Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3

 SOURCES:

“Jesus in the Wilderness: Baptism, Fasting, and Temptations.” Richard Neitzel Holzapfel. The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ: From Bethlehem through the Sermon on the Mount. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas Wayment

The New Testament Made Harder by James E. Faulconer

The New Testament: A Translation for Latter-day Saints - Thomas A. Wayment

Bible Dictionary - ChurchofJesusChrist.Org

Mark 1:1-15 

“Mark’s first fifteen verses demonstrate complete unity framed by the announcement of the “good news” (Mark 1:1) and Jesus’ arrival in Galilee to preach the “good news” (Mark 1:15). Between these two occurrences of the word gospel lie the events that form the basic underlying thesis of the whole Gospel narrative—Jesus is God’s Beloved Son; He is empowered by His Father, and He goes forth by the Spirit.”

JOHN THE BAPTIST

How long was John the Baptist’s mission? John’s public ministry presumably began at least six months prior to Jesus’s mission. Matthew 3, Mark 1, and Luke 3 record Jesus’s baptism when it occurred. On the other hand, the wording in John 1 indicates that the baptism had already occurred and that John the Baptist continued to teach and baptize others. John 3 moves John the Baptist from Bethabara to Aenon near Salim and says that he continued with his mission of baptizing, with the note that “John was not yet cast into prison” (John 3:24). Sometime after this, John was put into prison, during which time his disciples came and visited him. Quite possibly John was placed in prison sometime near the end of the first year of Jesus’s ministry and probably remained in prison for at least a year, maybe a little longer. Thus, John’s ministry could have lasted from one to two years 

(J. Reuben Clark, Our Lord of the Gospels [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1968], 37, 62). https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-10-no-2-2009/john-baptist-miracle-mission

With very few words (Mark 1:2-8), Mark demonstrates how suddenly and radically John the Baptist alters the social, political, and religious landscape of first-century Judaism when he announces that the coming of the “one mightier” than any prophet has at long last arrived. (Mark 1:7) 

“For Jesus, John the Baptist symbolized the final transition from the Old Testament (covenant) and the beginning of the New Testament (covenant).  The time of the law and the prophets had passed, and the time of the Messiah had arrived. John the Baptist, the last legal administrator of the Mosaic covenant, had one foot in each dispensation.” (Footnote 11). Holzapfel: pg. 163

"Contrary to what we sometimes hear, the Pharisees were not, as such, the leaders of the Jews, though some of them were among the leaders of the Sanhedrin and other leaders. The Pharisees were more or less comparable to a modern political party or lobby group, influencing those who govern. The Pharisees’ answer to “Who’s in?” was “Those who have the right lineage and who keep the Law as we interpret it.” This difference over the question of lineage and over what obedience means makes more clear John the Baptist’s rebuke of the Pharisees: “Bring forth fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father” The Pharisees were preaching the Law and birthright rather than repentance. I think this also explains Jesus’s ministry to so many of those who were excluded: those the Pharisees had decreed to be sinners, Samaritans, and so on." 

James E. Faulconer

Mark 1:4 Forgiveness for sin independent of the temple and the priests in Jerusalem, even though he was himself a priest ( Holzapfel pg. 165). This challenge did not go unnoticed.

REPENTANCE

Repentance - Bible Dictionary

The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world. Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined. Without this there can be no progress in the things of the soul’s salvation, for all accountable persons are stained by sin and must be cleansed in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Repentance is not optional for salvation; it is a commandment of God (D&C 18:9–22; 20:29; 133:16). The preaching of repentance by John the Baptist formed the preparation for the ministry of our Lord. 

“Repent, Greek metanoeo, literally “to change one’s mind,” in the context of the preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth, is actually a call for a radical transformation. Repentance is not just an intellectual change of mind but is a behaviorally centered change from the heart, in which the individual, because of faith, forsakes sin and returns to God. As a result, John’s message is not simply to inform but also to convert the reader to this radical transformation that brings gracious forgiveness that God continually offers men and women through the “one mightier than” prophet, Jesus Christ, who offers the “baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost” that can prevent a person from backsliding following the baptism of water.” 

