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145:0.1 Jesus and the apostles arrived in Capernaum the evening of Tuesday, January 13.
As usual, they made their headquarters at the home of Zebedee in Bethsaida.
Now that John the Baptist had been sent to his death, Jesus prepared to launch out in the first open and public preaching tour of Galilee.
The news that Jesus had returned rapidly spread throughout the city, and early the next day, Mary the mother of Jesus hastened away, going over to Nazareth to visit her son Joseph.
145:0.2 Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday Jesus spent at the Zebedee house instructing his apostles preparatory to their first extensive public preaching tour.
He also received and taught many earnest inquirers, both singly and in groups.
Through Andrew, he arranged to speak in the synagogue on the coming Sabbath day.
145:0.3 Late on Friday evening Jesus' baby sister, Ruth, secretly paid him a visit.
They spent almost an hour together in a boat anchored a short distance from the shore.
No human being, save John Zebedee, ever knew of this visit, and he was admonished to tell no man.
Ruth was the only member of Jesus' family who consistently and unwaveringly believed in the divinity of his earth mission from the times of her earliest spiritual consciousness right on down through his eventful ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension; and she finally passed on to the worlds beyond never having doubted the supernatural character of her father-brother's mission in the flesh.
Baby Ruth was the chief comfort of Jesus, as regards his earth family, throughout the trying ordeal of his trial, rejection, and crucifixion.
145:1.1 On Friday morning of this same week, when Jesus was teaching by the seaside, the people crowded him so near the water's edge that he signaled to some fishermen occupying a near-by boat to come to his rescue.
Entering the boat, he continued to teach the assembled multitude for more than two hours.
This boat was named "Simon"; it was the former fishing vessel of Simon Peter and had been built by Jesus' own hands.
On this particular morning the boat was being used by David Zebedee and two associates, who had just come in near shore from a fruitless night of fishing on the lake.
They were cleaning and mending their nets when Jesus requested them to come to his assistance.
145:1.2 After Jesus had finished teaching the people, he said to David: "As you were delayed by coming to my help, now let me work with you.
Let us go fishing; put out into yonder deep and let down your nets for a draught."
But Simon, one of David's assistants, answered: "Master, it is useless.
We toiled all night and took nothing; however, at your bidding we will put out and let down the nets."
And Simon consented to follow Jesus' directions because of a gesture made by his master, David.
When they had proceeded to the place designated by Jesus, they let down their nets and enclosed such a multitude of fish that they feared the nets would break, so much so that they signaled to their associates on the shore to come to their assistance.
When they had filled all three boats with fish, almost to sinking, this Simon fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, Master, for I am a sinful man."
Simon and all who were concerned in this episode were amazed at the draught of fishes.
From that day David Zebedee, this Simon, and their associates forsook their nets and followed Jesus.
145:1.3 But this was in no sense a miraculous draught of fishes.
Jesus was a close student of nature; he was an experienced fisherman and knew the habits of the fish in the Sea of Galilee.
On this occasion he merely directed these men to the place where the fish were usually to be found at this time of day.
But Jesus' followers always regarded this as a miracle.
145:2.1 The next Sabbath, at the afternoon service in the synagogue, Jesus preached his sermon on "The Will of the Father in Heaven."
In the morning Simon Peter had preached on "The Kingdom."
At the Thursday evening meeting of the synagogue Andrew had taught, his subject being "The New Way."
At this particular time more people believed in Jesus in Capernaum than in any other one city on earth.
145:2.2 As Jesus taught in the synagogue this Sabbath afternoon, according to custom he took the first text from the law, reading from the Book of Exodus: "And you shall serve the Lord, your God, and he shall bless your bread and your water, and all sickness shall be taken away from you."
He chose the second text from the Prophets, reading from Isaiah: "Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
Darkness may cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the spirit of the Lord shall arise upon you, and the divine glory shall be seen with you.
Even the gentiles shall come to this light, and many great minds shall surrender to the brightness of this light."
145:2.3 This sermon was an effort on Jesus' part to make clear the fact that religion is a personal experience.
Among other things, the Master said:
145:2.4 "You well know that, while a kindhearted father loves his family as a whole, he so regards them as a group because of his strong affection for each individual member of that family.
No longer must you approach the Father in heaven as a child of Israel but as a child of God. As a group, you are indeed the children of Israel, but as individuals, each one of you is a child of God.
I have come, not to reveal the Father to the children of Israel, but rather to bring this knowledge of God and the revelation of his love and mercy to the individual believer as a genuine personal experience.
The prophets have all taught you that Yahweh cares for his people, that God loves Israel.
But I have come among you to proclaim a greater truth, one which many of the later prophets also grasped, that God loves you -- every one of you -- as individuals.
All these generations have you had a national or racial religion; now have I come to give you a personal religion.
145:2.5 "But even this is not a new idea.
Many of the spiritually minded among you have known this truth, inasmuch as some of the prophets have so instructed you.
Have you not read in the Scriptures where the Prophet Jeremiah says: `In those days they shall no more say, the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge.
Every man shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
Behold, the days shall come when I will make a new covenant with my people, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, but according to the new way.
I will even write my law in their hearts.
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
In that day they shall not say, one man to his neighbor, do you know the Lord? Nay!
For they shall all know me personally, from the least to the greatest.'
145:2.6 "Have you not read these promises?
Do you not believe the Scriptures?
Do you not understand that the prophet's words are fulfilled in what you behold this very day?
And did not Jeremiah exhort you to make religion an affair of the heart, to relate yourselves to God as individuals?
Did not the prophet tell you that the God of heaven would search your individual hearts?
And were you not warned that the natural human heart is deceitful above all things and oftentimes desperately wicked?
145:2.7 "Have you not read also where Ezekiel taught even your fathers that religion must become a reality in your individual experiences?
No more shall you use the proverb which says, `The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge.'
`As I live,' says the Lord God, `behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son.
Only the soul that sins shall die.'
And then Ezekiel foresaw even this day when he spoke in behalf of God, saying: `A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.'
145:2.8 "No more should you fear that God will punish a nation for the sin of an individual; neither will the Father in heaven punish one of his believing children for the sins of a nation, albeit the individual member of any family must often suffer the material consequences of family mistakes and group transgressions.
Do you not realize that the hope of a better nation -- or a better world -- is bound up in the progress and enlightenment of the individual?"
145:2.9 Then the Master portrayed that the Father in heaven, after man discerns this spiritual freedom, wills that his children on earth should begin that eternal ascent of the Paradise career which consists in the creature's conscious response to the divine urge of the indwelling spirit to find the Creator, to know God and to seek to become like him.
