Hey everybody.

Welcome back.

This is week two of Creative Come Follow me from the New Testament.

And this week we're covering just two chapters, Matthew two and Luke two.

And I'm guessing that most of you, maybe this is the only week in the whole year,

you guys where I'm gonna say the chapters and you'll know exactly what ground we're

gonna cover because we're all really familiar with Luke two and Matthew two.

That's where you find the nativity story and story of the wise men

and a little bit more, and I.

I should preface this with, I got a little anxious as I was heading into

this lesson as I just started to study, cuz I honestly worried that

I wouldn't have anything to add.

We've heard so many really great Christmas devotionals, not just

this year, but over the years.

Christmas talks, Christmas thoughts.

We probably all went to a beautiful singing only Christmas concert of sorts

and Zachary meeting, we've had a lot of Christmas and so I wondered if there.

Anything new to bring to the story.

And then I listened to President Oak's Devotional from this last Christmas

devotional, and he basically encouraged us to appreciate the fact that this story

is so familiar, but because it's familiar to all time that going back from all

the prophets in the book Mormon and in the old Testa all the way back to Adam.

they have told this story and that it is supposed to be familiar because

it's about our savior, Jesus Christ and his mission to come to the earth,

and that we shouldn't worry so much about how we're going to make new

declarations as we should think about how we can recommit ourselves.

In fact, I loved his words.

It's in the notes.

I didn't write it down in my margins, but he basically said, instead of

focusing on new things to say, focus on how you can renew it in your life.

This epic story of hope.

How can.

Bring it to light and renew it again, almost like we do with covenants

when we study this story and come.

Kind of settle into its familiarity.

We get a witness of its truth.

And that's all I'm hoping to do today.

I, I'll give you some bits and pieces of the doctrine that I felt like the

spirit kind of called to my attention, but I guarantee there's many more.

So as you go in the verses, I know they're familiar.

but go in the verses . It's in the Manuel this week.

They say, even though these are familiar verses, try again and see

what the spirit brings and what I can testify of you guys is that works.

. There were thoughts and ideas that came to my mind this week as I was studying these

verses that I thought I knew so well.

That I've never had before.

And because of my specific circumstances this week in time, I had new insights

and new understandings, and the same thing will happen for you.

So grab your scriptures, grab your notes.

I'm gonna get you started and I'm gonna get you interested and excited

to jump into your scriptures this week.

I promise you're gonna love what you find in Matthew two and Luke too.

We're gonna do things a little bit backwards this week, just cuz

chronologically it fits a little bit better if we do Luke first,

and then we'll talk about Matthew.

Technically in Luke two you're gonna get the nativity story and then also

Jesus at 12, and then in Matthew two you're gonna get the wise men.

So that kind of fits.

In the middle somewhere, but I thought it would make a little bit

better sense if we begin in Luke.

And as you kick off, you're gonna see it's really, really familiar.

But one of the things I loved as I was trying to look at these verses

with fresh eyes is that an inside the spirit was kind of helping.

Nudge into me, not even just this week, but I think it was building on

things I learned when we taught the negativity story just a few weeks ago.

But that what we're gonna learn this week is all of these people who came

to see Jesus, right, who came to witness that he is the Christ and saw

him firsthand, but really what we're studying is that he came to them.

He came to all of us.

In fact, that's one of the things I loved about this week's study is that

you see how he is actually coming to so many different people from all different

walks of life, different genders, different social classes, different roles,

different even different personalities.

Some people who are eager to like spread the news abroad and some people who.

Treasure things in their heart, you're gonna see the gambit of

all different kinds of people.

And I think that's the message that when the savior came, he came to all people.

So keep that viewpoint in mind and I'll try and point it out as we see

it in the verses When you kick things off in Luke two verse one, you'll

see that, you know, there's that.

That's census that needs to happen.

There's a taxation that eventually will happen, and so

they need to go and report back.

What's interesting is most of the scholars I read talk about how really all who was

legally required to get to Bethlehem is Joseph, but that Mary came along and I

was, I found myself kinda wondering why.

I mean, this is a hundred mile ish journey, so I think the estimate I

read was like 34 hours of walking . So this is not a comfortable walk

for anyone in her position and I.

Why?

Why would she go, why wouldn't, if, especially if she knows she's about

to have a baby, why wouldn't she stay home where there are probably

midwives and people to help her?

Why does she go?

And then I thought back to this stage in my life and I got it . Like

I remember, you know, Jason and I got married when we were young and.

We didn't have enough money for like an awesome honeymoon.

So we took a road trip from Utah, basically up to Toronto, Canada.

And it was not glamorous and it was not fancy, but I loved every second and I

would've done it over and over again cuz that's all I wanted at this point in time

was I just wanted to hang out with him.

I wanted to be with him all the time.

And we just had so much fun together.

And when I found myself thinking about Mary and Joseph, , I think

they're probably similar, right?

They're young and they're crazy about each other, and they both understand something

about their future that no one else really can grasp, and so they're tight.

That's what I decided to think.

It's what I see in Joseph and Emma in the doctrine covenants that they are

united and they both have to kind of step away from family and tradition and other

things in order to stay close together.

And I think you see echoes of that with this story of Joseph Ed Mary as well.

So she goes, she chooses to go.

And then if you go on the verses, you can see in verse five for example,

that she is great with child.

So things are coming.

And I found myself thinking.

Poor Joseph.

Part of this comes from Elder Holland's book that I was reading.

He talked about how frustrating it must have been for Joseph to

struggle to find her a place to rest.

And I, this I could totally relate to cuz Jason gets like this with

me where he gets super protective and he wants me to be comfortable.

He wants me to have, not just with with child bearing, but like anything . And I

think that's the kind of man Joseph is.

He is a man who wants.

Safeguard and protect his family even when it's just this tiny family.

And so I bet he was very anxious.

And you see in seven that when she brings forth her firstborn son

that they are in somewhere lovely.

It doesn't necessarily say stable.

We know it's somewhere.

Lots of the scholars I read talked about it being these caves that are in the

area of Bethlehem that it, who knows?

I don't know exactly what the setting was.

We just know it was very.

And that she laid him in a manger.

