Chapter 1 - On the Way to Rome

CHAPTER 1

ON THE WAY TO ROME

THE tour of the Roman world consumed most of the twenty-eighth and the entire twenty-ninth year of Jesus' life on earth. He left Jerusalem on a Sunday morning, April 26, A.D. 22.

On this Mediterranean tour Jesus spent about half of each day teaching and acting as an interpreter during business conferences and social contacts. The remainder of each day he devoted to making those close personal contacts that characterized his activities during the years that preceded his public ministry.

At Joppa -- Discourse On Jonah

While waiting at Joppa, Jesus met a young Philistine, named Gadiah.

After an evening meal, Jesus and Gadiah strolled down by the sea, and seeing the harbor from which it was said that Jonah had embarked on his ill-fated voyage to Tarshish, Gadiah asked:

• "But do you suppose the big fish really did swallow Jonah?"

Jesus could see that Gadiah’s life had been influenced by this tradition, and that its contemplation had helped him know the folly of running away from duty.

Jesus said:

• "My friend, we are all Jonahs with lives to live in accordance with the will of God. At all times when we seek to escape the present duty of living by running away to far-off enticements, we thereby put ourselves in the immediate control of those influences that are not directed by the powers of truth and the forces of righteousness. The flight from duty is the sacrifice of truth. The escape from the service of light and life can only result in those distressing conflicts with the difficult whales of selfishness that lead eventually to darkness and death, unless such God-forsaking Jonahs shall turn their hearts, even when in the very depths of despair, to seek after God and his goodness. When such disheartened souls sincerely seek for God -- hunger for truth and thirst for righteousness -- there is nothing that can hold them in further captivity. No matter into what great depths they may have fallen, when they seek the light with a whole heart, the spirit of the Lord God of heaven will deliver them from their captivity. The evil circumstances of life will spew them out upon the dry land of fresh opportunities for renewed service and wiser living."

Discussion of Good and Evil

Jesus’ last visit with Gadiah had to do with a discussion of good and evil. This young Philistine was troubled by a feeling of injustice because of the presence of evil in the world alongside the good, he said:

• "How can God, if he is infinitely good, permit us to suffer the sorrows of evil? After all, who creates evil?"

Jesus said:

• "My brother, God is love. Therefore he must be good. His goodness is so great and real that it cannot contain the small and unreal things of evil. God is so positively good that there is absolutely no place in him for negative evil. Evil is the immature choosing and the unthinking misstep of those who are resistant to goodness, rejecting of beauty, and disloyal to truth. Evil is the misadaptation of immaturity or the disruptive and distorting influence of ignorance. Evil is the inevitable darkness that follows upon the heels of the unwise rejection of light. Evil is that which is dark and untrue, and when consciously embraced and willfully endorsed, becomes sin.

• "Your Father in heaven, by endowing you with the power to choose between truth and error, created the potential negative of the positive way of light and life. But such errors of evil are really nonexistent until such a time as an intelligent creature wills their existence by mischoosing the way of life. Then are such evils later exalted into sin by the knowing and deliberate choice of such a willful and rebellious creature. This is why our Father in heaven permits the good and the evil to go along together until the end of life, just as nature allows the wheat and the tares to grow side by side until the harvest."

At Caesarea

Jesus and his friends tarried in Caesarea beyond the time expected because one of the huge steering paddles of the vessel on which they intended to embark was discovered to be in danger of cleaving. The captain decided to remain in port while a new one was being made. There was a shortage of skilled woodworkers for this task, so Jesus volunteered to assist.

The Greek Worker and the Roman Foreman

One of the young men who worked with Jesus one day on the steering paddle became interested in the words which he dropped from hour to hour as they toiled in the shipyard. When Jesus intimated that the Father in heaven was interested in the welfare of his children on earth, this young Greek, Anaxand, said:

• "If the Gods are interested in me, then why do they not remove the cruel and unjust foreman of this workshop?"

