Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20-21 Part 1 • Dr. Ross Baron • June 26 - July 2

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

Which is the greatest of all miracles? Dr. Ross Baron examines the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, making all other miracles probable.00:00 Part 1–Dr. Ross Baron00:35 Introduction of D...r. Ross Baron02:18 What happens to us when we die?05:19 Prophets, apostles, and the scriptures testify of life after death08:24 Take away Easter and there is no Christmas09:55 Whom shall I send?11:45 The five themes of this reading block14:42 Luke 24 and the first day of the week17:14 Leviticus 23 and types of the Savior23:38 Women go to the tomb26:30 Judas wanting to sell oil for the poor29:42 What scriptures don’t I understand?30:03 The Second Coming parallels32:16 Priesthood power creates miracles35:06 What if they had gone to Galilee immediately?37:42 The dead are in the temple40:02 President Nelson gives a copy of  the Book of Mormon42:23 How many angels at Jesus’s tomb43:53 John waits at the tomb entrance/Peter’s role47:22 Elder Christofferson states John was the first to comprehend50:45 Distractions and Mary seeing the resurrected Lord55:02 Meaning of “Hold me not”58:34 Road to Emmaus1:00:27 Jesus refers to himself as Christ for the first time1:05:52 End of Part 1–Dr. Ross BaronPlease rate and review the podcast.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.coFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, my friends. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith. I'm your host, and I'm here with my shining co-host, John, by the way. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him, John. Thank you, my shining. I got to dub myself here. Yes, we've got to get makeup in here.
Starting point is 00:00:19 Makeup. In the stories we're going to read today, there's a lot of shining people. And so I thought, well, that's John. John fits right in with what we're going to read about today. Right back at you. We are going to have a lot of fun in these scriptures. We have a wonderful guest back with us, John. Who's joining us? Yes, we have Dr. Ross Barron back with us.
Starting point is 00:00:37 And I'm so excited about this. I had a lot of people comment on when he was with us in those last chapters of Isaiah in our Old Testament podcast and some of the amazing things that he has done in stories He told being in Southern California, so we're really glad to have him back. I'm excited. I just know I'm gonna learn a lot and I've got my pen and pencils ready. He was born and raised in Southern California, joined the church at age 18. He told us about that last time. Served admission to Argentina. When he returned home, he met Felna Love with Kathleen Ann Bolton, and they were married in a Los Angeles temple. They have nine children, five boys and four girls. He received a bachelor's degree from BYU Probe on Finance, Masters in PhD from USC in religion and social ethics.
Starting point is 00:01:25 And after 12 years of being institute director and coordinator came to teach at BYU Idaho in the summer of 2005. And I just loved this part of his bio. He has this little section called, Unique Things I Have Done. He went on the prices right, went to stove, a mop, and a barrel sauna.
Starting point is 00:01:47 That's awesome. Went on the history channel to represent the church. So one of the things that we talked about on our last podcast is he led community fire sides about the church where thousands attended and somewhere featured on the website fairlbs.org. Play drums with the group of institute students at the Hard Rock Cafe in Los Angeles. But mostly he loves to teach and learn loves being in the classroom with students. And we're, we're your students today. We're really glad to have you back. Well, appreciate it. Great to be back. Thank you both of you. Lesson today is entitled. He is risen. And these are some of the most incredible chapters
Starting point is 00:02:24 in all of scripture. And we we're gonna cover a lot of them Not just one or two, but there is a handful of amazing chapters here. So where do you want to go? So grateful that have the opportunity and I actually feel humbled and privileged to be able to talk about he is risen I mean in some ways we can say Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20 and 21 are the capstones of the Gospels. This is it. So I wanted to do a little thing with both of you in terms of kind of, as you know I'm a convert to the church. I was born into Judaism and converted into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when I was 18 years old.
Starting point is 00:03:06 And I was raised, wonderful parents, wonderful family, taught good values, but my main question was, what happens when you die? That like literally was my, even as a young age, I kind of was like, hey, so what happens when you die? Now Judaism is a big river and lots of different beliefs, but I'm going to read just a short quote of like what my rabbis view was. And then I want both, John, I'd love for you and Hank to kind of imagine you're a 17-year old, you're sitting in synagogue, and your question is, what happens when you die? And this is the quote you get. Now this is actually from a quote from Richard L. Rubenstein in a book called The Making of
Starting point is 00:03:51 a Rabbi. And here's the quote, even as a child, I believe that when I died, the whole world of my existence would disappear with me. My world would last only as long as I did. I was convinced that I had arisen out of nothingness, and in the final analysis, omnipotent nothingness was Lord of all creation. We have nothing to hope for beyond what we are capable of creating in the time we have a lot of to us. Nevertheless, in the final analysis, all things crumble away into the nothingness, which is at the beginning and end of creation." Wow. So John Hank, seriously, you're 17 years old.
Starting point is 00:04:37 What are you thinking? My first thought is, this is so pointless, like he said, there's nothing to hope for. That would be the hard part, where's hope? Hank, any thoughts? It reminds me of a quote. It's an old quote from, from Euripides. He was mourning someone in death. He just cried out, come back, even just as a shadow, just as a dream, right?
Starting point is 00:05:04 Anything at all. Give me some glimmer that you still live it sounds like that quote is saying you don't have that glimmer no you don't have that hope and you need to accept that that's just tragic in every way and it is and so this is kind of what i'm being taught So this is kind of what I'm being taught, but what's so fascinating is that within me, there's something saying that's absolutely not true. Now, I don't know that, but in my spirit, I said, that can't be true, that can't be true. And I think what Satan tries to do is to convince us,
Starting point is 00:05:42 not only is there not an answer, but maybe we can never know the answer. And the ringing testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, modern prophets and apostles, the prophet of the restoration, Joseph Smith, is that not only is it true that we do have life after death and that God lives and that there is a resurrection, but we can know it too.
Starting point is 00:06:06 We can absolutely know it. And so, I wanted to start off, because for me, this is real, this is very personal. The resurrection accounts mean everything to me. I wanted to frame it. I know it was depressing. And both of you should have seen your faces. I mean, you guys, I ended that quote in both of you are like,
Starting point is 00:06:23 ugh, you know, because that's what that quote does. But what's so fascinating is I think a lot of the world might believe that right now that that's the case. We have the opportunity today to talk about the fact that a that's just not true and be we can know for ourselves that it's not true which is awesome. Okay, and then I wanted to frame it with one other interesting story. So this is now probably 25, three years ago, I'm married, I'm back from my mission, I'm a member of the church, but I'm driving in a car with a friend of mine who has this belief and his father had just died. We weren't talking and then he finally said to me, how could all these people be driving on the
Starting point is 00:06:59 freeway? How could the sun come up this morning? How could the flowers bloom? How could anything be living when my dad just died? Yeah, how can life continue? How could this even be? And I said, the reason it can be, the reason the flowers bloom and these people drive and the sun came up, is because your dad's not dead. Your dad's alive and you're gonna be able to see him again.