And I, again, I found myself, I don't know, I, I felt for Mary and

I felt for Joseph that this must have been so hard in so many ways.

Um, why, why would the Lord.

Present them with this option.

Why wouldn't the King of Kingsman born anywhere else?

In fact, if you look at the Joseph Smith translation of seven, you can

see that it's not just that there was no room for them in the ends.

It's almost that they were being rejected by people.

No one would give them room in the ends, and it's, you wonder why?

I don't know.

And you we're not gonna put too much supposition into these things,

but I think this is where they end up and they must have wondered.

But what I love about what I read this week over and over again is

you see that prophecy is fulfilled and that things are, that nothing

is out of Heavenly Father's watch.

In fact, the reason the shepherds are gonna recognize this savior

is because the angel will tell him he is lying in a manger.

So they need those connection points.

I really think that's the way the angel.

Teach the shepherds.

Cause remember, shepherds would maybe be uncomfortable going into a big

inn, but if you are a shepherd, you could find your way to a cave and see

a baby in, you know, a feeding trough basically, and feel completely at home.

That's what I mean when I say I feel like really the savior was coming to

them because when the shepherds come to him, He's in a place where they

are comfortable, where they recognize him, they know all those signs.

Given their limited understanding and their limited education, they

can know him just as surely as anyone else could in other circumstances.

The wise men's situation will be very different, but I love that when, when

the shepherds come to him, they can recognize him because of things they know.

And I just love that piece.

So that's, you'll see I, I think, as I was wondering why.

, why God allowed this setting for his son to come into the world.

I started to see those connections and I thought, okay, I, I get it.

It's because he came for them.

He came for all of us, and so it's gonna be meek and lonely and humble.

And again, because I think Maryn Joseph, are delighted to be in

each other's company enough that they would travel 95 miles together

when she's nine months pregnant.

I think they make do the same way.

Jason and I, our first apartments were, were pretty tiny and meager, but we

loved them and it was a great thing.

So I, I can see this being a joyful thing no matter what the circumstances were.

So with the shepherds, as we talk about the shepherds, the angel

comes to them in their fields.

So he comes to them where they.

Now, if you think about the shepherds and the wise men, I think they're an

interesting pair to compare because basically I think it's the same

thing we saw when we were talking about Zacharias and Mary, where

you have different expectations and different hurdles based on your.

availability and your understanding, and so I think it's different.

I think the shepherds are in a spot where they probably couldn't have been

like the wise men and taken months or even years to get to the baby.

Jesus.

They just had this little sl roof time when they could leave their

watch and come and I think the Lord.

Understands that.

And so he comes to them when they would be able to see it.

The angel comes and he says this incredible message, uh, fear not for

I bring you good tidings of great joy.

One of the things I love about that message of fear not is I

feel like this is a really good reminder to us that sometimes new

spiritual experiences are scary.

Maybe not everyone reads it this way, but you know, like the first time you

went to the temple or even, I remember when I was getting baptized that

it was kind of like nerve-wracking cuz I had never done that before.

You know, like I just, I think spiritual experiences that are unfamiliar are scary,

which is why angels often say, Fear not

That's a really normal reaction.

So you have kids who are about to go through the temple or someone

who's been through and then they got scared and don't wanna go back again.

I think you should read them Luke too, and maybe what you saw was Zach Rice

and Mary cuz angels often understand that you're scared when you first

encounter the brightness of God.

His glory is.

Intimidating and overwhelming, and that's normal.

So fear not and and let, let it soften.

So I love that reminder in there.

What he also says in 11 is that this is a savior.

Who is Christ the Lord?

Those two phrases mean separate things.

These Jews, the shepherds, would've been eagerly anticipating

a messiah to come a savior.

What the angel is saying is, yes, the Messiah, the Savior is

here, but he is Christ the Lord.

He.

He is welding or she, I guess we don't know what the angel's gender

is, but they are welding together.

The Old Testament and the New Testament.

They're trying to say the God, Jehovah, that you have worshiped all this time.

This is he.

He is the Messiah.

He is all of that in this one child.

and then he tells them how to find him.

That they're gonna find him in a manger somewhere in s swaddling clothes.

It must have been fairly nearby, I imagine, uh, because they seem

to find it without any reference to the star or anything else.

They, they find the baby and they worship.

What I love is what happens in 13.

So it says, and suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of heavenly

hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and unearth.

Goodwill toward men.

It was that suddenly part that I highlighted in my heart, , because I

feel like it's almost like, have you ever been to a football game or a basketball

game when the underdog wins and the whole crowd rushes the few because their joy

and jubilance just can't be contained.

And that's how I feel like Heaven is responding.

They, they can't be contained.

And I wondered if this was, I mean, if angelic ministers are often our

ancestors, maybe it's, you know, Ruth and Boaz, and maybe it's Adam and

Eve or you know, all those people we studied that are in the line of Christ,

I imagine they, they get first dibs on that rushing the field moment.

And so I loved, I loved envisioning these angels.

Not just that there was a multitude of hosts, but they all

have names and they have faces.

And there, there is uniqueness in this moment that I just think is,

So suddenly there's this big push of everyone who wants to witness and then

the shepherds say, okay, let's go.

So they go, they find the baby Jesus, and then the answer is what they do next.

So in 17 it says, and when they had seen it, they made known abroad

the saying which was told them, concerning this child, I thought

this was an interesting word choice.

This could just be an interesting translation.

But I don't know why they didn't say when they had seen him.

I wondered if the it that they see.

is the holy family themselves.

This.

A and the setting that they're in, the whole moment, is it they, they take

in all of that understanding of being meek and being born in this humble

circumstance to this young couple who has no, they're just beginning.

You know this, they see it, this whole beautiful scene, and then they go and

they witness, there's a great devotional from one of the Christmas devotionals

that's from President Ironing, and he talked about how in this moment,

They heard the angel and they learned something and then they went to see.

But in this moment, in order for them to go and.

Broadcasted abroad, they must have felt something profound from the Holy Ghost.

That witness is what they went to see.

Not so much just a visual of the Christ child in this manger, but to get a

witness of the Holy Ghost for themselves.

That he is the Christ.

And that's, that's what must have happened f for them to be so

enthusiastically spreading the word.

