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WORK-IN-PROGRESS (NOVEMBER 22, 2015) PARALLEL CHART FOR

Paper 168 — The Resurrection of Lazarus

© 2015 Matthew Block

Most endnotes and Urantia Book cross-references have been deleted to enhance readability.

Sources for Paper 168, in the order in which they appear

(1) Wm. Arnold Stevens and Ernest Dewitt Burton, A Harmony of the Gospels for HistoricalStudy: An Analytical Synopsis of the Four Gospels (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,1904, 1932)

(2) Rev. Alfred Edersheim, M.A.Oxon, D.D., Ph.D., The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah(Volume Two) (New York: Longman, Green, & Co., Eighth Edition, Revised, 1899)

(3) David Smith, M.A., D.D., The Days of His Flesh: The Earthly Life of Our Lord andSaviour Jesus Christ, Eighth Edition, Revised (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1910)

Note: This source is coded Smith1.

(4) George Adam Smith, D.D., LL.D., Litt.D., Atlas of the Historical Geography of the HolyLand (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1915)

Note: This source is coded Atlas HGHL.

(5) David Smith, M.A., D.D., Our Lord’s Earthly Life (New York: George H. DoranCompany, 1925)

Note: This source is coded Smith2.

(6) P. Whitwell Wilson, The Christ We Forget: A Life of Our Lord for Men of To-day (NewYork: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1917)

Key

(a) Green indicates where a source author first appears, or where he/she reappears.

(b) Yellow highlights most parallelisms.

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(c) Tan highlights parallelisms not occurring on the same row, or parallelisms separated byyellowed parallelisms.

(d) An underlined word or words indicates where the source and the UB writer pointedlydiffer from each other.

(e) Blue indicates original (or “revealed”) information, or UB-specific terminology andconcepts. (What to highlight in this regard is debatable. The highlights are tentative.)

Matthew Block22 November 2015

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SOURCE OR PARALLEL URANTIA PAPER 168

Work-in-progress Version 21 Nov. 2015

© 2015 Matthew BlockPAPER 168 — THE

RESURRECTION OF

LAZARUS

XXVI: FROM THE FEAST OFDEDICATION UNTIL AFTER THEWITHDRAWAL TO EPHRAIM. (AHarmony of the Gospels 138)

§105. THE RAISING OF LAZARUS. John11:1-46.

168:0.1 It was shortly after noon whenMartha started out to meet Jesus as hecame over the brow of the hill nearBethany.

17 So when Jesus came, he found thathe had been in the tomb four days already. Her brother, Lazarus, had been dead four

days

[ ... Lazarus was, as became his station, not laid ina cemetery, but in his own private tomb in acave—probably in a garden, the favourite place ofinterment (Edersheim2 317).]

and had been laid away in their privatetomb at the far end of the garden

late on Sunday afternoon. The stone at theentrance of the tomb had been rolled inplace on the morning of this day,Thursday.

XXXIX: THE RAISING OF LAZARUS(Smith1 367)

Lazarus had fallen sick, and his anxioussisters had bethought them of the dearMaster and sent Him word. 168:0.2 When Martha and Mary sent

word to Jesus concerning Lazarus’sillness,

So absolute was their confidence in Himthat they made no request.

they were confident the Master would dosomething about it.

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They knew that their brother wasdesperately sick,

They neither, like the courtier ofCapernaum, implored Him to hasten tothe rescue,

and though they hardly dared hope thatJesus would leave his work of teachingand preaching to come to their assistance,

they had such confidence in his power toheal disease that they thought

nor, like the centurion, suggested that,abiding where He was, He should sendforth His word and heal their brother.

he would just speak the curative words,and Lazarus would immediately be madewhole.

They simply informed Him how mattersstood, believing that, if only He knew, Hewould ... do whatever He might deem best(S1 367).

And when Lazarus died a few hours afterthe messenger left Bethany for Phila-delphia,

[They probably thought the message had reachedHim too late, that Lazarus would have lived ifChrist had been appealed to in time ... (Edersheim2313).]

they reasoned that it was because theMaster did not learn of their brother’sillness until it was too late,

until he had already been dead for severalhours.

168:0.3 But they, with all of theirbelieving friends, were greatly puzzled bythe message which the runner broughtback Tuesday forenoon when he reachedBethany. The messenger insisted that heheard Jesus say, “. . . this sickness isreally not to the death.” Neither couldthey understand why he sent no word tothem nor otherwise proffered assistance.

