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[00:00:00] INSIGHTS INTRODUCTION

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Hey you guys, welcome back. This is week 20 of Creative. Come follow me for the New Testament. And I forgot to tell you last week, but you have officially advanced into the green belt level. If you're following along on the Discipleship Dojo card, you can see that as of last week, you've stepped up to a whole new belt.

And that's gonna be really helpful cuz today we have a lot of ground to cover. This may be the first time that we're in all four gospels in one week of study. It's the longest of the entire year, and that's for a really good reason. So this week what we're gonna study is basically the triumphal entry, anywhere that it's mentioned.

So we're gonna study three chapters in Matthew, one in Mark, couple in Luke, and even one in John Alt. Put a big spotlight on this. Beginning of the Passion week, the last week of the Savior's life, and I will tell you before you even begin, one of the things that I found really helpful to get my bearings is to print out this infographic that I [00:01:00] found in the seminary manual.

So the new manual that was put out this year. I give you a link in the notes if you wanna find it, but they have an infographic of the events of this last week of the Savior's Life. The reason I like this one is because they don't try to identify what happened Monday, what happened Tuesday, what happened Wednesday.

They just give you an order of events so that as you're studying, cuz we're gonna be all over the map today, you can kind of understand what happens first, what happens second, what happens third. We're basically in those first three steps of the Savior's pathway to his resurrection, and we're gonna study a lot of territory.

A couple of the things you're gonna see this week for me, I really liked. Envisioning the wrestle that must be happening. The savior's gonna come into Jerusalem. He's coming amidst praise and palm leaves and rejoicing in Hosanna shouts. And he knows that some people understand and some people don't. And he's, I think, trying to take this very last week to do as much teaching as he can.

He's basically [00:02:00] gonna cleanse the temple and set up shop almost like a headquarters at the temple that will be his home base. And he will teach and perform some miracles at the beginning and try to open up eyes of understanding. In, I think the hopes that somebody will turn. And there's a great verse in the Book of Mormon that talks about how you should never give up on someone.

You should continue to invite them because you just never know when their heart will turn. And I feel like the savior evidence is that this week he is gonna teach anyone and everyone, whether they be humble followers and disciples, or you know, grumpy scribes and Pharisees. He will teach anyone who will come about the promises that are on the horizon if they will just hold onto them.

Another thing I think is powerful is he teaches two different kinds of cleansing. You're gonna see him cleanse the temple, so something on the outside. And then I think he spends a lot of time talking about how we can cleanse things on the inside. And so you'll see him trying to cleanse people like the [00:03:00] scribes and the Pharisees and the Herodians, and all these people that are trying to trap him.

He's constantly trying to cleanse. In fact, the way he does it is. The ultimate Samurai move. You know, like we talked about at the beginning, I, you know, those Samurai movies where there's always that big pinnacle climactic fight scene where he's meeting opposition after opposition and things are being thrown at him from all different directions, and he manages to take out like 12 different guys at the same time.

That's this week you guys. He is gonna take on enemies from every direction and every single time he slices through with this sword of truth, he is just masterful at it and compassionate at the same time. And it is absolutely remarkable to study. I promise you're gonna love it. Grab your scriptures, grab your notes.

There's so much to cover you guys. Let's get started.

[00:03:58] MATTHEW 21

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We're gonna let Matthew sort of give us [00:04:00] the lay of the land as we go into all these stories, and then when we hear them echoed in the other gospels, I'll just point out what is different or particularly remarkable to me. But most of our time will be spent in Matthew. So where we begin, it's Matthew 21.

You're gonna see him heading into Jerusalem for this triumphal entry. It does help to understand that we're later when we get a little further in, like when in Luke and in John, we're actually gonna go back in time, we're gonna study Zaks that happens before the triumphal entry and Mary's anointing of the Savior's feet, which happens six days before this.

So just keep in mind that this week is a little bit fluid when it comes to time, but it's all the same general area. So when he comes in, one of the things that's great about what we just learned in conference is there were so many talks that focused on Palm Sunday and why we need to put more emphasis on appreciating that whole week leading up to Easter.

So I feel like there's a lot of material just in conference about the purpose of Palm Sunday and why there was this rejoicing in [00:05:00] the city. So if you go on the verses, you can see that the savior directs his apostles to go and find an ask that he can ride in on. And this is because of the prophecies that you're gonna find in Zacharias.

You can go on the notes or in the footnotes and see a lot of this. But one of the things I'd liked is if you go to that verses linked in the footnotes, you'll see, I think it's Zacharia nine nine. That's where it talks about how the king, when he comes in, he will ride on an ass or on a cult and he will come through.

It's this, um, promise of. Neatness. You know, when a king comes into a city on a donkey or on an ass, it is this sign of a time of peace. If he comes in on a horse or a stallion, it's a time of war. And so this is, I think, where he's trying to help people understand exactly who he is. One of the things I love studying this week is I actually went into Zacharia.

I wanted to learn more about what. What prop he was fulfilling. And if you go just a few verses beyond the 9 9 1 that you're studying, I think it's 11 or 12, I put this in the notes, but it talks about how he is coming to free prisoners from a [00:06:00] pit with no water and it links to things like doctrine, covenants 1 38, where you learn about, you know, families being united forever and the promise of, you know, people in spirit prison being let go.

I feel like he's trying to help them see, you know, those who are wrestling with what they're experiencing. They see the savior, they want to believe he's a messiah, but they're wrestling with what they see. He's trying to plant these seeds of what kind of Messiah he will be. He's gonna ride in on an ass, not on stallion.

He's gonna come in in neatness and he's gonna come to free the prisoners from the pit with no water. There's just these beautiful Old Testament references that help, help me understand what he was trying to say as he came in. And you can see from the response in the crowd that people are. Dazzled by him.

So you can see in eight, a very great multitude comes. They all come, they spread their clothing out. They, you know, they're trying to greet and welcome him in a kingly way cuz they've seen the miracles and most of these [00:07:00] people have heard about Lazarus. And that was sort of this tipping point in the miracles where people can't deny that he must be something special now.

And they're kind of on the edge of their seat waiting to see what he will do when he comes to Passover in Jerusalem. And so they praise him and shout Hosanna, if you wanna go on the conference, you can read things like, is it Elder Raz Bands Talk where he talked all about this Hoish shout. He referenced this beautiful quote from President Nelson about how when they were waving palm leaves and when we, you know, hang palm leaves on Palm Sunday.

It's this reminder of the palms of his hands. And I just. I kind of loved always as I was studying this triumphal entry to always remember where it ends, you know, a week from now, where it will end and what what will be engrave in on the palms of his hands. So you can go on the notes and learn a little bit more about that.

You can see what happens in 10 and when was coming to Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, who is this? I think they all feel it. I think they feel the [00:08:00] electricity in the city and they are moved. The question is, what will you do? You know, in those moments where you feel moved, will you turn away or will you turn towards and you're gonna see both things happen?

I think it's what all of us encounter over and over again as we. We, we are in holy places or we are in experiences that can be holy. We feel moved, but we don't always understand how to act. So that's what he's gonna try and teach them. So if you go on the verses, you can see that he initially, at least in the Matthew account, goes and cleanses the temple.

So he goes, is when he tosses the tables and he. Gets rid of the selling of things. It's not so much that the selling of things is a bad thing. We learned this a little bit in the Old Testament too, but because people are coming for Passover and you know, tens of thousands, some people even think hundreds of thousands of people congregate in Jerusalem.

They have all different kinds of currency. They have different kinds of animals, and you couldn't always have a, you know, sacred animal [00:09:00] to offer at the temple that came with you from whatever journey you took. So it was important to have a way to exchange things. So I don't think the savior is saying it's wrong to have an exchange.

I think what he's saying is not here. This is holy ground. It's the same thing you're gonna see whenever you go to one of our temples, right? You'll see this holy ground all around it. You don't see a Des Desiree book set up with, so the parking lot that shares the temple, you'll never see that because it is holy ground and it is a place where, one of the things I think was.

When we studied the cleansing the temple at the beginning of his ministry, I learned that where he cleansed was in this court of the Gentiles, this outer area. It's the only area that Gentiles could approach the temple. So by cleansing it of all of the sail, he opens up holy ground for anyone to be able to be there.

You know, he'll do most of his teaching in that area throughout this week. So because he took time to purge it first, then he could create this holy space for other [00:10:00] people to come and learn. And I think it's the exact same thing President Nelson has asked us to do to clear out the debris and whatever sins are setting you so that you can make space for something magnificent to happen for, for something to pull you.