In fact, when you flip the page, you can see that everybody wonders.

This is interesting to me.

So in 18 and 19, Everyone that they tell wonders, and that

wasn't the word I was expecting.

You know, you would think people would believe or that they

would come and try and find him, but instead they just wonder.

And I thought that actually sounds a lot like the Savior's ministry.

It was interesting to me how much of the Savior's ministry you could feel in this.

Infant stage because that's what the savior does all throughout.

When he teaches, he says, come and see or come follow me.

He doesn't, he doesn't give any clear directions or any like, this must happen

or you're gonna see this in five hours.

Or it's all very much like come and wonder.

See what I do, come and see, and people.

encounter him, and then they wonder and then the spirit works on them and then

they come back and they, they witness.

And that's what I found, especially as I teach with my own kids, the ysa,

anybody, is that I need to stop trying to teach all at once and instead

just inspire a sense of wonder.

. You know, get them interested.

Get them excited about what you're talking about and let the spirit work on them and

that will push them into their scriptures.

It will, it will make them crave those pages cuz they'll

want to know the answers.

And I just think you get to see a little fraction of that

with the Saviors story here.

You also see Mary's response that she, as opposed to the shepherds, who

couldn't wait to tell everyone else.

ponders things in her heart.

She keeps things in.

In fact, that's what she says.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

She is someone I think, who is gaining an understanding of who

her son is, a layer at a time.

You know, it's been, what, 10 months since Gabriel?

She's had plenty of chances to think and worry and learn and

doubt and all the things, and I.

every encounter she has, like this is just one more layer of depth

that her testimony is gaining, and I love seeing that growth and hurt.

Next we get introduced to Simeon, who is another witness of Christ,

and he's another one that gets his witness in a very specific way.

So when you go on the verses, you're gonna see that they maryn Joseph, take

their child to be circumcised at eight days according to the law of Moses.

I think you're gonna notice that they make a lot of references to that, that they.

Living in accordance to the law.

And it's interesting to me because I think they're starting, at least they must have

some inclination, or at least the scholars around them might have mentioned that he

is going to be a fulfillment of the law.

Things are about to change, and yet they are so focused on the

law and keeping the law of Moses.

And I kind of love this for what we see in the Book of Mormon.

You see the same thing with Nephi and others that they talk about how.

Continue to keep the love Moses until they know more.

Right?

You keep the commandments.

We have been given now until new things open up, and I think Mary

Joseph are incredible examples of that.

They must have had a lot of questions, but they know that the closest

they can come to the understanding God's plan for them is to.

Fulfill the law to be obedient to what they know so far.

I just think that's a, a great platform for Revelation.

When you want more understanding and growth, be perfectly obedient to what

God has already asked you to do, and then all of a sudden things open up and

that's what you see with Marian Joseph.

They are obedient to the law, but they're poor.

So when they go to give an offering, so after 40 days, Mary is.

ready to be cleansed.

Basically, they saw this child growth process as a state of uncleanness, and

you just needed to make an offering in order to become clean again.

So traditionally it was a lamb.

They would bring different offerings, but they are poor and

the La Moses accounts for that.

And so they're allowed to bring doves in sets.

So they bring a pair of turtle doves to the temple, and in the process, I, I'm

not sure if it's after the sacrifice is made or before, but they encounter Simeon.

And Simeon is someone who has been prompted by the Holy Ghost

to be here at this moment.

It doesn't say that he was waiting at the temple.

It says that this Holy Ghost led him here.

In fact, it never mentions if he's a priest or any, like we don't know much

about Simeon other than he is someone who was filled with the Holy Ghost and

you know that he is just end devout.

So if you looking in 25, the same man was just end ofout waiting for the consolation

of Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon.

He is someone who is a good man.

Justin Devout means like he is honored by his fellow men and he honors God and

he's waiting for the Messiah to come.

And the reason he is waiting is because the Holy Ghost has taught him in the past

that he, his life won't end until he sees.

The savior that I wish I knew more about.

Simeon's backstory.

I don't know if that means he's ridiculously old like Anna is.

I mean, especially given this time period that anyone would

live that long is remarkable.

Or maybe he's really ill and maybe he expected to die a long time ago

and hasn't, or like, I don't know his story, but at this point in

time, the Holy Ghost leads him.

I think it's the same thing we saw with Elizabeth and Zacharias.

There's this mention.

Being filled with the Holy Ghost, and when they are filled with the Holy Ghost, they

can understand who this Christ child is.

And I guess what I took away from that is I feel like I want to be in those spots.

I, I want to, I want to be so close to the spirit that I can, in these key

moments when he's saying, Hey Maria, there's something to see that I will.

Able to see it , I will be in the right place.

That I won't have to drop a hundred other things.

I will be able to be where he needs me to be to see something miraculous.

And I that's, that's what Anna and Simian taught me this week.

So basically he says he sees the baby, he comes and he holds the baby up.

And he praises.

He praises God that this has happened.

And then it almost sounds like if you go on 29 says, Lord, now let us thou

servant depart in peace according to thy.

almost as if he's saying to the Lord like, Hey, we had a deal and when the savior

came, I trust that you will now let me go.

And I don't know if that means his life will end again.

This is part of the reason I kept thinking that maybe he's ill and

maybe he's been struggling with, you know, chronic pain or something for

a long, long time and he's just been waiting for a chance for release.

And isn't it beautiful that this chance for release comes.

, the great physician, the ultimate healer is born that he will know that.

Again, this doesn't mean projecting cuz of our life story, but I think

if he was dealing with an illness or something, that to know that, that he

will make all bodies whole again and all things right again, is finally born.

Uh, now he can rest.

Now he can have peace.

. So that's what he says.

He basically says to them in 32, he is a light to light in the Gentiles

and the glory of thy people, Israel.

He's both.

So Simeon is prophesying that he's not just the Messiah of the Jews he is.

The savior of the world.

He has come to all people and Mary and Joseph Marvel, . You know,

like even though they've had these amazing encounters, they marvel

that other people are having them.

I think they're just starting to get a taste for the impact that their son

will have in, in just random moments.

They're starting to catch it, and so then there is this sweet

encounter with Simian and.