145:2.10 The apostles were greatly helped by this sermon.
All of them realized more fully that the gospel of the kingdom is a message directed to the individual, not to the nation.
145:2.11 Even though the people of Capernaum were familiar with Jesus' teaching, they were astonished at his sermon on this Sabbath day.
He taught, indeed, as one having authority and not as the scribes.
145:2.12 Just as Jesus finished speaking, a young man in the congregation who had been much agitated by his words was seized with a violent epileptic attack and loudly cried out.
At the end of the seizure, when recovering consciousness, he spoke in a dreamy state, saying: "What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth?
You are the holy one of God; have you come to destroy us?"
Jesus bade the people be quiet and, taking the young man by the hand, said, "Come out of it" -- and he was immediately awakened.
145:2.13 This young man was not possessed of an unclean spirit or demon; he was a victim of ordinary epilepsy.
But he had been taught that his affliction was due to possession by an evil spirit.
He believed this teaching and behaved accordingly in all that he thought or said concerning his ailment.
The people all believed that such phenomena were directly caused by the presence of unclean spirits.
Accordingly they believed that Jesus had cast a demon out of this man.
But Jesus did not at that time cure his epilepsy.
Not until later on that day, after sundown, was this man really healed.
Long after the day of Pentecost the Apostle John, who was the last to write of Jesus' doings, avoided all reference to these so-called acts of "casting out devils," and this he did in view of the fact that such cases of demon possession never occurred after Pentecost.
145:2.14 As a result of this commonplace incident the report was rapidly spread through Capernaum that Jesus had cast a demon out of a man and miraculously healed him in the synagogue at the conclusion of his afternoon sermon.
The Sabbath was just the time for the rapid and effective spreading of such a startling rumor.
This report was also carried to all the smaller settlements around Capernaum, and many of the people believed it.
145:2.15 The cooking and the housework at the large Zebedee home, where Jesus and the twelve made their headquarters, was for the most part done by Simon Peter's wife and her mother.
Peter's home was near that of Zebedee; and Jesus and his friends stopped there on the way from the synagogue because Peter's wife's mother had for several days been sick with chills and fever.
Now it chanced that, at about the time Jesus stood over this sick woman, holding her hand, smoothing her brow, and speaking words of comfort and encouragement, the fever left her.
Jesus had not yet had time to explain to his apostles that no miracle had been wrought at the synagogue; and with this incident so fresh and vivid in their minds, and recalling the water and the wine at Cana, they seized upon this coincidence as another miracle, and some of them rushed out to spread the news abroad throughout the city.
145:2.16 Amatha, Peter's mother-in-law, was suffering from malarial fever.
She was not miraculously healed by Jesus at this time.
Not until several hours later, after sundown, was her cure effected in connection with the extraordinary event which occurred in the front yard of the Zebedee home.
145:2.17 And these cases are typical of the manner in which a wonder-seeking generation and a miracle-minded people unfailingly seized upon all such coincidences as the pretext for proclaiming that another miracle had been wrought by Jesus.
145:3.1 By the time Jesus and his apostles had made ready to partake of their evening meal near the end of this eventful Sabbath day, all Capernaum and its environs were agog over these reputed miracles of healing; and all who were sick or afflicted began preparations to go to Jesus or to have themselves carried there by their friends just as soon as the sun went down.
According to Jewish teaching it was not permissible even to go in quest of health during the sacred hours of the Sabbath.
145:3.2 Therefore, as soon as the sun sank beneath the horizon, scores of afflicted men, women, and children began to make their way toward the Zebedee home in Bethsaida.
One man started out with his paralyzed daughter just as soon as the sun sank behind his neighbor's house.
145:3.3 The whole day's events had set the stage for this extraordinary sundown scene.
Even the text Jesus had used for his afternoon sermon had intimated that sickness should be banished; and he had spoken with such unprecedented power and authority!
His message was so compelling!
While he made no appeal to human authority, he did speak directly to the consciences and souls of men.
Though he did not resort to logic, legal quibbles, or clever sayings, he did make a powerful, direct, clear, and personal appeal to the hearts of his hearers.
145:3.4 That Sabbath was a great day in the earth life of Jesus, yes, in the life of a universe. To all local universe intents and purposes the little Jewish city of Capernaum was the real capital of Nebadon. The handful of Jews in the Capernaum synagogue were not the only beings to hear that momentous closing statement of Jesus' sermon: "Hate is the shadow of fear; revenge the mask of cowardice." Neither could his hearers forget his blessed words, declaring, "Man is the son of God, not a child of the devil."
145:3.5 Soon after the setting of the sun, as Jesus and the apostles still lingered about the supper table, Peter's wife heard voices in the front yard and, on going to the door, saw a large company of sick folks assembling, and that the road from Capernaum was crowded by those who were on their way to seek healing at Jesus' hands.
On seeing this sight, she went at once and informed her husband, who told Jesus.
145:3.6 When the Master stepped out of the front entrance of Zebedee's house, his eyes met an array of stricken and afflicted humanity.
He gazed upon almost one thousand sick and ailing human beings; at least that was the number of persons gathered together before him.
Not all present were afflicted; some had come assisting their loved ones in this effort to secure healing.
145:3.7 The sight of these afflicted mortals, men, women, and children, suffering in large measure as a result of the mistakes and misdeeds of his own trusted Sons of universe administration, peculiarly touched the human heart of Jesus and challenged the divine mercy of this benevolent Creator Son.
But Jesus well knew he could never build an enduring spiritual movement upon the foundation of purely material wonders.
It had been his consistent policy to refrain from exhibiting his creator prerogatives.
Not since Cana had the supernatural or miraculous attended his teaching; still, this afflicted multitude touched his sympathetic heart and mightily appealed to his understanding affection.
145:3.8 A voice from the front yard exclaimed: "Master, speak the word, restore our health, heal our diseases, and save our souls."
No sooner had these words been uttered than a vast retinue of seraphim, physical controllers, Life Carriers, and midwayers, such as always attended this incarnated Creator of a universe, made themselves ready to act with creative power should their Sovereign give the signal.
This was one of those moments in the earth career of Jesus in which divine wisdom and human compassion were so interlocked in the judgment of the Son of Man that he sought refuge in appeal to his Father's will.
145:3.9 When Peter implored the Master to heed their cry for help, Jesus, looking down upon the afflicted throng, answered: "I have come into the world to reveal the Father and establish his kingdom.
For this purpose have I lived my life to this hour.
If, therefore, it should be the will of Him who sent me and not inconsistent with my dedication to the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, I would desire to see my children made whole -- and -- " but the further words of Jesus were lost in the tumult.
