Dennis E. Simmons:
As
a young man, I returned home from an eighth-grade basketball tournament
dejected, disappointed, and confused. I blurted out to my mother, “I
don’t know why we lost—I had faith we’d win!”
I now realize that I did not then know what faith is.
Faith
is not bravado, not just a wish, not just a hope. True faith is faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ—confidence and trust in Jesus Christ that leads
a person to follow Him.
1
Centuries
ago, Daniel and his young associates were suddenly thrust from security
into the world—a world foreign and intimidating. When Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to bow down and worship a golden image
set up by the king, a furious Nebuchadnezzar told them that if they
would not worship as commanded, they would immediately be cast into a
burning fiery furnace. “And who is that God that shall deliver you out
of my hands?”
2
The
three young men quickly and confidently responded, “If it be so [if you
cast us into the furnace], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us
from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand.”
That sounds like my eighth-grade kind of faith. But then they
demonstrated that they fully understood what faith is. They continued, “But if not, … we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”
3
That is a statement of true faith.
They knew that they could trust God—even if things didn’t turn out the way they hoped.
4
They knew that faith is more than mental assent, more than an acknowledgment that God lives. Faith is total trust in Him.
Faith
is believing that although we do not understand all things, He does.
Faith is knowing that although our power is limited, His is not. Faith
in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him.
Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego knew they could always rely on Him because they
knew His plan, and they knew that He does not change.
5
They knew, as we know, that mortality is not an accident of nature. It is a brief segment of the great plan
6
of our loving Father in Heaven to make it possible for us, His
sons and daughters, to achieve the same blessings He enjoys, if we are
willing.
They
knew, as we know, that in our premortal life, we were instructed by Him
as to the purpose of mortality: “We will make an earth whereon these
may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all
things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.”
7
So
there we have it—it’s a test. The world is a testing place for mortal
men and women. When we understand that it’s all a test, administered by
our Heavenly Father, who wants us to trust in Him and to allow Him to
help us, we can then see everything more clearly.
His work and His glory, He told us, is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”
8
He has already achieved godhood. Now His only objective is to
help us—to enable us to return to Him and be like Him and live His kind
of life eternally.
Knowing
all this, it was not difficult for those three young Hebrews to make
their decision. They would follow God; they would exercise faith in Him.
He would deliver them, but if not—and we know the rest of the story.
The Lord has given us agency, the right and the responsibility to decide.
9
He tests us by allowing us to be challenged. He assures us that
He will not suffer us to be tempted beyond our ability to withstand.
10
But we must understand that great challenges make great men. We
don’t seek tribulation, but if we respond in faith, the Lord strengthens
us. The but if nots can become remarkable blessings.
The
Apostle Paul learned this significant lesson and declared, after
decades of dedicated missionary work, “We glory in tribulations …
knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and
experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed.”
11
He was assured by the Savior, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
12
Paul
responded: “Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. … I take pleasure in infirmities,
in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for
Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
13
When Paul met his challenges the Lord’s way, his faith increased.
“By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac.”
14
Abraham, because of his great faith, was promised posterity
greater in number than the stars in the heavens, and that that posterity
would come through Isaac. But Abraham immediately complied with the
Lord’s command. God would keep His promise, but if not in the manner Abraham expected, he still trusted Him completely.
Men
accomplish marvelous things by trusting in the Lord and keeping His
commandments—by exercising faith even when they don’t know how the Lord
is shaping them.
“By faith Moses … refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
“Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
“Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. …
“By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. …
“By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land. …
“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down.”
15
Others “through faith subdued kingdoms, … obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
“Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight.”
16
But in the midst of all those glorious outcomes hoped for and expected by the participants, there were always the but if nots:
“And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, … bonds and imprisonment:
“They
were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the
sword: they wandered about … being destitute, afflicted, tormented; …
17
“God
having provided some better things for them through their sufferings,
for without sufferings they could not be made perfect.”
18
Our scriptures and our history are replete with accounts of God’s great men and women who believed that He would deliver them, but if not, they demonstrated that they would trust and be true.
He has the power, but it’s our test.
