Come Follow Me LDS- Matt 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19 Part 2

'Robes, Trees & Nails'
- Simon of Cyrene
- The parallels of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and The Cross
- It's the law that kills Jesus
- Did Jesus wear priestly robes?

 

 

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in this episode we're going to talk

about robes trees and nails here we go

alright so let's say the stage here in

the last episode Christ had just gone

through the trial we can call it a mock

trial and he's been sentenced he has

been let out to the soldiers to be

mocked and now he is going to be sent up

the road to Golgotha to the place of the

skull as Joseph Smith calls it the place

of burial and on his way up there there

are several women that are mourning with

him and as we said that would be a

normal thing for the women to be there

with him one thing they would do when

Jerusalem is the noble women would

come out and they would offer vinegar

and frankincense or vinegar and myrrh

something rather expensive and they

would offer this to those that were

going to be executed so it was a sign of

empathy and compassion and we see that

that is something that has offered John

doesn't talk about that but the other

synoptic I think the others all of the

synoptic Gospels talked about him having

vinegar or being offered vinegar anyway

he turns it down but vinegar or wine

with this frankincense or myrrh to numb

his senses and to make it so that you

don't feel everything that you're about

to go through the unthinkable

excruciating pain of what's coming with

the crucifixion and of course the woman

would be there for that because again

they're there through these steps for

all people of birth and marriage and

death and passing on through the veil

that's the place where a woman would

responsible for those eternal passages

another thing that's mentioned here as

he's on the road up to Golgotha is that

one Simon of Cyrene is given the

assignment where he has got to help

carry the cross or you know the single

beam the horizontal beam is most likely

what that was something that would have

been very heavy considering also that

Jesus has already been scourged and

mocked and has the crown of thorns on

his head he's probably pretty worn out

and been up all night and you know he

had a little bit of a bad night the

night before so he's pretty worn out but

this Simon of Cyrene Cyrene is an

interesting place this is a place that

back in the time just after the time of

Alexander the Great when they conquered

Judea and other parts told me his

successor had about a hundred thousand

Jews sent out of Judea and down into

Cyrene which is actually in Libya and

it's on the eastern part of Libya that

would have been bordering closer to

Egypt and this is kind of an interesting

place they had their own synagogues in

Jerusalem from there they are some of

them this became a center for

Christianity a strong center for

Christianity it was also a place where a

lot of they would call sicarios or

assassins ended up going you know knife

stabbers ended up going but it's kind of

interesting that he would be there that

this might be somebody who was

sympathetic to Christ maybe not but it

could have been something somebody a

community there in Cyrene in Libya that

would have been primed for conversion so

to speak and that's why there was a

center there of Christianity very

quickly after the death of Jesus and

Simon even has his sons in the Book of

Luke his sons are mentioned Alexander

and Rufus and they've even found in that

valley between Gethsemane in the Mount

of Olives and the city of Jerusalem the

walled city in that valley of judgment

of Jehoshaphat of the Kidron Valley they

have found a

Eve burial area with the title on there

of Alexander son of Simon so who knows

but this is somebody who is they say

compelled to carry the cross for Jesus

at least part of the way maybe once

Jesus just couldn't carry it any further

and he's compelled to do that and that

was also a Jewish law actually where you

had to have somebody that would go forth

before you heralding the person that was

convicted and that was going to be

execute executed kind of like a last

chance they would they would go out

crying out to the people to the crowd

saying exactly what the guilty party had

done and the accusations were laid upon

him and there was anybody that in that

crowd as he went up toward Golgotha that

would say something against this

accusation there was kind of like a one

last chance so that would be normal to

have kind of a Herald that would be out

there and maybe that's part of the role

that Simon of Cyrene would have would

have been playing so Jesus ends up on

Golgotha who knows how large this crowd

would have been it is the eve of

Passover and so there is a lot going on

here and it is also the coincides with

the eve of the Sabbath so people are

very busy trying to get things done for

Passover but not being able to take too

long because Sabbath will be had what

will be on its way here by 6:00 p.m.