And you can see the savior. You're doing that same thing here. I also love that in almost every book when we study the cleansing of this temple and all these gospels, he calls it a house of prayer instead of a house of merchandise or a dead of den of thieves. And I found myself wondering, like of all the descriptors.

Why does he pick prayer? You know, like a house of study, a house of learning. There's a whole bunch of other sacrifice. There's a whole bunch of other words. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that for me, when I go to the temple, that's essentially what I do. All those ordinances that I participate in, they are prayers.

You know, prayer is our way to breach the veil to to part it a little bit so that we can make connections with people who are on the other side. And that's what happens in the temple. [00:11:00] It is this amplified version of a prayer. So I love that. That's the word choice he has here. And then he performs some healing.

So these are gonna be the last of the healings that we see in this week, at least, that are written down. So in 14 it says, and the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. And then the rest of his time is gonna be spent teaching. So he talks about things you can see. How some people respond to those healings and some people turn away.

So in 15 you see that the scribes that see these wonderful things that their children are crying in the temple. They're saying, Hosanna, son of David, and they were sore, displeased. The reason they are sore, displeased is just like what we talked about last week. They are afraid of losing their power. They can see his power increasing.

I think they can even see his power in a divine way. I think they also feel moved and they, instead of turning towards the savior, they bristle against him. And so you can see how that plays out. Then towards the end in [00:12:00] 17, he heads to Bethany. So while he's teaching in Jerusalem, he's gonna go a couple miles away to Bethany, where Mary and Martha and Lazarus are.

I don't know if he's staying in their house or not, but it sure seems like it's likely. It seems like that's kind of where he rests the head at night. And then he comes back into teach. And on the way he sees a fig tree, and this is kinda interesting, this is a parable you'll see in a few different places, or not a parable.

This is an actual thing that happens that he uses as a teaching opportunity. Basically what you see is there's a fig tree and it's full of leaves. And so he goes over to it and realizes that there is no fruit on this tree. Normally on a fig tree, this is a, in Israel, when you see a fig tree, this would be pretty early for them to grow.

But if you saw a big bushy leafy fig tree, you would assume there would be figs to be had. And because they grow at the same time, the leaves and the fruit grow simultaneously. And in this one there, there is none. And so he talks about. He, he takes advantage of that by creating a teaching opportunity for all who are following him.

And he talks about [00:13:00] hypocrisy, basically, I think he sees this tree as almost a type of what the Pharisees and the scribes and Sadducees are. That they are someone who looks leafy and lush and full, but when you come close, there is no fruit. It reminds me of that. Is it BH Roberts? You know that video of the current bush?

And he talks about how the farmer chops it down and because he wants it to be a certain thing, he wants it to be a current bush. It's that same kinda idea, which is I think why he curses it. So it's kind of this weird miracle that happens where he curses the victory and then it withers away and it dies.

And I think the reason he does that, it's not so much that he was hungry and the tree didn't have fruit, and so he's angry. I mean that's, that's not the character of Christ. I think it's more demonstrating for us what we have to do when there are things in our life that are a distraction. I think this.

Figtree is essentially like the great and spacious building. It is something that looks lush and beautiful and promising. So it veers you off course. It makes you look [00:14:00] that way. I think he's using, using this as an example to teach us about the risks of hypocrisy. It's not just that you're putting on a show, it's that that show is distracting and it stops people from holding onto the rod.

So he curses it and it withers away, and then the apostles are dazzled by it, right? They don't understand how that's even possible, which is remarkable to me, given what they've already seen. But they talks about how they're impressed at this ability and then he tells them how they can accomplish it. So if you look in 21, barely, I say unto you, if you have faith and doubt, not you shall not only do this, which is done to the fig tree, but also if you shall say to this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea.

It shall be done. Here's what's super remarkable about this to me. They're nowhere near a sea. You guys like they're 15 miles from the dead Sea, like 35 miles from the Mediterranean to say that you could take a mountain that's around them cuz they're in a mountainous area right now and make a mountain move 35 miles if you just had faith to believe [00:15:00] that's what he's trying to get across to all of his apostles and all of his followers.

This what you see in me will be in you if you will just believe it's this call to action that sort of sets the stage for everything else we're gonna see in this week. Xavier cleanse the temple grounds of those who would buy and sell. But he also creates this wide open space for anyone else to come and listen, which I think is really grading to the scribes and the Pharisees because they've spent their lifetimes pushing people away from the temple who didn't belong.

And you know, like not even touching them, not being within a certain amount of distance from anyone who is what they would consider unclean, including including sinners and you know, Harts and Republicans. And you're gonna see the savior teaching all of those groups at the temple. But it causes the scribes and the Pharisees to try to trap him.

They are wondering how they can, how they can [00:16:00] trip him up. And the first thing they're gonna approach him on is his authority, because he's basically kicked out the people that they authorized to come in and then invited people that they would never allow to come onto the temple grounds. And so there's this.

Tension, and they ask him what his authority, where it comes from. And what's interesting is the way the savior responds. So if you look around 23 and 24, he basically says to them, I'm gonna ask you a question. If you can tell me an answer, then I will answer your question about where my authority comes from.

And then he asks them about the baptism of John, and basically says, what authority was in play then with the baptism of John, which puts the scribes in the Pharisees in this very delicate situation because they know that John is immensely popular amongst the followers, especially the the throngs of people that have descended on Jerusalem for Passover weekend.

So this is, they're in a delicate spot because if they say that John had no authority or that it came from man, then the masses might turn on them. But if they say that [00:17:00] John's authority came from God, then there's question about why aren't they listening to John? I mean, John's the one that called Jesus Christ the Lamb of God.

He testified that he is the son of God. So, Why not follow him if they believe so they get in this delicate spot. And what I think is fascinating about how they handle it is they basically say, I have no opinion. They, they say in 27, and the answer Jesus said, we cannot tell. And he said unto them, neither tell IU by what authority I do these things.

I think there's a piece of this that is, he's not gonna cast his pearls before swine. There's a piece of it there. I also think he's saying, you're gonna have to make a call if you want more light and more knowledge from me. You can't halt between two opinions. You can't serve two masters. Make a call. I know you feel something.

You feel pulled towards me. Choose one way or the other, but don't lead this double standard life anymore. I think, I think that's more of what it is, rather than him like throwing a riddle in their face. That's just [00:18:00] not the character of Christ. I think he's inviting them to become committed, converted disciples and they just pull back.

But just like he talked about in their nei, he will never stop inviting them on the off chance that they turn. So he doesn't give up after this samurai slice of truth. He, he continues. So he teaches them in a couple parables about authority. The first one he talks about is why he has authority. I think this is my interpretation of why he's allowing all these, what they would consider sinners and harts Republicans to come and be at the temple and to learn from him.

And he does it by talking about two sons. So he talks about a father who has two sons, and he sends them out to work in a vineyard. The first son says no. Basically he's, he's asked to work by his dad and he says to him no. And then eventually comes around and does the work. I think all of us can relate to having a kid who does it this way.

You know, they initially. You know, bite back against you and say, no, I'm not doing it. And then they can only come around and they pick it up and then he has a second son who says, [00:19:00] yes, absolutely father, I'll do it. And then never shows up. I think we all have kids like this too. In fact, all of our kids take turns at being each of those things.

But he talks about it in reference to the children of Israel, that those, especially those who are there, are kind of like the first son. They're people who, even though they have lived a sinful life to some degree, you know, if there's some issue among them, they may have initially rejected what they knew was true or what they knew was good, but they eventually.

Came around, they repented. They are there now and they're willing to follow now. So they're kinda like the first son and described. And the Pharisees are basically like the second son who promised to be this light to the world who talk about loving this covenant that they've been given. And, you know, the grace of God that gave it to them, that revere Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, but want to live nothing like them.

Um, that's the second son. And so he's talking about authority that I, I see you differently. In fact, then with the second parable, he, he [00:20:00] clarifies a little how he sees them. So this one is more about. A tenant farming situation, same chapter. But when you get into Matthew 21 in the middle, he's gonna talk about how there is a man who cultivated this vineyard and he works really hard at it.

In fact, you can see it in the verses in 33 here ye, another parable. There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it roundabout and digged a wine press on it and built a tower and let it out to Husbandman and went to a far country. So he essentially creates and works hard to make this thriving vineyard.

And then while he's away, he asked for tenant farmers or husbandman to come and care for the property. Uh, tradition was at this time that you would get 25% cut if you were a tenant farmer of whatever the yield is. So since this is a well-established vineyard that has every chance of growing, they have a good chance of making a decent amount of income.

