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.

Who was Luke?

So we received the assignment to talk about the Luke this week in class, the challenge will be not using any outside sources, only what we can find in the Bible, so here we go.
Historically speaking Luke first appears in the books of Acts in the city of Alexandra Troas. It was here that he joined Paul on some of his journeys. We know that he was probably a convert from the area and would spend at least a period of two years in Judea when he was not with Paul.
Luke was really the first of the Gospel writers that was really a historian piecing together the story as a commissioned work for a man named Theophilus. I say this because Mark was really jus trying to preserve the memoirs of Peter, and Mathew was trying to prove to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ; Luke was trying to share a complete and whole story to the Gentiles, a group from whom he himself was a convert. Although much of what is contained in the Gospel of Luke comes directly from the Gospel of Mark there is some unique Lukeian material. It was during his time in Judea that he would have collected much of that material from the eye witnesses and the church leaders in the area. We learn this in chapter 1:2.
Luke was a doctor, and it is interesting to note that of the stories that Luke focuses on he puts a strong emphasis on the healing nature of Christ, and the miracles that occurred with the human body. Here are a few examples: During the healing of the women who has the hemorrhaging issue, we see Luke saving face for his profession a little bit, for when he is quoting Mark verbatim, he leaves out the line about how the doctors who had visited the woman had left her worse off then before they came. Luke is also the only gospel writer to mention the bloody sweat of Christ in the garden.
Luke also had a fascination with the role that gender played in Christ' life. He almost always pairs his stories to show both a man and a woman. I think he was amazed, that in a world where women were treated so very poorly, that Christ would teach women and deem them as equals in his kingdom> Often showing how women are more receptive to the things of God, even about that and beyond that of men who should know better. The story of Zacharias and the announcement of the Christ Child by the angel Gabriel is a good example of this. Zacharias fails to believe the words of the angel, and he a priest that should know better, juxtaposed to the young maiden who readily and humbly accepted that which was told to her by an angel.
While Luke never saw the Lord while he was on the earth in mortality, nevertheless, he had an interesting title which I assume was bestowed upon him by the leadership of the church at the time, and this title can only be found in the JST version of the first verse. It states that he is “a messenger of Jesus Christ". A title that I feel was not given lightly to Luke, but rather I think he knew his special calling that he would have as a Gospel writer and that his gospel would be one of the few that would survive the millennia.

The first of the Passions

As I have read my way through the Gospel of Mark, I have reached the first passion story. Christ has reached the end of his earthly ministry and moves on to fulfill the last task that his Father has set before him to do while in this earthly state. It is the day before Passover and Christ seeks to share one last supper with his disciples while in his mortal state. The story progresses as everyone knows, first to the Garden where Christ will begin his expiating act. The wording Mark chooses as they approach the garden is strong here as it is else where. Mark describes Jesus as being sore amazed, a word similar to his use of astonish. As the sins and sufferings of the cosmos started to coalesce around him, Christ himself was surprised. I share my opinion with that of James E. Talmage who thought that while Christ knew cognitively what was about to happen I don't think that there was any preparation possible that could have prepared him emotionally for what was about to happen.
After his time in the Garden Christ would be taken to the sham trail and brought before Pilate, where he will be condemned. It is on Christ' slow march to Golgotha that we see more evidence that Mark was writing a true and biographical account of Christ' life, for why else would Mark mention the name of Simon the Cyrenian and his two sons; if not that it was person with whom the story could be confirmed. Again we see 1st century examples of eye witness reporting.

On to the crucifixion. To be crucified was not only a slow and painful death but it was also humiliating to a Jew. We must understand that the Jews of the first century did not have the same kind of mind set about cause and effect that so dominates our modern way of thinking. To the Jew all things were in God's hands and all events were caused and permitted by God. We read in Deut. 21:22 that to the Jews to be crucified and to die that way meant that you were cursed and hated of God, for if you were truly innocent then God would provide a means of escape. It would have been a contradiction for there the chosen messiah of God to be crucified.
This idea is particularly interesting in light of the mocking comments that the high priests shout to Jesus as he is dying on the Cross. They say that if would come down and rescue himself then they would believe. I think that while they were mocking him they were also trying to assuage their consciences, for they were in part giving him the benefit of the doubt. If he really was the Christ then God would not let him die in such a humiliating way and then they could say that they were merely looking to provide a proof that he was chosen of God and were merely facilitating him.
Never the less the Jews did not understand prophetic utterances made by the prophets of old and Christ completed his mission and died that all might live again by Him and in Him.

