© 2001 Ken Glasziou
© 2001 The Brotherhood of Man Library
A few days ago, I was rummaging through my bookshelf and noticed that my old King James version of the Bible had a small number of pages that, through wear and tear, stood dog-eared out from the remainder. On checking, the battered pages commenced at the Gospel of Matthew and progressed into that of Mark. The first of these worn pages started at Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount.
This particular Bible was one in which the spoken word of Jesus was picked out in red ink. I recalled that for about twenty years of my life, during the period prior to receiving a copy of The Urantia Book, I had read little else in the Bible than the red-ink components of the Gospel of Matthew.
Jesus told the apostles that he was concerned only with the principles of man’s inner and personal spiritual (UB 140:8.9)
And so it was revealed that the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount are based on faith and love, and not on law—ethics and duty. (UB 140:5.23)
Another recollection that came to mind was my puzzlement that so many church leaders acknowledged that the Sermon on the Mount was a fine piece of ethics but nevertheless felt it had little to do with the Christian religion. For me, it was the heart and soul of Jesus spoken word. Comb the literature of mankind and even today it remains true—no other man ever spoke like this.
The Urantia Book was given to me around 1970 with a request for my opinion on its content. By habit, I did not start reading at the beginning but simply opened at random and skipped through its pages to try and get a feeling for what the book was about. I recalled that the random selection procedure had come to an end at the Ordination Sermon when I recognized that much of Paper 140 was almost word for word from the Gospel of Matthew. From that point onwards, I read straight through to the end of the book.
This last recollection stimulated another response. I picked up my copy of Big Blue, went to the paper on the Ordination, and soon confirmed that it really is the very heart and soul of Jesus’ life and teaching:
“The teaching of Jesus is a religion for everybody. . . His life and teachings were bequeathed the universe as an inspirational and idealistic inheritance suitable for the spiritual guidance and moral instruction of all ages on all worlds. And even today, Jesus’ teaching stands apart from all religions, as such, albeit it is the living hope of every one of them.” (UB 140:8.29)
“It was not apparent to the apostles that their Master was engaged in living a life of spiritual inspiration for every person of every age on every world of a far-flung universe. Notwithstanding what Jesus told them from time to time, the apostles did not grasp the idea that he was doing a work on this world but for all other worlds in his vast creation. Jesus lived his earth life on Urantia, not to set a personal example of mortal living for the men and women of this world, but rather to create a high spiritual and inspirational ideal for all mortal beings on all worlds.” (UB 140:10.3)
“No wonder these apostles did not fully comprehend the Master’s words, for he was projecting to them the plan of a new age.” (UB 141:7.15)
Yes, the life and teachings of Jesus, as conveyed in those red ink sections of my Matthew’s Gospel, have been available to Christianity for the best part of 2000 years. For the whole of that period mankind has been blessed with truth of Jesus’ living revelation of the real nature of our Father-God. Yet so few have really understood.
Something else caught my eye. The author of this Paper on the ordination is claiming that what is being revealed is not only suitable for the spiritual guidance of Urantians, but is intended for the creation of a spiritual and inspirational ideal for all mortals on all worlds in our universe!
If we were to postulate that the papers are fraudulent, would this not be an outrageous proposal for any human author to make—that what is presented is an inspirational and idealistic inheritance suitable for the spiritual guidance and moral instruction of all ages on all worlds?
But not only does the writer make this extraordinary claim, he actually succeeds in fulfilling it!
Another point I noticed about this presentation is that rarely are opinions expressed. Dominantly what we are given is authoritative, as if it had come directly from Jesus. In this ordination sermon and the subsequent question and answer discussions, the Master was truly “projecting the plan of a new age.” Surely it must be important?
Prior to exiting these meanderings of the mind through the “dreamtime,” one more question arose from who-knows-where. What would the effect have been if fire had fortuitously destroyed all but one of the Urantia Papers prior to their publication? Which one would I hope it to be? The answer to such a question may vary according to the prior experience of the individual. For myself, if only one Paper could survive, my choice would have to be the one covering the ordination.
Courage was the very heart of Jesus teachings. “Fear not” was his watchword and patient endurance his ideal of strength of character. (UB 140:8.20)
Have faith—confidence in the eventual triumph of divine justice and eternal goodness. (UB 140:8.8)
The sermon starts with what have long been known as “the beatitudes” from Matthew 5. In the Urantia Paper these beatitudes are collected into two groups of four, with explanations for each one being appended.
Obviously the revelators had difficulties with translating the exact meaning of the original sermon—one which would have been delivered to a group of puzzled fisherfolk in the vernacular of the Aramaic tongue of Galilee.
Various biblical translations provide an example of the problem in that translators tend to commence each of the beatitudes exclusively with either the word “happy,” or else with “blessed.” A check provided in excess of 25 words of similar meaning that could have been used—and given quite different meanings to the actual text. Here the meaning of the original Aramaic is taken to be that provided by the revelators’ explanations.