In fact, if you look in 34, you can see the whole goal of the owner says, and when the time of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to go to the husbandman that they might receive [00:21:00] the fruits of it. The goal here is that there will be fruit, you know, kind of the same way the fig tree should have fruit, and when he gets there or when the servants get there, they're met with opposition.

So if you look in 35, the Husbandman took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. And then 36 again, he sent other servants more than the first, and they did unto them. Likewise, this is, he's trying to teach them what, what's happened with the prophets. That in, in the history of the children of Israel, there have been rejection of prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah and a bunch that we studied in the Old Testament, even a killing of prophets.

And he's been trying to reach them through these servants and then he gets to this next level. So this is what you're seeing in 38. But when the Husbandman saw the son, they said among themselves, oh sorry, this is 37. But last of all, he sent them his son saying they will reverence my son. The owner hopes that because the son is known that they [00:22:00] will recognize him and they will stop that their killing and their hurting of these servants will stop and they will realize their place.

But Satan is in their hearts and he's in the mix. So this is what happens in 38. But when the Husbandman saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. So they do recognize him. They know exactly who he is. Come let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance. This is what this, this is Satan's strategy from the very beginning, right?

It almost sounds like Kane and Abel, remember when we studying the Old Testament about Kane who killed Abel in the hopes that he would get his flocks? You can read that in Moses five. It's like, this is Satan's strategy from the get-go. You don't need to earn this. You can get it the short way. In fact, that's exactly what the, what Satan said in the Grand Council in heaven.

I don't need to earn this. I want all the glory and all the power. And here's, here's a workaround and, and you can just see how it plays out. So basically they catch him in 39 and [00:23:00] they caught him and cast him outta the vineyard and slew him. So they killed the sun. And then Jesus asks us, describes in the Pharisees, what do you think the owner will do to these husband men knowing that he killed other servants and he killed the air and the sun.

And that's when they respond and they say, and to him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men. And that's when I think he's hoping that the light will turn on, that they'll catch a glimpse of how far off the path they have come and where the road they are on is headed. Because it's, it's only darkness.

There's only misery at the end of that road. In fact, one of the things I studied this week, cuz I was studying different scholars on this, is the law was that if you had tenant farmers and something happened to the owner of the vineyard, the tenant farmers had no right to inheritance. Even if no other air could be found, it would fall to the state.

There is no way that a tenant, farmer or a husbandman could inherit the land even if they killed the sun and the owner. [00:24:00] And I think that's the same thing that the gospel message teaches us as well. There is no workaround. There is no shortcut. There is no faster way to exaltation. It is only through his way, and I think he's desperately trying to get that across to these scribes and Pharisees, that they have been blinded by Satan's strategies and they need to.

Open up their eyes. And so he talks about who he is. He calls himself the stone that the builders rejected. We studied that a little while ago. And then he talks about what the stone will do. Basically what he says is if the stone, if you, if you look at letters like 42 and 43, it says, therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

And then he talks about in 44 what will happen with the stone. And whosoever shall fall on the stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall. It will grind him to powder. He's basically describing two different scenarios. Those two sons essentially that were in the first parable, he's saying if it, if you [00:25:00] come across the stone, you will be broken.

You know, you can see things like Alma, the younger story that show you where he hits a point of brokenness, but it's not done. And then he talks about the second op option, which is if you let this stone fall on you, it will grind you to powder. Powder. If you go on the footnotes, you can see that this isn't just a powder, this is a scattering.

So he's saying like, The visual that helped me is he is the ultimate healer. He is the fixer that can take all those broken pieces. And you know that Kintsugi Japanese style of art where they put gold between all the broken pieces of pottery and make something beautiful and new? That's what he is promised.

He's like, if you are broken, I can work with that. I can help you. If you are scattered, you're lost. And these men are on the way to being scattered and lost. They basically have that flaxen cord around their neck that the Book of Mormon talks about, and they are being carefully led down to hell, and he just desperately reaches after them, but they don't [00:26:00] care.

In fact, you can tell in 45 that they perceive that he's talking about them. They're starting to catch on that these parables are about us. But instead of leaning in towards the savior, they fear the multitude and they try to come up with a new way to catch him.

[00:26:21] MATTHEW 22

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In the last couple verses of 21, you learned that there are people who are out to slay him now cause they're so angry at what he's saying. And then you jump into 22 and he just continues on. It's almost like you can see him with this laser focus. I, I picture him a lot like I picture Aedi where he has a message he's gonna deliver and he's not afraid.

He knows his time and he's not afraid. And so it doesn't matter. What people throw at him, he's just gonna get his message out. And so he does it in 22 with Parable. If you read 22 and you hear Elder Bednar talking in your ear, that's why like he gave a great talk all about this parable of the wedding [00:27:00] feast.

So I would encourage you to go listen to his talk. I use it in the notes a lot cuz I thought he did such a great job of explaining both the tradition and the reason we study this parable. So lemme give you the short version of Elder Bedner message. Essentially there's a king who has a feast for his son who's getting married and invites many in the kingdom to come and they, like we studied last week, make, excuse fact, you see this division, there are two camps of people who were initially invited.

The first camp gets sort of apathetic, kinda like we talked about last week. They get busy with other things that their priorities are outta whack and they don't come. So in five it says, but they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. So that's the first group.

The second group. Turns hostile to the servants. So the king sends his servants out to tell everyone that the feast is ready, come on in. And they, they fight against the servants. So if you look in six, it says, and the remnant took his servants and then treated them spitefully and slew them. He, this is a metaphor for the children of Israel that they had, [00:28:00] they had an invitation, they were expected to accomplish much, and some got apathetic and some turned hostile against the prophets and those who were sent to teach them.

And so consequences happen, especially for those who slay the serpent. Then there there is, um, destruction. So when you look in the verses, you can see that the, their cities are destroyed for those murdering ones. And I think this is supposed to be kind of a type and a shadow of the destruction of Jerusalem that's gonna come, you know, in 70, 80, the whole thing is gonna get wiped out.

Uh, I mean, to an incredible degree. We'll study that a little bit later in this week, but that's what he is trying to warn about. There will be destruction for those of you who murdered. The prophets and the sun. Um, there's warnings in it. And then he talks about getting more. So just like last week, they go to the highways and the hedges, they bring in more gospel's going out to all the world and they're gonna bring in as many as they can.

And then he just warns about the one who chooses not to wear the garment. So this is really interesting. There's a wedding garment. This is tradition. According to El Retar, there's a tradition [00:29:00] that, especially if you were bringing people from the highways and hedges, that they would not be dressed appropriately to come to a feast at the king's table.

But graciously, this king offers clothing for them, offers a way for them to. Be equals. That's what I love. It's the same thing I love about the clothing we wear at the temple. It's a way for everyone to be equal on equal footing. And I think that's what the king is trying to create here. He's saying, I know you weren't the first ones to get this invitation.

Please come and you are as welcome as that first group would have been had they been worthy to come to the feast, please come now and wear this, this clothing and celebrate with me about this beauty of my son getting married. So that's what we're gonna see. And then you see that there's one guest who doesn't.

So this is around verse 11, and when the king came in to see the guest, he saw there was a man which had not on a wedding garment, and then 12th, and he said it unto him, friend, how came that when hitter not having a wedding garment and he was speechless. Elder Redner talks about how this isn't a, oh, [00:30:00] it's a surprise that he doesn't have things on.

This is a rebellion. This is, I would like to come and partake at the feast, but I don't wanna, I don't wanna look like the rest of you. I don't wanna make the sacrifices of losing myself to look. Different. I want to be exactly who I am, and in fact, I'd like to partake of the feast, which I think is what all of us do to some small level.

You know, oftentimes we hope to get the blessings of sacrifice and consecration without actually having to make the sacrifices or consecrated, you know, we just hope that the king will just say, you know what? It's fine, Maria, come on in. And you can enjoy the feast just like everyone else. But that's not the gospel.

You guys, the gospel is our father in heaven has provided all the tools, all the clothing that we need, and it is freely available without money and without price. You can put on these beautiful, clean robes, but you need to choose to step away from your old self to do it. There is sacrifice, there is consecration, and this man [00:31:00] rebelled and basically said, I'm not gonna follow those plans.

I'm gonna come and I'm gonna take what I want. And so Elder Benner talks about, ah, How we need to be cautious about both our priorities, like that first group and also our discipleship once we're in the gospel, that we are not setting aside these beautiful gifts that we've been granted in order to hold on tight to our own selves in the hope that the king will just kind of give us a free pass.

