Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 140
THE ORDINATION OF THE TWELVE
1. Just before noon on Saturday, January 12, A.D. 27, Jesus called, the apostles together for their ordination as public preachers of the gospel of the kingdom ...when he had. assembled all twelve, he journeyed with them to the highlands north of Capernaum, where he proceeded to instruct them in preparation for their formal ordination.
2. Before the formal ordination service Jesus spoke to the twelve as they were seated about him...“The new kingdom which my Father is about to set up in the hearts of his earth children is to be an everlasting dominion ...The power of this kingdom shall consist, not in the strength of armies nor in the might of riches, but rather in the glory of the divine spirit that shall come to teach the minds and rule the hearts of the reborn citizens of this heavenly kingdom, the sons of God.
3. “But for you, my children, and for all others who would follow you into this kingdom, there is set a severe test. Faith alone will pass you through its portals, but you must bring forth the fruits of my Father's spirit if you would continue to ascend in the progressive life of the divine fellowship. Verily, verily, I say to you, not every one who says, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but rather he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
4. “Your message to the world shall be: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and in finding these, all other things essential to eternal survival shall be secured therewith.
5. “Whosoever would become great in my Father's kingdom shall become a minister to all; and whosoever would be first among you, let him become the server of his brethren...and it will not be so much by the words you speak as by the lives you live that men will know you have been with me and have learned of the realities of the kingdom.
6. “My Father, I now bring to you these men, my messengers. From among our children on earth I have chosen these twelve to go forth to represent me as I came forth to represent you ....And now, my Father, give these men wisdom as I place all the affairs of the coming kingdom in their hands”...A great silence pervaded the place while a host of celestial beings looked down upon this solemn and sacred scene the Creator of a universe placing the affairs of the divine brotherhood of man under the direction of human minds.
7. “Of the teacher more is expected than of the pupil; of the master more is exacted than of the servant. Of the citizens of the heavenly kingdom more is required than of the citizens of the earthly rule.
8. “Happy are the poor in spirit, the humble, for theirs are the treasures of the kingdom of heaven. Happy are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Happy are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Happy are the pure in heart, for they shall see God... Happy are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted... Happy are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Happy are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.. Happy are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
9. “I say to you: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who despitefully use you. And whatsoever you believe that I would do to men, do you also to them.
10. “In all the business of the kingdom I exhort you to show just judgment and keen wisdom. Present not that which is holy to dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample your gems under foot and turn to rend you.
11. “In gaining an entrance into the kingdom of heaven, it is the motive that counts. My Father looks into the hearts of men and judges by their inner longings and. their sincere intentions.”
12. The so‑called "Sermon on the Mount" is not the gospel of Jesus. It does contain much helpful instruction, but it was Jesus' ordination charge to the twelve apostles.
13. “You are the light of the world” ...While light dispels darkness, it can also be so "blinding" as to confuse and. frustrate. We are admonished to let our light so shine that our fellows will be guided into new and godly paths of enhanced living. Our light should so shine as not to attract attention to self.
14. Strong characters are not derived from not doing wrong but rather from actually doing right. Unselfishness is the badge of human greatness. The highest levels of self-realization are attained by worship and. service.
15. An effective philosophy of living is formed by a combination of cosmic insight and the total of one's emotional reactions to the social and economic environment. Remember: While inherited urges cannot be fundamentally modified, emotional responses to such urges can be changed; therefore the moral nature can be modified, character can be improved, In the strong character emotional responses are integrated and co‑ordinated., and thus is produced a unified personality.
16. Without a worthy goal, life becomes aimless and. unprofitable, and much unhappiness results ...Education should be a technique of learning (discovering) the better methods of gratifying our natural and inherited urges, and happiness is the resulting total of these enhanced techniques of emotional satisfactions.
17. Every mortal really craves to be a complete person, to be perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect, and. such attainment is possible because in the last analysis the "universe is truly fatherly."
18. From the Sermon on the Mount to the discourse of the Last Supper, Jesus taught his followers to manifest fatherly love rather than brotherly love. Brotherly love would love your neighbor as you love yourself, and. that would be adequate fulfillment of the "golden rule." But fatherly affection would require that you should love your fellow mortals as Jesus loves you.
19. It is a great error to teach boys and young men that it is unmanly to show tenderness or otherwise to give evidence of emotional feeling or physical suffering ...The world's great men have not been afraid to mourn...Moses was a superb leader, but he was also a man of meekness. Being sensitive and responsive to human need creates genuine and lasting happiness, while such kindly attitudes safeguard the soul from the destructive influences of anger, hate, and suspicion.
20. Personal peace integrates personality. Social peace prevents fear, greed, and anger. Political peace prevents race antagonisms, national suspicions, and war. Peacemaking is the cure of distrust and. suspicion.
21. “You find it difficult to receive my message because you would build the new teaching directly upon the old, but I declare that you must be reborn...But you will stumble over my teaching because you are wont to interpret my message literally; you are slow to discern the spirit of my teaching.”
22. When they had all held personal conferences with him save the twins, who had. fallen asleep, Andrew went in to Jesus and. said: "Master, the twins have fallen asleep in the garden by the fire; shall I arouse them to inquire if they would. also talk with you?" And Jesus smilingly said to Andrew, "They do well ‑ trouble them not."
