THE VEIL

 

“The ability of man to be at one with God in both location and in likeness is possible only because the Saviour first became at one with man in location, through His mortal birth, and at one with man in likeness, through His assumption of man’s frailties – without ever abandoning His godlike character. Paul observed that the Saviour became “like unto his brethren” (Hebrews 2:17). There was something in the Saviour’s descent that made possible man’s ascent.” 

-          Tad R. Callister, “The Infinite Atonement” p 28

I stood at the veil

As You were about to leave

Sorrowing that not all would believe.

 

I prayed for Father’s power

To protect Your gentle heart

From the blow that might tear You apart.

 

I knew my soul You would save

And all Your promises You would fulfil

I stood at the veil, unable to leave,

Holding Your crown for You to receive.

 

I stood and waited that fateful day

In awe of what You did to pave the way.

I could scarcely comprehend

Your godly enduring might

I stood at the veil and gave You my heart.

 

-          CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Away In A Manger by Jay Bryant Ward)

CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL

 

By the time Jesus was born, the Jewish nation was knee deep in apostasy and their religion had evolved into 613 rabbinical interpretations of the Mosaic Law, and tradition of the elders, that the nation was expected to observe. They ‘turned the truth of heaven into a system that led them to hell’ (“The Mosaic Law and Conflict Resolution, ww.eajournals.org; Bruce R. McConkie, “The Mortal Messiah Book 1, p 238).

“Among the righteous and devout Israelites were some who, in spite of traditionalism, rabbinism, and priestly corruption, still lived in righteous expectation of inspired confidence, awaiting patiently ‘the consolation of Israel’ (Luke 2:25;38; Mark 15:43)” (James Talmage, “Jesus the Christ” p 96).

One of these righteous people was Simeon to whom had been revealed by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen 'the Lord's Christ' (Luke 2:26). Simeon waited a long time and was well stricken in age when the Spirit led him to the temple the day that Mary and Joseph were there with the Christ child to offer sacrifice for his birth as was the Mosaic law of the day (Luke 2:22-24).

Simeon took the Christ child into his arms and pronounced Him to be the awaited Messiah, the glory of Israel and the light to the Gentiles (Luke 2:32). He was the consolation of salvation in a spiritually lost nation. And then he told Mary of the anguish that she would be called to endure because of Him akin to ‘a sword piercing her soul’ (v35).

Another privileged godly Israelite of great age was also at the temple, a prophetess called Anna, who devoted herself exclusively to temple service, and she too being inspired of God, recognised ‘the consolation of Israel’ she longed for and testified of Him to all about her (Luke 2:36-38).

I have many times imagined what it would have been like for these devout Jews who lived in a spiritually barren society to see the Christ child and know that salvation has finally come to Israel.

One thing worthy of notice. The consolation that came to these two good people happened in the temple. It reminds me of Elder Vaugn J. Featherstone’s prophecy of April 1987 at the re-dedication of the Manti Temple:

“Before the Saviour comes the world will darken. There will come a period of time where even the elect will lose hope if they do not come to the temples. The world will be so filled with evil that the righteous will only feel secure within these walls.

“In a day of desolating sickness, scorched earth, barren wastes, sickening plagues, disease, destruction, and death….we will abide in places of refuge from the storm, we will mount up as on eagles’ wings; we will be lifted out of an insane and evil world. We will be as fair as the sun and clear as the moon.”

And all because of the most significant birth in the history of this earth.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Anna Greets the Christ Child by Lester Yocum)

A GOD IN MORTALITY

 

“He came here to dwell as a mortal, subject to the testing experiences that are common lot of all mankind. He lived and breathed as all men do; he ate and drank as his needs required; he wielded the carpenter’s saw, toiled in the fields of grain, and slept on the barren Palestinian soil. His experiences were like those of his Israelite kinsmen. Upon him the rains fell; around him the snows swirled.

