Come Follow Me LDS- Easter- Episode 3: Tuesday- Teachings

- The Abrahamic Covenant connected to 'as a hen gathereth her chicks'
- The Widow's Mite
- The Parable of the 10 Virgins and the Lamps & Oil as Christ
- The Parable of the Talents as an explanation of the Spiritual Economy and the Plan of Salvation

 

 

Come Follow Me Easter

LDS Mormon

 

all right so this is episode three of

the Holy Week of Easter series we are

covering the teachings and events of

Tuesday of that week here we go

[Music]

so Tuesday is absolutely packed with the

teachings of Jesus so we're not going to

cover everything we're going to pick and

choose a few things where I think you're

gonna find some additional insight into

some common teachings that you may have

heard before but maybe with a little bit

of a twist to them the come follow mean

New Testament series eventually catches

up to this Easter week and we'll cover

some additional things at that time that

we don't get in in this week but we're

gonna start off with a warning that

Jesus gives to the scribes and the

Pharisees and the Sadducees and the

chief priests this is kind of his final

warning to them about the way that they

are conducting themselves and how they

have squandered their stewardship over

the church and over the priesthood and

how they are now

prepping themselves to take care of the

problem that the Jesus has become so

let's go to Matthew 23 we're gonna cover

a few things here first of all we get

what we might call the seven woes so

these are the woes that Jesus gives to

the Pharisees the Sadducees the chief

priests the scribes etc and he goes down

over and over again and if we go through

this we see that there are several

teachings here that we might recognize

also in the Book of Mormon and as you

read about how Jesus is characterizing

these groups of people that are in power

we get an idea of I do anyway the an

idea of the great and spacious building

where they are puffed up they are

hypocrites they are looking for the

attention that they have with their

power with their status and with their

self-righteousness and Jesus is trying

to warn them about the position that

they're in

and he says a few of very interesting

things here and remember that he is in

the temple as he is teaching all these

things as he typically is and again

thinking of temple imagery and temple

drama here it is all around them

typically as he is talking about these

things so he says in 23 in verse 2 he

says the scribes and the Pharisees sit

in Moses seat so in other words they

have elevated themselves to being the

judges and to being in charge here among

the Jews in Jerusalem and then he says

here in verse 3 all therefore whatsoever

they bid you observe that observe and do

but do not ye after their works for they

say and do not so in other words they

teach they go over things and teach but

they don't do what they teach at all

they're not examples like the Savior is

they are happy to tell other people what

to do but they're not going to follow it

themselves in verse 4 for they bind

heavy burdens and grievous to be borne

and lay them on men's shoulders but they

themselves will not move them with one

of their fingers kind of the opposite of

what we might have with King Benjamin

right who's out there laboring with the

people they are the exact opposite think

of them a little bit more maybe as the

priests of King Noah and King Noah

as well and then Jesus here down in

verse 11 says but he that is greatest

among you shall be your servant

so again echoing back to someone like a

king Benjamin Jesus of course is the

least among them he is the greatest

among them but he lowers himself below

all and he is the perfect example of

this teaching says in verse 12 and

whosoever shall exalt himself shall be

abased and he that shall humble himself

shall be exalted very interesting

part of the spiritual economy and then

down in verse 26 is going through

these woes he says thou blind Pharisee

cleanse first that which is within the

cup and platter that the outside of them

may be clean also I think of the

cleaning the inner vessel that we get in

the Book of Mormon and then in verse 27

a very recognizable scripture says woe

unto you scribes and Pharisees

hypocrites for a year like unto whited

Sepulcher which indeed appear beautiful

outward but are within full of dead

men's bones and of all uncleanness so

they're worried about remember some of

the teachings of the Savior

during his mortality here was about not

worrying about everything being

perfectly clean physically but that what

came out of your mouth needed to be

clean and what was inside of you needed

to be clean again looking at that higher

and the lower laws he says right here

you're like whited Sepulcher is on the

outside but inside you are like men's

dead bones and that would fit right

along with the Melchizedek law above of

mercy and grace and the lower law the

Aaronic law that is the law of

Commandments and in and of itself is

dead unless it looks forward to the

higher lined to Christ and here they are

with their current theology not looking

forward to the Messiah who is going to

save them and bring in the and restore

the higher law and so of course in Word

they are dead and then in 29 he says woe

unto you scribes and Pharisees

hypocrites because he build the tombs of

the prophets and garnish the sepulchers

of the righteous so over and over again

here in Jerusalem just like back in the

