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BACKGROUND FOR THIS EPISODE

(In Order of Appearance)

NEW TESTAMENT OF THE BIBLE:
  • John 2:19 – Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple sanctuary and I will raise it in three days!”
  • The ancient stairway which Jesus used to enter and exit the Temple – approximately 40 feet wide and rising 20 feet – have been discovered by Professor Benjamin Mazar, late Hebrews University president and archaeologist.
  • Mark 11:9-11 – The people in front and in back were shouting, “Hosanna!a Give praise to this one who is coming by the authority of the Lord God.b 10Give praise to the future kingdom of our ancestor, David. Hosanna to God!”c 11Then Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courtyard. He looked around at everything there, but the hour was already late, so he went away with the twelve apostles to Bethany.
  • Mark 11:15-19 – They came into Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple courtyard and he began to throw out all the people who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables of the money-exchangers and the benches of those who were selling pigeons. 16Jesus was not allowing anyone to carry a jar through the temple courtyard.e 17Jesus was teaching them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a place of prayer for all nations.’ (Isaiah 56:7) But you have changed it into a hiding place for thieves!” 18When the most important priests and teachers of the law heard this, they continued trying to find a way to kill Jesus. They were afraid of Jesus, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. 19When evening came, Jesus and his followers left Jerusalem.
  • Hebrews 4:14 – So, we have a great High Priest who has gone through the heavens. He is Jesus, the Son of God. We must hold on to what we said we believed. 
  • Luke 20:1-2 – One day, Jesus was in the temple courtyard, teaching the people. Jesus preached the Good News to them. The most important priests, the teachers of the law, and the Jewish elders came up to him. 2They said to Jesus, “Tell us, what sort of authority do you have to do these things!? Who gave you this authority!?”
  • Matthew 21:23 – Jesus went into the temple courtyard. He was teaching the people. The most important priests and some of the Jewish elders came to him. They asked, “What sort of authority do you have to do these things!? Who gave you this authority!?”
  • Luke 7:30 – But the Pharisees and teachers of the law refused to obey God’s plan; they did not allow themselves to be immersed by John.)
  • Matthew 21:24-27 – Jesus answered them, “I will ask you a question, too. If you answer me, then I will tell you what sort of authority I have to do these things. 25Where did John’s immersion come from? Was it from Godf or from man?” They began thinking to themselves: “If we say, ‘From God,’ then he will say this to us: ‘Why didn’t you therefore believe John!?’ 26But if we say, ‘From man,’ then we are afraid of the crowd. All of them thought of John as a prophet.”27They answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”Jesus said to them, “Then I am not telling you what sort of authority I have to do these things.”
  • Matthew 21:31-32– Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: The tax collectors and prostitutes will go into the kingdom of God before you ever do! 32John came to you announcing the way of righteousness, but you did not believe him. However, the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. You saw this, but you did not change your mind later to believe what John was saying.”
  • Matthew 21:43-44 – 43This is why I am telling you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will make it produce fruit. 44Everyone who falls on that Stone will be broken. If that Stone falls on you, then it will crush you!”g
  • Mark 12:18-27 –  Some Sadduceesc came to Jesus. (Sadducees believe that no one will rise from death.) They were asking Jesus, 19“Teacher, Moses wrote this to us: ‘If a brother dies and he leaves a wife behind, but no children, his brother must marry the widow. Then they will have children for his dead brother.’ (Deuteronomy 25:5) 20There were seven brothers. The first one got married, but he died, leaving no children. 21The second brother married the widow. He died too, leaving no children. The same thing happened to the third brother. 22-23All seven men married her. None of the seven brothers had any children. The woman was the last of all to die. Therefore, when this woman rises from death, whose wife will she be?” 24Jesus answered them, “You are wrong! You don’t know either the Scriptures or God’s power. 25When people rise from death, they don’t marry each other. Instead, they are like angels in heaven. 26Do people rise from death? I know you have read what it says in the book of Moses at the place about the burning bush,d how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ (Exodus 3:6,15,16) 27God is not a God of dead people; He is the God of people who are alive! You are so wrong!”
  • The Sadducees, a sect of Jews who often opposed the Pharisees, believed that once you die, your consciousness goes out of existence. The Sadducees were secular Jews and only believed in the first five books of the Bible containing the 600 plus laws of Moses.
  • Matthew 23:5-6 – Everything they do, they do so that people will notice them. They show off their phylacteriesa and they make their tasselsb long. 6They like to have the best seats at the dinners and the most important seats in the synagogues.c 
  • Matthew 23:15 – “It will be horrible for you, O teachers of the law and Pharisees. You hypocrites! You travel all over the worldf to make just one convert. And when you convert him, you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are!
  • Matthew 23:23 – “It will be horrible for you, O teachers of the law and Pharisees. You hypocrites! It is true that you give God ten percent of everything you have. You even give him ten percent of your spices—mint, dill, and cummin. But, you forget about the more important things in the law—being fair to other people, showing mercy, and faith. You should always tithe, but you must remember to do the more important things, too. 
  • Matthew 23:25 – “It will be horrible for you, O teachers of the law and Pharisees. You hypocrites! You wash the outside of the cup or the bowl. But inside, there are the things you got by cheating other people and pleasing only yourselves. 26Blind Pharisees! Make the inside of the cup clean first, so that the outside of it will be clean, too.
  • Matthew 23:31 – So, you are admitting you are the sons of the men who murdered the prophets!
