Hey there everybody and welcome out to another episode of Redeemed Through His Blood.
I'm Scott Durfey and joined as always by David.
Durfey what's up David?
Good to be here Scott.
Thank you for making this possible in your basement, your cozy little basement with snow
falling and this portable heater you have next to me.
That's good.
So my office is in our home.
We have converted an old storage room into my office.
I mean we don't have so much.
It doesn't look anything like a storage room.
It's kind of nice but yeah well it feels like a storage room because there's literally
no heat in here.
That's okay.
Nice room.
One computer, two computers.
I use this room.
This is actually a nice office.
Yeah this is my recording studio for this.
This is actually where I shoot my television hits for my financial hits that I do on TV
and this is where we do step work in AA.
This is where I hold presidency meetings for just about everything we do in this office.
Okay well I only have one suggestion.
You got nothing but horses on the wall.
You need a Jesus picture.
I do not have one.
I looked over there.
I didn't see him.
Oh okay.
Well you've got to put him where I can see him.
Who did that?
This picture is actually a painting that my mom painted for me.
Okay that's awesome.
My mom's a painter.
That's awesome.
She's painted a lot of lovely pictures for me and when we returned from Jerusalem.
We're going to talk about this today.
When we returned from Jerusalem last year I asked her if she'd paint me a picture of
Jesus on the Sea of Galilee.
Oh sweet.
And that's what that is.
Well you know we are going to kind of take a little break in the typical action.
We have a kind of a segue action that we're going to be doing today.
We have Easter coming up this weekend and because of that it's important that we take
time and talk about the events and some of the thoughts and feelings that we have and
you may have and maybe even explore some of the thoughts and feelings that those that
were there had.
We've done this every year.
We're going to do it again this year and I hope that as we do this this will enhance
our Easter experience this year.
Easter again this Sunday we will only be attending sacrament meeting which I think this is only
the second year.
Dave the church has had that in implementation.
I know it's so awesome.
It's so awesome.
I just told you years I used to think why don't why don't we do more.
Why don't we do more with Easter.
We're so good at celebrating Christmas but well when it comes to Easter.
Well I think President Hinckley started to change that you know when he said if it if
it weren't for Easter there'd be no Christmas.
Then President Nelson has just picked that up and just exploded with Easter celebrations
and the church has done so much better in the past five years or more with you know
thinking of Easter and helping members of the church to focus on.
I think that Scout Easter should not be celebrated as a day.
Christmas is really not celebrated as a day.
It's really like 24 days before Christmas.
Yeah.
It's like a month.
Yeah.
But at least for Easter we can do a week.
Good solid week.
You know unlike the Catholics or Lutherans or other Protestants you know who who start
Lent 40 days before Easter they celebrate Easter for 40 days and every day on Lent through
throughout Lent they have to sacrifice something a cup of coffee or some habit or some yeah
something every day for 40 days.
I think that's such a great tradition.
I do too.
I have a very close friend who's actually the president of his congregation in these
Lutheran that would be the equivalent of a lay minister like a bishop or an elders
corn president.
They have he has a minister or a pastor that is actually over the whole thing.
But anyway every year in the past and I've been working with this guy's been one of my
best friends for 20 years but for the last 20 years during Lent you know they'll go to
Ash Wednesday they'll get the ash on his forehand and the whole deal which I think is just such
a great great thing and then he gives up something every year you know and typically for him
it's beer you know that's a big deal for some people yeah 40 days and for some people that's
a big deal.
Yeah I found out something interesting this has nothing to do with Easter per se but it
has to do with Lent.
Do you know why we have St. Patrick's Day.
No St. Patrick's Day you know who St. Patrick was St. Patrick and he died on March 17.
Or whatever St. Patrick's Day is.
Well that just happens to be right between almost half way between the beginning of Lent
and Easter.
And so that is a day where they take a cheat day from Lent.
Oh really.
Celebrate.
They party.
Yeah.
They party on St. Patty's Day.
And that's why St. Patrick's Day is such a big beer and drinking holiday is because
of the parade and they celebrate it.
Yeah.
So.
Well halfway halfway the interesting thing about Easter which I think people are always
kind of in the dark about and wonder about kind of troubles them is that Easter they
can't keep track of it.
It's not like it's the December 25th Christmas Day.
It's based on the lunar calendar and it's always the first Sunday after the first full
moon after the spring equinox.
Okay.
So for it could be on the 22nd.
Yeah.
That's the earliest it could be and it hasn't been for like a hundred years but it could
be on the 22nd of March if that happened to be full moon happened to be the same as
the spring equinox and Sunday was the day after or it could push way back into April
like 25th or something.
So you know you have a.
It's like a whole month.
More than a month.
Whole month of swing time.
Yeah.
It could be on one of four or five Sundays from end of March to the end of April and
this week it's there this year it's kind of early March 31st.
It's in the month of March and so that's what that's based on in the Catholic you know
who kind of established this in the Nicene Creed.
The Nicene Creed is kind of who established this tradition of having it be the first Sunday
after the first full moon after the spring equinox and the Orthodox Catholic Church after
their big schism in the great schism in a thousand fifty four a day they they decided
to go a different route and they base it on something else and so there's actually in
the Christian world there's actually two different Easter's.
Yeah.
