Hey there everybody and welcome back to another episode of Redeemed Through His Blood.
My name's Scott Durfey, joined as always by our great teacher and friend.
And I kind of got chastised last week when I called him my uncle, but he's still my uncle.
David Durfey, hey Dave what's up?
Yeah, I like being an uncle too.
Let's see, 34 nieces and nephews.
That's just on one side, right?
Yeah, that's just on the Durfey side.
Just on the Durfey side.
Yeah, uncle to 34 on the Durfey side.
I don't even know how many there are on my Terry side.
Anyway, Scott, it's good to be here.
You look good. You've been to Israel.
You don't have any suntan or?
No, the sun wasn't in very much abundance in Israel.
It was a little bit chilly.
We got rained on really hard actually.
One day when we were overlooking the road to Jericho.
Yeah, it was kind of crazy.
It was raining hard.
That's a scary road too.
Exactly, and we were in a big bus.
I kept wondering if they were going to have me get out and lock in the hubs on that big bus, put it in four wheel drive.
Were you going from Jerusalem down to Jericho?
We were actually had been near the Dead Sea and was going up.
You were going up. Yeah, that's what we did too.
Yeah, was going up.
I remember I was, for some reason, I was standing in the stair kind of thing of the bus.
When we were going up there, I don't know, I can't remember why.
I think because my sweetheart has motion sickness and she was sitting with another wife in the front.
So I was standing that whole thing.
Honestly Scott, I can vividly remember, and I kind of have a fear of heights.
I can remember looking out that door and seeing nothing.
The bus would go around some of those curves.
The wheels are barely on that road.
The bumper of the bus is actually over the cliff.
Quite an experience. We had a couple of those.
That's how I remember it at least.
Yeah, it was like that.
It was raining and there were these cute little shepherd kids.
As soon as they saw the bus, man, they came running with a handful of bracelets and necklaces.
They sell you.
But they had a scarf.
Bucksheesh. I remember them yelling out,
Bucksheesh, for a buck you can buy this.
For a buck you can buy that.
It was kind of fun so we bought a scarf and that didn't really help and it smelled quite badly until I got it back and cut her in stout.
But I had an old umbrella that we had given away.
It was kind of a swag at one of the events I did for work.
I hadn't opened it and we get there.
A brand new umbrella and I go to open it and it won't open.
It won't latch.
Deb ended up giving that to one of the cute little kids.
I don't know what they're going to do with it.
You didn't go to Egypt, did you?
We did not. We went to Jordan.
I remember the children in Egypt.
Wow, that was so tender in Cairo.
One of the biggest, oldest slums.
That word comes from Cairo and you get out there and honestly the children.
If you just take a stick of gum and give them a piece of gum or we took some packages of pencils and you just give them a pencil,
you would think it was better than Christmas morning.
I remember when Grandma and Grandpa went decades ago, they took bags of candy and gave them and stuff like that.
For that reason, that was interesting.
But anyway, you had a great experience.
You came back, your testimony probably not any stronger, but a little more personal.
How would you summarize your experience?
It might actually be a little deeper, a little stronger.
I don't know that personal experience.
I don't know that I could go walk where Jesus walked and not fill that.
I did fill that.
There were a couple places in particular.
Capernaum was one of those.
I'm getting cold chills.
That's how the spirit manifests to me.
I'm getting those right now as I'm saying this.
We had a really wonderful experience with some people that we met and other experiences in Capernaum.
It was amazing.
I had a wonderful experience at Magdala that was kind of life changing.
I could have had it anywhere, but I had it there.
That's up there on the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Northwest Shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Anyway, it was just beautiful.
It was good to go to the Garden Tomb.
I know we had a lot of listeners that were following us.
I didn't post a lot of pictures.
I posted pictures that had to do with podcasts and Jesus' life specifically on Instagram and Facebook while we were there.
I had a lot of comments.
A lot of people followed along there.
It was cool.
It was neat to go to the Garden of Gethsemane.
It was neat to go to Golgotha.
It was neat to go to the Garden Tomb.
That was pretty special.
Those are some of the things we're going to talk about today, Scott.
It's the week before Easter.
We're in Easter week, Holy Week.
It just seems appropriate that we talk about some of the events of the last week of the Savior's life leading up to Easter.
We hope all of our listeners are enjoying the spirit of Easter week.
I think we do such a great job as Latter-day Saints celebrating Christmas.
We make such a big deal out of Christmas and we really celebrate Christmas with the rest of them.
I have felt for a long time, Scott, that as a church, as a people, that we could do better in celebrating the week of Easter.
I know the brethren have tried to help us with that.
I am so pleased, so happy that President Nelson has made some fundamental new changes in how we commemorate Easter.
Allowing us to be with our families maybe an extra hour and to not give Christmas any more special treatment than we give Easter.
I am so pleased that we have come to our worship and being with our families and having family time.
I am really thankful for these positive changes.
Even Scott, this seems like a no-brainer, but we really haven't done this until the last year or two.
In Sunday School, in the manual, come follow me manual.
I am not a Sunday School lesson now, but that wasn't known when they wrote this manual.
The lesson this week would have been, if we had Sunday School on Easter Sunday, it would have been about Easter.