time of Lehi they wanted to kill Lehi

because he was preaching about the

higher law he was preaching about Christ

the Messiah and they wanted to kill

Jeremiah they didn't quite do that but

they killed other prophets at the time

it stoned them and they had quite a

history of doing this and they kept

pushing back on that higher law all the

way back to the dot time of Moses up on

Sinai the higher law had been pushed

back and would get the same exact thing

here all the way down to the time of

Christ to the time of Jesus and his

mortality and of course he is now going

to be killed by them so the prophets

which are prophesying they've all

prophesied of Christ and I really

believe it's not just that these

prophets have preached righteousness to

them and telling them that they are

wicked I believe that they are wicked

because they are taking their eye off

the ball that is they are missing the

mark which is Christ and so as they

reject Christ and the theology behind

the doctrine of Christ then things fall

apart and those that come in to preach

Christ and the doctrine of Christ are

then pushed out of the theology and to

the point of maybe they're going to kill

them to get rid of them to stop them

from preaching about Christ that's what

happened with Lehi he wanted to pre he

was preaching about Christ and they

wanted to kill him for it here Christ

himself is here and they're going to

kill him for who he proclaims to be and

then going down to verse 37 we've heard

this short phrase here many times Oh

Jerusalem

it starts out and we might think of the

Greg Olsen painting right that has kind

of a green background and Jesus is

sitting up on a hill looking down upon

the city of Jerusalem

and the title of that is Oh Jerusalem

and we've got a we've got actually one

of the original copies of that that oil

painting it's a beautiful painting but

where is Jesus actually when he's when

this is being said he's in the temple

and that's an important thing to know

with temple imagery and temple drama

Jesus is in the temple when he talks

about this and this is what he follows

up with after he says Oh Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest

the prophets and stonest them which are

sent unto thee how often would I have

gathered thy children together even as a

hen gathereth her chickens under her

wings and ye would not this is a great

Scripture it's a fabulous scripture

because there are a couple of very

important principles that are

underpinning these words

first of all Joseph Smith said of this

scripture that what they are talking

about when they said we all that I would

have gathered thee together as a hen

gathers gather your children together

so I'm saying you he's saying I would

gather your children together as a hen

gathereth her young and joseph smith

says that this is referring to baptisms

for the dead and the other ordinances of

the temple here he is in the temple

talking about this so when a saying

gathering your children it's more a

reference to family it's a reference to

the father's turning to the children the

hearts of the children their children's

hearts turning to the fathers and the

temple ceremony and the ceilings that

would happen with temple work and of

course the temple work is of the higher

lights of the Melchizedek Priesthood so

in a way a nuanced way he's saying you

know just as you are dead bones and your

white supple colors on the outside you

have rejected the higher law which

includes

all of the ordinances of the Melchizedek

priesthood in all of the ordinances of

the temple and how often I would have

gathered your children together right Oh

often I would have executed the

Abrahamic covenant with you and yet ye

would not and you see this over and over

and over again throughout the history of

Israel they deny the Melchizedek

Priesthood in everything that goes along

with it they deny Christ remember the

milk ascetic priesthood is named the

Melchizedek Priesthood for a couple of

reasons as we learn in the Doctrine and

Covenants the original name the real

name of the priesthood is the priesthood

after the order of the son this is the

crux of the Melchizedek priesthood it's

it's this priesthood of Jesus Christ and

secondly the Melchizedek Priesthood

remember that Jesus is the great

Melchizedek High Priest Melchizedek

meaning king of righteousness and so

they reject this higher law over and

over again and along with that they

reject the Abrahamic covenant another

important principle of this scripture is

what has been referred to as the ancient

law of Liberty and it's very important

in the spiritual economy

araneus referred to this in the in

the middle of the 2nd century so about

give or take a hundred years later he

refers to this scripture about the hen

gathering the children and talks about

the ancient law of Liberty because Jesus

here is saying how often I would have

gathered you in other words he's

offering this to them but they have

rejected it it's a very very important

principle because it is showing agency

for everyone has their own

choice the offer is there

and everybody can accept it but as it is

never forced onto anyone we always are

allowed to progress with our agency so

here's what Araneus says he says God

wants men to do right but he does not

coerce them to it god made man free from

the beginning for god never uses force

he placed in man the power of election