Starting point is 00:07:25 And man, you should see, just looked at me because I was so intent about it. Are you serious? I said, I'm serious with all my heart. That's why the flowers can bloom and the sun can come up because otherwise, it shouldn't. You're right. You are right.
Starting point is 00:07:40 So anyway, I wanted to frame it because when we talk about this and sometimes when we talk about scriptures and we go into academic mode or we're teachers and we kind of slide into this mood, this is very real. It's visceral for me because I wasn't raised with it. John and Hank, I think, and a lot of our listeners, Easter was something you guys did.
Starting point is 00:07:59 You were raised with it and kind of part and parcel of your lives. It wasn't for me. I wanted to also quote the prophet Joseph, maybe again to make sure that we're centered here. And you all have heard this. This is from the teachings of the prophet Joseph's myth, page 49, quote,
Starting point is 00:08:14 the fundamental principles of our religion, quoting the prophet Joseph, are the testimony of the apostles and prophets both living in a lie by, he doesn't say that, that's my bracketing there concerning Jesus Christ That he died was buried and rose again the third day and ascended into heaven and all other things Which pertained to our religion are only appendages to it Wow
Starting point is 00:08:41 Like okay, there's the focus right there and that's the privilege we have to talk about the fact that he died, he was buried, and he rose again. There's nothing better. And then Elder Gary Stevenson from the last general conference, April 2023, he's quoting NT Wright, who's not a Latter-day Saint, but he's a great Christian scholar. Take Christmas away, do you guys remember this?
Starting point is 00:09:03 And in biblical terms, you lose two chapters in the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away and you don't have a New Testament. You don't have a Christianity. Unquote, wow. That great. Isn't that amazing? And we heard that repeatedly at General Conference,
Starting point is 00:09:23 didn't we get that impression? We have got to make Easter in our minds and hearts at what it really is, a bigger than Christmas, you know. Oh, that's right. I was reading in the Bible dictionary before we started, and it says, under miracles, Christianity, this is the world's largest religion, is founded on the greatest of all miracles, the resurrection of our Lord. And then this statement, if that be admitted, meaning if you and I believe in the resurrection, other miracles cease to be improbable, that all comes down to this.
Starting point is 00:09:55 That's exactly right. And I know this isn't in the Gospels, but it's in the book of Romans. Paul, if we want to turn to Romans chapter 1, I love this ringing declaration, which I find to be inspiring and I hope inspiring to others. So this is Romans chapter 1. He says, Paul, I'm in verse 1, a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle, separated, look at this, unto the gospel of God. I think, preach my gospel missionaries know this, that it is the gospel of God the Father. There aren't two plans. The one question was the Father had,
Starting point is 00:10:33 wasn't how do I save humanity? The question was, whom shall I send to fulfill the terms and conditions of the plan? It is the gospel of God, and then I love this, verse three, concerning his his son Jesus Christ. The gospel of God concerning his son Jesus Christ, verse 4, and declared to be the son of God
Starting point is 00:10:55 with power according to the spirit of holiness, how by the resurrection from the dead. Gives me goosebumps, those four verses, Paul in an inspired, such a succinct, crisp way, the gospel of God concerning his son, Jesus Christ, and declared to be the Son of God, how by the resurrection from the dead. If there is no resurrection, he's not the Son of God, he's not the Christ. So I thought
Starting point is 00:11:26 this idea of introducing kind of what we're talking about with this ringing testimony from Paul and Romans. What a way to frame it. He's declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection. And that is power. Now, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you guys have been doing the podcast now in the New Testament for a while. And we all know they have different audiences, right? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John written at different times, different sources, and there's all kinds of discussions about that. But I wanted to look through and find maybe some key thematic points in all of the Gospels, if that's okay. Here's a common theme. Women come to the tomb early in the morning, the first day of the week, with a concern about the stone. Number two, angels are there, divine, authorized messengers.
Starting point is 00:12:16 Number three, there's an imperative from the angels to go tell the disciples and others, by the way. So if you read carefully, the 11 are mourning and weeping, but there's others there as well. So it's like, you gotta go tell them. The fourth common theme is unbelief. Now, I know that sounds strange, but, and I'm gonna talk about that more, but they don't believe it.
Starting point is 00:12:42 The fifth common theme, of course, is the Savior shows up. Now, he doesn't just show up. He also goes through kind of an interesting process. Number one, peace be unto you. But then he's gonna do some instruction. He's going to approve them for unbelief. And then he's going to require,
Starting point is 00:13:04 and I'm gonna talk about this more too, that they physically feel him, and he's going to eat with them, and he's going to commission them. Because you might say, okay, so cool, he resurrected. Now what? He's going to be like, okay, no, this is the deal. I am resurrected. The redemption is complete. Now you have to go tell the world. So there's these common elements, women at the tomb early in the morning, first day of the week, there's a stone, angels are there. You've got to go tell the disciples. There's unbelief. The Savior shows up. Peace be unto you. A little bit of a reproof for the idea of you have not believed. And then what we're going to do is we're going to feel me, we're going to eat with me, and then I'm going to commission you. And then
Starting point is 00:13:47 interesting. So there's that kind of pattern that ties through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And of course, if we're thinking, it's 3 Nephi 11 as well. We might call that the 5th Gospel in some ways. But there's that exact same kind of idea that thematic elements that proceed through third Nephi as well, which is again, a powerful testimony that we're all aligned. Now, there are nuances.
Starting point is 00:14:11 Anybody who's read carefully the Matthew, Mark, Luke, John accounts knows that there's nuances and different sequencing a little bit and there's some things and we try to harmonize it. I'm not sure their intent was to harmonize it. I'm pretty confident it wasn't, but they all ring true on these basic powerful elements. That's okay.
Starting point is 00:14:31 I think that that's exactly right. We don't get caught up on details, one or two angels. What exactly did they say? But you got these similar pillars through every single account, through every single story. Awesome. I wanted to use Luke 24 in my class, I was called, we're going to use this as the spine, meaning kind of, we're going to use this as kind of, we're going to guide us,
Starting point is 00:14:51 but we're going to use the Luke account. That's going to allow us to go to the Mark account, and the John account, and the Matthew account, if that's okay. And if we could just start in Luke chapter 24, verse one. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, notice the time mentions. Every gospel writer, the first day of the week, so they want you to know it's Sunday morning. And then very early in the morning, so that's the second time reference. Now keep your finger here.
Starting point is 00:15:23 Again, we're going, go to Mark 16. And in Mark 16, look at the time references. It's fascinating. So we're in verse one, Mark 16. And when the Sabbath was passed, time reference one, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, had bought sweet spices that they might come and annoy him.