. So it says in 34 and bless them.

So I don't know if this is like an actual blessing, you know, hands

on the head kind of blessing, or if this is just him offering guidance.

I don't know how this played out, but he basically says to Mary, behold, this child

is set for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which

shall be spoken against shall pierce through that own soul also, that the

thoughts of many hearts shall be revealed.

I found.

kind of aching for me, in this moment because this

doesn't sound like a blessing.

You know, he's basically forewarning her that her son will cause division.

You know, he will be the law and the law divides the righteous from the wicked and

it will cause a division among the Jews.

And he's also prophesying that.

her heart is going to be pierced because of the experiences

her son will go through.

And again, I don't know how much she knows so far or how much she

can wrap her head around, but she's young and she's just learning.

And this is another layer of revelation.

And so I found myself asking like, How is this a blessing?

Why?

Why did you say this to this poor young mom?

But then I realized that a blessing is speaking the will of

God, right in its purest form.

So anything she comes to know and understand about the will of God

is a blessing and it will help her.

When those things happen.

I learned something interesting this week as I was studying the fulfillment of this.

If you go on the footnote footnotes, you can see where that verse where

Mary is standing at the cross of the savior and she is right there

with him even when he is pierced with the, you know, on the side.

And I learned from studying a scholar that one of the rules in the Roman

world was if someone is condemned to death as a criminal of sorts, then

they can, it's not legal to mourn them.

You can't show any public.

Visible signs of grief or despair or anything, which is very

counterintuitive to what the Jews do.

They have, they sit shiva, you know, they do a big, long grieving process.

So the fact that she had to stand at the cross in silence, um, I just

couldn't, I couldn't imagine that.

And so I think.

Is this a blessing?

Yeah, I think it is because in that moment when she is standing next

to her son, I think the spirit can bring all things to your remembrance.

And maybe he brought it back to her year after year after year.

Every time she went back to the temple and remembered, this is gonna

be hard and I need to be ready.

I just, I really admire Mary and I love Simeon for being, being a man that who.

Teach and testify what is true and what the spirit is prompting him to

say rather than what is comfortable.

I just really admired that.

Next we get introduced to Anna and we only have a few short verses about her,

but in this same setting where they just came away from being blessed by Sime and

learning a little bit more about who their son will be and how it will impact them.

They also be Anna and she R is over.

We don't know her backstory.

We just know she's a prophetic and that she is someone who.

Fasted and prayed much.

In fact, she sounds like she almost lives at the temple.

You probably know some people in your life that are like this . I

know some that are just so.

Devoted to their temple service, that they're either doing that or

family history or you know, like fasting, praying, all of that.

In fact, one of the things I loved about that combination of fasting

and praying is that's the same combination that Alma talked about.

Remember last week when we were talking about how, when Alma was trying to teach

his children about how he gained his testimony, he doesn't reference the angel.

He talks about prayer and fasting and.

That's where Anna is.

She's Aist.

She's someone who has a divine witness of Jesus Christ, that he is the Messiah,

and because of that knowledge through the Holy Ghost, she will declare it.

That's what makes her a prophet.

It's not a priesthood calling.

It's not a, she doesn't have any keys.

It's nothing like that.

It is someone who we've seen in the Old Testament many times,

someone who has a special witness of Jesus Christ and offers it.

And so in this moment, she does.

She's probably, we know from doing the math and the verses that even if

she got married really young, like at 12, that would make her 103 or more

So she is been around a while and she's seen a lot of things and she has waited

for this date, I imagine probably similar to Simeon and now she sees it.

And what I love is what she does next.

So what we don't know about Simeon is what he does next, but you

do know it with Anna, it says, and she coming in that instance.

So this is 38, gave thanks and likewise said it to the Lord.

, sorry.

And she coming in, in that instant gave thanks, likewise unto, unto the Lord like

Simia did and speak of him to all that.

Looked for redemption in Jeru.

I followed the footnote path on that one, you guys, and it was so

fascinating to me that idea of teaching re redemption, it actually links you, I

think it was to the doctrine covenants.

It's to these verses that talk about angels ministry to Adam and

Eve and teaching them about the plan of salvation, which I thought

was fascinating, which means.

It's very possible that what Anna is doing to, with the people is

teaching them the plan of salvation.

It's, she's teaching them who this savior is, that he is a messiah that

isn't just about conquering the Romans or getting them out of oppression.

He is something so much bigger, and that's, that's Anna's role

and she can't wait to share it.

So she does, when you go a little bit further, you're gonna see that you.

a little more about Jesus before his ministry.

In fact, this is the only window that we have into his childhood.

This is that epic story of when he is left in Jerusalem.

So Mary and Joseph are coming back.

He's 12 now, which is, you know, the age of the beginning

of manhood for Jewish boys.

So that he is with them is expected, right?

It also should be expected that since he's.

, that means there's probably a few younger siblings.

I read an en enzyme article from a few years ago that did the math with all

the different verses that referenced the siblings of Jesus and said, we

think there's probably at least seven if he's included, there's six more that

are referenced in one way or another.

And you can, I'll, I'll link it to you in the notes so you can check it out.

But.

They probably have a few more kids in tow, which help me understand a

little bit more about how this story plays out . But there's some things

that I just had never noticed that I found when I studied this time.

So if you go on the verse, you can see this is the year of the Passover.

So just like we talked about in the Old Testament, the men of Israel were

required to go back for the feast, right?

At least three times a year.

The women were not, but the Mary does every.

Part of me thinks it's maybe so that she can like set foot in the that same spot

and remember what she knows about Simeon.

And maybe they take a little stop on the way and go to Bethlehem and see that cave.

You know, like the same way Jason and I, when we drive through Provo, we make

our kids go and see Roman Gardens where we met and you know, like all those.

Spots that means something to us.

I wonder sometimes if this Passover is not just that she's

pious, cuz of course she is.

But also that this is where their family began and so they probably

can't wait to get back there.

So she goes and they go along and on their way home they realize Jesus isn't there.

What I noticed this time that I haven't before is in 43.

said when they had fulfilled the days as they returned the child,

Jesus carried behind a Jerusalem and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

Okay.

There's a few things I love about this.