“Jesus in the Wilderness: Baptism, Fasting, and Temptations.” Richard Neitzel Holzapfel. 

The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ: From Bethlehem through the Sermon on the Mount. 

Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas Wayment

Footnote 12. Pg. 163.

To repent is to return to God; it is to return to the covenant He made with Israel. 

"Repentance is Always Positive" by Stephen W. Owen, October 2017.

START OF JESUS' PUBLIC MINISTRY

“For nearly thirty years, Jesus lived an apparently quiet and slow-paced life in an obscure and out-of-the-way village, away from the gaze of crowds and the interest of political and religious leaders of His day.” Holzapfel pg. 169

Mark 1:11 - “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 

Much has been written about the meaning of the declaration—for some, He was always the Son of God; for others, He was the Son of God from the moment of conception; for another group, He was adopted as God’s Son at baptism; and for still another group, He became God’s Son at the resurrection.” pg. 170

“Jesus performed miracles in behalf of others over and over through the Gospels. Nowhere does He perform one in His own behalf. The temptations may explain the reason Jesus did not use His divine power for self-interest because doing so would have been a subtle, but significant, departure from a mission wholly dedicated to others—one that the devil tried to subvert by tempting Jesus to take care of His needs by using His power to satisfy His hunger for food, acceptance, and power.” Footnote 57, Holzapfel.

Clearly, the Gospel author believed that God actually did something to or for Jesus at the baptism. The nature of what He did is debated. Was Jesus anointed, elected, affirmed, identified, or declared at this time? 

 “ . . . More than the physical acts of baptism and fasting for forty days gave Jesus a sense of mission at this time. The experiences following the baptism—God’s voice and declaration, the devil’s challenges, and Jesus’ successful resistance to the temptations—are what provided Jesus the authority and power to begin His ministry.” Holzapfel pg. 171

THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

“For some reason not fully explained in the scriptures, the Holy Ghost did not operate in the fulness among the Jews during the years of Jesus’ mortal sojourn (John 7:39; 16:7). Statements to the effect that the Holy Ghost did not come until after Jesus was resurrected must of necessity refer to that particular dispensation only, for it is abundantly clear that the Holy Ghost was operative in earlier dispensations. Furthermore, it has reference only to the gift of the Holy Ghost not being present, since the power of the Holy Ghost was operative during the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus; otherwise, no one would have received a testimony of the truths that these men taught.” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bd/holy-ghost?lang=eng

As with the use of prayer in Jesus’ life, Luke makes it clearer than Mark that it was the Holy Ghost who descended on Jesus at baptism (see Luke 3:22). 

(Side note: Thomas Wayment - Luke’s wording makes it clear that the Holy Spirit descended softly, as a dove would land, and that Jesus experienced a physical or bodily presence of the Holy Spirit. Luke’s wording differs from the other Gospels in his description (Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; John 1:32).

Joseph Smith stated, “The sign of the dove was instituted before the creation of the world, a witness for the Holy Ghost, and the devil cannot come in the sign of a dove. The Holy Ghost is a personage, and is in the form of a personage. It does not confine itself to the form of the dove, but in sign of the dove. The Holy Ghost cannot be transformed into a dove; but the sign of a dove was given to John to signify the truth of the deed, as the dove is an emblem or token of truth and innocence.”

Mark’s description is surprisingly strong: the Spirit driveth Him into the wilderness, led in Matthew and Luke, the JST is "took him". The Spirit falls upon Jesus when John baptizes Him in the wilderness, the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness where He fasts for forty days and is tempted by the devil. 

