BLESSED ARE THE MEEK

 

“The Sermon on the Mount, including the Beatitudes, was delivered to true believers; to the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb (it was their ordination sermon), to the saints of the Most High God; to members of the Church of Jesus Christ; to people who had been baptize and who were in process of seeking the riches of eternity. To them – after holding out the blessed and sanctified wonders of gospel obedience, as these are stated in the Beatitudes – Jesus now says: “Ye are the salt of the earth….Ye are the light of the world.” That is to say: ‘Ye are the choicest and best people on earth; and ye must now be an example to all men, that others seeing your good works, shall come unto me and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 2, p. 127)

 

Out of all the Beatitudes, I am most taken by this one: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Even though the Saviour proclaimed himself to be “meek and lowly of heart” (Matt 11:29), He did not inherit the earth whilst here because as things are now constituted, the meek shall not inherit the earth until that fateful day when all things shall be done away with and the earth will receive its celestial glory. 

 

So many of us are clinging to earthly possessions and aspire to acquire more. The Saviour had neither gold nor silver nor houses nor lands nor kingdoms when He was here. The riches of this world were but a fleeting moment in time for Him and He had no interest in them. So lowly was the Saviour that he directed Peter when the tax collector came to catch a fish in whose mouth was lodged a coin, to pay a levied tax for both of them (Matthew 17:24-27). So much power yet ‘foxes had holes, and birds of the air had nests; but the Son of man had nowhere to lay His head’ (Luke 9:58). The self-restraint in using His power only for the good of others is beyond commendation. Such is the God we worship and follow, such is the God we love…..are we ready to let go off the world and be the salt of the earth and the light of the world???

 

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Artist Unknown)

IN COMPASSION AND MERCY

 

Jesus was touched with a feeling of their infirmities.

Those cries pierced to His inmost heart;

The groans and sighs of all that collective misery

filled His whole soul with pity.

His heart bled for them;

He suffered with them;

Their agonies were His;

So that Matthew recalls…

With a slight difference of language,

The words of Isaiah,

“Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”

(Matthew 8:16,17)

-       Frederick Farrar, Life of Christ, p 182

 

That Christ had compassion towards the suffering during his mortal life can never be disputed.  He wept with those who ached and healed indiscriminately all who came to Him in faith. Now consider His mercy manifest through the healing miracles, not only toward the sick and the afflicted, but toward the unbelievers as well. In many instances, the Saviour forgave sins prior to the physical miracle of healing, which in reality was of more importance than the healing that followed. The miracles of healing were an avenue of His proclamation of His divinity but they were only secondary. When Christ said, ‘thy sins are forgiven thee’ He was in fact proclaiming that He had power on earth and in heaven to forgive sins. But forgiveness is something that cannot be seen with a naked eye and so the physical healing that followed was a means to satisfy man’s need for physical proof of His divine power. And so the miracles of physical healing came secondary as proof of His power to heal spiritually.  I see in this amazing mercy toward the unbelieving and those hard of understanding, even for those who plotted His death and had no willingness to believe. But such is the nature of the manJesus the Christ, the Saviour of the world, the God of heaven and earth. Hismercy is extended to the just and the unjust and His salvation is offered to all who will come unto Him because He is the light, the truth and the way, the only way……..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Lord, I Believe by Liz Lemon Swindle)

IN FAITH

 

“And she, seeing her act was not hidden from him by whose power she was now made whole, came forward – trembling, fearful, grateful – fell at his feet and declared to him and to all “for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately”. “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole, He said, “go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” (Mark 5:25-34)

And so it is in the surging throng of life. Many who are spiritually sick; who have had an issue of sorrow and sin, lo these many years…….many such are within arm’s length of the Lord and need only to reach out….to find His healing power.”

(Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 2, p. 296-7)

 

I will look for Thee in faith

My Lord and my God;

When I am oppressed,

When I am unloved,

When I am wronged.

 

I will look for Thee

When I can walk no more;

And I will find Thee,

My Lord and My God,

Thou who waits for those who call,

To renew their strength,

To save them from their fall.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

 

(Art: Trust in the Lord by Liz Lemon Swindle)

 

THE COVENANT OF BAPTISM

 

 

We read of the most glorious confirmation of Christ’s Sonship at the time of His baptism. Matthew records the Father’s voice saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17) whilst Mark and Luke testified of a more intimate communion: “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). We know though through the record of John the Baptist, of which we have only eleven verses, so far, in Doctrine and Covenants Section 93, that Matthew’s account is the right one (v15). We also know that Mark and Luke could not have stood on the banks of River Jordan witnessing the baptism as Mark was not one of Christ’s original disciples and Luke was a convert post crucifixion. 