Honestly, it just seemed wrong that we could have Easter Sunday and be talking about Ammon cutting off the arms.
Honestly, you could go to Sunday School years ago and not even talk about the events of Easter.
I remember times when Easter actually fell like on a state conference.
We would hold a state conference on an Easter.
We have come a long ways.
We have come a long way.
We still have ways to go as a group of people and as individuals.
We still have a ways to go.
Jesus was born on Christmas to accomplish Easter.
That is probably Hinkley.
There would be no Christmas without Easter.
If there was no Easter.
I love that because that is where our focus is not just this time of year, but that is where our focus should be every time of year.
Every week, every time of year, we should be focusing on the events of Easter.
We do that when we commemorate and partake of the sacrament.
True.
That should be our focus every week, every year, but to have that in special spotlight this year, I think should be.
I know in our ward council there has been a lot of talk around we really need to make this Easter sacrament meeting special.
I am looking forward to what will happen there.
The most important thing that can happen there is for us to commemorate Easter by partaking of the sacrament, which we will do.
But what if that experience is just a little extra special this week?
Well, it doesn't really matter what the church has done or what the church is doing or what the church will do.
As Latter-day Saints, we should establish special family traditions around Easter.
And I am not talking about Easter baskets and bunnies or Easter egg hunts.
Simple, simple traditions that we celebrate as families when it comes to Easter.
Just as simple as, for example, which we are going to do today, as simple as talking about each of the last days of the Savior's life.
When you start on Sunday, that's when me and my family will begin to really celebrate Easter, was this past Sunday.
A triumphal Sunday. The Sunday that he enters into the city, right?
So just remembering each day of the week and what happened on that week and reviewing the events and reading a few verses of Scripture about those events.
That's, I think, the greatest tradition that can be established.
And then, like our good other Christian friends do, who celebrate Lent for 40 days, we could at least maybe for four days before Easter and before the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
We should be asking ourselves every day, what can I sacrifice today?
What can I give up today? What can I make holy, consecrate, sanctify today and be really consciously begin to think about the suffering of the Savior and what I can do to be able to receive that gift in my life.
So on Easter Sunday, oh my goodness, my favorite tradition on Easter Sunday is just a personal one of getting up really early.
I try to get up really early on Easter Sunday because I know Jesus was resurrected really early and I get up and I read John 20.
Just, that's been a tradition of mine for years and years and every time I do it, I feel the spirit of the Lord bear testimony to me of the reality of the resurrection.
And I just think simple, easy things like that, which may require some sacrifice.
Definitely maybe some planning can really make a difference in how we enjoy the events and the sacred nature of this holy week.
While we were in Jerusalem last week, this was on my mind the whole week.
And so I'm anxious today to kind of wander back there in our minds, right?
And go through the events of that holy week.
I listened to a podcast actually yesterday while I was at the gym on the events of the holy week, did a great job of talking about the things that happen there.
Hopefully we'll be able to accomplish that as well.
But as we do this and kind of go back and think about those events of the week, it would help us to put ourselves there.
We talk about the things that are so important for us, to come to know Him, to love Him, to learn to be like Him.
And this is our coming to know Him.
And if we can go to where He was, you know, and we are invitation so often, every week really, our invitation is, is when He says, come in me, where's He asking us to come?
Well, He's asking us to come to the events of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Well, this triumphal entry and this entire holy week is one of those.
And I'm really looking forward to this.
Right. Come unto me, stand at the foot of the cross, find a little corner in the Garden of Gethsemane and with the eye of faith, see my suffering.
That's, you know, really, Scott, it is, as Elder Holland has taught us, it is the suffering Christ that we worship.
And it is the living Christ that is the greatest symbol of our faith.
So I think it's, you know, that's President Hinckley, that it's the living Christ that is the symbol of our faith.
That's why we don't use the cross as the symbol of our faith.
And yet it's so important to remember that it is the suffering Christ in Gethsemane and everything between Gethsemane and the time that he allows his life to be laid down and it's finished and he dies on the cross.
I hope our listeners will be thinking about that this week, about the atonement and the suffering beginning in Gethsemane and not ending there.
But in fact, even becoming even more excruciating in many ways on the cross, because he doesn't have any angels to comfort him and even the Father withdraws his presence.
But I hope that our listeners can kind of see the suffering Christ, but also the living Christ as part of this Holy Week.
Well, it's interesting that on, we were talking about Jericho on Friday, probably of the last week, this past Friday, since this is Easter week, Jesus goes to Jerusalem to celebrate the Holy Week.
To celebrate the Passover.
And it's interesting to me, Scott, that he makes that, oh, I don't know, what is it, a three, four thousand foot elevation change?
I mean, Jericho's, I think Jericho's the lowest city in the world.
600 feet below zero.
Yeah, I know that the...
I'm below zero.
600 feet below sea level.
But it's just, I think it's instructive. Jesus could have come to Passover in many different ways.
He could have gone through Samaria again on his way down to Jerusalem.
But he kind of goes along the Jordan River and he goes to this low point.
And I think it's somewhat symbolic of the whole week of going from this low point to this high point and then back again.
So he comes from Galilee and he comes down along the Jordan River and Jericho and then goes up to the mountain.
