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Similarly when Jesus started to employ the parable method of teaching the multitudes, to the heated debate which arose on the interpretation of the parable of the sower, "with the exception of the Alpheus twins, each of the apostles ventured to make an interpretation of the parable of the sower before they retired for the night." (1691)
Whenever the apostles' emotional and mental status is mentioned, such as at the crisis at Capernaum leading to the closing of the synagogues to Jesus' teaching where "there was a tension of uncertainty and suspense of apprehension resting upon all of them….The only word of cheerful greeting or well-wishing from any of his immediate followers came from one of the unsuspecting Alpheus twins, who, as Jesus left the house on his way to the synagogue, saluted him cheerily and said, "We pray the Father will help you, and that we will have bigger multitudes than ever." (1707)
On Palm Sunday…"to the Alpheus twins this was a perfect day. They really enjoyed it all the way through and not being present during the time of quiet visitation about the temple, the escaped much of the anticlimax of the popular upheaval. They could not possibly understand the downcast behavior of the apostles when they came back to Bethany that evening. In the menory of the twins, this was always their day of being nearest heaven on earth. This day was the satisfying climax of their whole career as apostles. And the memory of the elation of this Sunday afternoon carried them through all the tragedy of this eventful week, right up to the hour of the crucifixion. It was the most befitting entry of the king that the twins could conceive; they enjoyed every moment of the whole pageant. They fully approved of all they saw and long cherished the memory. (1886)
However by the Monday night after Jesus had cleansed the temple, "Even the Alpheus twins were at last aroused to the realization that the events of the Master's life were moving swiftly towards their final culmination." (1896) And, on Tuesday morning in greeting each of the apostles personally, "To the Alpheus twins, he said, 'Do not allow the things which you cannot understand to crush you. Be true to the affections of your hearts and put not your trust in either great men or the changing attitudes of the people. Stand by your brethren.'" (1897)
Despite their being "stupid" Jesus embraced them as his "apostles and you always shall be" and he promised to remember them in the kingdom to come. (1960) He also affirmed their survival as a fact, and portrayed a future on "other and better worlds where you shall likewise work for me. And in all of this work, on this world and on other worlds, I will work with you, and my spirit shall dwell within you," (2049) even defining this future, at the Last Supper, as one in which he would receive them "on high, where in glory you shall tell of your salvation to seraphic hosts and to multitudes of the high sons of God."
And at Galilee in his morontia appearance, Jesus in speaking to both of the Alpheus twins, reiterated the advice he had given them at the Last Supper, advice which I attempt, albeit disappointingly, as I plod along through the menial chores of my daily life, "Have faith in God to the end of your days on earth. Never forget that, when you are a faith son of God, all upright work of the realm is sacred. Nothing which a son of God does can be common. Do your work, therefore, from this point on, as for God." (2049)
The Alpheus twins "lived and died conscious of having been honored and blessed with four years of close and personal association with a Son of God, the sovereign maker of a universe." (1564)
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