Jesus' Sojourn at Rome 

Jesus' twenty-month tour of the Mediterranean world took him to many places. Six months of this tour were spent in Rome. While there, when Jesus was not acting as interpreter for Gonod or tutoring Ganid, he met with a variety of men and women who would later be pivotal in spreading the gospel message across the Roman Empire. At that time the empire stretched from the Atlantic to Asia Minor, including northern Africa.

Gonod carried greetings from the princes of India to Tiberius, the Roman ruler, and when Gonod, Ganid, and Jesus arrived in Rome, late in 22 CE, Gonod arranged a meeting with the emperor. Jesus served as their interpreter. The morose emperor was unusually cheerful on this day and chatted long with the trio. After they left, the emperor, referring to Jesus, remarked to his aide, "If I had that fellow’s kingly bearing and gracious manner, I would be a real emperor, eh?"

There were many citizens of India in Rome, and often one of Gonod’s employees would accompany him as an interpreter so that Jesus would have whole days to himself. This gave him time to become thoroughly acquainted with this city of two million. He frequently went to the Forum, the center of political, legal, and business life. He also went up to the Capitolium where he beheld the magnificent temple dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. In addition, he spent much time on Palatine Hill, where the emperor’s residence was located, the temple of Apollo, and the Greek and Latin libraries.

When neither Gonod nor Ganid needed Jesus’ services, he went around Rome meeting with influential leaders. Before the end of the first week in Rome, Jesus had sought out and made the acquaintance of the worthwhile leaders of the Cynics, the Stoics, and the mystery cults, including the Mithraic group.Jesus understood his mission and knew that it would very likely end with his death in a few short years. This trip to Rome was an opportunity to lay the groundwork for his messengers who would come to Rome after he was gone.

Jesus selected five of the leading Stoics, eleven of the Cynics, and sixteen of the mystery-cult leaders and spent much of his spare time during the six-month stay in intimate association with these religious teachers.

Among the thirty-two religious leaders in Rome who were taught by Jesus, only two were unfruitful; the thirty became pivotal individuals in the establishment of Christianity in Rome, and certain of them also aided in turning Rome’s chief Mithraic temple into the first Christian church. This preparatory work was a major factor in the establishment of Christianity in Rome and throughout the empire.

The most valuable of all the experiences of Jesus’ sojourn in Rome was his influence upon the religious leaders of the empire’s capital.

One of the first to meet with Jesus was Angamon, leader of the Stoics. He and Jesus had an all-night talk. They discussed true values as the standard of spirit levels of reality. This man subsequently became a great friend of Paul and proved to be one of the strong supporters of the Christian church at Rome.

Jesus told Angamon that the search for true values lies in the spiritual realm, emphasizing the impermanence of material standards, with a warning that without moral and spiritual growth, purely materialistic pursuits could threaten civilization, urging idealists to embrace shared moral values and spiritual goals to avoid conflict and serve human progress effectively.

Mardus was chief of the Cynics of Rome, and he became a great friend of Jesus. Day after day they conversed, and night upon night he listened to Jesus’ supernal teaching. Among the more important discussions with Mardus was one designed to answer this sincere Cynic’s question about good and evil.

Among many other things, and in modern language, Jesus told Mardus that:An experience is good when it heightens the appreciation of beauty, augments the moral will, enhances the discernment of truth, enlarges the capacity to love and serve one’s fellows, exalts the spiritual ideals, and unifies the supreme human motives of time with the eternal plans of God. The possibility of evil is necessary to moral choosing, but actual evil is not necessary as a personal experience. Potential evil acts equally well as a decision stimulus in the realms of moral progress on the lower levels of spiritual development.

Nabon was a Greek Jew and foremost among the leaders of the chief mystery cult in Rome, the Mithraic. While this high priest of Mithraism held many conferences with Jesus, he was most influenced by their discussion on truth and faith. Jesus said many things to Nabon. Among others, and in modern terms, he said:

Truth transcends mere knowledge, encompassing wisdom and spiritual living experiences, while faith is essential for the realization of truth, leading to the eternal progression of the human soul towards God. Faith, prayer, and spiritual evolution guide humanity towards the ultimate goal of attaining divine perfection and eternal existence.

Nabon was greatly impressed by Jesus' words and he was of great assistance to the later arriving preachers of Jesus’ gospel.

A certain rich man, a Roman citizen and a Stoic, became greatly interested in Jesus’ teaching. After many intimate conferences this wealthy citizen asked Jesus what he would do with wealth if he had it, and Jesus counseled the man, telling him: "I would bestow material wealth for the enhancement of material life, even as I would minister knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual service for the enrichment of the intellectual life, the ennoblement of the social life, and the advancement of the spiritual life. I would administer material wealth as a wise and effective trustee of the resources of one generation for the benefit and ennoblement of the next and succeeding generations."

But the rich man was not fully satisfied with Jesus’ answer. He asked again: "But what do you think a man in my position should do with his wealth? Should I keep it, or should I give it away?"