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18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem,about fifteen furlongs off; 19 and many ofthe Jews had come to Martha and Mary, toconsole them concerning their brother.

168:0.4 Many friends from near-byhamlets and others from Jerusalem cameover to comfort the sorrow-strickensisters.

Lazarus and his sisters were the childrenof a well-to-do and honorable Jew, onewho had been the leading resident of thelittle village of Bethany.

[Compare Edersheim2 317 and Smith1 369.] And notwithstanding that all three hadlong been ardent followers of Jesus, theywere highly respected by all who knewthem.

They had inherited extensive vineyardsand olive orchards in this vicinity, andthat they were wealthy was furtherattested by the fact that

[Not only the rich, but even those moderately well-to-do, had tombs of their own ... (Edersheim2318).]

they could afford a private burial tomb ontheir own premises.

Both of their parents had already beenlaid away in this tomb.

168:0.5 Mary had given up the thoughtof Jesus’ coming and was abandoned toher grief, but Martha clung to the hopethat Jesus would come, even up to thetime on that very morning when theyrolled the stone in front of the tomb andsealed the entrance.

MAP 25 A5 (Atlas HGHL)Even then she instructed a neighbor lad tokeep watch down the Jericho road fromthe brow of the hill to the east ofBethany;

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[[T]he Lord and His disciples were making theirway up the Ascent of Blood, and some neighbourespying them hastened to the bereaved home andtold Martha of His approach (Smith2 304).]

and it was this lad who brought tidings toMartha that Jesus and his friends wereapproaching.

20 Martha therefore, when she heard thatJesus was coming, went and met him: butMary still sat in the house.

168:0.6 When Martha met Jesus,

21 Martha therefore said unto Jesus, she fell at his feet, exclaiming,

Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brotherhad not died.

“Master, if you had been here, my brotherwould not have died!”

22 And even now I know that, whatsoeverthou shalt ask of God, God will give thee.

Many fears were passing throughMartha’s mind,

[Not a word of complaint, not a murmur, nordoubt, escaped her lips ... (Edersheim2 321).]

but she gave expression to no doubt, nordid she venture to criticize or question theMaster’s conduct as related to Lazarus’sdeath.

When she had spoken,

23 Jesus saith unto her, Jesus reached down and, lifting her uponher feet, said,

“Only have faith, Martha,

Thy brother shall rise again. and your brother shall rise again.”

24 Martha saith unto him, Then answered Martha:

I know that he shall rise again in theresurrection at the last day.

“I know that he will rise again in theresurrection of the last day;

and even now I believe that whatever youshall ask of God, our Father will giveyou.”

25 Jesus said unto her, 168:0.7 Then said Jesus,

looking straight into the eyes of Martha:

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I am the resurrection, and the life: “I am the resurrection and the life;

he that believeth on me, though he die, yetshall he live:

he who believes in me, though he dies,yet shall he live.

In truth,

26 and whosoever liveth and believeth onme shall never die.

whosoever lives and believes in me shallnever really die.

Believest thou this? Martha, do you believe this?”

27 She saith unto him, And Martha answered the Master:

Yea, Lord: I have believed that thou art theChrist, the Son of God,

“Yes, I have long believed that you arethe Deliverer, the Son of the living God,

even he that cometh into the world. even he who should come to this world.”

168:0.8 Jesus having inquired for Mary,

28 And when she had said this, she wentaway, and called Mary her sister secretly,saying,

Martha went at once into the house and,whispering to her sister, said,

The Master is here, and calleth thee. “The Master is here and has asked foryou.”

29 And she, when she heard it, arosequickly, and went unto him.

And when Mary heard this, she rose upquickly and hastened out to meet Jesus,

30 (Now Jesus was not yet come into thevillage, but was still in the place who still tarried at the place,

some distance from the house,

where Martha met him.) where Martha had first met him.

31 The Jews then who were with her in thehouse, and were comforting her,

The friends who were with Mary, seekingto comfort her,

when they saw Mary, that she rose upquickly and went out, followed her,

when they saw that she rose up quicklyand went out, followed her,

supposing that she was going unto thetomb to weep there.

supposing that she was going to the tombto weep.

