NEW TESTAMENT 2023 - WEEK 02 [MATTHEW 2; LUKE 2] - Creative Come Follow Me with Maria Eckersley
2023 WEEK 02 [MATTHEW 2; LUKE 2]
“We Have Come to Worship Him”
January 9 – January 15
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Transcript
Hey everybody.
Speaker:Welcome back.
Speaker:This is week two of Creative Come Follow me from the New Testament.
Speaker:And this week we're covering just two chapters, Matthew two and Luke two.
Speaker:And I'm guessing that most of you, maybe this is the only week in the whole year,
Speaker:you guys where I'm gonna say the chapters and you'll know exactly what ground we're
Speaker:gonna cover because we're all really familiar with Luke two and Matthew two.
Speaker:That's where you find the nativity story and story of the wise men
Speaker:and a little bit more, and I.
Speaker:I should preface this with, I got a little anxious as I was heading into
Speaker:this lesson as I just started to study, cuz I honestly worried that
Speaker:I wouldn't have anything to add.
Speaker:We've heard so many really great Christmas devotionals, not just
Speaker:this year, but over the years.
Speaker:Christmas talks, Christmas thoughts.
Speaker:We probably all went to a beautiful singing only Christmas concert of sorts
Speaker:and Zachary meeting, we've had a lot of Christmas and so I wondered if there.
Speaker:Anything new to bring to the story.
Speaker:And then I listened to President Oak's Devotional from this last Christmas
Speaker:devotional, and he basically encouraged us to appreciate the fact that this story
Speaker:is so familiar, but because it's familiar to all time that going back from all
Speaker:the prophets in the book Mormon and in the old Testa all the way back to Adam.
Speaker:they have told this story and that it is supposed to be familiar because
Speaker:it's about our savior, Jesus Christ and his mission to come to the earth,
Speaker:and that we shouldn't worry so much about how we're going to make new
Speaker:declarations as we should think about how we can recommit ourselves.
Speaker:In fact, I loved his words.
Speaker:It's in the notes.
Speaker:I didn't write it down in my margins, but he basically said, instead of
Speaker:focusing on new things to say, focus on how you can renew it in your life.
Speaker:This epic story of hope.
Speaker:How can.
Speaker:Bring it to light and renew it again, almost like we do with covenants
Speaker:when we study this story and come.
Speaker:Kind of settle into its familiarity.
Speaker:We get a witness of its truth.
Speaker:And that's all I'm hoping to do today.
Speaker:I, I'll give you some bits and pieces of the doctrine that I felt like the
Speaker:spirit kind of called to my attention, but I guarantee there's many more.
Speaker:So as you go in the verses, I know they're familiar.
Speaker:but go in the verses . It's in the Manuel this week.
Speaker:They say, even though these are familiar verses, try again and see
Speaker:what the spirit brings and what I can testify of you guys is that works.
Speaker:. There were thoughts and ideas that came to my mind this week as I was studying these
Speaker:verses that I thought I knew so well.
Speaker:That I've never had before.
Speaker:And because of my specific circumstances this week in time, I had new insights
Speaker:and new understandings, and the same thing will happen for you.
Speaker:So grab your scriptures, grab your notes.
Speaker:I'm gonna get you started and I'm gonna get you interested and excited
Speaker:to jump into your scriptures this week.
Speaker:I promise you're gonna love what you find in Matthew two and Luke too.
Speaker:We're gonna do things a little bit backwards this week, just cuz
Speaker:chronologically it fits a little bit better if we do Luke first,
Speaker:and then we'll talk about Matthew.
Speaker:Technically in Luke two you're gonna get the nativity story and then also
Speaker:Jesus at 12, and then in Matthew two you're gonna get the wise men.
Speaker:So that kind of fits.
Speaker:In the middle somewhere, but I thought it would make a little bit
Speaker:better sense if we begin in Luke.
Speaker:And as you kick off, you're gonna see it's really, really familiar.
Speaker:But one of the things I loved as I was trying to look at these verses
Speaker:with fresh eyes is that an inside the spirit was kind of helping.
Speaker:Nudge into me, not even just this week, but I think it was building on
Speaker:things I learned when we taught the negativity story just a few weeks ago.
Speaker:But that what we're gonna learn this week is all of these people who came
Speaker:to see Jesus, right, who came to witness that he is the Christ and saw
Speaker:him firsthand, but really what we're studying is that he came to them.
Speaker:He came to all of us.
Speaker:In fact, that's one of the things I loved about this week's study is that
Speaker:you see how he is actually coming to so many different people from all different
Speaker:walks of life, different genders, different social classes, different roles,
Speaker:different even different personalities.
Speaker:Some people who are eager to like spread the news abroad and some people who.
Speaker:Treasure things in their heart, you're gonna see the gambit of
Speaker:all different kinds of people.
Speaker:And I think that's the message that when the savior came, he came to all people.
Speaker:So keep that viewpoint in mind and I'll try and point it out as we see
Speaker:it in the verses When you kick things off in Luke two verse one, you'll
Speaker:see that, you know, there's that.
Speaker:That's census that needs to happen.
Speaker:There's a taxation that eventually will happen, and so
Speaker:they need to go and report back.
Speaker:What's interesting is most of the scholars I read talk about how really all who was
Speaker:legally required to get to Bethlehem is Joseph, but that Mary came along and I
Speaker:was, I found myself kinda wondering why.
Speaker:I mean, this is a hundred mile ish journey, so I think the estimate I
Speaker:read was like 34 hours of walking . So this is not a comfortable walk
Speaker:for anyone in her position and I.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Why would she go, why wouldn't, if, especially if she knows she's about
Speaker:to have a baby, why wouldn't she stay home where there are probably
Speaker:midwives and people to help her?
Speaker:Why does she go?
Speaker:And then I thought back to this stage in my life and I got it . Like
Speaker:I remember, you know, Jason and I got married when we were young and.
Speaker:We didn't have enough money for like an awesome honeymoon.
Speaker:So we took a road trip from Utah, basically up to Toronto, Canada.
Speaker:And it was not glamorous and it was not fancy, but I loved every second and I
Speaker:would've done it over and over again cuz that's all I wanted at this point in time
Speaker:was I just wanted to hang out with him.
Speaker:I wanted to be with him all the time.
Speaker:And we just had so much fun together.
Speaker:And when I found myself thinking about Mary and Joseph, , I think
Speaker:they're probably similar, right?
Speaker:They're young and they're crazy about each other, and they both understand something
Speaker:about their future that no one else really can grasp, and so they're tight.
Speaker:That's what I decided to think.
Speaker:It's what I see in Joseph and Emma in the doctrine covenants that they are
Speaker:united and they both have to kind of step away from family and tradition and other
Speaker:things in order to stay close together.
Speaker:And I think you see echoes of that with this story of Joseph Ed Mary as well.
Speaker:So she goes, she chooses to go.
Speaker:And then if you go on the verses, you can see in verse five for example,
Speaker:that she is great with child.
Speaker:So things are coming.
Speaker:And I found myself thinking.
Speaker:Poor Joseph.
Speaker:Part of this comes from Elder Holland's book that I was reading.
Speaker:He talked about how frustrating it must have been for Joseph to
Speaker:struggle to find her a place to rest.
Speaker:And I, this I could totally relate to cuz Jason gets like this with
Speaker:me where he gets super protective and he wants me to be comfortable.
Speaker:He wants me to have, not just with with child bearing, but like anything . And I
Speaker:think that's the kind of man Joseph is.
Speaker:He is a man who wants.
Speaker:Safeguard and protect his family even when it's just this tiny family.
Speaker:And so I bet he was very anxious.
Speaker:And you see in seven that when she brings forth her firstborn son
Speaker:that they are in somewhere lovely.
Speaker:It doesn't necessarily say stable.
Speaker:We know it's somewhere.
