John Bytheway: 00:00:02 Part two with Dr. Krystal Pierce, Matthew 18 and Luke 10.

Hank Smith: 00:00:07 Krystal, let’s move to the second chapter in this week’s lesson, which is also a packed chapter, Luke chapter 10. Where do you want to go?

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:00:16 It’s a perfect segue from Matthew 18. Again, Jesus is trying to set up the kingdom in the church and how it’s going to be run and make sure that the leadership is adequate because he’s not going to be around much longer. He’s already dispatched the 12 in Luke 9 and given them instructions in what they’re supposed to do. Now we find out in Luke 10 that he calls 70 more leaders of the church. Of course, this number 70, we talked about this-

John Bytheway: 00:00:49 It just came up.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:00:50 … in the first part. It’s great because using the 12 and the 70 is a reflection of what was done in the Old Testament under the law of Moses. The 12 represents the 12 tribes of Israel. Moses called 12 princes. So now, calling these 12 apostles, they’re the ones who cover the House of Israel. They’re going to go out and teach the 12 tribes. But this number 70 is really interesting because Moses also called 70 elders to help govern a House of Israel in the community. But in Genesis, we see that the number 70 represents the Gentile nations of the Earth. The 70 are meant to go out to the rest of the Earth, the Gentiles. We have the apostles covering the House of Israel, and now we have the 70 going out and covering everyone else. So the Gospel is meant for everybody, not just the House of Israel, everyone. This is a reflection of in the future, when it would go forth to the Gentiles. This is already hinting. This is a shadow of that happening.

Hank Smith: 00:02:03 That makes sense because Luke wants to emphasize the Savior as not just the savior of the Jews, but the savior of the entire world.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:02:11 Exactly. Exactly. This is the way it’s covered.

John Bytheway: 00:02:15 I never knew that. The number 70 represents the Gentile nations of the Earth.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:02:21 Yeah. That’s in Genesis 10. I love it. He’s like, “We’re covering everyone.” This is great because this has been restored today. We have the 12 apostles still representing Jesus’ 12 apostles, still representing Moses’ 12 princes, and we have a 70 today. If you read about the mission of the 70 and what they’re meant to do, this is in Doctrine and Covenants 107:25, they’re called to preach the gospel and be special witnesses to the Gentiles and the world. Once again, we have this idea of the 70. Of course, this is a symbolic number. We have a lot more than 70. It refers to completeness again, wholeness. We’re covering the whole world. Everybody should be able to be gathered.

Hank Smith: 00:03:11 Perfect. I have a quote from Joseph Smith here. Joseph Smith said, “If the first 70 are all employed and there’s a call for more laborers, it’ll be the duty of the seven presidents of the first 70 to call and ordain other 70 and send them forth to labor in the vineyard, until, if needs be, they set apart 70 times 70, and even until there are 144,000 thus set apart for the ministry. The 12 and the 70 have particularly to depend upon their ministry for their support and that of their families. They have the right, by virtue of their offices, to call upon the churches to assist them. This was from the very beginning.”

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:03:48 It’s great because in verse two, he likens it to a harvest and laborers and the harvest. They would’ve known exactly what that meant. When there’s a farmer and he has a lot of fields and everything’s ripe all at the same time, or things are becoming ripe, he needs help. If he doesn’t harvest, the fields can go bad or freeze or be eaten by animals or something like that. He needs help. This is what he is saying. You don’t have to be an apostle or part of the 70 to be part of the harvest, to be one of these laborers. He extends this. We need as many as we can get, and it’s urgent. We need to do it now.

John Bytheway: 00:04:28 I’m looking at Genesis 10. It lists a bunch of nations. If I count them up, do I get 70?

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:04:33 Yeah. Yeah.

John Bytheway: 00:04:35 Oh, because it-

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:04:36 There are 70 if you count them up.

John Bytheway: 00:04:36 … doesn’t specifically have the word 70 in it that I can see. But that is so cool. I love stuff like that.

Hank Smith: 00:04:42 Out of the Manual, it says, “Jesus Christ appointed other 70, in addition to his 12 apostles, to witness of him, preach his gospel, and assist him in his work. This pattern continues in the Restored Church. The 70s are called to assist the 12 in their mission as special witnesses of Jesus Christ to all the world.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:04:59 We have a lot of work to do because the field and the harvest is not just here and now, but on the other side of the veil as well. So, for the Restoration, the field is even bigger. The harvest is even bigger. President Nelson talks about the gathering of Israel. This is what it’s about. Gathering on both sides. The field’s on this side and the field’s on the other side, too. So we have a lot of work.

John Bytheway: 00:05:24 Isn’t it amazing that we have 300 temples either announced, operating, or planned, and it’s tough to get an appointment?

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:05:34 It is hard. My daughter Victoria, who’s 11, and that means she went into Young Women this year and she got her limited use recommend, we wanted to take her, George and I first, very much as family, and make it special and talk about things. We couldn’t get an appointment for months. We finally just were able to go last week with her for the first time. It was incredible. It was an amazing experience. We talked to her about the gathering of Israel quite a bit, how this is what she was doing. She had family names. She researched them. She knew their stories.

John Bytheway: 00:06:12 So good.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:06:13 It was amazing.

John Bytheway: 00:06:15 To have them actually do names that are part of their family, that just makes the experience in the temple so good for the youth. I love that.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:06:25 Yeah. She went to all the temple workers and said, “This is my ancestor, Jeanette. She was born in Scotland in 1800-something.” She loves family history. She loves it.

John Bytheway: 00:06:35 So good.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:06:37 Okay. The next few verses here are about what the 70, or even we can say, disciples who are going out and sharing the word, what they should expect or how they should act. In verse three, he says, “Go your ways.” I like it. He just says, “Go and do it now.” But he says, “I send you forth as lambs among wolves.” This sounds pretty scary. This may not be the first thing you want to tell people to go out, that you are going to be like a defenseless lamb among wolves.

  00:07:05 Of course, I think there is supposed to be some symbolism here, with Jesus Christ as a lamb and being sacrificed among the wolves and things like that. But in the Old Testament, many times, Israel, the symbol is sheep, and the Gentiles are the wolves. There is some aspect of danger, but I think here he’s saying, “You are going out among the Gentiles. The lambs and the wolves are going to be together,” which was Isaiah’s prophecy. During the time of the Messiah, he says, “The lambs and the wolves will live together in peace.” A lot of times we take this to refer to the millennium when the Messiah comes back, and there will be peace. But here he’s saying, “We’re going to have peace now. We’re going to have it so that the lambs and the wolves believe together and are gathered together and can be together without problems, without danger, things like that.”

