What was the significance of the death of Jesus Christ?

It would appear that the eventful days at Capernaum which included several healings and the big one at sundown may have begun the priests' concerns and growing alarm and anger toward Jesus. They sent spies to follow and cause mischief after this and during the First Preaching Tour of Galilee (Paper 146).

Jesus did not threaten the political order of the realm related to the Romans or the wealthy (except the wealthy priesthood of course!):

147:0.1 (1647.1) JESUS and the apostles arrived in Capernaum on Wednesday, March 17, and spent two weeks at the Bethsaida headquarters before they departed for Jerusalem. These two weeks the apostles taught the people by the seaside while Jesus spent much time alone in the hills about his Father’s business. During this period Jesus, accompanied by James and John Zebedee, made two secret trips to Tiberias, where they met with the believers and instructed them in the gospel of the kingdom.

147:0.2 (1647.2) Many of the household of Herod believed in Jesus and attended these meetings. It was the influence of these believers among Herod’s official family that had helped to lessen that ruler’s enmity toward Jesus. These believers at Tiberias had fully explained to Herod that the “kingdom” which Jesus proclaimed was spiritual in nature and not a political venture. Herod rather believed these members of his own household and therefore did not permit himself to become unduly alarmed by the spreading abroad of the reports concerning Jesus’ teaching and healing. He had no objections to Jesus’ work as a healer or religious teacher. Notwithstanding the favorable attitude of many of Herod’s advisers, and even of Herod himself, there existed a group of his subordinates who were so influenced by the religious leaders at Jerusalem that they remained bitter and threatening enemies of Jesus and the apostles and, later on, did much to hamper their public activities. The greatest danger to Jesus lay in the Jerusalem religious leaders and not in Herod. And it was for this very reason that Jesus and the apostles spent so much time and did most of their public preaching in Galilee rather than at Jerusalem and in Judea.

147:6.2 (1654.1) The chief priests and the religious leaders of the Jews held many secret meetings for the purpose of deciding what to do with Jesus. They were all agreed that something should be done to put a stop to his teaching, but they could not agree on the method. They had hoped that the civil authorities would dispose of him as Herod had put an end to John, but they discovered that Jesus was so conducting his work that the Roman officials were not much alarmed by his preaching. Accordingly, at a meeting which was held the day before Jesus’ departure for Capernaum, it was decided that he would have to be apprehended on a religious charge and be tried by the Sanhedrin. Therefore a commission of six secret spies was appointed to follow Jesus, to observe his words and acts, and when they had amassed sufficient evidence of lawbreaking and blasphemy, to return to Jerusalem with their report. These six Jews caught up with the apostolic party, numbering about thirty, at Jericho and, under the pretense of desiring to become disciples, attached themselves to Jesus’ family of followers, remaining with the group up to the time of the beginning of the second preaching tour in Galilee; whereupon three of them returned to Jerusalem to submit their report to the chief priests and the Sanhedrin.

Me here: The plot thickens as a member of the Sanhedrin, Abraham, gave his wealth to support the evangelists and 3 of the 6 spies sent to entrap Jesus were baptized and became believers/evangelists too!! Oh dear!

148:8.1 (1665.4) The last week of the sojourn at Bethsaida the Jerusalem spies became much divided in their attitude toward Jesus and his teachings. Three of these Pharisees were tremendously impressed by what they had seen and heard. Meanwhile, at Jerusalem, Abraham, a young and influential member of the Sanhedrin, publicly espoused the teachings of Jesus and was baptized in the pool of Siloam by Abner. All Jerusalem was agog over this event, and messengers were immediately dispatched to Bethsaida recalling the six spying Pharisees.

148:9.4 (1667.2) And it was about this time that the messengers of the Sanhedrin arrived to bid the six spies return to Jerusalem. When they heard this message, they fell to earnest debate among themselves; and after they had finished their discussions, the leader and two of his associates returned with the messengers to Jerusalem, while three of the spying Pharisees confessed faith in Jesus and, going immediately to the lake, were baptized by Peter and fellowshipped by the apostles as children of the kingdom.

Me here: After the feeding of the 5,000 and their misguided attempt to crown Jesus as King of the Jews, which Jesus quashed, the priesthood had to find some way to undermine the political tolerance of Jesus by Herod and his court. Things are really heating up. Is it time to retreat or quiet down? Oh contraire!!!!! Every Preaching Tour recorded in the UB saw Jesus become more direct in his rejection of the Judaic authorities and their methods/priorities. Every tour, Jesus became more and more popular while the Sanhedrin lost more and more support, including that of its own members and the wealthier, influential Jewish people, especially those from outside Palestine and those outside of Jerusalem. Things are heating up and Jesus does little to tone it down or cool things off. There is a deliberateness and strategic positioning at work at every decision and tactic of Jesus in managing the Preaching Tours!