Starting point is 00:15:43 Very early in the morning, second time reference. First day of the week, third time reference, they came into the sublicker at the rising of the sun, fourth time reference. And by the way, we'll just use Luke and Mark in that case. Matthew brings it up three times. John brings it up twice. They want you to know, it is the first day of the week. It is very early in the morning. And they're coming to do this thing. Clearly we have symbolism here and I think of, you know, the day dawn is breaking him 52. We've got the death of the old day, the dawning of the new day, and old dispensation is folding away. A new dispensation is coming in.
Starting point is 00:16:20 And also what's super significant, and I love making old testament connections, is the idea that it's on Sunday. You guys know that the Sabbath in the Holy Land is a big deal, right? I mean, it's Saturday, right? It's a big deal. But this is happening on Sunday, and some people like, what's going on? And I want to suggest that this idea of the gospel writers mentioning the time, it's this first day of the week, it's early in the morning and it's going to brighten as the day goes, right? And the revelation, and again, elder Bednar, you know, sometimes it's super bright right away, but sometimes it's gradual. It seems like this is a gradual one. Even though this is the
Starting point is 00:17:00 most astonishing and astounding things that could possibly happen. This is a gradual kind of unfolding as the darkness goes to dawn and as the day increases the realization of what has actually happened. But I'd love to make another connection here. In Leviticus 23, it has essentially the Holy Calendar. So this is the Holy Calendar that goes on. And if we can turn to Lividicus 23, how many times have you been asked to turn to Lividicus 23 in your life?
Starting point is 00:17:30 I tell my students, gonna be their favorite chapter when we're done doing it in class. So Lividicus 23 goes through the Holy Calendar. Now there's something super interesting here. So you have in verse five, it says, in the 14th day of the first month, now the first month in the Hebrew calendar is not January. This isn't a modern calendar, it's spring.
Starting point is 00:17:53 The other thing they have to understand is that the Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar, so dates can shift a little bit. So Passover can be late March, early April. It's not some fixed time. So they have the Passover. And then right the next day, verse six, on the 15th day of the same month, is the feast of unleavened bread. Now look at this.
Starting point is 00:18:15 And the seven days you must eat unleavened bread. Now, John and Hank, tell our listeners, what's unleavened bread? It doesn't have yeast in it, so it doesn't rise. Right. And the bread, they call it, it's matza. And you've had matza. Well, it's not, it's not great, but I think you put enough butter and cheese on
Starting point is 00:18:37 anything and we can eat it. But the matza is the unleavened bread, right? And in fact, they're so concerned with the leavening idea. It's seven days that there's traditions about getting the leavened bread, right? And in fact, they're so concerned with the leavening idea. It's seven days that there's traditions about getting the leaven out of your house and all these kind of interesting things. And even in some ideas that if you eat leaven during the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, you are cut off from among the people. Okay, that's how serious this is. But like you brought up, it's the rising agent of the bread, right? It's the yeast. The next holy day.
Starting point is 00:19:08 So we go to verse 10, speak under the chorn of Israel and say into them, when you become into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof. Now the first harvest in spring is going to be barley and wheat. That was sown in the fall. And now this is the first harvest, is Barley and Wheat. When you come into the land, which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then shall ye bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest under the priest. Now notice this, verse 11, and the priest, this authorized messenger of
Starting point is 00:19:41 God, he shall wave the sheaf offering before the Lord to be accepted for you underline asterisk triple exclamation point on the next line on the Morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it Literally, let's let's think in our minds what this priest is doing. He's taking the first fruits of the harvest from the fall, now we're reaping it in the spring. And he's going to actually lift it up and wave it before God.
Starting point is 00:20:17 What day of the week is he doing that on? Sunday, on the morrow after the Sabbath. So Paul, 1 Corinthians 15 says, verse 20, but now is Christ risen from the dead, being the first fruits of them that slapped. He's directly tying it back to Leviticus 23. Jesus is the first fruits. There was no resurrection before Christ's resurrection. None. People were brought back from the dead, but they had to die again. Jesus is the first fruit. There was no resurrection before Christ's resurrection.
Starting point is 00:20:45 None. People were brought back from the dead, but they had to die again. Sometimes my students are a little confused. Like, well, Lazarus was resurrected. No, Lazarus was not resurrected then. In John 11, that's Lazarus. His spirit had to come from the spirit world
Starting point is 00:21:00 back into the mortal body. And then he lived, but then eventually had to die again. What this is pointing to, and again, all things point to Christ, Mosiah 13, 2nd Nephi 11, they're teaching us that the law of Moses is a type and a shadow for Christ and the plan. This is amazing.
Starting point is 00:21:17 Now wait, I'm not done. The next holy day, he's gonna say this, verse 15, and you shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the way chief of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall be complete. Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall you number 50 days. Again, the sevenths I can be on Sunday. And you shall offer a new meat offering, but look in the middle of verse 17. They shall be bacon with leaven. In the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened, no leaven.
Starting point is 00:21:48 In fact, if you have leaven, you could be cut off from among the people. Then we do the way of offering, we raise it up, and then we have the day of Pentecost, 50 days later, and now your sacrifices are going to have leaven. Why? Well, before Christ had it written, the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread is his atonement and his death.
Starting point is 00:22:11 The wave offering is the resurrection, the feast of Panic Pentecost, outpouring of the Holy Ghost. Now you keep leaven in it. Jesus is risen from the dead. Isn't that awesome? Yeah, that's fantastic. So the first day of the week, so I'm making this big deal, Luke 24, one Matthew, Mark 16, one Matthew 28, one John 20, verse one, because they all the gospel writers talk about it and you have to be thinking, that's cool that they're talking about it. Mark brings it up four times, four time references. This is Sunday, it's early in the morning, right? I
Starting point is 00:22:43 mean, like, if the Sabbath is past, this is what's going on. I wanted to kind of make that connection because I think it's important. And I think it's a beautiful tie to the Old Testament, a beautiful tie. Yeah. Thank you. For years, when Paul said the first fruits have been that slept, I mean, it made sense without knowing, oh, that's that actual feast. And then him tying to, hey, this is the first, Jesus is the first being ever to be resurrected. So thank you for mentioning the Paul reference too, because that he clearly saw it too.
Starting point is 00:23:17 I love that, thank you, because Paul is so connected, maybe more than anyone to being able to see Jesus through the Old Testament. But now is Christ risen from the dead, being the first fruits of them that's left. Wow, that's Leviticus 23. That is the harvest, that's the wave offering. He's brought up and it's on the Sabbath,
Starting point is 00:23:37 that has to be on the Sabbath. Okay, next thing, we've got women coming to the tomb, early in the morning. One of the women who's mentioned in all four is Mary Magdalene. Not in the Luke account, but in Mark 169 and in Luke 8.2, so back in Luke, it says that Mary Magdalene is a woman out of whom came seven devils. I want to be super careful here, like I want to be super careful. I don't pretend to know why she had been possessed of seven devils. I don't know any of that,
Starting point is 00:24:14 but I do know this. The arc of her life ended up having her being one of the greatest believers and the first person to see a resurrected being. So anybody who thinks, man, I've gone too far, I've done too much. There's no redemption for me. There's no repentance for me. Mary Magdalene, again, and I think we'll get one day the great full story. But what we know is she went from a woman out of whom came seven devils to being one of the closest associates of the Lord Jesus Christ. So whatever that entailed, I believe it's like the message of Alma or any other message.
