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The
Story of Everything
An
abridged edition of The Urantia Book
Paper
149: The Second Preaching Tour
The second public teaching tour of Galilee began early in October, 28 AD. Each apostle traveled with about a dozen of the newly trained evangelists. James, John, and Jesus traveled together, observing the work of the new people. It was during this time that David Zebedee started the messenger service that would faithfully serve Jesus and his disciples as long as Jesus lived.
Jesus' fame as a healer spread throughout Syria and Palestine. An unexplained healing phenomenon continued throughout the rest of Jesus' life. Scores of people were spontaneously healed even though Jesus did not deliberately intend to heal them. Three factors influenced these cases: strong, living faith in a person who sought healing for spiritual benefits; the great compassion of Jesus, who possessed nearly unlimited healing powers; and that Jesus was the personified expression of God's will on this planet.
During this tour, Jesus taught that anger is a failure of the spiritual nature to control the intellectual and physical nature. He discussed the desirability of a well‑balanced character. On the subject of happiness, Jesus said that some people are naturally more happy than others, but much depends on our willingness to be led by the Spirit. He advised his followers not to look for false peace and fleeting joy, but for faith and the assurance of divine sonship that brings supreme joy of the spirit.
One evening, Philip asked Jesus to explain why the scriptures commanded men to fear the Lord, while Jesus taught that men should love God fearlessly. Jesus answered, "I have come into the world to put love in the place of fear, joy in the place of sorrow, confidence in the place of dread, loving service and appreciative worship in the place of slavish bondage and meaningless ceremonies. But it is still true of those who sit in darkness that 'the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.' But when the light has more fully come, the sons of God are led to praise the Infinite for what he is rather than to fear him for what he does."
The second preaching tour ended on December 30. The evangelists discussed their experiences with each other in Bethsaida before taking a two-week break.