Jesus the Christ

I've got a few blog posts that I started over the last year and a half but never finished. Although they're not perfect and could use some more work, I want to clear my draft list and will be posting them in the next few days.

So from spring of 2018...

In preparation for my trip to Israel I decided to re-read the book Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage.

I had read it once previously while on my mission to Venezuela and in this January started to read it again.

It is a very long (793 pages) and thought provoking book and I feel smarter just by being exposed to the language that Talmage uses. The footnotes were also fascinating and I read them at the end of every chapter.

To aid my memory I wanted to record some thoughts and things that impressed me as I read this volume about the Savior.

1. Jesus learned line upon line

In his discussion of the Savior's earthly life, Talmage states that "He came among men to experience all the natural conditions of mortality; He was born as a truly dependent, helpless babe as is any other child; His infancy was in all common features the infancy of others; His boyhood was actual boyhood, His development was as necessary and as real as that of all children. Over His mind had fallen the veil of forgetfulness common to all who are born to earth, by which the remembrance of primeval existence is shut off. His advancement was from one grace to another. He garnered knowledge by study and gained wisdom by prayer, thought and effort. Jesus was all that a boy should be, for His development was undeterred by the dragging weight of sin; He loved and obeyed truth and therefore was free." (p. 111-112)

I am sure that I read this chapter before, but for some reason it struck me deeply that Jesus grew up learning from grace to grace. It gave me comfort that though imperfect and sinful, I can also grow and learn incrementally. It is ok and actually by design that we ALL learn that way. He was a child who had to gain knowledge, skills and abilities. He did not come as a king, but rather through study and experience learned of His kingship and divine mission. He, like us, did not come knowing who He was. Jehovah, Creator of world, God of the Old Testament came as a baby and like all babies and children had to grow, develop and learn about His role and calling in this life.

This produced another thought. What was that like for Him to listen to or read in the scriptures and understand, little by little, who He was and what His divine mission was to be? How did it feel for Him to read the record and then have the overpowering realization that the prophecies of a deliverer, of a Messiah, of one to atone for the sins of mankind were ALL talking about Him? It is impossible for me to even contemplate. I am sure that this realization did not happen in one moment or instance, but rather that He was taught and led and instructed line upon line as to who He was, whose He was, and what He was sent here, at His own offering, to do.

2. Jesus was a Jew

I know this should be obvious, but I think that we sometimes forget that Christ was a Jew. He was born to a Jewish mother and taught and lived the law of Moses and went to synagogue and learned out of the Torah. Talmage states that "Christ had not come to destroy the law, but, as He affirmed at another time, to fulfill it." He came to fulfill the ends of the law that His nation had been observing for years and was truly the Messiah.

3. Before his death, Jesus' disciples did not always understand what He taught

Again, I think this should be obvious, but I did not realize that even the apostles who talked and talked with Christ could not always understand His teachings.

At a critical juncture- when the Savior talked about being the bread of life- that whosoever would eat of the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood. hath eternal life and be raised up at the last day- many of his disciples walked with Him no more. They could not accept Him as the literal Son of God and Savior of the world and fell away. Upon seeing this, Jesus even turned to his 12 apostles and seeing that they were unable to comprehend the meaning of his teachings and asked,  "Will ye also go away?" He could even sense that those closest to Him could not understand his teachings and were troubled.

However, Peter's response to this question is SO encouraging. Even though he did not know, did not fully understand he responded "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." His answer has given me great hope that even as questions arise in my own life and situations occur that I do not understand, as long as I choose to stay with the Lord and rely on his word I will make it.

4. Even thought He was willing to suffer for us, Jesus was sorrowful and heavy as that time approached

I have heard much about what the Savior suffered and endured for us in Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary. But reading Jesus the Christ gave me a newfound understanding of how painful it was for the Savior as he contemplated and grew closer to those excruciating events. Each approaching day must have been so long and difficult and agonizing. In my little experience I have had some very hard days and can only use them as a tiny template to imagine His feelings about his approaching battle and suffering.

As Talmage cites Jesus' experience in the final weeks of His life (chapters 31-33) I was struck by how heavy and sorrowful the Savior must have felt. As you read in the scriptures about His lament over Jerusalem, His denunciation of the scribes and pharisees, His final withdrawal from the temple, and His final teachings to the apostles you can tangibly feel how excruciating and heavy He was feeling as He contemplated what was still to come.

5. The apostasy was real

Chapter 40 about the apostasy was a fabulous read.

Really understanding that "the windows of heaven had been shut toward the world so as to preclude all direct revelation from God...and mankind had ceased to know God; and had invested the utterances of prophets and apostles of old, who had known Him, with a pall of mystery and fancy so that the True and the Living God was no longer believed to exist" is paramount to understanding the claim of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-  that God has again spoken to man on earth and that His gospel, including the ordinances and covenants of salvation, have been restored.  If the truth was never lost in the first place we would not need a restoration so knowing what the apostasy is and how it has affected our world is critical to anyone hoping to gain a knowledge of God, as He really is, today.

6. The restoration was and is an incremental process

Finally, chapter 41 discusses the process of the restoration and how God brought back truths that had been lost for centuries. I was grateful to remember that all learning is incremental- for the Savior, for individual people, and for the church as a whole and that revelation comes line upon line. I am grateful to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and for the revelation that is  coming through a living prophet today. It has blessed my life immensely and is available for everybody on earth today.