 

Nephi tells us that Christ was baptised to enter into the covenant of obedience (2 Nephi 31:7). This, in my mind, does not only mean keeping the commandments but that He covenanted that He would do the Father’s will for Him, meaning the Atonement. When Alma Senior baptised one of his first converts, Helam, at the waters of Mormon, he took the baptismal covenant to the next level. He said: 'Helam, I baptise thee....as a testimony that ye have entered into a covenant to serve him until you are dead..' (Mosiah 18:12,13). Not, until you decide to no longer follow Him, but for the remainder of your life. This the Saviour did explicitly and valiantly as He hung on the cross to the very end. This is the ultimate meaning of ‘covenant’, something that should not be broken even at the peril of one’s life.  And this is the integrity of the man we call our Saviour and our God who succumbed to death whilst honouring His covenant. 

 

I don’t know why Mark’s and Luke’s accounts differed from Matthew’s and Baptist’s in the Father’s attestation of His Son but I rather like it. I imagine the Father would say: “I see You, You who have no need to do this and need not covenant that You will obey me, and submit to the crucible of your life that is before You, YOU are my beloved Son…….

 

 

I wish to gift you my heart

Eternal Father of mine;

I wish to glorify Thy name

Through endless moments of time.

I wish to worship you each day that I greet,

I wish to honour you with each breath that I breathe.

Then one day soon when I kneel at your throne

And bring you my deeds from my earthly home;

Accept them with mercy,

Consider them bliss,

And greet me joyfully

With an holy kiss.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Father and Son by Danny Hahlbohm)

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

 

“From the perspective of man, the gospel is a better way of life. It is life bursting forth in a wilderness of darkness. It is faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is signs, gifts and miracles. It is persecution and suffering and trials. It is learning to live as becometh a saint. It is overcoming the world until, eventually, in glorious immortality, the true saints dwell with Him who is their Friend and into whose image they have been molded.

 

“From the perspective of him who is our Redeemer, the gospel is the atoning sacrifice which puts into full operation and makes binding and efficacious all that the Father has prepared for them that love Him. It is our Lord’s birth in Bethlehem, his childhood in Nazareth,  his ministry in Judea and Perea. It is the miracles he wrought, the works he did, the laws he made known. It is the Garden of Gethsemane and the hill of Calvary. It is great drops of blood dripping from every pore, as he took upon himself the sins of the world. It is a Roman spear piercing a sinless side. It is an open tomb outside a city wall. It is all power given him in heaven and on earth. It is immortality as a free gift for all and eternal life for the faithful. 

 

“The gospel is all this and ten thousand times ten thousand things more. But all that it is, all that it has ever been, all that it shall ever be, all that appertains to it, centers in Him of whom the prophets testify….” 

(Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p 52-3)

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN

CREATION

 

 

I live in Australia and there is a kangaroo living somewhere in my bushy community. Every once in a while I see him skipping across my backyard. I love this kangaroo because he has endeared me to the land I live in. You cannot get more Aussie than a kangaroo in your backyard.

 

I am in awe of Christ’s creative power when I look at animals and the land around me. Elder Bruce R. McConkie said ‘there is no finite way to envision the extent of the worlds created by Christ at the behest of the Father’ and that ‘this small planet was but one speck of dust in a storm swirling over the Sahara’ (The Promised Messiah, p 55). Moses was told by God: “…worlds without number have I created …..and by the Son I created them, which is my Only Begotten” (Moses 1:29-35). You would think that amidst such quantity, creation would become perfunctory and practicality would be the primary concern of the Creator but nothing could be further from the truth. Our God has taken every thought and care to ensure the success of our mortality. I am certain that His creative power did not extend to function only, that it involved creative intelligence with intent to gladden the eye and bring joy to one’s heart.  I rather fancy that He knew that a kangaroo skipping across my backyard would bring a smile to my face. 

 

I am certain that each particle of this earth was created with love, each particle that would become Australia, America, Africa, Bethlehem, Nazareth and CALVARY……

 

 

Let the magnitude of worlds

That roll upon their wings

And all the stars that sing

In endless praise of Thy name

Hear the echo of Thy exalted voice

And proclaim Thy eternal fame.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Artist Unknown)