I mean, Jerusalem really does sit in the top of a mountain.
We talk about that, but I think it's really hard to picture it unless you go there.
And you see the city on the hill, which is Jerusalem.
So as he comes up there, he decides, he's been invited, I'm sure, to stay with Mary and Martha, sisters, and Lazarus, their brother.
In Bethany.
Just probably about six miles southeast.
He goes there to stay with them.
It's Saturday.
This is probably, and by the way, as we talk about these last events of the Saviors last week of his life, mortal life,
we should remember that there are lots of different timelines.
None of the chronology is perfect.
These events, it's speculated by some happened on different days.
But the ones that we'll talk about, I think, are kind of the general accepted days and events and in the sequence that they took place.
Most people, I believe, except the fact that Mary anointed Jesus in Bethany on Saturday.
That spikenoard ointment and that was a sacred kind of precluding his death and resurrection to begin the Holy Week.
And then on Sunday, which is the fifth day before Passover.
Now, and by the way, we have such great tools on this, Scott, in our LDS Bible, in the 2013 edition.
If you go in the back of the Bible, in the appendix, 766, page number 766, I think you can begin to look at these events.
And you can write down where it says 6th day before Passover, you can write down Saturday.
Then in your margin, you can write down the fifth day of Passover where it says triumphal entry.
And you can go down to where it says the fourth day before Passover and write Monday in your margin.
You can also do that on your phone, on your LDS app.
If you are using a Bible dictionary before 2013, it's in the Bible dictionary under chronology.
The chronology of the Gospels. In fact, it's under Gospels, sorry. It's under Gospels, a chronology.
So depending on which Bible you're using, you should use these tools.
And maybe this would be a great tradition.
I guess I do that every year. I always review the last week and events of the Savior's life.
That would be a new tradition for our listeners to review these events.
So on Sunday, he makes this triumphal entry. We call it triumphal Sunday and Palm Sunday.
People lay down their palm leaves as a sign of royalty like rolling out the red carpet.
He rides into Jerusalem on a white donkey, a symbol of being the second David.
This is how David was coronated king by riding a white donkey into Jerusalem.
And Jesus kind of reenacts that.
He comes in and people were hailing him as the king of the Jews and such a great celebration, Scott.
And it's again from such a high to such by the end of the week, such a low and then such a high again on Sunday when he's resurrected.
And it's kind of like going up and down the Jericho Road. Highs and lows of this week are pretty astonishing.
I like how you put that. I hadn't really thought of that before I heard of that, but I really like how you put that.
Just another maybe comment. You know, Jesus rides in on a donkey and you know, me being a horse guy, I'm thinking,
why wouldn't Jesus ride in on an Arabian horse?
Durfies have always loved Arabian Arabian horse would have been around then.
And it would have been a symbol of a lot of great things.
But and I've heard this, you know, that's the kings when they were in peace would ride in on donkeys.
This donkey was a symbol of peace where the horse was a symbol of war and conflict, etc.
So I just a little insight, you know, that I thought was kind of a melody.
Right. I thought it was kind of a porno. Right.
Well, that's sweet. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
So he comes in on Sunday.
Some things think that maybe it's on Sunday, something that it's on Monday that and again at night.
Let's keep in mind Jesus is spending his evenings with the family of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
Lazarus, who he brought back from the dead.
And there is a conspiracy among the Jews, by the way, that because that happened a short time before just months before this final week that Lazarus was brought forth out of the tomb.
And there's a conspiracy to kill Lazarus because he is the greatest evidence, physical evidence of the power of Jesus Christ and the witness that he is the son of God and has power over life.
And over death. Yeah.
So there's this conspiracy to kill Lazarus and that's where Jesus is staying in the evenings.
But I think it was on Monday, some say Sunday.
We don't know the exact timing of these events.
Jesus goes to the temple and there at the temple again.
We know he did this the first Passover when he began his ministry when he was 30.
Now again, the last Passover he spends in Jerusalem.
And I think maybe every Passover he was in Jerusalem, he does the same thing because I don't think we know he went to Jerusalem probably every Passover.
And I can't imagine that if he cast out the money changers and the animals, the first Passover and the last Passover that he was there.
I can't imagine why you wouldn't do that. The other Passover.
So they see him coming again and he casts out the money changers and and and cries repentance to the people for not treating his father's house with the reverence and respect that that he knows that they should.
So he cleanses the temple and that's I think that's such a powerful lesson, object lesson for us.
I've not only his respect for his father and his father's house.
And for the ordinances and the symbol of the holy temple.
But it's kind of the way he does it with the discipline that he shows, especially as it's recorded in.
John regarding the first time he cast them out where he takes time to court a whip and he takes time to take the animals who are in cages and hands them to somebody.
He doesn't come in kicking and screaming. He does it in a very orderly, very disciplined sort of way.
But the object lesson that I get out of this is that there's just sometimes where you say you have to say to our children and to those that we love that you need to respect this.
You have to respect this and I'm not going to tolerate it if you don't.
So I just think it's important that we see that part of the character of Jesus and his love for his father's love and respect for his father reverence.
So after he cleanses the temple and goes back to Bethany on Monday, he curses I think a fig tree.
