Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

To further illustrate the point that no one knows when He will return, Jesus goes into three parables that are only recorded in Matthew. The first is the well known parable of the Ten Virgins. First we must know some ancient Jewish customs for this parable to make sense. Apparently what a marriage consisted of is the bridegroom leaving his house sometime at night, walking with his friends to the bride’s house, and having the marriage ceremony performed in the bride’s house. After the ceremonies, the bride and groom would leave her house together and go to the house that they will share together where there will be a big party, often lasting several days. The Ten Virgins at the center of the story might be the bride’s maids who would go out and light the way for the bridegroom as he entered the bride’s house initially, or they might just be friends with either the bride or the groom and would join in the wedding procession as it journeyed from the bride’s ho...

I really feel like this section is getting away from me, so I just want to wrap it up by hitting on a few more points and then move on. The first comes from JS Matt 1:31 which says, “this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come, or the destruction of the wicked.” This is an interesting concept because, living in this country we think “well of course the gospel is free to be preached everywhere,” but then we have to remember that we have a fairly unique style of government that allows for religious freedom, whereas most of the rest of the world isn’t free to choose their own religion, including many who aren’t free to choose religion at all. But then on the other hand, I think about the progress that’s been made and even if it isn’t public knowledge, the gospel is in all nations of the world. Think about Saudi Arabia, a predominantly Muslim country, it would be ...

Jesus starts the transition to the good stuff with a very interesting analogy. He says, “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” What? I thought that only vultures ate dead things, but according to the internet eagles eat dead things too. It’s interesting that the Lord didn’t use vultures and used eagles instead. I wonder if vultures carried the same stigma back then as they do now. A vulture connotes a scavenger, unable to care for themselves and only able to live if something else dies. An eagle portrays majesty, the beauty of nature and a keen ability to care for themselves. If we were to call a person or a group of people a certain type of animal, an eagle is much more regal and noteworthy. In fact the United States is symbolically represented by the eagle, whereas people are considered vultures if they profit off of the misfortune of others. The eagles represent a group of individuals that are respected and capable, but...

It is so difficult to organize all the concepts that Jesus addresses in this discourse as it is recorded in the different gospels and translations, so if I go out of order or don’t cover something that I should then forgive me. I know that we talked about the false Christs that Jesus warned about, but I think this is where we transition from the destruction of Jerusalem, the first question asked by the disciples, to the second coming, the second question asked by the disciples. Jesus advises us against, “false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if possible, they shall deceive the very elect, who are the elect according to the covenant.” This concept is like a gaping wound for me for a lot of reasons. I was inactive for many, many years, probably about 8 years and I lived riotously, for sure, and even after that I had a down turn for several months where it went bad and I had to make a choice, leave or stop and go back....

It’s interesting to me that Jesus is telling his disciples to be wary of others who say they come in His name, but I thought that Jesus came declaring Himself the Messiah, but the more I think about it, he really didn’t. Jesus presented who he was to the people and let them decide for themselves, he called some to follow him, but really gave them promise or sign or declaration that He was the Savior. In fact, if we think about it, it wasn’t until just a few days previous to this that Jesus declared himself the Christ that the people had been waiting for. Before that, any believers had to be convinced on the own by the merits of who he is. He paints a pretty bleak picture for those who reject him, specifically those who reject him and then remains Jews in Jerusalem. But what exactly are the people supposed to do? He’s saying, “I’m going to die and Jerusalem will be destroyed,” what are his people supposed to do? He tells them, “But he tha...

This next part is unique in that Jesus’ teachings here weren’t just recorded in several of the gospels, but in the Joseph Smith Translation there is such an extensive addition that there was an entire chapter that was retranslated and added into the Pearl of Great Price as “Joseph Smith-Matthew 1.” Needless to say there is a lot of information here and it deals with topics that are already abstract and difficult to understand. Jesus leaves those he’s teaching in Jerusalem with a sort of “this is your last chance” statement saying, “For I say unto you, that ye shall not see me henceforth and know that I am he of whom it is written by the prophets, until ye shall say: Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord, in the clouds of heaven, and all the holy angels with him.” Jesus leaves the temple and is asked about a prophecy he had made earlier that the temple should be destroyed. He’s made this comment several times, most re...

Jesus was very popular in the temple and “there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast,” and they went to Philip “saying, Sit, we would see Jesus.” Their message was passed along the chain until it finally came to Jesus. Jesus’ response to the Greeks coming to see Him is pretty complicated for me. It’s like one of those really abstract speech that goes on for several verses and covers topics that don’t seem to go together, so we’re going to be tackling that today. My first question is, why is this the appropriate response to the Greeks who want to speak with Jesus? I’ll have to think about that. Jesus answers them with a parable about “the hour is come, that he Son of man should be glorified,” saying, “except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” This is where I started saying, “ok I have no idea what he ...

I’m not sure if Jesus and his disciples stayed at the temple for a while or left, but after blasting the Jewish leaders for their corruption of God’s law, Jesus begins his “Lament of Jerusalem.” He says, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killed the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee.” Jerusalem was supposed to be the capitol city of the Jews, the covenant people of Israel, and the place of the only temple to the True and Living God. It was to shine forth as an example of God’s love and commitments to his people, but instead it was a sinkhole of iniquity. It was the only place wicked enough to murder their God. It was the exact opposite of what they were supposed to be. Jesus continues, “how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Again, I’ve mentioned because just how interesting it is that Jesus, the holder of all universal po...

Sitting at the temple, teaching his disciples, “Jesus sat over against the treasury, and behold how the people cast money into the treasury: and may that were rich cast in much.” I don’t know if the group had been sitting in that spot the whole time or if they had just recently moved over there. But let’s go back and review what had just happened as context for what was coming next. Jesus had just spent a lot of time being questioned by the various Jewish leadership groups and answering in ways that were confounding and instructive. He’d also asked them some questions Himself and then given a lengthy denouncement of these leadership groups for their hypocrisy and for polluting God’s law. One important thing that Mark notes Jesus saying that I didn’t cover last time is important when moving forward. Jesus says, “Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, and the chief seats in the syn...

Going back just a little bit, the IM gives a very good chart on what it describes as “a series of eight ‘woes’ that would befall the scribes and Pharisees because of their hypocritical actions.” The concept of “woe” is an interesting one, I knew that it discussed harsh conditions but hadn’t really understood the definition, which the IM gives as “the word woe means a condition of misery, distress, and sorrow resulting from great affliction or misfortune.” The IM then gives a chart of “actions of the scribes and Pharisees identified as Hypocrisy: Verse 13 – They not only rejected Christ, His Church, and His offer of salvation, but they also sought to prevent others from accepting Christ and salvation.” They tried to prevent Christ’s popularity and acceptance by the people by killing him, thus taking away his chance to teach. They tried to trap him in his words, to discredit him in front of the people, they sh...