The Passover and Last Supper
READ Luke 22:7-18
How
much preparation did it take to ready a Passover feast?
A lot – in addition to getting all of the
food prepared and the paschal lamb roasted, the whole house had to be cleaned
and swept of any leaven.
So, the question arises, why didn’t the
apostles prepare sooner?
As
Peter was no doubt responsible and it was the day of the event, may he have
been having a “Martha moment”?
Quite possibly. This is an example of Christ being able to
prepare every needful thing with regards to the physical world so that time
could be spent on more important things could be discussed (i.e. signs of the
times and parables of preparation).
Having said that, it doesn’t appear that
Peter had skipped the teaching over the past few days to prepare the Passover;
and because they were away from home in Jerusalem, it was always going to be a
“visiting” dinner; but it’s surprising that Peter didn’t have something
prepared.
How
many men in Jerusalem were carrying water on that day?
Very few – it was traditionally work
performed by a woman.
Why
was Christ so looking forward to eating this Passover with His disciples?
By this point, they are His friends (see
John 15:12-17; D&C 84:63 and 77; D&C 93:45).
Christ is a social being – He desires to
come to us and speak with us as one man does with another (see Ether 12:39;
John 14:23).
And He is leaving them – this is their
last night together on earth; He is saying goodbye.
The Passover Feast should point to Him
and teach them about His mission as the Messiah.
The Passover service symbolized God’s
rescuing of Israel from their slavery in Egypt.
The youngest person present, most probably John the Beloved, would ask
“why is this night different from all other nights?” Then came the formal meal.
Why
was this night different from all other nights?
It is the night of the Atoning Sacrifice. This is the actual night that was being
symbolized during the rescue of Israel from Egypt – the rescue of all mortals
from sin and death.
All of eternity hangs in the balance for
us on this one night.
Part of the ceremony included the
following: “the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of
the corner. Save now, I beseech thee, O
Lord. Blessed be he that cometh in the
name of the Lord.” For 1200 years the
Jews had celebrated this night of deliverance but were never truly free. On this night, the Apostles in the Upper Room
were singing not a prayer for deliverance but a hymn of praise as the Lord God
Yahweh had come down from Heaven to save them all and this night He would do
it.
The First Sacrament
READ Luke 22:19-20
What
is the symbolism inherent in the sacrament?
Christ’s body (bread) must be broken to
partake of it (consume it) so that it becomes one with you, part of your own
elements, and gives you life as manna from heaven, to sustain you even in the
desert where there is no earthly food (the spiritual death of mortality).
The grape’s juice (blood) is crushed from
the fruit with heavy weight (it is “shed” from the grape) causing the
destruction of the grape, but after a season of death or fermentation it goes
through a mighty change into wine, and when it is consumed, it “gladdens the
heart”.
Why
does Christ want us to remember Him?
That we might have His spirit to be with
us (see Moroni 5:2).
There is a positive correlation or
connection between remembering Him and being animated by His spirit.
What
does having the Spirit with us do?
It is the power by which we become
sanctified from the desire to sin (see Mosiah 5:2; Moroni 8:26).
It enables us to become precisely like
God.
It shares with us the mind of God.
It animates us with Him – enables us to
be one.
What
else do we promise in the sacrament prayer?
To be willing to: take His name upon us,
to keep His commandments, and to always remember Him (see Moroni 4:3).
Who
can be said to be your “father”?
Someone who gives you a physical or
spiritual body and/or your name (adoption) can be said to be your father.
The sacrament is representative of our
rebirth as children of Christ (see Mosiah 5:7-15).
Washing the Feet
READ Luke 22:24-27
Why
do the Gentiles call those that exercise lordship/leadership over them
“benefactors”?
Gentiles like to be commanded in all
things (see D&C 58:26-29).
Gentiles like to trust in the arm of the
flesh (see 2 Nephi 4:34; 2 Nephi 28:31-32).
Gentiles aspire to leadership – to sit in
the “chief seats” and to be called “master” in the streets (see Matt 23:6-12).
They love to revere their leaders as
pseudo-royalty; they suffer from “strongman syndrome” – but they won’t look to
God to save them or build their own relationships with Him but would rather,
like the Children of Israel, put a man between themselves and God.
It is interesting to think about why this
is true – what karmic traits are being worked out by one spirit entity being
born as a Gentile and another being born as an Israelite – especially when God
is no respecter of persons and there is a lot of history of Israelites
struggling spiritually, as one might expect a Gentile to struggle (perhaps in
different ways, though – as a generalization, at least?).
What
can we discern from the fact that Christ acknowledges that “he that eats is
greater than he that serves” but that Christ came to serve?
That the notion that the greatest is the
one who eats is false – it comes from the Gentiles and the natural man.
Christ’s level of service (the atonement)
showed us who He was – truly the greatest.
READ John 13:3-10
Why
did Christ clean their feet?
In ancient Israel, one’s feet were the
dirtiest part of their bodies – sandals and dusty or muddy roads… He will clean
the filthiest part of us.
The feet “walk the path” – receiving a
mighty change of heart and being invited to walk in His paths is symbolic in
this rite.
It is the first thing we see when we
assume the natural position when admitted into His presence (we fall at His
feet); and His feet hold tokens of an
eternal sacrifice of service.
