The Comforter

John chapters 15-16 speak of Comforter that Christ will send. Here is one of the first biblical descriptions of the mission of the Holy Ghost that we see in the New Testament. As a member of the Godhead the Holy Ghost has a very important role among mankind, and can manifest himself with great power. This is seen in the event of the Pentecost, however while this may be the most famous of His manifestations, it is not the most important role.
Christ gives us the significance of the Holy Ghost's most important mission in the Gospel of John. This great mission of the Holy Ghost is found in 15:26 " But when the Comforter is come... which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me"
It is this reassuring witness, that not only speaks for itself, but also witness for the Father, that is true comfort for the humble followers of Christ. Knowing that you are doing the right thing despite all the disparagement that world will throw at you is why Christ sent the Holy Ghost to us.
Christ also spoke of the Comforters other missions, that of purging us from sin, and being a guide and a teach to us since Christ is with the Father and can not be with us always.
The Comforter is the supreme teacher of the Truth of God and will reveal to us all the mysteries of godliness, in verse 13 it reads " he will guide you into all truth... and he will shew you things to come.
It is this revelation and continuing teaching that Joseph Smith will expound on in helping us to understand how to receive the Second Comforter, which is Christ himself, for we are purified and tutored by the Holy Ghost we can become ready for that glorious day.

My Thoughts on the Gospel of John

The Gospel of John has made some intersting unique impressions on me that are different from when the synoptic gospels. John portrays a different Jesus than all the other gospels. We come to have, in my mind a more intimate view of Christ.
There is a great focus on the Oneness that is not in any other Gospel, we learn more of Jesus' intimate nature with the father. I feel that it is really here in this Gospel that we learn to address our God as Father. We learn of more of the Divine Christ than in the other Gospels; Mark focuses on his humanity and Peter and Luke on his teachings and miracles, but John starts our with decreeing Christ' godhood, by saying " In the Beginning there was the Word"
John opens with his bold testimony that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. It is through Christ divine intercession that we can approach the throne of God. In John 7 :15-16 we are shown this, that the Spirit will teach us all things of the Father, that we as individuals have access to the Father, not just through the high priest or the prophet of the time. John shows us that Christ is and his Father are not unreachable entities, even in the name John chose for himself " the beloved disciple" shows us, that God and Christ are beings with whom we can have a real and meaningful relationship with.
We learn more of the Oneness that Christ shares with the Father when we read in Chapter 7 the story when Christ declares that he is the God of Israel of Old, that he is the Great I AM. John shows us the way in which Christ understood that his will is perfectly aligned with the Father, being perfectly in sync with his Father so that he identifies himself as I AM with the Father.
This Oneness we know is something that we can partake of, John shares the stories of Christ speaking of abiding in him, of being part of him, the idea of the Vine, The Way and in the great intercessory prayer where Jesus petitions the Father to let us be one in him as he is one with the Father.
While all of the Gospels have great things to offer, the Gospel of John is my favorite. I feel that it gives us a better understanding of the atoning grace through which we are saved. It shows me the ready access to heavenly power that can come to my aid, if I only ask of it.
The Gospel of John helps me to really come to love and care about my relationship with Christ, for it is through that love that Christ influences my life, it is through that love that Christ atones for my transgressions, and it is through that love that I may one day be perfected and brought into the Abraham's Rest, even the bosom of the Father.
John shows me the divine, but also the attainable Christ. A Christ to whom I can talk to, and bring my wearied soul to. And these are things that I just don't get from the synoptic gospels.

