correctly discern the teachings of eternal life contained in his incomparable gospel.
Since Jesus, through his personal ministry, is showing us the new path of mortal life that human beings must follow in order to escape the acute emotional conflicts and unnatural physical desires that we go through during the course of our earthly lives. And we will only be able to work at higher intellectual and spiritual levels if we live our personal lives in the same way that Jesus, “the Son of Man,” lived his personal life, a life totally dedicated to fulfilling the will of the Universal Father to be perfect as the Father is perfect.
The exemplary life of “Human Perfection” that Jesus achieved through his twenty-nine years of age is the personal religion that he professed during the course of his earthly life, a religion full of “Faith”, valor, courage and heroism, the same personal religion that we all must begin to develop, so that we can be recognized as authentic believers in the kingdom and true spiritual children of GOD. Since it will not be by knowing the lessons he gave to his apostles, nor the sermons to the multitudes (his gospels) that will help us discover the divine character and the loving personality of the UNIVERSAL FATHER. UB 129:2.10, UB 129:3.6, UB 129:4.2, UB 129:4.8, UB 140:8.19, UB 140:8.20.
So for us; the evolutionary mortals of Urantia (potential candidates to pass through the gates of eternity), it is of the utmost importance that we carry out a careful and detailed reading of the narratives of “The Life and Teachings of Jesus”. UB 32:2.12, UB 32:3.6, UB 32:3.12. But very particularly those that concern his “Personal Ministry”, when the mortal Jesus (Christ Michael) reached the pinnacle of human evolutionary ascension. As well as the full recognition as “absolute sovereign” of the universe of his creation by the “Universal Father”. UB 136:2.2, UB 136:2.5, UB 136:3.4.
The narratives of The Life and Teachings of Jesus (his personal ministry and his public ministry) are masterfully contained within part four of the revelations of THE URANTIA BOOK.
¶ THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS
At the time of Jesus’s birth, the earth was experiencing a period of revitalization of spiritual thought and religious life such as has never since been repeated in human history, as well as a type of Western civilization such as has not yet been seen until our day; This was due to the fact that the European civilization of that time was united and coordinated under an extraordinary triple influence, which were:
1.- THE ROMAN POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SYSTEM
2.- GREEK CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
3.- THE RAPIDLY EXPANDING INFLUENCE OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE
Since the most remote times (the times of Abraham and Moses), the Jewish people stood out for having a religion that proclaimed the concept of the existence of a single, Absolute GOD; On the other hand, the powerful Roman Empire, which encompassed parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa; as well as the brilliant Greek culture that expanded throughout the Roman world and other Western civilizations, shared several philosophical or semi-religious concepts that worshipped several gods at once.
The religion of the Jews was well organized and distributed, since being a dispersed people had more than two hundred synagogues throughout the Roman Empire, these religious centers had a place reserved for the Gentiles (people who did not profess the Jewish religion), which from the religious point of view were slightly inferior to the Jews, since they observed several Greek philosophies that had the characteristic of being semi-religious, however within the hearts of the Gentiles there was an abundant ground of natural goodness and a potential for human effect that allowed the seed of Christianity to germinate quickly in them, the Gentiles were the first to accept the new gospel of the kingdom preached by Jesus and his apostles; even over time, the Gentiles were expanding the gospel of the kingdom to the most remote and remote regions of those times, some of them were the first martyrs of Christianity.
Jesus came to earth at a time of greatest spiritual splendor that has ever existed in the history of humanity. This fact, added to the privileged geographical location of Palestine, as well as the spiritual, moral, intellectual, and racial characteristics of the Jews, allowed this people to be chosen to host the “Son of Man,” Jesus of Nazareth.
Palestine, the land in which the Jewish people lived, enjoyed a strategic position for the great commercial and economic transactions of that time, since many of the roads that united the nations of antiquity passed through Palestine to reach the ports at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, since it was from there that the ships that transported merchandise to the West set sail, and more than half of those caravans passed through or very close to the small town of Nazareth.
Jesus was born in Nazareth into a typical Jewish family. Joseph, his human father was a Jew who belonged to the common class of that time, but was distinguished by his profound knowledge of Jewish ceremonies and his extensive knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures. Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, descended from a long line of ancestors that included many of the most notable women who had existed in the racial history of humanity up to that time, such as: Annon, Tamar, Ruth, Bathsheba, Ansie, Cloa, Eve, Enta, and Rata. At that time, there was no other Jewish woman with a more illustrious genealogy of ancestors. Of all the couples living in Palestine at that time, Joseph and Mary possessed the most ideal combination of vast racial ties and elevated personality endowments to be selected as the earthly parents of Jesus.
Joseph was a man of sweet temperament, but extremely scrupulous, and in all respects faithful to Jewish religious practices. Mary’s temperament was the complete opposite of Joseph’s; she was cheerful, always in a good mood and very willing, and always freely expressed her emotional feelings. Jesus inherited from his father a strict knowledge of Jewish ceremonial practices and an uncommon acquaintance with the Jewish scriptures; from Mary, he inherited a broader view of religious life and a more liberal concept of personal freedom.
Broadly speaking, these were the personal characteristics of Jesus’s earthly parents.
Gabriel’s Annunciation to Mary: One evening at sunset, before Joseph returned from his day’s work. Gabriel appeared before Mary, who was standing at a stone table. Once she had recovered her composure from the strong impression she had received in the presence of such a majestic divine personality, Gabriel told her, “I come at the request of my Master, whom you will love and nurture. To you, Mary, I bring good news by announcing that conception within you is a divine mandate”, and at the opportune time you will be the mother of a son, whom you will call Joshua (Jesus), and he will inaugurate the kingdom of heaven on earth among men. Do not mention this to anyone except Joseph. Do not doubt my word, Mary, for this is the home that was chosen as the mortal dwelling place of the Son of Man. The power of the Most Highs will strengthen you, and the Lord of all creation will shelter you. Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary occurred the day after Jesus’ conception; this was the only supernatural event in the pregnancy and delivery of the Son of Promise.
Joseph’s dream: he could not accept the idea that Mary would give birth to an extraordinary son until one night he experienced an impressive dream, in that dream a resplendent heavenly messenger appeared to him who said; Joseph by command of the one who reigns in the heights I appear before you to speak to you of the son that Mary is expecting, who will become a great light that will illuminate all humanity, first he will come to your people but they will hardly receive him, but to all who know how to receive them all they will reveal that they are children of GOD.
The trip to Bethlehem; In March of the year 8 BC, Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor, decreed that all inhabitants of the Roman Empire should be counted, since he would carry out a new census to improve taxes, so all Jews would have to travel to Bethlehem to register. It was not necessary for Mary to go to Bethlehem since Joseph had authorization to register her, but Mary insisted on accompanying him since she feared being left alone since her child could be born during Joseph’s absence. They had only one beast of burden and Mary, who was pregnant, would ride on it. So this Jewish couple left their humble home early one morning on August 18, 7 BC, heading for Bethlehem, where they arrived on August 20 after a two-day journey. They immediately sought accommodation with close relatives.
However, all their relatives’ rooms were occupied because of the census, and they continued looking in other places until finally, Mary and Joseph found a place in an inn that had adapted its stables to accommodate travelers.
The Birth of Jesus; Throughout the night Mary was very restless and almost at dawn, the pains of labor had already announced and at noon on August 21, 7 BC, with the help of other travelers; Mary gave birth to a baby boy, Jesus had come into the world. Thus “the son of promise was born”, in the same way that all children in the world are born, there were no shepherds or other types of people who came to pay homage to the child who had been born in Bethlehem, but until three weeks later certain priests from Ur arrived who had been sent from Jerusalem by Zechariah, the husband of a cousin of Mary. Those priests from Mesopotamia had been told some time ago a dream that a religious teacher from their country had, in which he was informed that “The Light” that would illuminate the world was about to appear on earth in the form of a baby in a Jewish town, the priests left to meet him, but after several weeks of fruitless searching they decided to return to Ur, but in Jerusalem they met Zechariah who told them of his belief that Jesus was the object of their search and sent them to Bethlehem, where they found the child and left him some offerings, Jesus was almost three weeks old at the time of the visit of those priests.
The childhood of Jesus; Joseph and Mary remained hidden the first year after Jesus’ birth near Bethlehem for fear of being caught by Herod’s people, who were searching all over Bethlehem for the “son of promise,” since they had heard that Herod had ordered the murder of all male children under two years old who lived in Bethlehem, in order to ensure the destruction of the one he believed would steal his throne as king of the Jews. But fortunately, when Jesus’ parents were informed a day before of Herod’s plans, they fled to the city of Alexandria in Egypt, where Joseph had some relatives who could host them. They remained there for some time. And when Jesus was three years old, Joseph and Mary decided to return to their home in Nazareth, in this way the first three years of Jesus’ childhood passed.
The fourth year of Jesus’ life; In that year, Jesus’ physical development was normal; he was already beginning to show great mental capacity. Also in that year, an important family event occurred: Mary and Joseph’s second son was born; they named him James.
In the following year; at the age of five the first important event of Jesus’ life occurred, when he made his first moral decision (the initial recognition of the values of good), this first moral decision to choose good over evil, caused the “divine spirit of the Father” (the thought adjuster) to come to reside in Jesus’ mortal mind.
It is important to note: that Jesus was no more aware of the arrival of his adjuster than millions and millions of children; who from that time until today, continue to receive at the same age and in the same way (with their first personal moral decision) the “thought adjuster” to reside in their mortal mind, and thus together “mind and spirit” work in a coordinated manner in the spiritualization of the “evolving soul” during the course of their earthly life.
Before continuing with the narrative of Jesus’ life, we must become aware of the great significance this fact has for all men and women; that a fragment of GOD himself resides within our cosmic mind. Since the main function of the adjuster is to spiritually guide the mortal mind in which it resides. And just as we have the enormous privilege of having the divine spirit of the “Universal Father” reside within us from a very early age, we also have the great responsibility to begin our spiritual work from a very young age, in the same way that Jesus will demonstrate to us from a very early age and throughout the course of his earthly life.
When Jesus turned five years old, he had the great joy of sharing with his family the arrival of his second sister, whom they named Miriam. At that age, Jesus already participated with great enthusiasm in household chores, enjoyed his siblings, and helped his mother, Mary, care for them. Days after the birth of his second sister, Jesus asked his father how the different groups of living beings are born. Joseph, through a long conversation, answered his son Jesus’ question.
It is worth emphasizing the following: the most valuable part of Jesus’ early education was obtained thanks to the answers his parents gave to his intelligent and curious questions. Joseph never failed to fulfill his duty as a father, always finding time to answer the numerous questions his son put to him. From the age of five to ten, Jesus was constantly asking questions, but his parents were not always able to answer them, and yet they never ceased to converse with their son, to discuss his inquiries, and to assist him in every way possible in his efforts to arrive at a satisfactory solution to the problem his lively mind had suggested. Few homes in the Gentile world could offer a child a better intellectual, moral, and religious education than Jewish parents gave their children in those days.
It was the custom among the Jews of Galilee for the mother to be in charge of her child’s education until the age of five; then, if the child was a boy, the father took charge of his education. Thus, from the fifth year of age, Mary formally handed over the future education of her son Jesus to Joseph, and although Joseph was directly in charge of Jesus’ intellectual and religious education, his mother continued to take care of Jesus’ home education, taught him to care for and preserve nature, always made sure that in his bedroom there were sandboxes in which Jesus made maps and practiced his writing in Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew (at that time this was how drawing and writing was practiced by Jewish children), at that age Jesus was a physically normal child, he was very observant and highly inquisitive. In that early stage of Jesus’ childhood; the teaching that we can observe is very clear, of the importance of the family environment for the intellectual, moral and social evolution of a normal and common child like Jesus was during his first years of earthly life, the same attitude of life that should be observed not only by children of this time, but also by parents and adults of today. Since the family, intellectual, social, and moral values that govern a society must always be the same for all ages and for all times, whether past, present, or future.
The sixth year of Jesus’ life; With the help of his mother, Jesus began to master the Galilean dialect of Aramaic, while Joseph taught him Greek, including the text they used for studying Greek.
It was that copy of the Jewish scriptures that had been translated into Greek, and that had been given to the child Jesus by some religious teachers when they hid in Alexandria during the first two years of Jesus’ childhood. Of these copies there were only two in all of Nazareth, this fact led to an endless procession of students in Jesus’ home who were dedicated to the sincere search for the truth and before the end of that year Jesus had already assumed custody of such an invaluable manuscript, this because in a very short time Jesus was already reading it without any setbacks, in that same year they traveled to Jerusalem for the first time to visit Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, and her husband Zacharias, on that occasion Jesus met his cousin John, who in the future would be known as John the Baptist, the parents of both spent a lot of time talking about the destiny that awaited Jesus and John, who by the way in adulthood would proclaim his cousin Jesus as the promised Messiah “The healer of souls of the Jewish people”. After meeting John who lived in the outskirts of Jerusalem, Jesus began to show a real interest in knowing the history and religious traditions of the Jewish people and began to ask about the meaning of all the Jewish ceremonies, although some celebrations were
difficult to understand for the childlike mind of Jesus, he considered them with great seriousness that he even participated in them.
During that year Joseph and Mary did not know what to do with Jesus because of the way he prayed, since Jesus always insisted on addressing the “Heavenly Father” in the same way that he addressed Joseph, his earthly father, in no way could they persuade him to modify his way of praying, this departure of Jesus from the rigid ways of praying of the Jewish people worried his parents a lot. But the child Jesus, out of respect for his parents and in order not to continue upsetting them, first recited his prayers as he had been taught based on Jewish traditions, and then spoke with his Heavenly Father in his own particular way of praying (his nascent personal religion), the same one he practiced throughout his earthly life.
From a very early age, Jesus is already showing us that he did not come to this world to create some kind of religion; on the contrary, with this event that took place at his young age, Jesus, with his very personal way of addressing his “heavenly Father”, is already teaching us that religion should be a personal and individual spiritual experience.
With his way of praying, Jesus is already freeing himself from the yoke of rigid Jewish religious traditions; At six years old, he is already pointing out to us that his mission in this world was and is; to free men and women from the spiritual slavery in which they lived at that time, as well as to free men and women of modern times who still continue living enslaved by the dogmas and traditions of current religions, and this spiritual liberation can only be achieved if we profess the same type of personal religion that Jesus teaches us through his exemplary earthly life (which he already begins to show at his young age), as well as correctly interpreting the teachings of his true gospel of spiritual freedom. That is why Jesus, during his public ministry (his life of preaching), always exclaimed “FOLLOW ME, THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE”.
The child Jesus, under the spiritual guidance of his adjuster, already begins to understand that the form and content of the Jewish prayers that his parents had taught him did not contain a true religious meaning that would allow him to grow spiritually, and he consciously chose to establish a direct dialogue with his “Heavenly Father” through his adjuster (Jesus’ personal religion), the same personal religion that we all should begin to practice, if we decide with our free will and consciously to submit to the spiritual guidance of our thought adjuster, just as Jesus did from his childhood.
The seventh year of Jesus’ life: At that age, Jewish children formally began their school education in synagogue schools, so Jesus also began his school education in that same year. He had already mastered Aramaic and Greek, now it was his turn to master the Hebrew language. At the same time, Jesus began the study of sacred Hebrew law through the Talmud (the religious book of the Jews). In the synagogue schools there were no textbooks, there were only religious books.
Such as: The book of Leviticus, The book of Psalms, The book of the Prophets and some more. During the course of that year, Jesus’ third brother was born, who was named Joseph.
Jesus also mastered Hebrew that year, a fact that later allowed him to be frequently chosen to read the sacred scriptures during the Saturday services in the synagogues.
In addition to his school education, Jesus began to associate with the travelers who arrived in Nazareth in the caravans that came from all corners of the world, since that city was a caravan station and a crossroads through which many travelers passed, of which the majority were Gentiles, that is, they did not profess the Jewish religion, this fact led to Nazareth being known as the most liberal center of the Jewish religion, since all other Jewish populations, due to the social restrictions imposed by their religion, avoid having contact with the Gentiles for fear of contaminating them with their pagan beliefs.
Jesus mainly received his religious and moral education within his own home, his intellectual and theological education was received by the chazan (the teacher of the synagogue) until the age of thirteen, Jesus’ chazan over time when he graduated Jesus told his father Joseph that he; He had learned more from his son’s intelligent questions than he, as his teacher, could have taught him during the time he had him under his tutelage.
But the true education that begins to develop the evolving soul, Jesus obtained it through the joint action of his mortal mind and his thought adjuster, this personal experience allowed Jesus to begin to successfully overcome all the difficult problems that arose during his childhood from an early age, as well as through the experience he acquired about people’s behavior, which Jesus acquired when he began to mix with his peers, whether they were children, adults, the elderly, Jews or Gentiles. This close association he had with men gave him the opportunity to begin to understand the behavior of the varied human conduct, Jesus in this way at his young age was already highly educated in the sense that he already understood his fellow men in order to love them with great devotion.
Another important fact that influenced Jesus’ religious education; It was that in Nazareth it was customary to ask the most distinguished visitors to speak in the synagogue during the Sabbath meeting, this caused Jesus from a very early age to listen to the point of view of the greatest religious thinkers of the Jewish world of that time.
Another fact that greatly influenced Jesus’ loving behavior toward his fellow men was that upon entering synagogue school, Jewish children were required to choose a text from the Hebrew sacred scriptures, which, due to its content, should guide them throughout their religious instruction. The text Jesus selected was that of the prophet Isaiah, which said, "The Spirit of GOD is upon me and has anointed me; I have been sent by the Lord to preach the good news to the dejected, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and to open the prison doors to spiritual prisoners.
Within the course of his seventh year of life, Jesus is already teaching us that regardless of our way of thinking or the intellectual or religious level we may have, we must always treat our fellow men equally, without prejudice and always respecting their way of acting and thinking; The example that Jesus gave us at his young age, when he began to live with all kinds of people, whether they were young, old, Gentiles, or Jews.
This attitude of Jesus toward men also teaches us that it is necessary to come into contact with the varied human nature, in order to be able to better understand our fellow human beings in order to love and serve them. This new behavior of mortal life that Jesus already begins to teach us is a consequence of the fact that “he” from an early age was aware that there existed within his evolving mind a set of spiritual attributes that would guide him to reach the state of human perfection that the “Father” demands of his mortal children.
Let us imitate Jesus and become aware that there also exists within our cosmic mind a set of spiritual attributes that will guide us to improve our relationships with all our fellow human beings, so that we are able to love and serve them all equally.
The eighth year of Jesus’ life: That was a very interesting school year for Jesus, he was already a very advanced student and during that time he met a math teacher from Damascus who taught him some new techniques for a better study of numbers, that motivated Jesus to dedicate more time to the study of mathematics and develop a keen understanding of numbers, distances and portions.
And as Jesus progressed in his school studies, the outlook for his teachers was not at all calm, he continued with his habit of asking very complicated questions mainly in regards to astronomy, geography and religion.
In that year his fourth brother was born who was named Simon, at that time Jesus began to teach the alphabet to his younger brother James and also began to exchange some dairy products that the family produced for harp lessons, since Jesus had a very special predilection for everything related to music, even that hobby motivated him to later promote interest in vocal music among his group mates, Jesus years later became a skilled harpist, his family and friends greatly enjoyed his extraordinary musical performances and improvisations.
Around that time and by reference of Zechariah, John’s father, a rabbi named Nahor arrived in Nazareth who was one of the main teachers of the rabbinical school of Jerusalem, this rabbi had the purpose of taking Jesus to continue his intellectual and religious education in the most important center of Jewish religious instruction that was located in Jerusalem; Upon meeting Jesus, Rabbi Nahor was shocked by the child’s liberal attitude toward religious matters. Despite Jesus’ behavior, he asked Joseph and Mary to allow him to take his son to Jerusalem, where he would benefit from the benefits of education and religious teachings at the best cultural center in the Jewish world at that time.
Mary was determined to give permission for Jesus to be taken, as she was fully convinced that her eldest son would become the “promised Messiah,” the one who would free the Jewish people from the Roman yoke. However, Joseph was hesitant to give his consent, since despite being convinced that his son… when he grew up he would be the “son of destiny”, he hesitated to give his authorization to Nahor’s proposal, and because of this difference of opinions between Joseph and Mary, the rabbi requested his permission to directly raise the matter with Jesus, who listened very attentively to what Nahor offered him and upon hearing his proposal, Jesus spoke with his parents to see what they thought about it, but upon hearing the different opinions of his parents and since he did not feel competent to assume the responsibility of such a decision.
Jesus consciously decided to “talk to his Heavenly Father” (that is, to engage in a direct dialogue with his thought adjuster) and since Jesus was not sure of the answer he would receive, he thought it would be better to remain with his earthly parents, arguing that because of the love they had for him, they would take better care of him and guide him better than a group of strangers who would only see his body and observe his mind. Everyone was amazed when they heard such a wise answer and Nahor returned to Jerusalem without achieving his purpose.
The teaching that Jesus leaves us in his eighth year of earthly life; is that he was already aware of the presence of the divine spirit that dwells in him, and faced with the dilemma he had of making his own decisions about his religious future, he decides to submit to the accurate direction of his adjuster to guide him in his understanding (the main task of the thought adjuster is to spiritually guide the mortal mind) and make the correct decision about his spiritual and religious future.
Jesus clearly and simply shows us that if for any reason we ask for help from the “Heavenly Father,” it must be of a spiritual kind and not material, as he is showing us at his young age, and as he continued to show through the incomparable teachings of spiritual truth that he would preach during his public ministry through the following sermon: “Seek the great things and the lesser important things will be found,” “Ask for spiritual things and the material things will already be included”. Furthermore, anxiety and uncertainty will do nothing to provide for our material needs, therefore, you should not worry or be distressed about the things of earthly life; neither about what you will eat nor what you will drink, since the well-being of the soul is not only food or drink, everyone must believe that both “THE Father and I” know their material needs. So dedicate your lives to “the work of the kingdom” and all those needs will be granted to you. Let us put these wonderful teachings into practice and when we address the “Heavenly Father” to request his help; let it be of a spiritual and not material nature, let us “imitate” Jesus and change our way of addressing GOD and let us ask for his spiritual and heavenly help for ourselves or for our fellow men; which by the way are the food of the soul, which is what we truly need to achieve the achievement of immortal survival.
The ninth year of Jesus’ life: At that time Jesus suffered for the first time from some typical childhood illnesses, his behavior at school continued to be that of a diligent student and he began to organize his time to do other activities outside the home, such as learning to fish and harvest wheat, as well as accompanying his father on trips he made to other cities for work commitments, practically from that year on Jesus began to learn the ways and customs of the people who lived outside of Nazareth. Jesus also liked to draw landscapes on the ground (it was the way people drew at that time) and to model a wide variety of objects in clay. On one occasion, while he was drawing on the classroom floor, a student saw him and reported him to the teacher. It should be noted that both drawing and modeling were prohibited by Jewish sacred law. From that moment on, Jesus was presented with the first of many problems that would arise in the course of his life, which were always caused by Jesus’ disobedience in not following the rules imposed by the Hebrew sacred law.
For the first time Jesus dared to discuss such rules with his teacher, who, upon seeing his bold attitude, immediately summoned his parents and the council of elders, who were the highest religious authority in Nazareth, so that they would realize the indiscipline he had committed. In view of the lack of respect that Jesus showed for the Jewish laws, the elders demanded that Joseph reprimand his son, since this was not the first time they had received complaints about his energetic behavior, but this time it was the most serious accusation they had received for their son’s attitude. Jesus listened in silence to the accusation against him, but when he saw that his parents were being admonished for his disobedience, he became so indignant that he energetically confronted his accusers to bravely defend his points of view and with great self-control and without any fear, he exposed his just reasoning of what he considered correct. But despite the fact that Jesus was aware that he had not committed any indiscipline, he accepted the sanction that would be applied to him.
Joseph, faced with what had happened, was forced to forbid his son from continuing to model or draw, and from that day on, while Jesus lived in his parents’ house, he never drew or modeled anything again, choosing to abandon such a pleasurable activity for him. This was the most difficult decision he had to make during his childhood.
