Did You Love Me?

Book of Mormon Notes - Monday, March 4, 2024, 3 Nephi 22

As I was pondering the why of all of this - why the Plan of Salvation, why the Creation and Fall, why Jesus Christ, why the Atonement, why the Gospel, why marriage between a man and a woman and the sealing power, why families, why the gathering of Israel and missionary work, why Temples, why Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon - as I was pondering these things, I was reminded that the great prophet Moses not only pondered these questions, but he approached Heavenly Father with a similar question:

And it came to pass, as the voice was still speaking, Moses cast his eyes and ^abeheld the earth, yea, even all of it; and there was not a particle of it which he did not behold, ^bdiscerning it by the ^cSpirit of God.

And he beheld also the inhabitants thereof, and there was not a ^asoul which he beheld not; and he discerned them by the Spirit of God; and their numbers were great, even numberless as the sand upon the sea shore.

And he beheld many lands; and each land was called ^aearth, and there were ^binhabitants on the face thereof.

And it came to pass that Moses called upon God, saying: ^aTell me, I pray thee, why these things are so, and by what thou madest them? (Moses 1:27-30)

Just like the Backstreet Boys, Moses wanted to know why. He also wanted to know how.

God responded to Moses:

And behold, the glory of the Lord was upon Moses, so that Moses stood in the presence of God, and talked with him ^aface to face. And the Lord God said unto Moses: For mine own ^bpurpose have I made these things. Here is ^cwisdom and it remaineth in me.

And by the ^aword of my power, have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of ^bgrace and truth.

And ^aworlds without number have I ^bcreated; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the ^cSon I ^dcreated them, which is mine ^eOnly Begotten.

And the ^afirst man of all men have I called ^bAdam, which is ^cmany.

But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you. For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I ^aknow them.

Moses marveled at the things that God showed him, and he wanted to understand it all. But Heavenly Father focused Moses’ attention toward the essential things: His purpose, His wisdom, and His Only Begotten Son. Heavenly Father knew that Moses could not grasp or understand everything concerning the infinite glories of His creations. But He wanted Moses to focus on and understand the most important and essential things, particularly the role of Jesus Christ in His plan.

Good student that he was, and meekest of all men, Moses continued to inquire:

And it came to pass that Moses spake unto the Lord, saying: Be merciful unto thy servant, O God, and ^atell me concerning this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, and also the heavens, and then thy servant will be content. (Moses 1:36)

It was as if, in his meek and child-like inquisitiveness, Moses wanted to know everything about everything, but he was also submissive to His Divine Tutor, willing to begin with the lesson that God, in His wisdom, desired to teach him:

And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: The ^aheavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine.

And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no ^aend to my works, neither to my words.

For behold, this is my ^awork and my ^bglory—to bring to pass the ^cimmortality and ^deternal ^elife of man. (Moses 1:37-39)

During this Divine Tutorial, Moses learned that he was a son of God, created in the similitude of Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father, and that Heavenly Father had a work for him to do. Moses learned that man is nothing, which thing he never had supposed. Moses learned to discern and reject the temptations of the devil. He learned to cast out Satan and to call upon God for strength. God blessed Moses and made him stronger than many waters. God called him to deliver His chosen people, Israel, from bondage. Moses beheld the earth and discerned every particle of it, and every soul and inhabitant of the earth, by the Spirit of God.

Heavenly Father then proceeded to teach Moses about the earth upon which he stood, and many other things. Why?

Certainly God did these things, and He does all things for His own purposes and according to His own wisdom. (See Mosiah 4:9) But I believe that we find another response to the why question all throughout the scriptures, e.g.:

For ^aGod so ^bloved the ^cworld, that he ^dgave his ^eonly begotten ^fSon, that whosoever ^gbelieveth in him should not perish, but have ^heverlasting ⁱlife.