What
does the Lord expect of us with respect to our challenges? He expects
us to do all we can do. He does the rest. Nephi said, “For we know that
it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”
19
We must have the same faith as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
Our God will deliver us from ridicule and persecution, but if not. … Our God will deliver us from sickness and disease, but if not … . He will deliver us from loneliness, depression, or fear, but if not. … Our God will deliver us from threats, accusations, and insecurity, but if not. … He will deliver us from death or impairment of loved ones, but if not, … we will trust in the Lord.
Our God will see that we receive justice and fairness, but if not. … He will make sure that we are loved and recognized, but if not. … We will receive a perfect companion and righteous and obedient children, but
if not, … we will have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that if
we do all we can do, we will, in His time and in His way, be delivered
and receive all that He has.
20
I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Lance B. Wickman :
Some
of my richest memories are associated with weekend assignments to stake
conferences as I have accompanied a stake president in visits to
members of his stake wrestling with life’s challenges in courage and
faith, especially those who have lost a child or who are struggling
valiantly in nursing a sick or crippled or handicapped child. I know
from poignant personal experience that there is no night quite so dark
as the loss of a child. Neither is there any day quite so long and
exhausting as the relentlessness of caring for a child crippled in form
or faculty. All such parents can empathize exquisitely with the father
of the child afflicted with a “dumb spirit,” who, when admonished by the
Savior to believe, responded in anguish of soul, “Lord, I believe; help
thou mine unbelief” (see Mark 9:17, 23–24).
And
so today I wish to speak to all who are struggling in this laboratory
of applied faith that is called mortality—and in particular to those
bereaved, burdened, and grieving parents who beseechingly ask, “Why?”
First,
please know that grief is the natural by-product of love. One cannot
selflessly love another person and not grieve at his suffering or
eventual death. The only way to avoid the grief would be to not
experience the love; and it is love that gives life its richness and
meaning. Hence, what a grieving parent can expect to receive from the
Lord in response to earnest supplication may not necessarily be an
elimination of grief so much as a sweet reassurance that, whatever his
or her circumstances, one’s child is in the tender care of a loving
Heavenly Father.
Next,
do not ever doubt the goodness of God, even if you do not know “why.”
The overarching question asked by the bereaved and the burdened is
simply this: Why? Why did our daughter die, when we prayed so hard that she would live and when she received priesthood blessings? Why
are we struggling with this misfortune, when others relate miraculous
healing experiences for their loved ones? These are natural questions,
understandable questions. But they are also questions that usually go
begging in mortality. The Lord has said simply, “My ways [are] higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9). As the Son’s will was “swallowed up in the will of the Father” (Mosiah 15:7), so must ours be.
Still,
we mortals quite naturally want to know the why. Yet, in pressing too
earnestly for the answer, we may forget that mortality was designed, in a
manner of speaking, as the season of unanswered questions. Mortality
has a different, more narrowly defined purpose: It is a proving ground, a
probationary state, a time to walk by faith, a time to prepare to meet
God (see, for example, Abr. 3:24–25; 2 Ne. 31:15–16, 20; Alma 12:24; Alma 42:4–13). It is in nurturing humility (see Alma 32:6–21) and submissiveness (see Mosiah 3:19)
that we may comprehend a fulness of the intended mortal experience and
put ourselves in a frame of mind and heart to receive the promptings of
the Spirit. Reduced to their essence, humility and submissiveness are an
expression of complete willingness to let the “why” questions go
unanswered for now, or perhaps even to ask, “Why not?” It is in enduring
well to the end (see 2 Ne. 31:15–16; Alma 32:15; D&C 121:8)
that we achieve this life’s purposes. I believe that mortality’s
supreme test is to face the “why” and then let it go, trusting humbly in
the Lord’s promise that “all things must come to pass in their time” (D&C 64:32).