That same year, Jesus’ fifth sibling was born, a woman named Martha. Meanwhile, Jesus continued to grow physically, intellectually, morally, and spiritually.
The travels he made with his father gave him a better understanding of his family and his peers, while Jesus continued to learn from them.
Being an innate thinker, Jesus was always in constant conflict with the so-called “Jewish oral law” throughout his childhood, which consisted of the repetition of religious texts. However, out of respect for his parents, he always tried to adapt to their Jewish religious customs. At that age, Jesus was already the leader of a group of seven boys with whom he formed a society with the purpose of beginning to promote among them higher levels of human development that encompassed the social, moral, intellectual, and spiritual aspects, which should govern their adult lives. From an early age, Jesus was already aware of the values of human development (intellectual, social, moral, and spiritual) that must be achieved for man to take possession of his potential eternal personality, that spiritual attribute that will transcend beyond death, if man is capable of achieving the survival of his mortal soul.
Let us adopt as a model the lifestyle that Jesus led from an early age and let us begin to develop those values of human conduct, which will allow us to reach a true spiritual state, as well as the conquest of personality and be recognized as authentic spiritual children of God, since if GOD is spirit, in that same spiritual sense man will be considered a “true son of GOD”.
Let us not continue in the error of continuing to believe that our mortal state of animal origin automatically converts us into “children of GOD”, we can only reach this state if we begin to work together with our thought adjuster; that is, in the same way that Jesus at a young age accepts the spiritual guidance of his adjuster and begins to work until adulthood to reach the state of human perfection that the “Universal Father” demands of all his children of mortal origin.
The tenth year of Jesus’ life: In June of that year, Jesus for the first time gave way to feelings and ideas that indicated that he was already beginning to acquire awareness of the nature of the extraordinary mission of his mortal life, a fact that he expressed to his father Joseph, who listened attentively but did not know how to answer his son about what he was asking him, the next day he asked the same question to his mother Mary to guide him on the mission he had to carry out, but Mary, like Joseph, did not know how to answer him. In August of that year, Jesus entered the school of advanced studies at the synagogue, where Jesus, by the type of questions he always asked, put his teachers in a very uncomfortable position since they were unable to answer correctly what their student asked them; for that reason, the main teacher of the synagogue took Jesus under his custody since he was very interested in the boy’s curiosity, intelligence and thirst for knowledge.
At that time, what was most striking about Jesus’ behavior was that despite being more physically developed than other boys his age, he did nothing to defend himself from the injustices and abuse he was subjected to at the hands of his peers, but fortunately Jesus had the sincere friendship of his friend and neighbor Jacob, who never allowed anyone to take advantage of Jesus’ notorious docility as well as his rejection of physical aggression, so whoever tried to attack Jesus would always run into his brave defender. At that age, Jesus was already an accepted leader among a group of Nazarene boys who held the most advanced ideals of their time and generation. His friends loved him not only for who he was, but for the love he showed them, and also because Jesus had a great understanding of the problems of his fellow men and a great tolerance for the negative behavior of others. Jesus also began to show a marked preference for the company of older people, as he liked to talk with them about cultural, educational, social, economic, and religious issues. Jesus’ depth of reasoning impressed the adults who knew him so much that they were always willing to talk with him. Meanwhile, his physical development continued. He remained an advanced student. He got along well with his parents, siblings, and friends. All the people of Nazareth had a very good opinion of him.
By that time, he had become an expert fisherman because of the constant trips he made with his father to the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had even decided that when When he grew up he would be a fisherman, but because of his close relationship with his father’s profession, he later decided to become a carpenter, but even later he decided that he would be a religious teacher and whose main mission would be to help men solve their spiritual problems through the teachings of spiritual truth that “he” would preach, and thus in this way men would sharpen their minds so that they would be better prepared and inspired to solve their many material problems. Since the exclusive mission of Jesus was, is and will always be to spiritually help mortal souls so that they achieve the goal of immortal survival.
Jesus within his tenth year of age begins to show us in a majestic way his main teaching, which by the way he always practiced in an unusual and surprising way during the course of his exemplary mortal life “to love and respect above all things our fellow men” even above our own physical integrity; just as Jesus is showing us when he began to receive aggression from his childhood companions and as he continued to do until his death, that is why Jesus through the preaching of his gospel of spiritual truth taught that “If your neighbor strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also, since you should prefer to suffer injustice than to have a lawsuit between brothers”.
Jesus later during his “public ministry” also taught his disciples the following: “LOVE YOUR ENEMIES”, “DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO HATE YOU”, “BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU”, and “PRAY FOR THOSE WHO USE YOU”.
Will we be able to follow that new path of mortal life that Jesus so generously showed us throughout the course of his earthly life?
The eleventh year of Jesus’ life: During that period Jesus dedicated himself to spending a lot of time in the caravan supply tent with the intention of talking with travelers from all regions of the world, who had to pass through Nazareth to carry out their commercial transactions, this fact allowed Jesus to acquire a greater knowledge of the way people lived in other parts of the world, the travelers were surprised by the interest that Jesus showed in the affairs of other countries.
This was the last year in which the Nazarene child was able to enjoy the games and joy that characterizes childhood, since as the firstborn son, Jesus’ responsibilities to his family increased. This was due to the fact that Mary, with her seventh pregnancy, suffered some complications that forced her to remain in bed for a few weeks. This caused Jesus to have to increase the number of tasks he performed around the home, as well as continuing to help his father in the carpentry shop. However, from that date on, Jesus acquired greater responsibilities within the family, this did not prevent him from continuing his religious learning, since thanks to the help of the synagogue rabbi, Jesus was able to continue his studies at night.
During the course of that year Jesus accompanied his father on a business trip to the Greek city of Scythopolis, where the annual Greek sporting events were being held. These competitions impressed Jesus so much that he immediately suggested to his father that he promote such competitions among the young people of Nazareth. However, his father was so shocked by his son’s proposal that he immediately and forcefully rejected his proposal, arguing that the Jewish sacred scriptures prohibited such competitions. For the first time, Jesus felt his father Joseph’s anger firsthand, and even though he had not said anything wrong, he promised him that he would not speak of the matter again. However, later, when his father was no longer alive, he integrated these healthy recreational activities into his daily life. During that year, his sixth brother was born, who was named Judah.
In his eleventh year, Jesus was a vigorous and well-developed young man. He had a good sense of humor, and from then on, he began to spend long periods of time in meditation and contemplation more frequently. That is, Jesus was already beginning to have greater communication with his thought adjuster so that he could guide him in how he should begin the spiritual mission entrusted to him.
It is important that we reflect on the lessons we can learn from this year in Jesus’ life, who, despite carrying on his shoulders part of the family responsibility as the firstborn son, as well as helping his father in the carpentry shop throughout the day.
Jesus takes time at night to continue his religious teachings, as well as to seek greater communication with his spiritual adjuster through long periods of meditation. Let us imitate Jesus and begin to seek a space within the great responsibilities in which we are immersed within the tremendous materialism of modern times. Let us not continue to set aside the enormous spiritual responsibility we have as true children of God. Let us strive to achieve better communication with the divine spirit that dwells within us, so that it may guide us spiritually along this new path of mortal life that Jesus is already so marvelously showing us through his short earthly life. Let us imitate Jesus and fulfill our material responsibilities. **But never forgetting that the only realities worth fighting for in this life must be spiritual and not material, since that is the only possible path we can travel to achieve immortal survival.
The twelfth year of Jesus’ life: In that year Jesus continued to progress in school as well as in the study of nature, at the same time he showed a great interest in knowing the methods that people used to earn a living and began to work more regularly in his father’s carpentry shop, during the course of that year Jesus was unsure about the nature of the mission he had to carry out, since his human mind still could not understand the fact that being a single personality, he was the possessor of a double nature (the human and the divine), and while he was making the necessary mental adjustments to better understand that duality that went from the divine to the human, Jesus increased his relationships with his parents and his brothers, since thanks to the guidance of his divine adjuster and the work of personal improvement that he had been doing, Jesus acquired great tact when addressing his relatives, showing great tolerance and understanding for the problems that arose with his brothers, always seeking the well-being and happiness of his family environment, an attitude that prevailed until he left home to start his public ministry (his life of preaching).
Mary and Joseph were increasingly certain that there was something superhuman in the personality of their eldest son, but they never imagined that this “son of promise” was actually the creator of a universe.
Jesus’ parents lived and died without ever knowing that Jesus (Christ Michael) was the ruler of a universe, incarnated on earth in the likeness of mortal man.
During that year, Jesus devoted more time to his music lessons while also helping care for his younger siblings. He also became aware of his parents’ differing views on the nature of his mission, as he frequently overheard them discussing the matter when they thought he was asleep. Jesus increasingly leaned toward the viewpoint of his father Joseph, who was convinced of the spiritual mission entrusted to his son.
During the course of that year and for the next two, Jesus remained in constant conflict as he tried to reconcile his very particular spiritual point of view with the religious beliefs of his parents, this conflict originated from the two great mandates that governed his conscience, which were: “be faithful to the dictates of your highest convictions of truth and righteousness” and that of “you shall honor your Father and Mother because they have given you life”, however, faced with this dilemma, Jesus always fulfilled these two precepts by making the necessary adjustments between loyalty to his personal religious convictions with his family’s religious beliefs, this fact allowed Jesus to acquire an exceptional concept of solidarity with his fellow men, always basing his actions through tolerance, understanding, compassion and love.
Jesus in this year of his life is leaving us a great lesson; Due to the limited religious education we were taught, we are ignorant of the true spiritual work we must develop to achieve that level of understanding and tolerance that is needed to understand the behavior and negative attitudes of our fellow men (what human beings lack the most), a teaching that Jesus, at twelve years old, begins to show us in the fact that, despite his high personal religious concepts, he shows great tolerance and understanding in the face of the contrary attitude shown by his parents for not agreeing with his Jewish religious beliefs.
It should be noted that the main teaching that “Master Jesus” left us through his exemplary earthly life is the tolerance, understanding, and compassion that we must show towards all our fellow men (even those who irritate us the most).
Qualities that we must necessarily begin to develop if we truly wish to reach the state of “spiritual children of God”.
Since the main duty that “the Universal Father” demands of his children is that “We love our fellow men in the same way that GOD loves us”.
The thirteenth year of Jesus’ life: In that year Jesus passed from childhood to adolescence, his voice began to change and other physical and mental features announced his approaching adult state, by that time Jesus was already humanly aware of the spiritual mission he was destined to carry out on earth for the spiritual enlightenment of man, as well as to reveal the loving paternity of the “Father” to all his children. Fundamental decisions and far-reaching plans were already forming in the mind of this young man, who seemed like an ordinary Jewish boy of that time, in that same year the seventh little brother of Jesus was born and was named Amos, also in the month of March of that year Jesus graduated from the synagogue school, this event was of utmost importance for Jewish families, the day in which the firstborn son was named “the son of the commandments”, Jesus already met the conditions required of young Jews to be recognized as a son of Israel, therefore he could now go to Jerusalem with his parents to participate with them in the annual celebration of the Passover (the feast of the lamb), which was established by Moses centuries ago to remember the liberation from slavery of the Jewish people, who for centuries had been under the yoke of the Egyptians.
So in the month of April of the year 7 AD Jesus on the threshold of adulthood, along with 103 other Nazarenes among whom were his parents left for Jerusalem; This journey lasted four days, time spent crossing the Jordan Valley to reach the beginning of the Easter festivities, during the fourth day of the journey Jesus saw for the first time the Mount of Olives (a region that would play a very important role in his future life), Joseph told him that behind that mountain was the city of Jerusalem, upon hearing this Jesus’ heart raced with emotion knowing that very soon he would arrive at the city where the house of his “Heavenly Father” was located “the great temple of Jerusalem.”
Which could hold within its walls more than two hundred thousand people at a time, but Jesus was not attracted to the impressive and monumental construction that was the admiration of locals and strangers.
What Jesus was most interested in was knowing “the spiritual significance of the religious ceremonies that took place there and the worship that these originated among the believers who gathered there”, after this stop the pilgrims continued their journey and in the afternoon they arrived in Jerusalem, and he was amazed to see such a multitude of human beings and meditated deeply on how they had come from the most distant places in the world, Jesus and his parents arrived at the house of some relatives, where they would stay for the seven days that the Passover festivities lasted, one day before Easter Saturday a wave of spiritual illumination filled his mind, “he already sensed that he was about to begin the spiritual liberation of those morally ignorant and spiritually blind multitudes who were gathered there” to celebrate the ancient commemoration of Passover.
That night was one of the most extraordinary moments that Jesus lived during the course of his life in the flesh; since a divine messenger had appeared before him, who had been authorized to transmit the following message: Your hour has come; it is time for you to begin your Father’s business; that is, that through his “personal ministry” Jesus would begin the experience of mortal living required of evolving mortals of time and space. Despite Jesus already having a greater burden of family responsibilities, it was also announced to him that from that moment on he would acquire the great responsibility of beginning his life of “human perfection.”
In this way, Jesus concludes the stage of his childhood and prepares to begin his adolescence., a stage in which Jesus begins to realize that he was the possessor of a dual nature (human and divine). As time passed, Jesus became increasingly self-aware of his spiritual mission.
During this period of his life, he already attempts to integrate his great spiritual purpose with the religious desires of his parents, with family obligations, and with the responsibility of transmitting his teachings of spiritual truth to his fellow men.
The next day, Easter Saturday, Jesus was deeply excited by the start of the festivities and accompanied by his parents went through the doors of the temple, but when crossing the porches of the temple he began to suffer his first great spiritual disappointment when he saw the irreverent behavior with which the multitudes that were gathered inside the great temple acted (the house of his Heavenly Father) and when he had not yet recovered from the depressing spectacle that he had just observed, Jesus again suffered another disappointment when he saw the discriminatory way in which they treated the Jewish women, who had to be separated from the men during the consecration ceremony of the new citizens of Israel, it had not occurred to Jesus that he had to separate from his mother in such an important ceremony and he was very indignant that she had to suffer such unjust discrimination, and although he was very resentful about this fact, he only addressed a few words of protest to his father.
Jesus participated in the consecration ceremony; but he was disappointed by the routine and simple way in which the ritual was performed and after returning from spending a few minutes with his mother, he prepared to accompany his father on the first tour through the numerous atriums and enclosures that were located within the great temple, and although some rituals impressed him with their beauty and symbolism, none of them moved him because they did not contain a true religious meaning, and the explanations that his father gave him about these ceremonies disappointed him again and again, since Jesus could not accept the crude explanations of worship and religious devotion of the Jewish laws, which were based on the wrath of a GOD who punished the bad actions of his children.
After visiting the temple, he continued talking about the religious simplicity of these ceremonies with his father, who insisted that he agree to accept Jewish beliefs, Jesus turned to his father and looking him in the eyes with great fervor he said; Father it can’t be true, it’s not possible that the Heavenly Father punishes his wayward children of the earth in that way, it can’t be that the heavenly father loves his children less than you love me, I know well that you would never give free rein to your anger on me, despite the faults that I could commit and I know that you would look for a way to reprimand me without raising your anger against me, and if you my earthly father possess that human reflection of divine mercy.
Imagine how full of goodness and divine mercy my “Heavenly Father” possesses, that’s why I refuse to believe that “my Father who is in heaven” loves me less than my father who is on earth.
Upon hearing the wise words of his firstborn son, he did not know how to respond and remained silent. From then on, Joseph never again tried to change his son’s ideas about the sublime love that GOD has for all his children. As he continued to walk through the temple, Jesus’ heart was filled with great sadness, since wherever he walked, he only saw in all the believers a spirit of great irreverence toward GOD. The crowds shouted and cursed loudly, and this scandal mingled with the cries of the lambs being sacrificed, as well as with the cries of the money changers and vendors hawking all kinds of merchandise. But what outraged him most was the presence of frivolous courtesans wandering within the temple precincts offering their favors. This desecration of the house of his “Heavenly Father” aroused in Jesus great indignation, which he did not hesitate to openly express to his father Joseph .
That night after his first visit to the Temple, Jesus slept very little, as his sleep was constantly disturbed by horrible nightmares of the bloody slaughter of lambs he had witnessed in the Temple. His mind and heart were completely troubled by the contradictory elements he had discovered in the theology of the Jewish religious system. His parents could not sleep either; they were deeply disconcerted by their son’s strange behavior, who persisted in rejecting what Jewish law commanded. The next day, the ceremonies in the Temple were more acceptable, which partly erased the unpleasant memories of the previous day. The young Lazarus, whom he had met shortly before arriving in Jerusalem, accompanied him through the Temple grounds where courses and lectures were given. Jesus spent most of his time attending these lectures.
Time and again during the course of Easter week Jesus’ parents would find him deep in thought, they had never seen him behave this way, they were completely unaware of how confused and troubled their son was by the terrible experiences he was going through during the course of the
Easter festivities, they could not wait for Easter week to be over so they could return to Nazareth with their son Jesus, who was in constant conflict over his religious beliefs and the beliefs of his parents, by the end of the weekend Jesus had made the necessary adjustments within his mortal mind so that he would no longer come into conflict with his parents’ religious differences.
From the bloody event that he lived inside the temple with the sacrifice of hundreds of lambs, he began to think about the idea of celebrating the Passover without the sacrifice of the lamb, since he was fully convinced that his “Heavenly Father” was not pleased with this type of offerings and ceremonies that they celebrated in his name, he was increasingly determined that one day he would establish a celebration of the Passover less cruel than that practiced by the Jewish people, Jesus over the years would institute a new way of celebrating the supper without the “Passover lamb” and also with the sole purpose that the “sincere believer” would always remember that his soul had been freed from the spiritual slavery to which it was subjected by the chains of ceremonies and traditions, Jesus established that Passover supper, (the last supper in which he was gathered with his apostles) for the same reason that Moses established centuries ago the Passover festivities; so that the Jewish people could commemorate the end of their racial slavery to which they had been subjected by the Egyptians for several centuries.
Jesus over time would institute a new Passover meal of commemoration as a symbol of the spiritual liberation of man, where the individual who is freed by his teachings of spiritual truth, breaks the chains of the religious ceremonies that bind him and joins the spiritual joy of the brotherhood of the children of GOD who have been freed by “the Faith” they profess towards the “Living God”, that is why Jesus during the course of the Last Supper expressed: take all of this cup of wine and drink from it, this will be the cup of my commemoration, this will be the cup of a new dispensation of grace and truth. This will be the emblem of the “Gift” of the divine spirit that I will bestow upon you “The Spirit of Truth”, which will be poured out upon all mankind when the time of my departure arrives, and just as you will have within you the “spirit of my Father” (the thought adjuster), so also will you have within you the “spirit of the son” (the spirit of truth).
This “spirit of living truth” that I will give you is the new teacher that I had promised you so that in my absence he may continue to teach you the meaning of true spiritual values, I establish this symbol of commemoration so that you and future generations may remember that my spirit is among you and with all men who desire my presence so that I may continue to guide them during the course of their spiritual career.
When they finished drinking that cup of wine, the Master took the bread and broke it into pieces and telling his apostles to pass it around, he said to them “take this bread of memorial” and eat it, I have told you that; “I am the bread that gives eternal life” and that bread is the united life of the “Father and the Son” in one “Gift” since the word of the Father as revealed by the son is “the bread of eternal salvation” and truly I tell you that I “am the way, the truth, and the life” and no man goes “to the Father” except through Me, since all who find “the Father” first find Me and if truly any of you come to know Me, you already know the way that will lead you to “Father”.
Jesus, in instituting this supper of remembrance, used the symbols of the cup of wine and the bread in order to prevent his followers and future generations of Christian believers from trying to link the spiritual meaning he applied to these symbols with the dead chains of tradition and dogma. However, Jesus’ efforts to establish a new style of remembrance that would recall the end of the spiritual slavery to which humanity had been subjected before his coming were not observed by the early leaders of Christianity and by their predecessors, who frustrated his desire to not implant any religious ceremonial of that Last Supper, and transformed that simple spiritual symbolism into a ceremonial of mathematical precision and a perfectly established formula.
Of all the teachings of Jesus, none has become so dogmatized and ritualistic as that of the Passover supper, in which he used the symbols of the cup of wine and the bread to replace the traditional Passover lamb to celebrate the supper of remembrance.
After knowing through a brief summary the true meaning of the Passover meal, let’s continue with our story of the life and teachings of Jesus.
At the end of the Passover festivities, the group of Nazarenes had arranged that they would march back to Nazareth the next morning and set the entrance of the temple as a meeting point and so Jesus’ parents left to return to Nazareth without realizing that their son was not traveling with them, since he had stayed inside the temple listening to the debates of the priests, they did not notice his absence because they divided into two groups; one of men and one of women, this caused Joseph to think that his son was traveling with his mother in the group of women and vice versa Mary thought that her son was traveling with his father in the group of men.
Meanwhile, Jesus remained in the temple throughout that day listening to the discussions of the Jewish high priests, forgetting that his parents and the entire group of Nazarenes would leave in the morning to return to Nazareth, and when the discussions concluded in the afternoon, he headed to Bethany to Simon’s house where they had stayed before their arrival in Jerusalem.
The next morning, Jesus got up very early to head back to the temple in Jerusalem, but as he passed by the Mount of Olives, he stopped and, seeing from the top “the temple of his father,” he wept bitterly at the spectacle that had beheld his eyes throughout the course of the Passover festival. That of observing a spiritually impoverished people, who found themselves enslaved by the traditions and dogmas of Jewish law and under the yoke of the Roman Empire.
After meditating on the spiritual state of his people, he continued his march to Jerusalem to participate in the debates at the temple, meanwhile Joseph and Mary returned to Jerusalem to look for their son and went to the house of Mary’s relatives where they had stayed to see if they had seen their Jesus, but no one from their relatives knew how to inform them of his whereabouts and they walked around looking for him all day without finding any trace of their son and returned to their relatives’ house to spend the night and continue their search the next day, meanwhile Jesus during the course of the day was participating in the discussions at the temple, which surprised both friends and strangers because of the direct questions he asked the wise teachers of Jewish laws, these questions constantly put the scholars in a difficult position who did not know how to answer that young Nazarene.
And at the end of his second day at the temple, Jesus again headed to Bethany to spend the night, and the next day he went to his third day at the temple, but this time a large crowd had gathered to listen to a young man from Nazareth who was confusing the religious teachers and scholars, Simon and his sons also came from Bethany to listen to the young man who was staying at his house, while Joseph and Mary continued desperately searching for their son, they even entered the temple several times, but it never occurred to them to look for him in the rooms where the discussions were held, meanwhile Jesus monopolized the attention of those present in the debate that was taking place in the main enclosure of the great temple and throughout the day the spectators were amazed by the questions he asked the great Jewish teachers, as he questioned their religious teachings and suggested his own religious teachings, that was one of the most memorable days in the life of Jesus.
At the end of the day Jesus, along with Simon and his sons, headed back to Bethany. For most of the time everyone remained silent. When he reached the top of the Mount of Olives, he stopped again; but he no longer wept as he contemplated the city and the temple, and with great reverence and raising his arms to heaven, he exclaimed “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” O inhabitants of Jerusalem, because you are so spiritually blind, how enslaved you are! By the harsh chains of the law, the rites, the ceremonies, and the traditions; but I must return to purify the temple of my Father and to free my people from the spiritual slavery in which they find themselves. Having said this, Jesus continued their journey to Bethany, and after supper, he headed out to the garden where he remained for several hours until late at night, trying in vain to devise a plan of action that would allow him to best undertake the spiritual mission that had been entrusted to him, as well as to decide what would be the best way to face the task of revealing to his spiritually blind compatriots a higher concept of the “Heavenly Father,” since Jesus longed with all his heart to bring GOD closer to men, as well as to bring men closer to GOD. But the enlightening light did not appear to this young man who longed to preach the greatest teachings of spiritual truth that humanity had ever heard. And the next day, as he was preparing for his fourth visit to the temple, Simon commented to him that his parents must already be worried about his disappearance.
But Jesus was so strangely unconcerned about his earthly parents and again headed toward the temple, where in the morning they spoke deeply about the Jewish law and the prophets.