With their first group of four beatitudes, the revelators inform us that Jesus was calling attention to special faith attitudes that his potential followers would need to develop in order to bring to fruition Jesus’ real intention for the second group of four—a “fatherly” rather than a “brotherly” approach to loving our neighbor.
The “faith” group of beatitudes is meant to engender in us humans the kind of divine selflessness that will allow us to exercise a “fatherly” love far transcending normal human love. Included is an attitude of spirit that is neither pompous nor egotistical. Rather, it is one of dignified humility but lacking any semblance to either self-assertiveness or servile obeisance.
Only those possessing such humility are likely to “hunger after the righteousness” that generates the quality of humility allowing the revelation of true spiritual strength and spiritual power.
The attitude termed “meekness” is seen as one of mankind cooperating with God in a way that develops patience and forbearance, amplified by a motivating force of unshakeable faith in a lawful and friendly universe.
The last of the “faith” group of the beatitudes is one of being “pure in heart.” It is described as lacking in suspicion and revenge, a love that does not pamper, an attitude that is always anti-cynical, having singleness of purpose in always looking for the best in our fellows, and possessing the kind of faith that a true parent has in a child.
This first group is meant to help us to “see God by faith,” to acquire the spiritual insight that enhances Adjuster guidance, to augment God-consciousness, and to confirm our faith that we are beloved children of God. With all this well developed, human beings of both sexes are enabled to love their neighbor with the “fatherly” aspect of love that is much more concerned with the ultimate spiritual progress of our fellows than with their quota of material comfort in this world.
The Papers inform us that when we depart for the mansion worlds, our soul is what survives from mortal life. But the worldly experiences that contributed to the building of that soul consist only in those experiences that were adjudged by our Thought Adjuster to have spiritual meaning and value. (UB 112:5.22) Which is why “fatherly love” must be more concerned with helping to build the soul of our neighbor rather than with satisfying mere material needs.
Fatherly love delights in returning good for evil—doing good in retaliation for injustice. (UB 140:5.24)
Lay not up treasures on earth, but by you unselfish service lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. (UB 140:6.11)
The four components of the “fatherly love” group of beatitudes are the emotional attitudes of tender-heartedness, mercy, peace-loving, and attitudes to hardship. Tender-heartedness relates to being sensitive and responsive to human need, particularly those real needs of the soul and safeguarding it from the destructiveness of anger, hate, and suspicion.
Mercy is an unselfish attitude of loving kindness that is concerned with the spiritual progress of its recipient.
Conflict is the opposite of peace. It is primarily generated by greed for power and material wealth. Secondarily, conflict arises from fear—the fear of losing what we already possess.
Peace of the individual is generated by faith, the kind of personal faith and complete trust in the overcare of God that led Jesus to assert his absolute belief that no real harm could befall him—despite all appearances to the contrary and anything his enemies might do.
We could only have the degree of faith and trust that Jesus displayed if we can view our present life from the context of an eternal future career. But this way of perceiving ourselves as peacemakers concerns only our persons. When faced with the situation of harm being inflicted upon the defenseless, Jesus was not a starry eyed-pacifist. The courage to defend the defenseless is not lacking in the peacemaker.
The last of the four beatitudes relates to our attitude to persecution “for righteousness’ sake,” for which the supreme demonstration is Jesus’ bearing of the cross.
The beatitudes and the ordination discussion point the way for preparing ourselves as would-be disciples of Jesus having the eventual role of becoming living examples of what God’s love is really like—a conclusion amply illustrated in Jesus’ post resurrection address to followers at Alexandria:
“This gospel of the kingdom belongs to both Jew and gentile, to rich and poor, to free and bond, to male and female, even to the little children. You are all to proclaim this gospel of love and truth by the lives which you live in the flesh. You shall love one another with a new and startling affection, even as I have loved you. You will serve mankind with a new and amazing devotion, even as I have served you. And when men see you so love them, and when they behold how fervently you serve them, they will perceive that you have become faith-fellows of the kingdom of heaven, and they will follow after the Spirit of Truth which they see in your lives, to the finding of eternal salvation.” (UB 191:6.2)
Jesus’ plan for a new age is succinctly summarized in the ordination sermon. It is about multitudes of his followers actually dedicating their own lives in an endeavor to becoming living spiritual examples of the way in which Jesus lived his earthly life—a perfected revelation of the true nature of our Universal Father as it is comprehensible by man.
The ordination sermon and the explanations that follow it present the plan. The remainder of the Urantia revelation is merely subsidiary to this task—dominantly being an aid to our understanding and providing a universe frame in which we can think (UB 115:1.1).
This comment is found just after the sermon.
“Without a worthy goal, life becomes aimless and unprofitable, and much unhappiness results. Jesus’ discourse at the ordination of the twelve constitutes a master philosophy of life.” (UB 140:4.9) The ordination sermon follows in full.
You must remember that you are my messengers; you are beholden to live your lives as I have, in spirit, lived mine. (UB 140:6.8)