BraveLikeEve - Instagram - January 25, 2023

John 1

 THE PURPOSE OF JOHN’S GOSPEL

“Two features of John’s Gospel seem particularly important for explaining the difference in how John chose to portray these events. The first is John’s unusually high Christology. Christology focuses on the person and work of Jesus by explaining what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God and emphasizing what He did for the salvation of mankind. The different themes and perspectives of each Gospel author result in slightly different Christological emphases. For instance, while all four Gospels agree on the work of Jesus—namely that He died for the sins of the world and conquered death through the Resurrection—they focus on different aspects of His role as the Son of God. Mark, for instance, focuses on Jesus’s authoritative ministry, beginning his account with God recognizing Jesus as His Son at Jesus’s baptism and demonstrating through Jesus’s miracles and teaching authority that He is God’s Son. Matthew and Luke go back further, showing that Jesus is indeed the Son of God because of His divine conception and miraculous birth.”

“John, however, exhibits a preexistence Christology, teaching that Jesus was the Divine Son ‘in the beginning’ (John 1:1) and revealing that His divinity continued, barely hidden, throughout His mortal ministry. This Christological stance led John to portray Jesus differently than the other Gospels, emphasizing His strength, downplaying His suffering, and focusing on how Jesus accomplished His atoning mission alone. The second feature of John’s Gospel that substantively affected his Passion narrative is the thematic symbolism of Jesus as the Lamb of God. Jesus is explicitly identified as the Lamb of God at the beginning of the Gospel, and this symbolism reemerges implicitly at the end of the Gospel, where the focus is on Jesus’s sacrificial death, where Jesus, like a paschal lamb, sheds His blood so that death— spiritual as well as physical—may pass over His people.”

Eric Huntsman, https://rsc.byu.edu/sites/default/files/pub_content/pdf/03%20Huntsman.pdf

JOHN THE BAPTIST

“Soon after John’s birth, miraculous events surrounded the newborn. Zacharias’s voice was dramatically restored, allowing him to pronounce the Benedictus, a prophetic blessing upon his son. Filled with the Holy Ghost, Zacharias prophesied the intertwining of his son’s and Jesus’s missions (see Luke 1:67–79). John would be ‘the prophet of the Highest’ (Luke 1:76) called to go before him to prepare the way by teaching salvation through baptism for the remission of sins (see Joseph Smith Translation, Luke 1:76). At this time, John also was ‘ordained’ by an angel, presumably Gabriel, to his mission ‘to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews, and to make straight the way of the Lord before the face of his people, to prepare them for the coming of the Lord, in whose hand is given all power’ (D&C 84:28). This was not, however, an ordination to the priesthood because the Levitical Priesthood came as a birthright with responsibilities beginning at the age of twenty-five or thirty (see Numbers 4:3; 8:23–26). Elder Bruce R. McConkie noted that John yet needed baptism and other preparations. President Joseph Fielding Smith declared that the ordination came from an angel because ‘John received certain keys of authority which his father Zacharias did not possess.’ No one else in Judea at that time held these keys or had recorded an outpouring of blessings under such miraculous circumstances.”

“Similar to Jesus, John probably began his ministry at age thirty (see Luke 3:23), announcing, ‘I am he who was spoken of by the prophet Esaias [Isaiah].’ Many from Jerusalem and surrounding areas came to hear him preach and to be baptized in the Jordan River at Bethabara (see 1 Nephi 10:9; Matthew 3:5–6; Mark 1:4–5; Luke 3:3). The Prophet Joseph Smith declared that ‘the kingdom of God for a season seemed to rest with John alone’ with this reasoning: John was ‘a legal administrator, . . . the laws and oracles of God were there; therefore the kingdom of God was there.’ Further, the Prophet Joseph explained, ‘It is evident the kingdom of God was on the earth, and John prepared subjects for the kingdom by preaching the Gospel to them and baptizing them.’ As the last legal administrator and prophet of the old dispensation and the first legal administrator and prophet of the new dispensation, Jesus ‘submitted to that authority Himself.’ Because John was both the last of the prophets under the law of Moses (see D&C 84:27) and the first of the prophets in the new dispensation, he held the priesthood keys of authority to which the mortal Jesus presented himself for baptism.”

