TO HEAL THE BROKEN HEARTED - PART 2

There is an article in the September 1980 issue of the Newsweek magazine entitled "What Mormons Believe". The author of this article had read several books of Mormon theology but rather than do a book review, it was his aim to report how members of the Church interpret their doctrine.  His findings led him to report that Mormons believe that 'men are born free of sin and earn their way to godhood by the proper exercise of free will, rather than through the grace of Jesus Christ. Thus Jesus' suffering and death in the Mormon view were brotherly acts of compassion, but they do not atone for the sins of others' (Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart, p 2). In other words, what this reporter discovered is the members' lack of understanding of the Atonement and what it can do for them. It would seem that we place more emphasis on our own feeble efforts and largely overlook God's grace when it comes to working out our salvation. Whenever there is disbelief expressed by members of the Church in their ability to 'make it' there is a sure belief that we are meant to gain eternal life on our own merit rather than through the power of God's grace given to us through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

The Church has placed a lot of emphasis on the Atonement in recent years and the leaders have taught this important doctrine extensively. Even though we might never fully understand it in this life, it is hoped that most of the Church membership by now at least believe what the Atonement professes it can do because if we don't, this life stands as an insurmountable mountain to climb: "Our understanding of the Atonement is hardly a shield against sorrow; rather, it is a rich source of strength to deal productively with the disappointments and heartbreaks that form the deliberate fabric of mortal life. The gospel was given us to heal our pain, not to prevent it. Having noted these reasons for caution, however, I sense that an increasing number of deeply committed Church members are weighed down beyond the breaking point with discouragement about their personal lives. When we habitually understate the meaning of the Atonement, we take more serious risks than simply leaving one another without comforting reassurances - for some may simply drop out of the race, worn out and beaten down with the harsh and untrue belief that they are just not celestial material (Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart, p 5)." Anyone who drops out of the race because they believe that they can't make it does not understand how the Atonement works and how to make it active in their lives. It is practically a sin to say 'I can't make it' for when we do so we negate the Saviour's suffering on our behalf.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ was not only designed for our spiritual purification but to also endow us with power to overcome, to fix, to change and to endure. This is grace. Grace is power. It is not a magic wand that will on judgment day miraculously compensate for everything we fell short of in our mortal lives. It is, however, a consistent source of aid available to us, during our life's journey, to overcome the world and fashion of ourselves what we are meant to become. It is the combined force of our action and the Saviour's power that grants us salvation, not our merit alone or the Saviour's infallible mercy alone. The Saviour was blessed with power to 'tread the winepress alone' and to atone for every sin and mortal distress known to man. This is important for us to know because those who accept the saving ordinances of the gospel have access to this power, with which the Saviour could overcome the suffering of all mankind, to overcome our own. We have the right to this access by virtue of becoming His sons and His daughters. When we are born into this world, we inherit physical attributes of our mortal father. When we are born spiritually in the waters of baptism and proceed to live the gospel, we inherit attributes of our spiritual Father who is Jesus Christ. This means that through the grace available to us we can think as He does, act as He does, endure as He does. This is what Alma meant when he said: "And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the Church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received His image in your countenances? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?" (Alma 5:14,19). When we become as He is, we become powerful, powerful enough to overcome, powerful enough to endure, powerful enough to succeed.

How did the Saviour become so powerful during the moment of His greatest suffering? The scriptures record that as He suffered, He prayed. But not just any prayer. When ordinary prayer was not enough and his agony intensified, He prayed 'more earnestly' (Luke 22:44) suggesting this was not a prayer of words but a prayer of faith. If He believed that His supplication to the Father would go unnoticed He would have ceased praying but the scriptures record that as His agony increased, so did His prayer. As He prayed earnestly through faith, the power increased to endure the agony which extracted drops of blood from every pore. It was because of this power that He was able to say 'thy will be done'. He didn't want to suffer. He pleaded with the Father, if there was another way, to take the bitter cup from Him so that He did not have to drink it but the commitment had been made long ago and the price had to be paid. And so He did what was the hardest of all things for Him to do. That's power. Subjecting Himself to the agony of Gethsemane and overcoming the sting of death was the Saviour's crowning glory.