Starting point is 00:24:50 If they can repent, I can repent. If Mary can, I can. And I think that's a powerful message. The other thing too is that women are there. Now, this is where Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are going to turn maybe some expectations on our heads. Why are they going to the tomb? They're going to the tomb to anoint his body. Apparently they don't get to fully do it because we're rushing a little bit after the crucifixion and we're putting it in the tomb of Arimathea, Joseph of Arimathea, and we're rushing a little bit, so we don't fully get to annoy his body. And so the women are coming early in the morning because we got to finish the job now, but
Starting point is 00:25:30 they're coming to annoy his body. And in a way, that's a form of unbelief. I know that's weird that I'm saying that. And I admire these women. They're amazing. They're faithful. But what don't they get? He's not there.
Starting point is 00:25:45 He's not going to be there. He's not going to be there. But they don't, that's, and again, I'm not blaming them, but I want to make a, I think a point here. So they're thinking, we've got to go and ruin his body and it hasn't entered into their mind or heart that he's not there. I want to contrast this with a story in John 12, if we can't. So can we go to John chapter 12? In John 12,
Starting point is 00:26:08 Mary, the sister of Martha and the sister of Lazarus, does something that's fascinating. We all know this story. They're in Bethany, then Jesus, I'm in verse 1, then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany. Okay, so that's where Lazarus is raised from the dead and Martha made him stuff and they're all there. Verse 3, then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. So she an annoys him. Now, in the John account, we get the idea, verse four, then say, if one of his disciples,
Starting point is 00:26:50 due to Suscariot, Simon's son, which should be Trayem, I wish John wouldn't have kept spoiling that. Let us have some tension here. Right. I always feel like he's like, every time he mentions due to his name. You know, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence, which is a year's salary, by the way,
Starting point is 00:27:07 a year? That ointment that she's putting on his feet would be like a year's, for a laborer that would have been a failure's pay. Why wasn't it given to the poor? Verse 7, then said Jesus, let her alone, now there's a Joseph Smith translation seven footnote A, for she has preserved this ointment until now that she might annoy me in token of my burial. I guess I want to ask this question. She gets something that the apostles don't get.
Starting point is 00:27:39 She is anointing him for his burial, and I want to understand why did she get it, but others didn't. Why would this woman understand, but the 11 don't or the 12 don't, others don't, but she gets it. And he thoughts on that. I don't know. I've thought about that before. I've thought she seems to understand. John, you've mentioned this. John the Baptist seems to get it. Behold the Lamb of God, the sacrifice of God. But the apostles don't seem to. They don't seem to get it. And I'm not, again, I'm not trying to criticize the apostles. I'm not saying I would have got it. But I think there's an interesting juxtaposition here. And I want the juxtaposition to be that Mary, again, the sister of Lazarus and
Starting point is 00:28:24 Martha, who apparently, Lord loved very much, spends time in Bethany with them, she gets it, but at the tomb, the women don't get it. The apostles don't get it. No one gets it. No one gets it. Isn't that interesting? So we do get it here.
Starting point is 00:28:41 She's open. She's listening. She's anointing for his burial. But when we get to the tomb scene, every gospel writer, no one gets it. Yeah. Doesn't John hit say himself? This is John 20 verse 9. They knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. It seems so obvious. That's one of those things that helps us see that the gospels were written after the fact and always makes me think Hey, yeah, he did say that and you know, then they he did say that what you said before about the women
Starting point is 00:29:12 I've made the same observation in class, but I've only that the women seemed to know what was gonna happen Don't know why maybe they listened better more sensitive. I don't know why, but they seem to have understand at least against the day of my burying, has she kept this. And it sounds like she kept that ointment, preserve this ointment, tell them all of the JST says, because that's a very expensive thing to keep around the house. That's right. And I love it. I love what you're saying. I mean, she got it. She was in tune. I want to think to myself, what don't we get? What are apostles and prophets and the Holy Ghost and the scriptures teaching me? And what don't I get? What a great question. What will look obvious in time?
Starting point is 00:29:59 It's gonna be like no duh. Right. How did I miss it? Exactly. I keep thinking about the second coming of the savior, and I'm not talking about like the timing, I'm not talking. But there's aspects of the second coming. There's probably even aspects of us going into the spirit world or of the restoration and its growth. President Nelson seems to be kind of wanting to peel back our eyes to say the glorious
Starting point is 00:30:24 aspect, like the motion port and work is the gathering of Israel. Nothing's more important that work. And I think we're like, yeah, that's cool, that's awesome. But like, what don't we get? Because I want to be at it. I want to be Mary in Bethany. I want to get it.
Starting point is 00:30:39 I guess I'm asking all of us to think clearly, maybe to think a little bit and ponder and prayer. Heavenly Father, help me get what I'm supposed all of us to think clearly, or maybe to think a little bit and ponder and prayer. Heavenly Father, help me get what I'm supposed to get. That's kind of red faced. Oh yeah, he did say that. And I'm thinking about, I'm thinking about the Book of Mormon when Jesus is like, didn't Samuel prophesy that I was gonna rise from the dead
Starting point is 00:30:59 and appear in the menion? Oh yeah, he did. Yeah, why isn't it here? Yeah, we'll write that down. He did say that even the angels at the tomb say, as he said, right? As he said, no. And in fact, the angels of tomb are like, remember? And I'm like, oh, we remember now. He did say he's going to raise third day. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. I mean, I just think we blow by these verses, but this is critical, right? Like this is so important. The interesting thing is in Luke 24, when you get to verse 2,
Starting point is 00:31:34 it's a Joseph Smith translation, and I'd like us to kind of look at that. So I'm in Luke 24 verses 2 through 4 in terms of the Joseph Smith translation. And they found the stone rolled away from the suppleker. This stone issue is an interesting issue in the mark account on the way. They're like, who's going to roll the stone away from us? That's like something they're like getting there early in the morning. They're like, oh, wait. There's a massive stone. In fact, archaeologists believe the stone is going to weigh anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000
Starting point is 00:32:09 pounds. I'm sure Mary Magdalene, and they're all in good shape, but that would have been tough. But I think the stone is a symbolic idea again. The stone closes things off. The stone seals the tomb. The women aren't going to be able to move the stone. We all have these kind of sealed off things in our lives. We think that's going to be impossible.
Starting point is 00:32:33 Then what does it take? It takes angels. It takes priesthood and power and authority because the stone gets rolled away. I think that is so awesome. Verse two, they found the stone rolled away from the Sepulger and two angels standing by it in shining garments. So we have these authorized messengers of God. They're standing there. And by the way, what a cool calling. Can you imagine that in pre-mortality? Hi, I'm Hank. We'd like you to be the angel at the tomb.