Speaker:Lots of the scholars I read talked about it being these caves that are in the
Speaker:area of Bethlehem that it, who knows?
Speaker:I don't know exactly what the setting was.
Speaker:We just know it was very.
Speaker:And that she laid him in a manger.
Speaker:And I, again, I found myself, I don't know, I, I felt for Mary and
Speaker:I felt for Joseph that this must have been so hard in so many ways.
Speaker:Um, why, why would the Lord.
Speaker:Present them with this option.
Speaker:Why wouldn't the King of Kingsman born anywhere else?
Speaker:In fact, if you look at the Joseph Smith translation of seven, you can
Speaker:see that it's not just that there was no room for them in the ends.
Speaker:It's almost that they were being rejected by people.
Speaker:No one would give them room in the ends, and it's, you wonder why?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:And you we're not gonna put too much supposition into these things,
Speaker:but I think this is where they end up and they must have wondered.
Speaker:But what I love about what I read this week over and over again is
Speaker:you see that prophecy is fulfilled and that things are, that nothing
Speaker:is out of Heavenly Father's watch.
Speaker:In fact, the reason the shepherds are gonna recognize this savior
Speaker:is because the angel will tell him he is lying in a manger.
Speaker:So they need those connection points.
Speaker:I really think that's the way the angel.
Speaker:Teach the shepherds.
Speaker:Cause remember, shepherds would maybe be uncomfortable going into a big
Speaker:inn, but if you are a shepherd, you could find your way to a cave and see
Speaker:a baby in, you know, a feeding trough basically, and feel completely at home.
Speaker:That's what I mean when I say I feel like really the savior was coming to
Speaker:them because when the shepherds come to him, He's in a place where they
Speaker:are comfortable, where they recognize him, they know all those signs.
Speaker:Given their limited understanding and their limited education, they
Speaker:can know him just as surely as anyone else could in other circumstances.
Speaker:The wise men's situation will be very different, but I love that when, when
Speaker:the shepherds come to him, they can recognize him because of things they know.
Speaker:And I just love that piece.
Speaker:So that's, you'll see I, I think, as I was wondering why.
Speaker:, why God allowed this setting for his son to come into the world.
Speaker:I started to see those connections and I thought, okay, I, I get it.
Speaker:It's because he came for them.
Speaker:He came for all of us, and so it's gonna be meek and lonely and humble.
Speaker:And again, because I think Maryn Joseph, are delighted to be in
Speaker:each other's company enough that they would travel 95 miles together
Speaker:when she's nine months pregnant.
Speaker:I think they make do the same way.
Speaker:Jason and I, our first apartments were, were pretty tiny and meager, but we
Speaker:loved them and it was a great thing.
Speaker:So I, I can see this being a joyful thing no matter what the circumstances were.
Speaker:So with the shepherds, as we talk about the shepherds, the angel
Speaker:comes to them in their fields.
Speaker:So he comes to them where they.
Speaker:Now, if you think about the shepherds and the wise men, I think they're an
Speaker:interesting pair to compare because basically I think it's the same
Speaker:thing we saw when we were talking about Zacharias and Mary, where
Speaker:you have different expectations and different hurdles based on your.
Speaker:availability and your understanding, and so I think it's different.
Speaker:I think the shepherds are in a spot where they probably couldn't have been
Speaker:like the wise men and taken months or even years to get to the baby.
Speaker:Jesus.
Speaker:They just had this little sl roof time when they could leave their
Speaker:watch and come and I think the Lord.
Speaker:Understands that.
Speaker:And so he comes to them when they would be able to see it.
Speaker:The angel comes and he says this incredible message, uh, fear not for
Speaker:I bring you good tidings of great joy.
Speaker:One of the things I love about that message of fear not is I
Speaker:feel like this is a really good reminder to us that sometimes new
Speaker:spiritual experiences are scary.
Speaker:Maybe not everyone reads it this way, but you know, like the first time you
Speaker:went to the temple or even, I remember when I was getting baptized that
Speaker:it was kind of like nerve-wracking cuz I had never done that before.
Speaker:You know, like I just, I think spiritual experiences that are unfamiliar are scary,
Speaker:which is why angels often say, Fear not
Speaker:That's a really normal reaction.
Speaker:So you have kids who are about to go through the temple or someone
Speaker:who's been through and then they got scared and don't wanna go back again.
Speaker:I think you should read them Luke too, and maybe what you saw was Zach Rice
Speaker:and Mary cuz angels often understand that you're scared when you first
Speaker:encounter the brightness of God.
Speaker:His glory is.
Speaker:Intimidating and overwhelming, and that's normal.
Speaker:So fear not and and let, let it soften.
Speaker:So I love that reminder in there.
Speaker:What he also says in 11 is that this is a savior.
Speaker:Who is Christ the Lord?
Speaker:Those two phrases mean separate things.
Speaker:These Jews, the shepherds, would've been eagerly anticipating
Speaker:a messiah to come a savior.
Speaker:What the angel is saying is, yes, the Messiah, the Savior is
Speaker:here, but he is Christ the Lord.
Speaker:He.
Speaker:He is welding or she, I guess we don't know what the angel's gender
Speaker:is, but they are welding together.
Speaker:The Old Testament and the New Testament.
Speaker:They're trying to say the God, Jehovah, that you have worshiped all this time.
Speaker:This is he.
Speaker:He is the Messiah.
Speaker:He is all of that in this one child.
Speaker:and then he tells them how to find him.
Speaker:That they're gonna find him in a manger somewhere in s swaddling clothes.
Speaker:It must have been fairly nearby, I imagine, uh, because they seem
Speaker:to find it without any reference to the star or anything else.
Speaker:They, they find the baby and they worship.
Speaker:What I love is what happens in 13.
Speaker:So it says, and suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of heavenly
Speaker:hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and unearth.
Speaker:Goodwill toward men.
Speaker:It was that suddenly part that I highlighted in my heart, , because I
Speaker:feel like it's almost like, have you ever been to a football game or a basketball
Speaker:game when the underdog wins and the whole crowd rushes the few because their joy
Speaker:and jubilance just can't be contained.
Speaker:And that's how I feel like Heaven is responding.
Speaker:They, they can't be contained.
Speaker:And I wondered if this was, I mean, if angelic ministers are often our
Speaker:ancestors, maybe it's, you know, Ruth and Boaz, and maybe it's Adam and
Speaker:Eve or you know, all those people we studied that are in the line of Christ,
Speaker:I imagine they, they get first dibs on that rushing the field moment.
Speaker:And so I loved, I loved envisioning these angels.
Speaker:Not just that there was a multitude of hosts, but they all
Speaker:have names and they have faces.
Speaker:And there, there is uniqueness in this moment that I just think is,
Speaker:So suddenly there's this big push of everyone who wants to witness and then
Speaker:the shepherds say, okay, let's go.
Speaker:So they go, they find the baby Jesus, and then the answer is what they do next.
Speaker:So in 17 it says, and when they had seen it, they made known abroad
Speaker:the saying which was told them, concerning this child, I thought
Speaker:this was an interesting word choice.
Speaker:This could just be an interesting translation.
Speaker:But I don't know why they didn't say when they had seen him.
Speaker:I wondered if the it that they see.
Speaker:is the holy family themselves.
Speaker:This.
Speaker:A and the setting that they're in, the whole moment, is it they, they take
Speaker:in all of that understanding of being meek and being born in this humble
Speaker:circumstance to this young couple who has no, they're just beginning.
Speaker:You know this, they see it, this whole beautiful scene, and then they go and
Speaker:they witness, there's a great devotional from one of the Christmas devotionals
Speaker:that's from President Ironing, and he talked about how in this moment,
Speaker:They heard the angel and they learned something and then they went to see.
Speaker:But in this moment, in order for them to go and.
Speaker:Broadcasted abroad, they must have felt something profound from the Holy Ghost.
Speaker:That witness is what they went to see.