The teachers were amazed by Jesus’ extraordinary knowledge of the sacred scriptures in both Hebrew and Greek. But unfortunately, what amazed these great teachers most was his youth, not his vast knowledge of the sacred scriptures.
At the afternoon conference, as the priests began to answer Jesus’ question about the purpose of prayer, the chief priest interrupted them and cunningly invited the young man to come to his side to explain his own point of view regarding prayer, Jesus said the following: “Prayer” is an entirely personal and spontaneous expression, it is an honest request for spiritual help that must always be pronounced with genuine “FAITH”, since prayer has the exclusive purpose of expanding the spiritual reception of the soul, also prayer is the food of the soul that leads the sincere believer to persist in his attempt to know the will of the “Heavenly Father”, so by praying with genuine “Faith” you will be able to “move mountains, but mountains of material difficulties which will be presented during your spiritual development”, and while Jesus continued with his dissertation on prayer, his parents appeared before him to complain about his abandonment, Mary giving free rein to her anguish contained by so many days of absence ran to him to say “my son” why are you treating us like this? your father and I have been looking for you for three days, what led you to abandon us? this unexpected interference from his mother forced Jesus to put an end to one of the best opportunities that could have been presented to him to teach his spiritual truth and reveal the loving character that the “Heavenly Father” has for all his children, in addition this fact caused great tension in Jesus since before the reproach of his mother all the eyes of those present turned towards “him” to see what he would respond to his mother, but in the most serious and sublime effort of his young existence he knew how to face the situation responding in the following way: Why have you looked for me for so long? Did you not imagine that I would be in the house of my Heavenly Father? since the time has come for me to take care of the matters that my Father entrusted to me.
At Jesus’s response, everyone was amazed at the young man’s way of speaking, and they all withdrew in silence, leaving him alone with his parents. He immediately settled the situation by saying very gently, “Come on, my parents.” No one did anything they didn’t consider their duty. Let’s go home.
Thus ends the dramatic account of the thirteenth year of Jesus’ life, which sadly demonstrates to us that the generation of religious believers of that time and of subsequent times will continue to be spiritually blind, since they have not been able to fully understand the true spiritual meaning of the teachings that the “Master” bequeathed to humanity through his exemplary mortal life. This total ignorance of the true spiritual message contained in the life and teachings of Jesus has caused men and women of the present time to continue to be spiritually enslaved by the heavy chains of rituals, symbolism, and dogmas that his followers continue to practice. This fact has also caused Christianity to lose strength in the face of other religious tendencies, and in the face of this bleak panorama, it is necessary that the paganized and socialized Christianity of these times not continue to make the mistake of leading modern man into spiritual warfare, with the distorted knowledge that has been accumulating around the life of Jesus for more than two thousand years.
The time has come for courageous men and women to emerge who dare to walk this new path of mortal life that Jesus so marvelously outlined during the course of his earthly life. It is time for humanity to begin to understand the true spiritual significance of the teachings that Jesus is already showing us in his thirteenth year of life.
Let us begin to follow the young “Teacher of Nazareth” and be able to correctly discern the true spiritual significance of his “personal life,” so that we may be better able to fully understand “the teachings of spiritual truth” contained in his incomparable gospel.
The Fourteenth Year of Jesus’ Life: Of all the experiences of Jesus’ earthly life, the fourteenth and fifteenth years of age were the most crucial of his existence, for from the time he began to become conscious of the spiritual mission he was to
accomplish on this planet, and before he could attain a high degree of communication with his indwelling Adjuster, Jesus had to undergo the most crucial test any young human being has ever experienced, from childhood to adolescence. During this two-year period, he had to experience the confusions and adjustment problems caused by his dual nature, “the human and the divine.”
This crucial period in Jesus’ youthful development began at the end of his visit to Jerusalem; as he grew older, his compassion and love for the Jewish people deepened in his heart, but at the same time, a righteous resentment began to form in his mind at the presence of priests in his “Father’s” temple, since they were appointed for political reasons and not for their spiritual or religious qualities. Jesus had great respect for the sincere Pharisees (Jewish believers) and the honest scribes (the priests who interpreted Jewish law), but he rejected the hypocritical Pharisees and dishonest theologians, and he also looked down on all dishonest religious leaders; certainly this position he held regarding the hypocritical and dishonest attitude of the scribes and Pharisees.
Jesus manifested it throughout his adult life and even through the last sermon he gave to his followers inside the temple of his “Heavenly Father” through the following words: Although we should honor our leaders and reverence your religious teachers, you should never call any man FATHER in the spiritual sense, because SPIRITUAL FATHER there is only one and that alone is your HEAVENLY FATHER.
During the course of that year Jesus began to work with canvas and leather and also became a skilled carpenter, that summer he more frequently climbed to the peak that was northwest of Nazareth to meditate and pray, Jesus having a greater dialogue with his thought adjuster through those long periods of meditation already begins to understand the true magnitude of his spiritual mission that had been entrusted to him by his “Heavenly Father”.
During that year, Jesus continued to progress in his advanced reading courses and at the same time he took care of the education of his brothers and sisters. As they grew, his responsibilities also increased. The family’s prospects became brighter and the family’s future looked brighter.
Until unfortunately a fateful day in September arrived in which this happy Nazarene family was informed of the tragic news that Joseph while working in the city of Sepphoris had suffered a serious accident, before such news Jesus wanted to run immediately to his father’s side, but his mother Mary decided that she would go in the company of her son James, while he would stay at home taking care of his younger brothers until she returned, because they did not know how serious Joseph’s condition was, but unfortunately Joseph died before the arrival of Mary and in view of this situation she immediately returned to Nazareth with Joseph’s body to be buried in Nazareth. Faced with this tragic event, the young carpenter who had just turned fourteen years old woke up to a cruel reality, not only would he have to fulfill the mandate of his “Heavenly Father” , but now he had to assume as the firstborn son the heavy responsibility of supporting his mother and his seven brothers and sisters, as well as the one that was yet to be born (Mary was already pregnant when Joseph died), so faced with this tragic event Jesus immediately became the main support of his large family.
This fatal event forced him to assume the heavy family responsibility, but at the same time it also provided him with a high educational and disciplinary teaching, since he automatically became the head of a human family, father of his own brothers, support and support of his mother and the guardian of his house, the only home he would have while he was in this world. Jesus willingly accepted the responsibilities that had so suddenly fallen upon his shoulders, faithfully fulfilling these obligations until he had to leave the family home to devote himself entirely to his public ministry (the proclamation of his gospel). During the winter nights of that year, the family’s neighbors made it a habit to visit them frequently so that Jesus could read to them from the sacred scriptures in Greek and also to listen to the recitals he performed on his harp (Jesus was a magnificent concert player). As for the family’s financial affairs, things were going well up to this point, as they had saved a considerable sum of money before his father’s death.
It didn’t take long for Jesus to demonstrate that he also possessed a keen business sense and great sagacity in financial matters. He also proved to be a prudent and efficient administrator of his father’s estate.
This account of the fourteenth year of Jesus’ life is showing us that despite the fact that part of his nature was of divine origin, Jesus as the “son of man” faced the same difficulties and problems that all evolutionary mortals of the material worlds of time and space go through, and even as the previous account shows us, Jesus from a very early age and throughout the course of his earthly life, had to bear much more responsibilities than we could humanly bear.
Since the fact that he was possessed of a double nature “divine and human”, caused him a greater load of problems, as well as facing much more difficult situations than any mortal who has lived here on earth can face.
It is time we got rid of the misconception that Jesus’ divine origin made him immune to any earthly eventuality, and no longer continue to lightly express that because he was “The Son of God” he could solve and endure any type of problem or difficulty that came his way.
The human Jesus suffered more humiliations and greater suffering than we could ever imagine, but thanks to the authentic “Spiritual Faith” that he professed toward the “Heavenly Father”, he always managed to face with great fortitude and strength the many problems that arose throughout the course of his earthly life. It can even be said that Jesus was not only nailed to the cross on the day of his death, nor were his sufferings limited to his crucifixion; in reality, Jesus of Nazareth spent more than twenty-five years (his personal ministry) nailed to the cross of mortal existence.
So if we are not capable of appreciating and understanding the true meaning of the spiritual mission entrusted to Jesus, we should at least begin to understand how; the human Jesus also accompanied us in this “valley of tears”, through his own personal suffering that we all endure.
The fifteenth year of Jesus’ life: By the middle of that year, Jesus had firmly taken charge of all the family’s affairs. However, as time went by, the family’s savings were dwindling, and he found himself needing to sell one of the houses the family owned in Nazareth to raise funds to support his large family. In April of that year, Ruth, the youngest member of the family, was born. Faced with this, Jesus did everything possible to take on the role of father to his little sister and all of his siblings.
And for almost twenty years, no human father could have loved or raised his daughter the way Jesus did his little sister Ruth; and after his father’s death, while trying to teach his brothers how they should address the “Heavenly Father,” he gave them the “LORD’S PRAYER”, which, by the way, he composed during that crucial year of his earthly life.
Through this prayer, Jesus intended to teach his brothers that prayer should be personal and spontaneous, and not as it was customary to do within Jewish tradition, in a repetitive manner and with prayers learned by heart. In a certain way, what Jesus wanted to teach his brothers was that the way to praise and worship the “Universal Father” should be expressed with emotion and feeling, and in a sincere and simple manner; in the same way that he liked to do it, without any established prayer in between. But unfortunately, his brothers never understood the type of advanced prayer that Jesus practiced, and they invariably fell back into repeating prayers they had learned by heart. Jesus’ intention was to encourage his brothers to express their prayers in a personal and spontaneous way, as well as to teach them the correct way to pray through suggestive words and phrases. But all he achieved was that his brothers used prayers based on what he had suggested. He finally abandoned the idea of each of his brothers spontaneously formulating their prayers, and one October night, while in the family home, by the light of a small lamp, on a cedar tablet measuring fifty centimeters on each side and with a piece of charcoal, Jesus wrote the prayer that from that moment on would be the one his family would normally pray: “The Lord’s Prayer.”
This first prayer that Jesus wrote still survives today.
OUR FATHER
Our Father who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come; thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our bread for tomorrow;
Refresh our soul with the water of life
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors
Save us from temptation, deliver us from evil
And make us as perfect as You ever were.
Years later, when his apostles insistently requested some kind of prayer, Jesus gave them the same prayer he had given his family: the “Our Father.” Over time, when the prayer was copied, two lines were lost.
It is also important to note that Jesus wrote the “OUR FATHER” prayer for his family to pray collectively, as was the custom in Nazareth. Jesus never taught his brothers or his apostles a personal or formal prayer; but only supplications for groups, families, or social gatherings.
When Jesus spent entire nights praying on the mountain, he did so primarily in supplication for his disciples or followers. When Jesus prayed, he did not ask for anything for himself; what Jesus practiced through his personal prayers was communion and worship of his “Heavenly Father.”
During that year, Jesus was tormented by confusing thoughts, since the heavy family responsibilities had temporarily taken away from him any intention of immediately attending to his Father’s business. With good reason, Jesus was aware that at that moment the most important thing was to find a way to financially support his large family, and before the end of the year, Jesus and Mary were already observing how the funds for supporting their family were dwindling. Gradually, Jesus and his family returned to the simple life of their early years; their clothing and food became simpler; however, this fact, for the Jews, did not imply social inferiority.
By that time, Jesus had already gained a greater understanding of how the people of his time lived; he already understood family obligations, farm work, and the way men worked to earn their daily living.
Jesus learned to earn his living by working in his carpentry shop; this situation that Jesus experienced at that stage of his earthly life was fully demonstrated in his later teachings, which so amply revealed his intimate knowledge of all phases of human experience. In his daily life, Jesus never faltered or became discouraged, always faithfully fulfilling the obligations and situations that arose during his life. During that year, the pay of the carpentry workers was slowly decreasing, and at the end of the year, Jesus was forced to work from dawn to dusk for very little wages. It was becoming very difficult for him to pay the taxes demanded of him. The tax collector even attempted to charge him more money than he owed and even threatened Jesus that if he didn’t pay him on time, he would collect his harp. Fearing that the valuable copy of the Greek scriptures he owned would be confiscated, Jesus donated it to the synagogue library, along with his manuscript being delivered to the Temple. Jesus fulfilled his offering of maturity to the Lord, which was, incidentally, required of young Jewish men when they turned fifteen. Upon turning fifteen, Jesus could officially occupy the synagogue pulpit during Sabbath ceremonies. Consequently, on the first Sabbath after his twenty-fifth birthday, the chazzan arranged for Jesus to lead the synagogue’s morning services. During that year, Jesus, due to his heavy work in the carpentry shop, found it impossible to continue spending time with the caravan travelers. He chose to send his brother James to the caravan stop so that he could be informed about world events through him.
For some time, this was how Jesus stayed informed about what was happening around the world. As he entered adulthood, he had to go through the conflicts and confusions typical of every adolescent. However, the strict discipline imposed by the responsibility of being the primary provider for his family provided him with a secure safeguard against any internal emotional conflict that might arise.
Thus, upon reaching fifteen years of age, Jesus concluded the dangerous and difficult journey of that intermediate period of human life, that carefree and complacent stage that arises from the passage from childhood to the notion of the advent of adulthood with its attendant load of responsibilities.
These responsibilities would provide him with the opportunity to acquire the experience necessary for the development of a noble and strong character. Throughout his fifteenth year, Jesus had already completed his mental and physical growth; now, the young Nazarene was ready to begin his exceptional career of “human perfection.”
As can be seen; In this summary of the first fifteen years of his earthly life, whose narrative is found in part four of The Urantia Book UB 120:0.1-UB 126:5.12, the mortal Jesus is showing us that notwithstanding his divine nature, he was never exonerated from the difficult human life and contrary to what most of us think that “because he was the son of God” he remained immune to human suffering and pain, we have not noticed that his dual nature “human and divine” caused him a greater load of problems, difficulties and more responsibilities than any evolutionary mortal of the inhabited worlds of a universe could have.
As has been demonstrated in this account; From an early age, Jesus has almost successfully faced all phases of mortal life, but it is important to highlight that this formidable physical and mental state that he has managed to develop throughout his young life was the product of the joint work of his evolving mortal mind and his thought adjuster, that divine spirit of the “Universal Father” that resides in each of his evolving mortal children.
From his early years of life (approximately six years of age) Jesus was always aware that there existed within his mortal mind a “divine fragment” of his Heavenly Father. This state of consciousness allowed him to establish a more direct contact with his resident adjuster through the “personal prayer” that he performed, in which he asked his “Heavenly Father” for the wisdom and intelligence that would allow him to decisively and strongly face all the challenges that were being presented to him in his short earthly life. At this point, it is important to note that in all his prayers directed to the Father, the only thing Jesus asked for himself and his fellow men were heavenly blessings and not material things. Therefore, upon seeing that his brothers practiced a primitive and impersonal prayer, he attempted to teach them, through suggestive words and verbal meanings, the true spiritual value of prayer. The type of prayer practiced by his brothers contributed nothing to their spiritual growth.
Thus, it is of utmost importance that we learn the teaching that Jesus is leaving us on how to pray and no longer continue to make the mistake of addressing GOD in prayer, doing so through prayers repeated by heart or requesting material things. It is time to put aside this type of primitive prayer that we practice and begin to pray sincerely, spontaneously, and through our own personal prayers, the only ones that will truly provide us with a more real and direct communication with that divine fragment of the “Father” that resides within us (the thought adjuster).
So then; let us begin to pray the same type of prayer that Jesus practiced (his personal prayer), and through our personal prayers let us ask the “Universal Father” for heavenly things for ourselves and for all our fellow men, the only prayer that will truly allow us to venerate and adore GOD. This type of evolved prayer will contribute to our truly developing a true spiritual and religious state.
¶ “THE ADOLESCENT YEARS”
The Sixteenth Year of Jesus’ Life: His infancy and childhood passed without any extraordinary experiences; he reached adolescence after going through a painful period of transition (the loss of his earthly father). At the beginning of this crucial stage of his young existence, Jesus was already the sole support of his large family.
No teenager who has lived in this or other inhabited worlds has had or will ever have such difficult problems and complicated situations to resolve, no young person on Earth will ever be able to go through the conflicts, anxieties and hard tests that he had to go through during the arduous years of his adolescence, but despite the complexity of the situation and as time went by Jesus was becoming aware of his divine and creative preexistence (that of a paradisiacal creator son).
Jesus was increasingly convinced that his presence on Earth responded to the implicit purpose of revealing to men the existence of a loving Father who loved all men equally, whether they were of any race or religion and not as the Jewish religion had been presenting it, that of a punishing GOD who unleashed his wrath on the misfortunes of his children.
Having gained the actual experience of living out his teenage years (between the ages of 16 and 20) in a confusing and turbulent world, the Son of Man came to possess more complete knowledge and more human experience than any adolescent on any world and in any age of a local universe could possess.
This “divine Paradise Creator Son,” incarnated in the human form of “Jesus of Nazareth,” slowly and with certainty, through human living, is gaining the full right to become the ruler of the universe of his creation, the supreme ruler of all created intelligences on all the worlds comprising the universe of Nebadon. Before proceeding with the account of “the human nature of Jesus,” and for a better understanding of what has been written above, it is necessary that we begin to learn about the unique divine nature of Jesus of Nazareth and “Christ Michael,” the creator of a local universe.
Thus let us begin this unknown and extraordinary account of the divine origin of the most religious and spiritual mortal man who has ever existed on the material worlds of the universe of Nebadon.
The “Paradise creator sons” of the order of the Michals, fully authorized by the UNIVERSAL FATHER, are the designers, builders, administrators, and rulers of their respective creations, “the local universes of time and space.” UB 21:1.2-10
The MICHAELS are the creators of the material worlds of a local universe (ten million habitable planets) UB 15:2.6, of which at the time of this revelation (The Urantia Book), there was already a record of 3,840,101 inhabited planets in the universe of Nebadon UB 32:2.9.
Our planet called “URANTIA” according to the universe records, belongs to the local universe of Nebadon, whose capital city called “Salvington” is the local universe headquarters UB 32:0.1.
Urantia belongs to an innumerable and infinite creation of inhabited worlds eternally orbiting the Universal Father’s abode, the eternal isle of Paradise,” which is the center of all creation and the place of origin of the principal divine deities. UB 11:0.1
When the Paradise Creator Son “Michael of Nebadon” has spatially located the site of his universe creation, when the physical materialization of the spirit, morontia, and material levels of his local universe has been completed, and when his universe is in complete equilibrium, “Michael,” in conjunction with the local universe “Mother Spirit” (the divine minister), give life to millions upon millions of intelligent creatures who will house the three levels (spirit, morontia, and material) of their local creation. UB 33:0.1-5, UB 33:2.1-5, UB 33:3.1-5.
The Sons of GOD who have their origin within the universe of Nebadon and who are of spiritual status are classified as “descending Sons of GOD” UB 35:0.1,
The Sons of GOD who are of material status are classified as “ascending Sons of GOD” UB 40:0.1
“The descending Sons of GOD” are constituted according to the following orders of affiliation:
1. The MELCHIZEDEK Sons
2. The VORONDADEK Sons
3. The LANONANDEK Sons **
4. The LIFE CARRIER Sons**
5. The MATERIAL Sons
6. The SERAPHIC HOSTS
The order of intelligent creatures of animal origin, “the evolutionary mortals of time and space,” represents the last link in the chain of “the sons of GOD,” who originate within a local universe; they are considered "ASCENDING SONS OF GOD.
“ ”Michael of Nebadon“ is as wise, perfect, loving, and merciful as the ”Universal Father.“ And because of his divine origin, he can at any time claim full sovereignty over the universe of his creation, but he wisely chooses not to do so without first experiencing the same kind of life as the creatures who inhabit the three levels of his creation (spiritual, morontial, and material); thus, ”Michael of Nebadon" decides to bestow himself seven times in the likeness of the intelligent beings who were created by him.
This career of “seven bestowals” is the supreme goal to which all “Paradise creator sons” can aspire, since through these bestowals they will be able to acquire the personal experience of living in the same way as the “sons of GOD” (descendants and ascendants) within the environment in which they develop and operate.
Since only in this way will the “Paradise Creator sons” be able to fulfill the solemn oath they made to the Trinity on Paradise: which is to assume full and absolute sovereignty in the direction of the universe of their creation, until they have successfully completed their seven bestowals. UB 21:3.3
The seven bestowals of “Michael of Nebadon” were as follows:
1.-FIRST BESTOWAL: As a “Melchizedek son”; who are also known as the “sons of urgency”; since their main mission is to act in all planetary emergencies or crises that arise on the worlds of a local universe and are inhabited by evolutionary mortal creatures. The Melchizedek into whom MICHAEL bestowed himself faithfully performed all the missions entrusted to him during the 100 years of his bestowal as a Melchizedek son. UB 35:1.2-8, UB 119:1.1-6,
2.-SECOND BESTOWAL: As a “Lalonandek son”, the members of this order act as system rulers and as the administrative heads of a planet (planetary princes). The Lalonandek upon whom Michael bestowed himself was appointed acting governor of system No. 2, which was in a state of confusion and turmoil, but this acting ruler wisely solved all the problems of that system, and he was the noblest ruler that ever existed within all the systems of the local universe of Nebadon. UB 35:8.1, UB 119:1.4, UB 119:2.1-6
3.-THIRD BESTOWAL: On this occasion MICHAEL bestowed himself as “a material son” (planetary Adams) and was assigned to planet 217, which is located within system 87 where he assumed the function of acting planetary prince, this planet was outside the order of the universe procession, reason why it was isolated from the direct transmissions of the local universe, on this planet the material son was working for an entire generation of planetary time, period in which he managed to reestablish the order of that wayward planet, fact that allowed planet 217 be reinstated back into the universe order governing the universe of Nebadon. UB 40:2.1, UB 119:3.1-8
4.- FOURTH BESTOWAL: For this mission, MICHAEL bestowed himself as a “Supreme Seraphim”, belonging to the seraphic hosts of the universe of Nebadon. Because of his extensive knowledge of the local universe, this Supreme Seraphim was assigned to the seraphic corps of teaching advisers, a position he held for a period of 40 years. During this time he served as a seraphic teaching adviser and was assigned as adviser to 26 different teachers, who functioned on 26 different worlds.
And in view of the magnificent performance of this exalted seraphim, all the seraphim of this order are frequently called upon as advisors to the various personalities who operate on the diverse worlds of Nebadon.
It is important to note that as “Michael of Nebadon” carried out this successive series of bestowals, he was coming ever closer to experiencing the three stages that comprise the ascending career of evolutionary mortals of time and space:
- MATERIAL STAGE
- MORONTIA STAGE
- SPIRITUAL STAGE
5.- FIFTH BESTOWAL: Unlike his four previous bestowals in the form of “descending sons of GOD” (Melchizedek, Lalonandek, Material Son, and Supreme Seraphim), “Michael” chooses to bestow himself in the form of an “ascending son of GOD”; that is, in the form of an “evolutionary mortal” of time and space who has achieved immortal survival. (Spiritual Stage)
For a better understanding of this bestowal and the remaining two that are missing, it is important to know the definition of the words “time” and “space.” These are the concepts that we will use to qualify those two words:
1.- TIME: The dictionary defines it as follows; The length of a person’s life, the measure of a person’s birth and death. Unfortunately, this is a simplistic definition of a finite mind that is unable to discern the existence of other levels of universal reality.
2.- SPACE: The dictionary defines it as an infinite extension that contains all that exists, or it also defines it as part of an extension that occupies each body, another simplistic definition.
It is time for us to put aside these short-sighted definitions and define time and space through our “cosmic mind,” that wonderful “gift” that the Universal Father has granted us. UB 16:6.2-3, UB 16:7.6, UB 56:2.3, UB 111:1.5
1.- TIME. “It is the motionless image of eternity”; that is, eternity has always been within the reach of the true “sons of GOD” who decide to fulfill HIS will to “BE PERFECT AS GOD IS PERFECT”.
2.- SPACE: “It is the fleeting shadow of Paradise”; that is, it is the distance that separates us from paradise, that unknown spiritual journey that evolutionary mortals who have achieved mortal survival after death must travel, and who through a glorious ascending career will be able to reach the divine realities of Paradise.