And again the timing I'm not exactly sure if this is Monday or Tuesday.
But he curses a fig tree.
And that fig tree becomes a great symbol of hypocrisy because he sees this fig tree.
It's showing great leaves, but apparently there's not a lot of blossoms.
It's in the spring of the year. It's not bearing fruit.
And he condemns it.
And he talks about it as not only being a symbol of maybe the second coming that you'll see the leaves on the trees and the signs of the times.
But that also that it's a, as Elder James, he tell me, teaches in Jesus the Christ that he curses it.
This is the only thing, Scott, that we know of that Jesus curses and it dies during his mortal mission and ministry.
Everything else he's healing, he's bringing things back from the grave or from life back to life.
But this fig tree, he curses.
And 12 hours or 24 hours later as the disciples come back and they see the tree, they're amazed that it has wilted and died.
Hypocrisy.
That Jesus does not want hypocrisy.
There is nothing that Jesus hates more.
This is just my conclusion, Scott.
There's nothing that Jesus hates more than hypocrisy, than self-righteousness.
And it's on Tuesday when he goes again to the temple and he lets the Pharisees and the Sadducees just have it.
He calls them out.
He calls them white and sepulchres.
He really condemns their hypocrisy.
And I've always, that's always left an impression to me about the need for us to be aware that we are never self-righteous or hypocritical in our beliefs and that we try to live according to our beliefs and not be hypocrites.
So he condemns them, gives some of the greatest sermons really or parables of his whole ministry on Tuesday.
I think he gives like six parables.
Right.
Two include, for example, the parable of the two sons.
Yes.
The wicked husband man.
The ten virgins.
Yeah.
The wedding of King's son.
Yes.
The parable of the sheep and the goats.
The parable of the talents.
He gives these six, these six parables, some of his best really, some of his best teaching occurs on Tuesday, just a few days before he begins to suffer for the sins of the world.
At some point he goes up to the, to the top of the Mount of Olive, Olivet, and he's sitting there.
I like you were there.
Oh yeah.
That was a great place to, you know, from there.
And I thought about this.
I thought about his experiences there.
But from there you look and you will see in the distance, not that far distance, but the city of Jerusalem.
Right.
There's the southern wall, the sheep's gate.
They changed.
They thought it was interesting that the Romans changed the sheep's gate name to the lion's gate.
But, but, you know, right there and from there, interestingly enough, too, you're overlooking to, you know, as you're facing,
Jerusalem to the right, you'll see a part of the Kidron Valley coming in.
Right.
You'll see the, the road to judgment.
You'll see the Valley of Death right below there.
Right.
And see all those graves.
To the far left and just outside of the city of Jerusalem there, you would, that would be, have been the city of David.
And so this is the setting.
And just below, just below you at the foot, very foot of the Mount of Olives is the Garden of Gethsemane.
Today, over to the, to the right of you, right to the north of you, as you're sitting on the, you see on Mount Scopus, the BYU.
Yeah, the Jerusalem Center.
We actually went to the sacrament meeting there.
It was quite an experience.
Awesome.
Yeah.
You see the Dome of the Rock.
Yeah.
Where it's believed that Abraham took his son, Isaac, to sacrifice him, keeping the commandment of the father.
And you pitch, you can picture all of that from the Mount of Olives.
Yeah.
Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives, no doubt contemplating everything that's happened in that valley.
And as he looks over the Jerusalem, cries out, you know, Oh Jerusalem, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem.
Yeah.
How I would have gathered you.
Yep.
As a hen her chicks.
Yep.
But you would not.
That's, that's powerful.
Yeah.
I'm sure and Jesus, complying what, what they could have had, should have had, would have had.
And then to contemplate what he was going to do, what he had to do, what he was willing to do out of love for those people.
That must have been one of the most tender moments in the life of the Savior.
I love that.
Love that painting.
Jesus on the Mount.
Yeah, I did too.
Plating those events.
Well, that's, that's on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, we don't know of really anything Jesus did on Wednesday.
Probably spent the day with his family, with his loved ones.
We don't know how many were there in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus in Bethany.
But we know that many disciples were there.
His mother, maybe other family members were there.
And then he would have maybe spent this last day in the most intimate setting with his closest friends and his family, which is really sweet to think about.
Then on, he's told his disciples to go in and to make arrangements and tells them exactly how it's going to happen and, and how they can find a place where they can.
Celebrate the Passover and which we now call where they could conduct the Last Supper and where Jesus initiates or institutes this, the sacrament.
So on Thursday, sometime late in the afternoon, they go into the city of Jerusalem and they go to the upper room.
Did you go to the upper room?
Yeah, we did.
Now the upper room, the original is not there.
Yeah.
Everything in Jerusalem was torn down by the Romans in 70 AD.
So you really don't walk where Jesus walked and you don't really stand where Jesus stand.
But it's really close.
Yeah.
Right.
It's really close.
And it's, it's awesome that they have relocated a place.
The Christian community have located a place where they believe the upper room where it was located.
And you go there.
And what experience did you have there?
Yeah, that was an incredible experience too.
I know Deb and I both as we walked in there, it was kind of sombering.
It's a big room.
Pillars, arches.
Yeah.
And, and, you know, and I don't know that it would have looked like that.