that day the synoptic Gospels have Jesus

being crucified up on the cross at about

9:00 a.m. and then actually dying at

around 3:00 p.m. John actually says that

there he's turned over at around noon

turned over to the high priests is about

noon but regardless there's probably a

sizable crowd that is watching this

Jesus is a prominent figure and has a

lot of people there that are his

disciples that have followed him that

are there for Passover in Jerusalem and

we can think about what is happening

here with him he's about to be crucified

which is basically being put up on a

cross he is nailed to the cross but

you're put up on the cross your arms are

stretched out and what happens is

gravity takes over and eventually what

kills you is your internal organs

actually start tearing apart and so like

Talmage James Talmage actually says

that Jesus ends up dying of a broken

heart that's very possible he says he

even medically a broken heart would have

caused the water and blood to come out

when he is pierced but that's what he's

going to be going through he's going to

be going through incredible excruciating

pain and about one of the most horrific

ways you could think of dying but it is

interesting to me that he's going to die

on a tree and oftentimes they refer to

the crosses as trees and you'll hear

that people are crucified on a tree

sometimes it was a real tree they would

actually just nail him up onto a tree

and crucify people but a lot of times

they were referring when they say trees

to a cross that they would put people on

and so he's dying on a tree and I it's

interesting you'd kind of go from tree

to tree here and what I mean by that is

the tree of knowledge of good and evil

that Adam and Eve partake of what would

you would really consider a low-hanging

fruit there they want knowledge they

want to move on they want to experience

life and mortality and so they partake

of this low-hanging fruit off of this

tree of knowledge of good and evil one

thing that tree represents is the law it

can mean many things but one thing it

definitely for me anyway definitely

means is the law it's the law of Moses

into the law of God because once you

have the law then you know what is right

and wrong and so the law being placed

out there gives you both the ability to

succeed with that law to

ply with the law and to have the

consequences of breaking that law and so

you end up with a knowledge of good and

evil from the law and so that fruit in

some ways what that represent is is the

ability to have this choice to decide if

you're gonna go along with the law if

you're gonna go along with what's right

or if you're gonna suffer the

consequences that come along with that

freedom with that agency and yet with

that law staring you right in the face

it's a lot like that fruit is a lot like

Pandora's Box you open up that box and

you have a lot of chaos that's something

you can't really put back into the box

and so now we come down to the time of

Jesus and in a way he's kind of back to

that tree and that law that has been

given is what is going to kill him as I

discussed previously the law ironically

it is the law that kills him here he is

the representation of the higher law of

the of mercy of atonement of service and

suffering and bearing others burdens and

yet the high priests elders and scribes

especially are going to kill him and get

rid of him so that they can stay with

the lower law and how are they going to

do it they're gonna do it with the lower

law they're gonna kill him with the

lower law and get rid of the higher law

of course they don't actually get rid of

him do they but they that's what they're

trying to do they're trying to get rid

of the higher law just as their

predecessors had done in the temple

previously getting rid of Christ getting

rid of the son of God and getting rid of

the whole idea of making sacrifices a

looking forward to the great sacrifice

into the higher law so we go from tree

to tree from fruit something sweet that

you're looking forward to and like the

ability to learn and to experience and

to adventure with life and in

mortality and you start with that fruit and

now that fruit becomes nails that are

driven into Jesus's body and that law

that tree the knowledge of good and evil

from how humanity handles that is what

ends up killing him and that is what

ends up getting rid of Christ always it

seems it's that lower law we can't

handle the truth we can't handle that

the ability to have that the choice to

try or try not to comply with what is

right with what is with that knowledge

of good and evil but here specifically

in this act with a crucifixion of Jesus

Christ that law is going to kill him

it's those nails into the tree the fruit

came from the tree and now the nails are

being driven right back into the tree

through his body pretty it's pretty

ironic really and one thing that

archaeology has given us is that we can

kind of see sometimes how this was done

around that time actually it may not be