“Joseph Smith gave three reasons why Jesus called John great:

First. He was entrusted with a divine mission of preparing the way before the face of the Lord. Whoever had such a trust committed to him before or since? No man.

Secondly. He was entrusted with the important mission, and it was required at his hands, to baptize the Son of Man. Whoever had the honor doing that? Whoever had so great a privilege and glory? Whoever led the Son of God into the waters of baptism, and had the privilege of beholding the Holy Ghost descend in the form of a dove. . . .

Thirdly. John, at that time was the only legal administrator in the affairs of the kingdom there was then on earth. And holding the keys of power, the Jews had to obey his instructions or be damned, by their own law; and Christ himself fulfilled all righteousness in becoming obedient to the law which he had given to Moses on the mount, and thereby magnified it and made it honorable, instead of destroying it. The son of Zacharias wrested the keys, the kingdom, the power, the glory from the Jews, by the holy anointing and decree of heaven, and these three reasons constitute him the greatest prophet born of woman.”

https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-10-no-2-2009/john-baptist-miracle-mission

GUILE

“Having guile means we have an agenda of our own and the well-being of the other person is not our real concern.”

Dr. Lili Anderson

“A person without guile is a person of innocence, honest intent, and pure motives, whose life reflects the simple practice of conforming his daily actions to principles of integrity.”

Joseph B. Wirthlin

JOHN THE BELOVED

“As I reflect on John’s writings, I am encouraged. I see a man who had grown in His relationship with his Savior to a deeper level of intimacy than he shared with Jesus during His earthly ministry.

I find that John was closer to Jesus after He left than he was when He was physically present. As I ponder my desire for that in my own life, I surprisingly find that I already have it. In fact, His love for me and the love we share continues to deepen.

However, I’d like to confess; I am not satisfied in being just a disciple. I want to be in Jesus’ inner circle, and more than that, I want to be His closest friend. For He is my closest friend; why couldn’t I be His?

I think this would be the epitome of my devotion to Him, to be able to refer to myself in the same way John did, as ‘the disciple who Jesus loved.’

Thus, to be able to tell others that I, too, am ‘the disciple who Jesus loved’ is what I strive for. In fact, we should all desire to have that kind of relationship with Him.”

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/why-did-john-call-himself-the-disciple-who-jesus-loved.html

Matthew 2 and Luke 2

 

Four Source Hypothesis 

1st source: Mark - believed to be the first gospel written  (7% unique; 93% common)

2nd source: Q - Quelle meaning source (in German) = material found in both Matthew and Luke, but not in Mark - a hypothetical document that doesn’t exist today and may never have existed. But many scholars hypothesize that Matthew and Luke had access to a collection of sayings about Jesus.

3rd source - Matthew (42% unique; 58% common)

4th source - Luke (59 percent exclusive to Luke, 41% common)

“The New Testament begins with four Gospels, four announcements of the good news that Jesus was born, taught, died for us, and was resurrected to sit at the right hand of the Father. Each is a testimony of Jesus’s mission and divinity written by a different author for a different audience and different purpose. There are “harmonies” of the Gospels, documents that show how to harmonize the events of Jesus’s ministry as each of the Gospels reports them. There is one in the LDS edition of the Bible. But I don’t refer to such harmonies because they treat the Gospels as histories and may encourage us to forget that they are fundamentally testimonies.” James Faulconer - The New Testament Made Harder

“If you wonder why some of our friends, particularly our Catholic friends revere Mary, there was never a greater woman in the history of the universe, Eve notwithstanding, than Mary of Nazareth. There was never a greater and more trusted servant of the Lord, all the prophets notwithstanding, than Joseph of Nazareth whom God the Father, would trust to raise His Son.”

Dr. Jeffrey Chadwick

Follow Him Podcast

December 2022

“Second, on no fewer than two occasions he received visitations from angels. 

