Come Follow Me LDS- Matt 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20-21 Part 1

'He's First, Wounds & Kintsugi'
- Jesus is the 'Firstfruits', we are Next
- Looking for Christ in all the wrong places
- Our wounds become our identity, healed or not
- Kintsugi, how, like the Savior, we can wear our wounds well

 

 

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in this episode we'll talk about why

he's first we'll talk about why he keeps

his wounds and we'll talk about Kansugi

here we go

so the topic of the resurrection and of

Easter Sunday I went pretty thoroughly

through in Episode eight of the Easter

series so I would recommend that you go

back and review that episode for this

week's lesson so in this episode I'm

going to take a little bit of a

different tact and we're gonna talk a

little bit about some of the lessons

that are learned from the story that is

told here firstly the story with the

women that are at this supple curve so

let's set the scene here Jesus has been

buried put away into the tomb in a cave

of Joseph of Arimathea he has been

wrapped in linen and very very expensive

aloes and myrrh and perhaps frankincense

and other fragrances and spices this is

how a king would be buried if we pull

some of the gospels together and their

accounts here we can kind of form a

little bit of a picture of more or less

what happened here first of all the

women go to the tomb early Sunday

morning it is still dark John says as

they get there and I think that's an

important point because they're going to

get there as the Sun rises this is a

sign if you will of the resurrection it

is a new day it's a new dawn it's a new

hope and it's very symbolic the Sun was

a big part of the symbolism of the

temple in ancient Israel and for the

early Christians looking to the east we

still have references to that in the

restored gospel

looking to the east for the coming of

the Lord with the Rising Sun is actually

temple symbolism its temple imagery as

the Sun would rise from the east and set

in the West that's the way to Solomon's

Temple was set up where you would enter

in at the east of the outer court you'd

come into the holy place and then you

would arrive on the west side finally

into the Holy of Holies also the

previous day Jesus was visiting those in

the spirit world that would be the

underworld so as the Sun travels around

and sets and then down below in ancient

times the thought was it goes down

underneath into the underworld which

would be the world of the Dead the land

of the dead or the spirit world and then

would come up off of the other side and

rise again for a new day on to their

side of the world on to the living side

of the world and that's what Jesus did

as the Sun set that previous day beyond

the Saturday he was down in the spirit

world working with probably several

leaders that had passed away in helping

to organize the missionary effort and to

in some ways restore perhaps maybe a

dispensation there in the spirit world

so the Sun is temple imagery and is also

often was a representation of the

Davidic King and Jehovah the Lord so

Mary of Magdalene or Mary Magdalene

might be a title not from a place and

the other women that are there the other

Mary Salome and other women that are

there to anoint and bringing spices and

fragrances to the tomb they're there in

the early morning as the Sun rises it is

I look at this it seems to me that the

authorship of the Gospel writers comes

into play here or at least there is a

story that is being told with a real

eternal truth here the women are

insincere

looking for Christ and they are looking

to participate with him with this

anointing but he's not there remember

that there had been a big earthquake and

the stone was rolled away and out came

there are different accounts one or two

angels Joseph Smith tells us it's two

it's two angels it's definitely two

angels they represent the cherubim of

the Ark of the Covenant and all of those

that are on the watch to protect that

stone to make sure that the thieves

don't come to steal Jesus’ body the high

priests have them there they have their

own personal servants there they have an

entire war Roman watch there could

be many many people there as witnesses

here at the Sepulcher and they all drop

as if they are dead shocked by these

angels that are there at the supple

curve and remember they go back until

the high priests and the high priests

pay them all off to say hey tell them

tell everyone tell the story that Jesus

was taken but there's a problem with

that even a practical problem why are

the linen folded up neatly and left

there why is the napkin separated from

the clothing and folded up and laid down

there thieves would not do that these

would have quickly taken away the

body and in fact a lot of the spices and

oils that would have still remained on

those on that linen would have been

worth a lot of money we're talking about

a hundred pounds of oil and linen and

fragrances here that would have made

that they've thieves very wealthy and so

as the women approached here in Matt the

account of Matthew we have and the angel

answered and said unto the women fear

not ye for I know that ye seek Jesus so

they're seeking Jesus which was

crucified he is not here for He is risen

as he said come see the place where the

Lord lay so

here we get this symbolism of the women

in sincerity looking for Christ and he's

not there and we have a picture of the

world which would fight against the idea

of the Savior and of Resurrection and of

atonement with of course people being

paid off and money exchanging hands and

lies and fraud going on about the event

and that's the way things work with the

idea of the Savior and the spiritual

economy it is a pursuit for us a

constant pursuit to seek Christ and

sometimes we might in sincerity be

seeking him in the wrong place

we may have traditions in our families

traditions in the church sometimes we

may have preconceived ideas and notions

from our own culture or from our own

