Holy Week: Tuesday

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Close your eyes, and bring your attention to your breath. Inhale deeply, hold for two seconds, now breathe out all the tension, stress, or negativity in your body. One more time. Breathe in deeply, hold, exhale slowly all the way.

As your breathing returns to normal, gently turn your thoughts and attention toward the last week of Christ’s life, celebrated in many Christian traditions as the “Holy Week.” Although a precise chronology of Christs’ final days of mortality is not clear, most traditions place certain significant events on each of the days of the week.

Elder Gong describes the Holy Week this way: “The sacred events between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday are the story of hosanna[, meaning “save now,”] and hallelujah[, meaning “praise ye the Lord Jehovah”]. Hosanna is our plea for God to save. Hallelujah expresses our praise to the Lord for the hope of salvation and exaltation. In hosanna and hallelujah we recognize the living Jesus Christ as the heart of Easter and latter-day restoration.”

Today, for the Tuesday before Easter, we will be pondering just a few of the many teachings and prophesies Christ gave as he taught in the temple the days before his death.

Examination of Christ

Traditionally, after the paschal lamb was selected for the Passover feast, the lamb was taken to the temple[1] or into the home of the Jewish family who selected the lamb, where it would be kept separate from its flock[2] until it was slaughtered for the feast. In the days leading up to the feast, the lambs would be examined to ensure that they were “without blemish.”[3] As Christ, the symbolic paschal lamb, taught in the temple in the days leading up to his sacrifice, He too was examined. The Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and others asked him questions with the intent to trip him up, find fault in him, and “catch him in his words”[4].

One of the most famous questions posed was which of the commandments is the greatest?[5]

Jesus answered “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all they strength.”[6] And the second commandment is to “love thy neighbour as thyself.”[7] “On these two commandments,” Christ explained, “hang all the law and the prophets.”[8]

How are all the other commandments we have been given encapsulated in the commandments to love God and love your neighbor?

Why is “love God” the first commandment, over “love thy neighbor”? Do you ever find yourself caring so much about being sensitive to your neighbor that you forget to be sensitive to God?

Eight Woes (versus Eight Beatitudes)

In Matthew 23, Christ pronounces eight woes on the scribes and Pharisees. You may notice that these woes correspond to the eight beatitudes he taught in his Sermon on the Mount.[9] Let’s spend a few moments pondering each woe and correlating beatitude. What can you learn from each of the following set of woes and blessings?

First, Christ says “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”[10] Compare with Matthew 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit [who come unto me]: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Second, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”[11] Compare with Matthew 5:4: “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”[12]

Third, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye [travel over land and sea to win a single convert,] and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than he was before, like unto yourselves.”[13] Compare with Matthew 5:5: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”

Fourth, Christ pronounces woe on the scribes and Pharisees for making the temple and the alter of less importance than the gold on the temple and the sacrifice on the alter.[14] In other words, they are focused on material things over spiritual things. Compare with Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

Fifth, Christ pronounces woe on the scribes and Pharisees for paying tithing of various valuable spices and herbs, but abandoning the “weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.”[15] Compare with Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

Sixth, Christ condemns the scribes and Pharisees for being more concerned with their outer appearance than with their heart. They “clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of [greediness and lack of self-control].”[16] Compare with Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” 

Seventh, Christ likens the scribes and Pharisees to whitewashed tombs that “appear beautiful outward, but are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”[17] Compare with Matthew 5:9: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

Eighth, Christ pronounces woe on the scribes and Pharisees for killing the prophets and persecuting the righteous.[18] Compare with Matthew 5:10: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Olivet Discourse and Second Coming

Much of Christ’s teaching during this time concerned His second coming. He spent time on the Mount of Olives, giving what is known as the Olivet Discourse, which lists signs of His second coming. He also used several parables to teach different aspects of His coming, including the parable of the ten virgins,[19] the parable of the talents,[20] the parable of the sheep and the goats,[21] and the parable of the fig tree.[22]

These parables are about preparing for the Second Coming by watching for the prophesied signs, living righteously, and not procrastinating any changes or preparations that we need to make. In a 2004 General Conference, Dallin H. Oaks asked “What if the day of His coming were tomorrow? If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow—through our premature death or through His unexpected coming—what would we do today? 

What confessions would we make?

What practices would we discontinue?

What accounts would we settle?

What forgivenesses would we extend?

What testimonies would we bear?

If we would do those things then, why not now?”[23]

When you are ready, take a final deep breath and slowly turn your awareness back to your body. As you open your eyes and return to your surroundings, take a moment to jot down any thoughts, promptings, or questions that came to mind while you were pondering. Continue to ponder the things that have come to your mind and your heart as you prepare for and celebrate the upcoming Easter Holiday.

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[1] David C. Grabbe, “What the Bible says about Passover Kept at the Temple,” bibletools.org, https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/19883/Passover-Kept-at-Temple.htm#:~:text=These%20original%20instructions%20also%20direct%20the%20Israelites%20to,doorposts%20and%20lintel%20of%20the%20house%20%28Exodus%2012%3A22%29 (last accessed March 23, 2023)

[2] Exodus 12:5.

[3] Exodus 12:5.

[4] Mark 12:13.

[5] Matthew 22:36; Mark 12:28.

[6] Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:29.

[7] Mark 12:31.

[8] Matthew 24:40.

[9] James B. Jordan, “The Beatitudes and Woes,” Theopolis Institute, theopolisinstitute.com, May 15, 1989,   https://theopolisinstitute.com/the-beatitudes-and-woes/ (last accessed March 13, 2023).

[10] Matthew 23:13.

[11] Matthew 23:14.

[12] See also Matthew 6:5.

[13] JST Matthew 23:12 (alterations from NIV Matthew 23:13).

[14] Matthew 23:16-22.

[15] Matthew 23:23-24.

[16] Matthew 23:25-26; see also Matthew 23:25 footnotes a and b.

[17] Matthew 23:27.

[18] Matthew 23:29-36.

[19] Matthew 25:1-13.

[20] Matthew 25:14-30.

[21] Matthew 25:31-46.

[22] Matthew 24:32-33

[23] Dallin H. Oaks, “Preparation for the Second Coming,” General Conference, April 2004.