And the Orthodox Greek Orthodox Easter is usually a different day than the than the
Easter that we celebrate which is based more on the Roman Catholic tradition of having
it after that first full moon this first Sunday after the first full moon Easter should be
celebrated as a period of time not just one Sunday.
I think it was Elder Holland who first gave me that idea with my family when years ago
I think even before he was an apostle and he talked about Easter week and I thought yeah
why don't why don't why don't we just celebrate Easter day it should be we should think of
it as Easter week beginning with with Palm Sunday and celebrate it throughout the whole
week.
So I hope our listeners have their own special family traditions or reestablish some new
family traditions at the very least that during the last week of the Savior's life
that you'll focus on the events day by day of what the Savior was doing and do some readings
on the life of the Savior learn more about his last week.
Scott we know about 31 days of the Savior's life that includes his birth his baptism his
ministry we only know 31 days of his life events that occurred on 31 days of his life
but by far we know the most about the last week of his life more was written about the
last week of his life than any other period of time in his life.
I mean we know we don't know almost nothing right about his youth one day when he went
to the temple when he was 12 years old you know and mother loses him in the temple and
we have that day and then we know nothing really until he's 30 years old and he does
a 30 he does a three year ministry from 30 to 33 but really we know very relatively speaking
we don't have very many days so you know what we have in the Gospels is really wonderful
in Matthew Mark Luke and John what they did for us to preserve and to recall and to write
about the Savior's ministry what a miracle and blessing however it's they're not histories
they're not they're not good histories it's not a journal their testimonies in fact in
the Joseph Smith translation each book of the new each book of the four Gospels Matthew
Mark Luke and John if the Prophet Joseph Smith retitled them and he and he called them the
testimony of Matthew the testimony of Mark the testimony of Luke and the testimony of
John their testimonies their witnesses they're not histories having said that we should really
study the events of the last week of his life to better understand appreciate and and be
able to access the atonement of Jesus Christ in our life so I hope what we can help our
listener do that today last year about this time Deb and I had just returned from our
trip to Jerusalem and that trip to Jerusalem has changed me in my worship in my worship
around Easter time absolutely and so you went after Easter last time or before we were there
just before just before Easter right we got home about a year ago this week okay so this
will be your second Easter since that trip that's correct yeah yeah and you know of course
we came out of we come off of that experience so fresh in our minds and in our hearts and
you know testimonies and and swelling of the heart and all the stuff that had happened
there will will come home and we did the podcast last year around this and then we had Easter
and my Easter was different last year and I and every Easter has been important to me
I think I can say that every Easter even when I was out drinking and you know and doing the
things that I shouldn't have been Easter was important to me and that's cool but it was
never as important as that is now I think there's really you know we have a song I
walked today where Jesus walked right yeah and what a beautiful song and you know I heard
one of the apostles many years ago I don't even remember who it was start to talk with
that song and then an invitation that hey we can walk where Jesus walks every day we don't
have to go there to do that great point we can do that here in our own hearts in our
own minds in our own worship in our own homes with those that we love but coming home off
of that experience last year has changed and this year it's even more David's even more
I hate to use word intense because that seems to have a negative connotation to it but I'll
know what else to say you know it is just more aware more acute just the feelings that
I'm having as we're approaching Easter this year I get a little bit emotional even thinking
about it because I've had so many sweet experiences in preparation for the sacrament on that day
I really look forward to that.
Oh that's cool Scott.
Yeah there's a that's quite a quite an experience to go over there and to be able to it makes
it makes studying his life just become more real and and you can see the places in your
mind you can see them in relationship to the distance they are apart from each other and
where Jerusalem sits and where the Man of Olive is and and where Gethsemane is and Golgotha
and when you can see all of those things in your mind's eye which never which never leaves
you you know since Jesus Jerusalem has gone through such an interesting history and it's
been destroyed multiple times it was destroyed by the Romans I mean they leveled it it's
almost impossible to say that you're walking where Jesus walked when you walk the streets
of Jerusalem today but it's the same place geographically yeah and those areas have been
miraculously such as Gethsemane, Man of Olives, Golgotha those those places are physically
still there there's not not really a building I mean some of the some of the Zerubovil's
temple has been has been re the western wall and some of that is still there that you can
see but it's it's gone through a lot of a lot of history and a lot of destruction and
Jerusalem Jerusalem oh Jerusalem yeah that that Tuesday the Tuesday when Jesus is bewailing
you know oh how I from the man I would have gathered you how I would have gathered you
as a hen gathers her chicks but you would not but you would not that picture just kind
of haunts me you know I I don't know who painted that picture but Jesus sitting on the man
of Olives like he's not a great old son I believe yeah probably but I I love that and
think about old Jerusalem Jerusalem and I always when I say Jerusalem I always think
about the new Jerusalem that we look forward to a great anticipation towards you know the
being Zion middle of North America and in Missouri and to have that city built where
Jesus will rule and reign and for a thousand years and anyway a lot of great history and
I'm always grateful that we can review these events and encourage our our listeners to
do this with their individually or with their families immediate and extended families get
your families to celebrate Easter week and there there are some really great tools Scott