Hank Smith: 00:08:03 Wow. That’s a really cool insight.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:08:05 Then he goes on. Verse four is really interesting because he says, “Don’t take a purse, a script, shoes, and salute no man by the way.” Just taken out of context, this sounds strange. But we can go through just a few of these words quickly and talk about what they actually mean. The word for purse in Greek is just something used to carry money, which is a purse today. It represents money. He’s telling them, “Do not carry money with you.” Script is a bag or something used to carry food, especially when people were traveling. So this represents food. “Don’t carry food.” Then he goes on to say, “Shoes.” Now, the word here actually means a sole bound under the foot, so probably more like sandals. But these sandals and shoes and covering your feet represented material wealth or material things. He is basically telling them, “You need to go out. Don’t worry about money. Don’t worry about food. Don’t worry about material things. You will be taken care of. Don’t get distracted by these temporal things because you’re on a mission. God will make sure that you have everything you need to complete your mission.”

Hank Smith: 00:09:21 Okay. I remember in Matthew 10, he said, “For the laborer is worthy of his meat,” meaning you can expect that I and the Church will take care of you.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:09:32 Yeah. He does say that later. This concept of not saluting, it makes it sound like, “Don’t say hi to anybody. Just keep going.” But this word for salute, it’s from the root to unfold in the arms, to hug. Basically, it’s talking about this long, drawn-out procedure of when you actually greeted someone. It included embracing and sometimes kissing and spending time with them and visiting and asking sincere questions about their family and their health. He’s saying, “Don’t take time to do that. Do what you need to do, but be careful.” What’s interesting about this, too, is if we go back to Elisha, which is what I was on last year, Elisha says the same thing to his servant. Once he finds out that the widow’s child has died, he says, “Don’t salute anyone. Go straight there.” So this not saluting, it’s symbolic of this is a life-or-death situation. You’ve got to hurry. You’ve got to go.

Hank Smith: 00:10:34 You don’t want to be delayed.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:10:36 Yes.

John Bytheway: 00:10:37 In formalities. Yeah.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:10:40 Exactly. We also get some instructions that they would be staying in houses, not in inns or hotels, where they would have to pay to stay. They say, “If people accept you in, then you go in, you tell them ‘Peace,’ you give them the message of peace, and you stay there,” in verse seven, “eating and drinking what they give you.” That’s where we get this. The laborer is worthy of his hire. If you’re a field worker and a harvester, you should get paid for your work in the same way. They’re saying, “Don’t regard this as just charity. You’re getting paid for the work that you’re doing. When people take care of you, it’s because they respect the message and what you’re trying to do. So look at it that way. Don’t go from house to house begging. Accept that.”

  00:11:27 It’s also not just about sharing the message, but what I like to say, showing the message. When we get to verse nine, they are also supposed to be healing the sick and telling them that the Kingdom of God is there, and the King is coming soon, because a lot of what these 70 are told to do is tell them they were sent before Jesus was going to be there. The kingdom is here. The king is coming soon. Be ready because he’s going to come and share the message, which is the same message we have today when we are missionaries. We tell them, “The Kingdom’s here now. The King is going to come back soon, so let’s get ready. Let’s gather the harvest and get the Kingdom ready for the King to return.”

Hank Smith: 00:12:10 Yep. If we want the king to come back, there has to be a kingdom to come to.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:12:15 Yeah. All right. He says that sometimes cities will, it says, “receive you not.” This is in verse 10. I love the advice he gives. He says, “You share your message. Then you go out into the streets and say, ‘Even the very dust of your city which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding, the Kingdom of God has come nigh unto you.'” It’s this idea, “As long as you adequately shared the message, even if they reject you, you still shared the message. The Kingdom of God is still at hand. It’s still near.” I like this idea of brushing the dust off. It’s like we might say, “Brush your shoulders off, and move on. You did your work, you did your job, and now it’s time to move on.”

Hank Smith: 00:13:03 I like that. Maybe the fact that they have dust on their feet still is because no one let them into their home and washed their feet. It’s like, “Not a single person treated us kindly, so the dust on our feet is a witness of that.”

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:13:17 Exactly. This actually happens with Paul and Barnabas later in Acts, in Antioch. The people did not listen to them. It talks about them shaking the dust off and moving on. It was symbolic of you did your work, you shared the message, you shake the dust off, that’s the witness, and then you move on.

Hank Smith: 00:13:38 You tried. Yep.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:13:40 Then, in verse 12, he brings up the City of Sodom. He says, “These cities that reject you, they’re worse than Sodom.” Sodom, of course, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, is representative of complete wickedness, full wickedness. That’s why Abraham, when he’s talking to God in Genesis about Sodom, he says, “Well, what if there’s 10 righteous people, or one?” And God’s like, “There aren’t any.”

Hank Smith: 00:14:09 Yeah. If you can find one, I’ll save it. But there isn’t one.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:14:14 To be compared to that, that would be a lot, to say, “It’s worse than Sodom.” Then he gives an example. He says, “For example, these are some of the cities that have rejected me and my message.” These are in verses 13 and 15. He mentions Chorazin, Bethsaida. He mentions Capernaum. He says, “All of these cities.” When we talk about these cities, these are all around the Sea of Galilee. Chorazin, we don’t know what sort of presence he had there. We don’t have that recorded. But we do know Chorazin was considered a good, pure, righteous Jewish community. They had a synagogue … We know this through archeology … a mikvah, which is a ritual bath, a Seat of Moses, where people read the Torah. They should be the symbol of the city that’s going to be saved, the city that’s going to be exalted.

  00:15:11 Same with Bethsaida. This is home of Peter and Andrew and Phillip. So many miracles. Feeding the 5,000. This should be a city that’s saved. Then Capernaum was his adopted home where he did everything. The home of Matthew. He taught in the synagogue. So many healings. Now he’s saying, “Tyre and Sidon have done a better job than you.” Tyre and Sidon, of course, are these cities on Phoenician Coast, what would be modern-day Lebanon. They represented pagan cities, non-covenant cities, non-House of Israel cities. Now he’s saying, “If they had seen the things that you saw, they would have repented.” We actually have examples of this in both the Old Testament and New Testament, where people from Tyre and Sidon did receive a message and accepted the message. We know Jesus taught there. We know they came to the Sermon on the Plain. So he’s making the statement that, “If you have seen amazing things, healings, the message, you have more responsibility than those who didn’t receive the message or see these healings.”

John Bytheway: 00:16:28 I guess that’s the idea, that “Those in Sodom didn’t see what you saw. You saw this and rejected it. So there’s a higher level of accountability.” Is that what we’re saying here?

