Paper 127

THE ADOLESCENT YEARS

I.   As Jesus entered upon his adolescent years, he found himself the head and sole support of a large family...No youth of Urantia will ever be called upon to pass through more testing conflicts or more trying situations than Jesus himself endured during those strenuous years from fifteen to twenty.

2.  This year he attained his full physical growth. He was a virile and comely youth... Always, even in the most commonplace of contacts, there seemed to be in evidence the touch of a twofold nature, the human and the divine ... He possessed a healthy and well proportional body, a keen and analytical mind, a kind and sympathetic disposition, a somewhat fluctuating but aggressive temperament, all of which were becoming organized into a strong, striking, and attractive personality.

3.  Ordinarily the girls of Jewish families received little education, but Jesus maintained (and his mother agreed) that girls should go to school the same as boys, and since the synagogue school would not receive them, there was nothing to do but conduct a home school especially for them.

4.  By the end of this year he had just about made up his mind that he would, after rearing his family and seeing them married, enter publicly upon his work as a teacher of truth and as a revealer of the heavenly Father to the world.

5.  There was coming into existence a strong nationalist party, presently to be called the Zealots ... When they came to see Jesus, he listened carefully to them and asked many questions but refused to join the party. He declined fully to disclose his reasons for not enlisting, and his refusal had the effect of keeping out many of his youthful fellows in Nazareth.

Mary did her best to induce him to enlist, but she could not budge him.

6.  But the situation was still further complicated when, presently, a wealthy Jew, Isaac, a moneylender to the gentiles, came forward agreeing to support Jesus' family if he would lay down his tools and assume leadership of these Nazareth patriots.

Jesus, then scarcely seventeen years of age, was confronted with one of the most delicate and difficult situations of his early life.

7.  Something had to be done. He must state his position, and this he did bravely and diplomatically to the satisfaction of many, but not all...He paid compliment to his mother and oldest brother for being willing to release him but reiterated that loyalty to a dead father forbade his leaving the family no matter how such money was forthcoming for their material support, making the never‑to‑be‑forgotten statement that “money cannot love."

8.  Jesus’ plea found an appreciative response In the hearts of many of his hearers; and some of those who were not thus minded were disarmed by a speech made by James…"presently you will have five loyal nationalists, for are there not five of us boys to grow up and come forth from our brother‑father's guidance to serve our nation?" And thus did the lad bring to a fairly happy ending a very tense and threatening situation.

9.  The crisis for the time being was over, but never was this incident forgotten in Nazareth. The agitation persisted; not again was Jesus in universal favor; the division of sentiment was never fully overcome. And this, augmented by other and subsequent occurrences, was one of the chief reasons why he moved to Capernaum in later years. Henceforth Nazareth maintained a division of sentiment regarding the Son of Man.

10. This year Jesus made great progress in the organization of his mind. Gradually he had brought his divine and human natures together, and he accomplished all this organization of intellect by the force of his own decisions and with only the aid of his indwelling Monitor.

11. In the course of this year all the family property, except the home and garden, was disposed of ... With the financial pressure thus eased for the time being, Jesus decided to take James to the Passover…James was insistent on their going back to visit the temple, explaining that he wanted to hear the teachers ... Accordingly, they went to the temple and heard the discussions, but Jesus asked no questions. It all seemed so puerile and insignificant to this awakening mind of man and God—he could only pity them. James was disappointed that Jesus said nothing. To his inquiries Jesus only made reply,  "My hour has not yet come."

12. About this time the chazan inaugurated a young men's club for philosophic discussion which met at the homes of different members and often at his own home, and Jesus became a prominent member of this group. By this means he was enabled to regain some of the local prestige which he had lost at the time of the recent nationalistic controversies.

13. In September, Elizabeth and John came to visit the Nazareth family ... Jesus and John had many talks together; and they talked over some very intimate and personal matters. When they had finished this visit, they decided not again to see each other until they should meet in their public service after "the heavenly Father should call" them to their work.

14. On Saturday afternoon, December 3, of this year, death for the second time struck at this Nazareth family. Little Amos, their baby brother, died after a week's illness with a high fever. After passing through this time of sorrow with her first‑born son as her only support, Mary at last and in the fullest sense recognized Jesus as the real head of the family; and he was truly a worthy head.

15. For four years their standard of living had steadily declined; year by year they felt the pinch of increasing poverty. By the close of this year they faced one of the most difficult experiences of all their uphill struggles. James had not yet begun to earn much, and the expenses of a funeral on top of everything else staggered them. But Jesus would only say to his anxious and grieving mother: "Mother‑Mary, sorrow will not help us; we are all doing our best, and mother's smile, perchance, might even inspire us to do better. Day by day we are strengthened for these task by our hope of better days ahead."