We can access the power of the Atonement through the prayer of faith in Jesus Christ. When Alma prayed for deliverance from prison cords which held him and Amulek bound, he didn't pray just an ordinary prayer but he prayed that the cords be loosed 'according to our faith which is in Christ' (Alma 14:26). When he blessed Zeezrom with the intent to heal him, he prayed for him to be healed 'according to his faith which is in Christ' (Alma 15:10). If we are to access Christ's power, we must do so by affirming our faith in Him with the words of our prayer, during our prayer and not just at its' conclusion. Speaking the name of Jesus Christ carries with it immense power and affirms to the Father that we have faith in His Son and His Atonement. The Saviour Himself has said 'whatsoever things ye shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you' (3 Nephi 27:28) and 'whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it' (Enos 1:15).

We possess the greatest tool known to man for the perfection of our souls. In our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour we have been granted access to immense power to conquer all things including suffering that comes from consequences of this mortal probation, even the decisions we make pertaining to our spiritual and temporal lives. So much depended on the Saviour's acceptance of the task given Him, not only did His eternal destiny hang in balance but ours also. Imagine being responsible for billions of people. Imagine allowing destruction of all these people in your care. Satan had already led away a third of the Father's children. Imagine if the Saviour backed down in His hour of agony and allowed the rest us to fall into Satan's hands. It could never be because all would have been wasted including this earth which He has created for the perfection of our mortal experience. As we stood in line in the Garden of Gethsemane with the burden of our mortality upon us we understood the price that was paid for our eternal souls. With bated breath we hoped against all hope that Christ would not shrink back from exquisite agony and leave us unransomed and lost. It was in that precise moment of His submission to the Father's will that we understood just how much we are worth. The price was paid, the slate would be wiped clean, the tears of our sorrows wiped away, perfection will be within reach and then life eternal in the realms of our heavenly home. The plan conceived before the world was, at once became the plan achieved. This is grace. This is the path to exaltation, this is the reality that dispels all doubt in human breast telling us we cannot do it.

"For ye are bought with a price..........I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands"

(1 Cor 6:20, Isa 49:16)

TO HEAL THE BROKEN HEARTED - PART 1

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."
(Luke 4:18)

When the Saviour proclaimed Himself to be the Messiah following His experience in the wilderness of temptation, by reading the above scripture to a Sabbath congregation in Nazareth, He pointed to the central theme of His mortal mission, His eventual Atonement, which was to be the healing power 'not only for sin but also for carelessness, inadequacy, and the entire range of mortal bitterness' (Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart, p 1). Now nearing the end of His mortal ministry and following the Last Supper, Jesus led the apostles to the foot of the Mount of Olives, to a quiet garden He liked to go (Luke 22:39) called Gethsemane and there He exacted the healing power for all mankind from the exquisite spiritual anguish He was foreordained to suffer. Through a process, not comprehended by mere mortals, He suffered the effects of sin and mortality only a God could suffer to pave the way to eternal life for all mankind. The scope of His Passion escapes our finite minds as we consider the following:

"His Atonement is infinite - without an end. It was also infinite in that all humankind would be saved from never-ending death. It was infinite in terms of His immense suffering. It was infinite in time, putting an end to the preceding prototype of animal sacrifice. It was infinite in scope - it was to be done once for all. And the mercy of the Atonement extends not only to an infinite number of people, but also to an infinite number of worlds created by Him. It was infinite beyond any human scale of measurement or mortal comprehension. (Russell M. Nelson, The Atonement, Ensign Nov 1996)."