What
does it mean to “have part with” Christ and how does this ordinance enable that?
To be clean from the blood and sins of
this world.
To be sealed up with (and by) Him unto
Eternal Life (see Mosiah 5:15).
To be adopted into His family.
The Washing of the Feet is a vital
ordinance to enable this relationship with Christ.
It is not for
a man to administer this ordinance in proxy; Christ did not use Peter to do it
in His place for the rest of the Twelve – He is the gatekeeper and employs no
servant there; He will wash your feet – anything else is just a symbolic rite,
not the real thing.
READ John 13:12-17
How
can you identify the true king?
He does the work of the least servant –
washing the feet upon entrance into a beautiful house was the work of the
lowest servant, as it was dirty work.
How
can you identify His true messengers?
They will do likewise – they will seem to
you as the least.
They are the opposite of the issues we
find discussed in D&C 121 (unrighteous dominion, compulsion, control,
adulation, etc.).
They will not be sitting in the chief
seats when you meet them here on this mortal earth; while they are beings of
immense light, you will not see that at first.
Love One Another
READ John 13:31-35
How
is the Father glorified in the Son, and the Son in the Father?
The Father is glorified by the sacrifice
of the Son and His (the Son’s) attaining to the resurrection; this act brings
to pass the immortality and eternal life of man AND makes the Son perfect as
the Father is perfect = which is the Father’s work and glory (see Moses 1:39).
The Father is glorified as His Sons “take
His place” and He ascends further (see TPJS 390-393).
The Son is glorified because the Father
will never abandon Him; in doing this work He is walking the path the Father
laid out and will become precisely like the Father, by so doing.
Where
is He going that they cannot come?
He is going onward on His path and they
will not take it with Him.
When they die they will go to the Spirit
World while He will go straight to His Father and Mother in the Celestial
Kingdom.
Those in the Spirit World cannot go
directly to the Celestial Kingdom – it requires a portal… and the ability to
pass sentinels, and it may require a perfected physical body (or a body of
glory over and above that of a spirit entity – remember that we are “clothed”
in bodies but we are not our body; and to enter the wedding feast, you must be
clothed in the correct garment…).
Why
is loving one another a new commandment?
It’s only new to them because they’ve
been living the Law of Moses with its “eye for an eye” definition of love,
which means: love one another to the degree that they love you but you are
under no obligation to love them more than that.
The new commandment is to love one
another as Christ loved us.
How
has Christ loved us?
He condescended from Heaven to come and
rescue us – putting Himself in jeopardy for us.
He suffered the Atonement for us – which
involved suffering (all that a God can suffer – an infinite atonement) for what
He did not do, forgiving us, and interceding on our behalf with the Father.
He gave His life for us.
He attained unto the resurrection and
gave us its gift that we might also live again through Him.
How
do we love one another as He has loved us?
We must become precisely like Him (see
LoF 7:9).
We must seek for and receive the Gift of
Charity – given to all those who are true followers of Christ (see Moroni 7:48).
That we might become the Sons/Daughters
of God – sanctified, purified and like Him.
So, first we must seek Him and find Him –
receiving the Birth of the Spirit, being spiritually begotten of Him (see
Mosiah 5:7).
We must live in the spirit of the Gift of
Charity every day, as Christ taught us at the Sermon on the Mount – loving,
serving, relieving the suffering of others, not judging, forgiving,
interceding, ministering, teaching, guiding by example, persuading in meekness,
inviting, and blessing, as anonymously or quietly as possible, and particularly
among those who hate or harm you unjustly (see Matthew 5-7 and D&C
121:34-46).
What
is the great sign of a true follower of Christ?
They love others in exactly the same way that
Christ does (see Matthew 5:43-44, 46; Matthew 19:19; Matthew 22:37, 39; Luke
6:27, 35; John 8:42; John 10:17; John 13:34-35; John 14;15, 21, 23; John
15:9-17; John 21:15-17).
What
is the great lesson that we can only learn here on Earth?
To learn to love as Christ did.
That love is the great commandment.
That God IS love.
Because in this telestial sphere, we have
the opportunity to be hated and hurt and to return pure love for that hate. We learn to love people not because they
deserve it (justice) but because we chose to love them (mercy).
READ John 13:36-38
What
does it mean that we will not be following Christ now but will follow Him
afterwards?
We will not ascend to the Father when we
die, but will afterwards.
The steps Christ is about to take next on
the path, we will not be taking now, but we will take those steps later on as
we travel the same path.
To be saved we must become precisely like
Christ (see LoF 7:9, 15-16); to become precisely like Christ, we must walk the
same path He walked, as He is our example in all things – the prototype of the
saved being; just as Christ walked the path of His Father and only did what He
saw His Father do (see TPJS 390-393).
Will
Peter lay down His life for Christ?
Yes, he will later die a martyr’s death.
Yes, in some
future eternity, if he wants to truly follow Christ, he will die in like manner
to how Christ died here – in sacrifice for those who are depending on him to
save them.
But not before denying Him three times;
this shows how little we know now but how the Lord is patient and merciful and
will unfold to us, in time – when we are ready for it – the full extent of what
is required to fulfill the wishes we so easily proclaim as wanting; but as the
Father never abandoned the Son, Christ will never abandon us if we submit fully
to His will.
