Yom Kippur and the fellowship of Christ's sufferings

It was on a Monday this year, two weeks ago today - the 10th day of Tishrei. Tradition holds that the original Yom Kippur or "day of Atonement" took place on Moses' second visit to Mt. Sinai (see Exodus 32). He had been up on the mount communing with the Lord long enough for the Israelites, who had come with him this time, to have given up on him. Their rebellion went far enough to include both building and worshipping a golden calf. The Lord, who had just miraculously delivered them from bondage in Egypt and their pagan gods, had this suggestion for Moses: "Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation." (v 10)

If Moses had wanted an out, this was his shot. These people that had abandoned, reviled and murmured against him over and over - a simple "ok" is all it would have taken. Moses' seed could then have been the Lord's chosen people to inherit the promised land all by themselves. Was it tempting? Would it have been for you or I? 

Moses is up to the test though. Instead of the proposed annihilation, he advocates for the people and heads down the mount knowing that for them repentance is now a matter of life and death. With a decent's worth of planning Moses comes upon the camp in this way. He "cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it." (v 19-20) He asks "Who is on the Lord's side?" and before nightfall 3000 of the Israelites on the other side have been slain. This is what his advocacy looks like that day.  

Then the morning comes. Before departing to the mountain again, Moses says, "Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. 

And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." (v 30-32)

WHAT! Did Moses really just offer his own salvation as a potential sacrifice for the lives of this rebellious people?! This is a complete reversal from the previous "not them but me" scenario the Lord had offered. This one is "not me but them." This unlikely proposition had to have warmed the Lord's own heart. Moses really loved them. He had learned to love them wholly, fully, and deeply - despite their weaknesses and even despite their rebellions. In likeness of the ultimate sacrifice the Lord himself would offer for a world in sin - Moses was now willing - asking even - to be made a sacrifice for the repentant, but ultimately incredibly unworthy Israelites.  They are his people. He's not abandoning this ship. 

Is this not an Abrahamic like test? Moses came to know by experience a little bit of the heart and mind of the Lord through this experience. Is this not the "fellowship of his sufferings" (3:10) that Paul writes to the Philippian saints of. 

Ironically, this year's Yom Kippur happened just shortly after the 200th anniversary of young Joseph Smith's first trip up the Hill Cumorah to retrieve the plates. Joseph likely understood little about the firestorm of suffering that the opening of that stone box would unleash. Ultimately betrayed by some of those closest to him - some of those who he had given most for. He stayed the course. Welcome to the fellowship Joseph.  

What about the invitations each of us receives to such a fellowship within our own circumstances? Will we accept them? Will we join the fellowship? 

The Justification for the Singlet

I bought a singlet online a few months ago because of the direction that a scripture study took for me. Kind of strange, I know. It marries two great loves of mine however. Two admissions should be noted right off the bat. First, it doesn't take too much to get me excited about wrestling, and second, this singlet was purchased for display - not to be worn (except for maybe once when it arrived out of excitement 😬).  Here's the story and the reason it hangs in my seminary office now.

Luke, speaking of the Savior suffering in Gethsemane, records, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly…” (22:44). It’s interesting here that it’s “an” agony – used as a noun. In a quick search for the etymology of the word “agony” I found the following in an illustrated etymology dictionary.     

What contest could Luke 22 be referring to then? It’s description is found in the Savior’s prayer only a couple of verses earlier: “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done (vs. 42). The Lord describes this contest of wills to Joseph Smith almost 1800 years later saying “[This] suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might drink the bitter cup and shrink—Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men” (D&C 19:18-19). Certainly there is suffering and pain in his description, but also an internal contest between His will and the will of the Father. He prevails by letting God’s will prevail.

President Nelson taught that "[O]ne of the Hebraic meanings of the word Israel is 'let God prevail.' Thus the very name of Israel refers to a person who is willing to let God prevail in his or her life" ("Let God Prevail," GC Oct 2020). Israel is the name Jacob is given as a result of a great wrestling match also. In the 32nd chapter of Genesis we have the scant account. In verses 9-12 jacob pleads with the Lord to protect him from his brother's wrath. After preparing a gift for his brother, "Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day... And [the man] said, let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me... And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." (v. 24, 26, 28) Jacob wins like Jesus won in Gethsemane, by letting God prevail. Elder Maxwell taught about such a contest of will saying, "Consecration thus constitutes the only unconditional surrender which is also a total victory" ("Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father," GC Oct 1995).

We're all in that wrestling match too. As the Savior explained the purpose of the creation of the earth He said: "And we will prove [mankind] herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them" (Abraham 3:25). The singlet is a reminder to me of the team we're all all on, the very real contest we're in, how we can win, and Who showed us how.

I love how the Lord allows things that are important to me to point powerfully to Him! 

Only good things

I realize that this one likely stood out to me so I could prepare myself for some chastening. :/ I’m still working on being altogether happy about that. :) Laman and Lemuel famously, and perhaps even humbly, said to their brother, "Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are able to bear.” (1 Nephi 16:1) That might sound something like, “Dude?! That’s harsh!” or even “You can’t say that!” today. 

What if we heard only good things though? What if no one corrected us; no one checked us as we tread dangerous paths? Is that really what we want?

Elder Holland said that some people at least think they do:  

"Sadly enough, my young friends, it is a characteristic of our age that if people want any gods at all, they want them to be gods who do not demand much, comfortable gods, smooth gods who not only don't rock the boat but don't even row it, gods who pat us on the head, make us giggle, then tell us to run along and pick marigolds." (GC April 2014 "The Cost and Blessings of Discipleship").

The ultimate sugar daddy, such a god would spoil his children rotten instead of grow them into gods themselves. Elder D. Todd Christofferson laments:

"[M]uch of of modern Christianity does not acknowledge that God makes any real demands on those who believe in Him, seeing Him rather as a butler "who meets their needs when summoned" or a therapist whose role it is to help people "feel good about themselves ." It is a religious outlook that makes no pretense at changing lives." "By contrast," as one author declares, "the God portrayed in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures asks, not just for commitment, but for our very lives. The God of the bible traffics in life and death, not niceness, and calls for sacrificial love, not benign whatever-ism." (GC April 2011, "As many as I Love, I rebuke and chasten").

Joseph Smith taught: 

"A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things, never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation." (Lectures on Faith 6:7) 

One of the things we must sacrifice, Laman and Lemuel are learning, is the deception that we are doing just fine and don't need to change. Sometimes times its a mortal messenger our Father in Heaven uses to break the news to us too.  

Nephi teaches his brothers, "The guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center." (1 Nephi 16:2) Rigid things often cut more easily. Could hard hearts and fixed mindsets be a big part of their problem? Nephi continues:

"If ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth, and give heed to it... then ye would not murmur because of the truth and say: Thou speakest hard things against" (1 Nephi 16:3).

The word "willing" sounds like a more patient, growth oriented mindset. That great sacramental word can bring a softness to our hearts that allows them to resist the the cutting of sharp correction and grow stronger because of it. Elder Christofferson challenges us not just to receive correction then, but even to seek it. He said: 

"Though it is often difficult to endure, truly we ought to rejoice that God considers us worth the time and trouble to correct" (GC April 2011, "As many as I Love, I rebuke and chasten").

How do you soften yourself to receive hard feedback? How do you seek and even invite correction in your work? How about those you teach - I'm sure sometimes you have to give correction. How do you make sure to give it with great love?