The Saviour's Atonement was performed for every age, every dispensation, every world and every person, hence the appropriate symbolism of His bleeding from every pore and not just some (D&C 19:18). The severity of anguish and pain causing Him, even God, to  be 'sore amazed' (Mark 14:33). Up to this point He understood what He must do cognitively but not experientially: "He struggled and groaned under a burden such as no other being who has lived on earth might even conceive as possible. It was not physical pain, nor mental anguish alone, that caused Him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only God was capable of experiencing. No other man, however great his powers of physical or mental endurance, could have suffered so; for His human organism would have succumbed and syncope would have produced unconsciousness and welcome oblivion. He had never personally known the exquisite and exacting process of such an atonement. Thus, when the agony came in its fullness, it was so much, much worse than even He with His unique intellect had ever imagined...The cumulative weight of all mortal sins - past, present, and future - pressed upon that perfect, sinless, and sensitive Soul! (Maxwell, Neal A., Conference Report, April 1985, p 92)

If we cannot even begin to fathom the scope and depth of such a sacrifice on our behalf, how can we believe the reality of it? Even though the Saviour is the Saviour of every person of every world He has created, He is the Saviour of The One. When He visited the inhabitants of the American continent following His resurrection, He invited them to feel the prints in His hands and feet that they might know that He was the God of Israel and the God of the whole earth and that He was slain for the sins of the world (3 Nephi 11:14). When the multitude went forth to do so, they went 'forth one by one until they had all gone forth' (3 Nephi 11:15). In this way they could witness that the Atonement was performed for them individually and not for humanity collectively. Imagine touching the Saviour's scars and not feeling the personal nature of the greatest act of mercy, love and grace. Very few of us in this dispensation will get to have such an experience in mortality but the Saviour can still become just as real as we strive to know Him by being His disciples. As we live the gospel, study the scriptures and make active the Atonement in our lives, He will reveal Himself to us in ways that will make the prints of the nails in His hands and His feet a factual reality on par with that of the ancients who had spoken to Him face to face. When His sacrifice for us becomes real we will be encircled in the arms of His love and we will know that through Him and by Him we will be exalted on high to live in the realms of eternity forever.

"I seemed to be in the Garden of Gethsemane, a witness of the Saviour's agony. I saw Him as plainly as ever I have seen anyone. Standing behind a tree in the foreground, I beheld Jesus, with Peter, James and John, as they came through a little wicket gate at my right, leaving the three Apostles there, after telling them to kneel and pray, the Son of God passed over to the other side, where He also knelt and prayed. It was the same prayer with which all Bible readers are familiar: 'Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt'. As He prayed the tears streamed down His face, which was toward me. I was so moved at the sight that I also wept, out of pure sympathy. My whole heart went out to Him; I loved Him with all my soul, and longed to be with Him as I longed for nothing else. (Orson F. Whitney, Through Memory's Halls, Life Story of Orson Whitney, pp 81-83)"

"The Sanhedrin and the temple guards brought Him to judgement and to the Antonia Fortress. Pilate brought him to the cross. But I brought Him to Gethsemane - my life, my choices, my sins."

(Ted L. Gibbons, Misery and Joy, pp 8-10)

TO COMFORT THE COMFORTLESS

"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee........I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.....I pray for them......that they may be one, even as we are one." (John 17)

As Jesus neared the dreaded hour when he would face His suffering in Gethsemane, where alone, forsaken, 'and without the pomp of crowds, he would win an infinite victory far greater than any defeat of Rome' (The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles p 165), he turned his attention to those whom He loved. Even though He faced the certainty of His own exquisite suffering, He sought to offer comfort to His devoted apostles and to prepare them not only for the dismal hours ahead but their own fate. That fate, though not remotely comparable to that of His own, the Saviour painted a bleak picture indeed for them whom the Father had given Him to carry on the work He had begun. Jesus warned the Apostles they will be put out of the synagogues (John 16:2) , meaning they would be excommunicated and persecuted; that whosoever killed them would think they were doing God a service (John 16:2); that they shall weep, lament and sorrow (John 16:20, 32); and they shall be scattered and have tribulation (John 16:32, 33). All these predicted and foretold tribulations the Apostles bore with dignity and faith. They were faithful to their divinely appointed callings even though they were often rejected, frequently imprisoned and even stoned and killed. 'They taught and testified and suffered and presided and waited patiently for the fulfillment of the promise that they would see Him again and that He would give unto them eternal life.' (Ted Gibbons, NT Lesson 24, This Is Life Eternal)