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:16:37 Yeah. He’s saying, “Tyre and Sidon and Sodom, they received some of the message, but they didn’t have the Messiah walking through their cities in the Old Testament.” He says, “I’m here now. The King is here. The Messiah is here. I’ve showed you that’s who I am, and you’ve rejected me.” They didn’t even have that opportunity, so it’s worse now. I mean, honestly, to try to apply this to today, I think sometimes we think we’re safe because we live in Capernaum, or we live in Utah, or we’re born in the covenant or we were born into a testimony or something like that. He’s saying, “No, you have to work for those things. If you have seen these things, you have had these blessings and opportunities, then you need to take advantage of them and realize what you have.”

Hank Smith: 00:17:32 Perfect. All right. Let’s keep going.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:17:35 Okay. We do find out the 70 come back in verse 17. It says, “They returned with joy, so they were successful.” This word for joy, it’s the cognate with grace. So there’s this play on words with, “They returned with grace, they returned with joy,” and this connection between the two. They talk about that, “The devils are subject unto them through his name.” Of course, this is a reference to casting out evil spirits, which they believed caused some mental and physical illnesses. This was a part of healing, they believed, this casting out. They said they do it in his name. We do a lot of things in his name. The word name in Greek isn’t just what you called someone. It was their manifestation, their presence, their spirit, their soul. When we do things in his name, it’s in his manifestation. It’s his power, his authority. He says to them, “You should be happy about this, but be more happy that God trusts you to have this authority and power.” That comes up a little bit later.

John Bytheway: 00:18:49 I remember President Dallin H. Oaks talking about this once. I loved it. He said, “When we take upon us his name like we do in the Sacrament, we’re taking upon us his work. We’re going to do the work of salvation that he does,” which I thought was more than just saying, “I’m a Christian. I love Jesus. It’s, “You’re going to do his work now.” I like that.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:19:11 Yeah. Follow in his footsteps. This is what he’s trying to set up. He says, “I’m not going to be here much longer, so you need to be able to do my work. We got to continue the work.” It’s interesting because it became well-known that the apostles and disciples could heal using his name, to the point when we get in Acts, we get these outside healers trying to use His name to heal people and cast out spirits, because people knew how powerful it was. But, of course, it’s about having the right authority, not just about saying a name, but what’s behind the name. This is part of what he’s telling them.

  00:19:55 They’ve been successful. They return with joy. He says to them in verse 18, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” He’s saying, “Your success, your joy, your work is almost as if Satan has fallen again and again and again and again.” He’s likening it to that. Of course, we know Satan did have a position of authority in the Premortal Council of Heaven. But because of his rebellion, he fell. He likens it to falling like lightning. The word here is just light, so falling from a position of light and goodness. He lost his authority and position on this council. Every time we share the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it’s as if he falls again.

Hank Smith: 00:20:44 The work of the 70 was … They say, “The devils are subject unto us.” He’s saying, “I saw it. You were doing great work. It’s as if Satan was falling again from Heaven.” That’s great, Krystal. What a great way to understand that.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:21:00 He continues this in verse 19 and says, “You not only have the power to handle evil spirits and things like this, but also serpents and scorpions, which, of course, is symbolic of the followers of the adversary. The word for scorpion here is literally scorpios. This is where we get the word. They were symbolic of obstacles in your path that were hard to get around. He’s saying, “You’ll have power. Take on those obstacles.” Of course, the serpent is many times representative of the adversary, like in the Garden of Eden, of course. He says, “You have the power.” The word for power here is actually authority. He says, “You have the authority. Satan and the serpents and the scorpions don’t have power or authority like you do.”

Hank Smith: 00:21:49 Then he says, “You don’t even have to rejoice over this.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:21:52 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 00:21:53 “I mean, this is good and all, but you should be more happy that your names are written in Heaven, that the works they’re doing are written in Heaven.” They’re happy about having power over evil spirits, and he’s saying, “No, be more happy that this work is being recorded.”

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:22:07 This is sometimes referred to as the Book of Life. Basically, it’s a census of the Kingdom of Heaven. Just like we take a census now who lives in our city, if your name’s written in the book, you are a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. That’s the census and how it’s looked at. He says, “Focus on that.” The word written here is actually engrapho, which means engraven, permanently engraven in stone for all eternity. These things are written down.

Hank Smith: 00:22:37 It seems that Jesus is really happy about the work they’re doing because he says in verse 21, “In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and thanked his father.”

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:22:47 This is the only place in the Gospels where it mentions, “He rejoices,” where it specifically mentions that. This is huge. It says, “in spirit,” which, in English, we think, “Oh, so not really in person. In spirit.” But the words here, it actually says, “Holy Spirit.” This is the Holy Ghost. He rejoices in with the Holy Ghost and the father’s mentioned. So we have the entire Godhead in this verse 21. That’s who is happy when we’re doing the work.

Hank Smith: 00:23:19 Wow.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:23:22 Once again, he mentions, “These 70, these disciples, they’re not the wise and the prudent. They’re not the educated, the wealthy, the high status. They’re considered babes to the world, yet they have the greatest message to share.”

Hank Smith: 00:23:36 It’s very similar to our missionaries today. These are young, not super experienced missionaries. But they are doing the Lord’s work on the Earth. I’m sure Jesus still rejoices in the missionary force today.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:23:50 Yeah. I love that verse because it talks about almost the entire Godhead is so happy with what’s happening with the work that we’re doing. Whether you think you’re doing a ton of work or a small amount of work, they are happy. They’re rejoicing. The word for rejoice, I was going to mention, too, it actually is related to the word to leap. It’s like jumping for joy.

John Bytheway: 00:24:12 Huh.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:24:14 That’s huge because we always think, “What makes God happy? What makes him happy?” This is what makes him happy, when we’re sharing the message.

John Bytheway: 00:24:22 It reminds me, too, of the Luke 15 chapter of, “There’s more joy in heaven, the lost sheep, the lost coin, that we can cause joy in heaven by our actions here,” which is fun to think about.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:24:36 He also tells his disciples that their eyes are blessed because of what they’ve seen and that there are many prophets and kings who wanted to see what they saw. Of course, this is a reference to prophets and kings of the Old Testament who prophesied about the Messiah and longed to see the Messiah. You think of Isaiah or King David. When it says, “they desired,” it actually means they were ready. They were prepared. He’s saying, “You have the Messiah right now in front of you. You get to listen to him. You get to see him. You’re getting the source here.” This word blessed, it’s like the beatus It’s happy. This is a good time to live.

  00:25:16 Today is a good time to live, too. Are we thankful for what we get to experience through the Restoration, that we have temples and a living prophet and so many testaments? How many people before us wished they had those things? Now, you think even of our ancestors or the pioneers. Do we appreciate what we have right now? This is his point of view. Do they appreciate that the Messiah is there?