It was a bigger room, but I don't, again, you know, traditional sites, right?
This is the traditional site.
And, you know, how do they come about the traditional site?
There's a lot of theory, a lot of ways that they've done that.
It doesn't matter.
You know, the point is, is that when you're in a room like that and we're talking about
the things that we would talk about in there, the, the, you know, beginning of the sacrament,
you know, how Jesus talked about it and how he also said that he would be betrayed there.
And it was just a neat experience to be there.
And I took, I've taken the sacrament since I've been home.
And now when I partake of the sacrament, I kind of go back in my mind's eye.
Absolutely.
To that place where it was first brought forth.
And, and well, and it was a great experience for me this past Sunday as I did that because
while I was there in my mind's eye, there was just something a little more tangible than,
than I had had before.
Absolutely.
Taking the sacrament, Dave.
It was cool.
Absolutely.
And you mentioned one of your favorite places was Capernaum.
Yeah.
And, and that's where he gave the great sermon on the bread of life.
Right.
John six and he talks about hit the flesh being the bread of life.
So definitely you, you, you, when you go there to Jerusalem, the Holy land and you have those
experiences and visit those places when you partake of the sacrament and you're trying
to remember and think about the Savior's atoning sacrifice.
It does.
It's a little more vivid.
For sure.
Well in this upper room, some amazing events take place there.
John records, you know, John who is really writing to members of the church at about
a third of his writings, at least a fourth of his writings is about the experience in
the upper room.
There's several of his chapters are focused upon the teachings and the events of the upper
room.
It's, it's so, it's so interesting that he records that.
He talks about himself, you know, being the one who tried to get really close to Jesus
in that experience and anyway, the teachings of those chapters are something that should
be contemplated and read, I believe on Thursday, at least some of them, the teachings of peace
I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world give it.
I, I love those chapters and love to contemplate the events that took place in, in the upper
room and one of those events was the washing of the feet, which is so interesting because
to me because Judas was there and Jesus wanted to wash Judas' feet.
None of us can really judge Judas.
Judas is a little bit of an enigma, I think, in the Gospels.
Some people call him betrayer, but he's never called that in the scriptures.
I don't really, we really don't know what to quite think, at least I don't of Judas,
but it was obvious that Jesus loved him and wanted to wash his feet and, and washes all
of the disciples feet.
A really sacred ordinance, Scott.
It's not something that I think should be taken lightly or try to be duplicated by anyone
in a Sunday school class or otherwise.
I think it's a really sacred ordinance that has deeper meaning than we can talk about.
But after that happens, he actually gives Judas the opportunity to leave and to go do
his, his deed and to get the silver and to make arrangements to identify Jesus in the
Garden of Gethsemane and kind of sell him off to the, I think, I think Judas Scott thought
that Jesus could deliver himself or something.
I, I don't know.
I just don't know.
But I know, I know that he knew after it had happened and he saw that his, his choices
had caused Jesus so much suffering and that it was not going to be reversed and Jesus
was not going to choose to deliver himself.
Jesus went out just south of the city of Jerusalem and commits suicide, kills himself.
So anyway, but back to the upper room and Jesus initiates that, that sacrament and tells
them that, you know, this is my flesh and this is my blood and to remember me and they,
he teaches them again about the comforters, this first comforter, the second comforter.
He offers an intercessory prayer, which is amazing, right?
John 17.
We should probably try to read that this week.
Amazing that prayer that we may all be one as we are one father, he prays.
Anyway, and then this is, you know, I know this one of your favorite scripture, Scott,
because, and this is life eternal, that they might know the, the only true God in Jesus
Christ, who now has sinned John 17.3.
That's where he makes that statement is in the upper room.
And then they sing him, they sing him.
This is about 9pm, 830, probably eight, 830.
And after they sing him, they walk over Thursday night to a spot where that he has identified
and called the Garden of Gethsemane.
Gethsemane meaning the oil press, the place of the oil press.
This was where all of the sins would be pressed down upon him, all of the sins of the world,
where olives were crushed, where olive oil was made as the, the olives in, in, including
this, the hard pit, the olive pit were crushed.
And olive oil would ooze out of these vats crushed by these huge rocks that would roll
around these vats pulled by donkeys.
Did you see that?
Yeah, you know, I want to add some insight here too, because we did.
It's called a millstone, and the stone that crushes the olives and it's big, a ton, maybe,
you know, and it would crush.
And it would, it would, it would require an animal, right, or several very strong men,
but an animal is what they would use.
And they would just slowly turn that.
Well, they would crush all of the olive, everything.
And there's some imagery here.
I want you, if you're, if you're beginning listeners, if you're beginning to imagine
some imagery, we'll continue with it, because this is very important.
And as that happens, the oil from the olive oozes out.
And as it oozes out, they put that into a basket, it's a collapsible type of basket.
Well then it goes into a press and the, and it that ratcheted press, but applies, I don't
know, thousands of pounds of pressure, perhaps.
And there's three different types of olive oil, right?
You have the virgin oil that you use for cooking and so forth that comes first, then you have
the other that's for oil lamps or, you know, and other things.
And then finally, the final one, well, it's interesting how that in order to get everything
out of the olive, it has to go through three presses.