experiences or from our own weaknesses

and our own sins and we might think that

we are searching for Christ perhaps

sometimes in the right place but he may

not be there I've had this situation

happened many many times I may have a an

idea about a truth it could be a

doctrine that I have held on to that I

have believed in and it was in sincerity

but later I find out that it's not true

or I find out that I had a misconceived

idea of what truth was and the truth

that I was pursuing was not there I

thought it was there but it was not

there and so like the Angels say also

why do you search for the living among

the dead sometimes we might search for

truths that are in a dead place instead

of a live place sometimes those truths

are doctrinal sometimes those truths are

about ourselves about our own weaknesses

where we talk ourselves into a certain

personal morality or a certain truth

that helps accommodate a weakness and we

can stay in that weakness

believing in a certain truth for days

months for years for decades and

insincerity convincing ourselves that

we're searching for Christ in the right

place searching for truth in the right

place but that place ends up being dead

and that is kind of a theme that goes

through these chapters here in this

lesson this week there's a constant

searching for Christ who has now gone

from them and there are miracles and

there are visions and there are doubts

and fear that go along with all of this

it's a very interesting time and we kind

of play on that stage in life all the

time we get signs of confirmation about

truths and about progress in our lives

that we can use to help build our faith

and to move us forward and then we have

doubts and fears that keep us held back

and hear the Savior has been among his

disciples and his closest friends and

family and now he is gone and that

separation is causing that chaos how do

they search for Jesus at this point how

do they search for the Savior and what

does that pursuit entail there are the

forces of the world for example the high

priests and the others that wants to

tell lies and that want to convince us

about certain things

both doctrinally personally about

ourselves about who we really are things

that would weaken our relationship with

a savior and with our Heavenly Father

as we pursue to grow closer to them and

to know them better and even in a

sincere pursuit we may oftentimes find

that at the end of that pursuit we were

looking in the wrong place maybe

completely on accident and maybe of our

own doing and so the words of the angel

are very telling are you looking for the

living among the dead are you looking

for Christ among the dead all right dead

law a dead pursuit so the Angels then

which are oftentimes a part of these

theophanies or these visions of God tell

the women to go tell the disciples

that's how these visions always are

there might be a book and you need to

read from the book and then tell

everyone about the book or go and tell

everybody about what you have seen here

in this case it is not a separate vision

in their minds or their carried away in

the spirit this is a very important

point the crowning event of mankind is

complete reality it is not symbolism

alone it really happened and so the

women go off and John has Mary Magdalene

lingering behind

so imagine Mary here at this point

imagine yourself you have sincerely been

searching for something searching for a

truth searching for an answer and you're

at that place and it's not there so we

are Mary in that circumstance and let's

see what happens with her and she's see

of two angels in white sitting the one

at the head and the other at the feet

again these are the cherubim of the

mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant

where the body of Jesus had lain and

they say to her woman why weepest thou

so she of course she's distraught he's

gone what she searched for is not there

and she saith unto them because they

have taken away my Lord and I know not

where they have laid him so sometimes

again we are pursuing that truth we are

pursuing the Savior and we don't know

where he is sometimes we don't know how

to find him or to bring him closer at

times to strengthen our testimony and

our faith in Him and then for whatever

reason you can imagine she is going to

be completely you would think focused on

angels here that she is seeing at the

sepulcher and yet she ends up turning

around maybe a noise that distracts her

some

thing has her turn around and we're told

she turned herself back and saw Jesus

standing and knew not that it was Jesus

so if we're close to the spirit and we

have not found what we are looking for

perhaps there will be a prompting a

prompting for us to turn in a certain

direction to help lead us to what we're

looking for to help guide us and point

us in the right direction

but even then we may not know exactly

what we're looking for have you ever had

that where you get to the end you

you thought you were doing the right

thing and you come to a point where it

looks like you may not be going down the

right path you may have made the wrong

decision you've been praying about it

maybe you've been fasting about it and

the answer didn't come the way you

thought it would or the results didn't

come the way that you were hoping but

perhaps if you stay close to the Lord

and you keep your faith then there is a

prompting that brings you into a

different direction and you might not be

familiar with it at this point it might

be taking you down a path you were not

expecting at all but it turns out to be

the right path and Jesus saith unto her

woman why weepest thou so he asks the

same thing whom seekest thou we see a

little bit of how the Lord works here

why why would he do this

why doesn't he just show up to her

immediately I mean maybe he was busy I

don't know but why why doesn't he just

show up to her which he gets to the

Sepulcher when the high priest servants

and the watch the Roman watch are gone

why not just show up right there he

knows she's searching for him so there