Speaker:Not so much just a visual of the Christ child in this manger, but to get a
Speaker:witness of the Holy Ghost for themselves.
Speaker:That he is the Christ.
Speaker:And that's, that's what must have happened f for them to be so
Speaker:enthusiastically spreading the word.
Speaker:In fact, when you flip the page, you can see that everybody wonders.
Speaker:This is interesting to me.
Speaker:So in 18 and 19, Everyone that they tell wonders, and that
Speaker:wasn't the word I was expecting.
Speaker:You know, you would think people would believe or that they
Speaker:would come and try and find him, but instead they just wonder.
Speaker:And I thought that actually sounds a lot like the Savior's ministry.
Speaker:It was interesting to me how much of the Savior's ministry you could feel in this.
Speaker:Infant stage because that's what the savior does all throughout.
Speaker:When he teaches, he says, come and see or come follow me.
Speaker:He doesn't, he doesn't give any clear directions or any like, this must happen
Speaker:or you're gonna see this in five hours.
Speaker:Or it's all very much like come and wonder.
Speaker:See what I do, come and see, and people.
Speaker:encounter him, and then they wonder and then the spirit works on them and then
Speaker:they come back and they, they witness.
Speaker:And that's what I found, especially as I teach with my own kids, the ysa,
Speaker:anybody, is that I need to stop trying to teach all at once and instead
Speaker:just inspire a sense of wonder.
Speaker:. You know, get them interested.
Speaker:Get them excited about what you're talking about and let the spirit work on them and
Speaker:that will push them into their scriptures.
Speaker:It will, it will make them crave those pages cuz they'll
Speaker:want to know the answers.
Speaker:And I just think you get to see a little fraction of that
Speaker:with the Saviors story here.
Speaker:You also see Mary's response that she, as opposed to the shepherds, who
Speaker:couldn't wait to tell everyone else.
Speaker:ponders things in her heart.
Speaker:She keeps things in.
Speaker:In fact, that's what she says.
Speaker:But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Speaker:She is someone I think, who is gaining an understanding of who
Speaker:her son is, a layer at a time.
Speaker:You know, it's been, what, 10 months since Gabriel?
Speaker:She's had plenty of chances to think and worry and learn and
Speaker:doubt and all the things, and I.
Speaker:every encounter she has, like this is just one more layer of depth
Speaker:that her testimony is gaining, and I love seeing that growth and hurt.
Speaker:Next we get introduced to Simeon, who is another witness of Christ,
Speaker:and he's another one that gets his witness in a very specific way.
Speaker:So when you go on the verses, you're gonna see that they maryn Joseph, take
Speaker:their child to be circumcised at eight days according to the law of Moses.
Speaker:I think you're gonna notice that they make a lot of references to that, that they.
Speaker:Living in accordance to the law.
Speaker:And it's interesting to me because I think they're starting, at least they must have
Speaker:some inclination, or at least the scholars around them might have mentioned that he
Speaker:is going to be a fulfillment of the law.
Speaker:Things are about to change, and yet they are so focused on the
Speaker:law and keeping the law of Moses.
Speaker:And I kind of love this for what we see in the Book of Mormon.
Speaker:You see the same thing with Nephi and others that they talk about how.
Speaker:Continue to keep the love Moses until they know more.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:You keep the commandments.
Speaker:We have been given now until new things open up, and I think Mary
Speaker:Joseph are incredible examples of that.
Speaker:They must have had a lot of questions, but they know that the closest
Speaker:they can come to the understanding God's plan for them is to.
Speaker:Fulfill the law to be obedient to what they know so far.
Speaker:I just think that's a, a great platform for Revelation.
Speaker:When you want more understanding and growth, be perfectly obedient to what
Speaker:God has already asked you to do, and then all of a sudden things open up and
Speaker:that's what you see with Marian Joseph.
Speaker:They are obedient to the law, but they're poor.
Speaker:So when they go to give an offering, so after 40 days, Mary is.
Speaker:ready to be cleansed.
Speaker:Basically, they saw this child growth process as a state of uncleanness, and
Speaker:you just needed to make an offering in order to become clean again.
Speaker:So traditionally it was a lamb.
Speaker:They would bring different offerings, but they are poor and
Speaker:the La Moses accounts for that.
Speaker:And so they're allowed to bring doves in sets.
Speaker:So they bring a pair of turtle doves to the temple, and in the process, I, I'm
Speaker:not sure if it's after the sacrifice is made or before, but they encounter Simeon.
Speaker:And Simeon is someone who has been prompted by the Holy Ghost
Speaker:to be here at this moment.
Speaker:It doesn't say that he was waiting at the temple.
Speaker:It says that this Holy Ghost led him here.
Speaker:In fact, it never mentions if he's a priest or any, like we don't know much
Speaker:about Simeon other than he is someone who was filled with the Holy Ghost and
Speaker:you know that he is just end devout.
Speaker:So if you looking in 25, the same man was just end ofout waiting for the consolation
Speaker:of Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon.
Speaker:He is someone who is a good man.
Speaker:Justin Devout means like he is honored by his fellow men and he honors God and
Speaker:he's waiting for the Messiah to come.
Speaker:And the reason he is waiting is because the Holy Ghost has taught him in the past
Speaker:that he, his life won't end until he sees.
Speaker:The savior that I wish I knew more about.
Speaker:Simeon's backstory.
Speaker:I don't know if that means he's ridiculously old like Anna is.
Speaker:I mean, especially given this time period that anyone would
Speaker:live that long is remarkable.
Speaker:Or maybe he's really ill and maybe he expected to die a long time ago
Speaker:and hasn't, or like, I don't know his story, but at this point in
Speaker:time, the Holy Ghost leads him.
Speaker:I think it's the same thing we saw with Elizabeth and Zacharias.
Speaker:There's this mention.
Speaker:Being filled with the Holy Ghost, and when they are filled with the Holy Ghost, they
Speaker:can understand who this Christ child is.
Speaker:And I guess what I took away from that is I feel like I want to be in those spots.
Speaker:I, I want to, I want to be so close to the spirit that I can, in these key
Speaker:moments when he's saying, Hey Maria, there's something to see that I will.
Speaker:Able to see it , I will be in the right place.
Speaker:That I won't have to drop a hundred other things.
Speaker:I will be able to be where he needs me to be to see something miraculous.
Speaker:And I that's, that's what Anna and Simian taught me this week.
Speaker:So basically he says he sees the baby, he comes and he holds the baby up.
Speaker:And he praises.
Speaker:He praises God that this has happened.
Speaker:And then it almost sounds like if you go on 29 says, Lord, now let us thou
Speaker:servant depart in peace according to thy.
Speaker:almost as if he's saying to the Lord like, Hey, we had a deal and when the savior
Speaker:came, I trust that you will now let me go.
Speaker:And I don't know if that means his life will end again.
Speaker:This is part of the reason I kept thinking that maybe he's ill and
Speaker:maybe he's been struggling with, you know, chronic pain or something for
Speaker:a long, long time and he's just been waiting for a chance for release.
Speaker:And isn't it beautiful that this chance for release comes.
Speaker:, the great physician, the ultimate healer is born that he will know that.
Speaker:Again, this doesn't mean projecting cuz of our life story, but I think
Speaker:if he was dealing with an illness or something, that to know that, that he
Speaker:will make all bodies whole again and all things right again, is finally born.
Speaker:Uh, now he can rest.
Speaker:Now he can have peace.
Speaker:. So that's what he says.
Speaker:He basically says to them in 32, he is a light to light in the Gentiles
Speaker:and the glory of thy people, Israel.
Speaker:He's both.
Speaker:So Simeon is prophesying that he's not just the Messiah of the Jews he is.
Speaker:The savior of the world.
Speaker:He has come to all people and Mary and Joseph Marvel, . You know,
Speaker:like even though they've had these amazing encounters, they marvel
Speaker:that other people are having them.