A trip to the art museum

I found it especially interesting to view this exhibit in comparison to the exhibit of religious art depicting Jesus Christ that the BYU Museum of Art displayed a couple of years ago—that exhibit featured mostly straightforward images of Christ. I had the opportunity to attend that particular exhibit on multiple occasions, and while interesting and beautiful, I was surprised to find how much more I appreciated the “Types and Shadows: Intimations of Divinity” exhibit (which happily included some of the art I liked from the other exhibit). It was really neat to listen to the other students’ comments during the tour; like me, it seemed like everyone had their own interpretation of the art work. There were three pieces in particular that I really liked. The first was “The Rod and The Veil.” The idea of reaching through the veil, of being given something through the veil, is a powerful one to a Latter-day Saint. Likewise, the image of a rod simultaneously made me think of the iron rod spoken of in the Book of Mormon, and the staff of Moses. Catching hold of the rod, which is given (seemingly as a gift) from a source outside of ourselves is something that must be done carefully, as the rod is slender and could slip from our fingers if we are not conscientious. I also liked the Ron Richmond piece of the glass. Having first seen the work in the context of the “Types and Shadows” exhibit, I was surprised to find a similar painting of his hanging in a local restaurant. The images of circle and square, alongside the bold colors of the work, were arresting, and gave me a lot of different things to think about—all the different things that water symbolizes: newness, baptism, covenants—all backed by the image of a woman seeming to think about all of the same things. In some ways, the shape of the glass combine with the attitude of the woman made me think of the votive candles used by many of Catholic faith in worship. This juxtaposition creates a question (and I would argue also give an answer) as to what truly paves the way to our personal salvation. Finally, my favorite image was the photorealistic “Man of Sorrows." I was surprised that a lot of the student in my tour group found the image disturbing. They didn’t like the expression that the artist put on the face of Christ. However, I thought that it captured Christ really well. Instead of weeping, bloodied, and weakening, Christ’s face is given a stoic resolution and the necessary strength to perform the task ahead of him. His is a willing, freely given sacrifice.

John 1: An Early Christian Hymn

In the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord tells his people that the "song of the heart is a prayer unto me." This is one of the first places in modern times that we learn of the important significance of music in Christen worship. This same truth would have been known unto the early Christens, and because of this reason we see the Apostle John start his Gospel with an early Christen hymn.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." These are the opening words of the Gospel of John, they are meaning rich. The first thing that we see here is that the idea of High Christology, the idea that Christ is a deified being, was not an idea developed over time, but rather something that the early Christens knew from the start. John boldly states that the Word, who is Jesus, was in the beginning with God and that he was God. Here we see one of the men that knew him in his life, and testifies of his Divinity.
In the second verse we learn another truth: that the Word was God, but we also read that He was with God. Here the Apostle John is adding his testimony to the true doctrine of the the trinity, or that God and the Son are two distinct and separate individuals. This truth would be later be distorted and shown in a more Hellenistic light, by making God into a Platonic form that can neither be personal nor understood. But here the doctrine is to be found, again, but it took the corrective lenses of the Restoration to enable mankind to see it again.
In verses 4 John is trying to share with us the central message of his Testimony of Christ. It reads:In him was life; and the life was the light of men. " Here John shares with us the fact that the light, or rather the hope of all mankind is found in the life that Christ led, that by the sacrifice and expiation of that life all men may find salvation and live again. John uses this verse of the hymn to share with us his testimony of salvation that comes only from Christ.
In the final verse we read: "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."
John shares with us a the ray of hope that the Gospel gives unto men. The word 'comprehend' is probably better translated 'overcome' so it should read the the darkness can not overcome the light which is Christ. This is the ultimate good news of the Gospel that in the End Christ will over come all wrongs, and make all things equal and extend the arm of Mercy to all those that will accept him as their Savior.
I find this a very poignant way in which to begin the Gospel that John saw fit to share with us, and it makes it even more poignant that it was all found as an early Christian hymn, a song create to praise God and offer up thanksgiving for the sacrifice of His Son, and for the Atonement that was made for our sake, so that we may one day return to God's presence.

Matthew's Passion

So we have reached another Passion narrative. Now in the Matthian version of the story, one unique aspect is clear: the narrative follows Matthew's established pattern of comparing Christ unto Moses. When Christ is taken before Pilate and brought before the crowd in Matthew chapter 27, verse 25, they say "His blood be on us and on our children." While the Jews did not understand it, they partook in an interesting gospel reversal. For remember that on the Day of Atonement that the blood of the atoning lamb is sprinkled upon the temple alter all the gathered Israel, to redeem them from their sins. It is thus we see the true fulfillment of what was trying to be conveyed at the Temple ceremony on the Day of Atonement.

The second of the Moses parallels is found in what happened in the Temple at the time of crucifixion. Jesus was on the cross at the time when prayer would have been being given in the temple in the Holy place. Now according to Exodus when the prayers were given if God found the prayers worthy then He would part the veil to receive the prayer at the Mercy Seat. This was done symbolically on the Day of Atonement once a year by the high priest. It is interesting that at the time of Christ's last utterances on the Cross then there veil at the temple literally tore in half, receiving the work of God's own Son, and there by leaving the way clear for all to approach the Mercy Seat through Christ.

