Urantia Book 116. The Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua bin Joseph, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of Nebadon. Jesus made 19 separate appearances to his believers, the first to the five women at the tomb, the second to Mary Magdalene at the tomb. James, Jesus’ eldest brother, had been, like the rest of the family, skeptical of the life Jesus was living. But as James was standing by the tomb of Lazarus, he felt a soft touch on his shoulder. He looked at Jesus, but didn’t recognize him until he said: “James, I came to call you to the service of the kingdom. Join earnest hands with your brothers and follow me.” As he recognized Jesus, he fell on his knees and said: “My father and my brother.” James became the leader of the Jerusalem church and was one of the first martyrs. The fourth appearance of Jesus was in the home of Mary and Martha in Bethany, where there were 20 people gathered to wait for any messages. Jesus appeared at the back door and said: “Peace be upon you. Come, all of you, into the fellowship of the spirit of Truth in the Father’s kingdom.” And then he vanished. The fifth morontia appearance of Jesus was to 25 women believers assembled at the home of Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus said to them: “Peace be upon you. In the fellowship of the kingdom there shall be neither Jew nor gentile, rich nor poor, free nor bond, man nor woman. You are also called to publish the good news of the liberty of mankind through the gospel of sonship with God in the kingdom of heaven. Caiaphas called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. Fervently they made decisions like deciding to throw out of the synagogues anyone who mentioned Jesus’ resurrection. Anyone claiming to have seen Jesus would be put to death. This proposal did not come to a vote, though, because the meeting broke up in confusion and panic. “They had dared to think they were through with Jesus. They were about to discover that the real trouble with the man of Nazareth had just begun”(190.3.3). *********************** The Master made his sixth morontia appearance to forty Greek believers collected at the home of Flavius. He told them to spread the Gospel and then vanished. At this point Jerusalem is becoming excited. Jesus didn’t want to go to his apostles right away because he wanted to give them time to digest this resurrection and all its implications. He wanted them to be familiar with the idea. Also they would be full of anticipation when they finally saw him, which was not a bad thing. Jesus walked to Emmaus with two brothers, Cleopas and Jacob, who had been to Passover in Jerusalem. They didn’t recognize him although they knew him. They invited him in to eat and when Jesus said the blessing over the bread, they recognized his voice. As soon as they recognized him he vanished. The forgot about eating and hurried back to the apostles to tell them they had seen Jesus. That was the seventh appearance. It seems like everytime Jesus tells his friends and believers to go spread the Gospel, it is mostly about the kingdom of heaven and the fatherhood of God.