So I, I think that's why he ends with, for many are called, but few are chosen. Everybody has an open invitation to come to this feast. That does not mean that it's an easy path to get there. It's uh, it's guided and it's clear, but it is straight and it is narrow and it requires change. And that's what he's trying to teach us with this parable.

I think. After he finishes his parable, the savior is hit with this big battle scene of sorts. Cause he is really got enemies coming from every direction and they all try different approaches and he's just standing calmly in the middle with his sort of [00:32:00] truth and he just is unflappable. I just really love watching it play out.

So at the beginning, he's gonna be dealing with the Herodians and the Pharisees who are teaming up. Now these are rivals or enemies traditionally, but they are so flummoxed by the fact that the savior never seems to trip up on anything that they start to team up. They're just like, what happens in those movies?

And they ask him about paying homage to Caesar or paying, you know, taxes. The second one's gonna be the sades. They're gonna ask him about resurrection and try and trip him up there. And then you're gonna see a lawyer come and approach him about which is the greatest commandment, and he handles all three quick succession without any trouble.

It is just beautiful to watch. So the first one is really simple. They say in 17, tell us therefore what think is though. Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? If he turns against Rome, then he's, you know, at risk of offending all the Roman soldiers and causing things to happen too fast. If he supports Rome, then he's at risk of offending all the Jews who are following him, who feel like they've been put out by Rome.[00:33:00]

And so he's walking this delicate line and they think it's gonna trip him and he doesn't. Basically what he says is very simple. He says in 21, they sign, they say unto him, Caesars. And then he said, he say a unto them, render therefore unto Caesars the things which are Caesars and unto God, the things which are Gods.

So he sees this one, you can see that inscription on the, you know, the image on the coin, and he says, give the things of Caesar back to Caesar and give the things that are God to Gods I love. I think it's Elder Maxwell or maybe Elder Challenge, maybe both. Okay. You can go on the notes, you can find it, but they talk about what it means.

What is God's like, what does that mean? What are the things that we give back to God? You know, I think that 12th article, faith teaches us that we're supposed to keep the laws of land, and you can go on the notes and learn about this. I think that we also know from the doctrine that. Those who rule the laws of the land will be held accountable for their misuse.

So even if you feel like you are, you are being diligent to a government that you don't trust, they will be held accountable and you're supposed to stay a good citizen. And as long [00:34:00] as you don't have to compromise your values, you can go in the notes and learn more from David O. McKay and some others about that.

But I love that he has this clear, simple answer. But I think the bigger question is, what is it that I have that is God's that I need to give back to God? And Elder Maxwell and Elder Tamad both talk about how we are. It is our wills. It is our agency that we can give back to God. And that's, that's. That's the tribute we pay back to God.

And so you can go on the else and learn more about that. When it comes to this middle question about resurrection, it's important to understand a little bit about the sades. So sades are sort of that aristocratic group. They're kind of, there's, there's a smaller group and they're a little well to do and scholarly in their own way, and they have questions about the resurrection.

You should understand though that the sades don't believe in resurrection. That's a big reason. They're different from the Pharisees. They don't even believe in an afterlife so that they come to him and ask these questions about resurrection and marriage tells you something that they're trying to trip him up on whatever doctrine Jesus has been teaching and because of what they [00:35:00] ask, it sure seems like he must have been teaching about eternal marriage in some capacity.

In some way. They're starting to hear whisperings of that doctrine and. They come to him with this idea of like, oh, I know it'll trip him up. So they talk about Leite law. Do you remember that from the Old Testament? This is when if a husband dies, the wife can marry the next brother in line, and if they have a child together, it'll be the child.

It'll be the heir of the, the husband who died. So they lay out this ridiculous scenario of like seven husbands in a row who die, and then who's she gonna be married to? And this is when he gives this doctrine about what lasts and what doesn't. And I should tell you that first time I read it, I'm like, Wait, what?

Because the verses sure make it sound like the savior is teaching that there is no eternal marriage. But just like we've talked about many times, you guys, when I first read that verse, it was like I was holding onto an extension cord without the rubber coating and I got a shock. And so then I'm like, I'm missing context.

I need my rubber coating. So that's when I went and I studied a lot more. So you can go on the notes and learn more about this, but [00:36:00] essentially what he's teaching them is this marriage you can see from the verses. So if you look in 23, we know this is a group of sades and the example they give is of Sadducees.

So if you look in 25 now there were with us seven brethren. So they're talking about people of their own group who don't believe in resurrection, they don't believe in an afterlife. And in this specific instance with this specific group of seven guys and one woman, he's saying they won't be married after this life.

That's what you see. So it says that Jesus answered and sent to them. You do air not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given a marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. That's what the doctrine teaches. Civil unions, even if they're, you know, righteously made, according to the law of Moses, if they don't have that promise of eternal of a ceiling, then they don't have the promise of staying together and that's what he's trying to teach.

So you have to kind of, [00:37:00] this is another one where it helps to go into the footnotes, at least go into the notes that I offer you and it'll help you understand this a little bit better. But he's teaching to this specific instance that there is no marriage for them. I think it, it helps us understand why proxy ceilings happen now, cuz right now there is no way for them to do that in heaven.

They need our work here on earth in the millennium, that will change and things will shift around a little bit, but for now, they don't have a way to be sealed and she certainly can't be connected to all seven of those. So that he's trying to help them understand. And then he talks about the resurrection piece and he talks about Abraham.

So basically in this sharp slice of truth, he says, I know you don't believe in resurrection. I want you to think back on what I, what happened with Moses. If you go back in the account, you can see that Moses heard from God who said, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This is in 32.

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. The very fact that he says, I am the God of Abraham when he's speaking to Moses, tells you that Abraham still exists. [00:38:00] Abraham still lives. Even though he has passed to the other side of the veil, he still exists or else he wouldn't be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

He would say, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jake. So he's trying to help him understand you revere the law of Moses, use it to help you know what is true, and they just. I don't think they changed. In fact, it says in 34 that they, they were put to silence. So even though they don't come around their, their train of thought that was taking them away from the doctrine has now at least stopped.

And this I think, is the opportunity the savior has to teach them, because now Satan doesn't have a hold of their hearts the same way. At least in this moment. He has taught truth and truth. Opens up opportunities for the spirit, or at least for the light of Christ that has to be in them to flare a little bit.

So this is where I feel like you get this beautiful doctrine at the end of 22, where he talks about the Great Commandments. So a lawyer approaches them and says, which is the greatest of all the commandments? Cause remember lava, Moses had like 600 plus commandments. So they would often wonder [00:39:00] like, which one is most important?

If I've got, you know, if my ox is in the Meyer, is it more important to take care of him? Or is it more important to honor this commitment about steps or they had to wrestle with those. And I think they thought if they had to wrestle with it, then surely this savior from Na Nazareth would not be able to handle it.

And he slices through their question and offers this beautiful pearl of wisdom at the same time. It's 1 37. Jesus said unto him, thou shall love the Lord thy God with all they heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And then second is like unto, unto it, thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.

He summarizes all 10 commandments, all 600 commandments into simply two and says, do these two things and then you'll have what you need. The Lord will be pleased with you if you do these two things. I think it's important that we see him in order. You know, there's a great talks from prophets and apostles about how we can't invert these two commandments.[00:40:00]

How if we love God sincerely, he will teach us how to love our neighbor. But if we try to reverse those and love our neighbor first, we struggle. It's, we're gonna talk about it in the object lessons too, but I love the way he just clearly talks about it. Another thing I loved is from Elder ff. He has his talks in the notes, but he talks about how.

It's not so much that God needs our love, it's that in the process of loving God and in the process of serving our neighbors, we become something. We learn who he is, we understand his character and his nature, and we build a desire to become like him. That is why we love God first, not because he's this jealous God that needs our attention, but because he has high expectations for us and we have to meet them, and that's, that's how we accomplish it.

At the very end, you see a little added authority about David's line. You can go in the notes and learn more about it, and we'll talk about it again here in a chapter. But I just wanted to sit this chapter on those big beautiful two commandments, so we'll end this one here.[00:41:00]

[00:41:05] MATTHEW 23

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After trying to get the scribes, Pharisees, the Rodian, the sades, all these different groups to understand truth, he now turns his attention in Matthew 23 towards those who are. Learning those who are willing disciples who are sitting at his feet and listening, and what he teaches them about is hypocrisy.

They've seen it firsthand from all these different groups who have now been silenced by the savior and now he wants them to understand the problem. He doesn't want them following their path, so he's gonna teach them. In fact, what I have at the top of this chapter is it's that moment in the Wizard of Oz, you know, the very end of the Wizard of Oz, when they pull away the curtain and you can see that this big booming voice and this big scary face was really just this guy like moving a whole bunch of things really fast.