I find the types and shadows portrayed here to be very fascinating. We really see how the Matthian narrative focuses in and around the temple. The temple was the center and focus of the Jewish religion and played an important role in their lives. So even in his death Jesus still was making significant contributions to the understanding of the Temple and the deeper levels of significance that He brought to his followers. He brought the true meaning that God had wanted the people of Israel to have. This is especially significant to the Latter-Day Saint reader, as we too understand the focus our modern-day temples place on our Savior, Jesus Christ. Matthew’s passion narrative can help add a deeper and fuller understanding in our own temple attendance.

The Hisory of Printing

This week for our New Testament class we had the opportunity to visit ones of the world’s foremost printing museums. For me it was a great experience to see how the press was invented. The replica Gutenberg press is the best replica in the world, even better than the one located in Meinze, Germany, and is an impressive site.
What was far more impressive was to see the divine hand that certainly played a role in establishing the press. It was because of this press that the Bible could be taken to the masses, literacy could be developed and the Dark Ages could be brought to an end. Because of this press the few words that we have recorded of the savior’s mortal life while here on Earth are now available to anybody who wishes to read them.
It is interesting to think the far-ranging scope that the printing press and the publication of the bible really had. Because of the publication the enlightenment was really able to get underway, which sparked the voyages of Columbus and the discovery of the new world. The Reformation could also take place, now as the Bible could be read by all and its doctrines discussed by any common person, the Catholic Church would lose it's total control over Europe, which would spark the religious dissent that would ultimately lead to various protestant sects to seek sanctuary in the new world, seeking religious freedom. Because of the press the publication of various documents was enabled in the 13 colonies to unite under a cause and declare independence from Great Britain. On this notes, the Crandall Museum that we visited, not only has a replica press like that used at the time of the Declaration's signing, but they have the movable type that was used to print the first copies that were distributed to the people.
Lastly, it is interesting to see that it was this very technology invented by Gutenberg that would aid in the Restoration of Christ' Gospel once again on this earth. It was the very same techniques that printed the first bible on this earth that would also print the Book of Mormon. It is easy to see why so many of the tour guides at the museum feel that the movement that brought about the restoration was not just the great awakening, in the Burned Out District of New York, but that in reality it had started several hundred years before that, when the son of a jeweler sat down and started to think of a way in which to speed up the process of replicating books.
I personally thought that the whole experience was impressive, it helped me to really connect to the history, of which results, I have been a liberal partaker of. It made me appreciate far more the process that it took to get the bible into my hands. I guess to think that the book that, I am afraid to say, often sits unnoticed in a corner of my bedroom went through so many sacrifices and processes that maybe I should pay a little more heed to what it contains.

The Birth Narratives

As our class has moved into the birth narratives as given by Matthew and Luke, we can see some interesting things about the story. From the two different stories we can see the emphasis that each of the authors had. Matthew spends a significant amount of space establishing the royal liniage that Christ has, tracing his genealogy back to Abraham, thus showing the fulfillment of the prophecies given to Abraham, about how all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed because of his seed. For this reason I think Matthew includes the story of Magi, they are bringing kingly gifts and the story reinforces the idea, to the Jewish audience, of Christ' royal right to the throne was it was being validated by those outside of Israel.
Matthew also show many other fulfillment events, often sighting scripture from the old testament and showing how it was fulfilled in Christ. Matthew also wants to draw our attention to the fact that the story of Moses was a type and shadow for the life of Christ. We see this in the several places, Christ is a promised Deliverer, male infants were slain by a the ruling monarch, the child had to be hidden, in both of the cases, in Egypt; for Moses in the house of Pharaoh, and Christ to escape the jurisdiction of Herod.
Luke on the other, who is writing to Gentiles who have little to no knowledge of Jewish prophecy, focuses on the miraculous events that happened during Christ' birth. He shares two stories of miraculous conception, first with Elisabeth, who was barren and then conceived after an angelic pronouncement, the second is the virgin conception of Christ. Here you can tell that this is a marvel to Luke who was a medical doctor, and was fascinated by these events. Luke would also discuss the humble circumstance in which the Lord entered into the world, and the angelic choruses that announced his arrival to the shepherds in the field. I think that Luke, focused on this story for two reasons, first, the heavenly manifestation of angels would be something that Gentiles, who were accustomed to the idea of God making is presence known in grandiose ways, and could understand that more readily than fulfillment of old Jewish prophecy. Second Luke's use of the shepherds is his version of drawing a parallel, who better to greet the Shepherd of our souls then those of the humble profession who are a type and shadow to His great work. I feel that while these two witnesses tell two very different kinds of birth narratives, both of these accounts are important to us. They show us the many facets of what Christ can mean to different people, how he, like many of the parable that he taught, can have many levels of meaning to those that believe in Him.