In space there are three levels of universal reality; within which evolutionary mortals must carry out their ascending career:
-
- SPIRITUAL LEVEL.- This level encompasses “the spiritual realm of the Universal Father”.
-
- MATERIAL LEVEL.- The Arena (planets) in which the evolutionary creatures begin their ascending mortal career.
Let us continue with the narrative of the fifth bestowal; The ascending mortal upon whom Michael bestowed himself is that of an evolutionary mortal from the material worlds of time and space who has attained the achievement of immortal survival and has begun his ascending career, managing to reach Uversa, the headquarters of the seventh superuniverse called Orvoton, where the local universe of Nebadon is located. This remarkable surviving mortal was possessed of a marvelous personality in exact likeness to the spirit stage of ascending mortals. This particular pilgrim of time and space lived and functioned on Uversa for a period of eleven years of universe standard time, thereafter continuing his ascending mortal career to Paradise in search of the Universal Father.
This ascending mortal performed his assignments with great skill, always fulfilling all the duties and obligations required of surviving mortals who come from the various local universes comprising the
superuniverse of Orvoton. With his fifth bestowal, “MICHAEL” lived through the third stage (spiritual stage) through which evolutionary mortals in the universe of Nebadon must pass. Pages 1314, 1315
SIXTH BESTOWAL: In his penultimate bestowal action, MICHAEL chooses to manifest as an ascending “morontia mortal” (second stage); that is, a mortal who has managed to survive after death and has left behind the body of flesh and blood that accompanied him during his material stage.
Before continuing with this bestowal, the following explanation is necessary: the divine creators cannot transform a creature of animal origin (mortal creatures) into a beautiful, perfected spirit in a single act of creative magic, since when the creators desire to produce perfect creatures, they do so in a direct and original manner.
They never undertake the conversion of creatures of animal, material origin into beings of spiritual perfection in a single step.
The “morontia life,” as it extends through the different stages of the “ascending morontia career,” will be the only possible path through which the surviving mortals of the universe of Nebadon must travel in order to reach the threshold of the spiritual world. UB 48:0.1, the morontia spheres are true schools of transition in which the surviving mortals will begin to eradicate the multiple animal vestiges that they developed during the course of their life in the flesh, since on those worlds of spiritual ascension they will never find anything that resembles the intolerant and absurd human behavior practiced by the mortal creatures of earth.
This “Morontia Career” (which should be initiated here and now) will offer the mortal creature the opportunity for gradual learning that will allow him to actively participate in each step of the universe spiritual ascension, which goes from Animal to angel, from angel to spirit, and from spirit to GOD, a privilege reserved only for creatures of animal origin. UB 48:8.3.
With this sixth bestowal, MICHAEL has completed the experience of living the second stage (morontia stage) of the ascending career of a surviving mortal who has arrived from one of the material worlds of the universe of Nebadon. UB 119:6.1-6.
SEVENTH BESTOWAL: In his final bestowal, “MICHAEL,” the creator and ruler of a universe, decides to incarnate in the human form of an evolving mortal creature, the lowest order of his intelligent creatures. “Christ Michael” the Paradise Creator Son, the ruler of a local universe, the creator of ten million worlds UB 119:8.8, in his last bestowal decides to carry out the most precarious and dangerous mission of his triumphant bestowal career by choosing to incarnate on “Urantia” one of the most confused and disordered planets in the universe of Nebadon, with this decision “Michael” grants the planet “Earth” the great privilege of being the home of the “son of man” Jesus of Nazareth.
MICHAEL, unlike his other six bestowals, in which he takes the form of fully developed beings, in his seventh bestowal he does not appear in the form of an adult creature, but in the form of a helpless baby, a Jewish baby who was born in Nazareth, a town in Galilee, and to whom his Father Joseph and his Mother Mary was named Joshua Ben Joseph (Jesus of Nazareth). UB 119:7.6
By this final bestowal, MICHAEL is about to fully fulfill the divine mandate required of him by the “Universal Father” to be recognized as the supreme ruler of the universe of his own creation. UB 119:8.1, UB 120:1.2, it took “Michael” nearly a billion years of Urantia time UB 119:8.3, to successfully complete his seven bestowals, thereby enabling him to claim full sovereignty over “the local universe of Nebadon” UB 21:3.3
Our troubled little planet from this time on became recognized throughout Nebadon as the arena in which the universe sovereign “Michael of Nebadon” completed the mandate required of every “Paradise Creator Son.”
“Christ Michael” thus stood the absolute head of Nebadon. And from that time on, our planet “Urantia” is the spiritual temple of all Nebadon, chief among millions of inhabited planets.
The mortal home of “Christ Michael”, the sovereign of Nebadon, and who during his “bestowal career” was: a Melchizedek to the realms, a system savior, an Adamic liberator, a supreme seraphim, a spiritual ascendant mortal, a morontia ascendant mortal, and an evolutionary mortal “Jesus of Nazareth.” pp. 1318.2, 1319.1
So this is a very brief account “of the origin and divine nature” of Jesus of Nazareth, “the son of GOD,” the “son of man.” It is important to note that through this narrative several teachings can be obtained, which can be correctly discerned if we make use of our cosmic mind and that divine fragment of the “Father” that resides within us, and that faithfully accompanies us and guides us along the spiritual path that we must travel. These teachings are:
1.- We evolutionary mortals who inhabit the material worlds of the universe of Nebadon are not of divine origin as we mistakenly believe, or as some religions and esoteric or mystical tendencies proclaim.
Our nature is of animal origin and was given through the biological evolution of the species, the intelligent creatures that inhabit the evolutionary worlds of time and space are of mortal nature, not divine nature. But we must not lose sight of the fact that this organic evolution that occurs through the animal kingdom is part of a perfect and immense divine plan in which the mortal races of time and space occupy an important place within the eternal and divine purpose of the “Universal Father”.
But regardless of the fact that we as evolving mortals belong to the lowest order of intelligent and personal creation, we are all alike “Divinely loved by the Universal Father”.
The only mortal man of divine nature who has ever existed within the millions of inhabited worlds of the universe of Nebadon has been “Jesus of Nazareth”
2.- It is time to rid ourselves of the naive belief that by practicing righteous behavior, living a life of religious devotion, or an altruistic attitude toward our fellow men, we will achieve heaven after death to be with GOD.
There could not be a religious belief further from the truth, since the “Universal Father” demands ultimate perfection from all of his spiritual and material creatures alike in each and every one of their acts, just as he demanded from his “divine and perfect Creator Son” Michael of Nebadon when he commanded him to develop a greater perfection than he already possessed through a triumphant bestowal career. And just as the “Father” demands ultimate perfection from the highest “divine personalities”, he also demands perfection from his “mortal creatures” in each and every one of their acts, and not merely good works or exemplary devotional actions.
“The Universal Father” demands greater perfection from his mortal children through living the same life of “human perfection” that Jesus of Nazareth so generously showed to humanity. This life of human perfection is the only possible path by which evolving mortals of the universe of Nebadon can attain the achievement of immortal soul survival. Is it not true that we still have much, much work to do? In order to achieve heaven after death,
3.- With the aid of our thought adjuster and through our cosmic mind, let us be receptive to the teaching that “Christ Michael” is leaving us with his sixth bestowal, in which he chooses to take the form of an “ascending morontia mortal”, which corresponds to the second stage of the ascending career of a mortal who “managed to be resurrected morontially on the third day after his death”.
This morontia resurrection of mortal creatures who manage to survive after death is a real fact and not imaginary, since the resurrection of Jesus was a true act of morontia resurrection. That act in which the true and authentic “Sons of God by Faith” will arise on the morning of the resurrection with the same type of morontia body that Jesus possessed when he arose from his tomb on the third day after his death. UB 189:0.2, UB 189:1.2-5, UB 189:1.11-13
That is why Jesus, when preaching his gospel, always proclaimed “FOLLOW ME,” I am the way that will lead you to eternal life. Let us fulfill the mandate that Jesus demands of his followers to live a life of human perfection! just as he lived it during his life in the flesh. And just as the Universal Father demands ultimate perfection from his “divine creator children” in each of their acts, so too does “Christ Jesus” demand that his believers follow him on this path of human perfection.
So that the evolving mortals of the universe of Nebadon may be qualified to pass on to the second “morontia” stage, the beginning of that glorious ascending career which awaits those mortals who attain the attainment of mortal survival.
Who among us will dare to follow the “Mortal Jesus” through that morontia career which awaits the true “Sons of GOD by Faith.”
Let us continue with the narrative of Jesus’ sixteenth year of mortal life. In that year, he reached his full physical development. He had already become a handsome and strong young man, serious and reserved, but at the same time compassionate and kind. He possessed a sweet but inquisitive look; his voice was melodious and strong at the same time; his greeting was cordial but not affectionate. He always conveyed that combination of a cordial friend and an authoritarian teacher. His smile was always friendly and comforting. During this time, he also acquired the full development of his human intellect. However, he still lacked the complete experience of knowing human thought.
That is, knowing the thoughts and feelings, the desires and impulses of the mortals who lived in his time. At the age of twenty-nine, after developing more effective methods of personal communication with his Adjuster, Jesus already knew the full range of human emotions.
The seventeenth year of Jesus’ life: At that time in Nazareth there was great political unrest among the population, as a strong nationalist party called “the Zealots” was forming, who were against the payment of taxes by the Jews to the Roman Empire. The Zealots, unlike the Pharisees, were not willing to wait for the arrival of the Messiah who would save them from the Roman yoke; they proposed to resolve the situation through a political revolt. A group of leaders arrived from Jerusalem to Nazareth to organize the young Nazarenes to form the nationalist party. When they presented themselves to Jesus for him to join, he listened to them attentively and asked them many questions, but refused to join the party. This refusal had a notable influence on many of his young friends who also did not want to join the nationalist movement. One of Jesus’s uncles (Simon, Mary’s brother) had already joined the party, a situation that led to a strong estrangement between them, which, by the way, lasted for several years.
Jesus’ refusal caused real turmoil among the young people of Nazareth, as half of them joined the nationalist party and the other half formed a more moderate opposition group with the idea that Jesus would assume leadership of this new group, but everyone was astonished to see that he rejected the honor offered to him arguing that his heavy family obligations prevented him from doing so; but his situation became difficult, since a rich Jew named Isaac proposed that he would support his family if he abandoned his job as a carpenter and assumed leadership of these young Jewish patriots; Faced with this fact, Jesus had to face one of the most compromising situations of his young existence, since at that time all he thought about was how he should carry out the spiritual mission entrusted to him and his position became even more complicated; Since his mother, his uncle and his younger brother James were pressuring him to take over the leadership of the nationalist party, the Zealots, the young people who didn’t join were waiting for Jesus to join so they could do so too, but in the face of his silence, his family was disturbed, his young friends were divided, in short, all of Nazareth was engulfed in great turmoil.
Jesus never imagined that his refusal to take over the leadership of this patriotic cause would create so many problems, much less the unrest that was being generated; and in this situation, he too saw his spiritual fidelity to his “Heavenly Father” pitted against his nationalistic loyalty to the Jewish people, but Jesus courageously, decisively, and with great diplomacy, stuck to the terms of his initial argument, declaring again that his first duty was to his widowed mother and to his brothers and sisters, arguing that they needed more than money could provide, since his family also had the right to the loving care and support of a father, and reiterating that loyalty to his dead father prevented him from abandoning his family even if money was donated for their support. Throughout Nazareth it was well known that Jesus acted as an exemplary family man, and since the Jewish people were so attached to such noble paternal sentiments, they positively accepted his arguments and left him in peace. Jesus had overcome the crisis for the time being, but that incident was never forgotten in Nazareth; He no longer enjoyed the favor of some Jews, and this difference of opinion was never completely overcome.
This fact, combined with other factors, was one of the main reasons why Jesus decided to move to Capernaum years later.
Through the events that occurred in the sixteenth year of his life, we can realize that from a very young age, Jesus began to experience the painful rejection of his people for the beliefs he professed. From that moment on, Jesus began to carry “the heavy cross of mortal existence.” UB 188:4.1-9, UB 188:5.1-13 It
is also important to point out the true reason why Jesus did not accept the proposal made by his relatives and friends to lead that nationalist party, was for the following: CHRIST MICHAEL, when making his last bestowal in the likeness of mortal flesh as “Jesus of Nazareth,” by divine mandate, had to subject himself to certain limitations during the course of his earthly life. pp. 1327, 1328, 1329. These limitations were:
1.- Jesus was prevented from participating in some of the political and economic structures that might exist at that time, he only had to prepare himself personally (his personal ministry) to fulfill his spiritual mission entrusted to him (his public ministry) as “Teacher of Truth”, as well as to reveal to all humanity the filiation that the “Universal Father” has with his mortal children.
2.- Under no circumstances could Jesus formally establish any religious cult since his “exemplary personal life” and his teachings of spiritual truth, should be a universal legacy for all religions that already existed at that time, and for all the peoples of the earth.
Jesus, instead of being prevented from creating any particular type of religion through this limitation, came to teach men a new type of personal and individual religion, the same one that he professed during his time on the planet “that of fulfilling the supreme mandate of perfection that GOD demands of all his children.” Jesus also prohibited his disciples from founding any type of religious cult, but unfortunately his apostles and the religious leaders who preceded them, did not comply with his mandate and created the Christian religion.
3.- Jesus was strictly forbidden to leave writings on any type of lasting or permanent material, he was not to leave any written document. That is why he had the habit of teaching his apostles through parables and symbols, none of the teachings he imparted to his apostles were left in writing, Jesus intended that they also teach through parables and symbols, he did not want his apostles to give his teachings precise interpretations and defined meanings. With that type of teachings Jesus what he sought was to free the souls of men, which were enslaved by the dead chains of formalism, of the ceremonies and of the dogmas professed by the ancient religions of the world, Jesus did not want to destroy the spiritual capacity that each person has to communicate with the spirit of the “Father” that dwells in him, nor did he want to limit the spiritual imagination of the believer.
During the proclamation of his gospel, Jesus made great efforts to suggest “the spiritual meanings” contained in his teachings; he never resorted to precise definitions or any written formulas. But unfortunately, his disciples and followers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, and Paul) did not understand this, and after their master’s death, they dedicated themselves to writing the so-called gospels. These gospels, by the way, continue to keep the mind of modern man enslaved through the dogmas, rituals, and ceremonies established more than two millennia ago by the leaders of Christianity, just as their predecessors have done for two thousand years.
4.- Despite living a simple, ordinary life and being a normal male, Jesus was prevented from marrying, since the supreme mandate of the “trinity” prohibits a “Creator Son” of divine origin (Christ Michael) from leaving human descendants on the planet of his final bestowal.
It’s time we began to banish those ridiculous and absurd theories that some scholars of “the life of Jesus” have formulated without any solid foundation. Ignorant theories such as whether Mary Magdalene was his partner, whether he had offspring, etc. These are merely urban legends that distort the true mortal personality of Jesus of Nazareth. This was a brief account of the limitations imposed on “Christ Michael.” UB 120:2.1-9, UB 120:3.1-12
The eighteenth year of Jesus’ life: In that year, following the family’s critical economic situation, Jesus and his mother found themselves forced to sell the last of their remaining properties, except for the house they lived in and their garden. The profits from the sale would be used to pay the taxes owed, to buy work tools for his brother James, and to make an advance payment to repurchase the repair shop located near the caravan route, which they had previously sold. Jesus had decided to buy back the shop so that his brother James could help him with the carpentry work, and in this way, with the work of both of them, the financial crisis the family was going through would be alleviated.
When Jesus saw that James had already reached the age to present himself as a son of Israel, he decided to take him to Jerusalem to participate in the Passover celebration, just as his parents had done with him a few years before. So one morning they left for Jerusalem. During their journey, they both talked about the future that awaited Jesus. James longed to reach the age necessary to take care of the family and thus allow his older brother to begin the mission that had been entrusted to him. Upon arriving in Jerusalem, Jesus spoke to his brother about the cruel animal sacrifices carried out by the temple priests. He mentioned this so that he would be prepared to witness such a bloody spectacle.
But James turned out not to be as sensitive to such a savage ceremony as Jesus had been and only made a few comments about the indifferent and cold way in which some priests carried out their rituals, but in general James greatly enjoyed his stay in Jerusalem, and on the last day of his stay they attended the temple services so that he could be presented as a son of Israel, and after the ceremony they could leave for Nazareth, but James insisted on remaining in the temple halls explaining to Jesus that he wanted to listen to the teachers, but deep down what he longed for was to witness his brother’s participation in the debates and both remained in the enclosure to listen to them, but Jesus did not ask any questions since everything they debated there was so simple and insignificant and of great spiritual poverty. James suffered great disappointment by his brother’s silence and asked him why he had not participated in the temple debates; to which Jesus replied “my hour has not yet come”.
And both brothers began their return to Nazareth. Upon his return, Jesus began working in the old carpentry shop where the caravans passed through, a place that would once again allow him to engage in conversation with travelers from all the surrounding countries. Jesus was very happy with this fact, since he wholeheartedly loved the simple people who passed through there, and when he was not working in the workshop, he participated in the religious celebrations of the synagogue. Around that time, the chazan inaugurated a youth club for the study of philosophical topics, and meetings were held in the homes of the various club members. Through his interventions, Jesus became a distinguished member of that group. This fact allowed him to regain some of the prestige he had lost during the recent political unrest that had occurred in Nazareth.
During the month of December of that same year, the family again experienced the tragedy of losing one of its members. Amos, her younger brother, died of a fever that kept him bedridden for over a week. During this painful period, Mary’s firstborn son was her only support and consolation. That same month, due to funeral expenses, this Nazarene family was already feeling the onslaught of increased poverty; which almost left them bankrupt, but Jesus, with great fortitude and optimism, encouraged his family by telling them that better times would come.
Jesus possessed the rare ability to effectively mobilize the powers of his mind, soul, and body to resolve the problems that arose. This mobilization of his attributes and his tireless patience allowed him to serenely endure all the trials of his difficult and eventful mortal existence.
The nineteenth year of Jesus’ life: At the beginning of this year Jesus convinced his mother to apply his own teaching method to his brothers and sisters, which consisted of encouraging and highlighting in a positive way the doing of “good” and not as the Jewish method of prohibiting “evil” taught, from a very young age Jesus always used the form of positive exhortation for his brothers and his peers, everywhere he used to say “you will do this, you must do that”, he never used the negative method of teaching, that is “you will not do this, you must not do that”, Jesus always avoided accentuating evil through his prohibition, he always exalted the importance of good over evil.
From an early age Jesus wisely disciplined his brothers with this positive method, he never had need to resort to any negative exhortation for his brothers to obey him.
Although Jesus was highly methodical and systematic in everything he did, his decisions showed great flexibility in interpretation and individuality of adaptation, which aroused great admiration among his brothers for the spirit of justice with which their “father-brother” acted, and as time went by Jesus was gradually modifying the Jewish practices that his family carried out in relation to the observance of the Sabbath and other religious aspects, Mary positively approved of all those changes implemented by her eldest son.
Despite the poverty in which this Nazarene family lived, their social level had not suffered any discredit, Jesus was one of the most outstanding young men in the city, almost all the maidens saw him with respect, since despite being an attractive young man, possessing a good physique and great intellectual development, they already considered him a great spiritual leader, for this reason it is not surprising that a young woman named Rebecca, the eldest daughter of Edras, a rich merchant from Nazareth, was in love with him. Rebekah confided her feelings to her friend Miriam, Jesus’ older sister, who in turn shared the news with her mother Mary, who was deeply alarmed by the news.
Mary immediately thought she was going to lose her son, at the very moment when he had become the indispensable head of the family, and she also meditated on the possible effect that this relationship could have on her son’s future spiritual career. After discussing the matter with her daughter Miriam, and before Jesus was informed of Rebekah’s intentions, Mary decided to speak directly to her to tell her that her son, by divine design, was “the son of promise”, the promised Messiah, and she also told her about the spiritual mission that her eldest son had been entrusted with. But Rebecca, upon hearing the news, mistakenly interpreted Mary’s anguish as the natural reaction of a mother who fears losing the “main financial support of the family,” and with the news that Mary gave her, Rebecca became even more determined to marry Jesus, arguing that a man of such a special nature needed even more a faithful and self-sacrificing wife.
That she would support and follow him throughout his spiritual career, and knowing that her family would approve of such a marriage, she proposed to her father that he grant Jesus’ family enough income to more than compensate for the loss of any income he might have received from his work in the carpentry shop. Rebekah spoke again with Mary and Miriam to propose her father’s generous offer, but when she saw that she couldn’t get their support, she decided to propose it personally to Jesus, and so she did, and with her father’s cooperation, she invited him to her home for the celebration of his seventeenth birthday. Jesus, while at Rebekah’s house, compassionately listened to the expression of this noble feeling that Rebekah cherished for him, and after hearing the proposal of marriage from her and later from her father, very gently replied to both that no sum of money could purchase his personal obligation to his family, nor would there be any human power that could prevent him from fulfilling the spiritual mission that his Father in heaven had entrusted to him. Rebekah’s father, moved by the words with which Jesus expressed his family and religious devotion, addressed his wife with the following phrase: “We cannot have him as a son; he is too noble for us.”
Thus ends this extraordinary event in the life of Jesus. Up to that moment, he had shown no preference for any maiden of Nazareth. His mind was so occupied with the problems of the earthly affairs of his family and his future spiritual career that he had never seriously considered marrying. As the years went by, Rebekah never gave a positive response to the marriage proposals that many men made to her. Since Jesus refused to marry her, she lived with the sole purpose of waiting for the hour when he would begin his life of preaching so that she could accompany him. During the extraordinary years of his public life, Jesus never noticed Rebekah’s presence, but she devotedly and discreetly always accompanied him during all the years he preached his teachings of spiritual truth, since for her, Jesus represented living proof of “the sublime love” that can be found in any mortal. Even Rebekah accompanied Mary on that tragic afternoon when Jesus was crucified.
Through this story, we can observe that Christianity, since its beginnings, has not been able to grasp the essence of the Master’s teachings, especially in terms of emphasizing positive exhortation.
Instead of the negativity that has always been used “don’t do this or don’t do that”, one example is enough:
If you don’t confess, you can’t take communion
If you don’t get married in church, you live in sin
If you didn’t get baptized, you can’t take your first communion
If you don’t go to church, you are not a good Christian
If you don’t behave well, GOD will judge you for your actions
And so we can continue with a series of negative exhortations that have been imposed on believers of Christianity for more than two thousand years, instead of the positive exhortations that the young Jesus is teaching us through the teaching methods he used first with his brothers and then with his disciples and followers.
The twentieth year of the life of Jesus: At that time although Jesus had little money he felt a strange desire to go to Jerusalem at the time of Passover, his mother thinking about what had recently happened with Rebecca supported him to make that trip; but in reality what Jesus wanted was to visit Simon’s family in Bethany (a town located on the outskirts of Jerusalem) where he stayed with his parents when they made their first trip to Jerusalem, the same place where he stayed for several days when his parents left him alone in the temple, it should be noted that after his family, these were the people he loved the most. Upon arriving in Jerusalem, Jesus did not enter the temple and only stopped for a few minutes to observe it, feeling at that moment a strange and growing aversion for that place and for the priests who officiated there. And he continued his journey to Bethany and longed to reach the home of his friends to talk with them, upon arrival he learned that Simon, the father of that family, and his wife had died some time ago, and the one who was now in charge of the family was his young friend Lazarus, the only son of the family, who by the way was the same age as Jesus, there was also Martha who was a year older and Mary who was a year younger than him.
For these three Jewish brothers, Jesus was the perfect ideal of what a true believer in the Kingdom of God should be like.
Lazarus, unaware that Jesus would be coming to his home, had arranged to celebrate Passover with some friends who lived in a neighboring village, but after his surprise arrival, he decided to celebrate Passover at his house, telling him that at that moment he did not have the lamb for the Passover celebration, and Jesus intelligently took advantage of this circumstance to give a long and convincing dissertation to demonstrate to these devout brothers that the “Heavenly Father” did not attach any importance to certain rituals so childish and devoid of any spiritual meaning.
