A Comppassionate Friend

A compassionate friend

154:6.1 (1721.1)Around eight o'clock this Sunday morning, five members of Jesus' earthly family arrived on the scene, in consequence of the urgent call of Judas' sister-in-law. Of Jesus' entire earthly family, there was only one, Ruth, who always continued to believe with all her heart in the divinity of his mission on earth. Judas and James and even Joseph, had still retained much of their faith in Jesus, but they had let pride interfere with their better judgment and true spiritual inclinations. Mary was likewise in a duel between love and fear, between maternal love and family pride. Although tormented by doubt, she could never completely forget Gabriel's visit before the birth of Jesus. The Pharisees had labored to convince Mary that Jesus was beside himself, disturbed. They urged her to go with her sons and try to dissuade him from further attempts to act as a teacher in public. They assured Mary that Jesus' health would soon collapse and that there would only be dishonor and disgrace on the entire family if they let him have his way. And so when the news of Judas' sister-in-law came, all five of them immediately set out for Zebedee's house; they had all stayed together at Mary's house, where they had talked with the Pharisees the night before. They had talked late into the evening with the leaders from Jerusalem and were all more or less convinced that Jesus was acting strangely, that he had been acting strangely for some time. Ruth insisted, even though she could not explain all his behavior, that he had always treated his family well, and she refused to agree to the plan to try to get him to desist from further work.

154:6.2 (1721.2)On their way to Zebedee's house, they discussed these matters among themselves and agreed that they would try to persuade Jesus to go home with them, for, Mary said, “I know I would have an influence on my son if he would come home again and listen to me. James and Judas had heard rumors of plans to take Jesus into custody and bring him to Jerusalem to stand trial. They also feared for their own safety. For as long as Jesus had been popular with the people, his family had let things run their course, but now that the people of Capernaum and the leaders of Jerusalem had suddenly turned against him, they were beginning to feel all too clearly the pressure of the supposed loss of honor from their embarrassing position.

154:6.3 (1721.3)They had expected to encounter Jesus, take him aside and urge him to come home with them. They intended to assure him that they would forget that he had neglected them - they would forgive and forget - if only he would abandon the folly of trying to preach a new religion, which could only bring him trouble himself and nothing but disgrace on his family. To all this Ruth only wanted to say, “I will say to my brother that I think he is a man of God, and that I hope he will be willing to die rather than let these wicked Pharisees put an end to his preaching. Joseph promised to keep Ruth quiet while the others worked Jesus.

154:6.4 (1721.4)When they arrived at Zebedee's house, Jesus was just in the middle of his farewell address to the disciples. They tried to enter the house, but it was packed. Finally, they found a place on the back porch and had a message for Jesus passed from one person to another, so that it was finally conveyed to him in a whisper by Simon Peter, who interrupted Jesus' speech for this purpose and said, “Behold, your mother and your brothers are outside and are very desirous to speak with you. It did not occur to his mother that these announcements at his farewell were very important to his followers, nor did she know that at any moment his speech could be brought to an end by the arrival of those who came to arrest him. She really thought that after such a long, obvious removal, given that they and and his brothers had been so benevolent as to actually come to him, Jesus would stop speaking and come to them as soon as he got the message through that they were waiting for him.

154:6.5 (1722.1)Once again, his earthly family could not understand his need to attend to his Father's business. And so Mary and his brothers felt deeply aggrieved when, notwithstanding that he interrupted his speech to hear the message, he did not rush out to greet them. They heard his eloquent voice say in a louder tone, “Tell my mother and my brothers that they need not worry about me. The Father who sent me into the world will not forsake me; nor will any harm befall my family. Tell them to take courage and put their trust in the Father of the kingdom. But after all, who is my mother and who are my brothers? And extending his hands to all his disciples who were gathered in the room, he said, “I have no mother; I have no brothers. See my mother and see my brothers! For everyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my mother, my brother, and my sister.'

154:6.6 (1722.2)And when Mary heard these words, she fainted in the arms of Judas. They carried her out into the garden to revive her while Jesus spoke the closing words of his farewell message. Then he would have come out to speak to his mother and brothers, but a courier arrived in haste from Tiberias with news that the court officers of the Sanhedrin were on their way with a warrant to arrest Jesus and take him to Jerusalem. Andrew took this message and interrupted Jesus to tell him this.

154:6.7 (1722.3)Andrew had forgotten that David had set up about twenty-five sentries around Zebedee's house and that no one could ambush them by surprise; so he asked Jesus what should be done. The Master stood there silently, while his mother who had heard the words, “I have no mother,” recovered from the shock in the garden. Just at this moment, a woman in the room stood up and exclaimed: “Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and blessed are the breasts that suckled thee. Jesus interrupted his conversation with Andrew for a moment, turned aside and answered this woman, saying, “Nay, rather, blessed is the one who hears the word of God and dares to obey it.

154:6.8 (1722.4)Mary and Jesus' brothers thought that Jesus did not understand them, that he had lost interest in them, little realizing that it was they who did not understand Jesus. Jesus fully realized how difficult it is for people to break with their past. He knew how people allow themselves to be influenced by the eloquence of the preacher, and how conscience responds when emotionally appealed to, just as consciousness responds to logic and reason, but he also knew how much harder it is to convince people to reject the past.

154:6.9 (1722.5)It is forever true that all who think they are misunderstood or unappreciated have in Jesus a compassionate friend and an understanding counselor. He had warned his apostles that a man's enemies can sometimes be found in his own household, but he hardly realized that this prediction would become quite applicable to his own experience. Jesus did not abandon his earthly family to do his Father's work - they abandoned him. Later, after the Master's death and resurrection, when James became connected to the early Christian movement, he suffered immeasurably as a result of not wanting to be a part of this earlier dealings with Jesus and his disciples.

154:6.10 (1723.1)In going through these events, Jesus chose to be guided by the limited knowledge of his human consciousness. He wanted to undergo this experience purely as a human being, together with his companions. And Jesus, with his human consciousness, intended to see his family before he left. He did not want to stop in the middle of his speech and thereby make a public matter of their first meeting after such a long separation. He had intended to end his speech and then have a conversation with them before he left, but this plan was foiled by the confluence of circumstances that occurred immediately afterwards.

154:6.11 (1723.2)The haste of their flight was increased by the arrival of a group of David's couriers at the back entrance of Zebedee's house. These men caused such a commotion that the apostles became afraid that these new arrivals were coming to arrest them, and for fear of being captured instantly they rushed out the front door to the waiting boat. And this is the explanation for Jesus' inability to meet his family, who were waiting for him on the back porch.

154:6.12 (1723.3)To David Zebedee, however, as he got into the boat on this hasty flight, he said, “Tell my mother and my brothers that I appreciate their coming and that I had the intention of meeting them. Press them to take no offence at me, but rather to seek knowledge of the will of God and grace and courage to do that will.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book