To be sure, the angels’ messages had to do with Mary’s coming child and the safety of the infant Jesus, both celestial concerns. But another source tells us that angels communicate with ‘the chosen vessels of the Lord' (Moroni 7:31). Joseph evidently fit into this category of 'chosen vessels.’” 

S. Kent Brown 

“Zacharias and Elisabeth, Joseph and Mary,” 

The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ: From Bethlehem through the Sermon on the Mount

Edited by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas Wayment

  

“I believe, that this disappearance of Jesus into childhood was not by chance but by heavenly design. There is something so important that occurs during these formative years that our Father in Heaven wanted His Son to experience it. In other words, it was important for Jesus to be not only the Son of God but also the child of Mary and Joseph.”

J. R. Kearl, “Christmas and Childhood,” in The Religious Educator 2, 

no. 2 (2001):112.

“To me, what that whole story, going back to Joseph and Mary and the way, at least, that I understand the story being very different in tradition, not victims of circumstance, but anxiously engaged people coming to understand through revelation what they needed to do and being brave enough to go do it as a couple, what an example for every married couple, every young couple. Just go and do and serve and do what you need to do, but that's what life does to us. We'll do the best we can, and then something will broadside us through the intersection and change the direction of everything. Then, what do you have to do? Start over, and keep going. That, again, is the story of Joseph and Mary and Jesus. Start over and keep going.”

Dr. Jeffrey Chadwick

Follow Him Podcast, December 2022

“The shepherds needed to pay special close attention because these were shepherds that had to witness the birth of the firstborn and be able to verify that this sacrificial lamb was indeed the firstborn. And when we think about that, then how appropriate for God to call these shepherds, not just any shepherds, but these just and holy men, and there were probably women among them as well, to come and witness the birth of the firstborn of the father in the spirit. These were not ordinary shepherds, not ordinary shepherds at all.”

Bradley R. Wilcox

Follow Him Podcast

January 2023

The temple complex was colossal, almost a quarter of a mile in length. There the Spirit drew two aged souls, Simeon and Anna. The spiritual workings show the importance of witnesses who could counteract rumor and their potential damage. 

Simeon was “just,” “devout,” and, according to Luke, “waiting for the consolation of Israel”—that is to say, for the coming of the Messiah. His expectation was sure because the Holy Ghost had revealed to him “that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”

“Softening the blow of the latter part of Simeon’s blessing came the praise of the aged prophetess, Anna. Her words are not recorded but she shared her testimony when she “spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” 

Richard Draper

“From the Annunciation Through the Young Adulthood of the Lord”

The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ: From Bethlehem through the Sermon on the Mount

pg. 141-143

Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas Wayment

Wise Men - Bible Dictionary

Matt. 2:1–12 states that wise men (how many is not recorded), guided by a new star, came to Bethlehem to worship Jesus sometime after His birth. Who these men were we are not told, but it is certain they were not ordinary men. That they were privileged to search out the Son of God and give Him gifts, and that they were spiritually sensitive and knowledgeable, suggests that they were actually prophets on a divine errand. The customary identification of them as astrologers is a gross misrepresentation. They evidently were holy men from a land east of Palestine. 

Magi - Bible Dictionary

Called “wise men” (Matt. 2:1). Their identification is not made known in the scriptures, but it is certain that they were righteous men sent on an errand to witness the presence of the Son of God on the earth. Their spiritual capacity is evident: They saw the star, knew its meaning, brought gifts to the young child, and were warned of God in a dream to return to their home by a safe route. Their knowledge was precise and accurate. It seems likely that they were representatives of a branch of the Lord’s people from somewhere east of Palestine, who had come, led by the Spirit, to behold the Son of God and who returned to their people to bear witness that the king Immanuel had indeed been born in the flesh. We are not told how many wise men there were, but tradition usually speaks of three, because of the three gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense. If they were serving in the capacity of witnesses, there would of necessity have been two or three.

“For, verily, great love springs from great knowledge of the beloved object, and if you little know it, you will be able to love it only little or not at all.”

Leonardo DaVinci

https://www.leonardodavinci.net/quotes.jsp