"The Way."
Jesus' Baptismal Decisions.


He discerned that God's way was not going to be the easy way
.
He said goodbye to the throne of David.

He had only one objective--the establishment of the rule of the Father in the hearts of mankind.

The idea of contention, battle, slaughter was repugnant to him. He rejected it--even contention.

He would appear on earth as the Prince of Peace to reveal a God of love.

He would return to Galilee to quietly begin the proclamation of the kingdom and  trust his Father (his Adjuster) to work out the details of procedure, day by day.

He would refuse to apply material tests to prove spiritual problems or to presumptuously defy natural law.

He would refuse to grasp temporal power as the prelude to spiritual glory.

He would not cater to the physical gratification of his people.

He would not deal out bread to the multitudes (as he had seen done in Rome) nor draw attention to himself through wonder working.

He would not seek to win acceptance of a spiritual message by any show of authority or power.

Finally, in all things, he pledged himself as subject to the Father's will.

   Jesus was engaged in a mission of enormous dramatic possibilities, but he insisted in going about his Father's business in the most quiet and undramatic manner; he studiously avoided all display of power.

   Jesus never departed from the decisions which he made during the days of his isolation in the Perean hills following after his baptism in the Jordan.

******


   How successful was he? In the eyes of most of his  contemporaries he was an abject failure. During his ordeal of the cross, he was ridiculed, beaten, spat upon. He was also deserted by all but one of his apostles and a few of his women followers.

   But in the eyes of his heavenly Father, he had earned his place as the Master Creator Son of a universe. And his death and his life were his Father-sanctified legacy--a model eternally worthy of emulation by all his mortal children.

   "Seek ye not the praise of men. Rather, seek ye the praise of your Father who is in heaven."

Post-baptismal aims and motives

   "There was just one motive in Jesus' post-baptismal life on Urantia, and that was a better and truer revelation of his Paradise Father."

   Jesus' life is a divinely certified pattern life for all of his universe children. To his followers, he said,

   "Do you not understand that...you are to represent me in the world and in the proclamation of the kingdom, even as I now represent the Father who is in heaven?"

   Jesus made no compromises in instructing us concerning the motivation of our mortal lives. His motive is to be our motive, our earthly lives are to represent him as he represented the Father, we are to emulate the goals and purposes of his life--just as he did--by attempting to actually be, in our day to day activities, a revelation of the true nature of God, our Father. Nothing less is permissible.

   Whereas the goal set for those who volunteer to be on Jesus' team may appear daunting, we must not let that discourage us from trying. Jesus had the task of setting us an attainable goal and we know that he succeeded. Hence we have no option but to believe in our given task and to step out in faith.

References: The Urantia Book, 1328, 1522/3, 1543; Matt. 5.

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