With what heavy heart the Saviour must have told them what they should expect once the earthly Kingdom He established was left in their hands. How He must have agonised knowing of their suffering for His sake, so much so that He prayed for them, interceding and pleading with the Father on their behalf, nevertheless, knowing that they could endure all things because they would not be alone. The Saviour promised them He would not leave them comfortless, that He would come to them (John 14:18) through the Comforter that the Father would send them in His name: the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who shall teach them all things and bring to their remembrance all that He had said to them (John 14:26) . And so it was that on the Day of the Pentecost, this promise was fulfilled and the Holy Ghost found his abode with the members of the Church in the meridian of times; the power of the Holy Ghost being operative during the Saviour's ministry, but the gift of the Holy Ghost withheld until after the Saviour's resurrection (Bible Dictionary p 704): "While Jesus ministered among men, the gift [of the Holy Ghost] itself was temporarily withheld; one member of the Godhead dwelling with mortals sufficed. During that period, however, the Holy Ghost frequently spoke to righteous persons, as he did to Peter in the coasts of Caesarea Philippi. Just a few hours before Jesus went to Gethsemane and from there to the cross He told His disciples: "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." (John 16:7.) This promise -- that the constant companionship of the Holy Spirit would be available -- was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. (Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, p.280 - p.281).

When the Saviour offered the Intercessory Prayer, He did not only pray for His apostles but for all those who would believe in Him through their word (John 17:20). This means us. It also means that all the promises the Saviour made to His apostles, He also made to us. Not wanting to leave us comfortless Jesus made the staggering promise that the obedient would not only receive the comfort of the Holy Ghost but that of Himself as well (John 14:18-24). In addition to the two Comforters, we can also qualify to bask in the presence of God the Father from time to time and converse with Him face to face as one friend converses with another ( See Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp 150-151).

"These statements about the two Comforters climax and crown the teachings of the Son of God. We have no record of anything he ever said which can so completely withdraw the curtain of eternity and open to the faithful a vision of the glories of God. Based on love, born of obedience, Jesus promises the saints that they can have, here and now in this life, the following:

1. The gift and constant companionship of the Holy Ghost; the comfort and peace which it is the function of that Holy Spirit to bestow; the revelation and the sanctifying power which alone will prepare men for the companionship of gods and angels hereafter;

2. Personal visitations from the Second Comforter, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the resurrected and perfected being who dwells with his Father in the mansions on high; and

3. God the Father shall visit man in person, take up his abode with him, as it were, and reveal to him all the hidden mysteries of his kingdom.

(McConkie, DNTC, 1:735, The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ and His Apostles, p 166)"

We live in a fallen world, a world where sin, wickedness and tribulation abounds; a world that has gone crazy with wanton indulgence and crime; a world where people's hearts are failing them; a world filled with terror, wars, natural disasters and frustrated efforts of mankind to avert them. Despite all this madness, Jesus has promised we can have peace amidst this turbulence: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)". After his death, the Prophet Joseph Smith appeared to Brigham Young and instructed him as follows: "Tell the people to be humble and faithful, and be sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord and it will lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the small still voice; it will teach them what to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them, their hearts will be ready to receive it. They can tell the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits; it will whisper peace and joy to their souls; it will take malice, hatred, strife and all evil from their hearts; and their whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness and build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren if they will follow the Spirit of the Lord, they will go right. Be sure to tell the people to keep the Spirit of the Lord; and if they will, they will find themselves just as they were organized by our Father in Heaven before they came into the world. Our Father in heaven organized the human family, but they are all disorganized and in great confusion. (Journal History, 23 February 1847)"

If we will but be obedient and come out of the world, the Lord's promise of peace is sure. If we will make ourselves worthy, the greatest gift to humanity second only to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit of Truth, will lead us in paths of security and peace. It will bring comfort to our troubled souls and whisper secrets of eternity to bring us to a remembrance of things past and foster in us a longing to return there. We are not so far from home because those who have sent us here carry us in their hearts forever.