what you're thinking we know that he was

given put nails into his palms and nails

into his wrists to make sure that he was

held up others were oftentimes just tied

up the nails were in his palms and

in his wrists and then in his feet but

we don't know exactly how that may have

worked we oftentimes think of his feet

kind of crossed or together and the

nails being hammered in from the front

but archaeology has shown us that around

this time a number of crucifixions were

done where actually the feet were on the

sides of the post and they were nailed

in from the side and so that could have

been how it was with Jesus as well and

just as we have gone from tree to tree

here we go from King to king during this

week of the atonement in this week of

Easter where Jesus on Palm Sunday is

coming into this procession as

but as the king the king that was the

king of the temple that that of that

temple drama that would happen at the

Feast of Tabernacles he's brought in as

a procession from his disciples with all

the palms and he rides in and where does

he go he goes directly to the temple and

he cleanses the temple as the great high

priest of the Day of Atonement and he

comes back out of that temple

representing that he is the son of God

and then we see as we've gone through

this week we see all of these themes

that bring us to the Feast of

Tabernacles even though this is the week

of Passover where that focus on the king

the king of kings the king of Israel the

son of God Emmanuelle which would be the

God with us and how is God with us

because he's born of a woman and lives

amongst us he takes on flesh just like

John says in his first chapter the word

became flesh and here on the cross

Pilate has had King of the Jews put on

the title of the cross each of the

synoptic Gospels has a variation of that

the King of the Jews one I think is here

this is Jesus King of the Jews John's is

a little different where he actually has

the title as Jesus of Nazareth King of

the Jews and the biblical scholar

Margaret Barker actually says that this

is not Nazareth that this is Nazarene in

the Greek which would mean something

different it is actually from the Hebrew

that of the word that means guardian and

guardian of what guardian of probably

the Covenant and in fact Paul was called

a Nazarene because he was a guardian of

the Covenant and even today in Hebrew

the Jews used that word for Christians

so kind of an interesting little tidbit

there it may not be Nazareth but the

important thing to see here is that

again this royal procession that started

on Palm Sunday that's what this is about

for the authors of the guy

that this is the king of kings they are

witnesses to him being Jehovah the one

that came out of the Holy of Holies and

born the son of God and remember that

the high priests don't want this to say

King of the Jews

they say hey Pilate can we just have it

say he wanted to say that he was King of

the Jews that he said he was King of the

Jews but he wasn't really and Pilate

says hey what's done is done I've

already done this and so this title

remains up on the cross and even to his

death here there is a testimony about

who he is even in the face of those that

want to kill him

but it's not just the king of the Jews I

mean Pilate has this down as the king of

the Jews only because that's who the

people are here or at least those that

are in charge even the Jews the high

priests the scribes and the elders refer

to him as the king of Israel or that he

says he is the king of Israel the king

of the Jews is not a title that is

mentioned previously in the Old

Testament for example if that's not a

title but king of Israel is and King of

Kings is and so the people around him

they are mocking him and shaking his

head their heads around him remember

he's probably on a pathway where all

this hustle and bustle that's going on

for Passover people coming in and out of

Jerusalem a lot of travelers could have

been coming in and through here would

have been going right by where Jesus was

on the cross this is a reference to the

Messiah right remember they have a

different idea most of the people there

have a different idea of what the

Messiah is this is the political figure

that is going to come and save Jerusalem

from Rome and from all of those that

have been captors and rulers over Judea

destroying and rebuilding the temple

probably a look back toward the Temple

of Solomon was that kind of a sign for

the Messiah but then they also say save

thyself if thou be the Son of God come

down from the cross

so this would be a mocking about him

being Jehovah not just that they don't

think it's him but they probably don't

believe that there is a son of God that

is not part of their theology anymore it

has been removed so they're mocking him

not just for saying oh you're the one

you think you're the Son of God they're

mocking him because they don't believe

there is a son of God and then

interestingly enough after this we get

the chief priests that are mocking him

so here they they've put him out of the