before I forget to mention these there's I think it's called Easter dot come unto Christ
dot org you might want to check that out but it's something like that Easter dot come unto
Christ dot org there's all kinds of tools on that website that was kind of designed
for the church designed that kind of as a for non-members does that come up Easter dot
come unto Christ dot org and then on our on our church app if you just go to the church
app and you is that right Scott yeah that came up that is whatever you said Easter
dot come unto Christ dot org dot org that has some great tools on it yeah that you could
that you could share with your friends your neighbors those you work with whatever to
get the most out of Easter week if they're Christian or if they're not they want to know
what's what Easter is all about and why it's such a big deal to us if you go to your app
on your phone or you you go to the library on the church's website and you go under Jesus
Christ the topic of Jesus Christ they have an Easter study plan which is awesome and
they have some Easter videos so it would be so cool to watch a video every day of that
week and to read about the events that occurred on beginning with Palm Sunday and the triumphal
entry to Monday and cleansing the temple which is March 25th this year Tuesday March
26th by the way we know more about what he said and did on Tuesday than any day of his
life there's more recorded writing and and print on what Jesus did on Tuesday than any
other day of his life and we all often call that teaching Tuesday yeah and you get kind
of I think one of the least favorite chapters in the entire New Testament is probably Matthew
23 it's pretty harsh pretty harsh towards the Pharisees and the Sadducees but you get
another glimpse of how the character and attributes perfections of Jesus Christ and his intolerance
for sin in his disdain for self-righteousness I think that might be you know that's also
the chapter where he laments over Jerusalem yeah and that may be in part part of the lamentation
or yeah yeah for sure on then it goes on through Wednesday which we know very little
about is what had really happened on Wednesday Thursday Gethsemane Friday the crucifixion
is death and burial and then Saturday's in the spirit world and Sunday the glorious resurrection
so I don't know there's there's a lot to talk about let's should we just jump in and
yeah let's just you want to just start at day one there yeah okay so let's just let's
just start briefly by jumping in here Scott and I think something else maybe just before
we go day by day is to appreciate Easter you need to understand some about Passover which
is a festival weekly festival and they they start preparation for this way before and
they celebrate it I mean you can read about Passover and the events that the first Passover
is really recorded in Exodus chapter 12 when Moses is trying to free the children of Israel
from Pharaoh and from Egypt and lead them back to the promised land of land of Canaan or Israel
and the last plague is that the firstborn child firstborn son is going to to die unless
you slay a lamb without blemish and you put the blood on the post on your door post and
the destroying angel came in and all the firstborn sons whether whether they were Israelites or
Egyptians were were sacrificed in essence now the god of the Old Testament you hope
that sounds pretty harsh doesn't it yeah yeah that does sound like take the firstborn son
of an Egyptian or a Israeli and if they didn't if they didn't put blood if they didn't understand
the atonement of Jesus Christ but I am comforted to know that the atonement of Jesus Christ
covers those individuals and those families and if they didn't know the truth they'll
have every opportunity to receive the truth I know there was weeping and wailing and I
know there was great sorrow and but if that's what it took for God to keep his his people
protected and pure and receive their promised land as a fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant
and that's what he had to do and apparently he tried every other way possible in all of
those other plagues you'd think the Pharaoh would give in by then but that's that's what
Passover is really about is the slaying of the lamb and the blood on the doorpost that
saves saves the children of Israel and all of that is symbolic of the lamb of God and
Jesus Christ and his blood cleansing us saving and redeeming us and it's interesting that
the Jew the Jews have always celebrated begin Passover really like on the 10th of knee Nissan
which is their their first month of the year and on the 10th of Nissan they they bring
in a lamb they choose the lamb that's when they choose it they begin to watch the lamb
before they slay it five days later and this is kind of in connection with how the the
days work out here for Easter week the lamb lamb of God Jesus Christ comes into Jerusalem
they inspect him and he inspects them and they find him blemished they find him unworthy
whatever at least those who are self-righteous and wicked Pharisees and Sadducees but he
he's he comes in and he's inspected and eventually he is he is slain on the fifth day or Friday
so Palm Sunday the timing of all of this is kind of in connection with the celebration
of Passover from beginning on Sunday on through the rest of the week really it's not perfect
and by the way Scott the calendars and chronologies of these events are debated and there's so
much different theories and disagreements on some of the calendars and and the days and
I don't want to get hung up on that I I know that there's some even in our church have
a really hard time thinking about Good Friday being the day that he was crucified because
that doesn't give him three full days before he's resurrected yeah that becomes a problem
for some but I I love the fact that we generally mostly the brother and at least recognize
Good Friday which is kind of the the predominant Christian holiday Good Friday that we celebrate
that in in unity with the Christian world and that he was this is my personal belief
that he wasn't dead for three full days he was only in the tomb for about 40 hours but
it was on three three over three parts of the three different days he was he was gone
gave up the ghost as he as he cried out and into the hands I command my spirit on Friday
but then at sundown the next day begins according to the Jewish again lunar calendar at sunset
the new day begins so then he was he was in spirit world all day Saturday and sometime
pretty early around sunrise Jesus was resurrected so I think it's a probably only about 40 hours
that he was in the tomb anyway I I just kind of give that disclaimer that I don't know
the listeners can it doesn't matter so much really what day these events took place on
what's important is that we recognize them and that we know that these that these things