 The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose

He will not, he cannot, desert to his foes.

That soul, though all hell shall endeavour to shake,

He'll never, no never, no never forsake!

("How Firm a Foundation", Hymns, 66)

AN ORDINANCE OF LOVE

As Jesus sat at supper with His disciples prior to His fated suffering, He instituted the sacrament through which they could remember Him and through which they could covenant to keep His commandments on the condition of love. Such was the theme of the last supper of His mortal life. In John's account of the Last Supper in chapters 13-15 Jesus used the word 'love' 20 times in 14 verses. This made it clear indeed that what He was about to do for them through His infinite sacrifice was a token of love and should be a token of love forever more. Then the admonition to all who would accept that love through the emblems of sacrament: "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12); "...this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19).

One might ask why the Lord chose the Last Supper as a discourse on love. What to us became The Last Supper and the institution of the sacrament we observe to this day, was in actuality Jesus' last Passover meal or the feast of unleavened bread which was an ancient festival that commemorated the salvation of Israel from bondage in Egypt. The Passover had been kept by Israelites for generations as a token of the Lord's love for them: "Because  the Lord loved you...hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Deut. 7:8). When Jehovah freed the Israelites from Egyptians, He freed them from physical bondage of slavery and likewise from spiritual bondage by giving them laws and commandments which with the passing of time they had great difficulty in keeping. The atoning sacrifice which Jesus was about to perform for Israel following the last Passover was to free them once more from physical and spiritual bondage, physical being the sting of death and spiritual being the pathway to eternal life through the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. As the Jewish day ends and begins at sunset, thousands of Paschal lambs were killed on the day of the Passover signifying that the lamb was the great and last sacrifice. That same day, before the sun set again, Jesus hung on the cross, in realisation of that significance, the offering of His body grounded in ultimate love for "greater love hath no man that this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

"Before Jesus introduced the ordinance of the sacrament, He taught His disciples more about love. In order for them to understand the sacrament, they had to first understand the basic principle of love" (Perry, L. Tom, Why Call Ye Me Lord, And Do Not The Things Which I Say?, Ensign Nov 1984). The Lord emphasized several times that only those who are obedient to his commandments truly understand what it is to love Him and others, because the commandments are principles of love. The commandments of God enjoin us to love him, others, and ourselves. Keeping the commandments of God enable us to join together in love as eternal families. Without obedience to these principles of love, there is no eternal life" (Breck England, NT Lesson 23, Love One Another As I Have Loved You".

Jesus predicted that in our day people will not keep the commandments and because 'iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold' (Matt 24:12). But more than that, the love of many within their own families shall wax cold and brother shall rise against brother, and father against the son, and children against their parents (Mark 13:12). We see evidence of this constantly in media where families are torn and at war with one another; where hatred abounds instead of love; where family feuds cause generations to foster animosity and breed bitterness, resentment and ill will; and where blood is thinner than water. The Church is not exempt from this. There we encounter hypocrisy where some members, to be seen of men, are more courteous, loving and kind to other Church members than they are to their own families; where parents allow familiarity to breed disrespect between each other and their children; where parents mete abuse; and where children are so disobedient to their parents that instead of havens their homes become battlegrounds. It has been said 'you hurt the most those you love the most'. Why is it that we are more mindful of hurting the feelings of our friends and strangers than we are of hurting our families? If we are at odds with any family members we will not be fit for the kingdom. Our family members are those that count the most, we cannot be saved in the Kingdom of God without them in the sense that if we harbour unforgiveness, hatred or ill will toward them. I feel that we will be held accountable for any issues we have caused or pain we have inflicted that we do not seek to rectify. In extreme cases where abuse has been involved, there might need to be professional mediation to bring the perpetrator to repentance and the victim to healing.

