2023 Study Summary 23: In Remembrance

Matthew 26; Mark 14; John 13

“In Remembrance”

Matthew 26. Jesus is anointed—He keeps the Passover and institutes the sacrament—He suffers in Gethsemane, is betrayed by Judas, and is taken before Caiaphas—Peter denies that he knows Jesus.

Mark 15. Jesus is anointed with oil—He eats the Passover, institutes the sacrament, suffers in Gethsemane, and is betrayed by Judas—Jesus is falsely accused, and Peter denies that he knows Him.

John 13. Jesus washes the feet of the Twelve—He identifies Judas as His betrayer—He commands them to love one another.

What is the most important “Remembrance?”

The key words in these scriptural passages are mercy, forgiveness, and atonement. There is also a significant illustration using the color red. Unfortunately, the rich Jewish tradition of mercy, forgiveness and atonement has lost the identity of the “Atoner,” yet in the last days, the symbolism of time, places, events, and color (red clothing) will identify the “Sinless One” who said, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” “Mercy and forgiveness, says the Talmud, (written Jewish Biblical interpretations) are distinguishing characteristics of Abraham and his seed, and these characteristics motivated God to choose Israel as His people.” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

How does my witness of the Savior help me sense that the sacrament is an eternal ordinance?

As believers, we might limit our awareness in thinking that Jesus “invented” the ordinance of what is called the “sacrament” at the Last Supper. More understanding comes from the Lord’s teaching the Twelve Apostles; “Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway . . .” (Matthew 28 18-20). Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve taught us; “Each week in sacrament meeting we promise to remember the atoning sacrifice of our Savior as we renew our baptismal covenant. We promise to do as the Savior did—to be obedient to the Father and always keep His commandments. The blessing we receive in return is to always have His Spirit to be with us.” (Robert D. Hales, “The Covenant of Baptism: To Be in the Kingdom and of the Kingdom,” Liahona, Jan. 2001, 8; Ensign, Nov. 2008, 8). Sense the eternal nature of ordinances from the Prophet Joseph Smith teachings; “Ordinances instituted in the heavens before the foundation of the world, in the priesthood, for the salvation of men, are not to be altered or changed. All must be saved on the same principles.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (1976), 308) An echo of the true and everlasting gospel is observing in how religious Jews begin every Sabbath by the head of the family pouring a small measure of wine, juice, (or water if wine is not available). He blesses, sips first, others follow his example. It is called Kiddush. That is followed by another blessing, breaking small pieces of bread, partaking first then others follow. That is called Motzi. The prayers said for this practice remind us of being delivered from Egypt; “Blessed are You, God . . . who has redeemed us and redeemed our fathers from Egypt.” At the Passover Seder Jews add a plea for an anticipated greater deliverance; “. . . Enable us to attain other holidays and festivals that will come to us in peace with happiness in the rebuilding of Your city, and with rejoicing in Your service in the Bet Hamikdash (Temple) . . . give us comfort; and speedily, Lord our God, grant us relief from all our afflictions . . . have mercy upon us and deliver us.” (https://www.chabad.org/holidays /passover/pesach_cdo/aid/661624/jewish/English-Haggadah-Text.htm#Yachatz) A particular event that made the “Last Supper” different from any other night is the explanation of the bread taken before the wine. Jesus used this meal to institute a new meaning for an eternal ordinance. He was teaching his Apostles that he was the Deliverer. He showed that the Passover practice of partaking of wine followed by bread (three times) was a symbolic anticipation of the future atonement. At the “Last Supper” Jesus adjusted the presentation of the eternal ordinance – it was henceforth changed to bread followed by wine – a remembrance of the deliverance he was to carry out within the next four days. “The Savior then, took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)

“And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it . . .” (Matthew 26:27) He also said, “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.” (Matthew 26:24 JST)

What is the Messianic Symbol of Bread and wine (or water)? 

  The Messiah’s symbolism can be further visualized in the three pieces of unleavened bread at a Passover meal (seder). Those could represent God, his Son, and the Holy Ghost. The three pieces are usually layered top, center, and bottom. After the wine is poured (three times during the Seder each time followed by bread broken and eaten (father first), there is a grand meal. The prayer that follows the meal repeats the plea to “deliver us from all our afflictions.” Please note that is when the hidden part of the center piece is found by the younger children, a later generation, and often wrapped in a red cloth (second coming in red). The child gets a prize, a reward! That hidden and now found piece is then broken and then blessed, followed by wine. Another chiasmus can be recognized as first it is “wine and bread” with the prayer anticipating a future greater deliverance and then, after the “hidden” piece is found, it is “bread and wine.” The Atonement is the center focus. It is the later generation that finds him and “great shall be their reward.” Repeating: “This do in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)

How can I relate to the Jews’ Yom Kippur?

One of the most important holidays in Judaism is Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement. Fasting, special prayers, and the reading of the Book of Jonah establish a symbol that would eventually be used to recognize the Atoner. A further discussion of the subject of Jonah will follow in a subsequent lesson, The sign of the prophet Jonah was not and is still not recognized by many, nor were the connections between the way temple sacrifices were carried out and the ultimate sacrifice made on Mount Moriah and Mount of Olives. For example, a special sacrifice of a goat, tied with a red ribbon, was performed in the temple in similitude of the Holy One taking our sins upon Himself, bleeding at Gethsemane. That is symbolically tied to the color red. That offering at Yom Kippur had the goat escaping the temple confines through the Gate Beautiful with the sins of the congregation collected and laid on its head. It was not killed, it died on its own outside the temple. The Gate Beautiful is also known by the names The Gate of Mercy and The Gate of Forgiveness. The religious Jews explain it this way; “In the times of the Temple in Jerusalem, the ritual performed by the high priest was the central feature of the Day of Atonement. The high priest, representative of the people, carried out the special service known as Avodah (work, worship, and service) He took two identical goats and cast lots to see which would be sacrificed and which would be sent to Azazel (Jewish scapegoat rite). After sacrificing one of them, he sprinkled its blood on the altar and then confessed the sins of the people while placing his hands on the head of the live goat.” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.) “How do we know that a crimson-coloured strap is tied to the head of the goat that is sent [to ‘Azaz’el]? because it is said, if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” (Talmud, Shabbath 86a)

