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The attitudes of
many Urantia Book readers to the remembrance supper suffers from a
preconditioning derived from the Christian church's association of
the supper with their doctrine of forgiveness of sin through Jesus'
sacrificial death. But the authors of the Urantia Papers, though
fully aware of this difficulty, nevertheless place great emphasis on
the symbolic significance of the last supper for all who would
follow Jesus.
As Jesus handed
the "cup of blessing" to his disciples he said, "Take
this cup, all of you, and drink of it. This shall be the cup of my
remembrance. This is the cup of the blessing of a new dispensation
of grace and truth. This shall be to you the emblem of the
bestowal and ministry of the divine Spirit of Truth."
(1941)
The Master, we
are told, was instituting this remembrance supper as a symbol of a
new dispensation wherein the individual emerges from the bondage of
ceremonialism and selfishness into the spiritual joy of the
brotherhood and fellowship of the faith sons of the living God.
Then, having
broken the bread and handed it around, the Master stated that this
"bread of life" was representative of the "word of
the Father as revealed in the Son."
The authors of
the Papers take pains to stress the dangers of turning this
symbolism into some precise, crystallized ceremonial form. But they
also inform us that when it is partaken by those who are
Son-believing and God-knowing that on all such occasions the Master is
really present. Hence it cannot be other than important that we
take them seriously.
"The
remembrance supper is the believer's symbolic rendezvous with
Michael. When you become thus spirit-conscious, the Son is actually
present, and his spirit fraternizes with the indwelling fragment of
his Father." (1942)
Said Jesus,
"When you do these things, recall the life I have lived on
earth...and rejoice that I am to continue to live on earth with
you and to serve through you."
This Paper's
author describes the inauguration of the symbolic supper as a mighty
occasion that took place in the upper room of the home of a friend.
There was nothing of sacred form or ceremonial consecration about
either the supper or the venue. Jesus concluded by giving us
this new supper as a symbol of his bestowal life--the word of
eternal truth, his love for us, and the outpouring of the Spirit of
Truth.
It is well that
we take notice of the repeated emphasis given to the importance of
the Spirit of Truth. It comes to a head in Section 2 of the
following Paper in which Jesus uses the symbolism of the vine and
its branches.
"I am the
true vine and my Father is the husbandman. I am the vine and you
are the branches. And the Father requires of me only that you
shall bear much fruit."
An imperative
form of address is used in what follows. We are told that every
branch that bears no fruit, the Father will take away, but every
branch that bears fruit, the Father will cleanse that it may bear
more fruit.
"You must
abide in me and I in you," says Jesus, "the branch will
die if it is separated from the vine."
That comment
deserves our concentrated thought and reflection. It appears that
Urantia Book readers are dead ducks if they ignore Jesus' word--see:
"If
professed believers bear not these fruits of the divine spirit in
their lives, they are dead." (2054)
Perhaps it would
be better never to have had these Papers than to ignore their
content, for at least we could have then entered a plea of
ignorance.
Jesus continues,
"He who lives in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit of the
spirit and experience the supreme joy of yielding this spiritual
harvest." (1945)
Would it not be
wonderful if the scene subsequently described could some day be
reflected in the earthly lives of those privileged to possess the
Urantia Papers such that observers would say:
"And when
the world sees these fruit-bearing branches--my friends who love one
another, even as I have loved them--all men will know that you are
truly my disciples." (1945)
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