After saying a solemn and fervent prayer, Jesus stood up and said the following: “Let the ignorant and darkened minds of my people” serve their God as Moses commanded; it is better that they do so. But we who have seen the light that gives eternal life, let us not direct our supplications through the obscurantism that my people profess, and let us be free in the knowledge of the spiritual truth that the “Father” so lovingly offers to his true spiritual children.
At the hour of twilight, these four pious Jews sat down at the table to “celebrate for the first time the Passover meal without the lamb”. Jesus prepared to serve those brothers “unleavened bread” and “the cup of wine” as symbols, calling these “the Bread of Life” and “the Water of Life”. From then on, and every time he visited his friends in Bethany, Jesus established the custom of starting the Passover meal with wine and bread, just as he would continue to do throughout his life and until the last Passover meal he celebrated with his apostles.
When Jesus returned to Nazareth, he told the story to his mother Mary, who, upon hearing her son’s story, worried that her son would implement the same ceremony in their home, but he assured her that he did not intend to introduce this new Passover ceremony into the family and they continued celebrating the Passover according to “the law of Moses.” During that time, Mary had a long conversation with her son about marriage, to see if he would consider the idea of getting married since he no longer had family obligations. Jesus explained to his mother that once he finished fulfilling his family responsibilities, he did not plan to get married, since he was waiting for the right moment to begin the mission that his “Heavenly Father” had entrusted to him.
During that year his brother Joseph graduated from synagogue school and prepared to begin work in the small carpentry shop they had in the house. The prospects for escaping poverty had improved considerably, since now there would be three people working regularly to support the family.
During the course of that year, Jesus was quickly becoming a grown man. He had already learned to satisfactorily fulfill his obligations, to overcome disappointments and not to be intimidated when his plans were frustrated. He now knew how to be fair and equitable in the face of injustice.
He was already learning to adjust his ideals of the spiritual life to the demands of earth existence; he was also developing the art of adjusting his spiritual aspirations to the conventional demands of human events, and as time went on, he increasingly abided by the spirit guidance of his thought adjuster. He was slowly learning to live his spiritual life and to transform its temporary difficulties into the triumphs of eternity. Thus, as time goes on, Jesus continues to experience mortal life as it is lived on the evolutionary worlds of time and space. “Christ Michael” upon departing from this world took with him all the experience that his creatures pass through during their short life in the flesh.
This total experience of human living Jesus attained in later years at the age of twenty-nine when his “personal ministry” closed.
With the celebration of the Passover meal at Lazarus’ house in Bethany, Jesus is teaching us that he did not come to establish some kind of ceremony or ritual that would continue to spiritually enslave his believers; but quite the opposite, he came to free the people of that time from the spiritual obscurity in which they found themselves trapped. With the use of wine and water during the Passover meal, Jesus first intended that his people no longer continue with that bloody tradition of sacrificing lambs to worship the “Heavenly Father.” He only used those symbols to show sincere believers that there were other forms of worship toward the “Heavenly Father.”
And he did not come through those false beliefs imposed by the religious leaders of that time, which certainly did nothing to favor the spiritual growth of believers.
After the Jewish people used the lamb for the Passover feast for several centuries, Jesus used unleavened bread and wine as symbols for the first time at that Passover meal, so that those faithful and devout brothers who lived in Bethany during this celebration would forever remember that he was among them. Years later, Jesus would use the same symbols of wine and bread during the Last Supper he had with his apostles, so that they and future generations of Christian believers would forever remember that “the Son of Man,”
“Christ-Michael,” was among us to teach us the path of human perfection that we must follow to achieve eternal salvation.
When Jesus had established the memorial supper, he addressed his apostles with the following words: Whenever you do this, it will be in memory of me, and when you celebrate this remembrance supper, think first of the life of perfection I lived among men, which was always willing to fulfill “the will of my Heavenly Father” through professing an “authentic spiritual Faith” just as true “believers of the kingdom” do.
So then, this is the new Passover remembrance supper that I left you; the memory of my life of human perfection that I lived among you, the memory of my love for you, as well as the gift of the “Spirit of Truth”, that new teacher of truth who will be poured out upon all men and women of normal mind and sincere heart who are willing to fulfill the will of GOD, to “be perfect, just as the Heavenly Father is perfect”.
But despite Jesus’ efforts to establish a new type of Easter celebration, his disciples and those who preceded him in later centuries thwarted his express desire to liberate the reborn souls of believers from Christianity, and the symbolism of the wine and bread of that Last Supper was reduced to precise interpretations and subject to the almost mathematical precision of an established formula. Certainly, of all of Jesus’ teachings, the use of wine and bread has been the most ritualized symbolism in the Christian religion. “The beauty and sublimity,” “the humanity and divinity,” “the simplicity and uniqueness” of Jesus’ life here on earth present such an impressive and attractive picture for the salvation of man that theologians and scholars of Christianity should already begin to repress their audacity to continue formulating those erroneous theories about his life, or to continue promoting the practice of those religious rituals that so distort the true spiritual meaning of his teachings. What an awakening would come to Christianity! If only they could see Jesus as He actually lived His “personal” ministry here on earth, and also learn firsthand the teachings of spiritual truth contained in His matchless gospel.
¶ JESUS’ EARLY ADULT LIFE
Jesus’ Twenty-First Year: Having arrived at the beginning of His adulthood, Jesus earnestly determined to complete the experience of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the manner in which evolving mortals of the material worlds of time and space, the lowest order of His intelligent creatures inhabiting the universe of Nebadon, live, think, and act.
He entered adulthood fully aware that he possessed a dual nature (divine and human), and through the guidance of his adjuster, he had already combined his two natures into one.
At this age, Jesus knew very well that he was a mortal man born of a woman and had become a true evolving mortal. He had to work for his living, grow tired and rest, hunger and satisfy his hunger, thirst and quench it, and experience the full range of human emotions and feelings. He was also tempted by all kinds of things while in the flesh. He gained knowledge and acquired experience, which he combined into wisdom, just as men of the kingdom do. During his “personal ministry,” Jesus never availed himself of any supernatural power; he used only his human gifts and the knowledge he possessed of human nature. He always limited himself exclusively to his own personal experience. He was a “true man among men.” At that time, Jesus fully understood the mission before him and chose to live according to the natural flow of mortal life.
Thus, Jesus lived his mortal life just as the mortal races of Urantia live it. He never entertained any doubt about his human nature and always had it present in his consciousness, but the nature of his divinity was slowly acquired. This revelation of his divinity began with the first supernatural event that occurred to him at thirteen years of age, when a heavenly messenger appeared to him to inform him that the time for the beginning of his “personal ministry” had arrived, since in the near future Jesus should be better prepared to fulfill the matters that his “Heavenly Father” had entrusted to him.
This first experience of the revelation of his divine nature was completed when Jesus had his second supernatural experience at the age of thirty-one, when he and his brothers James and Judah stood before his cousin John at the Jordan River to be baptized.
When Jesus went down into the Jordan to be baptized, he was a man who had reached the pinnacle of human evolutionary ascension in the mastery of his mortal mind and in spirit self-identification. He stood in the Jordan that day as a perfected mortal of the evolutionary worlds of time and space, fully and perfectly synchronized with his thought adjuster.
John was so absorbed in baptizing a line of converts that he didn’t notice Jesus standing in front of him to greet him. After greeting his first cousin, John asked him, “How is it that you come to me?” John replied, “To be baptized by you!” But John replied, “But I am the one who must be baptized by you.” Jesus whispered in his ear, “Be patient with me.” At this moment, it is not up to me to set that example for James and Judah, who are standing next to me, nor for the people gathered here. I accepted this ritual so that “all my brothers” would realize that my “hour has come” (the beginning of his public ministry). When John had baptized the three brothers who were still standing in the water, they heard a strange sound, and for a moment John, James, and Judah glimpsed an apparition above Jesus’ head (the personalized figure of his adjuster) and heard a voice saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” UB 135:8.7, UB 136:2.4
On that day of baptism, Jesus’ purely human life (his personal ministry) came to a close. The divine Son has found his Father, the Father has found his Paradise Son, “Christ Michael.” UB 136:2.8
Thus when Jesus was baptized by John, it was in no way a ritual of repentance, nor an act for the forgiveness of his sins (as required by the Jewish baptismal ceremony); in accepting baptism at the hands of John, he was simply following the example of many pious Jews. Page 1511.1
The real significance of Jesus’ baptism was to signal that he, at the age of thirty-one, had attained consecration to the fulfillment of “the will of the Heavenly Father,” for during his baptism he heard the unmistakable final command to continue being about his Father’s business here on earth; that is, his bestowal career as an evolving mortal was virtually over as far as the attainment of perfected universe sovereignty was concerned. UB 136:2.7, UB 136:3.5
Pentecost was the great festival of baptism of the Jewish people (redemption and forgiveness of sins), Jesus during his public ministry never baptized any of his disciples or followers, nor did he order his disciples to do so, but nevertheless contradicting the orders of his master not to establish any type of ceremony or ritual that would continue to spiritually enslave men.
His apostles began to practice it after his death, and immediately began baptizing their followers, and from that date on, they established the ceremony of baptism within the Christian cult; by the way, this ritual has continued to be practiced by believers of Christianity for more than two thousand years.
Jesus, faithful to his custom of using symbols to leave a teaching or to highlight some important fact. He only used this ancient Jewish ritual of baptism to make known to men that their “hour had come” and to prepare them to hear the greatest teachings of spiritual truth that have ever been heard not only here on Urantia, but also on the countless inhabited worlds that make up the local universe of Nebadon.
The twenty-second year of age in the life of Jesus: That was one of the years during which his brothers and sisters faced the emotional problems typical of adolescence, now Jesus was more occupied in helping his brothers adapt to this new emotional state characteristic of adolescence. That year, Simon finished school and began working as a bricklayer with his neighbor Jacob, who, incidentally, was Jesus’ old childhood friend and the one who defended him from bullying at school. Simon accepted this job at his older brother’s request, as he believed his brothers should begin to diversify their trades so they would be better prepared for any type of work within the construction industry. At that time, there were three brothers dedicated to carpentry (Jesus, James, and John), and there wasn’t enough work for all the brothers to dedicate themselves to the same trade.
During the latter part of the year, seeing that carpentry work was scarce in Nazareth, Jesus decided to go to work in the neighboring town of Sepphoris, leaving James in charge of the carpentry shop. During his time there, he worked in a blacksmith’s shop, where he gained considerable experience in wrought iron work.
Before starting his new job in Sepphoris, Jesus held a family meeting to announce his imminent departure, naming his brother James as head of the family. Despite having granted James the leadership of the family affairs, he promised his brother that he would continue to support him in any family problems that might arise. He even made each of his brothers and sisters promise obedience to James as the new head of the family. From that day on, James assumed full control of the family finances, and Jesus never again relinquished control of the family to his brother. In his new job, he had the option of walking home after work, but he intentionally remained absent all week and only returned to Nazareth every weekend, since the real reason for his absence was to train his brothers in family responsibilities. Jesus, faithful to his custom of doing everything correctly and intelligently, with this act began the process of slowly separating himself from his family.
Jesus would take his final leave of his family years later when the “hour” came for him to begin his public ministry (the proclamation of his gospel).
During the six months he worked in Sepphoris, Jesus had the opportunity to gain a much deeper understanding of the Gentile perspective; that is, to gain a deeper understanding of the perspective and way of thinking of people who did not profess the Jewish religion. From that year on, Jesus began to work with Gentiles, to live with Gentiles, dedicating himself to studying closely and very carefully the habits of life and the mentality of the Gentiles.
With this, Jesus was taking one of the most important steps of his young life, that of beginning to know more deeply the moral standards that prevailed outside the Jewish religion, in this way he immediately verified that the moral standards of the Gentiles were much more liberal than the Jewish moral standards, this fact and other family matters that required his presence in Nazareth, forced Jesus to return to the family dinner after six months of absence.
Jesus returned to his work in the carpentry shop, but he never again assumed control of family affairs, and only continued to advise James on family finances when possible. Wisely and intelligently, he continued to plan his future separation from all family and social affairs and the environment in which he worked, thus having more time to continue learning about Gentile behavior. In order for Jesus to begin the next stage of his life (his public ministry), he had an obligation to gain the full experience of human life; that is, he had to understand the thoughts, feelings, impulses, and desires of the races that inhabit the earth. Just as Jesus was committed to thoroughly understanding human behavior through his personal experience, we too are committed to knowing in detail the life of perfection that Jesus lived during the course of his “personal ministry,” so that, through the experience gained from properly understanding his “personal life,” we may be able to achieve immortal survival.
That is why Jesus always proclaimed: Truly I say to you that I am the bread that gives eternal life, since the word of the Father as revealed by the Son, is the bread of eternal salvation and truly I say to you that I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man goes to the Father except through Me, and whoever finds the Father first finds Me and if any of you truly manages to know Me, you already know the way that will lead you to the Father.
The twenty-third year in the life of Jesus: This year the financial pressure on the family eased slightly, since Miriam and Martha, Jesus’ sisters, were also contributing money to support the family, Miriam by selling milk and butter and Martha through the sale of hand-woven garments. This improvement in the family finances allowed Jesus to stop working for several weeks to take his brother Simon to the Passover festivities in Jerusalem, as well as to tour the surrounding cities. This period of free time was the longest break he had taken since the death of his father, and this tour allowed him to get to know the territory of Palestine quite well. During their journey they arrived in Philadelphia, a city located north of Jerusalem, there Jesus and Simon met a merchant from Damascus and as they became such good friends with this rich merchant, he asked them to stay at his house in Jerusalem and so while Simon went out to tour the temple, Jesus spent most of the day talking with the merchant, who was a true scholar and widely knowledgeable about events happening in different parts of the world. This merchant owned more than four thousand camels for caravans and quite a few businesses scattered throughout the Roman Empire and before he left on a business trip, he asked Jesus to come and live in Damascus to manage his business importing oriental merchandise that he had in that city, but Jesus explained that for the moment he could not be so far away from his family, however, he did not discard the idea that very soon he would have the opportunity to visit those distant cities that the drivers and passengers of the caravans that passed through Nazareth so often talked about.
So while his stay in Jerusalem lasted, Simon continued walking around the temple while Jesus continued conversing with the numerous foreign visitors who were arriving in Jerusalem at that time and the following Sunday after the end of the Passover feast, Jesus and Simon left to return to Nazareth, Simon upon arriving home told his mother Mary about the experiences they had had during his stay in Jerusalem, and Mary was very worried to hear that Jesus did not visit the temple and that most of his time he spent conversing with the Gentiles. Mary’s fears about her son’s behavior were not unfounded, since shortly after, he told her that he would soon travel to Damascus to remain there for the last four months of the year.
During his stay in Damascus, Jesus was the guest of a merchant he had met during his last trip to Jerusalem. This merchant, who was half-Jewish, proposed donating a large sum of money for the construction of a school of religious philosophy in Damascus. This merchant dreamed of creating a center of study that would rival and surpass the school of Alexandria, which at the time was the most advanced philosophical and religious center of its time. It even housed one of the largest libraries ever known to humanity, housing nearly a million manuscripts from all the cultures and religions that existed at the time. Incidentally, after Jesus’ death, this marvelous library, which would house centuries of philosophical and religious knowledge, was burned by a mob of religious fanatics. This tragic event led to the destruction of the largest collection of manuscripts containing the teachings of all the existing religions of that time. This merchant also took Jesus with a group of twelve merchants and bankers, who proposed that he undertake a long tour of the world’s most important educational centers, as a preparatory step for his later becoming the director of this future center of philosophical and religious studies. This was one of the greatest temptations Jesus had to face in the course of his purely human career (his personal ministry), but in the face of this tempting offer, he expressed that it was impossible for him to accept the leadership of such an ambitious undertaking, since he had prior obligations to fulfill. But his would-be benefactor was persistent and employed Jesus as the family scribe. While this was happening, the merchant, his wife, and his children also tried to convince him to accept the high honor being offered to him, but he refused to be persuaded; he knew very well that his mission on earth did not require the sponsorship of any educational institution,
nor the financial support of well-intentioned men. Despite having demonstrated his religious leadership before the rabbis of the synagogues, Jesus was always rejected by the religious leaders of his people. However, these foreign businessmen and bankers recognized Jesus as a great religious teacher. All this happened when he was an unknown carpenter.
Upon returning to Nazareth at the end of the year, Jesus continued working in the carpentry shop as if nothing important had happened during his stay in Damascus. He never mentioned to his family the magnificent proposal the Gentiles had made to him during the time he lived with them.
Jesus, with great sagacity and intentionally, always managed to avoid making known any episode that would associate him with the actions he performed during his travels through the Gentile world (the much-mentioned lost years of Jesus’ life), even after several years he continued to hear the story of the scribe from Damascus who rejected the magnificent opportunity to found an important cultural and religious center. Jesus thus suppressed any outstanding element that could occur around his extraordinary earthly career; he never intended to nourish in the minds of his disciples any kind of idolatry toward him.
Since Jesus well knew that his disciples later on, when he was no longer with them, would be tempted to form a religious cult that idolized him.
Unfortunately, this is what happened, and his disciples and those who preceded them centuries later founded a religious cult (Christianity) based solely on the miracles Jesus performed and his glorious resurrection, but which spoke very little of the life of human perfection he developed during the course of his personal ministry (up to the age of twenty-nine). UB 129:4.1-8
After the death of their master and his “morontia resurrection”, Jesus’ disciples dedicated themselves to preaching about “the resurrected Christ” and not about his true gospel of the kingdom, which is based on “the exemplary personal life of Jesus”; since it is “his personal ministry” and not his lessons to the apostles or his sermons to the multitudes that will help us to know the divine character and the loving personality of the “Universal Father”. UB 140:8.19, UB 140:8.20
But his disciples failed to grasp the true significance of his exemplary mortal life, nor the matchless teachings of spiritual truth contained in his gospel, and immediately after Jesus’ death, in their haste to win converts to their cause, they sacrificed many of the great spiritual truths their Master had taught them and unconsciously adapted them for their own religious worship. Certain rituals of Hebrew theology, various concepts of Greek philosophy, and the ceremonial of Roman paganism, thereby converting the Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity. Thus it was that: the Master’s disciples and the early religious leaders of Christianity, for the sake of a supposed religious benefit (that of winning believers to Christianity at any cost) agreed to paganize Christianity.
This fact, had Jesus been alive, he would not have allowed it, so from: the modified teachings of his gospel, the best of the Jewish religion, the best of the hellenized concept of Greek philosophy and the best of the ritualistic pomp of Roman paganism, arose a new order of religious practices and beliefs “the new and shining Christian religion”.
Wisely or foolishly these early leaders or religious leaders of Christianity, compromised the teachings of Jesus in an apparent effort to save and preserve many of their teacher’s ideas, but sadly they did not succeed. and the true teachings that Jesus proclaimed lie dormant within the paganized religion of Christianity, which by the way to this day continues to frustrate the sincere desire of millions of hungry souls who go searching for GOD in religious centers without being able to find HIM, since they ignore that they themselves are “the temple of GOD” since a fragment of the “Father” resides in them, and it is very sad to observe that men and women die without knowing that GOD dwells within them. But do not worry! Those ideals of the master that were sacrificed for the sake of a paganized Christianity are still latent and in time they will re-emerge with full power, and the revelation of GOD to the world in Jesus and through Jesus will triumph, and thus “His true gospel” will be able to spiritually unite and in loving service the “numerous families of Christian believers” that are currently scattered.
It is also important to highlight the profound significance of Jesus’ rejection of the generous and attractive proposal of those well-intentioned businessmen from Damascus, who saw Jesus as “a great religious teacher” who was capable of imparting great teachings of spiritual truth. Jesus’ rejection brings with it the following reflections:
1.- Jesus knew well that the authentic religion that helps the spiritual growth of those who practice it (personal religion), is not acquired in any religious study center, nor in any religious temple, that is why he rejected such a generous proposal.
2.- True religion is born from a mind that is aware that filiation with “the Father” occurs at the moment that man is able to understand that one can only be a “spiritual son of GOD” when he is willing to fulfill his will, that of “being perfect, just as GOD is perfect”.
That was the personal religion that Jesus professed towards his “Heavenly Father”; which by the way he would teach through his exemplary mortal life during (his personal ministry) and not through a classroom or a temple.
3.- Jesus never compromised with any of his religious principles or ideals for the sake of a supposed religious benefit, as he demonstrated by rejecting the direction of that future religious center, since had he accepted such an attractive proposal he would have given up his spiritual principles and ideals, which by the way he defended at the cost of his own existence.
The twenty-fourth year of Jesus’ life: This was the first year in which Jesus enjoyed relative freedom regarding his family obligations, since his brother James had already assumed control of family affairs that year and a week before the celebration of Passover in Nazareth, a young man from the city of Alexandria arrived at his home to arrange a meeting between Jesus and a group of Jews residing in that city, which would take place somewhere on the coasts of Alexandria, he agreed that the meeting would be held in mid-June in Caesarea, and he had to travel to that city on the scheduled date to meet with five important Jews living in Alexandria, who proposed that he settle in that city as a religious teacher, offering him as an initial incentive the position of being the main assistant to the chazan of the most important synagogue in Alexandria, these Jews explained to him that this city was destined to become the center of Jewish culture for the entire world, Jesus listened to them attentively and thanked them for the trust they had placed in him to occupy that position, but immediately rejected their proposal arguing the following “My hour has not yet come”. The Jews were disconcerted by the apparent indifference he showed in rejecting the high honor they were conferring on him and before he left the meeting, the Jews wanted to give him a bag of money to cover the expenses he had incurred on his trip to Caesarea. But he refused the money saying “I cannot eat another’s bread, as long as I have strong arms to work”. Jesus returned to Nazareth and also did not comment anything about what had happened to his family, the remaining six months of the year were the quietest of his earthly life, time that he used to maintain a closer communication with his Heavenly Father through his thought adjuster.
During that time, Jesus also made tremendous progress in mastering his human mind (his cosmic mind continued to evolve). At the end of that year, his brother James told him that he was in love with a woman named Este and would like to get married when Jesus deemed it appropriate. He agreed with James that their marriage would take place two years later so that during this time he could teach his brother Joseph everything related to family management. By that time, he would be eighteen years old and would be able to take on the responsibility of leading his family. Miriam, upon learning that her brother James had obtained Jesus’ consent to marry, also went before her father-brother to ask for permission to marry her neighbor Jacob, Jesus’ former childhood friend. However, when Miriam presented her plans for marriage, Jesus replied that Jacob should come before him to officially request permission to marry Miriam. He also promised Miriam that he would authorize their marriage as long as she committed to preparing her sister Martha to assume the duties of the eldest daughter. And as that year passed, Jesus continued teaching in the synagogue’s night school three times a week, and every Saturday he officiated at the synagogue ceremony, thus passing that peaceful year in the life of Jesus.
Jesus, being free of the family responsibilities that he had on his shoulders, was apparently already in a position to have accepted either of the two religious proposals that had been offered to him to begin his career as a religious teacher, however, Jesus’ “hour had not yet come,” he was aware that he still had to live the most important part of his earthly life, since at twenty-four years of age he had not yet achieved full and total knowledge of human behavior.
“Christ-Michael” upon fulfilling his seventh and final self-bestowal incarnated in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, had the obligation and commitment to attain through his personal experience, the true equivalent of the sum and substance of living the life of the evolutionary mortals of the material worlds of time and space, a necessary condition for “Christ-Michael” to achieve full sovereignty in the leadership of the universe of his creation.
It is important to highlight that Jesus at the end of his twenty-ninth year of age attained full knowledge of human behavior. UB 129:3.1-9, UB 129:4.1-7, UB 196:1.1-13, UB 196:2.1-6.
Thus, in order for us Urantia mortals to adequately conceive of the potential eternal destiny awaiting evolving mortals in the universe of Nebadon, it is necessary first to make a detailed study of the life of perfection which Jesus lived during his first twenty-nine years (his personal ministry). We will thus be better able to discern correctly the matchless teachings of eternal life contained in his gospel. UB 32:3.1
The life of Jesus in the flesh illustrates the religious growth from initial ideas of human reverence through years of personal spirit communication to that advanced and exalted state of human consciousness which has attained oneness with the Heavenly Father.
