Come Follow Me: John 7 - 9
While studying "Come Follow Me" content each week, specific thoughts, ideas, and principles seem to jump out at me.
I am not sure why they do. They just do!
Likely different from your insights, I enjoy sharing these thoughts with you.
Following is what got me thinking this week.
#1: What is the Feast of the Tabernacles?
I didn't know what the Feast of the Tabernacles was.
So, I researched the topic and learned something! Following is what I learned.
The Feast of Tabernacles, also known as Sukkot, is a seven-day biblical festival celebrated by Jewish people. The biblical basis for the Feast of Tabernacles can be found in several passages in the Hebrew Bible, including Deuteronomy 16:13-15.
Beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the Hebrew calendar, which falls between late September and mid-October in the Gregorian calendar, the festival marks the end of the harvest season. In addition, it commemorates the Israelites' forty-year journey through the desert after leaving Egypt. During the festival, Jews build small, temporary booths and live in them for the duration of the seven-day festival.
These sukkot are the tabernacles and represent the temporary shelters used by the Israelites during their 40-year journey through the desert.
The sukkot are decorated with fruits and vegetables, and the roofs are made of branches and leaves to represent the temporary shelters used by the Israelites during their journey.
As a symbol of unity and gratitude toward God, branches and leaves of palm, willow, myrtle, and citron are held together and waved.
Based on Leviticus 23:40, the four species of wood are considered necessary because they symbolize different things in Jewish tradition.
The palm branch is associated with victory and represents the spine, the body's central supporting feature.
The willow branches are associated with humility and represent the lips used for prayer and self-reflection.
The myrtle branches are associated with love and represent the eyes, which allow us to perceive and appreciate beauty in the world.
Finally, the citron is related to the heart and represents the fruit of good deeds.
Together, the four species represent a harmonious unity, reminding Jews of the importance of balance and connection in their lives.
The Feast of the Tabernacle is a big deal! It is a time of great joy and celebration, and people come together to eat, sing, and worship in honor of the holiday.
Kind of like the General Conference in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
A time of community gathering and celebration that reminds us of God's goodness. A time to come together as one body to celebrate and find joy in Jesus Christ.
#2: Blinded by False Traditions
It is natural for humans to rely on traditions to define what is "normal." But if well-meaning and fun traditions are incorrect, even if well-intended, we may stray from the path of truth.
Think about the holidays we enjoy. Do our thoughts and activities support the underlying meaning and purpose of the day?
Or are we focused on unrelated pleasures of the day?
For example, what is the focus worldwide for celebrating Easter and Christmas? Or here in the United States, what activities do we associate with Memorial Day and Labor Day?
The people of Christ's time also had their traditions based on teachings passed from one generation to another over the centuries.
These cultural beliefs made it difficult for most people of the day to recognize Christ as their long-awaited Messiah.
From the scriptures, we know the nonbelievers made comments like these:
"How is it possible this man be the Messiah? He comes out of Galilee and not Bethlehem."
"He is nobody special, the son of a carpenter. Therefore, he could not be the prophesied King of the Jews descended from David."
"The so-called miracles this man performs are of the devil, and he heals on the sabbath contrary to the law of Moses."
The people were divided. This man called Jesus was different from what they thought he would be. They could not comprehend that every prophecy regarding Christ had been or was being fulfilled.
But beliefs do not change facts.
Christ did indeed come from Bethlehem, the place of his birth.
Jesus possessed the temporal royal lineage of David through both Mary's DNA and Joseph's genealogy by birthright.
In Jesus the Christ, James E. Talmage explains the fact of Christ's royal lineage through Joseph and Mary:
"At the time of the Savior's birth, Israel was ruled by alien monarchs. The rights of the royal Davidic family were unrecognized, and the ruler of the Jews was an appointee of Rome. Had Judah been a free and independent nation, ruled by her rightful sovereign, Joseph the carpenter would have been her crowned King; and his lawful successor to the throne would have been Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" (James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 33rd ed. [1970], 87).
The documentation was available to the people with a little effort. Their redeemer was right there in their midst, but tradition blinded them.
Things are similar today.
How should a prophet look and behave?
Everything about Joseph Smith was counter to the culture of his day of what the theologians thought a prophet should be.
