Week 27 is scheduled for study June 26-July 2, 2023. The active nature of abiding; the importance of the resurrection in the plan of salvation; the part belief plays in our life; these are the lessons of the week.
Day 1
Prayerfully read Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; and John 20-21, reflecting on the joy you have because of the Resurrection of Christ. Who might be blessed by hearing your testimony of this event?
Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20 – Jesus Christ was resurrected.
I honestly don’t know if Christ’s resurrection was the culmination of the atoning sacrifice or if it was a separate event altogether. I’m not really sure it matters. What matters is that without the resurrection the atonement of Jesus would be meaningless. If we are not all going to be raised from the dead then there could be no judgment and subsequent assignment of glory or punishment. The scriptures are quite clear that God has declared that we cannot be judged without being in a physical body. This is why Jesus had to die. He had to die in order to bring us the resurrection, and he had to be bring us a resurrection from the dead so we could be brought to stand before him to be judged and sent on to our eternal reward, be that good or bad.
The resurrection of Christ is what activated and made effective and valid all that Jesus did in his mortal life. It also is the act that gave validity to all that Jehovah did with his prophets up to that point in history. Without the resurrection of Jesus there is no Christianity, or promise of eternal life with God. We are just a collection of kind people who want to be nice to each other. Without this singular event there is no power in the religion, no purpose for our faith, no place to put our hopes for a better future. The resurrection of Jesus is the single greatest event since Adam and Eve fell, for it completes the process God put in place to redeem us and bring us back to Him once we became a fallen people.
Patience
We should be patient with those who had such difficulty believing that Jesus was alive. Never in the history of the world had anyone brought themselves back from the dead to live eternally in a glorified body. Such an event was unheard of and unprecedented. They may have just spent the last three years walking and talking with Jesus every day, but they did not yet have the gift of the Holy Ghost. This means that they didn’t yet have the ability to comprehend many spiritual things that can only be understood through experiencing the Holy Spirit’s influence. Even seeing Jesus and touching him themselves didn’t give them the understanding of what it means to have eternal glory. That is something they would have to learn from the Spirit later on.
Day 2
Prayerfully read Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; and John 20-21, reflecting on the joy you have because of the Resurrection of Christ. Who might be blessed by hearing your testimony of this event?
Luke 24:13-35 – I can invite the Savior to “abide with [me].”
I think the secret to abiding is that to abide is an active thing. When the disciples on the road to Emmaus had spent time with Jesus, what they sought when they invited him to come home with them was to continue their conversation to learn more. They had been actively learning from Christ about himself. Their invitation for him to abide with them was an invitation to continue what they had already started.
Abiding isn’t a stationary thing. To abide isn’t to rest and relax with no activity. It is filled with action. We become involved with the Lord when he abides with us or we abide in him. We never stop doing, just as he never stops doing. In 3 Nephi 17:5-6 Jesus finishes teaching the people, but they are not yet ready for him to leave them. In these two verses we learn what it means to invite the Savior to abide in us.
5 And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were , and did look steadfastly upon him as if they would ask him to tarry a little longer with them.
6 And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with towards you.
The people didn’t even have to say anything. He looked at them and could tell that his presence and words were the desire of their hearts. His compassion for them caused him to stay longer and bless them even more. What do you think their attitude towards God was at that moment that he felt so wanted in their lives? What do you think we need to do in order to have the Savior believe we want to be involved with him as much as these people wanted him? What role does gratitude play in this scenario?
Day 3
Prayerfully read Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; and John 20-21, reflecting on the joy you have because of the Resurrection of Christ. Who might be blessed by hearing your testimony of this event?
Luke 24:36-43; John 20 – Resurrection is the permanent reuniting of the spirit with the body.
Moses 1:39
39 For behold, this is my and my —to bring to pass the and of man.
We were immortal as intelligences. Once we, as intelligences, were fused into a spirit body that body also became immortal, because it held within it an eternal intelligence – us. Our next stage of development was to receive a temporary mortal body that would provide us with the experiences of having a physical or corporeal body. This body has always been meant to be strictly temporary. In it we gain our trial run on how to control a physical body while we also learn to live within God’s laws while dealing with the desires of this body. We don’t receive our permanent and immortal body until the day of our resurrection.
Our mortal bodies have an immortal spirit within them, but our body and spirit are not fused together. This means the spirit and the body can be separated. In this state our body grows old, wears down, breaks, and will eventually die. That leaves us where we were before this life, immortal spirits, but without a body. Having a mortal body is like training wheels for our future immortal body.