David Zebedee has now established a well manned and organized intelligence agency including spies, runners, safe houses, and data transfer sites all over the area and in the priest's nest of Jerusalem.

149:0.4 (1668.4) Throughout this period and subsequently, up to the time of the final departure of Jesus and the twelve for Jerusalem, David Zebedee maintained a permanent headquarters for the work of the kingdom in his father’s house at Bethsaida. This was the clearinghouse for Jesus’ work on earth and the relay station for the messenger service which David carried on between the workers in various parts of Palestine and adjacent regions. He did all of this on his own initiative but with the approval of Andrew. David employed forty to fifty messengers in this intelligence division of the rapidly enlarging and extending work of the kingdom. While thus employed, he partially supported himself by spending some of his time at his old work of fishing.

149:1.1 (1668.5) By the time the camp at Bethsaida had been broken up, the fame of Jesus, particularly as a healer, had spread to all parts of Palestine and through all of Syria and the surrounding countries.....

149:3.2 (1672.5) The religious leaders at Jerusalem were becoming well-nigh frantic as a result of the recent conversion of young Abraham and by the desertion of the three spies who had been baptized by Peter, and who were now out with the evangelists on this second preaching tour of Galilee. The Jewish leaders were increasingly blinded by fear and prejudice, while their hearts were hardened by the continued rejection of the appealing truths of the gospel of the kingdom. When men shut off the appeal to the spirit that dwells within them, there is little that can be done to modify their attitude.

149:3.3 (1672.6) When Jesus first met with the evangelists at the Bethsaida camp, in concluding his address, he said: “You should remember that in body and mind — emotionally — men react individually. The only uniform thing about men is the indwelling spirit. Though divine spirits may vary somewhat in the nature and extent of their experience, they react uniformly to all spiritual appeals. Only through, and by appeal to, this spirit can mankind ever attain unity and brotherhood.” But many of the leaders of the Jews had closed the doors of their hearts to the spiritual appeal of the gospel. From this day on they ceased not to plan and plot for the Master’s destruction. They were convinced that Jesus must be apprehended, convicted, and executed as a religious offender, a violator of the cardinal teachings of the Jewish sacred law.

Me here: I am certain that Jesus did not misjudge or mishandle the situation nor was there any surprise or bewilderment as to the cause of this angst or the effects of his decisions and timing related to the Sanhedrin. It becomes clear that it was Jesus in charge of Jesus and his mission and his message and his audience and his timing and the eventual outcome. He more than faced the ultimate results....in my view, he created the finality of his days among us. Such bold courage and keen insight!

While a lad of just 14-15, Jesus was already considering the form and content of his life's ministry. His visit to the temple at age 13 revealed the hypocrisy and tyranny of the priesthood and the subjugation of his people by these so called "religious" leaders who present a very primitive and inadequate portrait of creation, humanity, and God.

126:0.3 (1386.3) As he grew older, Jesus’ pity and love for the Jewish people deepened, but with the passing years, there developed in his mind a growing righteous resentment of the presence in the Father’s temple of the politically appointed priests. Jesus had great respect for the sincere Pharisees and the honest scribes, but he held the hypocritical Pharisees and the dishonest theologians in great contempt; he looked with disdain upon all those religious leaders who were not sincere. When he scrutinized the leadership of Israel, he was sometimes tempted to look with favor on the possibility of his becoming the Messiah of Jewish expectation, but he never yielded to such a temptation.

126:0.4 (1386.4) The story of his exploits among the wise men of the temple in Jerusalem was gratifying to all Nazareth, especially to his former teachers in the synagogue school. For a time his praise was on everybody’s lips. All the village recounted his childhood wisdom and praiseworthy conduct and predicted that he was destined to become a great leader in Israel; at last a really great teacher was to come out of Nazareth in Galilee. And they all looked forward to the time when he would be fifteen years of age so that he might be permitted regularly to read the Scriptures in the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

127:6.13 (1405.5) And so, as the years pass, this young man of Nazareth continues to experience life as it is lived in mortal flesh on the worlds of time and space. He lives a full, representative, and replete life on Urantia. He left this world ripe in the experience which his creatures pass through during the short and strenuous years of their first life, the life in the flesh. And all this human experience is an eternal possession of the Universe Sovereign. He is our understanding brother, sympathetic friend, experienced sovereign, and merciful father.