must be a reason a good reason for him

to wait and for her to go through her

process and she supposing him to be the

gardener saith unto Him sir if thou have

borne him hence tell me where thou hast

laid him and I will take him away again

she's completely confused at this point

this is not what she was expect

so she's out of sorts and Jesus saith

unto her Mary and she turned herself and

saith unto Him rabboni which is to say

master so he calls her by name this

reminds me of the Lord speaking with

Moses and calling him by name and saying

thou art my son so where there is this

distance that is made between Mary and

the Lord as she is searching for him

she goes through this process it can be

agony it can be struggle I mean she's

just trying to participate and do

something good but then as she goes

through this and maybe doubts and fear

and tragedy have all been experienced

now the Lord is there and he calls her

by name and so it becomes personal I

think in his sense that when we have

those kind of breakthroughs in our

spiritual lives I think you've probably

had that I know I have that it is very

personal and somehow the struggle that

you go through leads to something that

is more personal with the Lord

somehow that experience that you have

leads to a more personal relationship

with God and so then Jesus says unto her

touch me not or a better translation

would be don't cling on to me so he may

be holding on to her on to him for I am

not yet ascended to my father but go to

my brother and in saying to them I

ascend unto my father and your father

and to my god and your God

and so this one-on-one relationship

between Mary and Jesus is made even more

apparent as he puts himself kind of at

her level in a sense saying that I am

still going to ascend to our God

remember he is her brother and a child

of God as well and that's an important

lesson for us even having gone through

the sacrifice of the atonement all of

the anguish of what he did in Gethsemane

and on the cross even being that he is

Jehovah

the greatest of all of us he still puts

himself at that level when it comes to

the father and says I ascend to my god

and your God and my father and your

father in other words in many ways I am

like you and I think this is a very

important point remember that this is

also the day of the firstfruits offering

where they would have taken barley at a

minimum barley at this time of year they

would have had it tied up by the by

Sabbath that by the late Sabbath day the

day before they would then cut it after

the sunset on Saturday night and they

would mix it with oil and

frankincense or myrrh and then

grind it and make a cake out of it and

then make an offering of it was the

firstfruits and Jesus was the

firstfruits through the resurrection but

firstfruits implies a relationship that

there is more he is first but he's first

of many many many and we are part of the

many and I think that's what he is

saying here to Mary that it is our God

and our Father he's the first to

resurrect he's the first born he's the

first in the hierarchy the fluid

hierarchy he's the first in greatness

and he's the first as the lowest as the

servant he is the first and the last he

is Alpha and Omega or in Hebrew Aleph

and Tov

and so this pursuit of Christ continues

as the women go back and they find the

other disciples and they tell them that

they have seen Jesus and the disciples

don't really believe him and we have one

story of a couple of the disciples on

the road to Emmaus where Christ appears

to them they don't recognize him again

so they've been distanced from him as we

are distanced from him and they don't

recognize him we're the same way and the

more distance we put between us and him

I've gone through this personally

and I'm bet I bet you have as well till

at least some extent but I've gone

through the process of distancing myself

more than I should at times for whatever

reason and then it's harder to where

he's harder to recognize and it's not

until you make that specific commitment

to the covenants and to pursuing him

that you see him more and more clearly

there is a process that must be put in

place otherwise we made to see the

gardener or another traveler on the road

and so finally Jesus shows up to the

disciples to the apostles and in this

instance I think it's fascinating

to me it is part of the core of the

gospel that he carries his wounds with

him as a mark of who he is and what he's

done and of what he has gone through

they are a part of his identity and

instead of something ugly they are

something that might bring some sorrow

to us but when you really think about it

and understand what those wounds mean

it's pure love and gratitude to him that

you would probably feel and it's an

understanding to some degree of what he

went through and so where he brings

those wounds with him as his identity as

he returns to show himself to the

disciples and they feel the wounds on

him then that confirms more to them who

he is and I think that one way that we

can in a sense see and feel the wounds

of the Savior is by understanding that

where he was the first fruits we are

next and that we go through the same

process and understanding that Jesus is

not just the savior of the world but he

is the Trailblazer and that we're

supposed to be like him and follow his

example not just of his teachings and

the way he lived but of his sacrifice of

bearing the burdens of the world of

bearing the burdens of our faith

Emily of bearing the burdens of our

environment in the world that we live in

and of friends and whatever else might

be thrown on us and taking

responsibility for those things and

beating it now we may not do as good of

a job as he did and we may not be able

to complete everything but we can still

try and follow his example and we will

end up with our own wounds we all have

our own wounds and I don't care who you

are the older I get the more I realize

that we all have very deep wounds but

for many who have not been beaten by

