Come Follow Me Personal Thoughts: New Testament Lesson #23

New Testament Lesson #23 Luke 22:1–38; John 13; 14:1–15; 15

“Love One Another, As I Have Loved You”

Introduction

These chapters deal with some of the most difficult, most poignant, dealings between the Savior of the World and His disciples. The last Passover He will celebrate with them is also the time of the First Sacrament. That Priesthood ordinance as well as the ordinance of washing the feet must count as some of the most sacred times in the remembrance of those present. Twelve Disciples will soon be eleven as Judas leaves the divine calling in a dramatic and baleful manner. The Savior’s last instructions to His disciples are to “love one another,” and He foretells the trials they will face, especially Peter.

Pesach—Passover

Also known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pesach is held on 15–20 Nisan; this holiday commemorates the events that took place in Exodus 12—the liberation of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. No chametz (leavened food) is eaten, or even owned, during the week of Passover, in commemoration of the fact that the Israelites left Egypt so quickly that their bread did not have enough time to rise.Observant Jews go to great lengths to remove all chametz from their homes and offices in the run-up to Passover. The principal ritual is the seder (“order”) meal. This meal is known for its distinctive ritual foods—matzo (unleavened bread), maror (bitter herbs), and four cups of wine—as well as its prayer text/handbook/study guide, the Haggadah. Participation in a Passover seder is one of the most widely observed of Jewish rituals. Following Exodus 12:15, Passover lasts seven days.

Luke 22:1–38; John 13

Luke 22:10

The interesting thing about this, and what makes it unusual is that normally women carry the water, so sending the disciples to look for a man carrying water would not be as difficult as it might seem. “Guest chamber,” katalyma in Greek, is the same word as that used for “inn” where there was no room (Luke 2:7)—one eternal round!

Although, in Luke, it appears that the Lord immediately institutes the Sacrament, there seems to be a break in between the two events—partaking of the Passover meal, and declaring the bread and the wine to be symbols of the Savior’s body and blood. They might have been two separate meals, although Luke has them as one. Matthew 26:21–24 clearly has the Savior identify Judas as the traitor while they were eating the passover meal and only instituting the sacrament after Judas had left. J. Reuben Clark said, “The institution of the Sacrament . . . occurred, I feel, after Judas had left the chamber to arrange to betray the Master.”[1]

Judas’s betrayal of the Savior was a direct fulfillment of Psalm 41:9. The Prophet Joseph Smith (1805–44) explained that those who were once in fellowship with the Lord and the Saints can become enemies of the truth: Quote 1 “Judas was rebuked and immediately betrayed his Lord into the hands of His enemies, because Satan entered into him. There is a superior intelligence bestowed upon such as obey the Gospel with full purpose of heart, which, if sinned against, the apostate is left naked and destitute of the Spirit of God, and he is, in truth, nigh unto cursing, and his end is to be burned. When once that light which was in them is taken from them they become as much darkened as they were previously enlightened, and then, no marvel, if all their power should be enlisted against the truth, and they, Judas-like, seek the destruction of those who were their greatest benefactors” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 321; see also Alma 24:30).

In John 13, we have the addition of the ordinance of washing the feet, probably, then, prior to the institution of the sacrament. Quote 2. James E. Talmage, “In saying to the Twelve, whose feet He had washed, ‘Ye are clean,’ the Lord had specified an exception by His after remark, ‘but not all.’ John the recorder, takes care to explain that Jesus had in mind the traitor, and, ‘therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.’ The guilty Iscariot had received without protest the Lord’s service in the washing of his recreant feet, though after the ablution he was spiritually more filthy than before. When Jesus had again sat down, the burden of His knowledge concerning the treacherous heart of Judas again found expression. ‘I speak not of you all,’ He said, ‘I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.’ The Lord was intent on impressing the fact of His foreknowledge as to what was to come, so that when the terrible development was an accomplished fact, the apostles would realize that thereby the scriptures had been fulfilled.”^{^[2]}

The Joseph Smith Papers project gives us some insight into the restoration of this ordinance by Joseph Smith: “At the first meeting of the School of the Prophets in January 1833, JS washed the feet of the elders present and pronounced them ‘clean from the blood of this generation.’ In fall 1835, JS directed church leaders to prepare for a solemn assembly in the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio, where they would be ritually purified through the washing of feet prior to an endowment of power. A ritual washing of feet was given to church leaders and official members in the House of the Lord beginning on 29 March 1836 and finishing at the solemn assembly on 30 March. At the 6 April 1837 solemn assembly, attendees who had not been present at the 1836 assembly received washings of feet and blessings.”[3]