This progressive ascension from the human to the divine was attained by Jesus at the age of twenty-nine, when he had fully acquired the experience of human living.
The twenty-fifth year of Jesus’ life: In that year the family’s finances improved a lot, the debts were paid off and for the first time the family had some savings and just as Jesus took his brothers to Jerusalem at Passover time to be presented in the temple as children of Israel, he also decided to accompany his brother Judah to Jerusalem to be presented in the temple during the Passover feast that was about to be celebrated. Both brothers marched to Jerusalem but by a different route than in previous years, since Jesus feared that if he followed the same route he followed with his brothers, passing through Samaria, where there was a Roman barracks, he might have some problem with his restless brother, since Judah had already gotten him into trouble with the Roman authorities in Nazareth on previous occasions due to his impulsive nature and his intense patriotic feeling. Judah was an active member of the nationalist party of the Zealots in Nazareth, the same party that years before he refused to lead. Jesus and Judah arrived in Jerusalem in good time to participate in the celebration of the Passover, but on the way to the temple Jesus met by chance his friend Lazarus of Bethany and both made plans to celebrate the Passover dinner at Lazarus’s house as had become customary in previous years, and while this was happening his brother Judah had already gotten into a mess that would complicate their stay in Jerusalem, since a Roman soldier who was with Judah made some indecent comments to a Jewish woman; Judah upon hearing this did not hesitate to complain to the Roman soldier about his behavior, but at that time it was highly punishable for a Jewish citizen to make any complaints to a Roman soldier and he was immediately arrested, this was too much for Judah and before his brother could calm him down, this young patriot had already given free rein to his anti-Roman feelings, this fact worsened the situation and Judah, along with his brother, was taken to the military prison. Upon arriving at the prison, Jesus immediately requested an audience with the magistrate on duty to release his brother Judah so he could be present at the Passover celebration that evening. However, his request failed, since on the day the Passover feast was celebrated, not even the Romans dared to prosecute a Jewish citizen. Consequently, Judah, accompanied by his brother, remained in the military prison for two days. For this reason, Judah was unable to be present at the temple to be consecrated as a citizen of Israel on the morning of his second day of confinement in prison.
Jesus appeared before the military magistrate on behalf of Judah and skillfully excused his young brother’s impulsive behavior, handling the case so wisely that Judah was immediately released, but the magistrate turned to Jesus with the following message; he would do well to keep an eye on his brother, because if he doesn’t, he could cause him a lot of trouble, and the Roman judge was right, Judah caused his brother great trouble for several years for the same reason (his great patriotic fervor). On his return to Nazareth, Jesus did not mention his brother’s arrest to his family, this failed Passover celebration was the last he spent with a member of his family, increasingly the “son of man” was separating himself from family ties.
The twenty-sixth year in the life of Jesus: At the beginning of that year, Jesus was already more aware of his divine nature, as well as the extensive power he possessed, but at the same time he was convinced that he could not use this power as the “Son of Man” until “his hour would come.” That is, when he would begin the preaching of his gospel, the second stage of his career (his public ministry).
During that year, Jesus thought a lot about his relationship with his “Heavenly Father,” coming to the following conclusion: regardless of who he was and the power he might possess, he would always be subject to the will of his “Father”.
Throughout that year, family affairs went quite well, except for the problems that Judah continued to cause, since this younger brother had no inclination to work, and although he lived in the family home, he did not contribute anything toward the expenses, nor did he perform the domestic tasks that corresponded to him. Jesus, a hardworking and peaceful man, was always embarrassed by his brother Judah’s violent outbursts and reckless patriotic outbursts. James and Joseph tried to drive Judah out of the house on more than one occasion, but Jesus never consented to such an action. Each time his brothers’ patience reached its limit, he advised them to “be patient with him,” to be wise in their counsel toward him, and eloquent in their conduct of their lives, so that our younger brother might know the best path and be compelled to follow the path they had so exemplarily laid out for him.
Jesus’ intelligent and loving counsel on more than one occasion prevented the family from breaking up, and they continued to remain together.
During the course of this year, Jesus was preparing the difficult path so that his family would no longer depend on him. At the same time, he was also preparing himself so that when the day of the family’s separation came, he could do so without any negative upheaval.
For her part, his mother Mary already sensed that her son was preparing to leave them and constantly asked herself, “Where to go?”, “To do what?”, and “To what end?” She had already given up on the idea that her son was the Messiah the Jewish people had been waiting for. Finally, the day arrived when all of Jesus’ brothers had already chosen their professions and were already working. Thus, the stage was already being set for Jesus’ departure.
In November of that year, a double wedding took place in the home of this Nazarene family: that of James and Estiah, and that of Miriam and Jacob.
James and Estiah moved into a small house on the eastern side of Nazareth, which had been given to them by the father of James’s wife. Miriam went to live in Jacob’s house, which was located next to Mary’s house. From that moment on, Joseph was formally appointed by Jesus as the new head of the family, replacing James. Martha took Miriam’s place within the household, and before the end of the year, the family organization was functioning without any setbacks. The day after the double wedding, Jesus had a confidential conversation with his brother James, to whom he told him that he was already preparing to leave Nazareth and for that reason he was handing over the title deed to the carpentry shop to him. He also gave him a document stipulating that in exchange for ownership of the shop, James would assume full responsibility for the family’s finances, exonerating Jesus from all obligations in family financial matters. After both brothers signed the contract and prepared a budget that would allow the family to cover its expenses without any contribution from Jesus, he told James, “Don’t worry, my son,” I will continue sending you a certain amount of money until “my time has come.” Use whatever I send you as the occasion demands.
Thus, intelligently and wisely, Jesus was preparing to live the most important stage of his purely human career, the most fascinating years of his personal ministry (the supposedly unknown years of his life).
This unique period in Jesus’ life was the most sobering of his mortal career; for through the journey he planned to undertake, he would attain the achievement of human perfection required of evolving mortals. “The Son of Man” was still the humble carpenter of Nazareth; he had not yet achieved complete mastery of his human mind; his indwelling Adjuster had not yet fully balanced his dual natures, “the human and the divine.” Jesus was still a man among men; the unusual act of merging his two minds, “the human and the divine,” into one would practically be achieved by the end of his twenty-ninth year. So let us prepare to learn about “the lost years of Jesus’ life.”
Period that by the way, the scholars of his life, due to the total ignorance they have about his “personal ministry”, have tried to fill with a series of unlikely conjectures and ignorant theories, which in no way agree with the fascinating tour that Jesus made for two years through the “great Roman Empire” with the sole purpose of fully understanding how the other mortal races of the earth lived, thought and acted.
¶ THE ADULT LIFE OF JESUS
The twenty-seventh year of age in the life of Jesus: During a rainy morning in January of that year, Jesus discreetly and without warning; temporarily left his home, informing his family that he was going to take a tour of the cities that were located around the Sea of Galilee and that he did not know how long he would be away from the family home, in this way he would never again live regularly with his family.
The first stop Jesus made after leaving Nazareth was Tiberias, the new city that would soon become the capital of Galilee. Since he found nothing of interest there, he only stayed there for a week before continuing his journey to Capernaum, where he planned to visit an old acquaintance of his late father named Zebedee.
Zebedee was a boat builder and owner of several shipyards located on the south side of Lake Capernaum. His house was located on the lake shore. Zebedee was well-off, and his family consisted of his wife Salome, his sons James, John, David, and four other daughters. (Years later, James and John would be chosen by Jesus to be part of his group of apostles.)
Zebedee, a boat builder, knew of Jesus’ skill in woodworking and his experience as a carpenter. Since Zebedee had plans to build better boats, he invited him to become his partner. Jesus immediately accepted the proposal.
Jesus worked with Zebedee for a little over a year, during which time he invented a new style of boat, utilizing entirely new manufacturing methods using a developed technique of steaming wood. This new method would allow them to build a higher quality boat that would be much safer to navigate than the other vessels that were sailing on the lake at that time. By the way, after five years, this type of vessel that Jesus designed was the most used by the fishermen of Capernaum. In this way, he came to be recognized by all the fishermen of Galilee as the designer of such magnificent vessels, and so on. He also made time to visit the caravan stop that was on a direct route to the city of Damascus, with the sole purpose of continuing to learn about the way the other mortal races of the earth lived.
In the library of the synagogue at Capernaum, Jesus found many new books. This discovery prompted him to study the contents of those books intensely for five nights a week. He also dedicated one night a week to socializing with the elders and another night with the young people. All of them, both old and young, greatly enjoyed his presence during his time in Capernaum. Zebedee’s family loved him very much, and before he went to study at the synagogue at night, they listened attentively to the sessions Jesus presided over after dinner. The family’s neighbors frequently attended these after-dinner gatherings.
He taught them classes in politics, sociology, philosophy, and other sciences. In these meetings, Jesus taught them in a flexible, never authoritarian manner, but when he expounded on a religious topic, he was inflexible. On those occasions, as well as throughout his public ministry, when it came to religious matters, Jesus was always energetic and firm in his religious convictions .
It is important not to misinterpret the authority that Jesus always showed on religious matters, since we must not lose sight of the fact that he was the most sincere and devout religionist that humanity has ever known, since during the course of his existence he was totally consecrated and unconditionally dedicated to fulfilling the will of the “Heavenly Father”.
That attitude of “Authentic Faith” and “Genuine Devotion” that Jesus observed during his “personal ministry” (the same that we should all observe), was what allowed him to achieve the conquest of his human mind at the end of his twenty-ninth year of age.
Once a week, Jesus held a meeting with all the shipyard workers to impart some kind of teaching. Incidentally, these workers were the first to call him “Teacher.” His brother Judah, who worked near Capernaum, frequently attended his brother’s Sabbath service in the synagogue. After the ceremony, he would stay for a long time to talk with him. Every time he listened to him, he realized that his brother was a “great religious teacher.” That year, Jesus made great progress in the development of his human mind, a fact that allowed him to reach a higher level of communication with his thought adjuster. Throughout that year, he sent money to Santiago to support his family. In October of that year, he made a brief trip to Nazareth to be present at the double wedding of his brothers Simon and Judah.
He was about to leave behind his simple but active personal life, since his formation as a man of the earthly kingdom had to be completed by the end of his trip around the Mediterranean. Jesus, through the “personal ministry” that he developed during this journey, would achieve the balance of his “human and divine nature”.
During the last week that he remained in Capernaum, Jesus had a long conversation with John, the son of Zebedee, to inform him that he was planning a trip throughout the Roman Empire; which would conclude when “his hour will come”, that is, as soon as he was fully prepared to begin his life of preaching, Jesus in this conversation asked John to take care of sending a certain amount of money monthly to his family, since during the year he worked in the shipyards he saved a considerable sum of money for this purpose, at the same time he also told John’s father about the long pilgrimage he would make through the Mediterranean, making them both promise that under no circumstances should they reveal to his family or anyone else about his trip, even his mother and brothers when they found out that Jesus had left Capernaum without telling them and when some time had passed without receiving news from him, they came to think that he had already died. So at the age of “twenty-seven years” Jesus left for Jerusalem; place where he would begin his long journey through the Mediterranean, he said goodbye to Zebedee and his family, promising them that he would celebrate the Passover feast with them at the house of a relative of Zebedee’s wife who lived in Jerusalem.
And as the date of the Passover celebration approached, Jesus, on one of his tours of the city, happened to meet a rich merchant from India, who had stopped in Jerusalem to hire an interpreter for himself and a teacher for his son. The father was called Gonod and his son Ganid was an intelligent young man of seventeen years of age.
Gonod upon meeting Jesus and after talking with him for a long time, proposed that he travel with them to Rome as his translator and as his son’s teacher, but he told him that he could not accept his proposal since this long trip that the Hindu merchant had planned and which would last two years, would cause him to leave his family without financial support for a long time, and given the situation he was presenting to him, Gonod offered to advance him the salary corresponding to a year of work, Jesus immediately accepted the job proposal that they offered him, since with that sum of money that they would advance him for the payment of his services and with the money he had deposited with Zebedee, he already had assured for a good time the economic future of his mother Mary and his sisters Martha and Ruth.
Jesus when he met with John for the Passover dinner, gave him that large sum of money to give to his family as he had stipulated, in this way Mary receiving frequent visits from John or Zebedee, regained hope that her son was still alive.
The tour he would take with these travelers from India, would cover most of his twenty-eighth year and all of the twenty-ninth year of Jesus’ life
Jesus and his companions left Jerusalem on a Sunday morning in April, this tour was scheduled as follows: from Jerusalem they would leave for Joppa where they would make a stopover before reaching Caesarea, where they would embark for the city of Alexandria and from there they would sail to Carthage, making a stopover on the island of Crete, and from Carthage they would embark for Neapolis, making stops in; Malta, Syracuse, and Messana, and from Neapolis they would head to Capula and from there reach Rome via the Appian Way. This was the route these three travelers used to reach Rome. During this journey, Jesus spent half a day of his time as an interpreter for Gonod during his business meetings and as a teacher for Ganid.
And the rest of the day was dedicated to relating more directly with his fellow men, as well as living more closely with the people he met. These types of relationships characterized Jesus’ life during the years prior to the beginning of his public ministry. In this way, he learned through direct and firsthand observation of the highest material and intellectual civilization of the West and the Levant that existed at that time (the world of the Gentiles). On this trip, Jesus learned much about Hindu and Chinese cultures: since Gonod, a citizen of India, had made three long business trips to the Chinese empire, in the same way Gonod and Ganid learned a lot from the close relationship they maintained with Jesus during that long journey.
Gonod on several occasions tried to persuade Jesus to accompany them to India after they completed their tour of the Mediterranean, but he always rejected the invitation, arguing that he had to return to his family in Nazareth.
Jesus and his companions made their first stop in Joppa, which was an obligatory stop to reach the port of Caesarea, during the time they stayed there, he met a young Philistine (Philistia was an ancient people who were always enemies of the Jews) who worked as an interpreter for a merchant named Simon with whom Gonod had done several businesses, for that reason he wanted to visit him on his way to Caesarea. During the course of that visit Jesus and that young Philistine called Gadia became good friends, this young man was “a seeker of truth” and Jesus was “the giver of truth itself”, and when a seeker of truth meets a great giver of truth, a new and enlightened truth is born through that experience that immediately liberates the soul of that great seeker.
One day after dinner, as they were both walking along the seashore, unaware that Jesus possessed a full knowledge of the Jewish scriptures, the young Philistine asked him about the Jewish story of Jonah and the whale, while pointing out the supposed wharf from which Jonah departed on his ill-fated journey to distant Tarshish. This ancient Jewish story, in which a whale swallowed Jonah, had a tremendous influence on Gadiah’s life, and the belief in that episode had instilled in him the foolish idea of trying to escape the obligations that life imposes, in the same way that the unfortunate Jonah, when trying to escape his responsibilities, was swallowed by a whale. It is important to note that Jesus on several occasions used some Jewish stories to exemplify his great teachings of spiritual truth, and on this occasion he took advantage of that passage to answer Gadiah in the following way; My friend, we are all like Jonah; we are masters of our lives and we are all obliged to live them according to the will of GOD, and every time we try to escape the duty of fulfilling his will, all we do is flee to remote temptations that are not governed by the powers of truth; so to escape from duty is to reject the truth, it is to evade the service of the light, it is to try to avoid the obligations that life imposes, and this, my son, can only produce painful conflicts with the great whales of selfishness, a situation that in the long run will lead them to darkness and death (that long and lonely night of eternal oblivion and extinction of the soul), just as it happened to Jonah; but young friend, if those Jonahs who have abandoned GOD. They sincerely try to search for the light again, regardless of whether they find themselves submerged in the phases of the whale.
And no matter the deep and dark abyss into which they may have fallen, the spirit of GOD will free them from their captivity and cast them into a land of new opportunities, so that they may live a wiser life that is willing to fulfill the will of GOD.
Gadía was deeply moved by the teachings of Jesus and they continued talking by the seashore until late at night and before going to their respective rooms, together “they both prayed for each other”. Gadía, influenced by the talks he had had with Jesus, years later would become a deep believer in his teachings and would hold a memorable debate with the apostle Peter when he was preaching in Joppa. Gadía was a great evangelizer and won many souls for the kingdom.
After staying in Joppa for three days, Jesus and his companions continued their journey to the port of Caesarea, where they had to stay longer than planned because one of the ship’s sails broke. Jesus, being an expert shipbuilder, offered to repair it. He dedicated himself to repairing it in the mornings and spent the afternoons walking with his friends along the beautiful wall that formed the fishing port. A Mongolian merchant
was staying at the inn where they were staying, and since he spoke Greek very well, he was able to help them. Jesus talked with him for quite some time, this man was very impressed with his teachings and never forgot some wise words that Jesus expressed in one of their talks “While you live on earth live a heavenly life through daily submission to fulfill the will of the Father”, this merchant was a firm believer in the existence of a single “Universal Deity” and upon returning to Mongolia he began to proclaim the advanced spiritual truths that Jesus taught him during his stay in the city of Caesarea.
One of the young men who worked with Jesus in the repair of the blade, was very interested in the words that he expressed to him one day while they were working in the shipyard, these words said “The Heavenly Father cares very much for the well-being of his children”, that young Greek named Anaxandus asked him the following; If GOD is interested in me, why doesn’t he remove the unjust foreman? who is in charge of this workshop.
Anaxandus was greatly surprised when Jesus replied, Since you know the ways of kindness and value justice, perhaps God has placed this unjust man near you so that you may lead him along a better path; since you will be the salt that will make this brother more agreeable to the taste of other men; Anaxandus, as things stand, this man is your master because his bad manners exert an unfavorable influence on you.
Because you do not impose, through the power of your goodness, your lordship over the evil he exercises in you! So that in this way you become “the master” of this relationship that exists between the two of you. I can predict that the good that is in you will be able to overcome the evil that is in him, if you give it a fair and living opportunity; because if you are more blessed with the truth, the evil of this man should be a challenge for you. I do not believe that you are that coward who stands on the seashore and watches as a fellow man who cannot swim drowns, and you do nothing to help him. I definitely believe that you would save the soul of this man who struggles in spiritual obscurantism. Those words greatly moved Anaxando, and he immediately located the foreman to tell him what had happened to him, and that same night they both went in search of Jesus so that he could advise them on how they should live their lives for the salvation of their souls.
After the time when the Christian message was proclaimed in Caesarea, these two men, “one Greek and the other Roman,” believed in the gospel of the kingdom and both became prominent members of the Christian church that was founded there.
During this journey, Ganid began to realize that his tutor spent his free time conversing with all kinds of men and women, and the young Hindu decided to discover the reason why his teacher was so enthusiastic about conversing with his peers, asking Jesus the following: Why do you continually occupy yourself with talking to strangers? To which his teacher replied: In the experience of finding GOD you discover that everyone is your brothers, also, what is strange about one rejoicing in the encounter with a brother who also just discovered the Heavenly Father? Since knowing our brothers, as well as understanding their problems and learning to love them, is the greatest spiritual achievement we can reach in our lives.
One afternoon, while Jesus and Ganid were having fun playing with a very intelligent sheepdog, the young man asked his master if the dog had a soul and a will. In response, Jesus said, “A dog has a mind that can recognize ”material man,“ who is, by the way, its master, but it cannot know God; who is spirit. Therefore, the dog does not possess a spiritual nature and cannot enjoy a spiritual experience.” The dog possesses a will derived from its animal nature and augmented by the training given to it by its master, but such power of its mind is not comparable to the human will, nor is its will derived from the discernment of spiritual and eternal values, and it is precisely the possession in the human intellect of these values of spiritual discernment that will differentiate the animal from mortal man, who is a creature endowed with spiritual attributes and possessor of a potential for eternal survival, and it is the absence of such powers in the mind of the animal, which makes it impossible for the animal world to develop a language in time or to experience anything that resembles survival in eternity.
As a result of this lesson from that day on Ganid no longer believed in the ignorant idea that human souls were reincarnated in the bodies of animals.
Derived from the previous conversation, Ganid asked Jesus to explain to him the difference that exists between “God’s will” and “human will” He told Ganid; “GOD’s will” is GOD’s way and “human will” is choosing GOD’s way over any other alternative, therefore doing “GOD’s will” is the progressive experience of becoming more and more like GOD. Thus, doing “the will of GOD” is the action of the human mind that will enable the conscience to objectively express the incredible desire to aspire to be like GOD.
The next morning Ganid told his father what his teacher had told him the day before and Gonod personally went to find Jesus so that he could also explain to him about “the human will.” He told him the following: Human wills that are only dedicated to making temporary decisions related to the material problems of animal existence are condemned to perish in time.
On the other hand, human wills that make sincere moral decisions and unconditional spiritual choices gradually identify themselves with their divine spirit so that with the help of their adjuster they can increasingly transform their material values into spiritual values for the achievement of the immortal survival of the soul.
From what has been known in the initial part of this tour, Jesus not only planned this trip with the sole purpose of achieving complete knowledge of how men live and think outside the Jewish world, He also made this trip with the intention that the world of the Gentiles (those who did not profess the Jewish religion) would be the first to directly know his great teachings of spiritual truth, even Jesus intelligently was already preparing long before his apostles, that first generation of “young Gentile Christians”, so that after his death when Christianity expanded throughout the Roman Empire, they would already be prepared to receive it and spread it throughout the western world.
Thus these young Gentiles: “Ganid the Hindu”, “Gadia the Philistine” and the “Greek Anaxandus”, were the first disciples to whom “Master Jesus” imparted the true spiritual teachings contained in his incomparable gospel.
The stay in Caesarea had been full of important events and when he was Once the ship they were traveling on was repaired, Jesus and his two friends set sail for the city of Alexandria in Egypt. The voyage was extremely pleasant for all three.
As they approached the port, Ganid was thrilled to see “the great lighthouse of Alexandria,” which for a long time was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. This lighthouse was located on the island that “Alexander the Great” had connected to the mainland by a pier, thus creating two magnificent harbors, which made Alexandria the most important maritime crossroads in Africa and Asia. The morning after their arrival, the three travelers got up very early to contemplate the formidable wall that protected the city from the inclemency of the sea. Amidst the exclamations of admiration and amazement expressed by Ganid at the majesty of the lighthouse, Jesus said to him “My son” you will be like that great lighthouse that shines in the darkness of the night.
Because when you return to India and even when your father no longer exists, you will become “the great light” that illuminates all those who have been lost in the darkness, showing to all who wish it the spiritual path that will lead them to the port of eternal salvation, Ganid squeezing his teacher’s hand said to him and “I will be.”
And while Gonod was busy with his business, his son and Jesus went to the library of Alexandria, which was the largest in the world, as it housed almost a million manuscripts from the most advanced civilizations of that time. There were manuscripts from Palestine, Persia, India, China, and Japan, among others. In this library, Ganid found the largest collection of Hindu literature that could exist, and even in India itself, no more complete literature could be found. The young man and his teacher, during the entire time they remained in the city, spent hours and hours inside the library studying the texts that spoke of all the religions that existed at that time.
Under the supervision of Jesus, Ganid made an extensive compilation of all the teachings contained in these religious manuscripts. He also strove to teach the young man the truth that could be found in each of those religions, which recognized the existence of “a universal deity.” For such a monumental compilation of the teachings of the world’s religions that spoke about GOD and his relationship with mortal man, Ganid spent a good part of his father’s fortune.
Since he employed more than sixty scholarly translators in the writing of this summary of the religious doctrines that existed at that time. This compilation was developed based on the following doctrines:
- Of the Cynics: This religious doctrine was the remnants of the teachings of the disciples of Melchizedek, who worshipped “the Most High” the creator of all worlds and all universes.
- Judaism: The Kenites of Palestine preserved many of the teachings that Melchizedek imparted to Abraham, this religion provided the clearest knowledge about “the Father in Heaven”, before the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth.
- Zoroastrianism: Zoroaster was in direct contact with the descendants of the first Melchizedek missionaries, this doctrine was based on the existence of a “one God”, this concept was the basis of this religion that was founded in Persia and with the exception of Judaism, this religion was the one that most contained something of the teachings of the Melchizedek missionaries.