145:3.10 Jesus had passed the responsibility of this healing decision to the ruling of his Father.
Evidently the Father's will interposed no objection, for the words of the Master had scarcely been uttered when the assembly of celestial personalities serving under the command of Jesus' Personalized Thought Adjuster was mightily astir.
The vast retinue descended into the midst of this motley throng of afflicted mortals, and in a moment of time 683 men, women, and children were made whole, were perfectly healed of all their physical diseases and other material disorders.
Such a scene was never witnessed on earth before that day, nor since.
And for those of us who were present to behold this creative wave of healing, it was indeed a thrilling spectacle.
145:3.11 But of all the beings who were astonished at this sudden and unexpected outbreak of supernatural healing, Jesus was the most surprised. In a moment when his human interests and sympathies were focused upon the scene of suffering and affliction there spread out before him, he neglected to bear in his human mind the admonitory warnings of his Personalized Adjuster regarding the impossibility of limiting the time element of the creator prerogatives of a Creator Son under certain conditions and in certain circumstances. Jesus desired to see these suffering mortals made whole if his Father's will would not thereby be violated. The Personalized Adjuster of Jesus instantly ruled that such an act of creative energy at that time would not transgress the will of the Paradise Father, and by such a decision -- in view of Jesus' preceding expression of healing desire -- the creative act was. What a Creator Son desires and his Father wills IS. Not in all of Jesus' subsequent earth life did another such en masse physical healing of mortals take place.
145:3.12 As might have been expected, the fame of this sundown healing at Bethsaida in Capernaum spread throughout all Galilee and Judea and to the regions beyond.
Once more were the fears of Herod aroused, and he sent watchers to report on the work and teachings of Jesus and to ascertain if he was the former carpenter of Nazareth or John the Baptist risen from the dead.
145:3.13 Chiefly because of this unintended demonstration of physical healing, henceforth, throughout the remainder of his earth career, Jesus became as much a physician as a preacher.
True, he continued his teaching, but his personal work consisted mostly in ministering to the sick and the distressed, while his apostles did the work of public preaching and baptizing believers.
145:3.14 But the majority of those who were recipients of supernatural or creative physical healing at this sundown demonstration of divine energy were not permanently spiritually benefited by this extraordinary manifestation of mercy.
A small number were truly edified by this physical ministry, but the spiritual kingdom was not advanced in the hearts of men by this amazing eruption of timeless creative healing.
145:3.15 The healing wonders which every now and then attended Jesus' mission on earth were not a part of his plan of proclaiming the kingdom.
They were incidentally inherent in having on earth a divine being of well-nigh unlimited creator prerogatives in association with an unprecedented combination of divine mercy and human sympathy.
But such so-called miracles gave Jesus much trouble in that they provided prejudice-raising publicity and afforded much unsought notoriety.
145:4.1 Throughout the evening following this great outburst of healing, the rejoicing and happy throng overran Zebedee's home, and the apostles of Jesus were keyed up to the highest pitch of emotional enthusiasm.
From a human standpoint, this was probably the greatest day of all the great days of their association with Jesus.
At no time before or after did their hopes surge to such heights of confident expectation.
Jesus had told them only a few days before, and when they were yet within the borders of Samaria, that the hour had come when the kingdom was to be proclaimed in power, and now their eyes had seen what they supposed was the fulfillment of that promise.
They were thrilled by the vision of what was to come if this amazing manifestation of healing power was just the beginning.
Their lingering doubts of Jesus' divinity were banished.
They were literally intoxicated with the ecstasy of their bewildered enchantment.
145:4.2 But when they sought for Jesus, they could not find him.
The Master was much perturbed by what had happened.
These men, women, and children who had been healed of diverse diseases lingered late into the evening, hoping for Jesus' return that they might thank him.
The apostles could not understand the Master's conduct as the hours passed and he remained in seclusion; their joy would have been full and perfect but for his continued absence.
When Jesus did return to their midst, the hour was late, and practically all of the beneficiaries of the healing episode had gone to their homes.
Jesus refused the congratulations and adoration of the twelve and the others who had lingered to greet him, only saying: "Rejoice not that my Father is powerful to heal the body, but rather that he is mighty to save the soul.
Let us go to our rest, for tomorrow we must be about the Father's business."
145:4.3 And again did twelve disappointed, perplexed, and heart-sorrowing men go to their rest; few of them, except the twins, slept much that night.
No sooner would the Master do something to cheer the souls and gladden the hearts of his apostles, than he seemed immediately to dash their hopes in pieces and utterly to demolish the foundations of their courage and enthusiasm.
As these bewildered fishermen looked into each other's eyes, there was but one thought: "We cannot understand him.
What does all this mean?"
145:5.1 Neither did Jesus sleep much that Saturday night.
He realized that the world was filled with physical distress and overrun with material difficulties, and he contemplated the great danger of being compelled to devote so much of his time to the care of the sick and afflicted that his mission of establishing the spiritual kingdom in the hearts of men would be interfered with or at least subordinated to the ministry of things physical.
Because of these and similar thoughts which occupied the mortal mind of Jesus during the night, he arose that Sunday morning long before daybreak and went all alone to one of his favorite places for communion with the Father.
The theme of Jesus' prayer on this early morning was for wisdom and judgment that he might not allow his human sympathy, joined with his divine mercy, to make such an appeal to him in the presence of mortal suffering that all of his time would be occupied with physical ministry to the neglect of the spiritual.
Though he did not wish altogether to avoid ministering to the sick, he knew that he must also do the more important work of spiritual teaching and religious training.
145:5.2 Jesus went out in the hills to pray so many times because there were no private rooms suitable for his personal devotions.
145:5.3 Peter could not sleep that night; so, very early, shortly after Jesus had gone out to pray, he aroused James and John, and the three went to find their Master.
After more than an hour's search they found Jesus and besought him to tell them the reason for his strange conduct.
They desired to know why he appeared to be troubled by the mighty outpouring of the spirit of healing when all the people were overjoyed and his apostles so much rejoiced.
145:5.4 For more than four hours Jesus endeavored to explain to these three apostles what had happened.
He taught them about what had transpired and explained the dangers of such manifestations.
Jesus confided to them the reason for his coming forth to pray.
He sought to make plain to his personal associates the real reasons why the kingdom of the Father could not be built upon wonder-working and physical healing.
But they could not comprehend his teaching.
145:5.5 Meanwhile, early Sunday morning, other crowds of afflicted souls and many curiosity seekers began to gather about the house of Zebedee.
They clamored to see Jesus.
Andrew and the apostles were so perplexed that, while Simon Zelotes talked to the assembly, Andrew, with several of his associates, went to find Jesus.