I feel like that's what Matthew 23 is. He is opening the curtain saying, let me show you what really is behind this big [00:42:00] show of discipleship. They are pretending to religion and it's not, it's not real. Let me show you what's real. So you can see all these warnings. I won't go into all of them. You can find 'em in the notes, but he talks about that they say things and they don't do them.

That they put heavy burdens on people that things they would never lift themselves. He talks about M five, that they make broad their factories, you know, those big, the, the scripture that they would bind to their head and to their arms. They, they make those big, they make the fringes on their garment that were required by the law of Moses.

Even bigger, you know, they want all visible discipleship to be grander and more intimidating. And so he warns about that. He's like, set all that down. You know, he, I don't think he's condemning those who are doing those things with pure hearts. I think there are many who are, are, are following those laws of Moses with pure hearts.

He's just saying those who are trying to catch the eye of men, those who are making [00:43:00] all commandments bigger and heavier so that they can get your attention and praise. Don't be like them. So he warns about them. He says, you know, they want to be called Rabbi in the streets. They want to be, they wanna have titles.

In fact, one of the things I thought was really interesting when we were talking, when I was reading about titles. So he says, don't call anyone else your master, don't call anyone else your father, don't call anyone Rabbi. Just you. You have one that you need to follow. And I loved that we don't use titles in the search.

In fact, I thought it was really interesting that even people like the Apostles, I mean, there's only 15. Apostles on the planet and the whole planet, and we don't call them by any kind of apostolic title most of the time you can say that they are an apostle. But generally speaking, we just call them Elder Elder Holland.

Elder Bednar. Elder Raban. It's the same title that my 21 year old service missionary son has on his name tag. That's, I think, what the Savior's teaching. It's not that that it's wrong to have teachers, it's that he's saying, don't let [00:44:00] anyone aggrandize themselves because when you focus on that, you lose focus on me and I need you riveted on my doctrine.

So he teaches them about that. He says in 12, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be a based, any that shall humble himself shall be exalted. Remember who he's teaching to. These are all these, you know, pilgrims that have come from all over the place for Passover week to to learn. And they're soaking it up because they're not fancy and they're not, you know, they don't put on a show.

And so they're. I think they're soaking up this promise that they've never heard from any other religious leader. So then he teaches a little bit more about hypocrisy. When you turn the page 13, he talks about how they've been trying to shut up the kingdom. I love this visual just because of what we learned in the Book of Mormon.

I think it's in second Nehi, it's in the notes 75 9 I think, where he talks about how he employ with no servant at the gates. That is his role. He will be the one that decides who can enter the [00:45:00] kingdom of God. There is no Pharisee that gets to choose that. So he's helping the populace understand that he talks about their long prayers and the their earning themselves greater damnation.

Damnation is one of those words that I think is a bit tricky cuz it seems so harsh and we tend to see it as a finality, you know, something, an end. But I learned once that damnation can also be read as. The kind of damn we have like that blocks water. Basically. When you are damned, especially in scripture, for people who are still living and choosing and using their agency, it means you are stopped.

It means your water was supposed to be surging forward and it has become full of debris and your progression is stopped. And that's what I think he means when he says they're damned, is that they are, they're so focused on the outward appearance that their spirits can't progress further, they, they aren't able to show charity and develop those Christlike characteristics cuz they're so focused on what's outside.

In fact, that's what he talks about. The rest of the chapter talks about them [00:46:00] being blind guides and making these dramatic oaths. You know, just in the Sermon on the Mount, we learned that we're supposed to say, you know, simple promises of yes or no. Yay, yay and nay. Nay is how it's written out in the Book of Mormon.

It, you don't need this big fancy oath. You don't need to swear by heaven or swear by the scrolls. You just say yes or no. In fact, one of the things I love about that is, That's how pretty much all ordinances work, right? You agree or disagree? When you have a sustaining in your ward, you either agree or disagree.

There's no big, you don't need extra. If you have integrity, you don't need a lot more than that. Just yes or no. That's enough. So he talks about that and then in 23 he says they omitted the weightier matters of the law, the judgment and mercy and faith. These ought to he have done, but not to leave it to the un, not to leave the other undone ye blind guides which strain at a nat and swallow a camel.

They're just these visuals that you're like, oh, you know, I just, cuz I think all of us struggle with this at times. They're things that I am. [00:47:00] I neglect the weightier manners, the weightier matters while I focus on the little trivial things. And I think that's mortal life to some degree. We all have to juggle those things.

Uh, but I think what he's saying in this circumstances, you know what you're supposed to choose, the spirit has been working on you. You feel that same pull everyone else does. Stop focusing on the surface and go somewhere deeper. So then he gives those examples, like we talked about before, where he says they're basically like a cup that's clean on the outside and filthy on the inside.

Or a seper that is, you know, full of dead men's bones, but it's whiten, you know, kinda like a whitewashed fence. It's, they make it look pretty on the outside, but it is full of gross on the inside. So he kinda gives all those examples. We're gonna talk about that in the object lessons too. But he just warns over and over again about hypocrisy.

I think his warning is, Artificial discipleship, he's saying it, it can't just be on the surface and it can't be a checklist and it needs to be coming from a deeper place. And so that's what he invites them to do. And you can see that [00:48:00] he warns about what happens if you don't. In fact, in 34, I thought it was really interesting.

So after he calls them a generation of vipers, like he's not, he's not pulling punches you guys in 34 he says, where for behold, I send it to you? Prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them you shall kill and crucify and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city.

For me, this is the savior's forward focus. He's saying, not only have I done this in the past, I'm gonna continue to send you help and you're gonna continue to push them aside, persecute them, kill them, even. That's gonna continue to happen. But I also think you can read that same verse and think. We're gonna continue to have prophets.

That is a promise from the savior that they will continue to come because no matter how far we fall, he, he seeks after us. He's always reaching after his children, even if they have rejected him. So I kind of love that promise. And then when you look in 37 and 38, this is where you see his lament, oh, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem thou that kills the prophets and stones [00:49:00] them, which are sent unto the, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen, gathered her chickens under her wings and ye would not. One of the things I noticed this time that I hadn't read before is that he talks about the children that he's seeking to help the next generations, and how often would he have protected that next generations if they would have let him and they wouldn't.

I love that visual of the hen. We talked about this a little bit before, but you know, a hen is just this mother figure that has no defensive. Strategy. She's not attacking the opponents. She's simply providing shelter for her chicks if they will choose to stay. And so she continually invites and creates this shelter and they have the freedom to go in and out.

But as they go out, they face the consequences. And you can see some of the consequences. In 38. Behold your house is left unto you desolate. This is one of the few places where he calls it your house, the temple that he's called his father's house, or my house is now your house. Cuz if you take the spirit of the [00:50:00] Lord out of it, it's just a house.

It's just a shell. And in fact, it'll be a shell that will be toppled. There will not be one stone left on top of another when the Romans come. And that's what he is trying to warn them about. He's just, he sees the future so clearly and he wants them to open their eyes.

[00:50:22] MARK 11

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Okay, we're gonna jump into Mark 11 now, and it's really similar to what we read in Matthew. This is the triumphal entry and the cursing of the fake tree and the questions about authority. There's a few key little things that I just thought were worth mentioning. First off, I really love what you see in 11 says, and Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple.

This is after the triumphal entry and when he had looked round, roundabout upon all things and now his even tag come and he went out into Bethany with the 12. We know all that for Matthew, but it's this. Looking at the temple first that I really liked because sometimes you, sometimes I picture the tossing of the tables as this, like he happens upon it and he's so angry, you know?

Cause he's already cleaned this once before [00:51:00] the beginning of his ministry. He already did this work. So he comes back and he is so angry. It's the fact that he maybe took a night to think about it or to think about how he should do it or to pray for guidance on the right way to go about it. That I really liked.

There's a quote from, I think it's President Hinkley. It's in the notes where he talked about how the turning of the tables and the casting out and cleansing the temple was not a moment of anger, it was a moment of rebuke. He is in control at all times, especially at this stage of his ministry. And so I think it's kind of powerful to see him take a night and sleep on this and then, Choose to cleanse the temple the next day.

I just, I don't know which one is right, if it happened in the order of Matthew or if Mark knew a little detail that maybe the others had forgotten, but I, I do like that addition of the night. Another one that you see in Mark that you don't get in the others is in verse 20. So this talking about the fig tree that we talked about before that had no fruit, had all these leafy branches but no fruit.