Luke 15–20

The JST clarifies things for us, “I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled which is written in the prophets concerning me. Then I will partake with you in the kingdom of God” (JST Luke 22:16). Also with regard to the symbolism of the sacrament: “As they were eating the Passover meal, Jesus took bread, and brake it, and blessed it, and gave to his disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is in remembrance of my body which I give a ransom for you” (JST Matthew 26:22). “For this is in remembrance of my blood of the new testament, which is shed for as many as shall believe on my name, for the remission of their sins. And I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall observe to do the things which ye have seen me do, and bear record of me even unto the end” (JST Matthew 26:24–25). Quote 3. Elder Perry’s last testimony and wishes: “Elder Ballard recounted the advice that Elder Perry wanted the people of the Church to hear. “[I wish I] could get every member of the Church to go and partake of the sacrament, and when they took the bread, they’d ask themselves, ‘Who am I? What am I doing? How am I living? Where am I going? What should I be accomplishing?’ as they renew their covenants with the Lord.” He finished, “The minute they’d pick up the bread, something [would] happen.” This quote was mentioned in Sacrament Meeting a couple of weeks ago—How has it affected you as you partake of the Sacrament?

“Jesus transforms the celebration of the deliverance of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt into a celebration of the deliverance of all humankind through his Atonement by adding more meaning to the wine and unleavened bread.”[4]

John 14

1–15

“Many mansions” Joseph Smith said, “It should be—‘In my Father’s kingdom are many kingdoms,’ in order that ye may be heirs of God and joint-heirs with me. . . . There are mansions for those who obey a celestial law, and there are other mansions for those who come short of the law, every man in his own order.”[5] Quote 4, Elder Cook. “At the time Joseph Smith received revelations and organized the Church, the vast majority of [Christian] churches taught that the Savior’s Atonement would not bring about the salvation of most of mankind. The common precept was that a few would be saved and the overwhelming majority would be doomed to endless tortures of the most awful and unspeakable intensity. The marvelous doctrine revealed to the Prophet Joseph unveiled to us a plan of salvation that is applicable to all mankind, including those who do not hear of Christ in this life, children who die before the age of accountability, and those who have no understanding. Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all spirits blessed by birth will ultimately be resurrected, spirit and body reunited, and inherit kingdoms of glory that are superior to our existence here on earth [see D&C 76:89]. The exceptions are confined to those who, like Satan and his angels, willfully rebel against God.”[6] Significant here is that Jesus is going before!

Quote 5 Elder Bruce R. McConkie expounded on the significance of John 14:6. “He is the Way in that it is in and through him that salvation comes; ‘no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,’ he said (John 14:6). He is the Truth because he is the embodiment and personification of that holy attribute (Alma 5:48). And he is the Life because in him the light of life centers; except for him and his power there would be no existence; should he withdraw the light of life, death would gain an immediate victory; and without him there would be neither immortal life, nor eternal life, which is life in unending glory” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 832).

Verse 9: Quote 6 President Joseph F. Smith (1838–1918) explained the meaning of the statement, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father”: “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is ‘the express image’ of His Father’s person (Hebrews 1:3). He walked the earth as a human being, as a perfect man, and said, in answer to a question put to Him: ‘He that hath seen me hath seen the Father’ (John 14:9). This alone ought to solve the problem to the satisfaction of every thoughtful, reverent mind. The conclusion is irresistible, that if the Son of God be the express image (that is, likeness) of His Father’s person, then His Father is in the form of man; for that was the form of the Son of God, not only during His mortal life, but before His mortal birth, and after His resurrection. It was in this form that the Father and the Son, as two personages, appeared to Joseph Smith, when, as a boy of fourteen years, he received his first vision” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 334).

Verse 15: The Gospel is simple, as is this instruction which embodies all that we need to do to gain eternal life and exaltation: Love the Lord and keep His commandments. Question: Is this difficult? If so how and why?

John 15

1–8: The True Vine

James E. Talmage: A grander analogy is not to be found in the world’s literature. Those ordained servants of the Lord were as helpless and useless without Him as is a bough severed from the tree. As the branch is made fruitful only by virtue of the nourishing sap it receives from the rooted trunk, and if cut away or broken off withers, dries, and becomes utterly worthless except as fuel for the burning, so those men, though ordained to the Holy Apostleship, would find themselves strong and fruitful in good works, only as they remained in steadfast communion with the Lord. Without Christ what were they, but unschooled Galileans, some of them fishermen, one a publican, the rest of undistinguished attainments, and all of them weak mortals?”[7]

9–17: Love one another

Question: How do we progress from being His servants to being His friends?