When Andrew had located Jesus in company with the three, he said: "Master, why do you leave us alone with the multitude?
Behold, all men seek you; never before have so many sought after your teaching.
Even now the house is surrounded by those who have come from near and far because of your mighty works.
Will you not return with us to minister to them?"
145:5.6 When Jesus heard this, he answered: "Andrew, have I not taught you and these others that my mission on earth is the revelation of the Father, and my message the proclamation of the kingdom of heaven?
How is it, then, that you would have me turn aside from my work for the gratification of the curious and for the satisfaction of those who seek for signs and wonders?
Have we not been among these people all these months, and have they flocked in multitudes to hear the good news of the kingdom?
Why have they now come to besiege us?
Is it not because of the healing of their physical bodies rather than as a result of the reception of spiritual truth for the salvation of their souls?
When men are attracted to us because of extraordinary manifestations, many of them come seeking not for truth and salvation but rather in quest of healing for their physical ailments and to secure deliverance from their material difficulties.
145:5.7 "All this time I have been in Capernaum, and both in the synagogue and by the seaside have I proclaimed the good news of the kingdom to all who had ears to hear and hearts to receive the truth.
It is not the will of my Father that I should return with you to cater to these curious ones and to become occupied with the ministry of things physical to the exclusion of the spiritual.
I have ordained you to preach the gospel and minister to the sick, but I must not become engrossed in healing to the exclusion of my teaching.
No, Andrew, I will not return with you.
Go and tell the people to believe in that which we have taught them and to rejoice in the liberty of the sons of God, and make ready for our departure for the other cities of Galilee, where the way has already been prepared for the preaching of the good tidings of the kingdom.
It was for this purpose that I came forth from the Father.
Go, then, and prepare for our immediate departure while I here await your return."
145:5.8 When Jesus had spoken, Andrew and his fellow apostles sorrowfully made their way back to Zebedee's house, dismissed the assembled multitude, and quickly made ready for the journey as Jesus had directed.
And so, on the afternoon of Sunday, January 18, A.D. 28, Jesus and the apostles started out upon their first really public and open preaching tour of the cities of Galilee.
On this first tour they preached the gospel of the kingdom in many cities, but they did not visit Nazareth.
145:5.9 That Sunday afternoon, shortly after Jesus and his apostles had left for Rimmon, his brothers James and Jude came to see him, calling at Zebedee's house.
About noon of that day Jude had sought out his brother James and insisted that they go to Jesus.
By the time James consented to go with Jude, Jesus had already departed.
145:5.10 The apostles were loath to leave the great interest which had been aroused at Capernaum.
Peter calculated that no less than one thousand believers could have been baptized into the kingdom.
Jesus listened to them patiently, but he would not consent to return.
Silence prevailed for a season, and then Thomas addressed his fellow apostles, saying: "Let's go!
The Master has spoken.
No matter if we cannot fully comprehend the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, of one thing we are certain: We follow a teacher who seeks no glory for himself."
And reluctantly they went forth to preach the good tidings in the cities of Galilee.
146:0.1 The first public preaching tour of Galilee began on Sunday, January 18, A.D. 28, and continued for about two months, ending with the return to Capernaum on March 17.
On this tour Jesus and the twelve apostles, assisted by the former apostles of John, preached the gospel and baptized believers in Rimmon, Jotapata, Ramah, Zebulun, Iron, Gischala, Chorazin, Madon, Cana, Nain, and Endor.
In these cities they tarried and taught, while in many other smaller towns they proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom as they passed through.
146:0.2 This was the first time Jesus permitted his associates to preach without restraint.
On this tour he cautioned them on only three occasions; he admonished them to remain away from Nazareth and to be discreet when passing through Capernaum and Tiberias.
It was a source of great satisfaction to the apostles at last to feel they were at liberty to preach and teach without restriction, and they threw themselves into the work of preaching the gospel, ministering to the sick, and baptizing believers, with great earnestness and joy.
146:1.3 Many of the better of the Babylonian and Persian ideas of light and darkness, good and evil, time and eternity, were later incorporated in the doctrines of so-called Christianity, and their inclusion rendered the Christian teachings more immediately acceptable to the peoples of the Near East. In like manner, the inclusion of many of Plato's theories of the ideal spirit or invisible patterns of all things visible and material, as later adapted by Philo to the Hebrew theology, made Paul's Christian teachings more easy of acceptance by the western Greeks.
146:1.4 It was at Rimmon that Todan first heard the gospel of the kingdom, and he later carried this message into Mesopotamia and far beyond. He was among the first to preach the good news to those who dwelt beyond the Euphrates.
146:2.2 1. The conscious and persistent regard for iniquity in the heart of man gradually destroys the prayer connection of the human soul with the spirit circuits of communication between man and his Maker. Naturally God hears the petition of his child, but when the human heart deliberately and persistently harbors the concepts of iniquity, there gradually ensues the loss of personal communion between the earth child and his heavenly Father.
146:2.3 2. That prayer which is inconsistent with the known and established laws of God is an abomination to the Paradise Deities. If man will not listen to the Gods as they speak to their creation in the laws of spirit, mind, and matter, the very act of such deliberate and conscious disdain by the creature turns the ears of spirit personalities away from hearing the personal petitions of such lawless and disobedient mortals. Jesus quoted to his apostles from the Prophet Zechariah: "But they refused to hearken and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear. Yes, they made their hearts adamant like a stone, lest they should hear my law and the words which I sent by my spirit through the prophets; therefore did the results of their evil thinking come as a great wrath upon their guilty heads. And so it came to pass that they cried for mercy, but there was no ear open to hear." And then Jesus quoted the proverb of the wise man who said: "He who turns away his ear from hearing the divine law, even his prayer shall be an abomination."
146:2.4 3. By opening the human end of the channel of the God-man communication, mortals make immediately available the ever-flowing stream of divine ministry to the creatures of the worlds. When man hears God's spirit speak within the human heart, inherent in such an experience is the fact that God simultaneously hears that man's prayer. Even the forgiveness of sin operates in this same unerring fashion. The Father in heaven has forgiven you even before you have thought to ask him, but such forgiveness is not available in your personal religious experience until such a time as you forgive your fellow men. God's forgiveness in fact is not conditioned upon your forgiving your fellows, but in experience it is exactly so conditioned. And this fact of the synchrony of divine and human forgiveness was thus recognized and linked together in the prayer which Jesus taught the apostles.