And so Jesus curses it and it withers away. In Mark, you get just this tiny edition in verse 20 it [00:52:00] says, and in the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. It's that little edition at the end that I really like. Um, I, I like it because of what we studied in Isaiah when we were in the Old Testament.

Do you remember how we studied about the tree that grows by living waters and it flourishes and it never stops producing fruit? I feel like this is why this is such a good. For the children of Israel at this time, when they lose connection to their God, when they lose connection to Jesus Christ, they will dry up from the roots.

That flow of living water is nowhere near them now, and when you take that water away, it dries up. It might look leafy for a little while, but it won't last. In fact, in 70 years it's, it falls apart. So I think that visual of the destruction that happens from the roots and then carries up was a powerful one to me.

I also love when he's teaching the apostles about, Faith and belief. You know, when they were asking you about, how'd you do that to the fig tree? And he says, if you believed you [00:53:00] could move mountains to the sea, that that visual. But he adds this additional thing about forgiveness. In 25, 26 and 27, he talks about how they're gonna need to forgive because their father in heaven will always forgive them as they forgive others.

This back and forth promise, what I like about this, they're gonna go out after he goes. And when they take the gospel to the world and they're gonna need to have eyes like the Savior has, they're gonna need to be able to look on someone like the woman taking in adultery and see what Jesus sees in her.

They're gonna need to be able to forgive offense and people who. You know what we've seen so far just in this week of study is that the savior is continually being attacked and he somehow continually forgives cuz he doesn't build up grudges and he is perfect. So he is able to forgive even these deep wounds and offenses and he's trying to teach them that that's a critical part of being able to do these miracles.

So I love that you see that in Mark and then at the end you see that same authority question. But one of the things I loved what that I read when I was in the Mark account, when you flip [00:54:00] the page, you can see that they're struggling. They say we cannot tell, we don't know which answer to say. And that idea of, you know, struggling between two opinions.

What I liked about this is, I can't remember if it was Elder Holland that I read, but he talked about how when we are in the struggle of decision, we are never. In neutral ground. In fact, you're in a current, so if you picture like your kids floating in a lazy river, like even if you stop moving, they're not paddling, they're not doing anything.

They're being carried somewhere, and I think that's the condition of the world that we're in. I think that's what it means to be a natural man, is that you're in a current, you're in a current that is trying to carry you towards what the natural man would choose, and you have to actively swim against the current.

What I love about that promise is as you visually picture yourself, like pushing against the current, you develop the spiritual stamina and muscles you need to be like our father in heaven. So that's what he is trying to get these scribes and Pharisees to do. He's like, you need to pay attention and [00:55:00] choose, make a choice, and then let me build you from here.

[00:55:11] LUKE 19

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In Luke 19, you're gonna read about the triumphal entry as well, but you get this little preview story that's only in Luke. This is about Zaks and his sycamore tree. I do love that in the chapter heading, what it says to sort of. Talk about that story as Jesus came to save souls. That's the story of Zakia.

It's about this man's soul being saved by the savior and being seen. So basically the story is that there's a man named Zakia who was very rich. You can see that in verse two. And behold, there was a man named Zakia, which was the chief among the Republicans and was rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who he was and could not for the press because he was little of stature.

So he's this little guy who's very wealthy, probably hated by everybody cuz he's a public, which means he's in alliance with the Romans. He collects taxes. Nobody likes those guys. And so he is struggling and he's little. So he is [00:56:00] trying to see Jesus. He's seeking him out and he. He can't. So he's proactive and he brushes the head of the parade route and gets in a tree and in the sycamore tree thinking he'll just at least be able to see the savior.

Savior sees him. So this is in verse five, and when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zakk, make haste and come down for today I must abide at thy house. I think just like we've studied over and over again, the Savior always seeks to give dignity. And in this moment, this man who is wealthy and probably respected for his wealth now gets respected for who he is cuz what the Savior will call him is a son of Abraham.

And as a son of Abraham and one who is seeking the savior, the savior says, Zak, I'm coming and I'm coming to your house. I think it's the same thing he does with the woman taking in adultery where he. He stops all those stones and he, you know, shields her. I think when he does this with Zakia or like the [00:57:00] woman with the issue of blood, who he elevates, you know, in that moment when other people would still push against her, he elevates her and says she is clean.

Basically what he's saying to Zaia says, you are clean. Your history of being a public is, is not what I see. You are a son of Abraham. It's the same promise I get when I read my patriarchal blessing. I am much bigger than this mortal world will try and limit me to, and that's what he sees in Zakia. So when you go a little bit further, you can see Zakia try to defend because in verse seven, people are murmuring against the savior saying you don't know who you're eating with.

Like you don't understand what house you're going to. He is a sinner, that's what they call him. And then an eight. I love Zia's response. He basically tries to defend who he is inside, even if they can't see it. And he says, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I've taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.

Republicans were known for, you know, Adding things to their purses and he is saying, if I happen to find out that [00:58:00] I did that, I make sure I restore it. Fourfold. I go over and above what is required. I don't know if this is something that's new for Zakia, like maybe he was, you know, like a Saul before and now he has come and he wants to be repentant or maybe he's always been this honest man and he's just been misjudged.

But you can see the Savior's response. He just sees him bigger this day, is salvation. Come to this house for as much as he is also a son of Abraham. And then in 10, for the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Zs will not stay unseen in that sycamore tree. For me, the story of Zakia gives me two big messages.

First, I love knowing that no matter how dark things get or how pushed outta the crowd I feel, or on the margins, I feel if I seek the savior, he'll see me wherever my sycamore tree is. If I am struggling and I am seeking to see him. He'll see me when I knock on the door. He opens it. That's the promise.

That's one big message from Zaki. He knows [00:59:00] your name. He'll call you down and he will give you dignity. The second thing I love is that he's reminding us that this is our job. This is almost like the Good Samaritan. You know, Jesus is demonstrating how we should treat other people that we shouldn't see divisions based on wealth or class.

We should be united. We should seek to see zk. He's somebody that you have every justification to hate if he's a tax collector, and the Savior's saying, yep, love him too. So I just think we should be watching the way the Savior was watching. I think it's why we need the gift to the Holy Ghost, you guys, because how would you see Zuki as otherwise?

I would walk past a hundred sig more trees and never look up unless the Holy Ghost prompted me to look up. So I think that's what he's asking us to do, is to see and to seek and to save as much as we can by bringing people to him. When you go a little bit further, you're gonna see the parable of the Pounds.

Now we're gonna go into this in a little more detail with the parable of the Talents, cuz it's kind of similar. The only big difference is the Parable of the Pounds [01:00:00] is catered towards those who are in this entourage with the Savior. So they're heading into Jerusalem with him, this big multitude of people, and they think that he's gonna come in and conquer the city because a lot of the prophecies sound like that.

When you read the Old Testament, they, especially the writings of David, like they sound very conquering and he's trying to help them understand. What he's coming to conquer. And so he gives a parable of the pounds. I think the parable of the Pounds is designed to teach us what we're supposed to do in the interim.

So while we're waiting for the savior to come, again, it's the same idea of you've been given a stewardship, I need you to increase it. Uh, so you're gonna see that story play out where an owner gives a certain amount of money to each differing amounts of money to different servants, and he expects them to increase it while he's away.

And then when he comes back, some of the servants doubled their money. Some of them you know, had a little increase and some, and one who had one pound hid it in a napkin and did nothing with it. And so he's the one that gets rebuked by the owner for not doing anything. And I think the idea is for us [01:01:00] to understand that in this time, while we wait for the savior to come, we're supposed to dig deep on our stewardships.

One of the quotes I loved and I, for life, me, I can't remember, I wanna say this is Elder Holland. I'll try and find it and put it in the notes, but he talked, no, I think it was Neely Maxwell. Anyway, he talked about how when there is judgment. Your degree of difficulty will be factored in, which I just loved.

It's kind of like if you've ever seen, you know, diving at the Olympics, the degree of difficulty is factored in. I know this cuz I remember watching the Olympics as a kid and you'd see somebody make a big splash and you'd be like, how did they get a 9.3? And then the older you got, the more you realized, oh it's cuz he did this really tricky move on the way down.

So he's allowed a little more splash. That's the promise. I think it was El Maxwell where he's like, your stewardship is factored in. So if you're dealing with a lot of really hard things, and I know a lot of people who have really hard things, much harder than my stewardship, and I love knowing that the degree of difficulty of their stewardship [01:02:00] is factored in.