Speaker:I think they're just starting to get a taste for the impact that their son
Speaker:will have in, in just random moments.
Speaker:They're starting to catch it, and so then there is this sweet
Speaker:encounter with Simian and.
Speaker:. So it says in 34 and bless them.
Speaker:So I don't know if this is like an actual blessing, you know, hands
Speaker:on the head kind of blessing, or if this is just him offering guidance.
Speaker:I don't know how this played out, but he basically says to Mary, behold, this child
Speaker:is set for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which
Speaker:shall be spoken against shall pierce through that own soul also, that the
Speaker:thoughts of many hearts shall be revealed.
Speaker:I found.
Speaker:kind of aching for me, in this moment because this
Speaker:doesn't sound like a blessing.
Speaker:You know, he's basically forewarning her that her son will cause division.
Speaker:You know, he will be the law and the law divides the righteous from the wicked and
Speaker:it will cause a division among the Jews.
Speaker:And he's also prophesying that.
Speaker:her heart is going to be pierced because of the experiences
Speaker:her son will go through.
Speaker:And again, I don't know how much she knows so far or how much she
Speaker:can wrap her head around, but she's young and she's just learning.
Speaker:And this is another layer of revelation.
Speaker:And so I found myself asking like, How is this a blessing?
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Why did you say this to this poor young mom?
Speaker:But then I realized that a blessing is speaking the will of
Speaker:God, right in its purest form.
Speaker:So anything she comes to know and understand about the will of God
Speaker:is a blessing and it will help her.
Speaker:When those things happen.
Speaker:I learned something interesting this week as I was studying the fulfillment of this.
Speaker:If you go on the footnote footnotes, you can see where that verse where
Speaker:Mary is standing at the cross of the savior and she is right there
Speaker:with him even when he is pierced with the, you know, on the side.
Speaker:And I learned from studying a scholar that one of the rules in the Roman
Speaker:world was if someone is condemned to death as a criminal of sorts, then
Speaker:they can, it's not legal to mourn them.
Speaker:You can't show any public.
Speaker:Visible signs of grief or despair or anything, which is very
Speaker:counterintuitive to what the Jews do.
Speaker:They have, they sit shiva, you know, they do a big, long grieving process.
Speaker:So the fact that she had to stand at the cross in silence, um, I just
Speaker:couldn't, I couldn't imagine that.
Speaker:And so I think.
Speaker:Is this a blessing?
Speaker:Yeah, I think it is because in that moment when she is standing next
Speaker:to her son, I think the spirit can bring all things to your remembrance.
Speaker:And maybe he brought it back to her year after year after year.
Speaker:Every time she went back to the temple and remembered, this is gonna
Speaker:be hard and I need to be ready.
Speaker:I just, I really admire Mary and I love Simeon for being, being a man that who.
Speaker:Teach and testify what is true and what the spirit is prompting him to
Speaker:say rather than what is comfortable.
Speaker:I just really admired that.
Speaker:Next we get introduced to Anna and we only have a few short verses about her,
Speaker:but in this same setting where they just came away from being blessed by Sime and
Speaker:learning a little bit more about who their son will be and how it will impact them.
Speaker:They also be Anna and she R is over.
Speaker:We don't know her backstory.
Speaker:We just know she's a prophetic and that she is someone who.
Speaker:Fasted and prayed much.
Speaker:In fact, she sounds like she almost lives at the temple.
Speaker:You probably know some people in your life that are like this . I
Speaker:know some that are just so.
Speaker:Devoted to their temple service, that they're either doing that or
Speaker:family history or you know, like fasting, praying, all of that.
Speaker:In fact, one of the things I loved about that combination of fasting
Speaker:and praying is that's the same combination that Alma talked about.
Speaker:Remember last week when we were talking about how, when Alma was trying to teach
Speaker:his children about how he gained his testimony, he doesn't reference the angel.
Speaker:He talks about prayer and fasting and.
Speaker:That's where Anna is.
Speaker:She's Aist.
Speaker:She's someone who has a divine witness of Jesus Christ, that he is the Messiah,
Speaker:and because of that knowledge through the Holy Ghost, she will declare it.
Speaker:That's what makes her a prophet.
Speaker:It's not a priesthood calling.
Speaker:It's not a, she doesn't have any keys.
Speaker:It's nothing like that.
Speaker:It is someone who we've seen in the Old Testament many times,
Speaker:someone who has a special witness of Jesus Christ and offers it.
Speaker:And so in this moment, she does.
Speaker:She's probably, we know from doing the math and the verses that even if
Speaker:she got married really young, like at 12, that would make her 103 or more
Speaker:So she is been around a while and she's seen a lot of things and she has waited
Speaker:for this date, I imagine probably similar to Simeon and now she sees it.
Speaker:And what I love is what she does next.
Speaker:So what we don't know about Simeon is what he does next, but you
Speaker:do know it with Anna, it says, and she coming in that instance.
Speaker:So this is 38, gave thanks and likewise said it to the Lord.
Speaker:, sorry.
Speaker:And she coming in, in that instant gave thanks, likewise unto, unto the Lord like
Speaker:Simia did and speak of him to all that.
Speaker:Looked for redemption in Jeru.
Speaker:I followed the footnote path on that one, you guys, and it was so
Speaker:fascinating to me that idea of teaching re redemption, it actually links you, I
Speaker:think it was to the doctrine covenants.
Speaker:It's to these verses that talk about angels ministry to Adam and
Speaker:Eve and teaching them about the plan of salvation, which I thought
Speaker:was fascinating, which means.
Speaker:It's very possible that what Anna is doing to, with the people is
Speaker:teaching them the plan of salvation.
Speaker:It's, she's teaching them who this savior is, that he is a messiah that
Speaker:isn't just about conquering the Romans or getting them out of oppression.
Speaker:He is something so much bigger, and that's, that's Anna's role
Speaker:and she can't wait to share it.
Speaker:So she does, when you go a little bit further, you're gonna see that you.
Speaker:a little more about Jesus before his ministry.
Speaker:In fact, this is the only window that we have into his childhood.
Speaker:This is that epic story of when he is left in Jerusalem.
Speaker:So Mary and Joseph are coming back.
Speaker:He's 12 now, which is, you know, the age of the beginning
Speaker:of manhood for Jewish boys.
Speaker:So that he is with them is expected, right?
Speaker:It also should be expected that since he's.
Speaker:, that means there's probably a few younger siblings.
Speaker:I read an en enzyme article from a few years ago that did the math with all
Speaker:the different verses that referenced the siblings of Jesus and said, we
Speaker:think there's probably at least seven if he's included, there's six more that
Speaker:are referenced in one way or another.
Speaker:And you can, I'll, I'll link it to you in the notes so you can check it out.
Speaker:But.
Speaker:They probably have a few more kids in tow, which help me understand a
Speaker:little bit more about how this story plays out . But there's some things
Speaker:that I just had never noticed that I found when I studied this time.
Speaker:So if you go on the verse, you can see this is the year of the Passover.
Speaker:So just like we talked about in the Old Testament, the men of Israel were
Speaker:required to go back for the feast, right?
Speaker:At least three times a year.
Speaker:The women were not, but the Mary does every.
Speaker:Part of me thinks it's maybe so that she can like set foot in the that same spot
Speaker:and remember what she knows about Simeon.
Speaker:And maybe they take a little stop on the way and go to Bethlehem and see that cave.
Speaker:You know, like the same way Jason and I, when we drive through Provo, we make
Speaker:our kids go and see Roman Gardens where we met and you know, like all those.
Speaker:Spots that means something to us.
Speaker:I wonder sometimes if this Passover is not just that she's
Speaker:pious, cuz of course she is.
Speaker:But also that this is where their family began and so they probably
Speaker:can't wait to get back there.
Speaker:So she goes and they go along and on their way home they realize Jesus isn't there.
Speaker:What I noticed this time that I haven't before is in 43.