“He was hungry, cold, tired, sick, and afflicted, as all men are; and when he died, his eternal spirit left its tenement of clay, as is the case with all of Adam’s race. He was a man, a mortal man, a son of Adam, and God his Father saw fit to let him live as other men live, experience as they experience, sorrow and suffer as they do, and overcome as they must, if they are ever to return to the Divine Presence where joy and peace and eternal glory abound.”

-          Bruce R. McConkie, “The Mortal Messiah Book 1”  p 6

 

Every Christmas,

the mother in me

Longs to hold

the baby You became.

 

To hold all that You were,

To smell the babyhood on You.

Just one hug, just one embrace,

And to kiss Your sweet little face.

 

Were You a baby like all the rest?

Did You cry out in the night

Longing to hear the beating

Of Your mother’s heart?

 

Were You glad to be here

Were Your angels still near?

Did You long for Your Father

And His mighty arm

And all those You left behind?

 

Did You remember who You were?

And did You know You would

One day make all things new?

Did You rejoice even then

In my salvation too?

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Babe in Bethlehem by Liz Lemon Swindle)

A VISIONARY MAN

 

It is not easy being a visionary man. Things of the spirit such a man is privy to is difficult to make others see and believe. Lehi from the Book of Mormon is proof of this. His rebellious sons used this description of their father in an accusatory manner (1 Nephi 2:11). Even his wife joined in using this title for her husband with negative connotations after a prolonged absence of her sons who were attempting to secure the brass plates.

I don’t know if Sarai was reluctant to see her sons return to Jerusalem that they had fled from but it would seem her nerves got the better of her and she accused her husband of leading the family into the wilderness to die, because he was ‘a visionary man’ (1 Nephi 5:2). Lehi’s answer was classic. He basically said to her: “I know I am a visionary man and thank goodness for that because now I am able to preserve my family in a land of promise.” (1 Nephi 5:5)

I thought of Joseph and Mary, as I re-visited Lehi’s story this week, and wondered if their flight in the middle of the night to Egypt was not only for protection from Herod but also from possible pressure of their families who would not understand why Joseph was taking them all the way to Egypt or if they would have been dissuaded by unbelievers or stopped in some way (Matthew 2:13,14). When Lehi's family fled from Jerusalem they also told no one (Hugh Nibley, "An Approach to the Book of Mormon", p 139).

Maybe Joseph never told anyone else but Mary of his visits by an angel for fear he might be called ‘a visionary man’ and his actions become discredited. How could he tell a wayward people of the visits he was having from angels? Nobody believed in angels anymore (see Bruce R. McConkie, “The Mortal Messiah Book 1, p 322).  

Imagine if he failed to act because someone well meaning in the family aborted the whole flight to Egypt and the plan failed. Imagine the remorse and feelings of failure in his appointed guardianship. But Joseph was a visionary man and an obedient man.

And now on to us. There is a scripture in the book of Joel which says that the Lord will pour out His spirit in the last days ‘upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions’ (Joel 2:28).  

And now the warning: “Remember that which cometh from above is sacred, and must be spoken with care, and by constraint of the Spirit…for it is not meet to give that which is holy unto the dogs; neither cast ye your pearls unto swine, lest they trample them under their feet.” (D&C 63:64; JST Matthew 7:10)

If you are a ‘visionary man or woman’ hold your pearls close to your heart and be careful who you show them to. In this too we can turn to Mary who ‘kept all these things and pondered them in her heart’ (Luke 2:19)….and I might add, ‘cherished’ them…..

Your truth pierces my soul

And binds me to Your loving heart.

Your sacred teaching moments

Find my hungry mind

And feed me like a bird in flight.

My faith is laid at Your feet

And I, I come to you Father

Clutching these riches

that are only mine to keep.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Young Prince in Egypt by Rose Datoc Dall)

THE LAMB

 

“In the fields of Bethlehem, not far from Jerusalem and the Temple of Jehovah, there were shepherds watching their flocks by night. These were no ordinary shepherds nor ordinary flocks. The sheep there watched over, cared for with love and devotion – were destined for sacrifice on the great altar in the Lord’s House, in similitude of the eternal sacrifice of Him who that wondrous night lay in a stable….”