16. Jesus possessed the ability effectively to mobilize all his powers of mind, soul, and body on the task immediately in hand. He could concentrate his deep‑thinking mind on the one problem which he wished to solve, and this, in connection with his untiring patience, enabled him serenely to endure the trials of a difficult mortal existence—to live as if he were "seeing Him who is invisible."

17. In his home and throughout his public‑teaching career Jesus invariably employed the positive form of exhortation. Always and everywhere did he say, "You shall do this—you ought to do that.” Never did he employ the negative mode of teaching derived from the ancient taboos. He refrained from placing emphasis on evil by forbidding it, while he exalted the good by commanding its performance.

18. On three occasions when it was deemed wise to punish Jude for self‑confessed and deliberate violations of the family rules of conduct, his punishment was fixed by the unanimous decree of the older children and was assented to by Jude himself before it was finished.

19. This year Jude started to school, and it was necessary for Jesus to sell his harp in order to defray these expenses. Thus disappeared the last of his recreational pleasures. He much loved to play the harp when tired in mind and weary in body, but he comforted himself with the thought that at least the harp was safe from seizure by the tax collector.

20. Since Jesus was such a s­plendid specimen of robust and intellectual manhood. and considering his reputation as a spiritual leader, it was not strange that Rebecca, the oldest daughter of Ezra, a wealthy merchant and trader of Nazareth should discover that she was slowly falling in love with this son of Joseph...After listening attentively, he sincerely thanked Rebecca for her expressed admiration, adding, "it shall cheer and comfort me all the days of my life." He explained that he was not free to enter into relations with any woman other than those of simple brotherly regard and pure friendship.

21. Rebecca was heartbroken. She refused to be comforted ... She lived for only one purpose—to await the hour when this, to her, the greatest man who ever lived would begin his career as a teacher of living truth. And she followed him devotedly through his eventful years of public labor, being present (unobserved by Jesus) that day when he rode triumphantly into Jerusalem; and she stood "among the other women" by the side of Mary on that fateful and tragic afternoon when the Son of Man hung upon the cross, to her, as well as to countless worlds on high, "the one altogether lovely and the greatest among ten thousand.”

22. Although they could hardly effort it, Jesus had a strange longing to go up to Jerusalem for the Passover. His mother, knowing of his recent experience with Rebecca, wisely urged him to make the journey ... Jesus passed on through Jerusalem, only pausing to look upon the temple, and the gathering throngs of visitors. He had a strange and increasing aversion to this Herod‑built temple with its politically appointed priesthood. He wanted most of all to see Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Lazarus was the same age as Jesus and now head of the house; by the time of this visit Lazarus's mother had also been laid to rest. Martha was a little over one year older than Jesus, while Mary was two years younger. And Jesus was the idolized ideal of all three of them.

23. On this visit occurred one of those periodic outbreaks of rebellion against tradition... Jesus now proposed that they celebrate the feast where they were, at Lazarus's house. "But," said Lazarus, "we have no paschal lamb”...Jesus said: "Let the childlike and darkened minds of my people serve their God as Moses directed; it is better that they do, but let us who have seen the light of life no longer approach our Father by the darkness of death. Let as be free in the knowledge of the truth of our Father's eternal love.*

That evening about twilight these four sat down and partook of the first Passover feast ever to be celebrated by devout Jews without the paschal lamb.

24. Jesus is rapidly becoming a man, not just a young man but an adult. He has learned well to bear responsibility. He knows how to carry on in the face of disappointment. He bears up bravely when his plans are thwarted and his purposes temporarily defeated. He had learned how to be fair and just even in the face of injustice. He is learning how to adjust his ideals of spiritual living to the practical demands of earthly existence. He is learning how to plan for the achievement of a higher and distant goal of idealism while he toils earnestly for the attainment of a nearer and immediate goal of necessity. He is steadily acquiring the art of adjusting his aspirations to the commonplace demands of the human occasion. He has very nearly mastered the technique of utilizing the energy of the spiritual drive to turn the mechanism of material achievement. He is slowly learning how to live the heavenly life while he continues on with the earthly existence... He is becoming experienced in the skillful arresting of victory from the very jaws of defeat; he is learning how to transform the difficulties of time into the triumphs of eternity.

25. And so, as the years pass, this young man of Nazareth continues to experience life as it is lived in mortal flesh an the worlds of time and space … And all this human experience is an eternal possession of the Universe Sovereign. He is our understanding brother, sympathetic friend, experienced sovereign, and merciful father.

U.B. 127:1395‑1406

Discussion Questions

1. What is the best way to choose a path different than what those closest to us are urging us to do?

2. What might Jesus and John have talked about  in their intimate and personal conservations bout their life missions?

3. Why is hopeful courage so difficult for some people to achieve in depressing situations?

4. Why do people often use negative injunctions rather than positive motivation?

5. What do you think of Rebecca’s love for Jesus and his response?

6. Are there parallels today of observing the Passover without the paschal lamb?

7. How do we coordinate material necessities with spiritual ideals?