First, I think it tells us something about Jesus that he is, even at 12,

he's not a recluse , you know, he's a very gifted child to a scale.

None of us can really wrap our heads around, but he is not someone who

didn't have friends, who didn't live independently of his parents at time.

You know, like, I don't mean like live away from them, but like.

It clearly was not odd that he was gone for a few hours.

I, it just made me, it sounded like my kids.

I've got a 12 year old son and there are times like this

where I'm like, is he a porter?

I haven't seen Sam for several hours.

and I, that actually brought like happiness to my heart

to know that this is Jesus.

He is someone who.

He wasn't like right next to his mom at all times.

His parents didn't helicopter over him.

He, he was a normal kid.

In fact, you didn't read, uses the Christ in the notes.

You can see some of the clips and he's a pretty normal kid that has.

, incredibly capable divine abilities.

, you know, he is a, he has a very gifted, very normal kid.

So what I love here is that he's tearing.

I think the reason I like this is cuz I was watching for these

moments of the Saviors ministry in the earlier parts of his story.

And this sounds like the Saviors ministry to me.

I was just teaching the Ysa about last week where they were, he was gonna heal

Gyrus, his daughter, and along the way he heals the woman with the issue of blood.

And along the way, Tarries.

You know, like when he sees need or when he sees somewhere he could lift

or help or do good, he tarries and you can see that that's where he is.

I, I think when they say Jesus carried, he probably was saying,

I'm just gonna go help this woman right here and I'm gonna catch up.

And then maybe he found six other people.

. I think by the time he gets to the temple where he's teaching the scholars, he.

, that's just what he does.

In fact, those are his phrases, right?

So they, they end up, so the first day he's gone for three days.

The first day they realize he is gone.

They look throughout their camp trying to figure out where he is, can't find him.

So the next day they make the journey back to Jerusalem, and then on the

third day, they're in Jerusalem trying to find him somewhere.

They end up finding him at the temple, but by the time they find

him, he is sitting with these doctors.

The but not say that they're teachers.

These are leaders in the Jewish faith of some kind.

And this was pretty normal that they would sit and talk, especially if someone

of 12, cuz remember they were trying to teach the next generation all the time.

So this isn't that odd of a.

and encounter.

What's odd about it is that it's not the teachers and the doctors

who are teaching the 12 year old.

It's the other way around.

In fact, if you look at the Joseph Smith translation, he makes that really clear

that Jesus was the one answering their questions and he didn't seem to be posing

any, he was just adding . And I just, I think it, it teaches you something

about the nature of Christ If he is.

Capable at the age of 12 because remember, he's grown grace from to grace, and he's

been taught directly from the father and will continue to be taught by the father.

Imagine how capable he will be at 30.

This is him at 12, you guys.

So I think it helps us understand why at 30 he can do what he can do because

he is maturing at an exponential race, a rate spiritually and.

, it must have been staggering for Mary and Joseph to watch

and to try and keep up with.

Um, and so they ask him, you know, why have you dealt this way with us?

To me it sounded a little bit like, you remember when the tempest is

raging and they come and they find the savior and they wake him up and they

say like, what is the phrase I wrote it, my margins kara them up, that we

march . That's what her phrase sounds like to me in 48 when she says, your

father and I have sought these sorrowing and his response, Gentle and kind.

I mean, this is the savior we're talking about, and he is a

perfectly obedient son, and so he would never cast down his mother.

He would, he was careful with widows and mothers of all kinds.

So I think what he's saying is I think he's genuinely surprised.

I think he, he was tearing, helping as many people as he could, and

he's genuinely surprised that his parents didn't realize that.

And so he says that, didn't you?

Weist.

Not that I must be about my father's business.

Where else would you find me?

But here, this, this temple, in fact, one of the scholars I read

said, the temple is like a magnet to Jesus throughout his ministry.

He tends to hover around it and, and teach there.

And it is, there is some magnetic pull between the savior and

the temple does not make sense.

Um, anyway, so he, this is where they will find him for a long, long time, I think.

But he says basically, okay, so.

Finishes a discourse.

He's 12, remember?

And then he goes with them and it says in verse 51 that he became subject unto them.

He went back to Nazareth and become subject to them.

I thought this was really interesting actually.

There's some cool quotes in the notes about this, but there's a big part of

his condescension that happens in this moment, I think, where he, in his devotion

to God, chooses to be devoted to parents.

Aren't spiritually at the same level as him.

He chooses to be subject to them.

And I think that's something that happens in the gospel all the time.

Not that any of us are spiritually super mature or anything, but sometimes

you're in a calling where someone who is placed in authority over you or over

your group or whatever, and you question and then your ego gets in the way.

And I think what God always teaches us, There is order in all things, and I know,

so the way you can honor me is to honor your parents and to honor your leaders,

and to trust that I, I have all things, you know, I just, there's peace there.

When you go a little bit further, you see that he grew in wisdom

and stature and favor with God.

Amen.

The reason I love that combination is, . Well, there's a lot of

reasons, but I think a big one is that he seems to have his first

two commandments in perfect order.

You know, he chooses to love God first, and when you love God first

God will teach you how to love your fellow men, and that's gonna be

catered to lots of different people.

Remember the Savior's ministry is all about this, how he loves his fellow

men, but because he loves God perfectly, God, the father perfectly, then he

knows how to help a widow and he knows how to help a woman with an issue

of blood and he knows how to treat a leper and someone on the Sabbath.

That's why I think those two commandments are so critical because sometimes in

our world, you guys, I feel like there's a big push to love your fellow men

first to abandon what God wants you to do and love more your fellow men.

But when you do that, you lose the ability to have the spirit to know

how to love individually one by one.

And I think that's what the savior was a master at.

He knew how to love his fellow.

Perfectly because he loved God perfectly first, and I think all of that is

captured in that tiny little verse in 52.

I had no idea how much I would love Matthew to until this week

because I tend to gravitate to stories about Revelation, and I feel

like that's what Matthew two is.

The wise men are an incredible example of.

Revelation and I'll teach you why.

But I also think Joseph is an incredible example of Revelation and they have

these side by side in one short chapter.

I just ate it up.

So lemme show you some things I had never noticed before.