He doesn't care about numbers, he doesn't care how much they produce, how many pounds they increase. All he cares is that, did you try to increase? Where was the desire of your heart? Did you hide what I gave you in a napkin because you were so afraid that you wouldn't be able to increase it? Or did you try, did you work?

Did you increase? So that's, that's what he is warning about. And then he talks about the consequences. So in 26 says, before I say unto you, that unto everyone which half shall be given. And for him, the half, not even he that shall be taken away from him. That can seem like a really harsh statement. You know this happens.

The guy that just had one pound, he has to give it to the guy that had 10 pounds, cuz he is actively increasing and it seems sort of harsh. The thing that helped me understand it was if I put it like in muscle terms, so those who are actively increasing their muscles, they will. Do more physical things and they will continue to increase their muscles at an exponential rate, where those of us who don't increase our muscles and stop working out, we, we can't [01:03:00] have that increase.

You have to be in motion for, for that promise to be fulfilled. And, uh, go a little bit further and you can see the same, the ride into Jerusalem and the weeping over the city. Just in the Luke account, you get a little more detail about the prophecies of the savior, about what will happen to the city, that it will be encompassed about by soldiers, that every stone of that temple will be leveled.

Uh, those are things that will very literally come to pass cuz all the things that the savior says will very literally come to pass. Uh, we'll see those coming up pretty soon.

[01:03:38] LUKE 20

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We're gonna breeze through Luke 20, simply because I really wanna leave some space for John soon. But this is really similar to what you're reading, Matthew. So this is when he's approached by all those different antagonist groups and they're trying to trip him up on his words and they just can't do it.

You're gonna see questions about authority, questions about whether he should pay tribute to Rome, questions about resurrection, even that parable of the tenant [01:04:00] farmers, or the husbandman and the the son and air who gets killed. All of that is in this chapter. We've just already studied it, but I do really like the flow that you can see in Luke 20.

So you see the value of the Holy Ghost. In fact, I love the promise that you read in doctrine covenants. It's 84 1 16 is what I wrote in my margins. This is where it says like, let him trust in me and he shall not be confounded. That's, that's the promise of the Holy Ghost, that when you are worthy of it, it will help you not be confounded.

No matter how many enemies are coming from how many different directions, you will not be thrown over. So if you look in 20, you can see that they're trying to take hold of his words. You can see in 23, he perceived their craftiness and said into them, why tempting me? And then by 40 and after they, and after that, they durst not ask him any question at all.

That's what it means to trust in the Lord. You will not be confounded because he's got truth on his side. And truth confounds light will always chase away darkness every single time. [01:05:00] And you see that in spades in Luke chapter 20.

[01:05:09] JOHN 12

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In the John account, you get the triumphal entry as well. But before this, you get the story of Mary and at Martha's house and the anointing of the Savior. What I think is really cool about the way this is structured, this is six days before the Passover begins, so this is kind of the earliest chapter of all the ones we've studied today, and he's coming there.

I imagine for some respite it sounds like it's a dinner of the apostles and the Savior, Mary Martha, the risen Lazarus. Is there I, I think this is a rejoicing gathering and there are two things that happen. First, I love that it says Martha served. I think this is her nature to serve and that's a beautiful thing.

What she doesn't do this time that she did last time was she doesn't judge. There's no judgment of Mary. Mary still isn't in the kitchen helping her. Mary is anointing the feet of the savior, and I think Mary and Martha have both [01:06:00] advanced in their discipleship a little bit where they have come to terms with.

What things look like and when it's, when it's a good time to do certain things, and I love that you can see that in these women. So she's not judged by her sister this time. She's judged by an apostle. The apostle is Judas, who questions whether or not she should have done this generous thing. So you can see in three.

Then Mary took a pound of ointment of Spikenard, very costly and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. First off. I love that he mentions the smell. I wonder sometimes if this smell of Spikenard brings John back to this key moment, and if he can never smell Spikenard again without thinking of this moment, you know, the same way, like I can smell my mom's cha bread and it immediately takes me back to my childhood.

Or I can smell fresh cut grass and it takes me back to recess for some reason, like I can, that's the power of smell. So I wonder if. These memories are linked in John's mind. The question Mary gets from [01:07:00] Judas is, shouldn't we have sold this? Which is interesting cuz we just studied that with the rich young ruler, right?

Well, the, where the savior said, sell everything that you have, develop charity, and follow me. I think this is one of the ways you can see that it's not about the money to the savior. It's about where is your heart. And Mary's heart in this moment is all in, it's almost like she can understand in this key moment that she needs to love God first and then love her fellow men and in, and she chose to make this offering.

So he lets her make this offering. What's interesting is, so this, this ARD was essentially the equivalent of a year's wages, which would've bought about 5,000 meals from the scholars that I studied. That's a, that's a big cost. Judas, who is the one judging her for it, he will betray the savior for a third of this price.

I. We'll talk more about Judas next week, but I think, uh, the Savior's response in this moment is powerful. He gives dignity to Mary and he corrects Judas in this quick response. [01:08:00] So he says in seven, let her alone against the day of my burying. Has she kept this? You go on the jst, you can get a little more depth there.

It says, for she has preserved this ointment until now that she might anno me in the token of my burial. Mary knows something about what is coming and she wants a chance to anoint. I don't know. I don't know exactly what all this means. What I do know is that traditionally where women would've been the ones who anointed the body of the Savior, when he does die, it's men that go right when Nicodemus goes and Joseph goes like, others go.

And I think it's really interesting that it's not Mary and Martha. And I wonder if, if this is her moment where the Savior maybe has already said to her, you're not gonna be able to come when I go, because of the press, because of the people who will be following and stalking that too. I don't want you there.

We're gonna let men do that. I would like. This is a different moment, you know, this week before she gets to anoint and give her gift. I don't know how that all shook out, but I like his warmth in it. I also think it's really [01:09:00] powerful that what he says next for the poor always you will have with you, but me you have not always.

I think it's um, It's a warning to all of them and a and a teaching moment. They just don't quite understand it yet. And I don't know if they can't understand it because of a lack of the spirit that's there yet, or if they just can't quite bring themselves to believe it's million 16. You can see why it says these things understood not his disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him.

That's why I remember. I wonder if the Spikenard brought this back to John's memory, if someday passing in a market or something. He smelled that smell and it brought him back to this moment and he thought, I've gotta write this down. Cause remember, John's account comes at the end after all the other gospels have been written, and he's writing to those who are already believing, who are shaking in their faith a little bit or are being persecuted, and he's trying to help people understand, no, I remember.

I remember what happened and I remember that Mary knew [01:10:00] and that the savior testified that this would happen. And so you can see him putting these pieces together. And then you have the triumphal entry. So just like we read in other chapters, he comes in amidst all this praise after this anointing from Mary.

And then in 19 you see the effect the Pharisees are watching and they say, behold the world has gone after him. This is a massive multitude that is following and believing the words of this Galilean prophet. And they are fearful because they are someone who they need public opinion. That's why you see them faltering between two opinions all the time in their other discourses, because they need the public to have any power.

They don't have any legitimate authority. They need the public to think they are pious and wonderful and worthy of following. So they're, they're struggling. They also need Rome to stay on their side so they don't get, you know, decimated. So they're walking this tight line. But I love that when the Savior's approached by strangers, gentiles, even they, they call them Greeks.

We don't know exactly who these people are. They seek to see Jesus and he. [01:11:00] Response. So in 23, Jesus answered them saying The hour is come that the son of man to be glorified. You know, way back at the beginning when we were in Cana, that marriage supper where he says, my hour is not yet come like this. Now his hour is here and he has the composure in this moment to speak it clearly.

This is why I picture him like a Eddi or Joseph. Remember when we studied in the doctrine covenant, when he's on his way and he says, it's like I was calm as a summer's morning or something like that. It's, there is a. The time is now. I know the time is now. And so there is a steadiness in him. That doesn't mean however, that he doesn't have worries, which I thought was really poignant.

It made me relate to him better. So he talks about wheat and how wheat has to die in order for the berries to be given and it to become nourishing to others. So he compares himself to wheat and then he says this interesting thing in 27. Now, is my soul troubled? And what shall I say, father saved me from this hour.

But for this cause came I in under this hour. [01:12:00] I think he's troubled not because of what's ahead of him. I think he's been preparing for that his whole life. I think he's probably troubled for what he leaves behind. The same way I think Joseph Smith wasn't calm as the summers morning when he thought about Emma or thought about his children or thought about the church that would need to carry on without him.

He knew they were in good hands, but that doesn't mean he's not troubled. And I, I love that. I think you can be full of faith and still be troubled for the people who are facing the ramifications of what you have to do. And so he, he kind of teaches me about that in these verses and then he talks about his hour and why it's worth it.