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168:0.9 Many of those present wereJesus’ bitter enemies. That is why Marthahad come out to meet him alone, and alsowhy she went in secretly to inform Marythat he had asked for her. Martha, whilecraving to see Jesus, desired to avoid anypossible unpleasantness which might becaused by his coming suddenly into themidst of a large group of his Jerusalemenemies. It had been Martha’s intentionto remain in the house with their friendswhile Mary went to greet Jesus, but inthis she failed, for they all followed Maryand so found themselves unexpectedly inthe presence of the Master.

168:0.10 Martha led Mary to Jesus,

32 Mary therefore, when she came whereJesus was, and saw him, fell down at hisfeet,

and when she saw him, she fell at his feet,

saying unto him, exclaiming,

Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brotherhad not died.

“If you had only been here, my brotherwould not have died!”

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping,and the Jews also weeping who came withher,

And when Jesus saw how they all grievedover the death of Lazarus,

he groaned in the spirit [ERV mg.: Gr. wasmoved with indignation in the spirit], and wastroubled,

his soul was moved with compassion.

168:0.11 When the mourners saw thatMary had gone to greet Jesus, theywithdrew for a short distance while bothMartha and Mary talked with the Masterand received further words of comfortand exhortation to maintain strong faith inthe Father and complete resignation to thedivine will.

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[Note: Repeated from John 11:33, above: [ERVmg.: Gr. was moved with indignation in the spirit]]

168:0.12 The human mind of Jesus wasmightily moved by the contentionbetween his love for Lazarus and thebereaved sisters and his disdain andcontempt for the outward show ofaffection manifested by some of theseunbelieving and murderously intentionedJews. Jesus indignantly resented the showof forced and outward mourning forLazarus by some of these professedfriends inasmuch as such false sorrowwas associated in their hearts with somuch bitter enmity toward himself.

[Compare: The expression ‘groaned in spirit,’cannot mean that Christ ‘was moved withindignation in the spirit’ since this could not havebeen the consequence of witnessing the tears ofMary and what, we feel sure, was the genuineemotion of the Jews (Edersheim2 323).]

Some of these Jews, however, weresincere in their mourning, for they werereal friends of the family.

1 . A T T H E T O M B O F

LAZARUS

168:1.1 After Jesus had spent a fewmoments in comforting Martha and Mary,apart from the mourners,

34 and said, Where have ye laid him? he asked them, “Where have you laidhim?”

They say unto him, Lord, come and see. Then Martha said, “Come and see.”

And as the Master followed on in silencewith the two sorrowing sisters,

35 Jesus wept. he wept.

When the friendly Jews who followedafter them saw his tears,

36 The Jews therefore said, Behold how heloved him!

one of them said: “Behold how he lovedhim.

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37 But some of them said, Could not thisman, who opened the eyes of him that wasblind,

Could not he who opened the eyes of theblind

have caused that this man also should notdie?

have kept this man from dying?”

38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himselfcometh to the tomb.

By this time they were standing beforethe family tomb,

Now it was a cave, and a stone lay againstit.

a small natural cave,

or declivity, in the ledge of rock whichrose up some thirty feet at the far end ofthe garden plot.

[And indeed why should He have wept?(Smith2 306)]

168:1.2 It is difficult to explain tohuman minds just why Jesus wept.

While we have access to the registrationof the combined human emotions anddivine thoughts, as of record in the mindof the Personalized Adjuster, we are notaltogether certain about the real cause ofthese emotional manifestations. We areinclined to believe that Jesus weptbecause of a number of thoughts andfeelings which were going through hismind at this time, such as:

168:1.3 1. He felt a genuine andsorrowful sympathy for Martha andMary; he had a real and deep humanaffection for these sisters who had losttheir brother.

168:1.4 2. He was perturbed in his mindby the presence of the crowd of mourners,some sincere and some merely pretenders.

[Such lamentation would now assail the ears ofJesus, and He was greatly displeased, even as onthat like occasion when he entered the house ofJaïrus ... (Smith1 371).]

He always resented these outwardexhibitions of mourning.

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He knew the sisters loved their brotherand had faith in the survival of believers.These conflicting emotions may possiblyexplain why he groaned as they camenear the tomb.

168:1.5 3. He truly hesitated aboutbringing Lazarus back to the mortal life.His sisters really needed him,

[[W]hat marvel that Jesus, who knew the felicity ofHeaven, should grieve to summon Lazarus thenceand bring him back to the strife and sorrow of thismortal state? (Smith1 372)]

but Jesus regretted having to summon hisfriend back to experience the bitterpersecution which he well knew Lazaruswould have to endure

as a result of being the subject of thegreatest of all demonstrations of thedivine power of the Son of Man.