So first, when you go in, you're gonna wanna pay attention to the wise

men are coming from the East now.

If you wanna get scholarly, you can learn all kinds of theories about where

these men came from and who they are.

But honestly, we just don't know it.

I, I can find myself mostly to the gospel library happened, what

the prophets and bales have said, and nobody makes any big claims.

We don't even know how many wise men there are.

We just know that they gave three gifts.

But it could have been a big group and it could have been just a handful.

But there are wise men who are coming from a distant land.

In fact, when President Oak Talks Oaks talked about them in just

this last Christmas devotional, he basically saw them as.

people who were from the outside and that they were someone to represent

that Christ is coming to all people.

So remember all those who think they're coming to Christ in

reality, he's coming to them.

And I think the wise men are a good example of that because

of the way he comes to them.

He guides them to him and he does that through this star.

So basically in two they are saying, where is he that is born king of the

Jew, for we have seen his star in the east and will come to worship him.

They come to herd now herd.

Some people call him a puppet king because really the Romans are in charge

and Hart is trying to play nice with the Romans and the Jews at the same time.

Even the way he's married, his marriage plays out is about that.

But Hart is maniacal and I wonder sometimes how stable he could have been.

He did build these amazing things or had them built, but

his whole life is a series.

Atrocities.

If you go Jesus to Christ, you can see more of this.

But you know, he has his own wife murdered.

His son's murdered.

A lot of he, he's one of those people that seems to be constantly trying

to hold onto power and he can feel it just like falling through his fingers.

So when the wise men come and say, where is the king of

the Jews, her is immediately.

On Garhard, right?

And so he's, he calls all his scribes together and says, what are they asking?

Here's what I thought was really interesting.

Wherever they came from, they were following a star.

But a star is only visible some of the day, right?

It's only visible at night, which means they're gonna need to use

their own tools and their own knowledge and talents to follow that.

In the daytime, I kind of picture them checking in with the star at

night to make sure they're still on the right trajectory, but in the day

they've gotta use their own tools.

In fact, I love in the Christ Child Movie, you can see them use that thing where

remember he like bites it in his teeth and they're, they're trying to navigate.

I actually love that about Revelation because I feel like

this is what happens for me.

I get these little flashes of light and understanding of what

I'm supposed to do next, and then, . I don't get anything else.

In fact, I call these signal lights in my, um, timeout for women talk,

cuz this happens to me all the time.

You guys, where I get a little bit of revelation, but then it stops and then I

find myself thinking like, what did I do?

And why aren't you talking to me anymore?

And I wonder if.

. The example of the wise men for me is they just keep going.

You know, they go day and night.

I assume maybe they only travel at night.

I guess we don't know for certain, but it sure seems unlikely.

But they don't always have the start to guide them.

They have to use their own talents and abilities to press forward.

And as they press forward, they.

They made progress.

What I think is cool about this is that I can't imagine

why else they would go to her.

This prophecy about Bethlehem couldn't have been that hard to come by.

You know, there are some scholars I read that said it was tradition

in the land to go and see the king and you know, make a greeting.

But the tradition in the land is that you would come and see the king and bring

him gifts to make an alliance of sorts.

And they don't do that.

They give their gifts to the king of kings.

So I'm not sure, part of me wonders.

The star isn't visible anymore at this point in time.

If the Lord is saying like, prove yourself, what will you do?

If you don't know what to do next?

What will you do?

Almost like he does with the brother of Jared and with NEI

when he's building the ship.

It is not constant direction.

It is.

Okay, I'm gonna give you a little bit now.

What are you gonna do next?

What tools are at your disposal that you could use?

and the tool that's at their disposal is, let's go talk to the king.

So they go to herd, and Herd gathers his scribes, and that's when the wise men find

out that they need to get to Bethlehem.

They didn't know that before for whatever reason, and so now they can act again.

What I loved about this, when you think about this from a revelation

perspective, is that they.

, as soon as they like get back on course and they're heading back,

they mention the Star again.

I don't know if those are tied or if the star wasn't visible, but I really

love the way it plays out in the verses.

So it says that they're gonna go to Bethlehem so that they can

worship, and this is when Herod.

Makes this play and basically says, like he, he asks the scribes

privately, how long has this prophecy?

You know, like, how old could this child be?

And says to the wise men, you know, I wanna worship him too.

Come tell me about him.

And I, I don't know how much they know.

I don't know how much the wise men know about Herod and who he is.

And so it's very possible they were like, okay, you know, planning fully to do that.

the star is the part that fascinated me.

So if you go in nine when they heard the king, so when they talked to Herod, they

departed and Lowe the star, which they saw in the East went before them, till it came

and stood over where the young child was.

So I, again, I don't know for sure, but in my mind when I read this, I think

as they moved forward with their own talents and abilities and the resources

they had, the Lord said, good job.

Here's that star, it's gonna take you right where you need to go, because now

they know the trajectory is Bethlehem.

And now the star comes back and they can see to the point where it gets them

all the way to the house of the savior.

And I love what you see, 10 when they saw the star, they

rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

That moment for me when I have had revelation and then I go through a spell.

, spiritual solitude.

And then I get Revelation again.

I rejoice because I know he is still there.

You know?

Have you ever had those moments where you're like, I dunno if he

can hear me anymore, what happened?

And you, when you get an answer again, you just rejoice.

Not just that an answer comes, but I feel like for me, what I've learned,

the older I get, the more I realize that what I'm really rejoicing in

is that I know he never left me.

What he's trying to do is give me, Strength and stamina so

that I can make decisions that are aligned with his teachings.

That's my goal, , and he's trying to, you know, he's trying to build me

into, his whole goal is my immortality and my eternal life, and so he

needs me to be strong and someone who can make decisions and who can.

Lean on her testimony to know what kind of decisions to make in a tough spot.

So I, I just love that you see that with the star as well.

It is something that comes again, and in this moment they know exactly where to go

and so they go when they see the savior.

He is with his mother and we don't know how old he is.

I just heard a podcast today that talked about he might have only

been like six weeks old, even.

I'd always read that he was like a toddler.

It was interesting.

I'll, I'll give you the links in the notes, but, so we don't know how

old he is, but we know they're in a house at this point in time and that

they fall down and they worship.