Speaker:said when they had fulfilled the days as they returned the child,
Speaker:Jesus carried behind a Jerusalem and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:There's a few things I love about this.
Speaker:First, I think it tells us something about Jesus that he is, even at 12,
Speaker:he's not a recluse , you know, he's a very gifted child to a scale.
Speaker:None of us can really wrap our heads around, but he is not someone who
Speaker:didn't have friends, who didn't live independently of his parents at time.
Speaker:You know, like, I don't mean like live away from them, but like.
Speaker:It clearly was not odd that he was gone for a few hours.
Speaker:I, it just made me, it sounded like my kids.
Speaker:I've got a 12 year old son and there are times like this
Speaker:where I'm like, is he a porter?
Speaker:I haven't seen Sam for several hours.
Speaker:and I, that actually brought like happiness to my heart
Speaker:to know that this is Jesus.
Speaker:He is someone who.
Speaker:He wasn't like right next to his mom at all times.
Speaker:His parents didn't helicopter over him.
Speaker:He, he was a normal kid.
Speaker:In fact, you didn't read, uses the Christ in the notes.
Speaker:You can see some of the clips and he's a pretty normal kid that has.
Speaker:, incredibly capable divine abilities.
Speaker:, you know, he is a, he has a very gifted, very normal kid.
Speaker:So what I love here is that he's tearing.
Speaker:I think the reason I like this is cuz I was watching for these
Speaker:moments of the Saviors ministry in the earlier parts of his story.
Speaker:And this sounds like the Saviors ministry to me.
Speaker:I was just teaching the Ysa about last week where they were, he was gonna heal
Speaker:Gyrus, his daughter, and along the way he heals the woman with the issue of blood.
Speaker:And along the way, Tarries.
Speaker:You know, like when he sees need or when he sees somewhere he could lift
Speaker:or help or do good, he tarries and you can see that that's where he is.
Speaker:I, I think when they say Jesus carried, he probably was saying,
Speaker:I'm just gonna go help this woman right here and I'm gonna catch up.
Speaker:And then maybe he found six other people.
Speaker:. I think by the time he gets to the temple where he's teaching the scholars, he.
Speaker:, that's just what he does.
Speaker:In fact, those are his phrases, right?
Speaker:So they, they end up, so the first day he's gone for three days.
Speaker:The first day they realize he is gone.
Speaker:They look throughout their camp trying to figure out where he is, can't find him.
Speaker:So the next day they make the journey back to Jerusalem, and then on the
Speaker:third day, they're in Jerusalem trying to find him somewhere.
Speaker:They end up finding him at the temple, but by the time they find
Speaker:him, he is sitting with these doctors.
Speaker:The but not say that they're teachers.
Speaker:These are leaders in the Jewish faith of some kind.
Speaker:And this was pretty normal that they would sit and talk, especially if someone
Speaker:of 12, cuz remember they were trying to teach the next generation all the time.
Speaker:So this isn't that odd of a.
Speaker:and encounter.
Speaker:What's odd about it is that it's not the teachers and the doctors
Speaker:who are teaching the 12 year old.
Speaker:It's the other way around.
Speaker:In fact, if you look at the Joseph Smith translation, he makes that really clear
Speaker:that Jesus was the one answering their questions and he didn't seem to be posing
Speaker:any, he was just adding . And I just, I think it, it teaches you something
Speaker:about the nature of Christ If he is.
Speaker:Capable at the age of 12 because remember, he's grown grace from to grace, and he's
Speaker:been taught directly from the father and will continue to be taught by the father.
Speaker:Imagine how capable he will be at 30.
Speaker:This is him at 12, you guys.
Speaker:So I think it helps us understand why at 30 he can do what he can do because
Speaker:he is maturing at an exponential race, a rate spiritually and.
Speaker:, it must have been staggering for Mary and Joseph to watch
Speaker:and to try and keep up with.
Speaker:Um, and so they ask him, you know, why have you dealt this way with us?
Speaker:To me it sounded a little bit like, you remember when the tempest is
Speaker:raging and they come and they find the savior and they wake him up and they
Speaker:say like, what is the phrase I wrote it, my margins kara them up, that we
Speaker:march . That's what her phrase sounds like to me in 48 when she says, your
Speaker:father and I have sought these sorrowing and his response, Gentle and kind.
Speaker:I mean, this is the savior we're talking about, and he is a
Speaker:perfectly obedient son, and so he would never cast down his mother.
Speaker:He would, he was careful with widows and mothers of all kinds.
Speaker:So I think what he's saying is I think he's genuinely surprised.
Speaker:I think he, he was tearing, helping as many people as he could, and
Speaker:he's genuinely surprised that his parents didn't realize that.
Speaker:And so he says that, didn't you?
Speaker:Weist.
Speaker:Not that I must be about my father's business.
Speaker:Where else would you find me?
Speaker:But here, this, this temple, in fact, one of the scholars I read
Speaker:said, the temple is like a magnet to Jesus throughout his ministry.
Speaker:He tends to hover around it and, and teach there.
Speaker:And it is, there is some magnetic pull between the savior and
Speaker:the temple does not make sense.
Speaker:Um, anyway, so he, this is where they will find him for a long, long time, I think.
Speaker:But he says basically, okay, so.
Speaker:Finishes a discourse.
Speaker:He's 12, remember?
Speaker:And then he goes with them and it says in verse 51 that he became subject unto them.
Speaker:He went back to Nazareth and become subject to them.
Speaker:I thought this was really interesting actually.
Speaker:There's some cool quotes in the notes about this, but there's a big part of
Speaker:his condescension that happens in this moment, I think, where he, in his devotion
Speaker:to God, chooses to be devoted to parents.
Speaker:Aren't spiritually at the same level as him.
Speaker:He chooses to be subject to them.
Speaker:And I think that's something that happens in the gospel all the time.
Speaker:Not that any of us are spiritually super mature or anything, but sometimes
Speaker:you're in a calling where someone who is placed in authority over you or over
Speaker:your group or whatever, and you question and then your ego gets in the way.
Speaker:And I think what God always teaches us, There is order in all things, and I know,
Speaker:so the way you can honor me is to honor your parents and to honor your leaders,
Speaker:and to trust that I, I have all things, you know, I just, there's peace there.
Speaker:When you go a little bit further, you see that he grew in wisdom
Speaker:and stature and favor with God.
Speaker:Amen.
Speaker:The reason I love that combination is, . Well, there's a lot of
Speaker:reasons, but I think a big one is that he seems to have his first
Speaker:two commandments in perfect order.
Speaker:You know, he chooses to love God first, and when you love God first
Speaker:God will teach you how to love your fellow men, and that's gonna be
Speaker:catered to lots of different people.
Speaker:Remember the Savior's ministry is all about this, how he loves his fellow
Speaker:men, but because he loves God perfectly, God, the father perfectly, then he
Speaker:knows how to help a widow and he knows how to help a woman with an issue
Speaker:of blood and he knows how to treat a leper and someone on the Sabbath.
Speaker:That's why I think those two commandments are so critical because sometimes in
Speaker:our world, you guys, I feel like there's a big push to love your fellow men
Speaker:first to abandon what God wants you to do and love more your fellow men.
Speaker:But when you do that, you lose the ability to have the spirit to know
Speaker:how to love individually one by one.
Speaker:And I think that's what the savior was a master at.
Speaker:He knew how to love his fellow.
Speaker:Perfectly because he loved God perfectly first, and I think all of that is
Speaker:captured in that tiny little verse in 52.
Speaker:I had no idea how much I would love Matthew to until this week
Speaker:because I tend to gravitate to stories about Revelation, and I feel
Speaker:like that's what Matthew two is.
Speaker:The wise men are an incredible example of.
Speaker:Revelation and I'll teach you why.
Speaker:But I also think Joseph is an incredible example of Revelation and they have
Speaker:these side by side in one short chapter.