146:2.5 4. There is a basic law of justice in the universe which mercy is powerless to circumvent. The unselfish glories of Paradise are not possible of reception by a thoroughly selfish creature of the realms of time and space. Even the infinite love of God cannot force the salvation of eternal survival upon any mortal creature who does not choose to survive. Mercy has great latitude of bestowal, but, after all, there are mandates of justice which even love combined with mercy cannot effectively abrogate. Again Jesus quoted from the Hebrew scriptures: "I have called and you refused to hear; I stretched out my hand, but no man regarded. You have set at naught all my counsel, and you have rejected my reproof, and because of this rebellious attitude it becomes inevitable that you shall call upon me and fail to receive an answer. Having rejected the way of life, you may seek me diligently in your times of suffering, but you will not find me."
146:2.6 5. They who would receive mercy must show mercy; judge not that you be not judged. With the spirit with which you judge others you also shall be judged. Mercy does not wholly abrogate universe fairness. In the end it will prove true: "Whoso stops his ears to the cry of the poor, he also shall some day cry for help, and no one will hear him." The sincerity of any prayer is the assurance of its being heard; the spiritual wisdom and universe consistency of any petition is the determiner of the time, manner, and degree of the answer. A wise father does not literally answer the foolish prayers of his ignorant and inexperienced children, albeit the children may derive much pleasure and real soul satisfaction from the making of such absurd petitions.
146:2.7 6. When you have become wholly dedicated to the doing of the will of the Father in heaven, the answer to all your petitions will be forthcoming because your prayers will be in full accordance with the Father's will, and the Father's will is ever manifest throughout his vast universe. What the true son desires and the infinite Father wills IS. Such a prayer cannot remain unanswered, and no other sort of petition can possibly be fully answered.
146:2.8 7. The cry of the righteous is the faith act of the child of God which opens the door of the Father's storehouse of goodness, truth, and mercy, and these good gifts have long been in waiting for the son's approach and personal appropriation. Prayer does not change the divine attitude toward man, but it does change man's attitude toward the changeless Father. The motive of the prayer gives it right of way to the divine ear, not the social, economic, or outward religious status of the one who prays.
146:2.9 8. Prayer may not be employed to avoid the delays of time or to transcend the handicaps of space. Prayer is not designed as a technique for aggrandizing self or for gaining unfair advantage over one's fellows. A thoroughly selfish soul cannot pray in the true sense of the word. Said Jesus: "Let your supreme delight be in the character of God, and he shall surely give you the sincere desires of your heart." "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act." "For the Lord hears the cry of the needy, and he will regard the prayer of the destitute."
146:2.10 9. "I have come forth from the Father; if, therefore, you are ever in doubt as to what you would ask of the Father, ask in my name, and I will present your petition in accordance with your real needs and desires and in accordance with my Father's will." Guard against the great danger of becoming self-centered in your prayers. Avoid praying much for yourself; pray more for the spiritual progress of your brethren. Avoid materialistic praying; pray in the spirit and for the abundance of the gifts of the spirit.
146:2.11 10. When you pray for the sick and afflicted, do not expect that your petitions will take the place of loving and intelligent ministry to the necessities of these afflicted ones. Pray for the welfare of your families, friends, and fellows, but especially pray for those who curse you, and make loving petitions for those who persecute you. "But when to pray, I will not say. Only the spirit that dwells within you may move you to the utterance of those petitions which are expressive of your inner relationship with the Father of spirits."
146:2.12 11. Many resort to prayer only when in trouble. Such a practice is thoughtless and misleading. True, you do well to pray when harassed, but you should also be mindful to speak as a son to your Father even when all goes well with your soul. Let your real petitions always be in secret. Do not let men hear your personal prayers. Prayers of thanksgiving are appropriate for groups of worshipers, but the prayer of the soul is a personal matter. There is but one form of prayer which is appropriate for all God's children, and that is: "Nevertheless, your will be done."
146:2.13 12. All believers in this gospel should pray sincerely for the extension of the kingdom of heaven. Of all the prayers of the Hebrew scriptures he commented most approvingly on the petition of the Psalmist: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Purge me from secret sins and keep back your servant from presumptuous transgression." Jesus commented at great length on the relation of prayer to careless and offending speech, quoting: "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." "The human tongue," said Jesus, "is a member which few men can tame, but the spirit within can transform this unruly member into a kindly voice of tolerance and an inspiring minister of mercy."
146:2.14 13. Jesus taught that the prayer for divine guidance over the pathway of earthly life was next in importance to the petition for a knowledge of the Father's will. In reality this means a prayer for divine wisdom. Jesus never taught that human knowledge and special skill could be gained by prayer. But he did teach that prayer is a factor in the enlargement of one's capacity to receive the presence of the divine spirit. When Jesus taught his associates to pray in the spirit and in truth, he explained that he referred to praying sincerely and in accordance with one's enlightenment, to praying wholeheartedly and intelligently, earnestly and steadfastly.
146:2.15 14. Jesus warned his followers against thinking that their prayers would be rendered more efficacious by ornate repetitions, eloquent phraseology, fasting, penance, or sacrifices. But he did exhort his believers to employ prayer as a means of leading up through thanksgiving to true worship. Jesus deplored that so little of the spirit of thanksgiving was to be found in the prayers and worship of his followers. He quoted from the Scriptures on this occasion, saying: "It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to the name of the Most High, to acknowledge his loving-kindness every morning and his faithfulness every night, for God has made me glad through his work. In everything I will give thanks according to the will of God."
146:2.16 15. And then Jesus said: "Be not constantly overanxious about your common needs. Be not apprehensive concerning the problems of your earthly existence, but in all these things by prayer and supplication, with the spirit of sincere thanksgiving, let your needs be spread out before your Father who is in heaven." Then he quoted from the Scriptures: "I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with thanksgiving. And this will please the Lord better than the sacrifice of an ox or bullock with horns and hoofs."
146:2.17 16. Jesus taught his followers that, when they had made their prayers to the Father, they should remain for a time in silent receptivity to afford the indwelling spirit the better opportunity to speak to the listening soul. The spirit of the Father speaks best to man when the human mind is in an attitude of true worship. We worship God by the aid of the Father's indwelling spirit and by the illumination of the human mind through the ministry of truth. Worship, taught Jesus, makes one increasingly like the being who is worshiped. Worship is a transforming experience whereby the finite gradually approaches and ultimately attains the presence of the Infinite.
146:2.18 And many other truths did Jesus tell his apostles about man's communion with God, but not many of them could fully encompass his teaching.
146:3.3 On the second evening at Ramah, Thomas asked Jesus this question: "Master, how can a new believer in your teaching really know, really be certain, about the truth of this gospel of the kingdom?"
146:3.4 And Jesus said to Thomas: "Your assurance that you have entered into the kingdom family of the Father, and that you will eternally survive with the children of the kingdom, is wholly a matter of personal experience -- faith in the word of truth.