For me, the best part of.

. Their narrative is this moment where even though they have riches, right,

they have gold and frankincense and mer, they don't lead with that.

They lead with, they fall down and they worship.

This must have been a humble home, dirt floor.

Probably a tiny place.

I can't imagine.

I mean, if Mary wasn't expecting them, I . I only know this is as

I was a mother of toddlers, like I was almost scared when these people

would knock on the door because your house is a disaster all the time.

Stuff everywhere.

She must have been so embarrassed to have these incredible visitors come by.

You know, this is so much worse than having someone just stop at your house.

These are why is men with fancy gifts, and she must have.

Been embarrassed in that moment, but instead they fall down and they

worship because they see her and the savior together and they worship

because they know the prophecies.

They probably have read Isaiah that talks about the virgin that will

come and that will bring this child, and she's the fulfillment of that,

just like the savior's fulfillment of his messianic prophecies.

So both of them are powerful witnesses to these wise men.

. So they bow, they kneeled out before them, and I love that piece of it.

And then of course, they have the end of the story with the Wiseman,

which is that they're warned in a dream to go another way.

Here's what I love this.

When it comes to Revelation, the reason I love this part of the story, I have

found over the course of time that the Lord often doesn't answer my prayers in

the specifics of what he wants me to do.

What he does is he says, if you're praying and if you're

humble, and if you're trying.

Just assume there's a green light.

Just keep going.

Maria , just you.

You think that's a good idea?

Okay.

Go.

And when you're off course or when you're headed down the wrong road,

I will put a red light in front.

We're gonna talk about this in the object lessons, but I will, I will

make sure there's a red light.

I feel like that's what happens with the wise men in this moment.

They've already practiced pressing forward with faith when they don't have a clear

answer, when the start isn't visible.

And now he's.

, you're headed down the wrong road.

Or you would be if you went.

So here's a red light.

I'm gonna send you a dream and I'm gonna make it really clear to you.

Don't go this way.

Don't go back to herd.

And are you grateful for red lights?

? Like I, you know, I'm so grateful for red light moments.

It's what stopped me from marrying a different guy that I was dating in

college and ended up marrying Jason cuz I got a red light with the first guy and

then a great big green light with Jason.

So I love that.

I love that you see that piece of revelation in their.

. You know how in the Book of Mormon it calls Lehigh a visionary man?

Cuz he has these great visions that then change the whole

course of his family's plan.

. That's what I call Joseph now, cuz after reading Matthew two and

studying it, he is a visionary man.

He has.

Dreams and specific revelation for his family that it doesn't, it doesn't

seem like anybody else got, I mean, and maybe Mary got confirmation

or had a similar dream, but it's just not mentioned in the verses.

So I kind of love to think of this as being something that Lehigh understood.

You know, he, if he read Joseph's story, he'd be like, yeah, I know

exactly what you're dealing with.

Because what happens to Joseph is he has a dream that.

Herod's in power and he's gonna seek your child's life and you

need to get your family out.

So right after the Wise men, in fact, president Oaks kind of implied that

perhaps the gifts from the wise men may have funded the flight into Egypt,

and that's why the gifts were needed.

But immediately after the Wise Men, it seems like they're,

they go, they go to Egypt and.

I, I love comparing that in my mind with what we read in the Book of Mormon.

Cause I bet it was similarly hard.

They had to leave everything they knew, his carpentry business

perhaps, or any family relations they had and they had to up and go.

In fact, the way the verses play out, it sure sounds like.

It was immediate.

He has this dream in verse 13, and then in 14 when he arose, like when he woke

up, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt.

Doesn't that sound like Lehigh?

And Right.

I just, I feel like it's that same kind of story and so he goes, cuz that's

the kind of, that's the kind of leader.

Joseph is, he is not just a passive role in the Savior's life.

He is a leader and a patriarch in this family, and he's gonna

take his family to safety.

So he does.

So they go into Egypt and then he gets another dream, uh, when it's safe.

But in the interim, you learn about, well, elder Holland calls it the first martyrs

of Christendom, that these, the slaughter of the innocence, that when Herod

comes, what I hadn't ever read before.

Or I hadn't thought through before maybe is when Herod slaughters these children

all, you know, he learns from the scribes that they're in that Bethlehem area

and the area surrounding Bethlehem.

And so he orders that all those sons be killed.

Anyone under two is killed and it, the population sizes, lots of scholars

I read said that the population size was probably not huge and given

infant mortality rates, we're probably talking about, you know, 20 to 30 boys.

But when you think about 20 to 30 boys, I mean, Devastating.

And not just that, but all of their lines that would have

come after are obliterated.

And I found myself thinking like, why?

Why?

Why did he come to the solution?

And I can't understand evil and neither can you, but I, one of the verses

I'd never noticed before is in six.

So when you go back to six, it says that when he learns about this prophecy

of the king of kings coming, the king of the Jews coming from his scribes,

it says that this will be a governor that shall rule my people Israel.

And then you want the footnotes on rule, and it teaches you what kind of

rule they're talking about, that this is more like a shepherd kind of rule.

It says in Greek it means to tend protect and nurture.

And Herod knows he's none of those things.

And so I feel like what builds up on him is a hatred.

Anyone who is what he isn't.

Right.

It's the same thing we've seen in all incredibly evil men.

They envy goodness and they want to eliminate it.

And so they attack and that's what he does.

Um, he attacks and immediately after that, or it seems like really shortly

after that, from reading Jesus to Christ, it sounds like Herod himself dies of a.

Horrendous illness and slaughters a bunch of people in the process.

He is just a horrific man.

But once he dies and that that safety is back in place for Jesus,

then Joseph gets another dream.

He is a visionary man.

He gets a dream and says to his wife, it's time to go.

They must have.

Big fears because her's throne is inherited by his son who is equally awful.

So it's, it's not like things are safe in Jerusalem, but

the Lord is saying it's safe.

God is saying to them, it's safe to take my son back home.

Go home.

. And so Joseph, similar to the Wise Men, does what God asked him to do.

He takes him into Israel, takes him back to the Promised Land, but he

also has to use his own intuition and understanding to know where to take them.