Starting point is 00:33:05 Will you accept that calling? Ah, yeah, I will. Thank you. Appreciate that. I mean, those two, we don't know who they are. You know, one day we will. But what a calling. What a privilege.
Starting point is 00:33:15 So the two angels are standing there. And then it says, they entered in. So the women go inside the subtlety. And not finding the body, the Lord Jesus, they were much perplexed. They're about. they're just like, whoa, man, verse four, and we're affrited and bowed down their faces to the earth. But behold, the angels said unto them, I love this. Okay, angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, 2nd, 532, 3, right?
Starting point is 00:33:39 Wherefore they speak the words of Christ. Why seek ye the living among the dead? Now, we've been taught, you know, by Elder Bednar and others inspired questions. Why seek ye the living among the dead? What a question that would have penetrated their hearts, caused them to think then, and can you imagine, over the course of years and decades later, as they taught others, as they reflected on that inspired question?
Starting point is 00:34:08 Why seek ye? Why are you acting? In other words, this goes back to my point. Why'd you come to the tomb? You guys brought spices? You were gonna know in his body? Wait a minute, verse six. He is not here, but is risen.
Starting point is 00:34:21 And then John Hank, your point before, remember how he's spaken to you when he was yet in Galilee remember that's right. So this idea of he's risen. This is the announcement the glorious news of everything. He didn't just come back from the dead. The resurrection and I think some Protestant friends and some of our Christian Catholic friends there's some maybe some nebulousness about what it is. For Latter-day Saints, the resurrection is simply the reuniting of the spirit and the body never to be separated again. In its glorified, perfected state, inseparably connected, no blood, spirit and body, immortal.
Starting point is 00:35:02 Why seek you living among? He's not here. He's risen. Remember it's like if they would have been paying attention they would have gone to Galilee the moment he died. Exactly No, that's my point. He told you he was gonna meet you there And I get this impression everyone's like weeping and ringing their hands and mourning and it's over and the women included Who are there and by the way again? I'm not trying to criticize them. They're there with the best intentions. They love the savior. They're gonna anoint the body. And they might even be thinking,
Starting point is 00:35:31 oh, the resurrection's this abstract philosophical concept. One day. It's gonna be, yeah, it's in a thousand years. And then the next point, so you have authorized messengers. And of course, Hank, you brought up a little earlier, you know, one messenger, two messengers. All the jokes to Smith translations make Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have two angels there. And I think, again, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, shall every word be established. And I think you also have
Starting point is 00:35:57 a nice, old testament Deuteronomy 19. You've got to have two witnesses. I think that's kind of cool. And I think Deuteronomy 17, verse six, you you gotta have two witnesses. I think that's kinda cool. And I think, do you know what I mean? 17, verse six, you gotta have two witnesses. These two angels who are authorized messengers testify to the women. Why seek you, Lily? He's not risen, he's not here. And then the imperative, go tell the others.
Starting point is 00:36:20 You gotta run and go tell the others. Now, I wanna quote, S. Kent Brown, I love this quote, the Galilee and go tell the others. Now, I want to quote, as Kent Brown, I love this quote, the Galilee and women become the initial witnesses of Jesus' resurrection, learning of it from two divine messengers. Moreover, by carrying the words of the angels,
Starting point is 00:36:36 they in effect become messengers or heralds of the news to others, including to the apostles, unquote. Love that. The women become the witnesses to others, including to the apostles." I love that. The women become the witnesses to the witnesses. And then this is something I love too. All four gospels show Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and Joseph,
Starting point is 00:36:58 Salome, and the other women disciples accompanying Jesus to his death, anointing and bearing his body, viewing the empty tomb, and experiencing his resin presence. That the message of the resurrection was first given to women is regarded by many biblical scholars
Starting point is 00:37:13 as compelling evidence for the historicity of the resurrection accounts. Had these texts been fabricated by Oversellis mailed as disciples, they would not have included the witnesses of women in a society that rejected their legal witnesses. So I think that's pretty neat, this idea of, again, women and then these divine messengers who are angels who testify to them and then they testify to others.
Starting point is 00:37:37 If you were going to make this stuff up, you wouldn't have these witnesses. No, that would have been such a breach in first century culture and the Mediterranean, like what? What do we care? So who's Mary? Why do we care? There were times when I went to the cemetery to just not really see my dad, but be there.
Starting point is 00:38:04 And I had that impression, don't come here, go to the temple. You want to fill your mom and dad close if they've passed. You don't have to come here, I appreciate it, but go to the temple. And that's where the living are. I love that, thank you. I think that's so great.
Starting point is 00:38:21 And I love that there's been this subtle change in the temple. You know, we don't say who is dead anymore. because they're living. And it always goes through my mind because they're he they're he's their life. I remember I was in a meeting with Elder Scott in Glendora, John, he said, the people on the other side of the veil do not like to be referred to as dead. And I thought, well, he would know. I don't have first-hand experience with that, but he would. Okay, verse 11 and Luke 24. So they go to the apostles and the 11. And their words seem to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
Starting point is 00:38:57 That is so rude. Oh my word. The women are like, we saw angels. He's not here. He's risen. There's nothing better. We're so excited. They are like, we saw angels, he's not here, he's risen, that there's nothing better, we're so excited. And they're like, no. And in fact, I'm a Hebrew guy, I'm not a Greek guy, but I looked up the word for idle tales in the Greek.
Starting point is 00:39:15 It's a lay Ross, and it means this, nonsense, an incredible story or twaddle. Twaddle. Yeah, you guys get to use the word twaddle and some, I want to challenge you to use it somewhere later today in a conversation. That is twaddle. So you said that's rude. In a way, it's even ruder if you understand the word like a cush. They actually were like, no, that is nonsense. That is 100% can't be that can't be the case. How demoralizing. I have the news of a lifetime that maybe having your head how people are going to react.
Starting point is 00:39:52 They're going to be so excited. No. Yeah. Well, and I think again, I want to place myself. I want to do a Lord is it I. So just like, what am I not getting? I also wanna think like, so what are modern witnesses saying to me that I'm kind of brushing off as idle tales? Like you said, Hank, and how frustrating that would be for the messengers. And any missionary who served a mission or anybody who's taught the gospel to somebody where they haven't accepted it,
Starting point is 00:40:23 or they've been like, yeah, that's cool. Thanks so much. You remember that story when President Nelson gives the book of Mormon to one of his associates and the guy comes back and says, hey, thanks so much. And President Nelson says, what? That's not the right response.