Spiritual assurance is the equivalent of your personal religious experience in the eternal realities of divine truth and is otherwise equal to your intelligent understanding of truth realities plus your spiritual faith and minus your honest doubts.
146:3.5 "The Son is naturally endowed with the life of the Father.
Having been endowed with the living spirit of the Father, you are therefore sons of God.
You survive your life in the material world of the flesh because you are identified with the Father's living spirit, the gift of eternal life.
Many, indeed, had this life before I came forth from the Father, and many more have received this spirit because they believed my word; but I declare that, when I return to the Father, he will send his spirit into the hearts of all men.
146:3.6 "While you cannot observe the divine spirit at work in your minds, there is a practical method of discovering the degree to which you have yielded the control of your soul powers to the teaching and guidance of this indwelling spirit of the heavenly Father, and that is the degree of your love for your fellow men.
This spirit of the Father partakes of the love of the Father, and as it dominates man, it unfailingly leads in the directions of divine worship and loving regard for one's fellows.
At first you believe that you are sons of God because my teaching has made you more conscious of the inner leadings of our Father's indwelling presence; but presently the Spirit of Truth shall be poured out upon all flesh, and it will live among men and teach all men, even as I now live among you and speak to you the words of truth.
And this Spirit of Truth, speaking for the spiritual endowments of your souls, will help you to know that you are the sons of God.
It will unfailingly bear witness with the Father's indwelling presence, your spirit, then dwelling in all men as it now dwells in some, telling you that you are in reality the sons of God.
146:3.7 "Every earth child who follows the leading of this spirit shall eventually know the will of God, and he who surrenders to the will of my Father shall abide forever.
The way from the earth life to the eternal estate has not been made plain to you, but there is a way, there always has been, and I have come to make that way new and living.
He who enters the kingdom has eternal life already -- he shall never perish.
But much of this you will the better understand when I shall have returned to the Father and you are able to view your present experiences in retrospect."
146:3.8 And all who heard these blessed words were greatly cheered.
The Jewish teachings had been confused and uncertain regarding the survival of the righteous, and it was refreshing and inspiring for Jesus' followers to hear these very definite and positive words of assurance about the eternal survival of all true believers.
146:3.9 The apostles continued to preach and baptize believers, while they kept up the practice of visiting from house to house, comforting the downcast and ministering to the sick and afflicted. The apostolic organization was expanded in that each of Jesus' apostles now had one of John's as an associate; Abner was the associate of Andrew; and this plan prevailed until they went down to Jerusalem for the next Passover.
146:3.10 The special instruction given by Jesus during their stay at Zebulun had chiefly to do with further discussions of the mutual obligations of the kingdom and embraced teaching designed to make clear the differences between personal religious experience and the amities of social religious obligations.
This was one of the few times the Master ever discussed the social aspects of religion.
Throughout his entire earth life Jesus gave his followers very little instruction regarding the socialization of religion.
146:3.11 In Zebulun the people were of a mixed race, hardly Jew or gentile, and few of them really believed in Jesus, notwithstanding they had heard of the healing of the sick at Capernaum.
146:4.3 Late on the afternoon of the third day at Iron, as Jesus was returning from the mines, he chanced to pass through a narrow side street on his way to his lodging place.
As he drew near the squalid hovel of a certain leprous man, the afflicted one, having heard of his fame as a healer, made bold to accost him as he passed his door, saying as he knelt before him: "Lord, if only you would, you could make me clean.
I have heard the message of your teachers, and I would enter the kingdom if I could be made clean."
And the leper spoke in this way because among the Jews lepers were forbidden even to attend the synagogue or otherwise engage in public worship.
This man really believed that he could not be received into the coming kingdom unless he could find a cure for his leprosy.
And when Jesus saw him in his affliction and heard his words of clinging faith, his human heart was touched, and the divine mind was moved with compassion.
As Jesus looked upon him, the man fell upon his face and worshiped.
Then the Master stretched forth his hand and, touching him, said: "I will -- be clean."
And immediately he was healed; the leprosy no longer afflicted him.
146:4.4 When Jesus had lifted the man upon his feet, he charged him: "See that you tell no man about your healing but rather go quietly about your business, showing yourself to the priest and offering those sacrifices commanded by Moses in testimony of your cleansing."
But this man did not do as Jesus had instructed him.
Instead, he began to publish abroad throughout the town that Jesus had cured his leprosy, and since he was known to all the village, the people could plainly see that he had been cleansed of his disease.
He did not go to the priests as Jesus had admonished him.
As a result of his spreading abroad the news that Jesus had healed him, the Master was so thronged by the sick that he was forced to rise early the next day and leave the village.
Although Jesus did not again enter the town, he remained two days in the outskirts near the mines, continuing to instruct the believing miners further regarding the gospel of the kingdom.
146:4.5 This cleansing of the leper was the first so-called miracle which Jesus had intentionally and deliberately performed up to this time.
And this was a case of real leprosy.
146:4.6 From Iron they went to Gischala, spending two days proclaiming the gospel, and then departed for Chorazin, where they spent almost a week preaching the good news; but they were unable to win many believers for the kingdom in Chorazin. In no place where Jesus had taught had he met with such a general rejection of his message. The sojourn at Chorazin was very depressing to most of the apostles, and Andrew and Abner had much difficulty in upholding the courage of their associates. And so, passing quietly through Capernaum, they went on to the village of Madon, where they fared little better. There prevailed in the minds of most of the apostles the idea that their failure to meet with success in these towns so recently visited was due to Jesus' insistence that they refrain, in their teaching and preaching, from referring to him as a healer. How they wished he would cleanse another leper or in some other manner so manifest his power as to attract the attention of the people! But the Master was unmoved by their earnest urging.
146:6.2 When Jesus sought to leave Cana and go to Nain, a great multitude of believers and many curious people followed after him.
They were bent on beholding miracles and wonders, and they were not to be disappointed.
As Jesus and his apostles drew near the gate of the city, they met a funeral procession on its way to the near-by cemetery, carrying the only son of a widowed mother of Nain.
This woman was much respected, and half of the village followed the bearers of the bier of this supposedly dead boy.
When the funeral procession had come up to Jesus and his followers, the widow and her friends recognized the Master and besought him to bring the son back to life.
Their miracle expectancy was aroused to such a high pitch they thought Jesus could cure any human disease, and why could not such a healer even raise the dead?
Jesus, while being thus importuned, stepped forward and, raising the covering of the bier, examined the boy.
Discovering that the young man was not really dead, he perceived the tragedy which his presence could avert; so, turning to the mother, he said: "Weep not.