Most importantly, if we are not bound in love, we cannot hope to have the Lord's spirit with us always as it is promised us through the token of the sacrament. When we are not bound in love to our family members, no matter what their feelings are towards us, we are not fully worthy to partake of Christ's flesh and blood through the sacredness of the sacrament for that which was wrought in love should be partaken in love. No man can confess to fully love God when he does not love his fellow beings for when there is an absence of love, more often than not there is a presence of adverse feelings which are not worthy of true disciples of Christ. Regarding this President Joseph Fielding Smith Jr said the following: "If any of the members are not in good standing; if they have in their hearts any feeling of hatred, envy, or sin of any kind, they should not partake of these emblems. If there are any differences or feelings existing between brethren, these differences should be adjusted before the guilty parties partake; otherwise they will eat and drink unworthily and bring on them the condemnation spoken of by Paul. We should see that our hearts and hands are clean and pure. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:343)"

The importance of cherishing and honouring family relationships can be seen through the following story:

"Some time ago a friend of mine related an experience that I should like to pass on to you. He said:

'My father's cousin and my father lived in the same community and were competing in the construction business. There grew up over the years a very keen and bitter rivalry between them. This was triggered in the beginning in the bidding of construction contracts, and later in our city political affairs where they opposed each other in very spirited elections. Our immediate families inherited this situation upon the death of my father, for we boys seemed to take over where Dad left off. It was quite a strain on the members of his family and ours even to be civil to one another, even in our Church callings where he served as bishop of one ward and I in another, and later in the high council where we were both members. When we came together it seemed that Satan took over, and I am sure he did, for haven't we been told that where contention is, the Spirit of the Lord is not? 

This situation continued to fester. Suddenly I found myself with a call to put aside all worldly things and go to preside over a mission. This was a thrilling experience to contemplate, and yet I subconsciously had a most uneasy feeling about it. I kept asking myself: 'Are you really worthy to accept such an important call?' I was living the Word of Wisdom, I was a full tithe paper, I was faithful in all my Church activities, I was morally clean, and yet this uneasy feeling persisted. I set about immediately to get my business and personal affairs in a condition where others could handle them when we were gone. While returning home from my office one afternoon, it really happened. I didn't hear a voice, but as clearly as if a voice spoke to me something said: 'You must go to your father's cousin and get things straightened out. You cannot go on this mission and teach the gospel of love when this terrible feeling exists between you.' 

I drove to his home, and with great fear and trepidation went up and rang the doorbell. There was no answer. After waiting a few minutes I went back to my car and said silently, 'Lord, I made the attempt. I am sure this will be acceptable.' But it wasn't. This uneasy feeling still persisted. I prayed earnestly about it. The next day as I sat in a funeral service, my cousin came in and sat across the aisle from me. The Spirit moved me to ask him if I could see him at his home after the service. He agreed. This time I went with calmness and tranquility in my soul because I had asked the Lord to prepare the way for me.

When I rang the doorbell he invited me into the living room and congratulated me on my mission call. We talked a few minutes about things in general, and then it happened. I looked at him with the feeling of love, which replaced all the old bitterness, and said: 'I have come to ask forgiveness for anything I have ever said or done that has tended to divide us and our families.' At this point tears came into our eyes, and for a few minutes neither of us could say a word. This was one time when silence was more powerful than words. In a few minutes he said: 'I wish I had come to you first.' I replied: 'The important thing is that it is done, not who initiated it.' At this moment we had a rich spiritual experience, which caused us to purge our lives and our souls of those things which had separated us, which has resulted in our having proper family relationships. Now I could go on my mission and teach the true meaning of love, because for the first time in my life I had experienced its deepest dimension, and now I could honestly say that there wasn't a person in the world that I didn't love and appreciate. Since that day my life has never been the same, for it was then that I learned in a most positive way as I had never understood before the injunction of the Master to his disciples when he said: 'A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another' (John 13:34) (N. Eldon Tanner in CR, April 1967, pp 105-6, The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, p. 161)