Hank Smith: 00:25:42 This is a thought from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland back in a talk called “Terror, Triumph, and the Wedding Feast,” 2004. “I have a theory about those earlier dispensations and the leaders, families, and people who lived then. I have thought often about them in their destructive circumstances they confronted. In the terrible, difficult times, and many of them did not succeed in their dispensations. Apostacy and darkness eventually came to every earlier age in human history. The whole point of the restoration of the Gospel in these latter days is that it had not been able to survive in earlier times. Think of the prophets of the Book of Mormon, living in a dispensation ending with painful communication between Mormon and Moroni.”

  00:26:23 He says, “My theory is that those great men and women, the leaders of those ages past, were able to keep going, to keep testifying, to keep trying to do their best, not because they knew that they would succeed, but because they knew that you would. I believe they took courage and hope not so much from their own circumstances as from yours, young adults like you around the world in a determined effort to see the Gospel prevail and triumph. One way or another, I think virtually all of the prophets and early apostles had their visionary moments of our time, a view that gave them courage in their less successful eras.

  00:26:56 “Moses, Nephi, the brother of Jared, saw the latter days in tremendous detailed vision. Some of what they saw wasn’t pleasing, but surely all those earlier generations took heart from knowing there would finally be one dispensation that would not fail. Ours, not theirs, was the day that gave them heavenly and joyful anticipations and caused them to sing and prophesy of victory. Ours is the day, collectively speaking, toward which the prophets have been looking from the beginning of time. Those earlier brethren and sisters are over there still cheering us on. In a very real way, their chance to consider themselves fully successful depends on our faithfulness and our victory. I love the idea of going into the battle of the last days representing Alma and Abinadi, Peter and Paul, and the sacrifices they made. If you can’t get excited about that kind of assignment in the drama of history, you can’t get excited.”

John Bytheway: 00:27:50 Awesome.

Hank Smith: 00:27:51 Yeah. Great thought.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:27:52 That’s amazing.

Hank Smith: 00:27:54 Jesus said, “People were looking forward to the time of the Messiah.” You get to be here. You’re a part of it. These 70.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:28:01 Yeah. I think of how much work was done at the beginning of the Restoration and what they wanted to see. I mean, we have temples everywhere, and so many people go that it’s hard to get an appointment. That’s great news. We’re appreciating what we have.

Hank Smith: 00:28:15 All right. Here comes maybe the most famous of all of Jesus’s parables.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:28:22 I love how a lot of these start with a question. He’s answering a question here. It says, “A lawyer stands up and tempted him, saying, ‘Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'” Of course, a lawyer, this could be somebody who works in the courts. But more often, it referred to somebody who knew the law of Moses and the rabbinical interpretation of the law. When it says “tempted,” the word is more like tested. He’s going to test him with, “Do you know the law? Do you know what’s in the law?” This was a common question that was debated. How do you inherit eternal life? Jesus answers and says, “Well, what’s written in the law? How do you read it? You’re the expert.”

John Bytheway: 00:29:02 Answers a question-

Hank Smith: 00:29:03 That’s a great answer.

John Bytheway: 00:29:03 … with a question. Yeah.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:29:05 He gives an expert answer. He references the Law of Moses, Deuteronomy and Leviticus, and he says, “Well, you love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, strength and mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.” “That’s a good answer,” Jesus says. “That’s a good answer. So go out and do it. Then you’ll live.”

Hank Smith: 00:29:32 I knew you knew it. Yeah.

John Bytheway: 00:29:32 Good job.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:29:32 There’s some really interesting things here because this word love here, of course, in Greek, there are 10 different words for love, brotherly love, family love, romantic love. This love, though, this is agape here. This is divine godly love. This is the love that’s sacrificial love, the love that’s charity, the covenant love. It’s interesting. He’s saying, “We have to love God in the same way he loves us. That’s where eternal life is.”

  00:30:03 But there’s also something interesting going on here because when he asks, “How do we inherit eternal life,” for us now today, we have eternal life. We know our souls and spirits are eternal because of Heavenly Father. We know that our bodies and our spirits come back together because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. What does that mean, to have eternal life, because we have it? This is actually more of a commentary on the quality of eternal life. How do you live, meaning live happy, live forever in a state of happiness and feeling blessed? He says, “This is how you do it. You love God, and you love others, and you love yourself with a divine love. This is what will make you happy for eternity. This is eternal life.”

Hank Smith: 00:30:55 I love that. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? He’s like, “Do you read?” “Yes, I read. Here’s the answer to my question.” Jesus is like, “Good job. That’s exactly right. If you do that, you will have the happiness you’re seeking.”

John Bytheway: 00:31:11 Then it’s like, “Next question.”

Hank Smith: 00:31:13 Yeah. What does it mean here, Krystal? “But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘Who is my neighbor?'” Seeking to justify himself? Is he thinking he’s acted badly?

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:31:24 Justify, the word here means more like show how righteous he is, how smart he is. If you have to ask the question, maybe you don’t know the answer. So now he’s going to justify himself. He’s like, “What I really meant was, of course, I know this law about love. What I really meant is I understand loving God, but if I have to love my neighbor, I need to know exactly who that is. I need to know who my neighbor is so I can focus love on who that is.” This is how he’s trying to justify that he had actually asked the question when he knew the answer. There’s a little bit more.

  00:31:59 At this point, this is where Jesus introduces the Parable of the Good Samaritan. He answers his question with his story. He starts out with saying, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among the thieves, which took his clothing, wounded him, leaving him half dead.” It literally says, “Half dead.” It says, “Dead halfway,” in the text. So they hurt him badly, even to the point where I think some of those who saw him weren’t sure if he actually was alive or not. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho, which people still walk on pilgrimage today, Jericho’s about 20 miles east of Jerusalem. You can walk it in about seven hours. There’s a huge elevation change. That’s why it says, “You go down.” It’s thousands of feet of difference.

Hank Smith: 00:32:48 It’s the highest city in the holy land to the lowest city in the holy land.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:32:52 Yeah. It really represented this going down, and it was dangerous. Nobody would walk that alone or try to go with any sort of wealth. Even clothing was wealth then. Anything you had with you walking, this would’ve been dangerous. He does get attacked and wounded, and they take his things. I always try and put myself in the perspective of hearing the parable, the disciples listening, the people listening in there, thinking, “This makes sense to me. He was there alone and got attacked, and things were taken.” Then they hear the good guys come. Here come the good guys. A priest comes walking by. Of course, this is a religious leader. He took care of the temple and some of the ordinances and objects, things like that, in the temple. He comes by and sees him. He passes on the other side. You can imagine the people going, “No, no. No. This is a good guy.”