Astonished with great Astonishment

As I have continued in my New Testament class my instructor pointed out something which I had never really noticed before;the frequent use of the word 'astonished' by Mark. Now granted astonished is not the word that would have been used in the original Greek, as it comes from a middle french word, however, I think the meaning remains the same. Often we think of the word as meaning to be caught by surprise, but it's much older meaning literally means to thunder out, or to be thunder-struck. This is the meaning I think that Mark was trying to convey to his readers. Not just that the people who witnessed Jesus were surprised, or intrigued by his doctrine, but rather what he taught hit them like a bolt of lighting, charging their whole system with awe and wonder.
One particular example of this is from where I drew my title for this week's post. Jesus had just raised the daughter of Jarius and the girl is now walking about. Peter, whose memoirs Mark is writing, must have had a most jarring memory of the event, because in one sentence he proclaims that "... they were astonished with a great astonishment." Wow, what an event. I have since consulted my Portuguese Bible to see how it was translated to see if that would shed a different light on the scene. The translation of the first "astonished" literally translated means haunted, or over shadowed. Now I don't think that it was meant in a negative way as is the typical use today, though it may have been a little frightening to see at first, as one who was dead is now walking about. Rather think what was meant, was that it was an even that no one would ever forget, something they would think about every day of their lives, especially that of the little girl.
Mark was trying to convey this message to us in his Gospel, the life of Christ was something so fantastic and awe inspiring, that knowing his teachings and witnessing his life was something that was akin to being struck by lighting. I pause and think to myself, how often do we really stop and think about how truly marvelous and grand the life of Jesus really was? I think it is far too easy to lose that astonishment that Mark was trying to covey to us, we fail to see the hand of the Lord in so much of what goes on day to day.
I am reminded of the story told by President Eyring about when he kept a journal of everything that happened in the lives of him and his children in which the hand of the Lord could be seen. The feeling I got when he shared this story was that when he went back and read all that the Lord had done for him and his family, he must have been truly astonished at all the tender mercies bestowed upon him in every hour.
I would challenge all of us, myself included, to do everything in our power to hold on to the astonishment that is shared with us from the words of the apostles and prophets in the scriptures and today. If we have lost it, then we must find it again approaching the Lord in humility to show us how the same miraculous, and astonishing, hand that raised Jarius' daughter from the dead; that is active in our lives even now.

Biographies of Christ

Jesus Christ.
Much has been said and done in the name of Christ, and better scholars than I have written countless works about him, but who was he? Depending on who you ask you will receive a different answer, to some he was a great teacher of moral platitudes; while to others he was merely radical Jewish zealot who inspired many followers to rise up against the existing religious systems of his day. To our Muslim brothers and sisters he was a prophet of Allah, or to other he was not one man at all but a conglomeration of several stories that needs an anthropomorphic repository in order for a religious institution to gain power. Again I would say that there has been a lot written about any of theses views and many other, but they are all missing something.
The argumentation of who Christ is may seem like a modern debate, however, I would remind the reader that this same debate is recorded in the New Testament itself. Christ asked his disciples, after their first mission to area surrounding Jerusalem who the public thought he was, some thought of him as Elijah, and others as John the Baptist returned from the grave, but it was Peter's testimony that I would like to focus on here. He states in very simple language, because he is a simple man, but by no means unintelligent, the the truth that he has felt in his heart for a long while before this interrogatory with Jesus: "Thou art the Christ."
This written account of Peter's testimony is the crux of my post today. The New Testament was written based on the eye witness accounts of those who saw and experienced first hand the miracles, teachings and power of Christ. The Gospels really are the records of eye witness accounts of the Savior.
There are a scholarly reasons for this assumption and I will list a few that I have picked up in my New Testament class. Since we are currently reading the Gospel of Mark I will list some of the facts in relation to that book, but keeping the idea in mind that the points made can be applied across the synoptic Gospels.
First, the Gospel of Mark is probably more accurately described as Peter memoirs, Mark would have been in Rome at or just after the execution of Paul and would definitely have been there at Peter's execution, thus he would have had access to Peter, and would have been writing for the branches of the early Church in Rome.
Second, Mark includes names of seemingly insignificant people, it is a point easily argued that this is because these are the eye witness from whom he got the story. The reason one would mention the name is that it would ensure that truthfulness of the story could be verified, these were people that were still alive, and could be asked to retell it.
Third, while the style is different then modern day biographies, Mark wrote in the style of ancient biographical texts, so he was creating a biography of Christ, not just merely spinning tales about a non existent person.
Fourth, the gospel includes elements that scholars would call "embarrassment factors", now what is meant here is that these are elements that would at first glance seem to be contradictions, to later elements of the text. It help in proving validity, for if the story was fictionalized why would one include it in the text in the first place. One of these factors is Christ' baptism by John. John baptized for the remission of sins, it is later stated in the text that Christ was always without sin. So why include that in a fictional account if one it trying to make a story up?
The simple truth of it is the Gospels are telling about real events that happened to real people in the life of Jesus Christ. That is all I will go for now, it may not be earth shattering proof to the unbeliever, but in my opinion that hard tangible proof that those individual seek after will not be had until the day when every knee will bow and all tongues confess that Jesus is the Christ. Until then we may now as Peter knew, as the Holy Ghost speaks to our hearts that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.