Urantia Book 43. The life of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua ben Joseph, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of the Universe of Nebadon. Before going to Jerusalem for the Passover, Jesus was called to heal the servant of a Roman centurion. When Jesus approached the house of the centurion, servants were sent out to say: “Lord, trouble not yourself to enter my house, for I am not worthy that you should come under my roof.” These words are in the Catholic Eucharist just before communion. “But only speak the word and my soul shall be healed” is similar to the centurion’s words: “But I know that you can speak the word where you stand and my servant will be healed.” Jesus marveled at the belief of the gentile and healed his servant from where he was standing in front of the house. The creatures dictating the UB admitted they did not know how the healing took place. They said: “But we never knew just what happened on this occasion” (147.1.4).**** Jesus and the apostolic party reached Jerusalem on Friday, April 2 and made Bethany their headquarters. Judas was carrying a surplus of money, so he deposited it in the bank of a friend. The trip had been uneventful, but on arrival, they were swamped with crowds seeking healing, comfort and salvation. Thus, Jesus was busy and had no time for rest. They were forced to flee to Gethsemane and pitch tents to avoid the crowds. Jesus told the apostles to do no public preaching, only private teaching and personal work. They celebrated Passover at Bethany with Lazarus and his sisters. John’s apostles did not celebrate Passover with them; they celebrated with Abner and old friends and disciples of John. John’s apostles also did not return to Galilee with Jesus and the twelve; they stayed in Jerusalem and quietly worked at expanding the kingdom of heaven.*** The episode at the Pool of Bethesda gives us a fascinating insight into Jesus’ thinking. On the second Sabbath as they were about to participate in Temple services, John said to Jesus: “Come with me. I would show you something.” They went to a pool of water called Bethesda. Gas from caverns under the ground made water bubble up at irregular intervals, and superstition said that the first person into the water after it bubbled up would be healed of their affliction. So afflicted people were always seen around this hot spring. John believed that if Jesus saw all the sufferers around this pool, he would be moved to heal them, astounding people and advancing the kingdom. John said to Jesus: “Master, see all these suffering ones; is there nothing we can do with them?” And Jesus replied: “John, why would you tempt me to turn aside from the way I have chosen? Why do you go on desiring to substitute the working of wonders and the healing of the sick for the proclamation of the gospel of eternal truth? My son, I may not do that which you desire, but gather together these sick and afflicted that I may speak words of good cheer and eternal comfort to them.” Turning to those assembled, Jesus said: “Many of you are here, sick and afflicted, because of your many years of wrong living. Some suffer from the accidents of time, others as a result of the mistakes of their forebears, while some of you struggle under the handicaps of the imperfect conditions of your temporal existence. But my Father works, and I would work, to improve your earthly state, but more especially to insure your eternal estate. None of us can do much to change the difficulties of life unless we discover the Father in heaven so wills. After all, we are all beholden to do the will of the Eternal. If you could all be healed of your physical afflictions, you would indeed marvel, but it is even greater that you should be cleansed of all spiritual disease and find yourselves healed of all moral infirmities. You are all God’s children; you are the sons and daughters of the heavenly Father. The bonds of time may seem to afflict you, but the God of eternity loves you. You shall find, not only justice, but an abundance of mercy. Verily, verily, I say to you: He who hears the gospel of the kingdom and believes in this teaching of sonship with God, has eternal life; already are such believers passing from judgment and death to light and life. And the hour is coming in which even those who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of resurrection” (147.3.1-3). One mentally ill man responded by realizing that no one could help him but himself. He stood up and walked home. All the people with psychosomatic diseases were “cured” and went home. All were inspired by Jesus’ words and went home to meditate about them. ********************************** This is not the picture of Jesus we get in the New Testament, where Jesus preaches in simple parables and absolutely no philosophy. Here he is giving them a taste of Eastern teaching. He’s telling these afflicted people to accept their situation; it may in fact be God’s will. The UB says that sin and evil are a condition of being out of step with reality. Lucifer, being confined to this universe, never saw the Universal Father, so he denied that the Father existed. Evil came from that denial. God’s will is another word for reality. Several years ago I asked Jesus to show me reality. He reminded me of all the books I had read on quantum physics. I had read these books because I needed to know why and how something psychic was victimizing me. I found the solution and wrote 2 books about it. But Jesus was telling me that QM is the best description of reality that we have at the present time. I continue to look for updates on quantum mechanics. Right now I’m listening to two audio books on the subject. I like the saying among physicists that if you think you understand quantum physics, you probably don’t. That about covers it for my level of knowledge.