When Judas left the Passover feast to pursue the path of betrayal, Jesus said to His disciples that He was with them only for a little while longer (John 13:33). Peter was so sorrowful that he said: "Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death" (Luke 22:33). We can imagine the Saviour saying: "No Peter, that won't be necessary, 'whither I go, ye cannot come' (John 13:33). All that is required of you is to partake of this token of love in remembrance of me that you may love one another as I have loved you." (John 13:34)

"Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." (John 13:1)

"BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH"

During His Olivet Discourse which He delivered the week of the Atonement, Jesus spoke at length about His return and the signs of His coming. In His attempt to impress upon us the importance of preparedness the Saviour gave us two parables to better understand what the nature of our preparation should be. Both of these parables are directed towards the members of the Church. The call to preparedness is twofold as seen through the two parables included in the Olivet Discourse: The Parable of the Ten Virgins which illustrates the importance of obedience and The Parable of the Talents which represents service and which completes the essential requirement for salvation.

We learn in the Parable of the Ten Virgins that Jesus is the bridegroom who is returning from a far country to attend the marriage feast when He will take the Church as His bride. The ten virgins therefore are members of His Church. There are two important components of this parable worth our notice. The first is that the Bridegroom 'tarried' meaning he delayed His appearance to the last hour of the day. In fact, he has 'tarried' now for nearly 2,000 years. It has been so long since He spoke of His return that many Church members are sleeping and not watching on the 'towers of Zion' (McConkie, Mortal Messiah Book 3, p 467) finding it too long to wait for the midnight hour and the call to gather for the wedding feast. But the call to gather has already come. It came on November 3rd, 1831 through the prophet of this dispensation: "Yea, let the cry go forth among all people: Awake and arise and go forth to meet the Bridegroom; behold and lo, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Prepare yourselves for the great day of the Lord. Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour" (D&C 133:10,10).

The second important component of this parable is that only half of the virgins had sufficient oil in their lamps which were necessary due to the late hour to illuminate the way to the marriage feast. The five that had no oil when the bridegroom finally came wasted their time procuring it at the last minute which made them arrive late for the feast and were therefore not granted entrance (Matt 25:10). Anciently, the lamps of the Ten Virgins 'consisted of a round receptacle for pitch or oil for the wick. This was placed in a hollow cup or deep saucer which was fastened by a pointed end into a long wooden pole, on which it was born aloft. According to Jewish authorities, it was the custom in the East to carry in a bridal procession about ten such lamps......according to rubric, ten was the number required to be present at any office or ceremony, such as at the benedictions accompanying the marriage-ceremonies' (McConkie, Mortal Messiah Book 3, p 466).

It is significant here to note that the Saviour used the metaphor of marriage for His second coming. Why marriage? Because marriage is a union based on love. It is out of love for us that He 'tarries' so that as many as possible can be saved. The oil referred to in the parable and which ancient Israel burnt in their lamps could be purchased at the market. The oil required for our lamps however cannot be purchased but needs to be earned over time because this oil is the oil of righteousness: "In our lives the oil of preparedness is accumulated drop by drop in righteous living. Attendance at sacrament meetings adds oil to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, family prayer, home teaching, control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the scriptures—each act of dedication and obedience is a drop added to our store. Deeds of kindness, payment of offerings and tithes, chaste thoughts and actions, marriage in the covenant for eternity—these, too, contribute importantly to the oil with which we can at midnight refuel our exhausted lamps. (Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, p.256 )"