city on a cross he's being crucified and

they don't want to stop they come out

and they continue to mock him even on

the cross and they're there with the

scribes and the elders and they say here

in verse 42 of Matthew 27 he saved

others probably a reference at least to

Lazarus and maybe some of the other

people that he saved but him but himself

he cannot save if he be the king of

Israel let him now come down from the

cross and we will believe him so here

they have on the cross the title that

Pilate has in here in graven which is

King of the Jews and yet here they are

referring to him as king of Israel

because they know that it's not about

the king of Judah the Jews there it's

it's a Davidic title that goes back to

the temple of Solomon and the temple

drama there he is the title is the king

of Israel that is who he is claiming to

be not something more contemporary for

just the Jews that are here remember

this is a temple drama that was for all

of Israel before the Northern Kingdom

and the ten tribes were lost so the

proper title is what they've got here it

is the king of Israel and they follow up

with that and they say he trusted in God

let him deliver him now if he will have

him for he said I am the son of God so

again they go from the king of Israel

which would be the proper title to the

Son of God that is what is key and you

can imagine in their minds what they're

saying they don't believe in the Son of

God right they don't believe in the

divinity of the savior of G

here but they also don't believe that

there is a son of God that is coming and

so again even with the high priests and

those in charge of the temple the

scribes in charge of the scriptures and

the elders here with the priesthood the

rulers here they don't believe in the

Son of God they don't believe it's not

just Jesus they don't believe in a Son

of God at all

in Matthew mentions the darkness that

comes in at about the sixth hour so this

would be at about noon

right so starting at 9:00 a.m. is when

he would have been up on the cross and

he would have been taken down at 3:00

p.m. so six hours let me get my math

here straight but the darkness comes on

in the last three hours at about noon

and according to Bruce R McConkie this

last three hours he actually ends up

going through all of the same pains and

sufferings and sin that comes upon him

from mankind as he did in the Garden the

night before so he kind of relives this

and goes through it and that's part of

what he says it is finished it's not

just that he is dying on the cross that

he is that he is continuing to atone for

the sins of mankind while he was on the

cross so he wasn't done after Gethsemane

apparently and then in verse 46 in about

the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud

voice saying Eli Eli lama sabachthani my

my Aramaic there that is the same my God

my God why hast thou forsaken me so just

as he was left alone in Gethsemane and a

lot of times we get the we hear about

him being Forsaken and why did the Lord

forsake him well if Bruce are McConkie

is right when he says that he's going

through the same thing he did in

Gethsemane yet again then perhaps again the

spirit had to be removed from him yet

again just like it was in Gethsemane

where he would be battling through this

completely a hundred percent on his own

without any support that it had to be a

perfect sacrifice and it had to be done

just by him and then he's confused that

some

around him are confused about what he

had said he said something like Elijah

Elijah says here that's Elijah in in

that last phrase in Aramaic and so some

of them that stood there when they heard

that said this man calleth for Elias or

Elijah and that would be something they

might think about because if he's looked

at as the Messiah even if they don't

believe in the Son of God remember in

that cedar meal in the Passover meal

that the last cup that they part a cup

of wine that they're going to partake of

is the cup of Elias a cup of Elijah and

that cup is taken and then that's allows

for Elijah to come in and so they leave

the door open at that time and they have

the empty seat at the table because

Elijah is the one that is going to

announce the coming of the Messiah and

so they're saying hey maybe he's saying

that Elijah is gonna come because if

he's the Messiah

then maybe Elijah will come and he will

bring him down from the cross and save

him and in fact they run and grab some

says vinegar on a hiss ah but maybe it

has something to do with that last cup I

don't know the last cup of the serum of

that last little bit of wine the cup of

Elijah here now this is an interesting

week obviously but it's interesting also

because this is a week where the eve of

the Sabbath is when Passover is and so

they are hurrying more than they usually

need to for this because they need to

take care of everything before the Sun

comes down around 6 p.m. and one of the

things that they're doing on this day

the day before Passover is they come in