-          Bruce R. McConkie, “The Mortal Messiah Book 1, p 347)

 

On that fateful night

when shepherds watched the sacrificial lambs,

There was a shepherd child keeping watch

But one had gone astray.

He searched in vain the rich pasture of hay

And found Him peaceful

In the manger where He lay.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Tender Shepherd by Eva Koleva Timothy)

A HUMBLE WITNESS

 

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them…..and the angel of the Lord said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord…..And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:8-14)”

“The trustful and unsophisticated keepers of sheep had not asked for sign or confirmation….they waited not, but went in haste, for in their hearts they believed….They found the Babe in the manger…and having seen they went out and testified to the truth concerning the Child.

“Tidings of such import had never before been delivered by angel or received by man – good tidings of great joy, given to but few and those among the humblest of earth….” 

-          James Talmage, “Jesus the Christ” p 93,94

The humblest of births produced the most humble witnesses of the born Christ, who testified to the people of Judea. No kings, not even Jewish rulers, were privileged to see the newborn Messiah……so anxiously awaited by common man, for it is the common man that would believe and honour the most significant birth in history.

So it is with us, the common people, that our testimony of Christ will bring others to the fold of God. May we let our light shine this coming Christmas and make it known that WE believe…..

 

I watched in awe from our home above

Your descent to the threshold of the stable

And wondered if my soul’s worth

Would make Your mortal task divinely able.

 

Then I heard the angels in the field

Singing praises to Your name;

And I sorrowed knowing, like holy water,

Your love would spill on sacrificial altar.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Fear Not by Liz Lemon Swindle)

JOSEPH THE PROTECTOR

 

We don’t know much about Joseph, but we know this. He was a just man (Matthew 1:19). He was also an obedient son of God who took Mary for his wife under instruction from God, not fearing any man (Matthew 1:24).

To say that Joseph took his responsibility as Jesus’ guardian seriously would be an understatement. He followed every instruction he received, without question. When instructed to protect Jesus from Herod’s edict, he took the family to Egypt to fulfill this prophecy: “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matthew 2:12-15).

But why all the way to Egypt? So that “whenever Israel remembers how God had delivered them with a mighty hand from the bondage of Egypt, they will think also that the Son of God was called out of Egypt to deliver them from the bondage of sin” (Bruce R. McConkie, “The Mortal Messiah Book 1” p 364)

The third time an angel appeared to Joseph, he advised him that Herod was dead and that he should take Jesus back to Israel. Joseph was not only obedient but over-cautious in protecting his charge, and instead of Judea, he took his family to Galilee, to a city called Nazareth, to fulfill yet another prophecy: “He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:21-23).

This is why I think Joseph obeyed all the instructions he received so readily.  He was converted to the prophecy of the long-awaited Messiah. When he heard from the angel that Mary will bring forth a son who shall save his people from their sins (Matt 1:20) he joyed in the realisation that the long predicted coming of the Messiah was at hand, and ‘a virgin, and she the one in the world most dear to him, had conceived, and in due time would bring forth that blessed Son, Emmanuel, which name by interpretation means “God with us” (James Talmage, “Jesus the Christ”, p 84)

Joseph reminds me of his fore-father David who dared to slay Goliath with this conviction on his lips: “Is there not a cause?” (1 Samuel 17:29).  David lived for the cause of Israel and Joseph, who had the right to David’s throne through lineage, had a greater cause, to raise the Redeemer of Israel. The Saviour was sent to the royal line to which He belonged, to one day sit on the throne of his father David to rule over Israel forever (Luke 1:32; see James Talmage, “Jesus the Christ” p 85,89,90).

ODE TO JOSEPH:

As a tender plant , I grew

In the shadow of your wings

Never knowing danger was so near;

Your protection and your love

Dispelling all my fear.

 

When God called,

So willing was your tender heart

No forces of hell could sever you

from your appointed path.

 

The guardian of my youth,

The obedient servant of the Lord,

Thou art Joseph

The valiant son of God.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: On To Egypt by Rose Datoc Dall)