168:1.6 And now we may relate aninteresting and instructive fact: Althoughthis narrative unfolds as an apparentlynatural and normal event in humanaffairs, it has some very interesting sidelights. While the messenger went to Jesuson Sunday, telling him of Lazarus’sillness, and while Jesus sent word that itwas “not to the death,” at the same timehe went in person up to Bethany and evenasked the sisters, “Where have you laidhim?” Even though all of this seems toindicate that the Master was proceedingafter the manner of this life and inaccordance with the limited knowledge ofthe human mind, nevertheless, the recordsof the universe reveal that Jesus’Personalized Adjuster issued orders forthe indefinite detention of Lazarus’sThought Adjuster on the planetsubsequent to Lazarus’s death, and thatthis order was made of record just fifteenminutes before Lazarus breathed his last.

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168:1.7 Did the divine mind of Jesusknow, even before Lazarus died, that hewould raise him from the dead? We donot know. We know only what we areherewith placing on record.

THE RAISING OF LAZARUS (Smith2302)

But not even in that solemn hour couldthe Rabbis forget their animosity, andsome of them sneered. Here was the manwho recently supposed to have openedthe eyes of one born blind, and all hecould now do was to shed unavailingtears!

168:1.8 Many of Jesus’ enemies wereinclined to sneer at his manifestations ofaffection,

and they said among themselves: “If hethought so much of this man, why did hetarry so long before coming to Bethany?

If he had really opened the blind man’seyes, he surely could have prevented thedeath of Lazarus (S2 306).

If he is what they claim, why did he notsave his dear friend?

What is the good of healing strangers inGalilee if he cannot save those whom heloves?”

And in many other ways they mocked andmade light of the teachings and works ofJesus.

IV, XXI: THE DEATH AND THE RAISING OF

LAZARUS ... (Edersheim2 308)

168:1.9 And so, on this Thursdayafternoon at about half past two o’clock,was the stage all set in this little hamlet ofBethany for the enactment of

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The raising of Lazarus marks the highestpoint (not in the Manifestation, but) in theMinistry of our Lord; it is the climax in ahistory where all is miraculous—thePerson, the Life, the Words, the Work(E2 308).

the greatest of all works connected withthe earth ministry of Michael of Nebadon,

the greatest manifestation of divine powerduring his incarnation in the flesh, sincehis own resurrection occurred after hehad been liberated from the bonds ofmortal habitation.

168:1.10 The small group assembledbefore Lazarus’s tomb little realized thepresence near at hand of a vast concourseof all orders of celestial beings assembledunder the leadership of Gabriel and nowin waiting, by direction of the Person-alized Adjuster of Jesus, vibrating withexpectancy and ready to execute thebidding of their beloved Sovereign.


39 Jesus saith, 168:1.11 When Jesus spoke those wordsof command,

Take ye away the stone. “Take away the stone,”

the assembled celestial hosts made readyto enact the drama of the resurrection ofLazarus in the likeness of his mortalflesh.

Such a form of resurrection involvesdifficulties of execution which fartranscend the usual technique of theresurrection of mortal creatures inmorontia form and requires far morecelestial personalities and a far greaterorganization of universe facilities.

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168:1.12 When Martha and Mary heardthis command of Jesus directing that thestone in front of the tomb be rolled away,they were filled with conflictingemotions. Mary hoped that Lazarus wasto be raised from the dead, but Martha,while to some extent sharing her sister’sfaith, was more exercised by the fear thatLazarus would not be presentable, in hisappearance, to Jesus, the apostles, andtheir friends.

Martha, the sister of him that was dead,saith unto him,

Said Martha:

“Must we roll away the stone?

Lord, by this time the body decayeth: forhe hath been dead four days. My brother has now been dead four days,

so that by this time decay of the body hasbegun.”

Martha also said this because she was notcertain as to why the Master hadrequested that the stone be removed;

[[T]hinking that Jesus meant merely to take a lastlook at His friend’s remains, she would faindissuade Him from disclosing the ghastly spectacle(Smith1 373).]

she thought maybe Jesus wanted only totake one last look at Lazarus.

She was not settled and constant in herattitude.