and they all of the people that are here

they're going to bring in the lambs and

they are going to slaughter the Lambs at

the temple and so there's just so many

people they bring him in in three

separate groups and so the timing here

is exactly the same and in fact it would

have been later in the day if it wasn't

the Sabbath but with the Sabbath coming

they do this earlier than they normally

would they would do this at about 2:00

p.m. with a slaughtering of the Lambs

and this is the fifth hour that Jesus is

up on the cross with an hour to go

so here Jesus is the Paschal Lamb

right he is it is his blood that has

actually put over the doorways of the

Israelites in Egypt to protect the

firstborn and here the timing is exactly

the same where because of the day that

this is this Friday is where Passover

they are slaughtering the lambs earlier

right at the same time that Jesus is

dying the other thing that would be

happening at this time is that the horns

the shofar they're blowing the shofar

at around this time which is about

freeing Israel from the Egyptians right

it's the taking them out of captivity

and that's what Jesus is doing for all

of us right at this time as he goes

through these pains have guessed so many

again and he suffers through his mortal

death here and of course where is he

going to go after he dies to the

captives in the spirit world where he's

going to free them as well or at least

give them the ability to be free just

like he does with us

and so these shofars you can imagine the

women that are all around here and the

disciples that are all around near the

cross it says afar off but John has them

a lot closer as Jesus is up here on

Golgotha dying and they are mourning him

the Lambs are being slaughtered over in

the city at the temple and the shofar is

that they would definitely be able to

hear are being blown at the same time

that Jesus is here dying on the cross

that's so real there's an amazing scene

and again we have the women that are

here gathered around and each of the

Gospels this time talks about the women

around John likes to focus a little bit

more on this again because his job is to

fill in the gaps about Jesus being the

Son of God that title and everything

that goes with that title that is his

focus

and part of that is the women part of

that especially is his mother

where he is mentioned more in John than

any of the other Gospels and she's here

at the cross of course she is and the

other women are there at the cross of

course they are

because they are there as a

representation of the women as Jesus is

going to pass on to the next world

and John has Jesus talking to Mary and

saying woman behold thy son - John the

Beloved and then to John behold thy

mother it's kind of interesting too

because what about his Step Brothers

which he does have but they are not

convinced of his divinity they are not

convinced about him and there's some

conflict there that we read about a

couple times in the Gospels and so Jesus

probably did not trust them with her she

may not have been their mother and so he

gives John the responsibility the

beloved of watching over his mother at

this time and then in verse 50 this is

pretty interesting to me because I don't

really understand I have thought about

this I I don't I can't come up with

anything yet but it says this in and I

think a couple or few of the Gospels it

says Jesus when he had cried again with

a loud voice yielded up the ghost I

don't know what that means that to me

has got to mean something it's there for

a reason that he cried out at that time

what is he crying out what is he saying

right at that point he there's something

I wish we knew what he was saying at

that moment I don't know that it's just

a yell I doubt it

unless maybe it's some yellow victory I

don't know but it seems to me that

there's something that the gospel

authors don't want to say perhaps about

what exactly he is saying

right before he dies here and the

synoptic Gospels have they have a Savior

dying and with his death we have the

renting

of the veil in the temple which is

fascinating John doesn't say this he

doesn't talk about the veil being rent

in the temple but he does he's the only

one that instead gives the piercing of

his side with the spear from a soldier

and that's really the same thing at

least symbolically why would the temple

veil rent at this time well of course

what it means symbolically is a couple

things first it rents open because the

Holy of Holies is now open for everybody

in other words we're all open because of

what Christ did the pathway back to him

to the Holy of Holies to the beginning

is open because of what the Savior did

and his sacrifice here and that being

complete that temple is rent that veil

is rent because we can now return to the

Holy of Holies the second thing to look

at is what is the veil the veil is

physical matter that's what the veil is

when we say when we talk about there's a

veil between us when we pray through a

veil remember that a veil is physical