Speaker:I just ate it up.
Speaker:So lemme show you some things I had never noticed before.
Speaker:So first, when you go in, you're gonna wanna pay attention to the wise
Speaker:men are coming from the East now.
Speaker:If you wanna get scholarly, you can learn all kinds of theories about where
Speaker:these men came from and who they are.
Speaker:But honestly, we just don't know it.
Speaker:I, I can find myself mostly to the gospel library happened, what
Speaker:the prophets and bales have said, and nobody makes any big claims.
Speaker:We don't even know how many wise men there are.
Speaker:We just know that they gave three gifts.
Speaker:But it could have been a big group and it could have been just a handful.
Speaker:But there are wise men who are coming from a distant land.
Speaker:In fact, when President Oak Talks Oaks talked about them in just
Speaker:this last Christmas devotional, he basically saw them as.
Speaker:people who were from the outside and that they were someone to represent
Speaker:that Christ is coming to all people.
Speaker:So remember all those who think they're coming to Christ in
Speaker:reality, he's coming to them.
Speaker:And I think the wise men are a good example of that because
Speaker:of the way he comes to them.
Speaker:He guides them to him and he does that through this star.
Speaker:So basically in two they are saying, where is he that is born king of the
Speaker:Jew, for we have seen his star in the east and will come to worship him.
Speaker:They come to herd now herd.
Speaker:Some people call him a puppet king because really the Romans are in charge
Speaker:and Hart is trying to play nice with the Romans and the Jews at the same time.
Speaker:Even the way he's married, his marriage plays out is about that.
Speaker:But Hart is maniacal and I wonder sometimes how stable he could have been.
Speaker:He did build these amazing things or had them built, but
Speaker:his whole life is a series.
Speaker:Atrocities.
Speaker:If you go Jesus to Christ, you can see more of this.
Speaker:But you know, he has his own wife murdered.
Speaker:His son's murdered.
Speaker:A lot of he, he's one of those people that seems to be constantly trying
Speaker:to hold onto power and he can feel it just like falling through his fingers.
Speaker:So when the wise men come and say, where is the king of
Speaker:the Jews, her is immediately.
Speaker:On Garhard, right?
Speaker:And so he's, he calls all his scribes together and says, what are they asking?
Speaker:Here's what I thought was really interesting.
Speaker:Wherever they came from, they were following a star.
Speaker:But a star is only visible some of the day, right?
Speaker:It's only visible at night, which means they're gonna need to use
Speaker:their own tools and their own knowledge and talents to follow that.
Speaker:In the daytime, I kind of picture them checking in with the star at
Speaker:night to make sure they're still on the right trajectory, but in the day
Speaker:they've gotta use their own tools.
Speaker:In fact, I love in the Christ Child Movie, you can see them use that thing where
Speaker:remember he like bites it in his teeth and they're, they're trying to navigate.
Speaker:I actually love that about Revelation because I feel like
Speaker:this is what happens for me.
Speaker:I get these little flashes of light and understanding of what
Speaker:I'm supposed to do next, and then, . I don't get anything else.
Speaker:In fact, I call these signal lights in my, um, timeout for women talk,
Speaker:cuz this happens to me all the time.
Speaker:You guys, where I get a little bit of revelation, but then it stops and then I
Speaker:find myself thinking like, what did I do?
Speaker:And why aren't you talking to me anymore?
Speaker:And I wonder if.
Speaker:. The example of the wise men for me is they just keep going.
Speaker:You know, they go day and night.
Speaker:I assume maybe they only travel at night.
Speaker:I guess we don't know for certain, but it sure seems unlikely.
Speaker:But they don't always have the start to guide them.
Speaker:They have to use their own talents and abilities to press forward.
Speaker:And as they press forward, they.
Speaker:They made progress.
Speaker:What I think is cool about this is that I can't imagine
Speaker:why else they would go to her.
Speaker:This prophecy about Bethlehem couldn't have been that hard to come by.
Speaker:You know, there are some scholars I read that said it was tradition
Speaker:in the land to go and see the king and you know, make a greeting.
Speaker:But the tradition in the land is that you would come and see the king and bring
Speaker:him gifts to make an alliance of sorts.
Speaker:And they don't do that.
Speaker:They give their gifts to the king of kings.
Speaker:So I'm not sure, part of me wonders.
Speaker:The star isn't visible anymore at this point in time.
Speaker:If the Lord is saying like, prove yourself, what will you do?
Speaker:If you don't know what to do next?
Speaker:What will you do?
Speaker:Almost like he does with the brother of Jared and with NEI
Speaker:when he's building the ship.
Speaker:It is not constant direction.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:Okay, I'm gonna give you a little bit now.
Speaker:What are you gonna do next?
Speaker:What tools are at your disposal that you could use?
Speaker:and the tool that's at their disposal is, let's go talk to the king.
Speaker:So they go to herd, and Herd gathers his scribes, and that's when the wise men find
Speaker:out that they need to get to Bethlehem.
Speaker:They didn't know that before for whatever reason, and so now they can act again.
Speaker:What I loved about this, when you think about this from a revelation
Speaker:perspective, is that they.
Speaker:, as soon as they like get back on course and they're heading back,
Speaker:they mention the Star again.
Speaker:I don't know if those are tied or if the star wasn't visible, but I really
Speaker:love the way it plays out in the verses.
Speaker:So it says that they're gonna go to Bethlehem so that they can
Speaker:worship, and this is when Herod.
Speaker:Makes this play and basically says, like he, he asks the scribes
Speaker:privately, how long has this prophecy?
Speaker:You know, like, how old could this child be?
Speaker:And says to the wise men, you know, I wanna worship him too.
Speaker:Come tell me about him.
Speaker:And I, I don't know how much they know.
Speaker:I don't know how much the wise men know about Herod and who he is.
Speaker:And so it's very possible they were like, okay, you know, planning fully to do that.
Speaker:the star is the part that fascinated me.
Speaker:So if you go in nine when they heard the king, so when they talked to Herod, they
Speaker:departed and Lowe the star, which they saw in the East went before them, till it came
Speaker:and stood over where the young child was.
Speaker:So I, again, I don't know for sure, but in my mind when I read this, I think
Speaker:as they moved forward with their own talents and abilities and the resources
Speaker:they had, the Lord said, good job.
Speaker:Here's that star, it's gonna take you right where you need to go, because now
Speaker:they know the trajectory is Bethlehem.
Speaker:And now the star comes back and they can see to the point where it gets them
Speaker:all the way to the house of the savior.
Speaker:And I love what you see, 10 when they saw the star, they
Speaker:rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Speaker:That moment for me when I have had revelation and then I go through a spell.
Speaker:, spiritual solitude.
Speaker:And then I get Revelation again.
Speaker:I rejoice because I know he is still there.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:Have you ever had those moments where you're like, I dunno if he
Speaker:can hear me anymore, what happened?
Speaker:And you, when you get an answer again, you just rejoice.
Speaker:Not just that an answer comes, but I feel like for me, what I've learned,
Speaker:the older I get, the more I realize that what I'm really rejoicing in
Speaker:is that I know he never left me.
Speaker:What he's trying to do is give me, Strength and stamina so
Speaker:that I can make decisions that are aligned with his teachings.
Speaker:That's my goal, , and he's trying to, you know, he's trying to build me
Speaker:into, his whole goal is my immortality and my eternal life, and so he
Speaker:needs me to be strong and someone who can make decisions and who can.
Speaker:Lean on her testimony to know what kind of decisions to make in a tough spot.
Speaker:So I, I just love that you see that with the star as well.
Speaker:It is something that comes again, and in this moment they know exactly where to go
Speaker:and so they go when they see the savior.
Speaker:He is with his mother and we don't know how old he is.
Speaker:I just heard a podcast today that talked about he might have only
Speaker:been like six weeks old, even.
Speaker:I'd always read that he was like a toddler.