really did really did occur really did happen and the order and the chronology and the exact
date isn't maybe so so important no but what is important is that these events did take
place on a day and we can be in fact it's our it's our charge Dave we every Sunday we remember
these events in commemoration through you know the sacrament so yeah I understand that you
know there's some debate around days etc but again the fact is that there was a day when
this took place and there was a week in which it led up to that day and during that week
there were events that were there were milestones monumental important teachings important touch
stones for each of us as we put on the atonement of Jesus Christ through our knowledge of what
happened you right yeah great point so on Palm Sunday Jesus has his disciples have arranged
for a white donkey for him to ride into Jerusalem and of course Jesus knew that this was all
leading up that this was all in fulfillment of his entire life's mission and that he was
in fact the Lamb of God and so he rides into Jerusalem people are laying down fig leaves
in front of him they're laying down their their their robes their garments clothing it's something
like that of a of a king which he is right he is a king the king of the Jews and he is
the second David and this is this is kind of re-enacting the when David was made a king
and the coronation of David as king of Israel who when he was made king wrote a donkey a
white donkey into Jerusalem well Jesus is the second David and he rides in they roll
out the red carpet so to speak for him they're hailing him to be the king of the Jews and
the Messiah but before the week is over I think some of those same people Scott are
chanting and crucify him yeah crucify him I love that he rides in on a donkey there's
some great symbolism to that this is that also a David fulfillment of the prophecy
from Zachariah right Zachariah yes nine where he says and I'm just gonna read it rejoice
greatly oh daughter Zion shout oh daughter of Jerusalem behold thy king cometh unto thee
he is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an ass upon a cult the full of
an ass in other words they this and you know in a cult this this horse or whatever it was
is also on blemish right it's not been broke it's not been ridden before it's it also has
you know a lot of symbolism there as well the other thing that really hits me on this
though is you know we talk about he'll come in as a king when kings would come in they
wouldn't come in on a war charging horse yeah they would come in on a donkey because that
was a symbol of humility and peace lowly me yeah yeah yeah that's awesome thank you well
that's Palm Sunday and that's when it all all Easter really begins is him coming into
Jerusalem this is this is the Passover week I mean he knows it's Passover week and I actually
believe even though we don't have a real great record of this I actually believe that every
Passover all the Jews who could come to Jerusalem would come to Jerusalem that this would be
so crowded so busy there would be maybe a million or more people who had come into Jerusalem
I believe this is why again going back to his birth that Mary and Joseph couldn't find
any room in the end was because it was it was around Passover week so Jesus I believe
comes to Passover almost his entire life at this time of the year he comes to Jerusalem
I think he did it every year of the three years of his ministry even though again we
don't have a complete record of that but John John does tell us that he comes in on
Passover's on I think two of the three of them so he comes in and he's going to stay
with the Mary and Martha and Lazarus the family that he has become so close to for I don't
know what really the kinship or if there's any blood relations here of Mary Martha and
Lazarus but he's going to stay in Bethany where they live which is just a few miles
south of Jerusalem and so that's where he's going to stay when he's when he's there at
night that's where he sleeps and then every day he walks into Jerusalem well on Monday
he walks into Jerusalem and there's two interesting things that I think happen this day for me
one is and again these events are not necessarily perfect in chronology but as he I believe when
he's walking in he sees the fig tree and this this fig tree is probably it's in the spring
of the year so it probably doesn't have many blossoms and which mean which is a sign of
the fruit right that there's not going to be much fruit there's no figs and so he he uses
this fig tree as an amazing object lesson and it's the only thing that we know of that
he killed you know we everything Jesus touches or every time he speaks it seems like he's
healing healing someone cleansing someone making someone whole but in this case he uses this
fig tree as an object lesson of the curse of hypocrisy right and being fruitless and
uses the tree to say it looks looks good doesn't it but it's of no value if it doesn't bear
fruit right so he curses the fig tree and when they come back towards Bethany and they
pass the fig tree Monday evening the apostles are quite surprised to see that the fig tree
is dead that all happened probably less than 12 14 hours the tree is dead anyway as they
go into Jerusalem he again goes to the temple and when he goes to the temple again they
are selling their wares the money changers are ripping people off there's people from
many several different countries and and these money changers are making money by selling
temple coins and and it's become a it's become basically a flea market or some sort of a
bizarre you know where there's just selling things and you have to use certain coins and
the they're making commission off selling exchanging money well there's I just think
there's not there's no better example of Jesus's love for his father than for how he and I
again believe he did this every year during his ministry we have one other record of it
in John chapter 2 when he begins his ministry he cleanses the temple well here he is coming
back again and he does it again the last week of his life and I believe he did it in the
years in between but we don't have a record of those so anyway this last week on a Monday
he comes in and he cleanses the temple again and and tells them to not make a mockery of
his father's house so we get an example of his love for his father I think primarily and
for his power and authority and what he what he thinks of the holy temple so that's an
important event on Monday Scott anything else about Monday that you like you know the fig
tree is the only record that we have Jesus killing something right or destroying something
probably because the fig tree was without fruit it was just there standing there well
Jesus treated the hypocrisy of the Sadducees and Pharisees much the same way and I think