- Buddhism: This doctrine was so close to being a great and beautiful religion but without God, without a personal and universal deity, however these teachings reflected some of the influence of the teachings of the Melchizedek missionaries, who continued their work in India, even until the time of Buddha.
- Taoism: The Melchizedek missionaries penetrated as far as China taking with them the doctrine of “one God”, which became part of the teachings of several regions of China.
- Hinduism: Melchizedek’s missionaries brought with them the teachings of “the one God” to part of India, but much of this monotheistic doctrine was incorporated into the diverse concepts contained in Hinduism.
- Suduanism+: Another group of religious believers who preserved the doctrine of “one God” in India, these believers are lately known as the followers of Jainism.
- Shintoism: This religion of the Far East also contained some remnants of the primitive teachings of Melchizedek, about the existence of “one God”.
- Confucianism: Within the great religions of the world, this doctrine ignored God, however over time it came to recognize some of the monotheistic teachings preached by Melchizedek’s missionaries.
After the arduous task of compiling the teachings of the world’s religions, Ganid set himself the task of preparing what he considered a summary of the teachings of spiritual truth that his “Master Jesus” had imparted to him. Ganid entitled this summary “As Our Religion”, that is, the same religion that the Master and his disciple professed.
Here is Ganid’s summary: “The Lord our GOD is one” and you must always love Him with all your mind and all your heart, at the same time you must love His children as He loves you, and this “one GOD” is our Heavenly Father in whom all things reside, at the same time His divine spirit dwells in every sincere soul, and we as children of GOD must learn to entrust our soul to His divine custody, since with our “Heavenly Father” all things are possible, He is the creator of the universe and of all beings and although we cannot see GOD, we can know Him in our hearts by fulfilling His will daily, because only in this way will we be able to reveal Him to our fellow men.
The divine riches that are obtained from the “Absolute God” must be infinitely deep and eternally wise, you should never search for God through a religious text, since we will only be able to know him through his divine spirit that lives within us and through personal spiritual experience, since the Father who fills the universe also fills our hearts.
The mind of man is mortal, but the divine spirit that resides within it makes it immortal. God is not only powerful, but also omnipresent and everywhere. If our earthly parents, even with their tendency toward evil, know how to love their children and provide them with good care, the good “Heavenly Father” loves his earthly children more wisely and grants them appropriate blessings. The Father will never allow one of his children to perish if that child desires to find him and truly yearns to be like him. Our Father also loves the wicked and is always kind to the ungrateful. If only such people could know the goodness of God,
they would immediately repent of their wickedness and know how to renounce all known evil. And when people feel the need to seek God, they have already found proof that God has found them. And those who are aware that they have found God already have the conviction that God dwells within them. It is no longer enough for me to believe that God is the Father of all my people. From now on, I will also believe that he is my Father, and I will always try to worship God with the help of the divine spirit that lives within me. But first, I will practice worshiping God, learning to do his will here on earth. That is, I will do everything possible to treat each of my fellow human beings as I believe God would like me to treat them.
And if we live this life in the flesh in this way, we will be able to ask God for many heavenly things, and he will grant us the desires of our hearts so that we will be better prepared to serve our fellow men. All the loving services we render to God’s children will increase our capacity to receive and experience the great spiritual pleasures of heaven. Every day I will thank him for allowing me to recognize his greatness, his perfection, and his wisdom. And I will always praise him for the wonderful works he does for his earthly children. For me, God is almighty, the creator, the power and mercy, but above all, I know that he is my Spiritual Father, and that when I become his spiritual son, I will be like him, since my “Master Jesus” has told me that by seeking God, I will become like him. And that through my “Faith,” I will be able to achieve peace with the Heavenly Father, and this “religion of ours” will fill me with joy and generate lasting happiness. He trusted that I will be faithful to him until death and will surely achieve the immortal survival of my soul. I am also learning to know about all earthly things so that I may adhere to what is good; and whatever I would that men would do to me, I will do the same to all my fellow men. By this “new religion” I know that all men can become true children of God, but sometimes I am terrified to stop and think that all men alike are my brothers; and the time has come for me to begin to understand this because that is absolutely true, and knowing that God is my Father, I could not rejoice if I rejected the brotherhood of man, besides whoever calls on the name of the Father will be saved and if that is true then all men are my brothers.
From now on I will do my acts of kindness in secret, I will also pray when I am alone, I will not judge so as not to fall into injustice towards my brothers, I will also learn to love my enemies, although I have not yet mastered that practice of being like God and although I see God in other religions, I find Him in “Our Religion” more beautiful, more loving, closer and more merciful, but the most important thing for me is that this “Great and Glorious Being” is my Spiritual Father. I know that I am truly His son, but I will not be able to find Him and serve Him, if it is not through my honest and sincere desire to be like Him. I have finally found a true religion that has a wonderful God “the God of eternal salvation”.
Although this beautiful document was written in Alexandria, Ganid commissioned it near the end of his stay in Rome. He was also surprised to discover that the texts of the greatest authors of religious literature of that time, without exception, recognized the existence of an eternal God and all agreed on the loving nature of this God toward all men on earth.
The manuscript that Ganid wrote based on the teachings of Jesus and entitled “Our Religion” was preserved in India for hundreds of years.
After spending a few months in Alexandria, Egypt, Jesus and his friends continued their journey to Carthage, located in North Africa. First, they would stop on the island of Crete for a few days of rest.
Among all the neighboring populations of that time, the inhabitants of Crete were distinguished by being a rather religious people, however, Jesus and Ganid, during the time they remained there, prepared many souls to know higher levels of spiritual thought, thus establishing the foundations that would allow those souls to quickly grasp the Christian teachings that would be imparted on that island in the future by the first preachers of the kingdom.
In the mountains of Crete, Jesus had his first and longest talk with Gonod about religious matters, who was very impressed with the vast knowledge that he had on religious matters; saying the following, it does not surprise me that my son Ganid believes everything you teach him about religion, but I did not know that the religion you just told me about existed in Jerusalem, much less in Alexandria.
Gonod formally proposed to Jesus that he go with them to India as a religious teacher, but again he rejected their proposal arguing that he had to return to Nazareth.
Ganid once asked Jesus why he did not teach publicly and he replied; My son, everything must wait for its time, since in all the affairs of this world we must give time to time, since only time is the only thing that ripens the green fruit of the tree and one season follows another with the passage of time, at this moment I am on my way to Rome with you and your father and that is enough for today, since tomorrow is totally in the hands of my Father.
One day when Jesus was walking through the mountains of Crete, he had a long conversation with a fearful and scared young man he met on his way. This young man could not find solace in his relationships with his peers and sought solitude in the mountains. He always grew up with a great feeling of inferiority. When Jesus met him on his way, he said, “Greetings, my friend! Why are you so sad on this beautiful day? If something has happened to make you so afflicted, I can offer you help, since it would be satisfying for me to be able to serve you.” But this young man did not want to talk to anyone and did not respond. Jesus addressed the young man in a different way so as to reach his afflicted soul, saying the following: “I understand that you take refuge in these mountains to escape from people, so it is normal that you do not want to talk to me, but I would like to know if you know these paths well so that you can show me the way that can lead me to Phoenix.” This young man knew the paths of those mountains very well and was interested in showing Jesus the way to Phoenix, to the point of drawing on the ground several of the paths that could lead him and in great detail explained the correct way, and thanked him for his information and pretended to leave, but suddenly turned to the surprised young man saying, I know well that you want to be alone with your grief but it would not be fair that after receiving such generous help from you, I follow you without making the slightest effort to respond to your imploring request for help, since just as you know perfectly well the paths that lead to Phoenix, I in the same way know perfectly well the path that you seek in your heart and since you have asked me for help I will not disappoint you.
But the young man, despite being disconsolate, replied to Jesus “but I didn’t ask you for anything!” And he gently placed his hand on his shoulder and answered; No son, you asked for nothing with words, but you knew how to speak to my heart with your pleading gaze, since for those who truly love their fellow men, it is easy to recognize the disconsolate gaze that asks for help from the depths of their soul, come sit by my side and I will show you the paths of service and the ways of happiness, which will lead you from the sorrows of discouragement of the “I”, to the joys of the actions of love within the brotherhood of men and towards the service of God, at this point the young man already felt the need to speak with Jesus and on his knees he begged him to help him show him the way by which he would escape from his world of disconsolation and defeat.
Jesus continued, “My friend, rise! Stand up and fight like a man. You may be harassed by insignificant enemies and grave obstacles may obstruct your progress, but never forget that the heavenly things of the universe and the real things of this world are on your side so that you may triumph. The sun rises every morning to greet you as the most prosperous and powerful man on earth. Stop sitting here on the mountain complaining about your real or imagined misfortunes. Stop sitting here in the mountains complaining about your sorrows. There are great things to be done. Stop running away from life’s problems. Put your mind to work to resolve the difficulties that prevent you from being great. Teach your intellect to work for you. Stop letting fear dominate you as if you were an animal that doesn’t think. You must allow your mind to be your ally in finding solutions to the problems of your life. No longer remain a frightened slave to depression and defeat. Begin to understand that within you resides the purest spiritual reality in the universe, the Spirit of the Father, who will guide and stimulate your mind to control itself and activate your body to free you from the chains of fear and uncertainty. Allow your spiritual nature to free itself from the apathy it finds itself in through the presence of a living and powerful ”faith.“ And you will then see that with the invincibility of your ”faith," you will defeat the rejection you feel toward your fellow men and manifest to them all your love. A love that will very soon fill your disconsolate soul to the point that your conscience recognizes that you are truly now a spiritual child of God. When that day comes, you will be reborn as a man who has been restored through an authentic spiritual state and thus dedicate yourself to serving your fellow men for the glory of God. And having been reborn again through the spirit, your whole life will be one of victorious achievement and the problems that come your way will increase your vigor, your disappointment will serve as a spur, difficulties will be a challenge and obstacles a stimulus for your reborn soul. This young man named Fortunatus would eventually become the main leader of the Christians on the island of Crete.
After resting on the island of Crete, Jesus and his friends prepared to sail to the city of Carthage, and for most of the journey Jesus talked with his friends about social, political and commercial issues, nothing was said about religion, for the first time Gonod and Ganid discovered that their friend was a good storyteller and during the journey he was telling them some anecdotes that had happened to him in Nazareth.
When they arrived in Carthage, Jesus spoke with a high Mithraist priest, who sincerely desired to learn about Jesus’ concepts of time, space, and eternity. This is what Jesus replied to the priest of the Mithraist cult: Within the grand universe, the only ones who transcend time and space are the eternal isle of Paradise and the eternal Deities who dwell therein. But on the material worlds of the grand universe, the personality of evolving mortals with ascendancy potential (those indwelled by the spirit of the Father) is the only physical reality destined to transcend the material sequence of temporal events of the finite universal reality in which they live and develop, since the creature inhabited by the divine spirit of the Father has the capacity to transcend time and space and also has the power of discernment, which will allow them to visualize their potential eternal future if they fulfill the will of the Father. And as the intellect of that human personality comes to recognize the varying levels of universal reality (material and spiritual), its concept of time and space will expand with respect to the quality and quantity of experience received, and as that human personality advances upward and inward to the spiritual state, its basic concepts of space and time will reach more transcendental levels of discernment, and its time-space ideas will come ever closer to the “timeless, spaceless” concepts of the Eternal God, and in accordance with the ascending plan for evolving time-space mortals, the conquest of eternity will be their ultimate destiny. Thus Jesus concluded his memorable discourse on eternity.
After their short stay at Carthage, the three travelers took ship to Neapolis, a Roman province, and their first stop was the island of Malta, where Jesus had a long conversation with a discouraged young man named Claudius. He had contemplated taking his own life, but after talking with Jesus he said, I’m going to face life with courage, enough of playing the coward, I’m going to return to my people to start a new life, a short time later this young Roman would become the leader of the doctrine of the Cynics, and when the Christian gospel arrived in Rome Claudius converted to Christianity and after the death of Peter he would go to Spain to preach the gospel of the kingdom. After their stop in Malta the three travelers continued to Syracuse their second stop before arriving in Neapolis.
Where they stayed for a week, the most notable event of this scale was the rehabilitation of Ezra the wayward Jew, who was the tavern keeper of the place where Jesus and his friends were staying, Ezra knowing that Jesus possessed a deep knowledge of the Jewish sacred scriptures, asked him to help him return to the “Jewish faith” expressing the following, I want to be a true son of Abraham but I can’t find God.
Then Jesus told him, if you really want to find God, that sincere desire is in itself proof that you have already found him, just as the Father has already found you, have you not read the words of the prophet Isaiah? Which say “you will seek me and find me when you sincerely open your heart to me” and doesn’t that same prophet say “and I will give you a heart so that through it you may recognize that I am your Lord” Ezra through this conversation found God for the comfort of his soul. Over time this Jew in partnership with a prosperous Greek figure, built the first Christian church in Syracuse.
After their stay there they left for Messana where they stopped for just one day, long enough to change the life of a fruit seller from whom Jesus bought fruit to feed himself, while he fed the seller’s soul with the bread of life, this boy would never forget the words and the kind look that Jesus gave him when he said; “goodbye my son”, be brave while you become a man and after feeding your body, learn also to feed your soul, my Father who is in heaven will always be with you and will guide you along the ways of the kingdom, the boy became devoted to the “Mithraic law” and later with the arrival of Christianity he became a fervent believer in Christianity. Jesus and his friends after leaving Messana finally arrived at Neapolis a town near Rome, Gonod had many business transactions in Neapolis and while he carried out his business, Jesus and Ganid dedicated themselves to touring the city, in this place no outstanding event occurred and when Gonod finished his mercantile operations, they continued their trip to Capua where they stayed for three days, after this last stop they would continue their trip along the Appian Way.
The three travelers after a long journey were already eager to reach the largest city in the civilized world, “splendid Rome.”
¶ THE STAY IN ROME
Since Gonod was bearing greetings from the princes of India to the Roman Emperor Tiberius, the three travelers, Gonod, Ganid, and Jesus, appeared before him to convey the greetings of the Indian monarchs. Emperor Tiberius conversed for a long time with his three guests, and when they left his presence, he turned to his personal secretary and pointed to Jesus. He said, “If I had the royal bearing and elegant manners of that man,” I would be a very gallant emperor.
Gonod had a lot of business to conduct in Rome, and since he wanted his son, Ganid, to gain the necessary experience to worthily succeed him in managing his vast commercial interests, he thought the time had come to introduce his son to the world of business. He asked Ganid to accompany him during his stay in Rome so that his son could learn firsthand all the matters related to his business. This gave Jesus plenty of time to get to know the great city of more than two million people. He was frequently found in the “Roman Forum,” since this place was the main center of political, legal, and commercial life in Rome. And when he was not there, he was dedicated to visiting the numerous libraries that existed throughout the city. In these places, Jesus realized the great spiritual ignorance in which the Roman people were immersed.
At that time, the geographical position of the Roman world included southern Europe, all of Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and northwest Africa. This Roman dominion over all the countries of the eastern hemisphere allowed a diverse group of human races to mix and coexist in the city of Rome. This amalgamation of people within a single city was the main reason why Jesus had decided to make this trip, since his main desire was to study the way of thinking of such a varied group of mortals, as well as to understand the behavior of the different races that coexisted there. Jesus learned a lot by living with such a varied mix of races, but the most valuable of all the experiences he gained during the six months he spent in the city of Rome, was the direct contact he had with the main leaders of the doctrines practiced there.
As well as the great influence he exerted on them so that they would begin to know the existence of only one GOD, since at that time the Romans worshipped several gods.
During his first week, Jesus had contact with the leaders of the main doctrines practiced in Rome, he met with the Cynics, the Stoics, with those who professed the mystery cults, but very particularly with those of the Mithraist cult.
Jesus regardless of whether the Jews accepted or rejected his teachings of spiritual truth, he was certainly already anticipating that the messengers of the kingdom (his apostles) would soon arrive in Rome, therefore he dedicated himself to preparing the way for the best and safest reception of his gospel through those Roman religious leaders
For this reason he selected among men and women; five leaders of the Stoics, eleven leaders of the Cynics, and sixteen of the mystery cults and spent almost six months of his stay in Rome, in close relationship with these teachers and during the time that he imparted his teachings to them he never pointed out the defects and errors of their religious cults and as he was used to doing, Jesus selected the best of those religious doctrines to beautify them with true spiritual teachings.
And in a very short time Jesus with his great teachings of spiritual truth completely displaced the erroneous religious concept that they professed. This early acceptance of the gospel by these religious leaders generated the rapid expansion of Christianity when it arrived in the city, since they would be the main drivers of Christianity within Rome itself. Of all the experiences these leaders had, they never realized that they had been prepared by the founder of Christianity himself.
Jesus’ preparation for these religious leaders was entirely personal, he taught each of them individually and thanks to the fact that these men and women were not tied to the traditions and rituals of a true religion, he was able to quickly carry out this monumental work of spiritual teaching in such a short time. Mardus, the main leader of the Cynics in Rome, became very close friends with Jesus, day after day he talked with him and night after night he listened to his teachings.
In one of the conversations, Mardus asked him about Jesus’ concept of “good and evil,” and he told him the following; My brother, “good and evil” are nothing more than words that symbolize relative levels of human understanding based on the observation of the following values of the material world:
1.- If you are ethically lazy and socially indifferent, you can take as your standard of good the common and current social customs of your time.
2.- If you are spiritually indolent and without any desire for religious progress, you can take as your standard of good the religious practices and traditions that have been instilled in you within the environment in which you develop.
But those who possess such a poor concept of “good” and are unaware of its true meaning will be destined for their soul to be extinguished after death. Since within the spiritual level; the true concept of good, are the spiritual norms that have been established by the divine spirit that the Heavenly Father has sent to reside within the human mind, thus “the concept of good” is that in which man must always be conscious of fulfilling the mandate of perfection that the Father has ordered to all his creatures.
Mardus now with regard to “evil”; from the human point of view, this arises from the observation of the imperfections of human existence and appears projected within a material world of beings and things, and the presence of evil (understand evil as the unconscious error of not complying with the will of the Father) constitutes proof of the imperfections of the human experience and the immaturity of the evolutionary “I.”
“Evil” is also the finite and incomplete concept that the immature mind of the creature has about the spiritual realities of the universe; therefore the true concept of “evil” on the spiritual level, is the measure of man’s imperfection with respect to the interpretation of the different realities that exist in the universe and to conclude Jesus told him the following; Mardus never allow that relative concept of the infinite to disorient you so much that you cannot recognize the universal expression of the eternal realities of the Infinite God. Thus in this way Jesus answered the question that Mardus asked him about “good and evil”.
On another occasion, when Jesus was having a conversation with Nabor, one of the principal leaders of the Mithraist cult, the latter asked him about the meaning of “truth” and “Faith.” Jesus told him the following: the meaning of truth cannot be defined in words; truth is more than knowledge. You will only be able to find meaning in the truth when you “live” it, since the authentic truth (the revealed truth) is the one that transcends the purely material levels to be situated in the spiritual levels and can only be found through the exercise of an authentic “Spiritual Faith”, which by the way also has no definition, since this type of “Faith” will originate through the joint action of the human mind and the divine spirit that resides in it, since this presence of the “Father” in the mind of man constitutes the promise of an eternal existence and divine progression for all souls that through that “Faith” try to achieve the identity of true “spiritual children of God by their Faith”, thus “revealed truth” that is discovered through the experience of that “Spiritual Faith” is the supreme delight of the human soul. Nabor was deeply impressed by Jesus’ teachings, and when the first preachers of the gospel arrived in the future, he played a vital role in the expansion of Christianity within the Roman Empire.
During his stay in Rome, Jesus not only dedicated himself to training these religious leaders, but also dedicated part of his time to increasing his personal ministry by gaining a more intimate knowledge of all the races and types of human beings who lived in the largest and most cosmopolitan city that existed at that time. Because in each of these numerous human contacts, Jesus had a dual purpose: he wanted to know their reactions to the life they were living, and he also had in mind to do something that could spiritually enrich their troubled souls so that they could live more dignified lives. The teachings of spiritual truth that Jesus personally imparted to hundreds of souls with whom he came into contact during his stay in Rome differed in no way from the teachings he proclaimed during his life of preaching in Galilee.
As a general rule** he always directed his “personal ministry” to the burdened, helpless, and depressed mortals, who found relief when they unburdened themselves into Jesus’ understanding and compassionate ear. When these burdened beings told him their problems.
He always offered them practical and useful advice that solved their spiritual problems. Jesus never solved the material problems of men, since his exclusive mission consisted of helping men solve their spiritual problems; so that they would be mentally prepared to solve their multiple material problems.
So it was in this way that Jesus came into effective and edifying contact with some five hundred mortals of the kingdom during his stay in Rome; and at the same time, through this personal contact with such a varied range of ways of thinking, he obtained a greater knowledge of the thoughts and feelings manifested by the different races of humanity, knowledge that he would never have been able to acquire either in Jerusalem or in Alexandria; For this reason I always consider that the “personal ministry” that he developed during his stay in Rome was the most valuable and instructive period of his entire earthly life.
And as was to be expected; A man as wise, prepared and versatile as Jesus could not act like this for six months in the metropolis of the world without going unnoticed, he was approached by many people who wished to obtain his services in relation to some business and more frequently for religious teaching projects or social reform projects, during that time he received more than a dozen such offers and he made use of each one of these to impart some teaching of spiritual aggrandizement, through well-chosen words or through an altruistic service that will be beneficial to all kinds of people.
Let’s pay attention to the following examples: Jesus had a conversation about politics and matters of state with a Roman senator and this single encounter impressed the tribune so much that he spent the rest of his days trying in vain to convince his colleagues to change the course of politics based on the idea of a government that benefited the people more than their own personal interests.
On another occasion, Jesus spent a night conversing with a wealthy slave owner and in this conversation, Jesus told him that all men were equally “children of God.” This merchant named Claudius was so impressed with Jesus’ words that the next day he granted freedom to one hundred and seventeen slaves that he owned.
On another occasion, he met with a Greek physician, and Jesus reminded him that his patients had minds and souls in addition to a physical body, and from then on, this physician provided a more extensive and effective service to all his patients.
Jesus conversed with all kinds of people, from all walks of life and professions. When he was walking with a Roman soldier, he said to him: be brave of heart as you are of arm, dare to do justice but have the fortitude to be merciful, and just as you obey your superiors, make your “lower nature” obey your “higher nature”. Reverence the truth and exalt goodness. Choose goodness instead of evil. Love your fellow man and draw near to God with all your heart, for he is your Heavenly Father.
To the orator in a forum, he said: your eloquence is admirable, the sound of your voice is pleasing, but your teachings do not reflect the truth, for if you could enjoy the inspiring satisfaction of knowing God, which is your Heavenly Father, you would use your ability as a speaker to free your fellow men from the yoke of darkness and the slavery of spiritual ignorance, this speaker was Mark, the one who heard Peter preach in Rome and who later became his successor when Peter was crucified.
Mark was the man who defied his Roman persecutors and boldly continued preaching the new gospel of the kingdom within the city of Rome.
On one occasion, when Jesus and Ganid went to the library, they found a child who was crying inconsolably because he thought he had strayed too far from his home and had gotten lost. He was unaware that his home was just a short distance away. But they both helped the lost child and immediately located the little boy’s home and handed him over to his parents. Ganid would never forget the following comment that Jesus made to him about this event; You know that most human beings are like this lost child, always crying out of fear because of their spiritual ignorance and suffering in sorrow most of the time, unaware that they are only a short distance away from the eternal salvation of their soul. Jesus went on to tell Ganid, Those who know the way of truth and who enjoy the security of knowing God, should consider it a true privilege to offer guidance to their fellow men who are striving to find the true satisfactions of mortal life.
Was it not a sublime satisfaction for us to help that child return to his parents? In the same way, those who lead men to God will experience the sublime satisfaction of serving their fellow men.