Your son is not dead; he sleeps.
He will be restored to you."
And then, taking the young man by the hand, he said, "Awake and arise."
And the youth who was supposed to be dead presently sat up and began to speak, and Jesus sent them back to their homes.
146:6.3 Jesus endeavored to calm the multitude and vainly tried to explain that the lad was not really dead, that he had not brought him back from the grave, but it was useless.
The multitude which followed him, and the whole village of Nain, were aroused to the highest pitch of emotional frenzy.
Fear seized many, panic others, while still others fell to praying and wailing over their sins.
And it was not until long after nightfall that the clamoring multitude could be dispersed.
And, of course, notwithstanding Jesus' statement that the boy was not dead, everyone insisted that a miracle had been wrought, even the dead raised.
Although Jesus told them the boy was merely in a deep sleep, they explained that that was the manner of his speaking and called attention to the fact that he always in great modesty tried to hide his miracles.
146:6.4 So the word went abroad throughout Galilee and into Judea that Jesus had raised the widow's son from the dead, and many who heard this report believed it.
Never was Jesus able to make even all his apostles fully understand that the widow's son was not really dead when he bade him awake and arise.
But he did impress them sufficiently to keep it out of all subsequent records except that of Luke, who recorded it as the episode had been related to him.
And again was Jesus so besieged as a physician that he departed early the next day for Endor.
147:0.1 Jesus and the apostles arrived in Capernaum on Wednesday, March 17, and spent two weeks at the Bethsaida headquarters before they departed for Jerusalem.
These two weeks the apostles taught the people by the seaside while Jesus spent much time alone in the hills about his Father's business.
During this period Jesus, accompanied by James and John Zebedee, made two secret trips to Tiberias, where they met with the believers and instructed them in the gospel of the kingdom.
147:0.2 Many of the household of Herod believed in Jesus and attended these meetings.
It was the influence of these believers among Herod's official family that had helped to lessen that ruler's enmity toward Jesus.
These believers at Tiberias had fully explained to Herod that the "kingdom" which Jesus proclaimed was spiritual in nature and not a political venture.
Herod rather believed these members of his own household and therefore did not permit himself to become unduly alarmed by the spreading abroad of the reports concerning Jesus' teaching and healing.
He had no objections to Jesus' work as a healer or religious teacher.
Notwithstanding the favorable attitude of many of Herod's advisers, and even of Herod himself, there existed a group of his subordinates who were so influenced by the religious leaders at Jerusalem that they remained bitter and threatening enemies of Jesus and the apostles and, later on, did much to hamper their public activities.
The greatest danger to Jesus lay in the Jerusalem religious leaders and not in Herod.
And it was for this very reason that Jesus and the apostles spent so much time and did most of their public preaching in Galilee rather than at Jerusalem and in Judea.
147:4.4 "1. The level of the flesh. Such a purely selfish and lustful interpretation would be well exemplified by the supposition of your question.
147:4.5 "2. The level of the feelings. This plane is one level higher than that of the flesh and implies that sympathy and pity would enhance one's interpretation of this rule of living.
147:4.6 "3. The level of mind. Now come into action the reason of mind and the intelligence of experience. Good judgment dictates that such a rule of living should be interpreted in consonance with the highest idealism embodied in the nobility of profound self-respect.
147:4.7 "4. The level of brotherly love. Still higher is discovered the level of unselfish devotion to the welfare of one's fellows. On this higher plane of wholehearted social service growing out of the consciousness of the fatherhood of God and the consequent recognition of the brotherhood of man, there is discovered a new and far more beautiful interpretation of this basic rule of life.
147:4.8 "5. The moral level. And then when you attain true philosophic levels of interpretation, when you have real insight into the rightness and wrongness of things, when you perceive the eternal fitness of human relationships, you will begin to view such a problem of interpretation as you would imagine a high-minded, idealistic, wise, and impartial third person would so view and interpret such an injunction as applied to your personal problems of adjustment to your life situations.
147:4.9 "6. The spiritual level. And then last, but greatest of all, we attain the level of spirit insight and spiritual interpretation which impels us to recognize in this rule of life the divine command to treat all men as we conceive God would treat them. That is the universe ideal of human relationships. And this is your attitude toward all such problems when your supreme desire is ever to do the Father's will. I would, therefore, that you should do to all men that which you know I would do to them in like circumstances."
147:4.10 Nothing Jesus had said to the apostles up to this time had ever more astonished them. They continued to discuss the Master's words long after he had retired. While Nathaniel was slow to recover from his supposition that Jesus had misunderstood the spirit of his question, the others were more than thankful that their philosophic fellow apostle had had the courage to ask such a thought-provoking question.
147:5.5 When Simon and his friends who sat at meat with him heard these words, they were the more astonished, and they began to whisper among themselves, "Who is this man that he even dares to forgive sins?"
And when Jesus heard them thus murmuring, he turned to dismiss the woman, saying, "Woman, go in peace; your faith has saved you."
147:5.6 As Jesus arose with his friends to leave, he turned to Simon and said: "I know your heart, Simon, how you are torn betwixt faith and doubts, how you are distraught by fear and troubled by pride; but I pray for you that you may yield to the light and may experience in your station in life just such mighty transformations of mind and spirit as may be comparable to the tremendous changes which the gospel of the kingdom has already wrought in the heart of your unbidden and unwelcome guest.
And I declare to all of you that the Father has opened the doors of the heavenly kingdom to all who have the faith to enter, and no man or association of men can close those doors even to the most humble soul or supposedly most flagrant sinner on earth if such sincerely seek an entrance."
And Jesus, with Peter, James, and John, took leave of their host and went to join the rest of the apostles at the camp in the garden of Gethsemane.
147:5.7 That same evening Jesus made the long-to-be-remembered address to the apostles regarding the relative value of status with God and progress in the eternal ascent to Paradise.
Said Jesus: "My children, if there exists a true and living connection between the child and the Father, the child is certain to progress continuously toward the Father's ideals.
True, the child may at first make slow progress, but the progress is none the less sure.
The important thing is not the rapidity of your progress but rather its certainty.
Your actual achievement is not so important as the fact that the direction of your progress is Godward.
What you are becoming day by day is of infinitely more importance than what you are today.
147:5.8 "This transformed woman whom some of you saw at Simon's house today is, at this moment, living on a level which is vastly below that of Simon and his well-meaning associates; but while these Pharisees are occupied with the false progress of the illusion of traversing deceptive circles of meaningless ceremonial services, this woman has, in dead earnest, started out on the long and eventful search for God, and her path toward heaven is not blocked by spiritual pride and moral self-satisfaction.
