- 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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