that you know those two things seen together really speak to the way he viewed that type
of activity or lack of activity in our lives etc so that's all I have on it's all I have
on Monday but going into Tuesday there's a lot of stuff there too yeah well on Tuesday
again this this is a day where there's more recorded about what he said and did than any
other day of his life and he comes he comes in and he he begins again he goes to the temple
and he begins to teach and he preach and he gives you know the great commandments in Matthew
22 and in I think the least least popular chat one the hardest chapters for me that I've
ever read the New Testament's Matthew 23 when he's letting the Pharisees and Sadducees have
it and he calls them white at sepulchres you white at sepulchres and I mean he just really
letting them have it Scott and I think there's there's something important about that that
we see that side of Jesus and again how much he he is well I'll just say word hate how
much he hates self-righteousness I think there's nothing he hates more yeah than self-righteousness
and hypocrisy right so anyway chapter 23 is hard but then on the Mount all of it discourse
on you know he goes to Mount olives and on the on the Mount of olives he gives us amazing
discourse in Matthew 24 to his disciples and talks about Jerusalem a little bit the history
of Jerusalem and prophesies that Jerusalem will in fact be destroyed which is a prelude
to what the Romans would do to Jerusalem in 70 AD this would be about not quite 40 years
after he's after he's been resurrected that Jerusalem would destroy Jerusalem I mean level
it not just just completely level it and then and then he gives these amazing signs and
prophecies of his second coming and I'm so grateful that we have a Matthew Joseph Smith Matthew
in the Pearl of Great Price which is the Joseph Smith translation of Matthew 24 in the Mount
Olivet discourse which would be so sweet for our listeners to read that discourse that's
what I would focus on on Tuesday would be his discourse on the Mount of olives and
that's Matthew 24 and then and then Scott we have Matthew 25 which was all given to
us on Tuesday which is the parables I think he saved I think he's the this isn't just
in prompt to I in my mind he has worked on these he has spent a lot of time and effort
developing these three parables I think these are the kind of the three crowns of all the
parables that he gave in in Matthew chapter 25 you know when he when he talks about the
ten virgins and the parable of the talents and the parable of the sheep and the goats
and all of that Scott points to preparing oneself and the church for the second coming
of Jesus Christ and I think it would be really worth one study to to consider as they as
we celebrate his resurrection that we look forward to his second coming and when we will
see him for the first time as a resurrected being and those those three parables help
us to know what we need to do to prepare we need to develop our talents our testimonies
that's I think really our testimonies we have lots of talents and we and we should not be
complacent we need to be come all that we can become but I really see talents as testimony
witnesses revelations that we have been given from the Holy Ghost and we need to really
develop those and we need to share those and not hide them not hide those talents because
that curses us and if you do that you're going to lose it if you don't use it you lose it
basically that's the message of the parable of the talent in the parable of the ten virgins
well five were wise and five were foolish right and five were prepared and they had
oil in their lamps and we've had amazing prophetic discourses and talks given on this but but
ultimately in doctrine coming in section 45 Scott we learned that those that that those
who have oil and those are who are prepared we learn our members of the church who have
taken the Holy Ghost as their guide that's that's the critical message of the parable
of the the virgins the ten virgins is that five were wise and five were foolish I believe
all ten virgins represent members of the church and that means fifty percent of them are not
going to be prepared and fifty percent of if you take it literally and I know I don't
think that we should take it necessarily that literally but just think about this fifty
percent may be being unprepared and fifty percent being prepared and why are they prepared
because they have oil in their lamps and every drop of oil is a deed of a worship a act a
thought a it's repentance it's faith in Christ it's it's the doctrine of Christ the oil in
our lamps represent the doctrine of Christ which includes the gift and power of the Holy
Ghost and and accessing the atonement of Jesus Christ in our life that's that's ultimately
the oil is the is the Holy Ghost administering the atonement of Jesus Christ in our life
which prepares us for anything Scott and so all of the events and all the terrible things
that are going to take place great terrible day of the Lord some of the really hard things
that will take place if we have oil our lamps will be fine we also we also learn by the
way in Matthew twenty four going back a chapter the Joseph Smith translation that even the
very elect would be deceived before the coming of Jesus and we're sure seeing that being
fulfilled to in our day but anyway Matthew twenty five in those parables that's awesome
to think about those in connection with the second coming of Jesus Christ just think about
some of the things that Jesus taught on Tuesday here's a kind of a short list right so this
is where he talks about the questions around tribute this is where he talks about marriage
and resurrection this is where he deals with the Sadducees and Pharisees so much great commandment
is given right on this day right right to love the Lord by God with all thy heart mind
and strength which is really not new that was part of the Jewish law right yeah that
was part of the Jewish law he had given his disciples or he will give his disciples during
the last supper the higher commandment right which is to love your which is to love others
as I have loved you he says that's the higher law which will fills this law which is to
love God and to more than anything and to love your neighbor as yourself that was all
that's part of the law of Moses and is written in Leviticus yeah he's just reviewing that
with them and and teaching them the fact that well that wow you are really good at obeying
the law and yet you haven't kept the most important part of it which fulfills the law
which is love you're really good at going through the motions without doing it for the
right reasons that's what he's basically telling him teaching Tuesday teaching so much that