Jesus replied:

• "Since you know the ways of kindness and value justice, perhaps the Gods have brought this erring man near that you may lead him into this better way. Maybe you are the salt that is to make this brother more agreeable to all other men. That is, if you have not lost your savor. As it is, this man is your master in that his evil ways unfavorably influence you. Why not assert your mastery of evil by virtue of the power of goodness and thus become the master of all relations between the two of you? I predict that the good in you could overcome the evil in him if you gave it a fair and living chance. There is no adventure in the course of mortal existence more enthralling than to enjoy the exhilaration of becoming the material life partner with spiritual energy and divine truth in one of their triumphant struggles with error and evil. It is a marvelous and transforming experience to become the living channel of spiritual light to the mortal who sits in spiritual darkness. If you are more blessed with truth than is this man, his need should challenge you. Surely you are not the coward who could stand by on the seashore and watch a fellow man that could not swim perish! How much more of value is this man's soul floundering in darkness compared to his body drowning in water!"

The Supreme Experience of Living

Ganid was, by this time, beginning to learn how his tutor spent his leisure in this unusual personal ministry to his fellow men, and the young Indian set about to find out the motive for these incessant activities.

He asked:

• "Why do you occupy yourself so continuously with these visits with strangers?"

And Jesus answered:

• "Ganid, no man is a stranger to one who knows God. In the experience of finding the Father in heaven you discover that all men are your brothers, and does it seem strange that one should enjoy the exhilaration of meeting a newly discovered brother? To become acquainted with one's brothers and sisters, to know their problems and to learn to love them, is the supreme experience of living."

On the Will of God and the Will of Man

This was a conference which lasted well into the night, in the course of which the young man requested Jesus to tell him the difference between the will of God and that human mind act of choosing which is also called will.

Jesus said:

• “The will of God is the way of God. To do the will of God, therefore, is the progressive experience of becoming more and more like God, and God is the source and destiny of all that is good and beautiful and true. It’s a partnership with the choice of God in the face of any potential alternative. The will of man is the way of man, the sum and substance of that which the mortal chooses to be and do. Will is the deliberate choice of a self-conscious being which leads to decision-conduct based on intelligent reflection.”

The next day Ganid talked all this over with his father, and it was in answer to Gonod's question that Jesus explained:

• "Human wills that are fully occupied with passing only upon temporal decisions having to do with the material problems of animal existence are doomed to perish in time. Those who make wholehearted moral decisions and unqualified spiritual choices are thus progressively identified with the indwelling and divine spirit. Thereby are they increasingly transformed into the values of eternal survival -- unending progression of divine service.”

At Alexandria

When the boat was ready, Jesus and his two friends departed at noon one day for Alexandria in Egypt. Jesus told Ganid about the translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek at this place. They discussed again and again all the religions of the world, Jesus endeavoring to point out to this young mind the truth in each, always adding:

• "But Yahweh is the God developed from the revelations of Melchizedek and the covenant of Abraham. The Jews were the offspring of Abraham and subsequently occupied the very land wherein Melchizedek had lived and taught, and from which he sent teachers to the entire world. Their religion eventually portrayed a clearer recognition of the Lord God of Israel as the Universal Father in heaven than any other world religion."

At the Museum

Jesus and Ganid spent much time in the museum during their stay in Alexandria. This museum was not a collection of rare objects but rather a university of fine art, science, and literature. Learned professors here gave daily lectures, and in those times this was the intellectual center of the Occidental world. Day by day Jesus interpreted the lectures to Ganid.

One day during the second week the young man exclaimed:

• "Teacher Joshua, you know more than these professors, you should stand up and tell them the great things you have told me, they are befogged by too much thinking, I shall speak to my father and have him arrange it."

Jesus smiled, saying:

• "You are an admiring pupil, but these teachers are not minded that you and I should instruct them. The pride of un-spiritualized learning is a treacherous thing in human experience. The true teacher maintains his intellectual integrity by ever remaining a learner."

On The Island Of Crete

Ganid asked Jesus why he was not working as a public teacher.

Jesus answered:

• "My son, everything must await the coming of its time. You are born into the world, but no amount of anxiety and no manifestation of impatience will help you to grow up. You must in all such matters, wait upon time. Time alone will ripen the green fruit upon the tree. Season follows season and sundown follows sunrise only with the passing of time. I am now on the way to Rome with you and your father and that is sufficient for today. My tomorrow is wholly in the hands of my Father in heaven."

In the Hills

While they were in the hills, Jesus met a young man who was depressed.

As they met, Jesus said:

• "Greetings, my friend! Why so downcast on such a beautiful day? If something has happened to distress you, perhaps I can in some manner assist you. At any rate it affords me real pleasure to offer my services."