even as in the Angels glory and honor he

says to all who do good and it is due

them because they could have done evil

so it is merited based on their

decisions now if God made some men good

in some bad simply by Nature there would

be nothing praiseworthy in their virtue

or blameworthy in their vice for that

being their nature they could not do

otherwise

but since - all is given equally the

power of doing good or bad exactly as

they choose they are rightly praised or

blamed for what they do so this is a

very important principle this is exactly

what Lehi talks about in 2nd Nephi

chapter 2 with the opposition of all

things and the free agency of man that

we learn about right from the beginning

with Adam and Eve where we are not

coerced into doing something this is

right at the crux of Christianity and

right at the crux of really all of

Western civilization that free agency

for the individual is paramount above

all you have to start there you cannot

go to the group first you cannot go to

speech even first you have to start with

the free agency of the individual that

is the plan of God otherwise everything

is frustrated we learn about that all

the way back in the pre-existence and

the war in heaven where Satan wanted to

force everyone to do good or which

really means

to cap them in their progress but not

allow the risk of losing anybody to the

lower rewards if you will and then real

quick I want to jump over to mark 12 and

cover the Widow's mite real quick here

mark 12 versus starting with verse 41

again here Jesus is at the temple

there's a Treasury there at the temple

and Jesus sat over against the Treasury

and beheld how the people cast money

into their Treasury and many that were

rich cast in much and there came a

certain poor Widow and she threw in two

mites which make a farthing and he

called unto him his disciples and saith

unto them verily I say unto you that

this poor Widow hath cast more in than

all they which have cast into the

Treasury for all they did cast in of

their abundance but she of her want did

cast in all that she had even all her

living principle here obviously is that

the widow was willing to give everything

that she had everything she had

basically to the building up of the

kingdom of God and everybody else here

those that were wealthy were only

willing to give a portion a small

portion probably of all of their riches

that they had this is important to

understand in the spiritual economy and

we're going to follow this story up with

the parable of the talents here in just

a couple of minutes and get a little bit

more context into what Jesus is trying

to show the disciples and those that are

listening to him all right now we're

going to jump to the parable of the ten

virgins we've all heard this several

times I want to maybe add just a little

bit of flavor here to this parable

here's how it starts off he says this is

in Matthew 25 first one then shall the

Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten

virgins which took their lamps and went

forth to meet the bridegroom and five of

them were wise

and five were foolish okay so the

virgins are invited to the bridegroom's

wedding and five are wise and five were

foolish now the number five by the way

in the Pythagorean school this would

remember Pythagoras who is of the

Pythagorean theorem that we all learned

and loved in geometry class in high

school five means marriage and so this

was a symbol the number five is a symbol

of marriage we follow up here in verse

three they that were foolish took their

lamps and took no oil with them but the

wise took oil in their vessels with

their lamps while the bridegroom tarried

they all slumbered and slept and at

midnight there was a cry made behold the

bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him

think about midnight there I think about

when is the Savior typically going to

come he comes like a thief in the night

so in the middle of the night while

you're sleeping are you already going to

be prepared right it is everything

already in place have you lived your

life in a way where you already are

prepared to meet the Savior then all

those virgins arose and trimmed their

lamps and the foolish said unto the wise

give us your all of your oil for our

lamps are gone out but the wise answered

saying not so lest there be not enough

for us and you but go ye rather to them

that sell and buy for yourselves and

while they went to buy the bridegroom

came and they that were ready went in

with him to the marriage and the door

was shut

afterward came also the other virgins

saying Lord Lord open to us but he

answered and said verily I say unto you

I know you not watch therefore for ye

know neither the day nor the hour

wherein the Son of man cometh so I think

that there's a couple things going on

here we've know I've heard a number of

times about how the oil represents kind

of your testimony

and the way that you've lived your life

the Holy Ghost you know having the

spirit with you those are several of the

representations that I've heard I think

all of those apply to the to the parable

here and of course he's talking about

when he you know the coming of the

Savior and the second coming of the

Savior he's probably even talking about

now I mean think about what's happening

how he just spoke to all of the chief

priests scribes Pharisees Sadducees etc

yes they're not ready for him right they

do not have the oil in their lamps and