But
the Lord has not left us comfortless or without any answers. As to the
healing of the sick, He has clearly said: “And again, it shall come to
pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed” (D&C 42:48;
emphasis added). All too often we overlook the qualifying phrase “and
is not appointed unto death” (“or,” we might add, “unto sickness or
handicap”). Please do not despair when fervent prayers have been offered
and priesthood blessings performed and your loved one makes no
improvement or even passes from mortality. Take comfort in the knowledge
that you did everything you could. Such faith, fasting, and blessing
could not be in vain! That your child did not recover in spite of all
that was done in his behalf can and should be the basis for peace and
reassurance to all who love him! The Lord—who inspires the blessings and who hears every earnest prayer—called him home nonetheless. All the experiences of prayer, fasting, and faith may well have been more for our benefit than for his.
How,
then, should we approach the throne of grace as we plead earnestly for a
loved one and place hands upon her head to give a blessing by
priesthood authority? How do we properly exercise our faith? The Prophet
Joseph Smith defined that first principle of the gospel as “faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” (A of F 1:4;
emphasis added). It is that defining phrase—“in the Lord Jesus
Christ”—that we sometimes forget. Too often we offer our prayer or
perform our administration and then wait nervously to see whether our
request will be granted, as though approval would provide needed
evidence of His existence. That is not faith! Faith is, quite simply, a confidence in the Lord. In Mormon’s words, it is “a firm mind in every form of godliness” (Moro. 7:30; emphasis added). The three Hebrew magistrates expressed trust that the Lord would deliver them from the fiery furnace, “but if not,” they said to the king, “we [still] will not serve thy gods” (Dan. 3:18;
emphasis added). Significantly, not three but four men were seen in the
midst of the flames, and “the form of the fourth [was] like the Son of
God” (Dan. 3:25).
So
with us. It is common in our secular world to say that “seeing is
believing.” Whatever value this little maxim may have in the mundane
affairs of life, it is an alien presence when we turn to the Lord in the
dark hour of our extremity. The way of the Lord is best defined by a
different maxim: “Believing is seeing.” Faith in the Lord is the
premise, not the conclusion. We know He lives; therefore,
we trust Him to bless us according to His divine will and wisdom. This
childlike confidence in the Lord is known in scripture simply as the
“sacrifice” of “a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (D&C 59:8).
I
offer this as profound conviction born in the fiery crucible of life’s
experience. Our second son, Adam, entered our lives when I was far away
in the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam. I still have the joyful
telegram announcing his birth. Adam was a blue-eyed, blond-haired little
fellow with an impish personality. As he turned five years old, Adam
eagerly looked forward to starting school. Then a common childhood
illness blanketed our southern California community, and Adam contracted
the disease. Aside from concern for his comfort, we were not worried.
He even seemed to have a light case. Suddenly one morning he did not
arise from his bed; he was in a deep coma. We rushed him to the
hospital, where he was placed in intensive care. A constant cadre of
devoted doctors and nurses attended him. His mother and I maintained a
ceaseless vigil in the waiting room nearby.
I
telephoned our dear stake president, a childhood friend and now a
beloved colleague in the Seventy, Elder Douglas L. Callister, and asked
if he would come to the hospital and join me in giving Adam a priesthood
blessing. Within minutes he was there. As we entered the small, cramped
space where Adam’s lifeless little body lay, his bed surrounded by a
bewildering maze of monitoring devices and other medical paraphernalia,
the kind doctors and nurses reverently stepped back and folded their
arms. As the familiar and comforting words of a priesthood blessing were
spoken in faith and earnest pleading, I was overcome by a profound
sense that Someone else was present. I was overwhelmed by the thought
that if I should open my eyes I would see the Savior standing there! I
was not the only one in that room who felt that Spirit. We learned quite
by chance some months later that one of the nurses who was present that
day was so touched that she sought out the missionaries and was
baptized.
But
notwithstanding, Adam made no improvement. He lingered between this
life and the next for several more days as we pleaded with the Lord to
return him to us. Finally, one morning after a fitful night, I walked
alone down a deserted hospital corridor. I spoke to the Lord and told
Him that we wanted our little boy to return so very much, but
nevertheless what we wanted most was for His will to be done and that
we—Pat and I—would accept that. Adam crossed the threshold into the
eternities a short time later.