As they hesitated to roll away the stone,

40 Jesus saith unto her, Jesus said:

“Did I not tell you at the first that thissickness was not to the death? Have I notcome to fulfill my promise? And after Icame to you,

Said I not unto thee, that, if thoubelievedst, thou shouldest see the glory ofGod?

did I not say that, if you would onlybelieve, you should see the glory of God?

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Wherefore do you doubt? How longbefore you will believe and obey?”

168:1.13 When Jesus had finishedspeaking, his apostles, with the assistanceof willing neighbors,

41 So they took away the stone. [contd

168:2.2]

laid hold upon the stone and rolled itaway from the entrance to the tomb.



It was the common Jewish idea that 168:1.14 It was the common belief ofthe Jews that

corruption commenced on the fourth day,that the drop of gall, which had fallenfrom the sword of the Angel and causeddeath, was then working its effect, andthat, as the face changed, the soul took itsfinal leave from the resting-place of thebody (E2 324-25).

the drop of gall on the point of the swordof the angel of death began to work by theend of the third day,

so that it was taking full effect on thefourth day.

[It was believed that for three days after death thesoul hovered round the sepulchre, fain to re-enterand reanimate its fleshly tenement; ... (Smith1369)]

They allowed that the soul of man mightlinger about the tomb until the end of thethird day, seeking to reanimate the deadbody;

but they firmly believed that such a soulhad gone on to the abode of departedspirits ere the fourth day had dawned.

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168:1.15 These beliefs and opinionsregarding the dead and the departure ofthe spirits of the dead served to makesure, in the minds of all who were nowpresent at Lazarus’s tomb andsubsequently to all who might hear ofwhat was about to occur, that this wasreally and truly a case of the raising of thedead by the personal working of one whodeclared he was “the resurrection and thelife.”

2. THE RESURRECTION OF

LAZARUS

168:2.1 As this company of someforty-five mortals stood before the tomb,they could dimly see the form of Lazarus,wrapped in linen bandages, resting on theright lower niche of the burial cave.

While these earth creatures stood there inalmost breathless silence, a vast host ofcelestial beings had swung into theirplaces preparatory to answering the signalfor action when it should be given byGabriel, their commander.

[contd from 168:1.13] And Jesus lifted up hiseyes, and said,

168:2.2 Jesus lifted up his eyes andsaid:

Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me. “Father, I am thankful that you heard andgranted my request.

42 And I knew that thou hearest mealways:

I know that you always hear me,

but because of the multitude that standetharound I said it,

but because of those who stand here withme, I thus speak with you,

that they may believe that thou didst sendme.

that they may believe that you have sentme into the world,

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and that they may know that you areworking with me in that which we areabout to do.”

43 And when he had thus spoken, he criedwith a loud voice,

And when he had prayed, he cried with aloud voice,

Lazarus, come forth. “Lazarus, come forth!”

168:2.3 Though these human observersremained motionless, the vast celestialhost was all astir in unified action inobedience to the Creator’s word.

In just twelve seconds of earth time thehitherto lifeless form of Lazarus began tomove and presently sat up on the edge ofthe stone shelf whereon it had rested.

44 He that was dead came forth, boundhand and foot with grave-clothes;

His body was bound about with gravecloths,

and his face was bound about with anapkin.

and his face was covered with a napkin.

[ ... Lazarus stood forth shuddering and silent, inthe cold light of earth’s day.

And as he stood up before them—alive—

Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and lethim go.

Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.”

168:2.4 All, save the apostles, withMartha and Mary, fled to the house.

In that multitude, now more pale and shudderingthan the man bound in the graveclothes [‘bands,’Takhrikhim], the Only One majestically calm wasHe ... (Edersheim2 325).]

They were pale with fright and overcomewith astonishment.

While some tarried, many hastened totheir homes.

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168:2.5 Lazarus greeted Jesus and theapostles and asked the meaning of thegrave cloths and why he had awakened inthe garden. Jesus and the apostles drew toone side while Martha told Lazarus of hisdeath, burial, and resurrection. She had toexplain to him that he had died on Sundayand was now brought back to life onThursday, inasmuch as he had had noconsciousness of time since falling asleepin death.

168:2.6 As Lazarus came out of thetomb, the Personalized Adjuster of Jesus,now chief of his kind in this localuniverse, gave command to the formerAdjuster of Lazarus, now in waiting, toresume abode in the mind and soul of theresurrected man.