The parable tells us that those who heed the call to prepare are wise while those who do not give heed are foolish. Foolish because they who do not prepare will not be able to fill their lamps with the oil of those who do: "If this oil is acquired by personal righteousness, then it is impossible for one to share with another. I cannot go to sacrament meeting for my sons, not can I say personal prayers for my daughters. I can pray for them, but those are my prayers, not theirs. And if someone should suddenly determine that the coming of the bridegroom is at hand, they might not have time to re-evaluate, repent, re-supply and return before the door closes" (Ted Gibbons, NT Lesson 22 'Inherit The Kingdom Prepared for You).  Personal righteousness cannot be shared because it affects a change over time in the inner man. This change is essential so that when 'he shall appear we shall be like him' (Moroni 7:48). No man can endure on borrowed light, eventually his true nature will outshine the light he has attempted to borrow. The Saviour, being perfect, is not going to take a bride that is full of iniquity, unrighteousness and worldliness. The bride has to be on the same wave length as the bridegroom. It is meant to be a marriage of equals. Equal in character and equal in love. No bridegroom will take a bride that does not love him. Hence the Saviour's admonition: 'If ye love me, keep my commandments' (John 14:15).

If obedience begins to develop love in the heart of the bride for her Christ, service for her fellowman, as expounded in the Parable of the Talents, completes it. In the Olivet Discourse Jesus told his apostles that they will sit in judgment of His Church with Him upon His return. Through the two parables He delivered to them He made it plain for us to see that the members of the Church will not only be judged for their personal righteousness but also how well they have served God and their fellowman. Thus personal righteousness and service constitute perfect love that qualifies us for the Kingdom. As the Parable of the Talents shows, members of the Church are those called to ministerial service and are endowed with spiritual gifts for this purpose. They are endowed with diversities of gifts for the benefit of all and for the growth of the Kingdom. When we came here 'trailing clouds of glory' we came from God bearing those gifts with us: "All men, and the servants of the Lord in particular, acquired, in preexistence, by obedience to law, the specific talents and capacities with which they are endowed in this life. Men are not born equal; they come into mortality endowed with the abilities earned and developed in a long period of premortal schooling. And a just and equitable Being, who deals fairly and impartially with all his children, expects each of them to use the talents and abilities with which they are endowed and the gifts that are given them by a divine Providence" (McConkie, Mortal Messiah Book 3, p 470)

When the foolish virgins came knocking on the door demanding to be a part of the wedding ceremony, the Lord replied: "Verily I say unto you, ye know me not" (Matthew 25:12 JST).  And well did He say so "for how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?" (Mosiah 4:13). When we face the Saviour at His coming will we in Him recognise the hungry and the thirsty and the naked and the sick that we helped in our time on earth? Will we in His face recognise the stranger that we 'took in'? What would it take for us to do such a noble deed? To offer someone shelter from the storm, to lighten their burden, to change their life? President Monson had an example of such selflessness in his grandfather: "Old Bob came into our lives in an interesting way. He was a widower in his eighties when the house in which he was living was to be demolished. I heard him tell my grandfather his plight as the three of us sat on the old front porch swing. With a plaintive voice, he said to grandfather, “Mr. Conkie, I don’t know what to do. I have no family. I have no place to go. I have no money.” I wondered how grandfather would answer. Slowly grandfather reached into his pocket and took from it that old leather purse from which, in response to my hounding, he had produced many a penny or nickel for a special treat. This time he removed a key and handed it to Old Bob. Tenderly he said, “Bob, here is the key to that house I own next door. Take it. Move in your things. Stay as long as you like. There will be no rent to pay and nobody will ever put you out again.” ( Thomas S. Monson, The Long Line of the Lonely, Ensign May 1981)

"From the foundation of the world, from the beginning, from all eternity - for such a length of time that no man can measure it - for just such a time has 'the kingdom' been prepared for the faithful. And their inheritance therein is dependent upon their charitable works in mortality, upon how they give of themselves to serve their Lord and King" (McConkie, Mortal Messiah Book 3, p 474).

"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  (Matthew 25:40)