Frankly,
we still grieve for our little boy, although the tender ministering of
the Spirit and the passage of the years have softened our sadness. His
small picture graces the mantel of our living room beside a more current
family
portrait of children and grandchildren. But Pat and I know that his
path through mortality was intended by a kind Heavenly Father to be
shorter and easier than ours and that he has now hurried on ahead to be a
welcoming presence when we likewise eventually cross that same fateful
threshold.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o’erflow,
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, …
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design …
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. …
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, …
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Neal A. Maxwell:
I do not apologize for trying to speak about one of what Paul called “the deep things of God,” (1 Cor. 2:10), only for my inability to go deeply enough.
While
we see this quality in the quiet but spiritually luxuriant lives of the
genuine, spiritual heroes and heroines about us, the lack of it keeps
so many of us straggling in the foothills and off the peaks in the
adventure of full discipleship. I refer to our hesitancy and our holding
back in submitting fully to the Lord and His purposes for us.
This
holding back is like leaving Egypt without journeying all the way to
the Holy Land, or waiting in Nauvoo for the railroad to come through, or
staying permanently at Winter Quarters.
Though
possessed of other fine attributes, we may still lack this one quality.
Such was the case with the righteous young man who knelt sincerely at
Jesus’ feet. Lacking one thing, he went away sorrowing and unsubmissive
when a particularized challenge was given. (See Mark 10:21–22; Luke 18:22–23.) Whether it is walking away without looking back from “great possessions” (Mark 10:22), or from a statusful place in the secular synagogue (see John 12:42–43), or from proud but erroneous attitudes accrued over the years, or merely “straightway” from fishing nets (Mark 1:18), the test is always the same.
With honest, individualized introspection, each of us could name what we yet lack—and in my case more than one thing.
Spiritual submissiveness is so much more than bended knee or bowed head. Alas, insofar as we “mind the things of the flesh” (Rom. 8:5), we simply cannot have the “mind of Christ.” (1 Cor. 2:16.)
Jesus
laid down this sobering requirement: “Except ye … become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3.)
One
of Jesus’ prophets delineated—with submissiveness thrice stipulated—how
a disciple can become “as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient,
full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit
to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” (Mosiah 3:19.)
Three other clusters of scriptures stress these towering qualities. (See Alma 7:23; Alma 13:28; D&C 121:41–42.)
Stunningly parallel, they form an almost seamless litany of attributes
to be developed, with submissiveness at their catalytic center. This
repeated clustering is too striking to be random.
Moreover,
the descriptive simplicity of this quality is matched by its
developmental difficulty. It is so easy to be halfhearted, but this only
produces half the growth, half the blessings, and just half a life,
really, with more bud than blossom.
A
superficial view of this life, therefore, will not do, lest we
mistakenly speak of this mortal experience only as coming here to get a
body, as if we were merely picking up a suit at the cleaners. Or, lest
we casually recite how we have come here to be proved, as if a few brisk
push-ups and deep knee bends would do.
Just
how much submissiveness to circumstance there should be is not treated
in these brief remarks. Suffice it to say, God “allotteth unto men”
certain things with which we are to be content. (See Alma 29:4, Philip. 4:11; 1 Tim. 6:8.)
A missing parent or limb is to be lived without. Yet temper and lust
are to be tamed. One’s race is fixed, but one’s genetic endowment offers
opportunity to be a careful steward. The submissive soul will be led
aright, enduring some things well while being anxiously engaged in
setting other things right—all the time discerning the difference.
Required,
in particular, is meekness of mind which recognizes God’s perfect love
of us and His omniscience. By acknowledging these reassuring realities
and accepting that God desires our full development and true happiness,
we are readied even as the learning experiences come. Such meekness
requires genuine intellectual honesty, owning up to the learning
experiences of the past and listening to the Holy Ghost as he preaches
to us from the pulpit of memory.
As
the Lord communicates with the meek and submissive, fewer decibels are
required, and more nuances are received. Even the most meek, like Moses
(see Num. 12:3), learn overwhelming things they “never had supposed.” (Moses 1:10.)
But it is only the meek mind which can be so shown and so stretched—not
those, as Isaiah wrote, who “are wise in their own eyes.” (Isa. 5:21; see also 2 Ne. 9:29 and 2 Ne. 15:21.)