The life God wants us to have is the kind of life He lives, eternal life. God has an immortal body, a physical body that is fused with a spirit body. This is the only combination that can grow in glory for eternity, and the only kind that can have children in the eternities. The purpose of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection was to bring to each of God’s children the blessing of having an immortal and glorified body. This is why Jesus was required to die. Without his undeserved death God’s judgments would have been frustrated, and we wouldn’t have been given the gift of a resurrection. Everything that happened to Jesus fulfilled the requirements of God’s plan for our salvation.
Our death in this life will only happen once in all of eternity. Our death is but a stepping through the doorway of mortality into eternity. Death is the designated method God has chosen for each of us to transition from this phase of life to the next. Without the hope of the resurrection Christ has promised us, death truly would be a miserable pill to swallow.
Day 4
Prayerfully read Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; and John 20-21, reflecting on the joy you have because of the Resurrection of Christ. Who might be blessed by hearing your testimony of this event?
John 20:19-29 – Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
For a time I was envious of those who saw Christ in the flesh. How easy would it be to believe in Jesus then! Eventually, I realized that everything is based on faith. There is nothing in the physical world that can prove anything in the spiritual realm. Whether Jesus performs a miracle in front of me or whether I see it performed by someone else who teaches me that it comes from faith in Christ, I still have to choose to put my faith in Christ.
Small wonder then that Jesus says, “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” If everyone had to see in order to believe then faith in Christ would not be a choice, but a requirement. God’s plan for our salvation couldn’t survive such an onerous requirement. As it is, every generation, whether Adam’s or our own requires faith in Christ based on our willingness to choose to believe in him. He will provide evidence in one form or another, but it is always up to each of us to choose to believe.
Day 5
Prayerfully read Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; and John 20-21, reflecting on the joy you have because of the Resurrection of Christ. Who might be blessed by hearing your testimony of this event?
John 21:1-17 – The Savior invites me to feed His Sheep.
The scriptural injunction to “feed” Christ’s sheep means far more than just giving an animal (or person) food and water. To be a shepherd, which is what Jesus is inviting and calling us to do means to care for those whom he loves. Caring for others means to see to their physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs. In short, to “feed” his sheep is not just a full-time job, but a way of living.
I believe Jesus is a very happy individual. I also believe that he is happy because of how he lives his life. This is the same life we are being invited to live. It is a life built upon service and love towards others. This is the “feeding” Jesus is talking about. The Celestial life is one of concern for the welfare of others. There is no selfish behavior in that kingdom. When everyone is equally concerned for their neighbor’s welfare, that is when you have a Zion society, a celestial society.
We see people feeding Christ’s sheep when we witness someone sacrificing their time to help someone else, giving of their resources for the comfort of another, sharing with others, being kind, or loving those who are feeling unloved. To feed his sheep is more than just fulfilling a ministering assignment in church.
FHE/Personal Study
John 21:15-17 – Feed my sheep
The importance of feeding the Lord’s sheep was discussed yesterday. The verses in today’s lesson smack of a personal lesson Jesus was wanting to drive home to his chief apostle. What that lesson is we can’t know for sure unless it is revealed to the Prophet, but we can guess.
Was Jesus gently reminding Peter that he had denied Jesus three times just hours after declaring to Jesus that he (Peter) was ready to go to prison and to death with him? Could it be that Jesus wanted Peter to recommit to him his allegiance as many times as he had denied his own connection with the Savior?
Perhaps it is possible that Jesus was taking this opportunity to drive home to his chief apostle the importance of tending to the members of the church. And was Jesus using the memory of Peter’s three denials to remind him that if he really loved God, as he claimed to, he needed to fulfil the second commandment to love his neighbor as himself? That is what feeding Christ’s sheep means, after all.
I feel a personal connection to Peter as he becomes increasingly distressed that Jesus asks him again and again if Peter loves him. When we have strayed and fallen short of our own professed devotion to God it can be most distressing to have our devotion called into question again and again. This is like someone poking a painful wound and saying, “Does it hurt?” About the third time I’m guessing Peter was close to tears that Jesus still questioned his devotion after his heartfelt repentance. But sometimes we are forgiven, but not immediately. We often need to be reminded that we displayed great devotion once, but fell miserably short of living up to that bravado. It is a very humbling experience that we remember for a long time, so it has its purposes.
What do you think Jesus was trying to teach Peter in this conversation?
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