The woman is, humanly speaking, much farther away from God than Simon, but her soul is in progressive motion; she is on the way toward an eternal goal.
There are present in this woman tremendous spiritual possibilities for the future.
Some of you may not stand high in actual levels of soul and spirit, but you are making daily progress on the living way opened up, through faith, to God.
There are tremendous possibilities in each of you for the future.
Better by far to have a small but living and growing faith than to be possessed of a great intellect with its dead stores of worldly wisdom and spiritual unbelief."
147:5.9 But Jesus earnestly warned his apostles against the foolishness of the child of God who presumes upon the Father's love.
He declared that the heavenly Father is not a lax, loose, or foolishly indulgent parent who is ever ready to condone sin and forgive recklessness.
He cautioned his hearers not mistakenly to apply his illustrations of father and son so as to make it appear that God is like some overindulgent and unwise parents who conspire with the foolish of earth to encompass the moral undoing of their thoughtless children, and who are thereby certainly and directly contributing to the delinquency and early demoralization of their own offspring.
Said Jesus: "My Father does not indulgently condone those acts and practices of his children which are self-destructive and suicidal to all moral growth and spiritual progress.
Such sinful practices are an abomination in the sight of God."
147:5.10 Many other semiprivate meetings and banquets did Jesus attend with the high and the low, the rich and the poor, of Jerusalem before he and his apostles finally departed for Capernaum. And many, indeed, became believers in the gospel of the kingdom and were subsequently baptized by Abner and his associates, who remained behind to foster the interests of the kingdom in Jerusalem and thereabouts.
147:6.3 Peter preached to the assembled multitude at the crossing of the Jordan, and the following morning they moved up the river toward Amathus.
They wanted to proceed straight on to Capernaum, but such a crowd gathered here they remained three days, preaching, teaching, and baptizing.
They did not move toward home until early Sabbath morning, the first day of May.
The Jerusalem spies were sure they would now secure their first charge against Jesus -- that of Sabbath breaking -- since he had presumed to start his journey on the Sabbath day.
But they were doomed to disappointment because, just before their departure, Jesus called Andrew into his presence and before them all instructed him to proceed for a distance of only one thousand yards, the legal Jewish Sabbath day's journey.
147:6.4 But the spies did not have long to wait for their opportunity to accuse Jesus and his associates of Sabbath breaking.
As the company passed along the narrow road, the waving wheat, which was just then ripening, was near at hand on either side, and some of the apostles, being hungry, plucked the ripe grain and ate it.
It was customary for travelers to help themselves to grain as they passed along the road, and therefore no thought of wrongdoing was attached to such conduct.
But the spies seized upon this as a pretext for assailing Jesus.
When they saw Andrew rub the grain in his hand, they went up to him and said: "Do you not know that it is unlawful to pluck and rub the grain on the Sabbath day?"
And Andrew answered: "But we are hungry and rub only sufficient for our needs; and since when did it become sinful to eat grain on the Sabbath day?"
But the Pharisees answered: "You do no wrong in eating, but you do break the law in plucking and rubbing out the grain between your hands; surely your Master would not approve of such acts."
Then said Andrew: "But if it is not wrong to eat the grain, surely the rubbing out between our hands is hardly more work than the chewing of the grain, which you allow; wherefore do you quibble over such trifles?"
When Andrew intimated that they were quibblers, they were indignant, and rushing back to where Jesus walked along, talking to Matthew, they protested, saying: "Behold, Teacher, your apostles do that which is unlawful on the Sabbath day; they pluck, rub, and eat the grain.
We are sure you will command them to cease."
And then said Jesus to the accusers: "You are indeed zealous for the law, and you do well to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; but did you never read in the Scripture that, one day when David was hungry, he and they who were with him entered the house of God and ate the showbread, which it was not lawful for anyone to eat save the priests? and David also gave this bread to those who were with him.
And have you not read in our law that it is lawful to do many needful things on the Sabbath day?
And shall I not, before the day is finished, see you eat that which you have brought along for the needs of this day?
My good men, you do well to be zealous for the Sabbath, but you would do better to guard the health and well-being of your fellows.
I declare that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.
And if you are here present with us to watch my words, then will I openly proclaim that the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."
147:6.5 The Pharisees were astonished and confounded by his words of discernment and wisdom.
For the remainder of the day they kept by themselves and dared not ask any more questions.
147:6.6 Jesus' antagonism to the Jewish traditions and slavish ceremonials was always positive. It consisted in what he did and in what he affirmed. The Master spent little time in negative denunciations. He taught that those who know God can enjoy the liberty of living without deceiving themselves by the licenses of sinning. Said Jesus to the apostles: "Men, if you are enlightened by the truth and really know what you are doing, you are blessed; but if you know not the divine way, you are unfortunate and already breakers of the law."
147:8.2 "`Why have you fasted?
For what reason do you afflict your souls while you continue to find pleasure in oppression and to take delight in injustice?
Behold, you fast for the sake of strife and contention and to smite with the fist of wickedness.
But you shall not fast in this way to make your voices heard on high.
147:8.3 "`Is it such a fast that I have chosen -- a day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, to grovel in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you dare to call this a fast and an acceptable day in the sight of the Lord?
Is not this the fast I should choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the knots of heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share my bread with the hungry and to bring those who are homeless and poor to my house?
And when I see those who are naked, I will clothe them.
147:8.4 "`Then shall your light break forth as the morning while your health springs forth speedily.
Your righteousness shall go before you while the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then will you call upon the Lord, and he shall answer; you will cry out, and he shall say -- Here am I.
And all this he will do if you refrain from oppression, condemnation, and vanity.
The Father rather desires that you draw out your heart to the hungry, and that you minister to the afflicted souls; then shall your light shine in obscurity, and even your darkness shall be as the noonday.
Then shall the Lord guide you continually, satisfying your soul and renewing your strength.
You shall become like a watered garden, like a spring whose waters fail not.
And they who do these things shall restore the wasted glories; they shall raise up the foundations of many generations; they shall be called the rebuilders of broken walls, the restorers of safe paths in which to dwell.'"
147:8.5 And then long into the night Jesus propounded to his apostles the truth that it was their faith that made them secure in the kingdom of the present and the future, and not their affliction of soul nor fasting of body.
He exhorted the apostles at least to live up to the ideas of the prophet of old and expressed the hope that they would progress far beyond even the ideals of Isaiah and the older prophets.
His last words that night were: "Grow in grace by means of that living faith which grasps the fact that you are the sons of God while at the same time it recognizes every man as a brother."
147:8.6 It was after two o'clock in the morning when Jesus ceased speaking and every man went to his place for sleep.