Additional Teaching Ideas
The following material supplements the suggested lesson outline. You may want to use one or more of these ideas as part of the lesson.
1. Jesus curses a barren fig tree, a symbol of hypocrisy
Read and discuss Matthew 21:17–22. Explain that another symbol of hypocrisy was the fig tree Jesus saw on his way into Jerusalem.
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What did Jesus do when he found that the tree had many leaves but no fruit? (See Matthew 21:19.) How was the fig tree like a hypocrite?
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Elder James E. Talmage explained: “[The tree] was made the object of the curse and the subject of the Lord’s instructive discourse, because, having leaves, it was deceptively barren. Were it reasonable to regard the tree as possessed of moral agency, we would have to pronounce it a hypocrite; its utter barrenness coupled with its abundance of foliage made of it a type of human hypocrisy” (Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. [1916], 527).
2. Video presentation
The second segment of “New Testament Customs,” a selection from New Testament Video Presentations (53914), explains the Jews’ use of phylacteries and fringes. If you did not show this segment in lesson 9, you could show it now to help class members understand Matthew 23:5 (“they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments”). Discuss how these items were symbolic of the scribes’ and Pharisees’ hypocrisy.
3. “They loved the praise of men” (John 12:43)
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John recorded that many people who believed in Jesus would not admit to their belief because “they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:42–43). How do we sometimes become too concerned with receiving “the praise of men”? What are the consequences of seeking “the praise of men”? How can we overcome the desire to seek praise and recognition from others? (See D&C 82:19; 88:67.)
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