God’s
counsel aligns us and conjoins us with the great realities of the
universe; whereas sin empties, isolates, and separates us, confining us
to the solitary cell of selfishness. Hence the lonely crowd in hell.
Spiritual
submissiveness means, instead, community and communion as the mind and
the heart become settled. We then spend much less time deciding, and
much more time serving; otherwise, the more hesitation, the less
inspiration.
Yielding
one’s heart to God signals the last stage in our spiritual development.
Only then are we beginning to be fully useful to God! How can we
sincerely pray to be an instrument in His hands if the instrument seeks
to do the instructing?
As we really begin to keep the first commandment—loving God with “all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength” (D&C 59:5; see also Matt. 22:37)—giving time, talent, and treasure is then accompanied by fully giving of ourselves.
Sometimes,
our holding back occurs because we lack faith or we are too entangled
with the cares of the world. Other times, there is in us an
understandable tremulousness which slows our yielding, because we sense
what further yielding might bring.
Yet
we need to break free of our old selves—the provincial, constraining,
and complaining selves—and become susceptible to the shaping of the
Lord. But the old self goes neither gladly nor quickly. Even so, this
subjection to God is really emancipation.
How
can we truly acknowledge the Fatherhood of God and refuse His
tutorials? Especially in view of the fact, the Lord even chastens those
whom He loves. (See Heb. 12:6, D&C 136:31, Mosiah 23:21, Rev. 3:19.)
Saul, when chosen, was “A choice young man, … and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he.” (1 Sam. 9:2.)
Later, he became encrusted with ego and puffed by power. Samuel then
recalled a time when Saul “wast little in [his] own sight.” (1 Sam. 15:17.) In contrast, true submissiveness greatly enlarges the soul, but without hypocrisy and guile. (See D&C 121:42.)
Submissiveness
also checks our tendency to demand advance explanations of the Lord as a
perplexed yet trusting Nephi understood: “I know that [God] loveth his
children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.” (1 Ne. 11:17.)
So did a wondering but submissive Mary: “And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:38.)
Just
as the capacity to defer gratification is a sign of real maturity,
likewise the willingness to wait for deferred explanation is a sign of
real faith and of trust spread over time.
If
faithful, we end up acknowledging that we are in the Lord’s hands and
should surrender to the Lord on His terms—not ours. It is total
surrender, no negotiating; it is yielding with no preconditions.
Suppose
Enoch had demurred when called by the Lord? He would have gone on being
a good person, serving the Lord part-time, living in a city which was a
slum compared to the glorious City of Enoch; nor would Enoch be a part
of that scene of glorious greeting yet to come. (See Moses 7:63.)
Suppose Peter had not left his nets “straightway”? (See Mark 1:18.)
He might have become the respected president of the local Galilean
fishermen’s association. But he would not have been on the Mount of
Transfiguration with Jesus, Moses, and Elias and heard the voice of God.
(See Matt. 17:4.)
We have been given three special words—but if not—by
three submissive young men who entered their fiery furnace, knowing
“our God … is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, … But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods.” (Dan. 3:17–18; italics added.)
Moreover, our prayers should allow for three more special words: “And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.” (3 Ne. 18:20; italics added.)
It
is only by yielding to God that we can begin to realize His will for
us. And if we truly trust God, why not yield to His loving omniscience?
After all, He knows us and our possibilities much better than do we.
“Nevertheless
they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their
humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ … even to the …
yielding their hearts unto God.” (Hel. 3:35.)
Otherwise,
one can be too busy promoting his own agendum: “For they being ignorant
of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of
God.” (Rom. 10:3.)
Distinguished
therefrom is Jesus’ clear call: “Wherefore, seek not the things of this
world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to
establish his righteousness.” (JST, Matt. 6:33.)
While
events often induce submissiveness, one’s development need not be
dramatic or tied to a single moment; it can occur steadily in seemingly
ordinary, daily settings. If we are meek, a rich and needed insight can
be contained in reproof. A new calling can beckon us away from
comfortable routine and from competencies already acquired. One may be
stripped of accustomed luxury in order that the malignant mole of
materialism be removed. One may feel humiliated in order that pride be
chipped away.