What is another exceptionally different sacrifice for “purification of sin”

Another symbolic sacrifice was that of the completely red-haired calf as mentioned in the scriptures. It was to be brought outside the temple and sacrificed and its ashes kept for a separate washing for a purification of sins. “This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke . . . bring her forth without the camp (temple compound), and one shall slay her . . . and one shall burn the heifer . . . her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung . . . And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.” (Numbers 19:1-9) “. . . Red heifer – the animal whose ashes were used in the ritual purification ceremony . . . In biblical times, the heifer was first slaughtered outside the Israelite camp and then burned.” “The Bible is very specific about the kind of cow to be used. It had to be in perfect physical condition – “a red heifer, faultless, containing no blemish and which has never been yoked.” The rabbis interpreted “faultless” to mean perfect in color also, ruling that even two non-red hairs in its hide were enough to disqualify it. Obviously, such an animal was very rare and apparently the ceremony was performed only a very few times in all ancient Jewish history.” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

What connection can I make of the Red Heifer and Gethsemane?

According to the calculations of Dr. Asher Kaufman, Professor of History and Peace Studies at University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, United States; I recognize that in Israel, an important connection with the red heifer is the Jewish tradition that it was offered higher on the Mount of Olives, East of the Temple compound, in line with the Gate Beautiful and in line with the north end of the temple’s altar where all other sacrifices were held. The most significant offering in eternity started with the “red” offering of the Sinless One on the Mount of Olives in spring of that year, on the day preceding Passover week, the only day when sacrifices are NOT held at the Temple across the Kidron valley. Astonished at the suffering He was experiencing as He was taking all the sins upon Himself, He cried out, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” He bled from every pore in his body. His clothing must have been stained red. Isaiah was allowed that visionary glimpse; “Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.” (Isaiah 63:2-3) The Prophet Joseph Smith reiterated that powerful lesson as he revealed; “Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit–and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink– Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:18-19) “. . . I have trodden the winepress alone, and have brought judgment upon all people; and none were with me; And I have trampled them in my fury, and I did tread upon them in mine anger, and their blood have I sprinkled upon my garments, and stained all my raiment . . .” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:50-51)

What does the “blood” Chiasma teach me?

Sacrifices of a red calf was made on the Mount of Olives in ancient times. The expected arrival of the Messiah, in red, on the Mount of Olives will be in latter days. The “red” (bleeding) experience of Jesus on the Mount of Olives was in the meridian of time. It is the central lesson of these events. He bled from every pore of His body for all our sins – at Gethsemane He took our sins and sorrows., On the cross His pain was imposed on Him by others. (There is minimal bleeding on the cross so that the victim experiences man inflicted pain longer.)

How does Israel State Flower subjectively symbolize its peoples’ deliverance?

Unbeknownst in meaning to its citizens, Israel’s state flower is the “Calanit,” the lily of the field that the Savior referred to, they are scarlet red. They bloom in the spring. They cover Israel and most impressively, Mount of Olives. They testify of Him.

How did Isaiah foresee the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane?

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isaiah 52:7) The sacred event that redeemed us from the sins of life, bruises of experience, captivity of conscience, blindness of bigotry, hurt of hearts broken, poverty of stinginess and the imprisonment of self-pity, draws us to the Mount of Olives. Two thousand years ago, He sank below all things, experiencing deeper depths than we would ever reach so that we would never have to. Bleeding from every pore of His body, he was stained for us. How beautiful upon the Mount of Olives are the feet of Him who brings good tidings. Good tidings are the “good news,” the gospel of joy. Isaiah wrote the words of the Savior’s testimony, seven hundred years before the Savior would speak them. “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;”(Isaiah 61:1) The Gethsemane event is the all-encompassing, and to us – incomprehensible event – that fulfills the prophecy: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken- hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” (Luke 4:18)

How does Jewish tradition inherently still teach God’ mercy?

Other lesson insights include taking us through the preceding night of Passover, (the “preparation” night-and-day into Passover week in a way that we can recognize the symbols of sacrifices, the appointed days, and the established hours that were pre-set to anticipate, then describe, and then to commemorate the eternal atonement that the Father and His Son planned for us. That unequivocal atonement prompts us to bestow similar blessings of mercy on all others. What the ancient prophets declared is still echoed in present-day Jewish thought; “The exercise of mercy is an obligation for all Jews. By this it is meant that they must act with compassion and forgiveness towards all mankind and perform deeds of charity and kindness. This quality is an essential characteristic of God who is known as Rahum (“Merciful”) and, in accordance with the tradition which sets as man’s goal the imitation of God: “As He is merciful, so be you merciful.” Just as God is bound by His covenant of mercy with His people, so is the Jew bound by specific commandments to act mercifully to the oppressed, the alien, the orphan, the widow, and indeed, every living creature.” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.) “Thus, speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion every man to his brother:” (Zechariah 7:9) “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14) We serve the Living God by serving each other. That is the beginning of the way to thank Him for His first-born Son who said, “Do this in remembrance . . .”

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