Starting point is 00:40:37 Sorry, and he tried to give him the book and he goes, no, I'm giving you the book back because that's the wrong response. And the guy goes back, reads it, ends up getting baptized. Wow, you know, that's the wrong response. And the guy goes back, reads it, ends up getting baptized. Wow, you know, that's the wrong response. That's the wrong response. You don't understand here. Take the book back. You have to understand. So I think that's a very interesting thing. And so by the way, Luke then records this super interesting thing where he then says, okay, Peter gets up, runs to the supple curve, looks in, sees the linen clothes laid by themselves,
Starting point is 00:41:06 and he departs, and it says he's wondering in himself that which was to come to pass. Now, that's just a one verse little deal, but this is crazy amazing because John, of course, the book of John will expand to this account, because now Luke, just so we kind of get going here. In Luke chapter 1 verse 2, Luke is in my view, he's like a story and going to the different people collecting the accounts. He himself wasn't an eyewitness, but he is authorized to do this, but he's like interviewing people. And I have a feeling John might have read Luke and been like, no, that's good, but I've got to tell this story.
Starting point is 00:41:45 That's good. But man, we've got to expand that version. So can we go to John chapter 20? And let's look now, John 20, Mary Magdalene runs, we know this, verse 2, she runeth and comeeth to Simon Peter and to the other disciples whom Jesus loved, John, and sayeth unto them, they've taken away the Lord out of the supplicer, and we know not where they have laid him. Now, her report there isn't the glorious report yet. So you can imagine that they're going to be really upset with that, like something nefarious has gone on. They're messing with the dead body. Is John telling us here that Mary has yet to see the angels
Starting point is 00:42:29 that are talked about in the other chapters? Or are we just gonna be okay with them not lining up? No, okay. So in John 20, verse one, which I didn't read, footnote, D, a Joseph Smith translation, tells us and two angels sitting there on, but there's no declaration yet. The stones just rolled away. She sees these angels, he's not there.
Starting point is 00:42:49 If you were asking me to harmonize it, I would say Mary went first, had this experience, goes back, tells Peter and John, they run, and then she then comes with the other women. They're difficult to harmonize, and we can be okay with that. That's okay, exactly. But the Ross Barron School of Harmony Management
Starting point is 00:43:08 is that Mary goes first, the stones rolled away, there's angels there, but we don't hear any declaration. She is so perplexed and freaked out by it. She runs back, Peter and John run. She then comes back with the other women, Peter and John are now back home. Does that make sense?
Starting point is 00:43:25 What I just said right to me. That's how that works So they go and then I love John is such an Interesting writer and he loves details, right? So they ran together and the other cypal did outrun Peter what an interesting thing I'm faster than Peter I just got to get that in the standard works forever and ever, Amen. I'm faster than Peter. I'm faster than Peter and I wanna let you know that I'm the beloved.
Starting point is 00:43:52 Just so you guys know. The disciple that Jesus loved, yeah, it doesn't narrow it down that much unless he kinda loves everybody unless it's John talking about himself, which is fun. Yeah, exactly. It is pretty fun. And he came first to this up, and he's stooping down, looking in, saw the linen clothes
Starting point is 00:44:10 lying, yet went he not in. Now this is interesting. So he doesn't go in, then come with Simon Peter following him and went into the supple girl and see if the linen clothes lie. Now I'm going to tell you, I'm going to quote, this is from Russell M. Nelson from April 1993. He says, when Simon Peter and John the beloved ran to investigate the report that the body of their crucified Lord had been taken from the Zeppelker, John being young and younger and swifter, arrived first, yet he did not enter. He deferred to the senior apostle who entered the
Starting point is 00:44:43 Zeppelker first. Elder Nelson makes the point that the savior had taught them the order, that there was an order in the kingdom, and that John was, it wasn't just kind of a throwaway, he's trying to help you understand the order. I think that's interesting. Again, that President Nelson back in 1993 would have brought that up. If you know anything about the way the 12 operate, and I think a lot of people do, it's very orderly and they defer to the seniority and all those kinds of things.
Starting point is 00:45:11 So anyway. I'm so glad you said that because I remembered somebody saying that and I remembered, there you go. No, I've got the note there, but I remembered the church made a movie years ago called Lamb of God. And I think this coming
Starting point is 00:45:25 up is like my favorite scene, but it shows Peter and John running in kind of slow mo. And I remember John stopping and letting Peter go in. And for some reason, I remembered that statement, but I didn't know who said it about, I've always just said, perhaps in respect to the senior apostle, but now I have the footnote to let Peter go on, which is wonderful that Jesus taught them even that sort of thing. Is there okay to say Ross that John sees Peter differently now? Exactly. He has a different role and that the Savior,
Starting point is 00:46:00 remember in previous come follow me, he's talked about leadership, and that if you're the servant of of all and we know at the sacrament Where Peter is sitting he's the servant in the triclinium But the Savior's taught them this order and that John is respectful of that order and then it says and this is this other part of the Lamb of God Would be verse five and he's stooping down looking and he saw the linen clothes lying yet went on in verse six Then come assign Peter falling and went into the Cypchur see it the linen clothes lie and the napkin or the head cloth that was about his head not lying with the
Starting point is 00:46:32 linen clothes but wrapped together in a place by itself then went in also that other disciples of John now comes in which came first as a speaker and he saw and believed so John tell us about the Lamb of God that part you like. That's my favorite scene. I have a hard time watching that movie because of this scourging and the crucifixion. But this is my favorite scene because they depict those clothes folded and a thief never would have folded the clothes if they stole the body. They show these clothes so carefully folded. And boy, when they show that scene right there, and the realization hits Peter and John
Starting point is 00:47:12 of what has happened, that's the best scene in the whole thing. And I heard brother Jeffrey Marsh talk about it occurred to him once as he was leaving the temple and folding his own clothes. He said it occurred to me that these are the clothes that I will be buried in one day. And he was folding those clothes and it brought to mind all of this thing. I thought, wow, that's a wonderful application of our belief in the resurrection. application of our belief in the resurrection. Let me add this. This is from D. Todd Christopherson from April 2014 and he makes this interesting comment about John. He says, John apparently was the first to comprehend the magnificent
Starting point is 00:47:58 message of resurrection. He writes that, quote, he saw and believed, unquote, whereas the others to that point, quote, knew not the scripture that Jesus must rise again from the dead, unquote. That's from April 2014. So, Elder Christopherson seems to be implying, and I think the text says it at the end of verse 8, that John, he saw and believed. And I love your insight, John there from Brother Marsh about the clothing folded in a particular way that perhaps even they recognized and that no thief would have taken that away or done it that way. He isn't going to fold up the clothes.
Starting point is 00:48:36 No, absolutely not. And the Romans certainly would not have done that. Then it's interesting, verse 10, then the disciples went away again under their own home. Great, so they go back. Now, to me, this is again, verse 10, then the disciples went away again under their own home. Great. So they go back. Now, to me, this is again, verse 11, this is where I think John is filling out. Now, John is, of course, dated the latest of all the gospels. And my opinion is that John read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and felt good about them, but kind of wrote to a different audience and felt like there was some gaps that needed to be filled in. And he writes, now, so Mary now comes,
Starting point is 00:49:10 but Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping. I'm in verse 11. So clearly she's come back. So she ran and told Peter and John, they run, and then she comes back. And then verse 12, she sees two angels. We've got the angels sitting there. And then they have this interaction with her.