168:2.7 Then went Lazarus over toJesus and, with his sisters, knelt at theMaster’s feet to give thanks and offerpraise to God. Jesus, taking Lazarus bythe hand, lifted him up, saying: “My son,what has happened to you will also beexperienced by all who believe thisgospel except that they shall beresurrected in a more glorious form. Youshall be a living witness of the truthwhich I spoke—I am the resurrection andthe life. But let us all now go into thehouse and partake of nourishment forthese physical bodies.”

168:2.8 As they walked toward thehouse, Gabriel dismissed the extra groupsof the assembled heavenly host while hemade record of the first instance onUrantia, and the last, where a mortalcreature had been resurrected in thelikeness of the physical body of death.

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168:2.9 Lazarus could hardlycomprehend what had occurred. He knewhe had been very sick, but he could recallonly that he had fallen asleep and beenawakened. He was never able to tellanything about these four days in thetomb because

[Such dis-Adjustered souls are wholly and

absolutely unconscious during the long or

short sleep of death (112:3.7).]

he was wholly unconscious.

Time is nonexistent to those who sleepthe sleep of death.

45 Many therefore of the Jews, thatcame to Mary and beheld that which hedid, believed on him.

168:2.10 Though many believed inJesus as a result of this mighty work,

[Many of them believed in Jesus; but there wereothers who “would not be persuaded though onehad risen from the dead” ... (Smith1 374).]

others only hardened their hearts the moreto reject him.

46 But some of them went away to thePharisees, and told them the things whichJesus had done.

By noon the next day this story hadspread over all Jerusalem.

Scores of men and women went toBethany to look upon Lazarus and talkwith him, and the alarmed anddisconcerted Pharisees hastily called ameeting of the Sanhedrin that they mightdetermine what should be done aboutthese new developments.

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3 . M E E T I N G O F T H E

SANHEDRIN

168:3.1 Even though the testimony ofthis man raised from the dead did much toconsolidate the faith of the mass ofbelievers in the gospel of the kingdom, ithad little or no influence on the attitudeof the religious leaders and rulers atJerusalem except to hasten their decisionto destroy Jesus and stop his work.

§106. THE WITHDRAWAL TO EPHRAIM.John 11:47-54.

168:3.2 At one o’clock the next day,Friday,

47 The chief priests therefore and thePharisees gathered a council,

the Sanhedrin met to deliberate further onthe question,

and said, What do we? for this man doethmany signs.

“What shall we do with Jesus ofNazareth?”

After more than two hours of discussionand acrimonious debate, a certain Phar-isee presented a resolution calling forJesus’ immediate death, proclaiming thathe was a menace to all Israel and formallycommitting the Sanhedrin to the decisionof death, without trial and in defiance ofall precedent.

168:3.3 Time and again had this augustbody of Jewish leaders decreed that Jesusbe apprehended and brought to trial oncharges of blasphemy and numerous otheraccusations of flouting the Jewish sacredlaw. They had once before even gone sofar as to declare he should die, but thiswas the first time the Sanhedrin had goneon record as desiring to decree his deathin advance of a trial.

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But this resolution did not come to a votesince fourteen members of the Sanhedrinresigned in a body when such anunheard-of action was proposed. Whilethese resignations were not formallyacted upon for almost two weeks, thisgroup of fourteen withdrew from theSanhedrin on that day, never again to sitin the council. When these resignationswere subsequently acted upon, five othermembers were thrown out because theirassociates believed they entertainedfriendly feelings toward Jesus. With theejection of these nineteen men theSanhedrin was in a position to try and tocondemn Jesus with a solidaritybordering on unanimity.

168:3.4 The following week Lazarusand his sisters were summoned to appearbefore the Sanhedrin. When theirtestimony had been heard, no doubt couldbe entertained that Lazarus had beenraised from the dead. Though thetransactions of the Sanhedrin virtuallyadmitted the resurrection of Lazarus, therecord carried a resolution attributing thisand all other wonders worked by Jesus tothe power of the prince of devils, withwhom Jesus was declared to be in league.

168:3.5 No matter what the source ofhis wonder-working power, these Jewishleaders were persuaded that,

48 If we let him thus alone, all men willbelieve on him:

if he were not immediately stopped, verysoon all the common people wouldbelieve in him;

and the Romans will come and take awayboth our place and our nation.

and further, that serious complicationswith the Roman authorities would arise

since so many of his believers regardedhim as the Messiah, Israel’s deliverer.