Um, father glorify thy name, then came there, a voice from heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorify it again when he takes this moment to testify that the hours come. And even though I am troubled, I will not pass up this bitter cup. I will drink it. It almost like bursts the veil and you get this thundering voice from heaven.

That's what it says in 29. The people stood that. The [01:13:00] people therefore, that stood by and heard it, said that it thundered others, said an angel spanked him. It is this piercing of the veil that reaffirms who he is so that he has this like jolt of strength before he heads into this incredibly hard week.

And I just love it. You just find yourself wondering like, how does he have this poise and this composure? And I think he is troubled and he's sad for what he has to leave behind. And he's sad for all the people that wouldn't come. You know, he looks at them like, oh, you fair ones. I just finished the Book of Mormon and I like poor Mormon watches, like his whole civilization fall apart and he can just see so much.

And I feel like that's what the savior is saying. He loved his life. I think it's one of the things I love about the series, the chosen is you see the the savior delight in his mortal life. I think the savior loved his life. He just loved God more. He will always love God more. And what God asked him to do is to level all of us, which meant he had to die.

That's, [01:14:00] that's, that's the, the role he's been asked to, uh, I should say. It's the role he volunteered to take on and so he does. When you turn the page, you see him try to teach that to as many as who will listen until in 32 and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This said, he's signifying what death he should die.

He has to be lifted up on this cross to pull like a magnet. All those who will come to him and to partake of this gift of salvation and exaltation that he makes available and then he encourages them to just walk. I, you guys, I just love go slow at the end of John. It says in 35, and then Jesus said unto them, yet a little while is the light with you walk while you have the light less darkness come upon you.

For he that not he that walketh and darkness know, if not whether he go with, while you have the light, believe in the light that you may be the children of the light. I think it's this. Optimism, despite the fact that there's so much hard and there's so much looming, he has this [01:15:00] optimism of, I'm here. I'm right here.

Soak in the light and walk. I think it's the same thing our prophets and apostles are inviting us to do right now. Yes, the world is in commotion, and yes, it will probably get worse, but we have light and we have to walk in it. We have to step forward and continue to grow and to develop. We can't be like the scribes in the Pharisees with their blinded eyes.

In fact, I love what you see in 40. It says, well, in 39, therefore, they could not believe because Isaiah said again. So people despite the miracles, don't believe, and so he quotes Isaiah again and he says he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes, no understand with their heart and be converted that I should heal them.

I love that. Two of the last big miracles we saw before the entry into Jerusalem. Is that he opens the eyes of the blind, like we said last week, and he softens a hard, lifeless heart of Lazarus. After four days, he brings life back to it again, and I just think he's pleading with any who will [01:16:00] listen to let their wounds be seen to strip away all this show and this pretended discipleship and let their wounds be seen that he might heal them.

In fact, it's my favorite way to think about the atonement. When you think about the atonement as a covering, which is what that word means, that cafa, that covering, I like to think of it like a bandage. It is something that is designed to cover a wound so that it can heal. It's not something that covers to hide away, it covers to keep clean and to give it time to heal so that it can become something.

Better than it was before. That's what he's inviting all of us to. It's just this opportunity to be healed. So when you go a little further in 46, I am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

That's the God we worship. He is the God who even in these last tender moments is seeking to pull us in. In fact, he'll voluntarily be lifted [01:17:00] up so that he can draw all men on. Tim, that's a pretty powerful way to end this chapter.

[01:17:14] CREATIVE PREVIEW

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Woo. We made it all right you guys. I know that was a lot, but hopefully none of us will ever look at the triumphal entry the same again, there's so much surrounding it to study that I hope you love it just a little bit more. In addition to that, I hope you love it so much that you're eager to teach it to somebody else.

A big part of this course is to try and find ways to creatively teach what we're learning to our classes or our families. So this is the creative side of week 20 where we walk through some of the object lessons. I've got three in store for you today. I'm hoping that you'll either try these or just let them spark ideas in your own mind, cuz there are countless ways you could teach these principles to your kids.

But let me walk you through the basics and then for those of you who are in the full course, then I'll take you a little deeper into each one and give you the principles and the notes and all the tools to pull them off. The [01:18:00] first one involves a simple principle that looks like this. We're talking about the two great commandments.

So I'm laying out what the two great commandments are and then showing how the actual 10 Commandments can break into each of those categories. Which is great, all on its own, but I really wanted to show what the savior taught in Matthew about how those lead into each other. How loving God helps us love our neighbors, even better.

So this is when you're going to take this printable and turn it into this printable. So I'll show you how to weave these together in order to create, uh, a visual of that. Both of these commandment categories are all about love, and I'll teach you how. Okay. The second one is maybe the more mischievous of all three.

This is, we're gonna talk about hypocrisy you guys, and you could take the Savior's object lesson of a cup that is dirty on the inside and clean on the outside. And that would work great. But I wanted something just a little more. Surprising. So I decided to create some things that were packaged in a beautiful way, but were gross on the inside.

And I have to tell you, my very favorite one wasn't [01:19:00] orange. So if you wanna do this activity, you wanna get these tiny clementine size oranges. You wanna look for the ones that have like a little bump where the stem used to be, um, and you're gonna step them with something disgusting, and I'm gonna teach you how, so that when your kids peel these open grossness falls out and it's shocking and so delightful if you, if that's not an option for you or that's a little tricky, you could pull off the same thing with these little snack bags.

You could fill them with things like dog food or whatever you come up with that's gross. And teach the same basic principles. So whichever one, fruit, snacks, whatever you happen to have on hand. But I thought the fruit was definitely the coolest. So if you can grab Clementines, go pick those up. The third one is to talk about zakk and what it means to be seen by God, for him to know your name and how we should be looking for the zia's in our life.

I should warn you though that it's also craft week on the chart. So that means we're gonna make a craft that's a little bit more elaborate and time consuming. So for those of you who've been in the course for a while, you [01:20:00] know this principle, I, I a adapted a little bit this time we used this to teach the parable, the all allegory of the olive tree, and we lit it on fire and the doctor, there are so many beautiful scriptures about trees that I think having a cool way to create one is so worth your time.

So this is kind of, the teenage adult version has tiny little leaves. You're gonna make it out of a paper bag and use the printable. You can also probably see that there is a tiny little Zs in this tree. That's so you can talk to your kids about the, the story of Zakia and being seen. I know it looks intimidating.

It's just too cool not to make, I do have a younger kid version on the printable that has bigger leaves and not quite so many, so that you have a couple options at your disposal. But trust me, in the making of this tree, you'll be able to teach your kids a really beautiful lesson about being seen by God and trying to see others as well.

So if you get those supplies for this one, all you need is the printable and then a paper bag. I did find that if I got the paper bags that were jumbo size, so not the standard lunch bag size, but one step up. I found 'em at Walmart in a pack [01:21:00] of, I think 40 for a couple bucks. So if you have that on hand, then you'll be good to go.

All right, you guys, that's your supplies list. Now let's get into the details.

[01:21:08] WRAP UP

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Okay, everybody. That is it for week 20. All I know you have a lot of ground to cover, but remember, do what you can. I mean, that's a resounding message from what we actually are studying. You don't have to cover it all. You don't have to learn it all this time.

Do what you can and then ask the Lord to multiply it and he will, and then go and teach it. Whether you use one of my object lessons or your own or some spinoff, find some way to teach it to your kids, to your classes, to your spouse, whoever. You can teach these beautiful doctrines and then let the spirit.

Resonate into your heart. That's what I found as I teach it to you guys and to my own family, that it solidifies it in my own heart and makes it last. So hopefully that happens for you as well. Do you have questions? You're welcome to join me on Instagram. That's 10:00 AM on Monday. As always, that's mountain time.

So if you wanna join me, if you're on Instagram and you follow me at meck mom life, [01:22:00] it will alert you when I go live and you can join or you can watch it later. I think it stays up for a week or two depending on how, how long it takes me to remember to take it down so you can see it for a while. You are also welcome to message me either on YouTube at a comment, or if you want to, if you're in the course, you can leave something on the discussion boards and I should be able to see it.

For those of you in the podcast, you're looking to share it with others or leave a review, I would be so grateful. That's what makes the podcast invisible to other people. So if you have time to leave even just a sentence or two review, that'd be fantastic. But otherwise, I hope you enjoy week 20. You guys, there's some incredible scriptures to study and a lot of great ways to teach it.

So enjoy this week and I'll see you guys on Monday.