The young man was disinclined to talk, so Jesus made a second approach to his soul:

• "I understand you come up in these hills to get away from folks, so of course, you don’t want to talk with me. But I would like to know whether you are familiar with these hills? Do you know the direction of the trails? Could you tell me the best route to Phenix?"

He really became interested in telling Jesus the way to Phenix. But he was startled when Jesus, after saying goodbye, turned to him, saying:

• "I well know you wish to be left alone with your disconsolation. But it would be neither kind nor fair for me to receive such generous help from you as to how best to find my way to Phenix and then unthinkingly to go away from you without making the least effort to answer your appealing request for help and guidance regarding the best route to the goal of destiny which you seek in your heart while you tarry here on the mountainside. As you so well know the trails to Phenix, having traversed them many times, so do I well know the way to the city of your disappointed hopes and thwarted ambitions. And since you have asked me for help, I will not disappoint you."

The lad was greatly surprised, but he managed to say:

• "But -- I did not ask you for anything -- "

Jesus, laying a hand on his shoulder, said:

• "No, son, not with words but with longing looks did you appeal to my heart. My boy, to one who loves his fellows there is an eloquent appeal for help in your countenance of discouragement and despair. Sit down with me while I tell you of the service trails and happiness highways which lead from the sorrows of self to the joys of loving activities in the brotherhood of men and in the service of the God of heaven."

The young man fell to his knees.

Said Jesus:

• "My friend, arise! Stand up like a man! You may be surrounded with small enemies and be retarded by many obstacles, but the big things and the real things of this world and the universe are on your side. The sun rises every morning to salute you just as it does the most powerful and prosperous man on earth. Look -- you have a strong body and powerful muscles -- your physical equipment is better than average. Of course, it is just about useless while you sit out here on the mountainside and grieve over your misfortunes, real and fancied. But you could do great things with your body if you would hasten off to where great things are waiting to be done. You are trying to run away from your unhappy self, but it cannot be done. You and your problems of living are real. You cannot escape them as long as you live. But look again; your mind is clear and capable. Your strong body has an intelligent mind to direct it. Set your mind at work to solve its problems. Teach your intellect to work for you. Refuse longer to be dominated by fear like an unthinking animal. Your mind should be your courageous ally in the solution of your life problems rather than your being, as you have been, its abject fear-slave and the bondservant of depression and defeat. But most valuable of all, your potential of real achievement, is the spirit that lives within you. Which will stimulate and inspire your mind to control itself and activate the body if you will release it from the fetters of fear and thus enable your spiritual nature to begin your deliverance from the evils of inaction by the power-presence of living faith. Then, forthwith, will this faith vanquish fear of men by the compelling presence of that new and all-dominating love of your fellows that will so soon fill your soul to overflowing because of the consciousness that has been born in your heart that you are a child of God.

• "This day, my son, you are to be reborn, re-established as a man of faith, courage, and devoted service to man, for God's sake. When you become so readjusted to life within yourself, you become likewise readjusted to the universe. You have been born again -- born of the spirit -- and henceforth will your whole life become one of victorious accomplishment. Trouble will invigorate you, disappointment will spur you on, difficulties will challenge you, and obstacles will stimulate you. Arise, young man! Say farewell to the life of cringing fear and fleeing cowardice. Hasten back to duty and live your life in the flesh as a son of God, a mortal dedicated to the ennobling service of man on earth and destined to the superb and eternal service of God in eternity."

On The Way To Naples And Rome

At Syracuse they spent a full week. The notable event of their stop here was the rehabilitation of Ezra, the backslidden Jew, who kept the tavern where Jesus and his companions stopped. Ezra was charmed by Jesus' approach and asked him to help him come back to the faith of Israel.

He expressed his hopelessness by saying:

• "I want to be a true son of Abraham, but I cannot find God."

Said Jesus:

• "If you truly want to find God, that desire is in itself evidence that you have already found him. Your trouble is not that you cannot find God, for the Father has already found you. Your trouble is simply that you do not know God. Have you not read in the Prophet Jeremiah, `You shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart'? And again, does not this same prophet say: `And I will give you a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and you shall belong to my people, and I will be your God'? And have you not also read in the Scriptures where it says: `He looks down upon men, and if any will say: I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not, then will God deliver that man's soul from darkness, and he shall see the light'?"