23.What he preached against was not fore‑thought, but anxiety, worry. He taught the active and. alert submission to God's will.
24. In his personal life he was always duly observant of all civil laws and regulations; in all his public teachings he ignored the civic, social, and economic realms. He told the three apostles that he was concerned only with the principles of man's inner and personal spiritual life. Jesus was not, therefore, a political reformer.
25. The family occupied. the very center of Jesus' philosophy of life—here and. hereafter. He based his teachings about God on the family....He exalted family life as the highest human duty but made it plain that family relationships must not interfere with religious obligations.
26. Jesus never personally directed his followers to adopt a communal mode of life; he made no pronouncement of any sort regarding such matters...He made no direct attack on the possession of property, but be did insist that it is eternally essential that spiritual values come first...And. if Jesus were on earth today, living his life in the flesh, he would be a great disappointment to the majority of good men and women for the simple reason that he would not take sides in present‑day political, social, or economic disputes...Jesus would make all men Godlike and then stand by sympathetically while these sons of God solve their own political, social, and. economic problems.
27. You, as did his apostles, should the better understand Jesus' teachings by his life. He lived, a perfected life on Urantia, and his unique teachings can only be understood when that life is visualized in its immediate background. It is his life, and not his lessons to the twelve or his sermons to the multitudes, that will assist more in revealing the Father's divine character and loving personality.
28. Jesus did not want simply to produce a religious man...What he aimed at in his life appears to have been a superb self‑respect...He placed great value upon sincerity—a pure heart. Fidelity was a cardinal virtue in his estimate of character, while courage was the very heart of his teachings ...The teachings of Jesus constitute a religion of valor, courage, and heroism. And this is just why he chose as his personal representatives twelve commonplace men, the majority of whom were rugged, virile, and. manly fishermen.
29. Jesus knew men were different, and he so taught his apostles. He constantly exhorted them to refrain from trying to mold the disciples and believers according to some set pattern. He sought to allow each soul to develop in its own way, a perfecting and separate individual before God..
30. The three apostles were shocked this afternoon when they realized that their Master’s religion made no provision for spiritual self‑examination. All religions before and after the times of Jesus, even Christianity, carefully provide for conscientious self-examination. But not so with the religion of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus' philosophy of life is without religious introspection. The carpenter's son never taught character building; he taught character growth, declaring that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. But Jesus said nothing which would proscribe self‑analysis as a prevention of conceited egotism.
31. His religion never became crystallized (during his day) into creeds and theological laws; he left not a line of writing behind him. His life and teachings were bequeathed the universe as an inspirational and. idealistic inheritance suitable for the spiritual guidance and moral instruction of all ages on all worlds. And even today, Jesus' teaching stands apart from all religions, as such, albeit it is the living hope of every one of them.
32. Jesus did not teach his apostles that religion is man's only earthly pursuit; that was the Jewish idea of serving God...Jesus wished to develop spiritual insight into eternal realities and to stimulate initiative in the originality of living...The Master came to create in man a new spirit, a new will...the will to be in harmony with God's will, coupled with the eternal urge to become perfect, even as the Father in heaven is perfect.
33. The Master's consecration charge was: "Go into all the world and preach the glad tidings of the kingdom. Liberate spiritual captives, comfort the oppressed, and minister to the afflicted. Freely you have received., freely give…Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be you therefore as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.
34. It was a difficult task to persuade these Galilean fishermen that, in the kingdom, being righteous, by faith, must precede doing righteousness in the daily life of the mortals of earth. Another great handicap in this work of teaching the twelve was their tendency to take highly idealistic and spiritual principles of religious truth and remake them into concrete rules of personal conduct...Jesus lived his earth life on Urantia, not to set a personal example of mortal living for the men and. women of this world, but rather to create a high spiritual and inspirational ideal for all mortal beings on all worlds.
35. The one characteristic of Jesus' teaching was that the morality of his philosophy originated in the personal relation of the individual to God—this very child‑father relationship. Jesus placed emphasis on the individual, not on the race or nation.
36. This new religion of Jesus was not without its practical implications, but whatever of practical political, social, or economic value there is to be found in his teaching is the natural outworking of this inner experience of the soul as it manifests the fruits of the spirit in the spontaneous daily ministry of genuine personal religious experience.
37. The kingdom of heaven consists in these three essentials: first, recognition of the fact of the sovereignty of God; second, belief in the truth of sonship with God; and third, faith in the effectiveness of the supreme human desire to do the will of God—to be like God. And this is the good news of the gospel: that by faith every mortal may have all these essentials of salvation.
Discussion Questions
1. What us the spiritual meaning of “salt that has lost its savor?”
2. How can we emotionally redirect inherited urges and unify our lives?
3. What is the key factor in distinguishing fatherly love from brotherly love?
4. Jesus said that we should seek first the kingdom of God and “all things needful shall be added to you.” Should this statement be taken literally?
5. Why does the religion of Jesus not provide for spiritual self-examination?
6. How should we interpret Jesus’ statement, “some of you will not die until you have seen the reign of God come in great power?”
7. Why us it dangerous to take highly idealistic and spiritual principles and translate them into concrete rules of personal conduct?
A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship