Paper 125

JESUS AT JERUSALEM

1.  No incident in all Jesus' eventful earth career was more engaging, more humanly thrilling than this, his first remembered visit to Jerusalem...This brief period of undirected living, during the week following the Passover, was the first complete freedom from responsibility he had ever enjoyed.

2.  From the Mount of Olives and from the outside, on closer inspection, the temple had been all and more than Jesus had expected; but when he once entered its sacred portals, the great disillusionment began...He was a little disappointed by the general demeanor of the temple throngs, but the first great shock of the day came when his mother took leave of them on her way to the women's gallery... He passed through the consecration rituals but was disappointed by their perfunctory and routine nature. He missed that personal interest which characterized the ceremonies of the synagogue at Nazareth.

3.  Jesus simply would not accept explanations of worship and religious devotion which involved belief in the wrath of God or the anger of the Almighty. In further discussion of these questions, after the conclusion of the temple visit, when his father became mildly insistent that he acknowledge acceptance of the orthodox Jewish beliefs, Jesus turned suddenly upon his parents and, looking appealingly into the eyes of his father, said: "My father, it cannot be true ‑ the Father in heaven cannot so regard his erring children on earth. The heavenly Father cannot love his children less than you love me. And I well know, no matter what unwise thing I might do, you would never pour out wrath upon me nor vent anger against me. If you, my earthly father. possess such human reflections of the Divine, how much more must the heavenly Father be filled with goodness and overflowing with mercy. I refuse to believe that my Father in heaven loves me less than my father on earth‑"

4.  Everywhere Jesus went throughout the temple courts, he was shocked and sickened by the spirit of irreverence which he observed...loud talking and cursing, mingled indiscriminately with the bleating of sheep and the babble of noises which betrayed the presence of the money‑changers and the vendors of sacrificial animals and sundry other commercial commodities.

     But most of all was his sense of propriety outraged by the sight of the frivolous courtesans parading about within this precinct of the temple, just such painted women as he had so recently seen when on a visit to Sepphoris.

5. They now passed down to the priests' court beneath the rock ledge in front of the temple, where the altar stood, to observe the killing of the droves of animals and the washing away of the blood from the hands of the officiating slaughter priests at the bronze fountain. The bloodstained pavement, the gory hands of the priests, and the sounds, of the dying animals were more than this nature‑loving lad could stand. The terrible sight sickened this boy of Nazareth; he clutched his father's arm and begged to be taken away.

6.  Again and again, during the Passover week, his parents would find Jesus sitting off by himself with his youthful head in his hands, profoundly thinking. They had never seen him behave like this, and not knowing how much he was confused in mind and troubled in spirit by the experience through which he was passing, they were sorely perplexed; they did not know what to do.

7.  Before Joseph and Mary left Jerusalem, in company with Jesus' Nazareth teacher they made definite arrangements for Jesus to return when he reached the age of fifteen to begin his long course of study in one of the best‑known academies of the rabbis. Jesus accompanied his parents and teacher on their visits to the school, but they were all distressed to observe how indifferent he seemed to all they said and did.

8.  There were thousands of young people in Jerusalem at this time, and the Nazareth lad

     personally met, and more or less extensively interviewed, more than one hundred and fifty­…

     As a result of these contacts the lad began to entertain a desire to travel about the

     world for the purpose of learning how the various groups of his fellow men toiled for

     their livelihood

9.  Jesus had gone up to Jerusalem in company with his mother and the women. Being now a young man of the consecration, he was supposed to journey back to Nazareth in company with his father and the men. But as the Nazareth party moved on toward Bethany, Jesus was completely absorbed in the discussion of angels, in the temple, being wholly unmindful of the passing of the time for the departure of his parents. And he did not realize that he had been left behind until the noontime adjournment of the temple conferences.

The Nazareth travelers...did not discover his absence until they reached Jericho and prepared to tarry for the night.

10. In the meantime, Jesus had remained in the temple throughout the afternoon...At the conclusion of the afternoon discussions, in none of which Jesus participated, he betook himself to Bethany ... Early next day Jesus was up and on his way to the temple. On the brow of Olivet he paused and wept over the sight his eyes beheld—a spiritually impoverished people, tradition bound and living under the surveillance of the Roman legions.

11. At the second conference Jesus had made bold to ask questions, and in a very amazing way he participated in the temple discussions but always in a manner consistent with his youth...one of the more intolerant teachers grew inpatient with the lad’s implied criticisms and, glowering down upon him, asked how old he was. Jesus replied, “thirteen years lacking a trifle more than four months." “Then,” rejoined the now irate teacher, "why are you here, since you are not of age as a son of the law?" And when Jesus explained that he had received consecration during the Passover, and that he was a finished student of the Nazareth schools, the teachers with one accord derisively replied, "We might have known; he is from Nazareth."

12. Jesus’ third day with the scribes and teachers in the temple witnessed the gathering of many spectators who, having heard of this youth from Galilee, came to enjoy the experience of seeing a lad confuse the wise men of the law ... And all the day through, those who listened marveled at these questions, and none was more astonished than Simon. For more than four hours this Nazareth youth plied these Jewish teachers with thought provoking and heart‑searching questions...By the deft and subtle phrasing of a question he would at one and the same time challenge their teaching and suggest his own.

13. Jesus was strangely unmindful of his earthly parents; even at breakfast, when Lazarus’s mother remarked that his parents must be about home by that time, Jesus did not seem to comprehend that they would be somewhat worried about his having lingered behind.

14. At the afternoon conference they had hardly begun to answer his question relating to the purpose of prayer when the leader invited the lad to come forward and, sitting beside him, bade him state his own views regarding prayer and worship.

15, The evening before, Jesus' parents had heard about this strange youth who so deftly sparred with the expounders of the law, but it had not occurred to them that this lad was their son ... As they strolled through the courts of the temple, imagine their surprise and amazement when they recognized the voice of the missing lad and beheld him seated among the temple teachers.

16. Joseph was speechless, but Mary gave vent to her long‑pent‑up fear and anxiety when,

     rushing up to the lad, now standing to greet his astonished parents, she said: "My child, why have you treated us like this? It is now more than three days that your father and I have searched for you sorrowing. Whatever possessed you to desert us?" It was a tense moment. All eyes were turned on Jesus to hear what he would say…After a moment's thought, Jesus answered his mother, saying: "Why is it that you have so long sought me? Would you not expect to find me in my Father's house since the time has come when I should be about my Father's business?"

17. In silence they started out, arriving at Jericho for the night. Only once did they pause, and that on the brow of Olivet, when the lad raised his staff aloft and quivering from head to foot under the surging of intense emotion, said: “0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, and the people thereof, what slaves you are— subservient to the Roman yoke and victims of your own traditions—but I will return to cleanse yonder temple and deliver my people from this bondage!"

18. Upon reaching home, Jesus made a brief statement to his parents, assuring them of his affection and implying that they need not fear he would again give any occasion for their suffering anxiety because of his conduct. He concluded this momentous statement by saying: “While I must do the will of my Father in heaven, I will also be obedient to my father on earth. I will await my hour."

19. Though Jesus, in his mind, would many times refuse to consent to the well‑intentioned but misguided efforts of his parents to dictate the course of his thinking or to establish the plan of his work on earth, still, in every manner consistent with his dedication to the doing of his Paradise Father's will, he did most gracefully conform to the desires of his earthly father and to the usages of his family in the flesh.

20. Joseph was puzzled, but Mary, as she reflected on these experiences, gained comfort, eventually viewing his utterance on Olivet as prophetic of the Messianic mission of her son as Israel's deliverer. She set to work with renewed energy to mold his thoughts into patriotic and nationalistic channels.

U.B. 125:1377‑1385

Discussion Questions

1. Is there a better argument against the wrath of God than Jesus gave his father? Are Christians today still motivated by fear of an “angry God?”

2. When we are troubled and disturbed by the activities of our religion, is it likely that our indwelling Spirit is preparing us to attempt to change these activities?

3. Is it strange that Jesus was not concerned about the whereabouts of his parents?

4. What practices in the Christian Church may be an affront to the nature of God?

5. How is our education today missing opportunities for spiritual stimulation and growth?

6. Did Jesus “deliver (his) people from their bondage” of tradition?

7. What effect did Mary’s patriotic and nationalistic goals have on Jesus?