127:6.14 (1405.6) As a child he accumulated a vast body of knowledge; as a youth he sorted, classified, and correlated this information; and now as a man of the realm he begins to organize these mental possessions preparatory to utilization in his subsequent teaching, ministry, and service in behalf of his fellow mortals on this world and on all other spheres of habitation throughout the entire universe of Nebadon.

127:6.15 (1405.7) Born into the world a babe of the realm, he has lived his childhood life and passed through the successive stages of youth and young manhood; he now stands on the threshold of full manhood, rich in the experience of human living, replete in the understanding of human nature, and full of sympathy for the frailties of human nature. He is becoming expert in the divine art of revealing his Paradise Father to all ages and stages of mortal creatures.

127:6.16 (1406.1) And now as a full-grown man — an adult of the realm — he prepares to continue his supreme mission of revealing God to men and leading men to God.

128:0.2 (1407.2) Always be mindful of the twofold purpose of Michael’s bestowal on Urantia:

128:0.3 (1407.3) 1. The mastering of the experience of living the full life of a human creature in mortal flesh, the completion of his sovereignty in Nebadon.

128:0.4 (1407.4) 2. The revelation of the Universal Father to the mortal dwellers on the worlds of time and space and the more effective leading of these same mortals to a better understanding of the Universal Father.

128:0.5 (1407.5) All other creature benefits and universe advantages were incidental and secondary to these major purposes of the mortal bestowal.

1. The Twenty-First Year (A.D. 15)

128:1.1 (1407.6) With the attainment of adult years Jesus began in earnest and with full self-consciousness the task of completing the experience of mastering the knowledge of the life of his lowest form of intelligent creatures, thereby finally and fully earning the right of unqualified rulership of his self-created universe. He entered upon this stupendous task fully realizing his dual nature. But he had already effectively combined these two natures into one — Jesus of Nazareth.

128:1.2 (1407.7) Joshua ben Joseph knew full well that he was a man, a mortal man, born of woman. This is shown in the selection of his first title, the Son of Man. He was truly a partaker of flesh and blood, and even now, as he presides in sovereign authority over the destinies of a universe, he still bears among his numerous well-earned titles that of Son of Man. It is literally true that the creative Word — the Creator Son — of the Universal Father was “made flesh and dwelt as a man of the realm on Urantia.” He labored, grew weary, rested, and slept. He hungered and satisfied such cravings with food; he thirsted and quenched his thirst with water. He experienced the full gamut of human feelings and emotions; he was “in all things tested, even as you are,” and he suffered and died.

128:1.3 (1407.

He obtained knowledge, gained experience, and combined these into wisdom, just as do other mortals of the realm. Until after his baptism he availed himself of no supernatural power. He employed no agency not a part of his human endowment as a son of Joseph and Mary.

128:1.4 (1408.1) As to the attributes of his prehuman existence, he emptied himself. Prior to the beginning of his public work his knowledge of men and events was wholly self-limited. He was a true man among men.

Me here: So, Jesus formulated his ministry plans as a man of the realm and of the time based on his personal experience as boy, youth, and young man. He embraced the grief, loss, and challenge to be brother and father to his siblings and managed to avoid some very common and conflicting youthful reactions and responses to his generation and time. He was wholly focused on bringing God and man closer together and to "release" the hostages of fear, tradition, and tyranny as he perceived his fellows to be and to "set free" those who languished from false concepts of heaven and God and the spirit.

From here Jesus continues his "education" of human experience and begins his "personal" ministry of person to person, seeking knowledge of people and how to introduce his far higher insights and concepts of our paternal God. His public ministry still years ahead, he is planting seeds and building a foundation for that work to come while growing in strength and courage and wisdom in his personal relationship with the Adjuster - the God Fragment Within.

His public ministry experience ultimately leads Jesus to begin formulating his "end game" based on all prior experience and his desire to illuminate and illustrate the Love of God, the Mercy of God, and the Family of God. Bear in mind that none of what happened was scripted or pre-ordained but was the result of Jesus' Free Will expressions of his own inner life and spirit progress....a very human experience and expression. The result of which was his ultimate public murder. Indeed there is great significance in his life and his death and the manner of his death....but most especially, perhaps, was his resurrection and triumph over uncertainty, fear, and the mortal death....the portal for deliverance to the heavenly abode.

:wink:

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