And while Jesus was in the Mount of Olives in Gethsemane, again, meaning the olive press,
when he was there, he prayed three times and was pressed three times to go through what
he went through to also get from him everything that needed to be gotten in order for the
redemption of all mankind to be set forth three times and for three hours.
Right.
He was there from nine until midnight on Thursday night.
So I don't know our dear friends, brothers and sisters.
I don't know where you're going to be Thursday night.
But we should definitely be thinking we're doing something to remember.
Gethsemane on Thursday night as we celebrate these events of Easter where blood would ooze
from every poor so great would be his anguish for the sins of his people.
And as Latter Day Saints, we've talked about this, the special beliefs and understanding
that we have received because of the restoration of the gospel, knowing that Jesus bled from
every poor.
That's not in the Bible.
Nobody else believes that.
Luke comes the closest to describing it when in Luke 22 verse 44, he says, his sweat was
as it were like great drops of blood falling to the ground.
And Joseph Smith actually changed that in the JST.
He sweat great drops of blood.
But no one else understands him bleeding from every poor so great was his anguish.
And it was so great that an angel came to strengthen him.
I love the imagery, you know, given to us by Elder MacConkey that that angel was Adam.
And here is Adam who brought sin into the world.
And he's trying to comfort Jesus.
Was was that Adam say anything?
What what could Adam possibly say?
To Jesus to try to comfort him.
Yeah.
Did he say I'm sorry?
Did I mean what could he possibly say the one who brought the sin into the world trying
to comfort he who is paying for all the sins of the world?
Adam was there.
The angel was there on special assignment from Heavenly Father.
Not sure words words would have ever even need to be spoken because of that special
assignment.
That mean that Jesus would have been able to transcend any of that mortal communication
to fill that support.
And without that support, I don't even know.
I don't even know what it would have been like with that support, but without that support
would it have been undoable unbearable.
Total spiritual death.
But Michael Adam, the archangel trying to comfort Jesus, these two created the worlds
together.
And you know, no doubt so close in their relationship.
It just seems really special and sweet to me that about that experience and I love all
of the artist's different renditions that paint the angel in Gethsemane.
I have one that I'm thinking of right now is my favorite.
I don't know who the painter is, the artist, but Jesus laid out.
He's just laid out.
And this is an important part, I think of Gethsemane that we need to appreciate is he's
not serenely kneeling at a rock.
Now maybe he started out that way, but Matthew describes it pretty starkly that he was laid
out.
Fell on his face.
He fell on his face.
That when he prayed, he fell on his face.
He was laid out.
And I love again how the Bible videos that the church has made has shown him going after
three hours of suffering, bleeding from every poor.
And before the Roman guards come to arrest him, that he goes to the Kidron Brook and
cleans himself up after all of that.
And then keep in mind, everyone, we've talked about this recently.
Meaning after Gethsemane is going to be exponentially more painful because of what he suffered in
Gethsemane.
He is now because of bleeding from every poor, a human bruised, bruised for our iniquities
bruised and broken as Isaiah clearly describes it bruised for our iniquities.
Any touch, even a kiss on the cheek is going to be painful.
Just to touch him, to slap him, to do any of that is going to be more painful because
his entire body has been bruised and he is now dehydrated.
And all of that is going to be with him until he dies on the cross the next day, Friday
at 3 p.m.
So after three hours of suffering in Gethsemane, he's arrested and he's first taken to the
high priest, Annas, who's kind of retired.
And then he goes over to his, I think, son-in-law, Caiaphas.
This is where he goes through the Makriva trial, is the house of Caiaphas.
That's where they slap him.
They spit on him.
I don't know why that kills me so much.
But they totally abuse him and mock him and come up with false witnesses and finally decide
they're going to take him to Pilate and accuse him of sedition.
And early in the morning, they do.
They take him to Pilate.
Peter in the meantime, again, I don't know.
We need to be kind to Peter.
I don't know if we really know all of the reasons why, the motives or what's really going on
with the denials, three denials of Peter.
But anyway, they take Jesus after the Makriva trial all night long, which breaks their own
law.
The Jews, the Jews, the Sanhedrin takes him to Pilate.
And Pilate doesn't understand why the Jews want him dead so bad.
And Pilate's wife had a dream and she warns Pilate.
Pilate finally says to the Jews, Hey, it's Passover.
We can let a prisoner go free.
I offer you Jesus, who I find to be innocent, or Barabbas.
And Barabbas, it's recorded in the scriptures, not only a thief but a murderer.
Yeah.
One of the worst.
He's a capital criminal.
So who do you, I mean, this is this is Pilate's attempt.
And they, the sand led by the Sanhedrin and the self-righteous hypocrites begin to chant,
you know, speaking of Jesus, crucify him, crucify him.
And Barabbas is freed.
I wonder whatever happened to Barabbas.
I don't know.
I really wonder if Barabbas ever converted or whatever happened to him.
I'm going to say he did.
I just don't know how.
And it's interesting.
I hope he did.
It's, yeah, it is all speculation.
Obviously, I don't know any more than anybody else.
But, but I think it's interesting, you know, Barabbas, that name, Bar, son.
Yes, yeah, right.