day he also denunciates hypocrisy you mentioned that the widows might he talks about that
on that day this is the day he laments over Jerusalem old Jerusalem Jerusalem that we
talked about earlier and so much more so yeah big day lot of teaching he would have been
tired after that day yeah big day and because of maybe that's got we don't know very much
about what he did on Wednesday and it's believed that Wednesday he just kind of hung out in
Bethany right we don't really have any record of him coming into Jerusalem on Wednesday
so he probably stays in Bethany with his closest friends and family maybe is preparing them
for the events which will occur on Thursday and especially Friday and giving them hope
of the resurrection and witnessing to them and preparing them so Wednesday is kind of
a silent in the record we don't really have have much recorded there there's you know we
can imagine I can imagine I should say you know on this day he's probably exhausted from
the Tuesday before he's probably exhausted in anticipation of all that's about to come
because he knows and preserving his strength for what's going to happen that's right and
you know and so he's spending some precious time with some in my mind really important
relationships to him yeah Mary Martha you know we have the account from Luke 10 that's
so important to us you know the one needful thing the raising of dead there Lazarus his
friend Lazarus and there may have been some extra Mary his mother was there yeah there
may have been some of his apostles and all of the people close to him there may have
been some extra attention to that they were all feeling because during that time there
was a conspiracy to kill Lazarus yeah Lazarus was being hunted so to speak at this time
he was the greatest example or the greatest evidence of one of Jesus's biggest miracles
and there were those that were conspiring to kill him to discredit Jesus also right
and that was also taking place during that time right yeah that was part of the tension
that led up to yeah I mean I asked in crucifixion of Jesus there's enough tension but then you
start putting in some of these little side things that are happening around them too
and it just really compounds it my mind yeah right well okay let's go to let's let's think
about Thursday hmm so Thursday he tells his disciples to make arrangements and he gives
them a sign and how they'll know where where they're to do it and to do the Passover yeah
where they're where they're going to participate in the in a I prefer to say a Passover meal
I don't know if this is really the the Seder meal it may be it may be Scott I think most
people believe it is and not and I don't disagree but it's a Passover meal I I don't know I
know it's just not clear in the history whether this is the Passover meal when they partake
of the the lamb and they they do all of that or the herbs and well the bitter herbs and
the the Seder is a kind of a different thing I mean there's lots of meals right Passover
is a week long it's it's a it's a celebration that lasts several days so to talk about this
as being the Passover meal I think it's just more accurate to say Jesus wants to partake
of a last supper and it is a part of the Passover and it is a Passover meal and what
they partake of if this is the Seder where they they they do the bitter herbs and they
do all of that I'm not sure but anyway he he wants to do this upper room's been chosen
and they make those arrangements and they meet there in the upper room in Jerusalem
and John so thankful for the gospel and book of John St. John and him being one of the
younger apostles and and how he preserved the the writings and the teachings of Jesus
in that upper room's got a huge proportion of the writings of John are dedicated to what
happened in the other room some have estimated even in the book of John that about 25 percent
of it's dedicated to what happened in the yeah at least or more yeah I mean it's really
starts like in chapter 13 and and and goes through night 18 19 so it's really a it's
really amazing I think how much of that night is teachings really chapter 13 14 15 and then
he he records what happens on through Gethsemane and and the rest and through the resurrection
in chapter John chapter 20 but but I'm so thankful for the teachings that have been preserved
that were with his disciples that he taught his disciples on that Thursday afternoon or
evening so after they have a really meal washes their feet which is an ordinance and does
all of that then sings a hymn in the upper room I mean this is really where again he
teaches love others as I have loved you and he talks about the fulfillment of the law
and he identifies his betrayer after he has washed all of their feet which is again amazing
to me that he washes Judas's feet before he identifies a betrayer and after and before
Judas leaves and then they sing a hymn the 11 apostles because Judas is gone and 11
apostles with Jesus singing hymn and they depart for Gethsemane and I'm sure that Jesus probably
years before has selected this place called Gethsemane which means the press the oil press
where they would press olives and olive pits with a huge stone pulled by a donkey around
in a circle in a trough and crush these olives and pits and an olive oil symbol of peace
would ooze out into vats anyway I'm sure that was he saw that as a perfect symbol of where
he would begin and we emphasize the word begin his suffering for all of the sins and all
of the suffering of all of the world so when he gets to Gethsemane and leaves his three
apostles after they've gone a little further in and I love the way Mark described Matthew
describes it that he falls on his face in Matthew 26 that he falls on his face Luke says
that he kneels and he begins to pray more earnestly but at some point there in Gethsemane
he is laid out and his suffering begins his suffering begins spiritual death really begins
to to come upon him and he he has an angel that comes to strengthen him all of that happens
in in Gethsemane but it's just it's wrong to think that Gethsemane is where all of his
suffering occurred or took place you know we know that it was on Friday were really
all hell broke loose and where he suffered and continued to pay and ransom us from all
of our sins and sorrows and sufferings but that's Thursday and Thursday night and by
the way in the Jewish calendar Scott Thursday at sundown is really the beginning of Friday
so really we're we're kind of into Good Friday based on the Jewish calendar so this is really
I believe was Passover when Thursday night and he's in Gethsemane and then on on Friday
or if he's arrested goes through by you know a kiss of a betrayer Judas and they arrest
him and and Peter cuts off the ear of mouth yes and Jesus heals the ear and amazing and