The shaping goes on, and it is anything but merely cosmetic.
The
tilt of our souls in first moments is so vital. Will what follows be
viewed with disdain or as having some design? Which will we do most,
murmur or ponder?
While
most of our suffering is self-inflicted, some is caused by or permitted
by God. This sobering reality calls for deep submissiveness, especially
when God does not remove the cup from us. In such circumstances, when
reminded about the premortal shouting for joy as this life’s plan was
unfolded (see Job 38:7), we can perhaps be pardoned if, in some moments, we wonder what all the shouting was about.
For the faithful, what finally emerges is an understanding of “things as they really are” (Jacob 4:13),
such as the reassuring realization that we are in the Lord’s hands!
But, brothers and sisters, we were never really anywhere else!
Demonstrating this great attitude is our beloved and submissive brother,
Bruce R. McConkie.
“Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?” (Morm. 5:23.) Likewise, “all flesh” (D&C 101:16, Moses 6:32) and “the heavens and the earth” (D&C 67:2)!
Perhaps the realization of being in God’s hands comes fully only as we
ponder the significance of the prints in the hands of our submissive
Savior. (See 3 Ne. 11:14–15.) Some will have to ask what those wounds are, having been estranged. (See D&C 45:51–52.) These are they who “regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.” (2 Ne. 15:12.)
The
more we study, pray, and ponder the awesome Atonement, the more we are
willing to acknowledge that we are in His and the Father’s hands. Let us
ponder, therefore, these final things.
When
the unimaginable burden began to weigh upon Christ, it confirmed His
long-held and intellectually clear understanding as to what He must now
do. His working through began, and Jesus declared: “Now is my soul
troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.” Then,
whether in spiritual soliloquy or by way of instruction to those about
Him, He observed, “But for this cause came I unto this hour.” (John 12:27.)
Later, in Gethsemane, the suffering Jesus began to be “sore amazed” (Mark 14:33), or, in the Greek, “awestruck” and “astonished.”
Imagine,
Jehovah, the Creator of this and other worlds, “astonished”! Jesus knew
cognitively what He must do, but not experientially. He had never
personally known the exquisite and exacting process of an atonement
before. Thus, when the agony came in its fulness, it was so much, much
worse than even He with his unique intellect had ever imagined! No
wonder an angel appeared to strengthen him! (See Luke 22:43.)
The
cumulative weight of all mortal sins—past, present, and future—pressed
upon that perfect, sinless, and sensitive Soul! All our infirmities and
sicknesses were somehow, too, a part of the awful arithmetic of the
Atonement. (See Alma 7:11–12; Isa. 53:3–5; Matt. 8:17.)
The anguished Jesus not only pled with the Father that the hour and cup
might pass from Him, but with this relevant citation. “And he said,
Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from
me.” (Mark 14:35–36.)
Had not Jesus, as Jehovah, said to Abraham, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:14.) Had not His angel told a perplexed Mary, “For with God nothing shall be impossible”? (Luke 1:37; see also Matt. 19:28; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27.)
Jesus’ request was not theater!
In this extremity, did He, perchance, hope for a rescuing ram in the thicket? I do not know. His suffering—as it were, enormity multiplied by infinity—evoked His later soul-cry on the cross, and it was a cry of forsakenness. (See Matt. 27:46.)
Even
so, Jesus maintained this sublime submissiveness, as He had in
Gethsemane: “Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matt. 26:39.)
While bearing our sins, our infirmities, our sicknesses, and bringing to pass the Atonement (see Alma 7:11–12),
Jesus became the perfect Shepherd, making these lines of Paul’s
especially relevant and reassuring: “Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom. 8:35.)
Indeed, we are in His hands, and what hallowed hands!
The
wondrous and glorious Atonement was the central act in all of human
history. It was the hinge on which all else that finally matters turned.
But it turned upon Jesus’ spiritual submissiveness!
May we now, in our time and turn, be “willing to submit” (Mosiah 3:19), I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen!
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