When Jesus had finished counseling him, this wealthy Roman said: "My good friend, I perceive you are a man of great wisdom and goodness, and tomorrow I will begin the administration of all my wealth in accordance with your counsel."

Jesus desired to gain firsthand knowledge of how people lived and worked in different parts of the world. By immersing himself in the Roman world, he gained insights that he could not have acquired in Jerusalem or Alexandria. This experience was crucial in preparing him for his future ministry and for the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth.

Jesus' time in Rome was a time of intense activity and preparation. It was during this period that he completed his training as a man of the realm and prepared for his future role as the perfected God-man. He knew that his mission on earth was coming to a close, and he wanted to ensure that he had fully prepared himself for the challenges that lay ahead.

Jesus personally came into affectionate and uplifting contact with upward of five hundred people during his sojourn in Rome. He always regarded these six months as one of the richest and most informative of any like period of his earth life.

He was approached by many who wanted him in connection with some business or, more often, for some project of teaching, social reform, or religious movement. He refused them all, but he utilized each one as an opportunity for imparting some thought of spiritual ennoblement by well-chosen words or by some obliging service.

He talked with a Roman senator on politics and statesmanship. He spent one evening with a wealthy slaveholder, talked about man as a son of God, and the next day this man, Claudius, gave freedom to one hundred and seventeen slaves. He visited a Greek physician, telling him that his patients had minds and souls as well as bodies, and thus led this able doctor to attempt a more far-reaching ministry to his fellow men. He talked with all sorts of people in every walk of life. The only place in Rome he did not visit was the public baths.

To a Roman soldier, as they walked along the Tiber, he said: "Be brave of heart as well as of hand. Dare to do justice and be big enough to show mercy. Compel your lower nature to obey your higher nature as you obey your superiors. Revere goodness and exalt truth. Choose the beautiful in place of the ugly. Love your fellows and reach out for God with a whole heart, for God is your Father in heaven."

To the speaker at the Forum, he said: "Your eloquence is pleasing, your logic is admirable, your voice is pleasant, but your teaching is hardly true. If you could only enjoy the inspiring satisfaction of knowing God as your spiritual Father, then you might employ your powers of speech to liberate your fellows from the bondage of darkness and the slavery of ignorance." This was Marcus who later heard Peter preach in Rome and became his successor. When they crucified Peter, it was Marcus who defied the Roman persecutors and boldly continued to preach the new gospel.

Jesus also defended a falsely accused poor man before a magistrate, emphasizing the importance of justice and fairness in ensuring the integrity and endurance of a nation, ultimately leading to the man's acquittal and demonstrating the principles of his teachings.

Jesus and Ganid spent time reuniting a lost child with his mother, prompting Jesus to reflect on the similarity between lost humans and the child, emphasizing the privilege of guiding others towards truth and God, inspiring Ganid to dedicate himself to helping lost individuals find their way home for the rest of his life.

There was the widow with five children whose husband had been accidentally killed. Jesus told Ganid about the loss of his own father by an accident, and they went repeatedly to comfort this mother and her children, while Ganid sought money from his father to provide food and clothing. And they had found a position for the eldest boy so that he could help in the care of the family.

When Ganid told his father about these experiences, Gonod said to Jesus, good-naturedly: "I propose to make a scholar or a businessman of my son, and now you start out to make a philosopher or philanthropist of him." And Jesus smilingly replied: "Perhaps we will make him all four; then can he enjoy a fourfold satisfaction in life as his ear for the recognition of human melody will be able to recognize four tones instead of one." Then said Gonod: "I perceive that you really are a philosopher. You must write a book for future generations." And Jesus replied: "Not a book – my mission is to live a life in this generation and for all generations."

Jesus, Gonod, and Ganid made five trips away from Rome to points of interest in the surrounding territory. It was on their visit to Switzerland, up in the mountains, that Jesus had an all-day talk with both father and son about Buddhism. After this talk, Ganid exclaimed, "Teacher, let’s you and I make a new religion, one good enough for India and big enough for Rome, and maybe we can trade it to the Jews for Yahweh."

Jesus replied: "Ganid, religions are not made. The religions of men grow up over long periods of time, while the revelations of God flash upon earth in the lives of the men who reveal God to their fellows."

When preparing to leave Rome, Jesus said goodbye to no one. He appeared in Rome without announcement and disappeared in like manner. It was a full year before those who knew and loved him gave up hope of seeing him again. Before the end of the second year, small groups of those who had known him found themselves drawn together. These groups of Stoics, Cynics, and mystery cultists continued to hold irregular and informal meetings right up to the time of the appearance in Rome of the first preachers of the Christian religion.

In the years that followed Jesus’ death, Peter, Paul, and the other Christian teachers in Rome heard rumors about a scribe of Damascus. But none of them connected the scribe to Jesus. On one occasion, while preaching in Rome, Peter, on listening to a description of the Damascus scribe, surmised that this individual might have been Jesus but quickly dismissed the idea, believing that the Master had never been in Rome.