  • John 12:20-26 – 20Some non-Jewish people had come up to Jerusalem to worship God at the festival. 21They came to Philip, who was from the town of Bethsaida in Galilee. They kept saying to him, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” 22Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip came and spoke to Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, “The time has come for med to receive glory. 24I am telling you the truth: If one grain of wheat does not fall into the ground and die, it will always be just one grain of wheat, but if the grain dies, it will produce a large cluster. 25The person who loves his own life is destroying it, but the person who does not value his life in this world will keep his life forever. 26If anyone serves me, he must follow me. My servant will be where I am. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor that person.”
  • John 12:28-33 – Father, bring glory to Your Name!” Then a Voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have brought glory to it and I will bring glory to it again.” 29There was a crowd standing there. They heard the Voice, too. Some of them were saying, “It thundered!” Others were saying, “An angel has spoken to him!” 30Jesus answered, “This Voice did not speak for my sake—but for your sake. 31The time has come for this world to be judged. The time has come for the ruler of this worlde to be thrown out. 32When I am lifted high above the earth,f I will attract everyone to me.” 33(Jesus was saying this to show what kind of death he was about to suffer.)
  • Revelation 12:10-11 – I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now the salvation, the power, the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ have come, because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown out. He always accuses them in front of our God day and night. 11But they have defeated him because of the Lamb’s blood and because of the message of their testimony. Even when they were about to die, they did not love their lives more than God. 
  • John 12:42-43 – Many people, even some of the leaders, believed in Jesus. But they would not say that they believed, because they were afraid of the Pharisees. They didn’t want to be thrown out of the synagogues. 43They loved praise from man more than praise from God.
  • John 12:36 – Believe in the Light while you have the Light. You must be sons of light.” When Jesus had finished speaking, he went away and kept out of sight.
  • Matthew 26:2-5 – “You know that the day after tomorrow is the Passover Festival.a I will be handed over to be nailed to a cross.” 3Then the most important priests and the Jewish elders of the people gathered together at the high priest’s house. His name was Caiaphas. 4They planned to use a trick to arrest Jesus and kill him, 5but they said, “Let us not do it during the Passover Festival, so that there will be no trouble among the people.”
  • Matthew 22:42-46 – “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They answered Jesus, “David’s son.” 43Jesus asked them, “Then why did David call the Messiah ‘Lord’ by inspiration? David wrote: 44‘The Lordb God said to my Lord: Sit at My right side until I put your enemies under your feet.’c (Psalms 110:1) 45Since David called him ‘Lord,’ how could the Messiah be David’s son!?” 46No one was able to answer Jesus at all. From that time on, no one dared to ask him any more trick questions.
  • Acts 11:18-21 – When the group heard these things, they stopped arguing. They gave glory to God and said, “Then God is allowing non-Jewish people to change their hearts and have life, too!” 19So, the believers were scattered by the persecution which occurred after Stephen was killed.c Some of the believers went to places far away, like Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch in Syria. The believers told the message in these places, but they told it only to Jews. 20However, some of these believers came to the city of Antioch. They were men from Cyprus and Cyrene. These men were also talking to non-Jews,d telling them the Good News, that Jesus is Lord. 21The Lord was helping the believers. A large group of people believed and turned to the Lord.
OLD TESTAMENT OF THE BIBLE:
  • Psalm 132:11-12 – Yahweh made a promise to David which Yahweh would certainly not take back.g He vowed: “After you, I will cause one of your descendantshto rule as king. 12But, your sons must obey My covenant and the rules that I teach them.i Then their sons after them will rule on your throne forever.”j
  • Psalm 118:25 – Please, O Yahweh, save us now!j Please, O Yahweh, give us success now.
  • Exodus 12:3,6 – Speak to the whole community of Israel. Say this: ‘On the 10th day of this month, every person must get a lambc for himself and his family—one lamb per home…Keep it until the 14th day [regardless of the day of the week] of the same month. Then the whole gathering of the community of Israel must kill each animal just before twilight.d 
  • Exodus 33:18-19 – Then Moses said, “I beg You, show me Your glory!” 19And God said, “I will cause all of My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My Name in your presence. I will show love to whomever I choose, and I will give mercy to whomever I want to.”i 
  • Exodus 34:7-8 – I am loyal to thousands. Although I will forgive evil, rebellion, and sin, I will certainly not let the guilty ones go unpunished. I will cause the children and grandchildren to suffer for the sins of their ancestors to the third and fourth generation.”b 8Moses hurried to bow his head toward the ground. He worshiped God. 
  • Job 1:7-11 – Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered Yahweh, “I have been wandering around the earth. I have been going back and forth on it.” 8Then Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you noticed My true servant Job? No one else on earth is like him! He is an honest man and innocent of any wrong. He reveres Mek and turns away from evil.” 9But Satan answered Yahweh, “Job reveres You for a good reason!l 10You have put a wall around him, around his family, and around everything he owns. You have blessed the things he has done. So, his flocks and his herds of animals are large. They almost cover the land. 11But, if You reach out Your hand and destroy everything he has, then he will surely curse You to Your face!”m

OTHER JESUS QUOTES IN THIS EPISODE

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS:
  • WARS OF THE JEWS, BK. VI, 9:3 – …upon the coming of their feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices….amounts to two millions seven hundred thousand and two hundred persons.

SPECIAL CHARACTERS APPEARING IN OTHER EPISODES

Season 1, Dream Maker, “Treasure of Doom”