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168:3.6 It was at this same meeting ofthe Sanhedrin that

[H]e who was the High-Priest, Caiaphas,reminded them of the well-known Jewishadage,

Caiaphas the high priest first gaveexpression to that old Jewish adage,

which he so many times repeated:

that it ‘is better one man should die, thanthe community perish’ (E2 326).

“It is better that one man die, than that thecommunity perish.”1

This was the first Friday of darkresolve. Henceforth it only needed toconcert plans for carrying it out. Someone, perhaps Nicodemus, sent word of thesecret meeting and resolution of theSanhedrists.

168:3.7 Although Jesus had receivedwarning of the doings of the Sanhedrin onthis dark Friday afternoon,

That Friday and the next Sabbath Jesusrested in Bethany, with the same majesticcalm which He had shown at the grave ofLazarus.

he was not in the least perturbed andcontinued resting over the Sabbath withfriends in Bethphage, a hamlet nearBethany.

Early Sunday morning Jesus and theapostles assembled, by prearrangement, atthe home of Lazarus, and taking leave ofthe Bethany family,

§106. THE WITHDRAWAL TO EPHRAIM.John 11:47-54.

54 Jesus therefore walked no moreopenly among the Jews, but departedthence into the country near to thewilderness, into a city called Ephraim; andthere he tarried with the disciples.

they started on their journey back to thePella encampment.

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4. THE ANSWER TO PRAYER

168:4.1 On the way from Bethany toPella the apostles asked Jesus manyquestions, all of which the Master freelyanswered except those involving thedetails of the resurrection of the dead.Such problems were beyond thecomprehension capacity of his apostles;therefore did the Master decline todiscuss these questions with them. Sincethey had departed from Bethany in secret,they were alone. Jesus thereforeembraced the opportunity to say manythings to the ten which he thought wouldprepare them for the trying days justahead.

168:4.2 The apostles were much stirredup in their minds and spent considerabletime discussing their recent experiencesas they were related to prayer and itsanswering. They all recalled Jesus’statement to the Bethany messenger atPhiladelphia, when he said plainly, “Thissickness is not really to the death.” Andyet, in spite of this promise, Lazarusactually died. All that day, again andagain, they reverted to the discussion ofthis question of the answer to prayer.

168:4.3 Jesus’ answers to their manyquestions may be summarized asfollows:2

168:4.4 1. Prayer is an expression ofthe finite mind in an effort to approachthe Infinite. The making of a prayer must,therefore, be limited by the knowledge,wisdom, and attributes of the finite;likewise must the answer be conditionedby the vision, aims, ideals, andprerogatives of the Infinite.

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There never can be observed an unbrokencontinuity of material phenomenabetween the making of a prayer and thereception of the full spiritual answerthereto.

168:4.5 2. When a prayer is apparentlyunanswered, the delay often betokens abetter answer, although one which is forsome good reason greatly delayed. WhenJesus said that Lazarus’s sickness wasreally not to the death, he had alreadybeen dead eleven hours. No sincereprayer is denied an answer except whenthe superior viewpoint of the spiritualworld has devised a better answer, ananswer which meets the petition of thespirit of man as contrasted with the prayerof the mere mind of man.

168:4.6 3. The prayers of time, whenindited by the spirit and expressed infaith, are often so vast and all-encompassing that they can be answeredonly in eternity; the finite petition issometimes so fraught with the grasp ofthe Infinite that the answer must long bepostponed to await the creation ofadequate capacity for receptivity; theprayer of faith may be so all- embracingthat the answer can be received only onParadise.

168:4.7 4. The answers to the prayer ofthe mortal mind are often of such a naturethat they can be received and recognizedonly after that same praying mind hasattained the immortal state. The prayer ofthe material being can many times beanswered only when such an individualhas progressed to the spirit level.

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168:4.8 5. The prayer of a God-knowing person may be so distorted byignorance and so deformed by super-stition that the answer thereto would behighly undesirable. Then must the inter-vening spirit beings so translate such aprayer that, when the answer arrives, thepetitioner wholly fails to recognize it asthe answer to his prayer.

168:4.9 6. All true prayers areaddressed to spiritual beings, and all suchpetitions must be answered in spiritualterms, and all such answers must consistin spiritual realities. Spirit beings cannotbestow material answers to the spiritpetitions of even material beings.Material beings can pray effectively onlywhen they “pray in the spirit.”