  00:33:50 Then a Levite comes by. Sometimes maybe we’re thinking priests had to deal with impurity and corpses or blood. Things like that were considered impure. So maybe they’re excusing this by saying, “Oh, well, the priest, maybe he had to work in the temple later,” although he’s going to Jericho, not to Jerusalem. They’re thinking, “Okay. So the priest, maybe because of impurity.” But the Levites weren’t under the same restrictions as the priests. Put it this way. All priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests, if this makes sense. So the Levite will help. He doesn’t have to worry about impurity. He came and looked at him, and he passed by on the other side.

  00:34:32 At this point, they’re thinking, “The good guys? The ones who are supposed to show compassion and mercy and represent God and the covenant and the law didn’t help this man?” They probably think, “Ah, this is a commentary on religious leadership.” The next person will be a normal Jewish person who comes and helps. This might be what they’re expecting. But I want to just take a minute and think. I don’t think he means for us to pass judgment specifically on the Levite or the priest. I think we’re supposed to put ourselves in their shoes. When we see someone who needs help, do we pass by on the other side? Do we have excuses like, “It’s too dangerous for me to pull over,” “I’m really busy,” “Someone else will come along and help them,” “I don’t know how to help them,” “I don’t have the means to help them”? All of the excuses we can come up for this Levite and Priest, we’ve probably said ourselves, some justification for not helping somebody.

Hank Smith: 00:35:41 Wow. I imagine they looked and thought, “Well, what if the thieves are still around? I got to get out of here.”

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:35:48 Yeah. I think a lot of times, too, we think, “He brought it on himself. He was walking alone on this dangerous road with some goods, some wealth.” I always think of King Benjamin who says, “Sometimes that’s our reason for not helping someone. They brought this sin on themselves. They did it to themselves.” He says, “Nope. We’re all beggars. We all need help. We’re all trying to seek forgiveness and redemption.” I think that’s part of the point of the priest and the Levite here.

John Bytheway: 00:36:16 There is a JST edition that says, “They did not want it known that they had seen him.”

Hank Smith: 00:36:21 Oh, really?

John Bytheway: 00:36:25 They’re looking the other way, like, “Oh, look at that date tree over there, isn’t that nice,” as they’re walking by.

Hank Smith: 00:36:28 Yeah. How often do we do that? Just look the other way?

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:36:33 Yep. I think they see themselves in the story, so they think, “Oh, okay. This is a commentary on leadership, religious leadership, falling short, having shortcomings. Okay.”

Hank Smith: 00:36:45 Here’s going to come the ordinary Jew who’s going to save the day. But he shocks them-

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:36:49 He shocks them.

Hank Smith: 00:36:49 … as he’s prone to do.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:36:52 He says, “A certain Samaritan.” I can imagine the shock that they would feel at that. It’s almost like, “Oh, no, a bad guy’s come. Now what’s going to happen?”

Hank Smith: 00:37:02 Right. He’s the worst.

John Bytheway: 00:37:02 A Samaritan’s the worst. Yeah.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:37:02 We know Jews and Samaritans did not get along. This goes all the way back to the Old Testament where this started. Of course, Samaria is this land between Judea in the south and Galilee in the north. They believe that the Samaritans were descendants of two groups of people that intermixed, one group, the Israelites or Jews who stayed behind during the Exile of Syria and Babylon, and the other group are the Syrian or Babylonian soldiers or citizens who were moved into that area during the Exile. These people intermarried.

  00:37:43 The Samaritans were seen as Jews who broke the covenant, who married outside of the covenant, who were of a mixed religion and faith. They were very much looked down upon, to the point where when the people came back from Exile and they said, “We’re going to rebuild this temple so we can worship Jehovah,” the Samaritans said, “We want to help you. We worship Jehovah, too.” And they were told, “No, you cannot help.” That caused animosity between these two groups, and this continues. That’s why when Jesus is speaking with the Samaritan woman, she’s like, “The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Why are you even talking to me?” That’s how bad this animosity is between the two. This was a bad guy who showed up.

Hank Smith: 00:38:27 They’re thinking, “Oh, no. It’s going to be worse.”

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:38:30 It’s even going to get worse. Then he says he saw him and had compassion on him. Again, this word compassion is like his insides were churning sort of compassion. His whole body was moved to help him. He not only goes to him when they passed on the other side. They didn’t even go check to see if he was alive or not. He treats him as if he’s a doctor. He binds up his wounds. He pours in oil. This is olive oil that would’ve soothed the wound. He uses wine, which would’ve been like an antiseptic, disinfecting the wound. He picks him up, carries him, puts him on his beast, and takes him to an inn and takes care of him.

Hank Smith: 00:39:19 Yeah. And stays with him.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:39:21 He stays with him overnight.

Hank Smith: 00:39:23 Above and beyond, this guy.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:39:26 Yeah. Then he pays the innkeeper. He pays him for care. We think this care would’ve lasted, this two pence, probably two or three weeks. Then he says, “Just take care of him, basically, for infinity, and I will come back and pay you back whatever the amount is.”

Hank Smith: 00:39:44 Yeah. Here’s my credit card. Spend what you need.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:39:47 Yeah. Exactly. Here’s the number. It’s infinite. I think at this point, listening to this, some of them would’ve understood that the Samaritan was Jesus. Jesus is the Samaritan. He’s despised, not accepted by the Jewish people. He does unexpected things. He is going to save everyone no matter the cost, no matter if it’s past, present, or future cost. He covers it all. Some of them would’ve understood this, I think, that there was this analogy.

Hank Smith: 00:40:23 In John, chapter eight, Jewish leaders call him a Samaritan. “You’re a Samaritan. You have a devil.”

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:40:29 That’s right. It’s an unexpected way of thinking about things. Next he goes back to the man, to the lawyer, and he says, “Well, now I have a question for you.” He says, “Which of these three do you think was the neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?” What’s great is he doesn’t ask the same question. He doesn’t say, “Now, who’s your neighbor? What did you learn from this?” He says, “Now, who are you a neighbor to? That’s the important question. Who do you treat like they’re your neighbor?” He rephrases the question. This is what’s actually important. And what’s the answer? He says, “The one that showed mercy. The answer is everyone’s our neighbor.”

Hank Smith: 00:41:16 It sounds to me like he doesn’t want to say, “The Samaritan.”

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:41:18 He doesn’t.

Hank Smith: 00:41:19 So it becomes “the guy who showed mercy.”

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:41:23 He doesn’t even want to say the word.

Hank Smith: 00:41:24 Yeah. The Samaritan’s the good guy.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:41:27 Yeah. Jesus says, “Go and do it.” I love it when he’s like, “Now you know. Go and do it. Everyone’s your neighbor, even if they’re different from you, an outsider, you think they’re your enemy.” Traditionally, in the Old Testament, neighbor was of the House of Israel, of the covenant. Everybody else was a stranger. You have neighbor and stranger. Now Jesus is turning things on its head and saying, “Nope. Everybody’s a neighbor. No one’s a stranger.”

