Paper 174 Overview: Tuesday Morning in the Temple

On Tuesday morning, Jesus gathered with his apostles and other followers at Simon's home in Bethany, where he gave each apostle personalized farewell advice suited to their individual character and spiritual needs. After these meaningful farewells, Jesus departed for Jerusalem with Peter, Andrew, James, and John, while the other apostles established a camp at Gethsemane that would serve as their headquarters during Jesus' final days.

During this significant day, Jesus taught about divine forgiveness, skillfully answered challenging questions from various Jewish groups attempting to trap him, and welcomed truth-seeking Greeks who wanted to meet him. His masterful responses to the Sadducees regarding resurrection, to the Pharisees about the greatest commandment, and his moving discourse to the inquiring Greeks demonstrated his wisdom and revealed more about his approaching sacrifice and the nature of his kingdom. This would be his last day of public teaching in the temple before his arrest.

At approximately seven o'clock on this Tuesday morning, Jesus met with the apostles, the women's corps, and about two dozen prominent disciples at Simon's home in Bethany. During this gathering, he bid farewell to Lazarus, giving him instructions that would soon lead him to flee to Philadelphia in Perea, where he would later become connected with the missionary movement headquartered there. Jesus also said goodbye to the aged Simon and gave parting advice to the women's corps, marking the last time he would formally address them.

Jesus greeted each of the twelve apostles with personalized counsel suited to their individual character and needs. To Andrew, he encouraged steadfastness; to Peter, he advised spiritual rather than physical strength; to James, he counseled against judging by appearances; to John, he commended gentleness; and to each of the others, he gave specific guidance that would help them through the difficult days ahead. After these individual farewells, Jesus departed for Jerusalem with Andrew, Peter, James, and John while the other apostles established the Gethsemane camp, which would serve as their headquarters for the remainder of Jesus' life in the flesh.

Peter and James had been engaged in a disagreement about Jesus' teaching on forgiveness, with Peter maintaining that repentance must precede forgiveness, while James believed the Father forgives even before we ask. When they brought this question to Jesus during their journey to Jerusalem, he explained that both apostles misunderstood the loving relationship between God and his children. Jesus clarified that divine forgiveness is inherent in God's perfect understanding of his children, just as wise parents understand their immature children without needing formal forgiveness processes.

Jesus explained that part of every father lives in the child, giving the parent priority and superior understanding in the parent-child relationship. He taught that divine forgiveness stems from God's infinite understanding and perfect knowledge of all that influences human judgment and choices. Jesus further explained that when we truly understand others, we naturally love and forgive them, stating, "Love is the outworking of the divine and inner urge of life; it is founded on understanding, nurtured by unselfish service, and perfected in wisdom." He concluded that our inability to forgive others is a measure of our immaturity and lack of adult sympathy, understanding, and love.

On Monday evening, the Sanhedrin and approximately fifty additional leaders had convened and agreed that rather than immediately arresting Jesus, they would first attempt to discredit him before the multitude. Accordingly, several groups of learned men were designated to confront Jesus in the temple with challenging questions designed to embarrass him and diminish his standing with the people. This coordinated effort united the Pharisees, Sadducees, and even the Herodians in their opposition to Jesus.

When Jesus arrived at the temple court on Tuesday morning, a group of younger students from the academies approached him with a politically dangerous question about paying tribute to Caesar. If Jesus answered that taxes should not be paid, he could be charged with sedition against Rome; if he advocated paying taxes, he might alienate many Jews who resented Roman rule. Jesus wisely asked for a coin, and upon seeing Caesar's image on it, stated, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and render to God the things that are God's." This profound response not only avoided their trap but impressed even those who sought to ensnare him, as it affirmed a known Sanhedrin ruling that "the right of coinage carried with it the right to levy taxes."

Before Jesus could resume his teaching, a group of Sadducees approached with a question designed to ridicule the concept of resurrection, which they themselves did not believe in. They presented a hypothetical case of a woman who had been married to seven brothers in succession according to the levirate marriage law, asking whose wife she would be in the resurrection. Their question was insincere, as this practice was largely obsolete among Jews at that time.

Jesus responded by addressing their spiritual ignorance, saying, "You all do err in asking such questions because you know neither the Scriptures nor the living power of God." He explained that in the resurrection state, people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are more like the angels of heaven. Jesus then skillfully used Moses—whom the Sadducees respected—to support the reality of life after death, citing God's words at the burning bush: "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Jesus emphasized that God "is not the God of the dead but of the living," affirming the survival of personality beyond physical death without endorsing the Pharisaic concept of a literal physical resurrection of the human body. This profound answer left the Sadducees unable to respond, and even some Pharisees praised Jesus' wisdom.

After the Sadducees withdrew in defeat, another group of Pharisees approached Jesus, with a lawyer asking which commandment he considered the greatest. Jesus answered without hesitation: "There is but one commandment, and that one is the greatest of all, and that commandment is: 'Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.' This is the first and great commandment." Jesus continued by adding that the second commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself, was like the first, and that no commandment was greater than these two.

The lawyer, impressed by Jesus' answer that aligned with the highest concepts of Jewish religious thought, commended Jesus publicly, acknowledging that loving God and neighbor was "much more to be regarded than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices." Jesus, perceiving the man's spiritual receptivity, told him, "My friend, I perceive that you are not far from the kingdom of God." This interaction proved significant, as that very night the lawyer visited Jesus' camp near Gethsemane, professed faith in the gospel of the kingdom, and was baptized by Josiah, one of Abner's disciples. After this exchange, no other scribes or Pharisees dared to question Jesus further, and when Jesus asked them whose son the Messiah was, they could not answer his question about why David would call his own descendant "Lord."

Around noontime, Philip was approached by a delegation of believing Greeks from Alexandria, Athens, and Rome who requested to see Jesus. Philip found himself in a dilemma since Jesus had explicitly instructed the apostles not to engage in public teaching during Passover week, and these men were foreign gentiles. After some hesitation, Philip consulted with Andrew, and together they brought the Greeks to meet Jesus at Joseph's home, where he was having lunch with his apostles and several disciples.

Jesus welcomed the Greeks and delivered a significant discourse about his mission and approaching death. He declared, "My Father sent me to this world to reveal his loving-kindness to the children of men, but those to whom I first came have refused to receive me." Jesus spoke of how a grain of wheat must die to bear fruit, paralleling his own coming sacrifice. During this discourse, the Personalized Adjuster of Jesus' indwelling appeared and spoke, "I have glorified my name in your bestowals many times, and I will glorify it once more," which the assembled group perceived as an angelic voice. Jesus concluded by saying, "Only a little while will the living light be among this darkened generation," and then led everyone back to the temple for his farewell discourse to the Jewish leaders, aware that his public teaching ministry was coming to an end.