so this applies to this very moment to

this very week and look what happens

because they're not prepared right and

why aren't they prepared for the coming

of the Savior this is what I want to

talk about with this parable why are

they not prepared they're not prepared

because they don't believe it they don't

even believe in Jehovah being the savior

of the world

who's going to come down be born of Mary

condescend below all to take upon him

the sins of the world and be the savior

so they're not prepared obviously they

don't have the oil in their lamp going

back a little bit in the history of the

Old Testament I've brought this up

before but if we look back at the time

of Isaiah there were changes made in the

temple and in the theology there that

basically the way I see it the way it

looks to me is that they reduced or

tried to eliminate to some degree the

concept and the of the doctrine of

Christ at that time I'm not going to go

into that now I can do that in a

different episode but they tried to

reduce that and just as the Savior has

talked here about how I have oftentimes

tried to gather you and you would not

this is a very good example of an

additional pushback that was made by the

people against Christ against the

Messiah the doctrine of the Messiah

and then again down to the time of

Josiah this is right around the time of

Lehi additional changes are made in the

theology inside the temple which is the

core of your doctrine of your gospel of

your religion where at that time what

was removed was the menorah now there

was an additional menorah that was kept

there probably had a different function

outside of the Holy of Holies but it's

very possible that this other menorah

that was removed was inside the Holy of

Holies and very well could have

represented the Tree of Life and who is

the Tree of Life the Tree of Life is

Jesus the Tree of Life is Jehovah the

savior and here in the scriptures we

find this nugget of information about an

apostasy that is happening right inside

the temple where Christ is being removed

think about the stories in the Book of

Mormon

where over and over again those coming

to preach or going to King Noah and his

priests core whore and knee whore

they're trying they're trying to

preach against Christ in this whole

concept it's what everything runs down

to when you start with the whole of

the gospel

eventually the law of thermo-dynamics

comes around and corruption just like it

does physically corruption ends up

corrupting the theology and corrupting

the core doctrine which is Christ

that's the center of everything that's

what's going to get corrupted and that

is what it seems to me also you know as

a nuance the meaning of what's happening

here is they are holding lamps well that

is the lamp aura that is the menorah a

representation of the menorah that would

have been in the Holy of Holies and had

been removed and is a representation of

the Messiah

here they're waiting for the Son of God

to come and they wanted to be prepared

for him well what would fit right in

with that

is that they are these are the ones that

believe in the Messiah the son of God

that was to come and take on the sins of

the world and they are burning their

lamps with the oil that they have that

just like in the temple even with the

menorah that remained in the temple

remember they had to keep that menorah

burning 24/7 that's the understanding of

the lamp of the menorah is that it has

to burn 24 hours a day that's what

Hanukkah comes from right is that Eve

it's the miracle of Hanukkah I think it

was eight days or they didn't have

enough oil but the menorah the

other menorah that was still in the

temple remained burning for eight days

and that's what Hanukkah represents

so here the Virgin's that have all of

the oil to keep that those lamps burning

to me it just seems like there's a

connection directly there with a

representation directly of the Son of

God of the Messiah and I think we can we

can trace that back perhaps going back

to that time of the large menorah that

would have been in the Holy of Holies

perhaps that represented Christ just

some food for thought there and then

lastly even though I know there's a lot

of teachings that I mean really Tuesday

here is just packed with all of these

teachings and we'll cover those in some

other episodes but lastly what I want to

cover is another commonly read parable

which is the parable of the talents I

have heard this taught so many times

with the understanding that we're

talking about like these talents that we

have and these gifts that we have of

whether it's singing or I have musical

talents or you know my musical

instrument or whatever it is and how are

we going to use those town

and that in a way could apply you could

apply that but that's not what the

parable is right the parable the talents

are coins that's what they're talking

about the talents are actually coins

that are given to these servants and so

that we're talking about again Jesus is

giving a parable about the spiritual

economy and he's using the example of

man-made economy here with coins which

are talents just like you would have a

farthing or a penny or a quarter this a

talent is a coin and what I want to do

is a read at least the beginning of this

and then I will paraphrase the rest of

it for times sake

here's how this parable starts out for

the kingdom of heaven is as a man

travelling into a far country who called