Abba, father, the son of the father.
So the son of God was released and set free because of what the real son of God was about
to go through.
And so Christ even gave his life for that son of God.
I think it's interesting and probably a perspective that would serve us to contemplate for a minute
around that because, you know, oftentimes it's easy for us, like you said, to cast stones
at Peter.
Why did Peter do that?
What's wrong with him?
It's really easy for us to see these other characters in the Bible with, you know, tainted
lenses.
And, you know, we see that with Barabbas.
There's no question.
There was a capital criminal here.
But it's interesting how Christ even gave his life for him.
Yes, right.
And we don't know the events of of Barabbas's murder or, you know, we don't know that.
It doesn't matter.
It could have been horrendous.
Jesus died for him.
Jesus freed him.
I mean, physically and maybe spiritually.
Who knows?
I mean, I know that we, we all know that there's our sins that are unforgivable and murder.
First degree murder is one of them.
But there's many different degrees of murder than and it doesn't matter.
Jesus suffered for even the worst murders and even the sons of perdition.
Right.
Jesus suffered for all the sins of all the world and everyone's going to know after their
death and resurrection and the final judgment, they're going to know.
Yeah.
Jesus suffered for you.
Yeah.
And they still won't receive it.
The sons of perdition.
They still won't receive it.
But every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Christ and that
he suffered for them.
Yeah.
And that they caused him suffering.
They'll know that.
Well, anyway, he, he's scourged.
Pilot turns him over to the Jews and the Roman guards scourge him.
They put on the, the 150, 200 pound cross on his back.
He's walking up to the hill of Golgotha.
He collapses.
Simeon's appointed.
I like to think maybe volunteered to come and carry the cross the rest of the way.
And that by 9 a.m., that's all from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and then at 9 a.m. he is crucified.
Right.
Crucified.
It's really important that we not under appreciate what the cross represents, even though it
is not the symbol of our faith.
It's important that we understand that Jesus himself chooses to focus on the cross six
times in the doctrine of covenants and only once in the doctrine of covenants as he focus
on Gethsemane.
He focuses on the cross when he teaches his disciples in the Americas in 3 Nephi 27.
He says, I was lifted upon the cross that I might draw all men unto me.
His focus is on the cross.
We need to do more to appreciate what happened on Good Friday and appreciate Good Friday
for us bad for him.
What happened on the cross on Friday from 9 until noon?
He makes some statements.
He talks to these two thieves that he's hung in the middle of.
He acknowledges his mother and John.
Behold, thy mother.
He says to John and mother, behold, thy son.
He's thinking of others.
He's always thinking of others.
Scott, even up until his worst moment.
I want to back up for just a second.
You know, Jesus carried the cross with the assistance, but whether by assignment or volunteer,
we don't know for sure by Simon.
And you know, we were there again going.
He walked it.
We walked not the entire thing, but it's called the Via Dolorosa.
That road, the Via Dolorosa would have been part of the 13 points.
The path that Christ took as he was being forced to go carry his cross to Golgotha.
And listeners, you probably saw, for those of you who were following in Instagram and
Facebook, Deb and I took a picture under the sign that said, Via Dolorosa.
And as we walked up that, Deb and I had kind of a really tender conversation.
You know, we imagined what would it have been like to be here on that night, that day of
Good Friday, right?
That morning as that was taking place.
What would that have been like?
What would have our posture been?
What would our, have our attitude been towards all that, right?
Now you, and then you talk about, you just talked about being hung between two thieves.
And that's an interesting story as well.
One of the thieves turns to Jesus and he says, Hey, I thought you were God.
Get us down from here.
Yeah, save us.
What's wrong?
You know, if you're who you say you are, get us down from here.
The other one speaks across Jesus and he says, Dude, shut up.
Leave him alone.
This is the savior.
This is, and you know, and he kind of bore his, we belong here.
We did our duty to, or we did what was wrong and we're here.
He did nothing to be here and then Jesus turns to him and tells him today, I'll be with you
in paradise.
You know, just, just so beautiful, the different types of, you know, one of the things last
week we talked in our Institute class, we talked about the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
which was awesome because we just had that experience in Jerusalem.
But you know, I think that one of the things that we sometimes can do to enhance our experience
around all of this is to put ourselves in those situations.
What would have been my role there?
What would my attitude have been there?
Would I have been one that was sympathetic to the Jews or the Romans?
Would I have been one that was more like Simon?
I hope I would have been.
And you know, but to contemplate that, and then here's the cool thing, David, we can
make that assessment and then we can adjust.
You know, if we, if we make a real assessment about what would have my role been there,
and it would be, and if that assessment's just a little bit out of keeping with what
you would want it to be, because of what he did there, you can change that and you can
make it different.
Yeah, that's powerful.
That would affect us right here right now.
Well, I believe we should try to do that this week as we read and study these events, Scott,
we should try to see ourselves there with an eye of faith.
And how would have I responded?
What role could I have played?
And to witness it, to be eyewitnesses, eye of faith, witnesses.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, at 12 noon on the cross after hanging there for three hours, all hell breaks loose.
And sometime between noon and three, the veil of the temple is rent, there's an earthquake,
really literally all hell breaks loose and the whole earth is under darkness.