On one occasion Jesus and Ganid met a widow with five sons, whose husband had died accidentally and Jesus told Ganid how he too had lost his father in an accident, and for some time both of them were providing comfort to that woman and her children, Ganid also asked his father for money to provide them with clothing and food, as well as to get a job for his eldest son so that he could help support his family, and one night when Gonod heard the chronicle of these events; he said to Jesus, I have decided to make my son a businessman or a scholar, but you make him a philosopher and a Philanthropist and at this expression of Gonod, he answered; Perhaps we can help him achieve those four things and thus Ganid will have fourfold satisfaction in life, because when his ear recognizes “the human melody” (human needs), he will be able to appreciate four tones instead of one, and thus be able to provide better service to his fellow men, to your answer Gonod said to Jesus I realize that you are a great thinker and a magnificent philosopher, you should write a book for future generations, but he replied; my mission is to live a life of “human perfection” that serves as an example for this generation and for all future generations.
Jesus and his two friends for some time made several trips around Rome to visit some places of interest and on one of those trips to the lakes in northern Italy, Jesus had a long conversation with Ganid about the obstacles that arise when trying to talk to a man about GOD when he does not want to know him, and Ganid was very surprised to see that his teacher did not follow his usual practice of engaging in conversation about spiritual matters with a thoughtless pagan they met on the road and when Ganid asked why he showed so little interest in conversing with this pagan, Jesus answered him as follows: this man is not thirsty for truth, he is not ready to ask for help, the eyes of his mind were not open for his soul to receive the light, this man was not ripe for the harvest of salvation, we must give him more time so that the trials and difficulties of life prepare him to receive wisdom and higher knowledge.
Ganid, you cannot reveal God to those who do not seek Him, nor can you lead souls who do not want to be saved to the joy of salvation. Those of us who know God have the task of living in such a way that the “Father” can reveal Himself through our lives, so that those who seek God may seek our help and learn more about Him.
From that day on, Ganid strove to develop a more personal religion; but without realizing it, he and his teacher were already forming a new and lasting religion: “that of bringing God closer to men, as well as that of bringing men closer to God,” that is, “of revealing God to men through the great spiritual teachings of Jesus.”
So after staying for six months in the city of Rome, Jesus and his friends planned their return through the following route: By land they would arrive at Tarentum, where they would set sail for Athens, stopping in Nicopolis and Corinth and upon arriving in Athens they would march to Ephesus via Troas and from there they would sail to Cyprus where they would rest for a few days and then set sail to Antioch and from there they would travel to Sidon, to continue later towards Damascus and from there they would travel with a caravan to Mesopotamia passing through Larissa and from there they would leave for Babylon where they would take a rest to visit the ancient city of Ur and then they would travel to Charas, where Ganid and Gonod would separate from Jesus to embark for India.
When Jesus left Rome, he did not say goodbye to any of his friends and after a year of not hearing from their teacher, the Stoics, Cynics and Mithraists lost hope of seeing him again, and began to form small groups to share the teachings and good memories that Jesus had left them, and they continued meeting for several years until the first preachers of Christianity appeared in Rome, with whom they joined to found the first Christian church in Rome.
One day while they were resting in Tarentum, Ganid asked Jesus his opinion on the caste system that existed in India, and he replied as follows: although within this world mortals establish different types of castes and social classes that make them different from each other; for the spiritual world all human beings are on equal terms.
Before GOD, there are only two groups of mortals: those who, knowing the will of the Father, “are willing to do it” and those who, also knowing it, “are not willing to do it”. Furthermore, within the inhabited worlds, GOD only recognizes two classes of mortals: “Those who, knowing GOD,” behave in a “human and spiritual” manner; and those who, despite knowing him, behave in a “animal and material” manner.
Jesus continued saying; humanity has classified itself from the physical, mental, social and moral point of view, into various types of classes, but when they appear before GOD they all do so on equal terms, since they all equally share the same spiritual endowment. GOD truly has no favorites, and to conclude he said to Ganid; among the spiritual brotherhood of men there should not exist such differences of castes, nor different social classes.
The three travelers after resting in Tarentum, embarked for Nicopolis whose journey lasted longer than expected due to the bad weather that prevailed during the trip, but they took advantage of it in a pleasant way. As they were remembering their experiences in Rome and everything that had happened to them since they began their long journey through the Mediterranean, upon arriving in Nicopolis they stayed there for a few days and from there they sailed to the Roman province of Corinth, Ganid upon arriving in the city asked Jesus to accompany him to a synagogue to learn more about the Jewish religion and took him to the main synagogue of Corinth, where after the religious service they met Crispus the chief rabbi of the temple, with whom they spoke on several occasions during their visits to the synagogue, Jesus and Ganid became great friends with the rabbi and his family, who years later would embrace the Christian religion, Crispus would become one of the pillars of the church that Paul would organize in Corinth, Jesus and Ganid were also often guests of a Jew named Justus who lived next to the synagogue, a place where Paul would stay years later. Who during the two years that he spent preaching, he repeatedly heard Crispus and Justus speak about how they had been taught by a Jew who was the “teacher” of the son of a rich merchant from India; Paul, Justus and Crispus were constantly wondering about who that “that Jewish Teacher” had been so wise and brilliant.
During his stay in Corinth, Jesus held multiple conversations with a large number of people, who obtained great benefit through his teachings, his conversations were with the following people:
To the leader of the Mithraist cult he said; You do well to seek a religion that will give you eternal salvation, but you are wrong to go after that glorious truth through “mysteries invented by man” or through “human philosophies”, do you not know that the mystery of eternal salvation dwells within your own soul? Do you not know that the “eternal God” has sent his divine spirit to live within you? Do you not know that this spirit will guide all lovers of truth and servants of GOD to the heights of eternal glory? and always remember, that those who truly know GOD, will be children of GOD if they truly long to be like him.
To the Epicurean master he said: You do well to choose the best and to know how to appreciate the good, but you can never be wise if you are not able to know the great things of mortal life that are incorporated into the spiritual realms.
For the great truth of all human thought is to come to know the GOD whose spirit lives in you, and who is also the GOD of all creation, the Lord of all universes and “the Father of both”.
To the Greek contractor he said: My friend, just as you build material structures for men; you too must build a spiritual character that resembles the divine fragment of the Father that resides within you, and never let your successes as a builder in the material world surpass your successes as a spirit son in the kingdom of heaven, and also do not forget that in building the temporal mansions of others, you must not forget to secure your title to the mansions of eternity, and you must always remember that there is a city whose foundation is righteousness and truth and whose builder is GOD.
To the boy who was running away he said, Remember there are two things in this life you cannot run away from: GOD and yourself for wherever you go, your self will always go with you, as will the spirit of the Father that dwells within you. My son, do not deceive yourself any longer and do not continue to run away. Have enough courage to face life’s challenges, as well as to hold on to the security of your filiation with GOD and the certainty of eternal life. And according to what I have taught you, from this day forward, resolve to live like a man who has decided to face life with courage and intelligence. During his stay in Corinth, Jesus held many intimate and personal conversations with a large number of hungry souls.
The three travelers remained there for two months, as Corinth was a prosperous commercial center, and Gonod had many business interests in that important Greek city. After Gonod completed his transactions, the three travelers prepared to embark for Athens, “the most ancient and important philosophical and scientific center of the Roman Empire.” There was little business to transact there, and Gonod spent most of the time visiting many sites of general interest in the company of Ganid and Jesus.
There was still a great scientific university flourishing in Athens and the three of them made several visits to its lecture halls, and on one occasion when Jesus heard a speech by an arrogant Greek teacher about science and scientific research, Jesus allowed him to finish his tedious lecture and immediately replied to his intellectual speech as follows: Science is concerned with describing the physical manifestations of the universe, as well as with identifying, analyzing and classifying the segmented portions of the limitless cosmos, but it is only satisfied with primary causes, for that reason “the sciences are only valid within the material world” and are almost reliable when their application is limited to physical things, but none can be considered completely reliable or infallible when applied to the real causes of mortal life. And Jesus went on to say, Take for example the following deduction: arithmetic says that if a man can shear a sheep in ten minutes; then ten men at the same time could shear her in one minute and this is only “a theoretical mathematical truth”, since when put into practice in real life, this “theory is completely erroneous” since if ten men tried to shear her at the same time they would only pile up “one another” and would take longer than the scientific truth says. And this is because science only leads to categorizing men, since mathematics affirms that if a person symbolizes a certain unit of intellectual and moral value, ten people symbolize ten times that value; that is to say that such an association of people is a simple arithmetic sum.
But in real life this mathematical hypothesis does not work, since the association of a group of “human personalities” that work in coordinated harmony, represent a force much greater than the simple sum of the parts.
Thus, when applying science to the real problems that men face in daily life, its hypotheses or theories cannot be considered completely reliable or infallible, since earthly life includes events that are not entirely material and that can only be solved by an authentic religion. Which has the exclusive mission of preparing man to courageously face the real problems of mortal life. True religion is “the supreme gift of evolutionary man”, since it is the only one that can provide us with a broader vision of universal realities, even revealing to us a goal of progressive achievement that goes from the material level to the highest spiritual level of the universe. True religion forges in human beings the self-awareness of the existence of other things, other minds and other spirits and recognizes GOD as the absolute source that originates all universal realities.
When Jesus finished his intervention, everyone was astonished and when he was preparing to leave, the Greek scientist told him: At last my eyes have seen a “Jew” who thinks about something more than racial superiority and who knows how to speak of a religion different from his own.
The stay in Athens was pleasant but not very productive in terms of human contact, since the Athenians of that time were too proud because of the intellectual talent they possessed. After their stay in Athens, the three travelers prepared to take the road that would take them to Ephesus, a Roman province located in Asia Minor, there they visited the temple of the goddess Artemis, who was the most venerated goddess in Asia. Of all the great cities they visited along the Mediterranean, Ephesus was the one where they were least able to prepare the ground for the arrival of future Christian missionaries. Since the cult they practiced there was the oldest in the entire Asian continent, even Paul himself, who worked for several years in Ephesus as a tentmaker, had to make a great effort to establish Christianity in some places in that city.
At the local school of philosophy in Ephesus, Jesus held several interesting conversations with a Greek thinker, and since he repeatedly used the word “soul” throughout those conversations, the Greek asked him to explain the meaning of the word “soul.”
Jesus told him the following; The soul is that part of man that is born simultaneously with the first moral action carried out jointly by the mortal mind with “the divine spirit of the Father” that dwells in it, that nascent soul is self-reflective, possesses the capacity to discern authentic moral values, perceives the presence of the “divine spirit of the Father” and its main characteristic is to forever elevate the human being above the level of the animal world, the soul is that part of man that represents the potential value of mortal survival after life in the flesh.
The soul gives you the capacity to know GOD and provides you with the impulse to try to be like “him”, the soul of man cannot develop if there is no moral thought and constant spiritual activity; therefore an inactive soul is a soul that does not survive mortal death.
Soul conflicts also arise from a lack of harmony between spiritual and intellectual self-awareness. This disharmony leads to the loss of the soul after death. It can only be saved by the self-realization of the moral conscience, which has reached a state of survival through an eternal alliance with its “divine spirit.” So, my friend, describing the soul is difficult, and even more difficult to prove its presence in human beings, since the soul cannot be discovered by scientific methods or spiritual proof.
No material science can prove the existence of the soul, nor can a religion. Although the laws of science and spiritual norms cannot prove the existence of the human soul, “mortals” who have reached a certain degree of communication with their “divine spirit” are morally aware of its existence and its potential for eternal survival.
After their short stay in Ephesus, Jesus and his two friends embarked for Cyprus, and after a long sea voyage, they decided to enjoy a true period of rest and recreation.
During their stay in Cyprus they began to gather provisions to spend several weeks in the mountains, where the three enjoyed a very pleasant two weeks, but suddenly Ganid fell ill with a violent fever that often made him delirious, but Jesus with great tenderness and skill looked after the young man. Ganid was amazed by the delicacy and skill that he showed in caring for his son, but since they were both far from the city and the boy was not in a condition to be transported and they had to manage as best they could so that Ganid could recover his health in the mountains, during his convalescence Ganid and Jesus had long conversations about “the functions of the human mind” and the young man asked him, Master, can you explain to me the sign of why man experiences a higher form of consciousness of himself" than that of the most evolved animal?
Jesus answered him, I have already spoken to you much about the mind of man and the “divine spirit” that resides in it, but now allow me to emphasize: why self-awareness in evolving man is a reality that will constitute him as a potential son of the universe.
The evolution of the mind will derive from a coordination of the functions of “personal energy” and “the material mind” and said coordination is capable of conceiving the presence of the spirit that resides in it. Furthermore, this combination of sensations of energy and matter is what justifies the granting of the “divine spirit of the Father” in the human mind. On the other hand, animals will never be able to possess their own self-awareness; animals only possess a physiological coordination of the association of the recognition of sensations, and the memory of these sensations is what constitutes “the instinct of survival” in the animal, and said instinct will only respond mechanically to stimuli from the environment, for this reason, Ganid, no animal will experience this higher consciousness of itself, and it also allows us to emphasize the following; The self-awareness of the evolving mind that possesses the “divine spirit of the Father” will activate that spiritual reality that will forever differentiate it from the animal mind. Furthermore, that “human mind” will begin very early to manifest qualities that are far superior to those of the most evolved animals.
Thus, the mind that has managed to unify the levels of self-awareness that belong to the human state will dedicate itself entirely to fulfilling “the will of the Heavenly Father.”
But the “human mind” that has been built solely on the basis of the consciousness of physical sensations, and that only develops on the material level, will never be able to reach the spiritual levels required for the soul’s mortal survival, since it will totally lack authentic moral values, nor will it have the spiritual guidance of its divine spirit, a situation that will cause disharmony in its personality, as well as the loss of eternal survival. In this way Ganid received the last teaching of spiritual truth from his “master” since the tour through the Mediterranean was about to come to an end.
After Ganid’s complete recovery, they continued their journey through the mountains until they reached Salamis, where they embarked for Antioch, which was located on the coast of Syria. This city had half a million inhabitants and was the third most important city in the Roman Empire. At this place Gonod had to conduct many business transactions, so Jesus and Ganid had all their time to tour the city.
From that moment on, Jesus remained more serious and thoughtful than on previous occasions, and as they approached Jewish lands, he spoke very little with the people. Ganid, noticing the lack of interest shown by his teacher, dared to ask him the reason for his attitude, and Jesus told him, “Antioch is now very close to Jerusalem; perhaps I will return here someday.”
When Gonod finished his business, they prepared to begin their journey with the camel caravan and left for Sidon and from there they continued on to Damascus. The caravan trip through the desert was not a new experience for these three travelers who had traveled so far.
When Ganid watched how Jesus helped load his twenty camels that transported his property and seeing the way in which he voluntarily offered to drive them, the young man exclaimed, “Teacher, is there anything you don’t know how to do?”
Jesus just smiled saying, the teacher undoubtedly always has merit in the eyes of an intelligent and diligent disciple, and they continued their journey to the city of Ur, the birthplace of the greatest of the Jewish prophets “Abraham”, and they were so fascinated with its ruins and traditions that Ganid and Gonod extended their stay in those regions for three more weeks, in order to give Jesus more time to conclude his investigations and also so that they had more time to persuade him to accompany them to India. Finally the day came when they had to separate; the three acted with fortitude but especially Ganid, since it was a hard test for him to have to separate from his great teacher and friend, there were tears in his eyes, but much courage in his heart and when saying goodbye to his teacher and friend Ganid said; goodbye dear teacher, but not forever, when I return to Damascus I will go looking for you, I love you because I truly believe that “the Father in heaven” must be like you; since at least, I know that you are very similar to what you have told me about him, and I will always remember your teachings but above all I will never forget you. Gonod also said goodbye to Jesus saying; farewell to the “great teacher” who has made us better and who through his great spiritual teachings has helped us to know GOD, and Jesus answered; May peace be with you and may the blessing of the Heavenly Father dwell in us forever, in this way Jesus said goodbye to his two great friends at the port of Charax.
Gonod and Ganid never knew that their beloved teacher was that unknown preacher from Palestine who was crucified on the cross, and although they always recognized the similarity of the teachings of their teacher and friend with the teachings of that strange Jewish teacher, it never occurred to them to think that those two men were the same person.
Ganid eventually became an influential member of Hindu society and a worthy successor to his eminent father, and for many years he spread many of the great spiritual truths he had learned from his beloved Jewish teacher.
After bidding farewell to Gonod and Ganid at the port of Charax, Jesus returned by way of Ur to the city of Babylon, where he joined a caravan bound for Damascus and from there marched to Capernaum, where he stayed for a few hours to visit the family of his friend Zebedee and to meet with his brother James.
who was already living in that city working in the position that Jesus had left vacant in the shipyard, likewise he met with his brother Judah who happened to be in that city and after talking with his brothers, he continued on his way to Nazareth. With the exception of Zebedee and those who met him during his extraordinary journey through the Mediterranean, no one else ever knew of his trip throughout the Roman Empire, even his own family always thought that Jesus was studying in Alexandria.
During his short stay in Nazareth Jesus lived with his family and friends, but he dedicated most of his time to his mother Mary and his sister Ruth, and as time went by living with his family, he was already making plans to begin the next stage of his mortal life, the beginning of his “Public Ministry”.
Thus ends the first stage of Jesus’ mortal life (his personal ministry) to which by the way “scholars of his life” have given little importance by completely ignoring the extraordinary life of human perfection that “the son of man” reached at the age of twenty-nine, period in which he finished his tour throughout the Roman Empire (the world of the Gentiles).
Jesus through the experience acquired through his trip through the Mediterranean, practically completed his knowledge of the way in which mortal man forges his existence on earth, Jesus during his trip that lasted about three years lived closely with hundreds of human beings, met and loved all kinds of men: rich and poor, black and white, learned and ignorant, cultured and uncultured, spiritual and non-spiritual, moral and immoral, righteous or evil, believers and non-believers and all types of races that professed different religions or doctrines.
Jesus during the stage of his "ministry personal», experienced the full range of human emotions, which ranged from the most splendid joy to the deepest sorrow, through his own personal experience he knew; the thoughts and feelings, desires and impulses of mortal men as well as all their sorrows.
Jesus lived his “human life” from the beginnings of the physical “I”, passing through infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth and adult life until the point of reaching the experience of death.
From the spiritual point of view, Jesus lived his life from the bottom up and from beginning to end, he passed through those human periods of intellectual and spiritual advancement, his religious development was gradual and uniform, and through the years he perfected more effective methods of personal communication with his “divine spirit”, until the day when his two minds “the human and the divine” were merged into one.
All this took place when Jesus attained the full experience of living life as it is lived by evolutionary mortals on the material worlds of time and space, even as mortal life is lived on the higher and more advanced worlds of the universe.
“Christ Michael” incarnated as “Christ Jesus” attained full recognition as the sovereign of an entire universe when “the Son of Man” successfully completed his “Personal Ministry” **here on earth at the age of twenty-nine and when, subsequently after his baptism, his “thought adjuster” personalized itself in his presence to signify the successful completion of his bestowal career of creature experience in the universe of his creation.
On the foregoing point, it is important to remember: that it will not be the teachings to his apostles, nor the sermons to the multitudes that will help us understand the divine character and the loving personality of our Universal Father, and this can only be achieved if we are able to fully understand the life of perfection that Jesus lived within his “family and social” environment (his personal ministry) until the age of twenty-nine. (UB 140:9.1-2).
By the end of his journey throughout the Roman Empire, Jesus already knew with complete certainty that he was a true “spiritual Son of GOD” who was destined to reveal the “Heavenly Father” to men, as well as the sublime task of living a “life of human perfection” to the complete satisfaction of the “Universal Father”.
Jesus’ devotion to submit to “the will of the Father”, as well as dedicating his life to the service of the brotherhood of man, was a total consecration of himself to the bestowal of unreserved love upon the “Heavenly Father” and upon “his fellow men”. Jesus came down from above not only as GOD, but also as man, he belongs to men, men belong to him.
But it is a real shame that the Christian religion from its very beginning, took away from troubled mortals the “Human Jesus”, and based its preaching on the crucified Jesus and the resurrected Christ.
And it is sad to know that after two thousand years; Christianity continues to fail to preach about the exemplary life of “human perfection” that Jesus lived during his “personal ministry,” since during that period, Jesus showed humanity the new path of “mortal life” that human beings who wish to achieve immortal survival must travel. UB 34:7.6
But such was the enthusiasm of his first disciples, that against the will of his Master not to create any type of religion through his teachings; They, after the death of Jesus, dared to found a new religion that from its origin downplayed the exemplary “personal life” that their teacher lived during his days in the flesh, since “the gospels that his disciples and followers wrote” and on which “the foundations of Christianity” rest, only gave importance to the “glorious resurrected Christ” and in their writings they lost sight of the “human Jesus.”
To that brave and fighting carpenter who lived in Nazareth, who through his “invincible faith” and under the spiritual guidance of his “divine adjuster,” ascended from the lowest level of mortal existence to reach the heights of eternal glory to become one with “divinity” and thus become that “new living way” by which all mortals will be able to rise from “the human to the divine,” just as the mortal Jesus came to demonstrate to us through his resurrection.
His first disciples and followers, among whom are the authors of the modified gospel of Jesus, they believed with complete certainty in the immediate return of the resurrected and glorified Jesus, so that through his divinity, he would achieve the consummation of his heavenly kingdom here on earth.
And it was precisely this “belief” that was responsible for the evangelists omitting from their writings (the gospels) those events that portrayed the purely human experiences and attributes of Jesus. And it is a shame that his disciples failed to found a religion capable of unifying the “human nature” and the “divine nature” of Jesus, just as they were inseparably united during the course of his earthly life.
It is important that we begin to rescue from oblivion the “true gospel” of Jesus, which is founded on the “personal religious” experience of the master (that of fulfilling the will of the Father). It is time for the glorious figure of the “human Jesus” to be known and for his followers to no longer continue to “crucify” him.
It is time to resurrect the “mortal Jesus” from the tomb of Christian dogmas that have accumulated for more than two thousand years; since the Christian community, upon learning of this fact, would surely not hesitate to immediately make those “adjustments of faith” required to lead a “life of authentic religious devotion.”
It is important to clarify that we can never aspire to live the same life of “religious devotion” that Jesus lived during the course of his earthly life, since he did not come to this world for us to imitate his exemplary life of human perfection, he came to show humanity the existence of a new path of mortal life, which can be walked by men and women who dare to depend solely on the teachings of his “true gospel”.
Jesus lived his life in the flesh through the ministry of “the divine mercy” of his Heavenly Father, the same life that we can live if we also accept the “divine mercy” of our Father in heaven.
**Jesus lived his mortal life “in his day” and as “he was”, just as we must live our life in “our day” and “as we are”, however what we must imitate from Jesus; It is that new and elevated “living faith” that he showed before GOD, which always dominated, “his thoughts and feelings,” “his beliefs and prayers,” “his teachings and his preaching.”
** Thus the “human Jesus”; the one that Christianity set aside, brought before GOD the greatest offering that one of his “mortal children” can give him, “the dedication and consecration” to the majestic service of fulfilling “the divine will” of GOD.
¶ “THAT OF BEING PERFECT AS THE GOD-FATHER IS PERFECT”
Thus ends the summary of that almost unknown and little-studied stage of life that Jesus lived during the course of his earthly life “his Personal Ministry.” The story described above lets us know the most outstanding events that Jesus lived within his family and social environment during his first twenty-nine years of age. This narrative of “the life and teachings of Jesus” is part of chapter four of THE URANTIA BOOK.
It is pertinent to make the following clarification: “The Urantia Book” is not part of a new religion nor does it form sects, nor is it a book of religious theology that contains any dogma, its content, despite covering various scientific and religious knowledge, is not at odds with any scientific or religious teaching, its content simply expands on what has already been written or known by; religions, physics, astronomy, anthropology, sociology and philosophy.
Since the exclusive purpose of THE URANTIA BOOK is that through careful reading that men and women do of its content, we are able to expand that cosmic consciousness that we all possess and thus be able to elevate our spiritual perception through the guidance of that divine fragment of GOD that resides in our evolutionary mind “the Thought Adjuster”.
THANK YOU BROTHERS