they still continue to carry out his arrest and persecution and trial and it goes through
a mockery of a trial and the house of Caiaphas where they spit on him or they slap him or
they accuse him of terrible things and finally decide that they have a case against him they've
they found him guilty from a Jewish law of blasphemy that he claims that he's God and
yet they also have false witnesses that have found him to be guilty of treason because
he apparently claimed that he was greater than Caesar so with false witnesses and early
in the morning after an all night mockery of a trial they take him to the the Antonio
fortress where pilot resides and and they don't Jews don't have any power to crucify
him but there's kind of a little silent agreement or handshake I think between pilot and the
and the Jewish leaders and and pilot doesn't want to be unpopular cause any major protests
or problems with the Jews so so when the Jews want certain people to be punished the pilot
I think caves in and with all the warnings that pilot had with the dream that his wife
had and all of that and him questioning him and and he finds him not to be guilty of nothing
still he just finally just washes his hands and turns Jesus over to the Jews while they're
chanting crucify him crucify him he even tried to offer you know Passover and he says
in your Passover celebration you can let one one criminal go free and I offer you a Barabbas
which means what's got Barabbas is so bar is son of yeah and all but is God yeah so
I offer you Barabbas and Barabbas was I think must have been one of the the worst criminals
in all of Jerusalem one gospel writer calls him a thief one calls him a murderer yeah
I'm sure it was both anyway they they release him they would rather have him the Jewish
Sanhedrin and leaders and kind of the mob that has formed at Antonio Fortress they release
Barabbas and chant crucify him crucify him directing that to Jesus so they lay it now
keep in mind he's bled from every poor we know that nobody else believes that except
members of the church Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints because the Book Mormon doctrine come
in after bleeding from every poor going through a mockery of a trial going to to Antonio Fortress
where Herod the earth sorry going to Herod's after Antonio Fortress and then back to the
Antonio Fortress where Pilate has him scourged lays the cross on his back and he collapses
on his way to Golgotha to the hill of Golgotha or Calvary and then then at not by 9 a.m. there
at the foot of the of Golgotha and they put him on the cross and they crucify him Scott
we believe with five nails one in his hands his wrists and his feet and therefore another
from 9 a.m. to 12 noon he makes several statements while suffering the pains of crucifixion which
would kill many but mostly it wouldn't be quick it would they would they would crucify people
and hang on the cross for two or three days sometimes even a week before they would die
from either dehydration or starvation or where their lungs just couldn't breathe anymore being
in that being in that condition and he talks to the two thieves that are that he's crucified
between and makes statement to his mother and to John and but it's really at 12 noon
Scott on the cross that I think is so sacred so I don't know where our listeners are going
to be on Thursday night but I hope they'll think of Gethsemane and do something with
their family in thinking about Gethsemane and I don't know where they're going to be
on Good Friday during the day at noon or between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. but really at noon is where
the suffering of Gethsemane reoccurs intensified that's Jesus the Christ the elder Talmadge
other Mcconkey even president Elton has taught that recently that that the cross and Golgotha
Calvary is Gethsemane reoccured intensified anyway he cries out my God my God why has
thou forsaken me and for three more hours he suffers for the sins of the world all the
sorrows and pains and sicknesses of his people and he dies 3 p.m. and people are surprised
and shocked that he has passed so soon oh it's incomprehensible Scott the suffering
that he went through in those three hours and the night before in Gethsemane where his
suffering was so bad that he bled from every poor well they have to hurry and get him buried
before the Sabbath which begins at sundown on Friday so they hurry and get his body and
this in my mind almost hero Joseph of Arma Thea who seems to be a member of the Sanhedrin
and has this some but is apparently is a believer and has this has this burial plot
not plot to tomb brand new yeah and if you go there if you go there did you go there
oh yeah and see where they kind of chiseled it out a little more yeah that maybe Jesus
was a little taller than maybe Joseph of Arma Thea and they it had to be kind of enlarged
just a little bit for his body anyway I find all that interesting and and that's where they
buried him and I I think that's where we believe that he was buried there's there's the Catholic
place that they build a church over it where they think he was buried and then there's
the Episcopalian site which is the garden tomb which is where we believe that he was
buried I know I had a really sacred experience there and so did my sweetheart I mean she had
a very sacred experience there in that garden tomb her her dad had passed away just a short
time before and she was aware of his presence and so that's that site is one of the most
sacred to to our family that's where Mary early in the morning would have been they
that's where they rolled the stone in front and he was dead for those some 40 hours and
early Sunday morning early Sunday morning I I like the truth I still have this tradition
of early Sunday morning waking up and on Easter morning and reading John chapter 20 which
I encourage our listeners to do maybe on maybe on Saturday while he's in the spirit world
our listeners should read Dr. and Cumbna in section 138 which is Joseph Fieldings or sorry
Joseph F. Smith's vision of the redemption of the dead and his vision of the spirit world
that would be awesome to read on Saturday and then on Sunday morning or sometime Sunday
or whenever you can read John chapter 20 I love that chapter on the resurrection it's
my favorite and then sometime on Sunday or maybe even the next day or Sunday night we
have to read Elder Stevenson gave such a great talk last year a conference was on Easter
Sunday I think and he he gave such a great Easter talk and he said your Easter just isn't
complete I'm paraphrasing it's just not complete unless you read 3rd Nephi chapter 11 so sometime
on Sunday we need to read 3rd Nephi chapter 11 and it's true Scott the 2500 eyewitnesses
in bountiful in the Americas where 2500 people were invited by Jesus to come and feel and