matter that that's really what it means

it is mortality it is flesh it is the

earth it's made of four colors that

temple veil is made of four color so

it's kind of like the four elements and

so this is our physical matter it is

when we talk about the veil that we're

hidden behind from God it's physical

matter our spirits are held within what

a temple and a veil our bodies are veils

that we are held behind and that we

can't see certain things because we're

held behind the veil of the body so as

Jesus dies here and as his body is

pierced the temple veil is rent open

because it's his body it is physical

matter that is broken just as his body

is broken like we break the bread for

sacrament

that pathway is opened up through the

lower law the carnal law the physical

law is opened up for us to go through

and get to our spiritual home and the

priestly robes here then and in John

it's it specifies something a little bit

more specific it says that they parted

the robes four ways well four colors on

the vent on the tent there are four

robes at least that are used maybe five

total if you look at a certain way that

are used for a high priest

so Jesus likely possibly at least he's

wearing robes of a high priest he was

the high priest he was the great

Melchizedek we often times thinking of

him with paintings where he's just

walking around in kind of a white robe

or you know with a veil of some

sort or you know round his on his

head or something late a rogue laid

over his shoulder as well but we don't

really know what he was wearing all the

time and he could have been wearing

something more like priestly garb here

and maybe it was just at certain times

maybe from the night before as he was

going through the Passover meal and he

was washing the feet as a high priest as

purifying those that were with him as in

probably a day of atonement type of a

ritual preparation ritual maybe he it's

just because of that and that's what he

was wearing a his high priestly garb but

there's other examples too you know

where he's walking and the woman

who has an issue of blood an issue with

blood she reaches out to grab his hem

well that could be a high priestly robe

and she's grabbing the hem of that robe

or a hem or a certain road that he would

be wearing and it's the power of that

priesthood symbolically that he's got on

him that that she's looking for that she

reaches for as an example but here as

the soldiers are parting

the clothes it's unlikely that they're

ripping the clothes and saying here's a

piece for you and here's a piece for you

and here's a piece for you it's more

likely that there are several robes like

you would have with a high priest and

they are dividing them amongst

themselves and then maybe they're

looking at this nice blue tunic where we

are told that there is no seam in it

because that's how that blue tunic is

that is worn over it's opened up at the

sides it would be pulled together with a

belt but it would have no seams in it

and so it seems no pun intended it seems

that there is possibly he's wearing high

priestly garb and maybe he wore a lot and

then lastly and quickly we have joseph

of Arimathea goes to Pilate and asks for

the body of Christ

Joseph is very high up he's possibly in

the Sanhedrin even or remember somehow

of it but he is a part of society here

of establishment society but he is a

disciple of Jesus and so he has an open

door to Pilate and he goes to Pilate and

he asks for the body and he wraps the

body and he's got a tomb for the body

his own tomb possibly that he's going to

put Jesus into and John specifically

says that Nicodemus the one that Jesus

talks to about being born again who also

is very high in the priesthood also

comes and brings I believe it's a

hundred pounds of spices and etc that

would be worth an enormous enormous

amount of money and that is put into the

linen the white linen of that his

wrapped up in and that's what they do

for Kings that's how a king would be

buried is with all of those spices and

fragrances and so again a royal theme

and so where mortality was brought in by

the fruit of a tree and doomed us all to

judgment Christ as well is actually

wounded from the tree all the way to his

death

but he overcomes it as we know here

shortly to conquer the lower law and to

rent the temple veil open for all of us

and as the robes of the Savior had been

removed

the priesthood and the power of Jesus

was not and he suffered again on the

cross not just physically but

spiritually going through a yet another

Gethsemane for the last few hours as

the Paschal Lamb and as the freer of the

captives of Israel which is all of us

even the nails of the law that pierced

his palms and pierced his wrists and

pierced his feet and stuck him to the

tree did not doom him or any of us to an

eternal consequence that is hard to even

imagine instead it's faith hope and

charity that are produced by the payment

of Christ the suffering of Christ and

eventually the great victory of Christ

I'll talk to you next time