his own servants and delivered unto them

his goods

and into one he gave five talents again

these aren't like being able to juggle

and sing or magic tricks or anything

like that

he's giving them capital and into one he

gave five talents to another two and to

another one to every man according to

his several ability this is that to me

the crux of this whole parable and it's

a truth that is very practical for all

of us to understand to every man

according to his several ability and

straight-4 and straightway took his

journey so he's giving these coins out

this money out in different amounts

according to their ability and this is

what this whole parable is about it's

about ability and choice and taking

advantage of opportunities that's what

the parable is speaking about and then

it says that the servant that received

five coins five talents went off and

traded and got five more

and the one that had two coins two

talents went off and traded and got two

more so they've both the first

two servants have doubled their money

right this is money and the third

servant who had one goes and buries it

because he's afraid to lose it right so

what is he afraid to do he's afraid to

take any risk at all he's afraid to

magnify his calling he's afraid to take

everything that has been given to him

according to his ability and increase it

this is about the plan of salvation this

is about a hierarchical structure where

each of us have certain amount of

ability and opportunity we have an

immense amount of freedom and

opportunity in the West technology

economy just about everything that we

could ever want is available to us from

all around the world brought directly to

our porch and some of those things

within a couple of hours now how are we

taking advantage of these things in

other words how do we increase our

progression and help those around us to

do the same that spiritual economy says

that okay someone who is born in the

United States and given an opportunity

maybe somebody and is maybe born into

the gospel or born with great health or

born with a sharp mind or all of the

above is the one who has the five

talents or someone who is born into a

with terrible health and into a

broken home and on very poor

circumstances very difficult

circumstances maybe someone who only has

two talents or even worse only one

talent everybody is at a different place

and given different opportunities that's

not what matters what matters is what

do we do

with what we are given are we going to

magnify our position in life are we

going to progress moving up through a

fluid hierarchy that is constantly

moving or are we going to take what we

have usually through ingratitude maybe

and bury it and basically say yeah I've

got all this but whatever and not take

advantage of those things and not take

advantage of those opportunities not

take advantage of that knowledge not

take advantage of perhaps that we were

the way we were brought up not take

advantage of a testimony not take

advantage of having the priesthood not

take advantage of having good parents

whatever that is those are the talents

those are the coins that is the

spiritual economy that we live in

eternal progress for all of us but we

are all at a different station in life

what are we going to do with it

think about the widow and the might

right she brought something that was

almost nothing less than the talent less

than one talent and she gave all and

that to me is the message that Jesus are

one of the major messages that Jesus is

trying to teach here on this Tuesday

take advantage of everything that is

given to you take advantage of what I'm

about to do above all about what I'm

about to do later this week I am going

to make you free I am going to give you

all options you will live under thee as

Arrhenius says the ancient law of

Liberty and regardless of what your

station is in life you can be forgiven

of your sins and you can move forward

forever

that's the parable of the talents and

then lastly on this day Jesus is

betrayed and the conspiracy with Judas

Iscariot and the chief priests and all

the elders and everybody else that has

the power here are going to gather

together

and strategize on how to take out Jesus

and what's interesting here if we read

Matthew 26 from the beginning it says

and it came to pass when Jesus had

finished all these sayings he said unto

his disciples so this is after all of

his teachings and talking about the

second coming and prophesying about the

future and all these teachings that he's

giving them trying to pack everything in

before he leaves them he says he know

that after two days is the Feast of the

Passover and the Son of Man is betrayed

to be crucified so this is Tuesday so

they know already Jesus knows and

apparently everybody else knows how he's

going to die they already know this he

will be crucified and it's very possible

that this was something that happened

regularly on this day with the Romans

but they know how he will die and so

just as he had been preaching against

those that would kill the prophets here

they're going to kill the Prophet

they're going to kill the Messiah

they're going to sacrifice the Messiah

for what they perceive as their own good

to hold on to their own status and their

own power they will take the greatest

among them and make him the least of

them I'll talk to you next time

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