168:4.10 7. No prayer can hope for ananswer unless it is born of the spirit andnurtured by faith. Your sincere faithimplies that you have in advance virtuallygranted your prayer hearers the full rightto answer your petitions in accordancewith that supreme wisdom and that divinelove which your faith depicts as alwaysactuating those beings to whom you pray.

168:4.11 8. The child is always withinhis rights when he presumes to petitionthe parent; and the parent is alwayswithin his parental obligations to theimmature child when his superior wisdomdictates that the answer to the child’sprayer be delayed, modified, segregated,transcended, or postponed to anotherstage of spiritual ascension.

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168:4.12 9. Do not hesitate to pray theprayers of spirit longing; doubt not thatyou shall receive the answer to yourpetitions. These answers will be ondeposit, awaiting your achievement ofthose future spiritual levels of actualcosmic attainment, on this world or onothers, whereon it will become possiblefor you to recognize and appropriate thelong-waiting answers to your earlier butill-timed petitions.

168:4.13 10. All genuine spirit-bornpetitions are certain of an answer. Askand you shall receive. But you shouldremember that you are progressivecreatures of time and space; thereforemust you constantly reckon with thetime-space factor in the experience ofyour personal reception of the fullanswers to your manifold prayers andpetitions.

5 . W H A T B E C A M E O F

LAZARUS

[See endnote.]

168:5.1 Lazarus remained at theBethany home, being the center of greatinterest to many sincere believers and tonumerous curious individuals, until theday of the crucifixion of Jesus, when he3

received warning that the Sanhedrin haddecreed his death.

The rulers of the Jews were determined toput a stop to the further spread of theteachings of Jesus,

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1. 49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, 50 nor do

ye take account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.

51 Now this he said not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation; 52

and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God that are scattered

abroad. 53 So from that day forth they took counsel that they might put him to death.

2. Note: William S. Sadler wrote about prayer in a 1909 manuscript called “Health and Healing”. Then a committed

Seventh-day Adventist, he submitted the manuscript to Seventh-day Adventist officials, who commented on it in a

several-page report. In the late 1990s I photocopied the report during a visit to The Adventist Research Center at

Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, Michigan. I’ll have the opportunity to reread it in the spring of 2016. I

would like to see if there are similarities between 168:4 and Sadler’s views on prayer as quoted in the report.

Sadler’s manuscript itself seems to be lost.

[Compare: It dawned upon the Sanhedrin thatChrist is not crushed until all who believe in Him,to the very humblest, are slain.... They did notworry about those who had a passing knowledge ofHim; the only disciple who counted in that crisiswas the disciple who had tested His uttermostpower.... Lazarus, the harbinger of resurrection,must be slain, if possible, a second time (Wilson253).]

and they well judged that it would beuseless to put Jesus to death if theypermitted Lazarus, who represented thevery peak of his wonder-working, to liveand bear testimony to the fact that Jesushad raised him from the dead.

Already had Lazarus suffered bitterpersecution from them.

168:5.2 And so Lazarus took hastyleave of his sisters at Bethany, fleeingdown through Jericho and across theJordan, never permitting himself to restlong until he had reached Philadelphia.Lazarus knew Abner well, and here hefelt safe from the murderous intrigues ofthe wicked Sanhedrin.

168:5.3 Soon after this Martha andMary disposed of their lands at Bethanyand joined their brother in Perea.Meantime, Lazarus had become thetreasurer of the church at Philadelphia.He became a strong supporter of Abner inhis controversy with Paul and theJerusalem church and ultimately died,when 67 years old, of the same sicknessthat carried him off when he was ayounger man at Bethany.

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3. The word ‘day’, which appeared in the 1955 edition of The Urantia Book, was changed in the second edition to

‘week’. In the Standard Reference Text, the word ‘days’ takes the place of either ‘day’ or ‘week’.

From the Summary Report of the Standard Reference Text Committee:

The change here was needed because the original day is inconsistent with the ensuing narrative (at 174:0.1,

175:3.1, and 177:5.3) which places the time of Lazarus’s flight between Tuesday at midnight (when his

death was decreed by the Sanhedrin) and Wednesday evening (when “certain ones” at the camp “knew that

Lazarus had taken hasty flight from Bethany”)—two days before the crucifixion of Jesus. Previous editions

resolved the problem by changing day to week, but because of the near impossibility of a typographical

error leading from week in the manuscript to the day found in the 1955 text, that option has been rejected in

favor of the change to days.

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