Even today, people consistently reject the modern prophets of the restored Church because they hold tight to the traditional expectations of how a prophet should look, behave, and the occupation held.
The current prophets are humble, often nondescript men. They come from different walks of life, occupations, and cultures.
They have been nurtured through the years to wear the mantle of a prophet.
Yet, most people today cannot recognize them as prophets because they do not fit some preconceived stereotype.
Sometimes I find myself slipping into the same frame of mind. So I try to remember to ask myself, "What traditions and false beliefs do I hold tightly that cause me to miss the simple truth right in front of me and, therefore, to err?"
We can all learn from the events of Christ's time and our own experiences.
It is easy to become blinded by false traditions and overlook the obvious truth right in front of us.
#3: What is Your North Star?
Our Father in Heaven is the author of the Plan of Salvation.
Not the Son, as some believe. But, the Savior’s doctrine includes and enacts every detail of the Father's teachings, laws, and gospel.
We were there when the Father announced and taught us the entire plan for creation, redemption, salvation, and exaltation.
I imagine we cheered when He chose and appointed His eldest spirit child to be born as His Son in the world to redeem us. To carry out the infinite and eternal atonement according to the Father's will.
From that point forward, everything the Savior did was intended to fulfill the plan of his Father. That perfect plan was our Elder Brother’s north star, and he never deviated one bit.
Christ sought only the glory of his Father, who sent him.
That got me thinking, what glory do we seek? What is our north star?
Do you seek glory for yourself?
Or do you put the work of our Heavenly Father's Plan for His children first?
If a choice between yourself and another determines who will get ahead, will you share your gain to help another?
The Savior again set the example in this regard, deferring His temporal needs to others every single time. He always placed himself second to the plan of our Father in Heaven and the needs of His children.
Christ’s mission and guiding North Star was His Father's plan.
Each of us has a role in our Father in Heaven's plan.
Fulfilling that role often means putting our needs second to the needs of others.
I think of the long hours ecclesiastical leaders often spend talking, counseling, comforting and ministering to others while their families wait patiently for them to come home.
There are many simple ways we can enable the Plan of Happiness in our daily lives.
Perhaps stopping for a jay-walking pedestrian and smiling as he or she passes.
Or making it easy for another driver to merge into our lane by slowing down and waving them in.
In temporal transactions, striving to replace the "what's in it for me" focus with “what’s in it for thee.” That approach isn’t easy. After all, we all want to be successful in temporal things!
But, can you imagine the world of peace we would all enjoy if every one of us had a "thee instead of me" approach to life? A culture where we always have each other's best interests at heart?
#4 Abraham's Children
Abrahamic Covenant
The Abrahamic covenant is a promise made by God to Abraham and his posterity. This covenant includes the promise that all the priesthood blessings will be preserved in Abraham's lineage, making it possible for men and women to obtain the highest degree of exaltation and eternal lives.
Also, through his seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
Being a Literal Descendant of Abraham is Not Enough
Bruce R. McConkie explains: "Thus there are two distinct meanings of the expression, "seed of Abraham": (1) There are his literal descendants who have sprung from his loins and who by virtue of their favored family status are natural heirs of the same blessings which Abraham himself enjoyed; and (2) There are those (including adopted members of the family) who become the "seed of Abraham" in the full spiritual sense by conformity to the same gospel principles which Abraham obeyed. In this spiritual sense, the disobedient literal descendants of Abraham, being "children of the flesh," are not "accounted" as Abraham's seed, but are cut off from the blessings of the gospel." (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, Volume 1, 22nd Printing, 1992, 459 - 460).
This is the point the Savior was making when he rebuked the Jews as recorded in John Chapter 8:
37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
The point is clear:
To receive all the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant, each of us must "do the works of Abraham." That means following the Doctrine of Christ, which is the doctrine of our Father in Heaven.
When we do the works of Abraham we are his children.
Then we are all indeed one: eternally bound to each other, Abraham, Christ, and our Heavenly Father.
Good things happen when we submit our agency and align our will with His will.
By submitting our will to His, we become truly free! I am fascinated with how that principle works.
I only wish it was as easy to do in real life as it is to write about!
That's it for this week!
Thanks for reading and pondering with me!
Russell Anderson
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