Speaker:It was interesting.
Speaker:I'll, I'll give you the links in the notes, but, so we don't know how
Speaker:old he is, but we know they're in a house at this point in time and that
Speaker:they fall down and they worship.
Speaker:For me, the best part of.
Speaker:. Their narrative is this moment where even though they have riches, right,
Speaker:they have gold and frankincense and mer, they don't lead with that.
Speaker:They lead with, they fall down and they worship.
Speaker:This must have been a humble home, dirt floor.
Speaker:Probably a tiny place.
Speaker:I can't imagine.
Speaker:I mean, if Mary wasn't expecting them, I . I only know this is as
Speaker:I was a mother of toddlers, like I was almost scared when these people
Speaker:would knock on the door because your house is a disaster all the time.
Speaker:Stuff everywhere.
Speaker:She must have been so embarrassed to have these incredible visitors come by.
Speaker:You know, this is so much worse than having someone just stop at your house.
Speaker:These are why is men with fancy gifts, and she must have.
Speaker:Been embarrassed in that moment, but instead they fall down and they
Speaker:worship because they see her and the savior together and they worship
Speaker:because they know the prophecies.
Speaker:They probably have read Isaiah that talks about the virgin that will
Speaker:come and that will bring this child, and she's the fulfillment of that,
Speaker:just like the savior's fulfillment of his messianic prophecies.
Speaker:So both of them are powerful witnesses to these wise men.
Speaker:. So they bow, they kneeled out before them, and I love that piece of it.
Speaker:And then of course, they have the end of the story with the Wiseman,
Speaker:which is that they're warned in a dream to go another way.
Speaker:Here's what I love this.
Speaker:When it comes to Revelation, the reason I love this part of the story, I have
Speaker:found over the course of time that the Lord often doesn't answer my prayers in
Speaker:the specifics of what he wants me to do.
Speaker:What he does is he says, if you're praying and if you're
Speaker:humble, and if you're trying.
Speaker:Just assume there's a green light.
Speaker:Just keep going.
Speaker:Maria , just you.
Speaker:You think that's a good idea?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Go.
Speaker:And when you're off course or when you're headed down the wrong road,
Speaker:I will put a red light in front.
Speaker:We're gonna talk about this in the object lessons, but I will, I will
Speaker:make sure there's a red light.
Speaker:I feel like that's what happens with the wise men in this moment.
Speaker:They've already practiced pressing forward with faith when they don't have a clear
Speaker:answer, when the start isn't visible.
Speaker:And now he's.
Speaker:, you're headed down the wrong road.
Speaker:Or you would be if you went.
Speaker:So here's a red light.
Speaker:I'm gonna send you a dream and I'm gonna make it really clear to you.
Speaker:Don't go this way.
Speaker:Don't go back to herd.
Speaker:And are you grateful for red lights?
Speaker:? Like I, you know, I'm so grateful for red light moments.
Speaker:It's what stopped me from marrying a different guy that I was dating in
Speaker:college and ended up marrying Jason cuz I got a red light with the first guy and
Speaker:then a great big green light with Jason.
Speaker:So I love that.
Speaker:I love that you see that piece of revelation in their.
Speaker:. You know how in the Book of Mormon it calls Lehigh a visionary man?
Speaker:Cuz he has these great visions that then change the whole
Speaker:course of his family's plan.
Speaker:. That's what I call Joseph now, cuz after reading Matthew two and
Speaker:studying it, he is a visionary man.
Speaker:He has.
Speaker:Dreams and specific revelation for his family that it doesn't, it doesn't
Speaker:seem like anybody else got, I mean, and maybe Mary got confirmation
Speaker:or had a similar dream, but it's just not mentioned in the verses.
Speaker:So I kind of love to think of this as being something that Lehigh understood.
Speaker:You know, he, if he read Joseph's story, he'd be like, yeah, I know
Speaker:exactly what you're dealing with.
Speaker:Because what happens to Joseph is he has a dream that.
Speaker:Herod's in power and he's gonna seek your child's life and you
Speaker:need to get your family out.
Speaker:So right after the Wise men, in fact, president Oaks kind of implied that
Speaker:perhaps the gifts from the wise men may have funded the flight into Egypt,
Speaker:and that's why the gifts were needed.
Speaker:But immediately after the Wise Men, it seems like they're,
Speaker:they go, they go to Egypt and.
Speaker:I, I love comparing that in my mind with what we read in the Book of Mormon.
Speaker:Cause I bet it was similarly hard.
Speaker:They had to leave everything they knew, his carpentry business
Speaker:perhaps, or any family relations they had and they had to up and go.
Speaker:In fact, the way the verses play out, it sure sounds like.
Speaker:It was immediate.
Speaker:He has this dream in verse 13, and then in 14 when he arose, like when he woke
Speaker:up, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt.
Speaker:Doesn't that sound like Lehigh?
Speaker:And Right.
Speaker:I just, I feel like it's that same kind of story and so he goes, cuz that's
Speaker:the kind of, that's the kind of leader.
Speaker:Joseph is, he is not just a passive role in the Savior's life.
Speaker:He is a leader and a patriarch in this family, and he's gonna
Speaker:take his family to safety.
Speaker:So he does.
Speaker:So they go into Egypt and then he gets another dream, uh, when it's safe.
Speaker:But in the interim, you learn about, well, elder Holland calls it the first martyrs
Speaker:of Christendom, that these, the slaughter of the innocence, that when Herod
Speaker:comes, what I hadn't ever read before.
Speaker:Or I hadn't thought through before maybe is when Herod slaughters these children
Speaker:all, you know, he learns from the scribes that they're in that Bethlehem area
Speaker:and the area surrounding Bethlehem.
Speaker:And so he orders that all those sons be killed.
Speaker:Anyone under two is killed and it, the population sizes, lots of scholars
Speaker:I read said that the population size was probably not huge and given
Speaker:infant mortality rates, we're probably talking about, you know, 20 to 30 boys.
Speaker:But when you think about 20 to 30 boys, I mean, Devastating.
Speaker:And not just that, but all of their lines that would have
Speaker:come after are obliterated.
Speaker:And I found myself thinking like, why?
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Why did he come to the solution?
Speaker:And I can't understand evil and neither can you, but I, one of the verses
Speaker:I'd never noticed before is in six.
Speaker:So when you go back to six, it says that when he learns about this prophecy
Speaker:of the king of kings coming, the king of the Jews coming from his scribes,
Speaker:it says that this will be a governor that shall rule my people Israel.
Speaker:And then you want the footnotes on rule, and it teaches you what kind of
Speaker:rule they're talking about, that this is more like a shepherd kind of rule.
Speaker:It says in Greek it means to tend protect and nurture.
Speaker:And Herod knows he's none of those things.
Speaker:And so I feel like what builds up on him is a hatred.
Speaker:Anyone who is what he isn't.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's the same thing we've seen in all incredibly evil men.
Speaker:They envy goodness and they want to eliminate it.
Speaker:And so they attack and that's what he does.
Speaker:Um, he attacks and immediately after that, or it seems like really shortly
Speaker:after that, from reading Jesus to Christ, it sounds like Herod himself dies of a.
Speaker:Horrendous illness and slaughters a bunch of people in the process.
Speaker:He is just a horrific man.
Speaker:But once he dies and that that safety is back in place for Jesus,
Speaker:then Joseph gets another dream.
Speaker:He is a visionary man.
Speaker:He gets a dream and says to his wife, it's time to go.
Speaker:They must have.
Speaker:Big fears because her's throne is inherited by his son who is equally awful.
Speaker:So it's, it's not like things are safe in Jerusalem, but
Speaker:the Lord is saying it's safe.
Speaker:God is saying to them, it's safe to take my son back home.
Speaker:Go home.
Speaker:. And so Joseph, similar to the Wise Men, does what God asked him to do.