know and to put your thruster hand into my side and feel the prints of the nails in my
hands and my feet and one by one they did so and we have these eye and ear witnesses
and more than that even Scott the spirit bearing witness and Jesus teaching them as a resurrected
being on three different days as a resurrected being and and by the way most people I think
either don't remember or maybe haven't known that after Jesus was resurrected that he was
with his disciples and followers in Jerusalem for 40 days for 40 days there was a 40 day
ministry and I think in those 40 days Jesus would have taught them more about the the
gospel the the law of the gospel within its its ordinances and covenants including temple
ordinances and covenants I think all of that would have been taught in the 40 day ministry
anyway we have so much Scott as members of the church Jesus Christ Watterday Saints to
be grateful for when it comes to Easter with all of the additional prophetic witnesses
and scriptural accounts of the literal reality of the Savior's resurrection as a as a member
of the church as a you know I gave a beautiful blessing a patriarchal blessing Scott on Sunday
to a young man and talked about the reality of the resurrection and how he would participate
in the resurrection in the morning of the first resurrection then as a sealer when when
couples are sealed for time and all eternity they are sealed with blessings and powers
of the of the of the holy resurrection it's so humbling and it's so powerful and I know
by the Holy Ghost by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost that it's true that because
of Jesus's resurrection and I know he lives that all of us will be resurrected and that
we will all live and that we can all because of him be together forever as families and
I I leave with our listeners my sure witness and testimony of those things in the name
of Jesus Christ amen and thanks so much David you know if it weren't for Easter we wouldn't
celebrate Christmas if it weren't for Easter we wouldn't have the hope and the promises
that come to us that all inequalities inequities and injustices in this world will be made
right if it weren't for Easter there would be no answer to the effects of the fall of
Adam and Eve the effect there if it weren't for Easter there would be no answer to the
effects of our own fall there would be no way for us to find any kind of happiness not
just in this life but but forever as it is promised to us we've we've spent a short period
of time covering some very important monumental and even that word does not do justice to
the events that happened during Easter if you'll go back just a few weeks I don't know
the exact off the top of my head without looking the exact episode numbers but just literally
four or five weeks ago we went through the events of the atonement of Jesus Christ that
is the encapsulation of the of the Easter story if you want to do a deeper dive into
each one of the events that we talked about here today in fact we didn't talk about sinless
life as part of the Easter story that is included in the events of the atonement of Jesus Christ
but we do cover we do cover there the events that happened to Gethsemane on Calvary and
the Garden Tomb which obviously is the Easter story nothing more important to us as Christians
nothing more important to us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
than the life death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and all that
it entails it's not just those events but it's the power that comes to us because of
those events and I'm grateful for that in fact Scott the Prophet Joseph Smith said
anything else are only appendages to the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ anything else
that we do and I think Scott that is so important that we all every Sunday not just Easter Sunday
but every Sunday we think about Easter and these events and that we continually strive
to strengthen our testimonies of the reality of these events and the resurrection and that
we we believe we know that death is temporary that Jesus Christ overcame death for all mankind
everyone sons of perdition murders adulterers the worst of the worst all mankind will be
resurrected and return to the presence of God to be judged that is the message of the
holy resurrection and that we will be resurrected with perfected bodies of flesh and bone I
just we have so much to be grateful for in regards to these events and we should be
intentional about striving to strengthen our witness of these events throughout all of
our life the way that we become intentional of that is to make a study of this to always
be repenting and also to include the sacrament and the the the ability for us to retain a
remission of our sins or in other words to retain the covering that the atonement of Jesus
Christ provides for each of us in our lives I think of Easter every Sunday there's nothing
in my life more important to then the events that happened during that week because of
those events David the in the inequalities that I've created in other people's lives
the sins that I've committed and some of them are big and all of that other stuff can be
taken care of and has actually been taken care of I retain a remission as I remember
those events when I particular sacrament that's our invitation to each of us for this week
prophet Joseph Smith just a short time before his his martyrdom in Nauvoo he said this quote
all your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection provided you continue faithful
by the vision of the Almighty I have seen it so it's not just we get our bodies back
Scott all of our losses will be made up to you made up to you even the losses that were
responsible for yeah compensated yeah this is the this is the power of the compensatory
powers that flow into our life through the atonement of Jesus Christ this I think about
the experience with elder Anderson in the prison when he told that that prisoner who
asked really elder Anderson some of us have lost everything and elder Anderson about came
out of his shoes and said everything can be restored everything can be restored to you
because of the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ yeah I mean that's that is
the good news and that's what we should celebrate remember at Easter that's our challenge to
each of us and our invitation that's actually our invitation to each of us as we go through
this week on Easter as we partake of the sacrament I pray that that will be a sacred sacred
experience to each one of us that as we consider the things the lifeblood shed the the the sacrifice
of not just him but of our heavenly fathers as well the sacrifice of his precious son
for each of us may that be our charge as we go through this week is our prayer thanks
for being with us we'll see you next week.