So instead of going back to Bethlehem where he probably had a business,

or at least family roots, right?

We know he's from Bethlehem, they end up going back to Nazareth.

And the tricky thing about Nazareth is that's Mary's hometown.

So, They must have had all kinds of, there were probably some really wonderful

things about moving back to Nazareth and also a lot of hard, because those people

know a little bit about Mary and this conception, and they have probably have

all kinds of rumors and theories, but this is where the Lord is telling them

to go and it's a fulfillment of prophecy.

This is what you see in first 23.

Um, and so Joseph goes, in fact, I love that.

That's his phrase.

He arose and he took the young child and he goes, he's, that

says that a few times in these.

That's the kind of man he is.

When God says go, he goes and just like Levi, who doesn't know how

it's gonna go, as he goes into this city, he says, I trust that.

God knows.

And so he takes his family and they go back.

There is one little edition at the end of this that I don't want you to miss.

When you go in 23, you can see that there's a footnote edition.

This is another Joseph Smith translation that you just don't wanna.

because it teaches you that not only was did he grow up in Nazarene, according

to prophecy that he lives in Nazareth, we also know that from Joseph Smith,

that he grows up as someone who can't be taught by men, that he learns from

God, because this is the last you're gonna hear about him until Matthew

starts teaching us about his ministry.

So in this interim phase, Matthew's trying to help us understand that

he didn't get taught by just anyone, even though he was a normal Jewish

boy in a normal neighborhood.

He was taught differently cuz men couldn't teach him and he will grow

in strength and wisdom and stature until he's ready for his ministry to.

All right, you guys, it's time for your creative preview for week two.

So since these verses are pretty familiar to your kids, I wanted to

give you some new tools to put to use to help connect the dots for them.

So I'm gonna show you a quick preview of the three object lessons I have in

store, and then for those of you in the full course, I'll take you a lot deeper

and show you how to pull off each one.

but here's us sampling.

Okay.

Your first one is related to the Wiseman and Revelation, so if you

haven't had a chance to listen to the insights, I talk about how I really

love the Wiseman and what they teach me about revelation not being always

constant and how to deal with it.

And I mentioned about red lights and green lights.

So of course we have to play red light, green light.

And I know you're thinking like if you have teenagers, you're gonna think, oh,

that's like a kid elementary school game.

I'm here to tell you that if you played red light, green light in

seminary, your kids will love you.

But I decided I needed to take it to the next level by giving you some

tools to make it a little different than what they did at recess.

So in the printables this week, thanks to my sons who helped me with this one who

are teenagers, um, we're giving you some supplies to play red light, green light,

and I'll explain how this is gonna work.

The second one is focus more on the distance.

So in the verses this week, one of the things that I think is

really powerful is to actually map out how far Mary and Joseph went.

When you wanna picture how hard this journey would've been,

that 95 mile journey, it helps to actually see it visually.

And that prompted some ideas in my mind on how we could.

Do this for the whole New Testament.

So all of you in your Bibles have Bible maps.

They look a little bit like this.

So this is map 11.

It's all about the New Testament and the places where the savior was.

But I wanted something a little bit bigger, so I took that into my

graphic design software and I created one that you can print at home.

That fits in 11 by 14 frame.

And the idea here is that you're going to actually pin the places that

the savior visits, and then you'll be able to see distance better.

So I'll walk you through how to pull this off, but we'll do one of these

for the first half as we're in the gospels, and then we'll do another one

as the apostles roam much, much farther.

So hopefully this will get you started.

The second, or just the second one?

The third one is catered to the nativity a little more specifically, but I really

found myself struggling to find any kind of teaching tool that included all of

the witnesses that we study this week.

Lots of Nativities will have the wise men and the shepherds.

Some have the star, but they don't always have.

, any of the extras, you know, like Anna and Simeon, and I wanted them in my story.

So I decided to create a printable that would pull that off.

So this is going to actually teach you about layers of revelation.

That's why it is a layered paper craft.

It's craft week on the chart, you guys.

So I know this might look intimidating and scary to you.

It might be , I, I won't lie to you, this is a more involved craft, but that's what

arts and Crafts week is supposed to be.

So for those of you who have older kids, or if you wanna create one for your

kids as just something you can keep up year round, I didn't want it to be.

Overly Christmasy or overly big.

I just wanted some small little thing that you can keep up throughout this year

of study to remind you where things all began, because chances are, if you're

like me, you've packed up all your Christmas decorations, all that's done,

and so you just need a little taste.

So this 3D paper craft, I'll teach you how to pull it off and how it

can help you understand why there were so many varying witnesses in the

Savior's story of his birth and how our witnesses are supposed to be similar.

And I'll teach you all about that in just a.

That's it for week two.

You guys, see, I told you, you're gonna love this week.

It's familiar, but still really new and really good.

I promise you're gonna love it.

Uh, if you wanna get more out of this week, you're welcome to join me on

Instagram, 10:00 AM mountain time.

I'll pop on for a live to answer questions or just chat through some of the.

Insights that I didn't quite fit into these videos and work

through the creative a little bit.

So if you have questions or concerns, that's a good place to find me.

Another good spot, of course, is the discussion boards.

So I know a lot of you are new to the course this year.

If you're not familiar, at the top right of every video, you

can find a discussion board.

That's a really quick way to access me directly.

So if you're not hoping to ask me a question in front of others in the live.

Put a question up on the discussion boards and I'll get to you

usually within an hour or two.

I can answer that one.

Um, in addition, I would remind you that if you want to share this content

with others, I would be so grateful.

, we, we are now putting the insights videos on YouTube and the insights.

Recorded audio via podcast so that it can be shared a little easier for all of you.

So if you have a chance to share it with friends or to leave a review,

that would make a huge difference.

But otherwise, I hope you really enjoy your week.

You guys, I know this Christmas story feels like we just got out of it, but I

really think studying the Christmas story when there's not all the distractions

and the presence and the budget worries and it's kind of nice you guys.

It's kind of nice to have a week where there's not all those.

Other things to just focus in on this pivotal, timeless story

of the birth of the savior.

I think you're gonna love it.

All right, you guys, enjoy your week and I will see you on Monday.