Urantia Book 82. The life of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua ben Joseph, Yeshua, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of Nebadon. Although the testimony of Lazarus consolidated the faith of the mass of the believers in the gospel, it did nothing for the Jewish leaders but make them more set on destroying Jesus. The next day, Friday, the Sanhedrin met to discuss what to do with Jesus. After two hours of acrimonious debate, a Pharisee presented a resolution calling for Jesus’ immediate death, without trial and in defiance of all precedent. This resolution did not come to a vote because fourteen members of the Sanhedrin resigned in a body when such an unheard of action was proposed. Five other members were thrown out because they were thought to harbor friendly feelings toward Jesus. The following week Lazarus and his sisters were summoned to appear before the Sanhedrin, who were convinced by their testimony that Lazarus did rise from the dead. But they attributed Jesus’ abilities to the devil. But underneath this supposed hatred for Jesus, the Jews had a deeper worry. They were afraid all of this excitement and the large crowds going here, there and everywhere would attract the Romans. The Romans expected the Jewish leadership to keep the Jews under control, and they were definitely not under control. A God was among them and he was shaking things up. And although Jesus tried to squelch talk of a worldly kingdom, that didn’t stop the people without discretion chattering about it. In any case, Jesus wasn’t the least bit worried about any of it. Early Sunday morning Jesus and his apostles started their journey back to the Pella encampment (168.3.1-7).***************** As they walked along the trail to Pella, the apostles wanted Jesus to answer questions about prayer, so these are some of the things he said: 1. Prayer is an expression of the finite mind in an effort to approach the infinite. The making of a prayer is thus limited by the knowledge, wisdom and attributes of the finite; likewise must the answer be conditioned by the vision, aims, ideals and prerogatives of the Infinite. 2. If a prayer seems unanswered, a better answer may come at a later time. The Infinite has a viewpoint that has a different perspective—ours is very limited. 3. Some prayers are so vast and all-encompassing that they must be answered only in eternity. 4. The answers to some prayers are such that they can only be recognized when the person is in the immortal state. 5. A prayer may be so distorted by ignorance and so deformed by superstition that the answer would be highly undesirable. When the answer does arise, the petitioner does not recognize it as the answer. 6. All true prayers are addressed to spiritual beings, and all such petitions must be answered in spiritual terms, and all such answers must consist in spiritual realities. Spiritual beings can’t bestow material answers to the spirit petitions of even material beings. Material beings can only pray effectively when they pray “in the spirit.” 7. No pray-er can hope for an answer unless it is born of the spirit and nurtured by faith. 8. The child is always within his rights when he presumes to petition the parent; and the parent is always within his parental obligations to the immature child when his superior wisdom dictates that the answer to the child’s prayer be delayed, modified, segregated, transcended or postponed to another stage of spiritual ascension. 9. Do not hesitate to pray the prayers of spirit longings; doubt not that you shall receive the answer to your petitions. These answers will be on deposit, awaiting your achievement of those future spiritual levels of actual cosmic attainment, when it will become possible for you to recognize and appropriate the long-waiting answers to your earlier but ill-timed petitions. 10. All genuine spirit-born petitions are certain of an answer. Ask and you shall receive. But you must deal with the time-space factor when you wait for answers to prayer (168.4.1-13).** Lazarus had to flee Bethany because the Sanhedrin decreed his death. He went to Philadelphia, where Abner was working, and became active in the church there. He eventually died of the same disease that took him the first time (168.5.1-3).