And for those three hours, the father has withdrawn his presence.
Light has withdrawn literally, physically, and that Jesus cries out, my God, my God,
why has thou forsaken me?
And for three more hours, Gethsemane intensified.
I know we've talked about that several times now, but I'm quoting President Russell M.
Nelson, Prusa, Mckonkey and James E. Talmadge.
There on the cross, Gethsemane was intensified and he again finishes suffering for all the
sins of all the world until at 3 p.m. after three hours, he says it is finished and he
chooses once it's finished.
Payment has been made.
The punishment has been suffered.
The law of justice and the demands of justice have been fulfilled.
Jesus dies.
They have to hurry, it's Friday afternoon and the Jewish Sabbath begins Friday at six
evening or at sundown and they have to hurry and get Jesus down off that cross and get
him in a tomb which was graciously provided by Joseph of Arimathea.
Right, and you went there and you saw how it had been hewn out and John talks about
that, that it was a new tomb and it had been hewn out and did you go there?
We walked right inside of it.
Right inside of it.
I just really believe that's where it happened and it's still there.
That was one of my most sacred experiences when I was there to see where Jesus I believe
was laid in the tomb.
And then so he's in the spirit world and he begins the preaching of the gospel to the
spirits in the spirit world and wow what a great day for those spirits including those
two thieves after they die which is probably after he dies.
But anyway he's in the spirit world for the rest of Friday for a few hours on Friday all
day Saturday.
It's on three days that he's dead but it's not three complete days.
It's only like 40 hours.
By the way Scott we only know about Jesus' life 30 to 40 of his days out of his whole
life 33 years.
We really only know about 30 to 40 of his days and yet we more recorded about the last
seven days of his life than all the rest of the time.
So it's just really special to kind of see how the gospel writers and the apostles really
focused on the last week as much as we love all those other events that we have which
are very few compared to his history and his ministry.
We have there's a lot recorded on on the events of this last week.
Anyway early in the morning early it says he comes forth angels there to announce that
he is risen when the women come and Mary stays behind and the tender experience of him saying
to her hold me not I know in the King James version it says touch me not and the JST that
was changed to the hold me not.
Apparently she embraces him and he says Mary you let me go I need I haven't ascended to
my father yet and she runs and tells the disciples and Peter and John come running back and all
that's recorded in John 20 and then later that evening he appears to the to the 10 apostles
because Thomas is absent and Judas has committed suicide and and then we have all of those
and we just talked about the resurrection long ago.
Jesus God and all of the all of the testimonies all of the witnesses I witnesses that we have
of the of the resurrection and I'm just so grateful so grateful I tried to pray this
morning and express my gratitude Scott for the this season this Easter season and I
again just really felt the spirit of the Lord bear witness to me that these events are true
they are they are not only historical facts but they are spiritual truths that not only
determine who we are and our true worth that God would give us and sacrifice his son and
that Jesus would lay down his life for us they not only testify of our true worth but
they change our whole perspective of life the value of life the purpose of life and
who we may become I just I really hope that our listeners if they will celebrate Easter
Sunday Easter week all week if we if we can do this right as individuals and families
it can it can be the the most powerful week of the year and the most life-changing week
of the year and I really hope and pray that that that may be true and I want to wish all
of our listeners a happy happy Easter and may the Spirit of the Lord be with you individually
and with your families as we remember the events of Easter we've talked about often
the reason that we the atonement is necessary the atonement of Jesus Christ is necessary
is because of the fall we and we've talked about how the fall has brought about two problems
in our lives the first one is is that we have a spiritual separation from our Heavenly Father
death spiritual death the second one is is that we suffer physical death and you know
and a lot of times when we just say physical death we can move on and I don't think that
encapsulates the true meaning so when we talk about physical death what I mean by that is
depression anxiety addiction hopelessness and all of the physical maladies that come as
well whether they be you know whatever they may be emotional physical spiritual mental
all the negatives all of that comes because of the fall all of that is also taken care
of covered because of the atonement of Jesus Christ as we go through this week and as we
accept your invitation David to go through each of those events and consider the importance
and the personal application that they may have in our lives I invite us to bring those
things that the fall puts in front of us on a daily and sometimes on a minute by minute
basis I'm working with a young man in recovery right now who is dealing with depression and
anxiety the likes of which I have never seen I've just have never seen it and I know that
it's only through the atonement of Jesus Christ that those things may not be cured necessarily
but can that that can be dealt with in a way that Heavenly Father will allow us with more
grace and ease to deal with because of the events of the atonement of Jesus Christ peace my peace
I give to you my peace I leave with you so my invitation is is as we go through that exercise
I hope we do I'm going to I do it every Easter I have for the last several Easter's but as
I do that I'm not just going to go through a spiritual academic exercise I'm going to
go through a healing process in areas of my life that are still not in complete alignment
with my Heavenly Father's and that's my invitation to each of us happy Easter everybody may you
understand and know the importance of the things that are going on this week as we approach
Sunday and celebrate Friday first and then Thursday night really through Sunday and celebrate
all of the events of the atonement of Jesus Christ we look forward to being with you again
thanks for being with us today please know that he loves you and you have been redeemed
through his blood thanks for being with us