Starting point is 00:49:28 Woman, why weepest thou, verse 13? Because they've taken away my Lord. I know not where they have laid him. She's so upset. And then the Savior shows up. And she doesn't know it's Jesus. Woman, why weepest thou? He asked her whom seekest thou?
Starting point is 00:49:43 This is called an incluso and literature. In the first question that Jesus asks, remember when John testifies that's the Lamb of the God and then James and Andrew are following in others and he turns around and says whom seek ye? So now you got these nice book ends and so he asks her whom whom seek ye inom Seek is thou? And this is in fact the Lamb of God. So she doesn't see him clearly. I'm keeping this theme of, is he appearing to me and I'm not seeing him clearly? Is the Holy Ghost manifested to me? How many times have Hank, John, you guys've had students?
Starting point is 00:50:17 How do I know when I'm feeling the Holy Ghost? And I kind of want to say, you have. You are. I promise you have. I promise. Exactly. You are, you have. And promise you have. I promise. Exactly. You are, you have. And I think this idea, so she's standing in front of the resurrected Lord.
Starting point is 00:50:30 She doesn't see who he is. Well, you know, what's going on? And why? So why do you think she sees him? Because it's the same question that I have is, why don't the Nephites at bountiful understand the voice. It takes a while. It takes a while, right? So there's distractions.
Starting point is 00:50:50 We're in a worldly lay, it's unexpected. I just think, man, I'm reading my scriptures, I'm studying them. I wanna see with spiritual eyes. I go to the temple. I don't wanna sleep through a session. I wanna see with spiritual eyes. I go to the Holy Land with people. I don't want to sleep through a session. I want to see with spiritual eyes. I go to the Holy Land with people. I want to see there. The stuff that is more than, I
Starting point is 00:51:11 guess, physical sight. And so we have to remove distractions. And I think what we do. And I think income follow me in a home centered. And I think a lot of parents love the idea, but they're like, how do I do? And I always just say, create the environment for the Holy Ghost to be there. Well, how do I do that? Well, what do we do? You're going to sing him. We're going to have a prayer.
Starting point is 00:51:33 We're going to be focused on text. We're going to try not to be distracted. That's going to allow us to see, if you will, in a way that maybe we wouldn't have otherwise. So what's Mary distracted with? I think Mary's distracted with, and again, I'm not trying to criticize her to anoint his body. Where's the body? Where's the body? And where did you take him so that I can finish what I came here to do? She probably doesn't want him buried in some unknown location.
Starting point is 00:52:01 That's all legitimate, right? Those are all legitimate concerns. But my point with the text in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20 and 21 is that it's turning everything on its head because no one gets it. So I'm not just blaming Mary. The 11 don't get it. She doesn't get it. The two guys on the road to Emmaus don't get it. No one gets it. And then, of course, we all know this so powerful. verse 16, Jesus saithened her Mary. She turned herself and saithened him, Rabona, which is to say master. And then I have this quote from Jamesy Faust.
Starting point is 00:52:35 This is from April 1985. One, only one person could speak her name that way. With that single word all doubt, confusion, and uncertainty was swept away. Mary in that instant came to the grand sublime realization that he for whom she mourned, even Jesus that was crucified, had risen from the dead, just as the angels early that very morning had testified. He is risen. I love that in the first words of the opening of this dispensation were Joseph. I always say, what is the book more open with? Well, Nephi, right. It's his name. I Nephi, having been born
Starting point is 00:53:19 of goodly parents, it opens with his name. This dispensation opened with Joseph, and I think it's so interesting that the resurrection is announced by Jesus with an individual's name Mary. And now she knows and like it, President Faust says all doubt, confusion and uncertainty swept away. One word. Wow. So good. Then this famous thing, Jesus sayeth unto her, touch me not, the Joseph Smith translation says, hold me not, for I'm not yet ascended to my father. Now, side note, and I can't help myself, but when Jesus is on the cross, some of our evangelical friends will use the idea of when he says to the thief
Starting point is 00:54:01 on the cross, today you're gonna be with me in paradise. And they'll use that to say, see all he had to do was confess Jesus and he was in. And I had an interesting interaction with some theology guys down in Southern California and this one guy brought it up, he said, well, clearly all we have to do is confess Jesus brought with the thief on the cross.
Starting point is 00:54:23 And I said, do you believe heaven is where the Father is? And he said, yes, it's awesome. I said, well, then, where he promised that the thief would go, wasn't heaven. And the guy said, oh, that can't be. I said, please turn to John 20. So we went to John 20. And I said, Jesus, three days later, has not yet ascended to heaven. So clearly, that's not what he was promising, but the...
Starting point is 00:54:47 It's an interesting thing we all need to kind of make that connection. I like that connection, from our point of view. She then, verse 18, she goes and tells the disciples. She'd seen the Lord. In other words, she's now, again, the emissary, she's the witness, she goes. When I was a kid, I did not like that verse. Touch me not. Touch me not. I thought, what's wrong with him? goes. When I was a kid, I did not like that verse. Touch me not. Touch me not.
Starting point is 00:55:06 I thought, what's wrong with him? You know, I remember asking my primary teachers, why can't she touch him? Perfect. And they would say, we don't know. Can we just go get your parents and have you not be here anymore? I just say, I think he should wait until he can be touched.
Starting point is 00:55:19 And it's nice when you read some of the other translations of that verse, it's not don't touch me. It's, you gotta let me go. You. It's, you got to let me go. You're holding on to me and I've got to go. We know it's not bad for you to touch a resurrected being because when Jesus goes to the righteous in the new world, he lines them up. But that's going to be one of my themes in the resurrection accounts is that not only
Starting point is 00:55:40 is it okay, I believe he requires it. He wants it. It, he wants it. It's not just okay. This is like critical. So I love, I thank you for sharing that, Hank, that's pretty cool. You know, your teacher's like, I don't know why, but this idea in the Joseph Smith
Starting point is 00:55:55 translation is, no, no, no, don't restrain me. You know, you've got your hug in, but I got stuff to do. I gotta go. So that's the John addition of Peter running to the tomb. We get John going. We get that all that thing. Then we get Mary. Now, she's the first person to see a resurrected being. Now, by the way, interesting thought here, no one actually sees the resurrection. They see the evidence of the resurrection. They see the resurrected. They see the resurrected. Exactly. No one at no, we have no record of any mortal seeing
Starting point is 00:56:28 Jesus resurrecting, but we see him resurrected. So I just think that's an interesting kind of thing if we're careful in our text here. Okay, now let's go back to Luke 24 because Luke will add a story that Mark alludes to a story that Mark alludes to, but that is expanded in Luke 24, which I think is a fabulous story. And one of my favorites, and it's the road to Emmaus. Now we have struggle knowing where Emmaus actually is, and there's lots of debate, and it's a Jerusalem center when we take students, we actually don't take them to Emmaus because we're not convinced we know where Emmaus is. There's a place there called Emmaus.