Hank Smith: 00:41:59 That’s fantastic.

John Bytheway: 00:42:01 This is what I think is so brilliant about this. First of all, there’s two questions. What shall I do to inherit eternal life, and then who is my neighbor? As you said, that was this dichotomy they had. We are neighbors. Everyone else is strangers. In fact, I have this commentary that Elder McConkie used to use from JR Dummelow. He said that the rabbis taught an Israelite, “Killing a stranger inhabitant doth not die for it by the Sanhedrin because it is said, ‘If anyone lifts up himself against his neighbor.’ We are not to contrive the death of the Gentiles, but if they are in any danger of death, we are not bound to deliver them. If any of them fall into the sea, you need not take him out, for such a one is not thy neighbor.” You can imagine the absurdity. I see you’re drowning down there. Where are you from? Oh, really? Okay. Well, good luck.

Hank Smith: 00:43:00 Good luck to you.

John Bytheway: 00:43:02 I think Jesus answered both questions because who is my neighbor? What’s brilliant, Jesus says, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. We don’t know who he is, stranger or neighbor, in their false dichotomy. He fell among thieves, stripped him of his arraignment. You don’t know if he’s House of Israel by his clothes. Left him half dead. You don’t know if he’s a neighbor because he’s unconscious.

Hank Smith: 00:43:27 Can’t ask him where he’s from. Hey, pal.

John Bytheway: 00:43:30 You don’t know. Then the three come by, and the Samaritan comes by, and I’m still thinking by the end, it could be, “Okay. Who’s the victim?” But Jesus never even goes there. The question is, “Which of the three was a neighbor?” At first, it sounded like it was a cultural or political neighbor, who’s my neighbor, that question which they evidently had. Then, at the end, Jesus gives more of a qualitative answer, which one of the three was neighbor, and brilliant, forced them to admit a Samaritan was a neighbor.

Hank Smith: 00:44:08 Yeah. The bad guy was the good guy. Krystal, this really is the Parable of the Good Enemy. We hear Good Samaritan and think, “Oh, a Good Samaritan is a good thing.” But to them, they’re hearing, “This is the good, bad guy.” Again, Jesus is turning their cultural thinking on its head. He’s turning it around. The person you think is going to be the bad guy ends up being the good guy in this story.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:44:32 Yeah. I love how it’s tied with this love of God. It wasn’t just, “Love your neighbor.” It was, “Love God and your neighbor.” This comes up later in First John where he says, “You can’t love God and hate your brother at the same time.” These things are not compatible because your brother’s right in front of you. You haven’t seen God. You haven’t necessarily experienced him in the same way. These two things, this is what gives you happiness and eternal life. Love. It’s about this divine love.

Hank Smith: 00:45:03 These other two guys who are supposed to be the good guys have a lot of excuses for why they can’t help, a lot of reasons they can’t help. This is such a profound story in that first question. Who is my neighbor? There are people struggling around us, even our very neighbors, the people living on our same street, who are struggling, and there’s so many reasons to not do anything. I’ve gone through them in my head, like, “Oh, he’s probably really struggling. He’s my neighbor who recently lost his wife. What am I doing? Am I doing anything? Oh, I’m busy. I’ve got all these kids. Am I doing anything to help out?”

John Bytheway: 00:45:41 The new Aaronic priesthood theme that the boys say, they say, “I will use my priesthood to serve others beginning in my own home.” I just remember as a kid, hearing “love your neighbor.” It was always to somebody across the street, or the woman with the groceries that is trying to get them in her trunk or something like that. The idea of neighbors beginning in my own home is a wonderful thought in that new theme. That’s not where we end. That’s where we start, in our own home, to serve our families. Then it stretches out to everyone.

Hank Smith: 00:46:14 Yeah. That’s beautiful. You don’t have to look any further than President Monson to hear stories of blessing a neighbor. There’s an old talk from 1977 called “Your Jericho Road,” by Thomas S Monson. He talks about the Parable of the Good Samaritan. He says, “Each one of us in our journey through mortality will travel the Jericho Road. What will be your experience? What will be mine? Will I fail to notice him who has fallen among thieves and requires my help? Will you? Will I be one who sees the injured and hears his plea yet crosses to the other side? Will you? Or will I be one who sees, who hears, who pauses, and who helps? Will you? Jesus provided our watchword, “Go and do thou likewise.” When we obey that declaration, there opens to our eternal view a vista of joy seldom equaled and never surpassed.”

  00:47:09 Then he goes on to tell a couple of stories. One of them is about Louis Jacobsen, the son of a poor Danish widow. “He was small, not comely in appearance, and he was easily the object of his classmates’ thoughtless jokes. In Sunday school, one Sabbath morning, the children made light of his patched trousers and his worn shirt. Too proud to cry. Tiny Louis fled from the chapel, stopping out of breath to sit on the curb, which ran along Second West in Salt Lake City. Clear water flowed along the gutter next to the curb where Louis sat. From his pocket he took a piece of paper which contained the outlined Sunday school lesson and shaped it into a paper boat. From his hurt, boyish heart came the determined words, ‘I’ll never go back.’

  00:47:53 “Suddenly, through his tears, Louis saw reflected in the water the image of a large, well-dressed man. He turned and faced upward and recognized George Burbidge, the Sunday school superintendent. “May I sit down with you?” asked the kind leader. There on the gutter’s curb sat a Good Samaritan ministering to the one who surely was in need. Several boats were formed and launched while the conversation continued. At last, the leader stood, and with the boys’ hand tightly clutching his, they returned to Sunday school. Later, Louis himself presided over the Sunday school program. Throughout his long life of service, he never failed to acknowledge the traveler who rescued him along his Jericho Road.” Isn’t that a great story?

John Bytheway: 00:48:39 Yeah. I like the idea we all are going to find ourselves on a Jericho Road, and it’s going to be a test to see if we’re neighborly.

Hank Smith: 00:48:49 Yeah. How neighborly are we? The Church, I was pretty excited to hear this, recently gave some numbers on the 2022 monetary donations. The report shows that this work included more than one billion in expenditures, 6.3 million hours volunteered, 3,692 humanitarian projects in 190 countries and territories. Then they go through and list all the places where these funds and hours went. It made me very happy to see that I think we’re part of a Good Samaritan organization. Anything else on that, you guys?

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:49:32 Well, there are some other ideas about the interpretation of this parable as well. Jack Welch, in the 2007 Ensign, talked about how this certain man can be paralleled with Adam and his journey. He went from Heaven to Earth represented by this journey from Jerusalem to Jericho, and that he experienced a fall. Of course, this man fell among the thieves. He goes on from there to explain more similarities between these two things. It’s actually really interesting.