those wounds but then in a sense have a

resurrection from their tragedies or

from their the burdens that have been

laid upon them where they have suffered

through things and then risen or

resurrected above them especially where

they have leaned on the Savior and had

faith in him then we may carry the

wounds with us but they mean something

completely different now they are not

what have beat us they have not are not

what have held us back but their badges

of honor in a sense there is a practice

that the Japanese have called Kansugi and

in consumed you what will happen is if

they've got a pottery let's say they've

got a bowl my wife just heard this today

in Relief Society if they've got a bowl

that they drop for example and it

shatters into several different pieces

maybe it breaks into four or five pieces

then what they'll do is they will make

it more valuable than what it was before

and they do this by through Kansugi which

is they take gold and if they're wealthy

it's pure gold if they're not very

wealthy then that's just leaf gold and

they'll fill in the cracks with the gold

and put the pot back together with this

gold and what you end up with is you see

the seams here from the cracks but it's

beautiful and you realize this was

something that was bro

okay that has now made hole that carries

its wound still but is now even more

valuable and that's what Jesus is to us

he carries those wounds that make him

even greater than he was before and we

can do the same thing we follow in his

footsteps he is the firstfruits he is

the firstborn which means that we're

supposed to follow after him we're next

and we can take our wounds whatever they

are our weaknesses as we learn in the

book of ether to him and make them

strengths and carry wounds with us but

make ourselves stronger because of them

and that's the process of mortality we

can make a choice of victimhood from

everything that's put on us you imagine

if Jesus would have taken a position of

victimhood at any point or we can make

the other choice and understand that

there is only one way there's only one

way and when you've had that experience

when you've grown up and you stare

reality in the face that reality is

usually yelling at you saying this is

how it is and you can be humble enough

to conform to that principle and make it

a strength then that is following the

example of the Savior and overcoming

what has been laid upon you and becoming

the Kansugi the bowl that is worth so

much more and of course the wounds in a

sense stay with us but they mean

something different and part of the

reason that they mean something

different is because the healing of

those wounds can come from the Savior

and so those wounds that we might carry

with us the strength that we could be

given by them is also understanding that

those wounds have been healed by God

himself so that pursuit for Christ takes

us from going to the sepulcher and

looking for him in the wrong place to

him eventually showing him

self first to marry and the women and

then to the apostles and some of the

disciples to Thomas who was not there at

first to see him he missed out it's one

time you know you might not want to be

late

and that's where we get doubting Thomas

from and he doesn't believe it as

everybody tells him that they have seen

the Savior again and that they have felt

his wounds and so we can be Thomas not

just in doubting the Savior

but in doubting the words of the

prophets which all prophets from the

time of Adam on have all prophesied

about Jesus Christ and about this event

about this week and it's not that Thomas

is a bad guy it's just that we can see

ourselves in him sometimes because we

have not been able to see him or feel

those wounds or we've distanced

ourselves from being able to do that

lastly I want to say this this is a real

event a lot of what I talk about has to

do with symbolism and I think that

symbolism is very important symbolism to

me as part of the gospel it is the

spiritual things are usually symbolic in

nature because they apply to so many

things you can have a metaphor for

something it provides a truth because it

gives you opposition in all things it

gives you context and it gives you

meaning you know science can give us

knowledge but it doesn't give you any

meaning the meaning is the intangible

and it's what's important the why the

purpose but ultimately is you follow

that path down through that symbolism

and through those spiritual truths you

end up at a place where there has to be

an actual event things that actually do

happen miracles that actually do happen

the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not

alone a symbol it is not alone just a

spiritual thing it is a physical thing

it is a fact in our understanding in the

church doctrine about how this is a

physic

resurrection is very important it gives

us more than nature of God the Father

and His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy

Ghost and the difference in their roles

and it helps us to understand the higher

in the lower law and how both things

must work together how there is

spiritual matter in spiritual things and

physical matter and carnal things and

both have to work together with the

spirit overcoming the carnal and the

physical and that is the final result

with Jesus's resurrection his spirit

overcame all mortality all things

physical and therefore it overcame death

itself not just for him but for all

mankind he overcame all of mortality and

again using him as our brother as an

example for us we don't just lean on him

for strength but we look to him for

strength as an example of how we need to

do the same thing how we need to take

the mortal existence that we're in and

this mortal coil that we have and this

physical world that we live in and

overcome it using our agency and our

spirit and leaning on the strength of

what Jesus did so that we know we can

relay that to our own strength and

overcome the obstacles that might be set

before us

I'll talk to you next time