Starting point is 00:57:09 Correct. There is a place called Emmaus. We're not just good. It could have been named much later. Exactly. So we're not, there's some argument about that. We don't want to get that. So these two guys, I mean Luke 24, verse 13, they're going to Emmaus, which is not super far,
Starting point is 00:57:23 but it's 12 kilometers So little over six miles seven miles from Jerusalem In verse 15 it came to pass it while they commune together and reasoned Jesus himself drew near and went with them. Wow Verse 16 But their eyes were holding and if you look at your footnote, they have the Greek their eyes were restrained I think that's another interesting question. Why that would be the case that they should not know him. So he asked something, you know, what's going on? What what manner of communications are you guys having?
Starting point is 00:57:53 Why is so upset? Yeah, why are you so upset? And that I think to do verse 18 and one of them whose name was Cleopus that says John 1925 many people and I tend to agree with this, that's Jesus' uncle. Oh, really? So that is Mary's sister's husband. And that's interesting, John 1925. So that's the uncle of the Savior. And I think it's interesting that his eyes are restrained. And that's what that foot reference, footnote 18, age, John 19 1925. He says, are you a stranger in Jerusalem? You have not known the things which you come to pass. And then he says, he's like, what things?
Starting point is 00:58:30 What a great teacher. No, what a great teacher. What do you guys talk about? Share, share, share, share, share more. And then they talk about Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet, mighty indeed, I mean, verse 19, et cetera, right? The chief priest and our roller delivered him. He's been crucified.
Starting point is 00:58:45 We trusted, look at this, verse 21. We trusted it had been he, which should have redeemed Israel. Oh, it was poor folks. See, that's sad. He did redeem Israel. To a certain degree, there's a veil. They didn't see it clearly.
Starting point is 00:59:01 And again, my theme today, what am I erroneous expectations? What don't I get? I back to that. What am I thinking where I have an expectation? The expectation doesn't get fulfilled. It's a false expectation. So then I get all crazy, right? In my mind, I've always seen this walk to a mes is kind of like, I've lost my faith and I'm giving up. I'm walking, I'm going home. I thought it was true, I'm going home and then the Savior meets you on that road and says, let's have a talk about what you thought
Starting point is 00:59:33 should have happened versus what did happen. And it's kind of interesting, you were probably just gonna get to this. This guy, Jesus, who knew nothing about this, you know, what things? I don't know anything about this. The moment they say, we thought of him. He's like, you fools. He calls him fools. I was once teaching a 70-class, this was an early morning 70-class, years and years and years ago. I volunteer and I kicked a kid out of class. And the mom called me later and said,
Starting point is 00:59:59 Jesus would never kick any other class. And I said, well, you were to kick your kid out of class. Now, I want you guys to know, I called him, I told him I loved him. And by the way, he never missed a class. We became fast friends, but he needed to be kicked out of class if that makes sense. And I think it's interesting that the savior, like you said, they're like, oh, what the,
Starting point is 01:00:19 who's this guy? And then boom, he just starts in on, oh, fools, slow of heart to believe in verse 25. All that the prophets have written out there, something you need to notice here. Verse 26 is Jesus talking. Oh, not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory.
Starting point is 01:00:36 This is the first time in Luke that Jesus refers to himself as Christ. All the times before that, others have said he's the Christ and the word Christ has been brought up, but not in his own mouth. And I think it's interesting that again, he's kind of talking third person, right? But he is referring to himself. He is the anointed one. And then verse 27, and beginning it Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning him. I think it's interesting that he says Moses the law and the prophets and all the prophets.
Starting point is 01:01:14 And later they'll talk about the Psalms. I think you know this, but the acronym that Jews use for the Hebrew Bible is the Tanakh. And the Tanakh is TNK, which is Torah, which is the law. The N is Neveem, which is the prophets. And the K is Kettivim, which are the writings, like the Psalms and those kinds of things. It's interesting that he took the whole text, and can you imagine I'm sitting there as he weaves this beautiful tapestry of their walking? He's weaving it through and making connections for them in the law and in the prophets and in the writings and the Psalms concerning him and
Starting point is 01:01:57 How he had to have been crucified and your point Hank there going home We thought he was gonna redeem Israel. He didn't. And Jesus is teaching them from the scriptures that in fact they had a misaligned expectation and that this in fact had to happen. Should have happened, exactly. Needed to happen. And in fact, again, Old Testament connection, the very first thing that God does for Adam and Eve
Starting point is 01:02:24 after the fall, the very first thing is he makes them coats of skins because they have a fake covering on. They have plants covering them. We all know, I think we know, again, the word for atonement in the Hebrew Bible is translated from a Hebrew word kefar, which means to cover. And so they have a fake covering on. So the very first thing the Lord God does for Adam and Eve, he gets coats of skin. Why? Because blood has to be shed. An innocent thing has to die for them to be properly covered. So the very first thing that Adam and Eve have happened is they're going to be pointed to Jesus Christ. I'm sure he's talking about pre-mortality, mortality, post-mortality, and how this had to happen, just like Psalm 22, Isaiah 53.
Starting point is 01:03:08 Exactly. Exactly. Going through all of them. And Adam and he had coats of skins. An innocent had to die for you to be properly covered. I'd love that. He's teaching him from the scriptures. I want to say one other thing too about this.
Starting point is 01:03:20 He expounded unto them in all the scriptures. He didn't use just one verse. I think sometimes we'll use one particular verse and I love that he expounds all the scriptures. All the scriptures are one in his hand, is he killed 37, he's gonna take it all. He's gonna take the Torah, he's gonna take the Naveen, he's gonna take the Keptuvene
Starting point is 01:03:41 and he's gonna weave them together. And I think we as Latter-day Saints need to be careful to not violate that principle. Paul, for example, for Corinthians 1529, else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? Sometimes Latter-day Saints will say, well, Paul is giving a sermon on work for the dead. Now, Paul is giving a sermon on the resurrection. He's using baptism for the dead as evidence for the fact that there was a resurrection. So we should be careful to contextualize if
Starting point is 01:04:10 that makes sense and to expound all the scriptures. So I love that. And I think that it reminds me of 3526 when Jesus does the same thing over there. He did expound all things even from the beginning until the time that he should come in his glory. Well, in 35, 23, 14, and now it came to pass that when Jesus had expounded all the scriptures in one. That's the one I was thinking of. In one. Which they had written. He commanded them that they should teach the things which he had expounded. None of them.
Starting point is 01:04:38 Yeah, that would have been a nice meeting to be in. That would have been a great meeting. He's going to make connections and weave it all together. And when he's done, your jaw is going to be open and thinking, wow, that was amazing. Please join us for part two of this podcast. you

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