Hank Smith: 00:50:09 This man represents, you could say, Adam and Eve going from Jerusalem, where the temple is, down to Jericho, which, I think it’s the lowest place on Earth. Isn’t it, John?

John Bytheway: 00:50:19 I know the Dead Sea is, so I think you’re right. The Jordan, that’s descending below all things, which is a cool symbol topographically.

Hank Smith: 00:50:27 Yeah. That means the thieves would be Satan and leave him half dead. That’s a doctrinal point from the Book of Mormon. There’s two deaths. Second Nephi Nine. Spiritual death and physical death. The sins would be the wounds.

John Bytheway: 00:50:41 Pouring in oil, that could be the Holy Ghost. Applying the blood of Christ, that could be the wine, the Atonement. Taking him to the inn, that could be perhaps the Church. On the morrow, I’ll come back. There’ll be a new day to be born again. The innkeeper, the church leaders watch over until he comes again, the second coming, when he will cover all costs and reward well. It’s pretty impressive that somebody can basically come up with a gotcha question because we debate this. Oh, watch this. What’s the great commandment in the law? Then, “Okay. Well, then who’s my neighbor?” That Jesus can answer both of those in one parable is pretty impressive.

Hank Smith: 00:51:24 Pretty impressive. In the second way of looking at it, the priest and the Levite can represent the things we think will save us, the Law of Moses or the priesthood or prophets. But the only person that can really save Adam from the fall is the Samaritan, Jesus. He came where he was. Came to earth. I love that, John, that Jesus brings people to the Church and says, “Take care of them.” That’s what we’re supposed to do. Not look the other way. Not think, “Oh, what are they doing here?” But we are supposed to take care of each other in this church. When the Savior comes again, he says, “I will repay thee.”

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:52:03 It goes perfectly with Matthew 18 and taking care of new converts, bringing back the lost, helping with reconciliation. It’s all encompassed in this parable.

John Bytheway: 00:52:14 That’s a really great parallel.

Hank Smith: 00:52:16 Krystal, where can I find that article from Doctor Welch about the Good Samaritan?

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:52:21 It is in the 2007 February issue of the Ensign. It’s called “Forgotten Symbols.”

Hank Smith: 00:52:28 Oh, okay. We could probably link that in our show notes, followhim.co. What a fantastic parable. Isn’t it amazing that Jesus can tell a story, and this happens multiple times, but this particular story 2,000 years ago, and we can spend hours going through it?

John Bytheway: 00:52:45 We can identify with every person in the parable. Sometimes we’ve been the victim. Sometimes we’ve looked the other way. Sometimes we might be in a position to help somebody. It’s really universal that way. I think it’s probably the most well-known, like you said. Don’t you think? I mean, there’s hospitals named Good Samaritan. We hear on the news, “Oh, yeah. Good Samaritans stopped to help.” Samaritans get good press in the Bible.

Hank Smith: 00:53:12 Yeah. The term has changed. Isn’t that ironic that the term has changed? When we think of a Samaritan, we think, “Oh, what a good person.” In Jesus’s day, a Samaritan, as Krystal’s taught us, was the enemy.

John Bytheway: 00:53:25 The leper who returns to give thanks. “The one of 10,” it says. And he was a Samaritan.

Hank Smith: 00:53:32 I’ve noticed, Krystal, that right at the end of this chapter, after this awesome parable, comes this little, five-verse story that we could skip, but we probably shouldn’t.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:53:43 Yeah. This story, it’s really interesting. Of course, this is about the siblings, Mary and Martha and Lazarus. When it says, “He entered into a certain village,” this is probably where they lived. This is probably Bethany, which is near the Mount of Olives, about two miles away from Jerusalem. Of course, we know some of the stories that are going to happen with the raising of Lazarus. So this is really an interesting introduction to Mary and Martha. I love that we have this story of Jesus with these two women. It is such a personal story. I think a lot of people can find themselves in this story, a little bit of Mary, a little bit of Martha. Jesus answers something very important for both Mary and Martha here.

  00:54:29 Let’s do the setting. There’s a dinner party. We do read that Martha is the host of this party. She received him into her house. When we get inside, usually, dinner parties, everybody’s either sitting or reclining and eating and speaking to each other. But we find out in verse 39 that Mary is sitting on the floor at the feet of Jesus. Now, when we hear that, we think, “Okay. So she’s listening.” But this was actually the position of a disciple listening to a teacher. This was not traditionally thought to be the role of women at this time. They were not teachers. They were not considered to be disciples. For her to be in this position was definitely a very nontraditional, unorthodox place to be.

  00:55:24 Then we find out that Martha, it says, “was cumbered about much serving.” Martha, we can picture, as it is with I think any of us who’ve had a guest of honor at our house or a dinner party. Jesus usually didn’t travel alone. He brought a lot of people with him. She is rushing about preparing food, probably pouring water, cleaning, tidying, getting everything ready, as I think any of us would do if we had an important guest over and a lot of people. She’s doing service. She’s doing what we call service. She’s trying to make sure everyone’s comfortable, has every need met.

  00:56:05 What’s interesting is this word cumbered in Greek, it means distracted or drawn away. This is an introduction to what Martha is feeling at this moment. Martha sees her sister sitting there listening, not really helping her. So she says to Jesus, “Do you not care that my sister has abandoned me to serve alone? Will you ask her to come help me?” I think anyone in this situation would do this, or has done this, where if you saw someone sitting who also lived at the house and was part of hosting this party, you would say, “Can you get up and come help me? I’m working so hard to take care of everyone. I need help.”

  00:56:54 Jesus’s response is just … It’s beautiful. First, he says her name. He acknowledges her. He says, “Martha. Martha.” He says, “Thou art careful and troubled about many things.” You read this and think, “What is careful and troubled? What is he actually saying?” If we go to the Greek, we can get some really good information here. Careful in Greek means pulled in opposite directions. You’re being pulled by all of these different things that you think you should do. Troubled, it means basically what it says. You’re confused. You have so many choices, so many activities, so many things you think you should be doing, you don’t know which one is the most important. You don’t know which one to focus on. He says, “Martha, I see that you don’t know what you should be doing right now. Should you be serving the people? Fixing the food? Cleaning?”

  00:57:52 I like to think that Martha wanted to sit at the feet of the Savior. That was one of the choices. She was being pulled between service, and she wanted to be Mary sitting at the feet. But she felt like she couldn’t because she had all of these other things to do. What does he say to her? He says, “One thing is needful. There’s one choice to be made. Mary made the good choice. She chose the good part.” So now we hear that Mary was also pulled between serving and maybe cleaning and sitting at the feet of the Savior, and in the end she chose to sit at the feet of the Savior. He’s basically saying to Martha, “That’s okay. You can do that.” He’s giving her permission. “Don’t worry about all of these other things that you’re being pulled and distracted in all different directions. You can come and sit here, too, and things will be taken care of.” That’s one of the reasons why I love this story, because he’s giving her permission to come to him and focus on him.