Speaker:He takes him into Israel, takes him back to the Promised Land, but he
Speaker:also has to use his own intuition and understanding to know where to take them.
Speaker:So instead of going back to Bethlehem where he probably had a business,
Speaker:or at least family roots, right?
Speaker:We know he's from Bethlehem, they end up going back to Nazareth.
Speaker:And the tricky thing about Nazareth is that's Mary's hometown.
Speaker:So, They must have had all kinds of, there were probably some really wonderful
Speaker:things about moving back to Nazareth and also a lot of hard, because those people
Speaker:know a little bit about Mary and this conception, and they have probably have
Speaker:all kinds of rumors and theories, but this is where the Lord is telling them
Speaker:to go and it's a fulfillment of prophecy.
Speaker:This is what you see in first 23.
Speaker:Um, and so Joseph goes, in fact, I love that.
Speaker:That's his phrase.
Speaker:He arose and he took the young child and he goes, he's, that
Speaker:says that a few times in these.
Speaker:That's the kind of man he is.
Speaker:When God says go, he goes and just like Levi, who doesn't know how
Speaker:it's gonna go, as he goes into this city, he says, I trust that.
Speaker:God knows.
Speaker:And so he takes his family and they go back.
Speaker:There is one little edition at the end of this that I don't want you to miss.
Speaker:When you go in 23, you can see that there's a footnote edition.
Speaker:This is another Joseph Smith translation that you just don't wanna.
Speaker:because it teaches you that not only was did he grow up in Nazarene, according
Speaker:to prophecy that he lives in Nazareth, we also know that from Joseph Smith,
Speaker:that he grows up as someone who can't be taught by men, that he learns from
Speaker:God, because this is the last you're gonna hear about him until Matthew
Speaker:starts teaching us about his ministry.
Speaker:So in this interim phase, Matthew's trying to help us understand that
Speaker:he didn't get taught by just anyone, even though he was a normal Jewish
Speaker:boy in a normal neighborhood.
Speaker:He was taught differently cuz men couldn't teach him and he will grow
Speaker:in strength and wisdom and stature until he's ready for his ministry to.
Speaker:All right, you guys, it's time for your creative preview for week two.
Speaker:So since these verses are pretty familiar to your kids, I wanted to
Speaker:give you some new tools to put to use to help connect the dots for them.
Speaker:So I'm gonna show you a quick preview of the three object lessons I have in
Speaker:store, and then for those of you in the full course, I'll take you a lot deeper
Speaker:and show you how to pull off each one.
Speaker:but here's us sampling.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Your first one is related to the Wiseman and Revelation, so if you
Speaker:haven't had a chance to listen to the insights, I talk about how I really
Speaker:love the Wiseman and what they teach me about revelation not being always
Speaker:constant and how to deal with it.
Speaker:And I mentioned about red lights and green lights.
Speaker:So of course we have to play red light, green light.
Speaker:And I know you're thinking like if you have teenagers, you're gonna think, oh,
Speaker:that's like a kid elementary school game.
Speaker:I'm here to tell you that if you played red light, green light in
Speaker:seminary, your kids will love you.
Speaker:But I decided I needed to take it to the next level by giving you some
Speaker:tools to make it a little different than what they did at recess.
Speaker:So in the printables this week, thanks to my sons who helped me with this one who
Speaker:are teenagers, um, we're giving you some supplies to play red light, green light,
Speaker:and I'll explain how this is gonna work.
Speaker:The second one is focus more on the distance.
Speaker:So in the verses this week, one of the things that I think is
Speaker:really powerful is to actually map out how far Mary and Joseph went.
Speaker:When you wanna picture how hard this journey would've been,
Speaker:that 95 mile journey, it helps to actually see it visually.
Speaker:And that prompted some ideas in my mind on how we could.
Speaker:Do this for the whole New Testament.
Speaker:So all of you in your Bibles have Bible maps.
Speaker:They look a little bit like this.
Speaker:So this is map 11.
Speaker:It's all about the New Testament and the places where the savior was.
Speaker:But I wanted something a little bit bigger, so I took that into my
Speaker:graphic design software and I created one that you can print at home.
Speaker:That fits in 11 by 14 frame.
Speaker:And the idea here is that you're going to actually pin the places that
Speaker:the savior visits, and then you'll be able to see distance better.
Speaker:So I'll walk you through how to pull this off, but we'll do one of these
Speaker:for the first half as we're in the gospels, and then we'll do another one
Speaker:as the apostles roam much, much farther.
Speaker:So hopefully this will get you started.
Speaker:The second, or just the second one?
Speaker:The third one is catered to the nativity a little more specifically, but I really
Speaker:found myself struggling to find any kind of teaching tool that included all of
Speaker:the witnesses that we study this week.
Speaker:Lots of Nativities will have the wise men and the shepherds.
Speaker:Some have the star, but they don't always have.
Speaker:, any of the extras, you know, like Anna and Simeon, and I wanted them in my story.
Speaker:So I decided to create a printable that would pull that off.
Speaker:So this is going to actually teach you about layers of revelation.
Speaker:That's why it is a layered paper craft.
Speaker:It's craft week on the chart, you guys.
Speaker:So I know this might look intimidating and scary to you.
Speaker:It might be , I, I won't lie to you, this is a more involved craft, but that's what
Speaker:arts and Crafts week is supposed to be.
Speaker:So for those of you who have older kids, or if you wanna create one for your
Speaker:kids as just something you can keep up year round, I didn't want it to be.
Speaker:Overly Christmasy or overly big.
Speaker:I just wanted some small little thing that you can keep up throughout this year
Speaker:of study to remind you where things all began, because chances are, if you're
Speaker:like me, you've packed up all your Christmas decorations, all that's done,
Speaker:and so you just need a little taste.
Speaker:So this 3D paper craft, I'll teach you how to pull it off and how it
Speaker:can help you understand why there were so many varying witnesses in the
Speaker:Savior's story of his birth and how our witnesses are supposed to be similar.
Speaker:And I'll teach you all about that in just a.
Speaker:That's it for week two.
Speaker:You guys, see, I told you, you're gonna love this week.
Speaker:It's familiar, but still really new and really good.
Speaker:I promise you're gonna love it.
Speaker:Uh, if you wanna get more out of this week, you're welcome to join me on
Speaker:Instagram, 10:00 AM mountain time.
Speaker:I'll pop on for a live to answer questions or just chat through some of the.
Speaker:Insights that I didn't quite fit into these videos and work
Speaker:through the creative a little bit.
Speaker:So if you have questions or concerns, that's a good place to find me.
Speaker:Another good spot, of course, is the discussion boards.
Speaker:So I know a lot of you are new to the course this year.
Speaker:If you're not familiar, at the top right of every video, you
Speaker:can find a discussion board.
Speaker:That's a really quick way to access me directly.
Speaker:So if you're not hoping to ask me a question in front of others in the live.
Speaker:Put a question up on the discussion boards and I'll get to you
Speaker:usually within an hour or two.
Speaker:I can answer that one.
Speaker:Um, in addition, I would remind you that if you want to share this content
Speaker:with others, I would be so grateful.
Speaker:, we, we are now putting the insights videos on YouTube and the insights.
Speaker:Recorded audio via podcast so that it can be shared a little easier for all of you.
Speaker:So if you have a chance to share it with friends or to leave a review,
Speaker:that would make a huge difference.
Speaker:But otherwise, I hope you really enjoy your week.
Speaker:You guys, I know this Christmas story feels like we just got out of it, but I
Speaker:really think studying the Christmas story when there's not all the distractions
Speaker:and the presence and the budget worries and it's kind of nice you guys.
Speaker:It's kind of nice to have a week where there's not all those.
Speaker:Other things to just focus in on this pivotal, timeless story
Speaker:of the birth of the savior.
Speaker:I think you're gonna love it.
Speaker:All right, you guys, enjoy your week and I will see you on Monday.