Hank Smith: 00:58:58 What a fantastic little five-verse story.

John Bytheway: 00:59:02 Like Krystal said, you can feel that. There’s probably times when you’ve been trying to help and somebody else is in a Gospel discussion.

Hank Smith: 00:59:11 Not.

John Bytheway: 00:59:11 You’re like, “Hello? I need some help over here.” It’s so real. It’s so real.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 00:59:18 Yeah. I know if I saw my sister sitting there … This year, I’m hosting Easter at my house. I know that if I saw my sister, and I love you, Tamara, I’ll just say, sitting there, I would also be like … Because I feel Martha. I feel that that obligation to serve others. I love that he’s saying that sometimes service is just sitting and listening. It’s not necessarily bringing over cookies. Sometimes it is, or helping clean a house or something like that. Sometimes it’s just sitting with the person and just listening to them and helping them spiritually or emotionally or mentally, rather than physically.

John Bytheway: 01:00:00 But you can imagine, President Nelson was over, and your siblings were over listening to him, and you’d be so pulled. I want to be over there so bad, but who’s going to set the table?

Hank Smith: 01:00:14 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 01:00:14 You could totally get it.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 01:00:15 Exactly.

Hank Smith: 01:00:17 President Oaks used this story as the beginning of a very famous talk he gave called “Good, Better, Best.” He talks about, “It is praiseworthy for Martha to be careful and troubled about many things. But learning the Gospel from the master teacher was more needful.” Then he goes on to talk about how we have to make decisions in life between good and better and best. He said, “Consider how we use our time and choices we make in viewing television, playing video games, or on the internet. Of course, it is good to view wholesome entertainment and to obtain interesting information. But not everything of that sort is worth the portion of our life we give to obtain it.” Then I remember this one. He said, “Many breadwinners worry that their occupations leave too little time for their families. There’s no easy formula for the contest of priorities. However, I have never known a man who looked back on his working life and said, ‘I just didn’t spend enough time with my job.'” “Good, Better, Best.” Really some powerful principles in this story.

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 01:01:21 Yeah. It’s fascinating because the Savior knows we have so many different roles and identities. This is a commentary on Martha’s identity as a disciple of Jesus Christ at that moment was the most important identity. Not the host, not the sister, not the cook, not all of these different things. It’s the same thing for us. We get pulled between so many of our different identities. We want to be good at our calling. We want to be good at our work. We want to be a good parent or a good friend. He’s saying, “Your most important identity and role is as a disciple of Jesus Christ,” and I would add, as a child of Heavenly Father. That’s what you should focus on. He’s giving Martha permission to do that. We should feel the same way, that sometimes we just focus on that.

John Bytheway: 01:02:12 I don’t know if you guys remember in the ’90s, Sister Chieko Okazaki was in the Relief Society General Presidency. She wrote a book and quoted an acquaintance of hers named Lonnie Severenson, who wrote this little poem about Mary and Martha, which is really nice. “My hands are those of Martha, with serving cumbered about. Home duties continue to keep me so busy my time just runs out. Oh, no. I don’t belittle these tasks. That’s very true. For motherhood’s important, as is each thing I must do. Still, I long to know the master, to study the words he spake, that I might grow in wisdom and better decisions make. But consumed by physical troubles as pressures abound and build, my spirit self becomes empty though my every moment is filled. At these times, I desire as Mary to choose that good part. Though my hands are the hands of Martha, I am Mary in my heart.” Isn’t that nice?

Hank Smith: 01:03:15 Yeah. In the manual, there’s a quote from Sister Carol F. McConkie. “If we would be holy, we must learn to sit at the feet of the holy one of Israel and give time to holiness. Do we set aside the phone, the never-ending to-do list, and the cares of worldliness? Prayer, study, and heeding the word of God. Invite his cleansing and healing love into our souls. Take time to be holy. We may be filled with his sacred and sanctifying spirit.” The manual says, “You may want to examine how you spend your time.” That’s a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

John Bytheway: 01:03:55 But I love what Krystal said. These aren’t, “One thing is good. One thing is bad. It’s all of these things are good and necessary. So sometimes the puzzle is what is the best thing I can do right now?” Welcome to that challenge for all of us.

Hank Smith: 01:04:10 Yeah. It would be great if we were choosing between robbing a bank and going to church. But we’re choosing between a hundred good things we could do. Dr. Pierce, this has been a fantastic day studying these two chapters. Before we let you go, let me ask, what do you hope our listeners walk away from this thinking or feeling or doing?

Dr. Krystal Pierce: 01:04:33 I think, for their context, it was very much about Jesus sharing, “This is what the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth should look like. This is the way we treat each other. This is the way we take care of people in the Church. This is the way we bring back lost people. This is the way we seek forgiveness and reconciliation, all of these different things. This is the way we share the message.” It’s all about because he was there then, but wouldn’t be soon. It’s the same for us today. He’s here because his message is here, because we’re here, because we’re building the Kingdom of Heaven right now. He will come back again. So we can take all of these things that they’re working on and do it for us here now, including when we think about Mary and Martha and choosing priorities and where we’re going to put our energy and effort into. It’s all preparing for him to come back, and gathering the harvest and the sheep on both sides of the veil so that we’re ready when he returns, and his Kingdom is ready for him to be the King.

Hank Smith: 01:05:38 Thank you so much. I’ve been touched by how often we’ve read about compassion today. Have compassion. I want to be a better person now that we’ve had this lesson. What about you, John?

John Bytheway: 01:05:51 Hank, that hundred pence you owe me, nevermind. We’re good.

Hank Smith: 01:05:56 All right. That was my whole goal. Well, we want to thank Doctor Krystal Pierce for being with us today. What a treat. What two amazing chapters we’ve been able to study with her. We want to thank our executive producer, Shannon Sorensen, our sponsors, David and Verla Sorensen, and we always remember our founder, the late Steve Sorensen. We want you all to join us next week. We have another episode coming up of FollowHIM.

  01:06:25 Today’s transcripts, show notes, and additional references are available on our website, followhim.co. You can watch the podcast on YouTube with additional videos on Facebook and Instagram. All of this is absolutely free, so be sure to share with your family and friends. To reach those who are searching for help with their Come Follow Me study, please subscribe, rate, review, or comment on the podcast, which makes the podcast easier to find. Thank you. We have an amazing production crew we want you to know about. David Perry, Lisa Spice, Jamie Neilsen, Will Stoughton, Krystal Roberts, and Ariel Cuadra, thank you to our amazing production team.