For God ^asent not his Son into the world to ^bcondemn the world; but that the world through him might be ^csaved. (John 3:16-17)

And,

He doeth not ^aanything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he ^bloveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw ^call men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.

Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: ^aCome unto me all ye ^bends of the earth, ^cbuy milk and honey, without money and without price. (2 Nephi 26:24-25)

Why does Heavenly Father do what He does? Why does Jesus do what He does? Why did Heavenly Father give His Precious, Innocent, and Perfect, Only Begotten Son for us, unworthy creatures? Why?

When in my own suffering and trials, I wonder why, or what I must learn, I try to turn my thoughts to Jesus Christ. Jesus was pure. He was innocent. He was perfect. He was sinless. And yet He suffered the most of all, including the cruelest ironies. He did all of this and more because of His perfect love for the Father and for us.

I love “The Hand Song” by Nickel Creek because it teaches of Jesus Christ and it paints a musical and lyrical picture of how a small child learns about the love of Jesus Christ:

The boy only wanted to give mother something
And all of her roses had bloomed
Looking at him as he came rushing in with them
Knowing her roses were doomed
All she could see were some thorns buried deep
And the tears that he cried as she tended his wounds

But she knew it was love
It was one she could understand
He was showing his love
And that's how he hurt his hands

He still remembered that night as a child
On his mother's knee
She held him close as she opened the bible
And quietly started to read
Then seeing a picture of Jesus he cried out
Momma, he's got some scars just like me

And he knew it was love
It was one he could understand
He was showing his love
And that's how he hurt his hands

Now the boy's grown and moved out on his own
When Uncle Sam comes along
A foreign affair, but our young men were there
And luck had his number drawn
It wasn't that long till our hero was gone
He gave to a friend what he learned from the cross

Well they knew it was love
It was one they could understand
He was showing his love
And that's how he hurt his hands
It was one they could understand
He was showing his love
And that's how he hurt his hands

He knew it was love.

Greater ^alove hath no man than this, that a man lay down his ^blife for his ^cfriends. (John 15:13)

Concerning our Savior’s suffering in Gethsemane and on the Cross of Calvary, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught:

Now I speak very carefully, even reverently, of what may have been the most difficult moment in all of this solitary journey to Atonement. I speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically but which He may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually—that concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal when He cries in ultimate loneliness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”¹⁶

The loss of mortal support He had anticipated, but apparently He had not comprehended this. Had He not said to His disciples, “Behold, the hour … is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” and “The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him”?¹⁷

With all the conviction of my soul I testify that He did please His Father perfectly and that a perfect Father did not forsake His Son in that hour. Indeed, it is my personal belief that in all of Christ’s mortal ministry the Father may never have been closer to His Son than in these agonizing final moments of suffering. Nevertheless, that the supreme sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence. It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.

But Jesus held on. He pressed on. The goodness in Him allowed faith to triumph even in a state of complete anguish. The trust He lived by told Him in spite of His feelings that divine compassion is never absent, that God is always faithful, that He never flees nor fails us. When the uttermost farthing had then been paid, when Christ’s determination to be faithful was as obvious as it was utterly invincible, finally and mercifully, it was “finished.”¹⁸ Against all odds and with none to help or uphold Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God, restored physical life where death had held sway and brought joyful, spiritual redemption out of sin, hellish darkness, and despair. With faith in the God He knew was there, He could say in triumph, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”¹⁹

Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said: “I will not leave you comfortless: [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].”²⁰

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught:

As one’s will is increasingly submissive to the will of God, he can receive inspiration and revelation so much needed to help meet the trials of life. In the trying and very defining Isaac episode, faithful Abraham “staggered not … through unbelief” (Rom. 4:20). Of that episode John Taylor observed that “nothing but the spirit of revelation could have given him this confidence, and … sustained him under these peculiar circumstances” (in Journal of Discourses, 14:361). Will we too trust the Lord amid a perplexing trial for which we have no easy explanation? Do we understand—really comprehend—that Jesus knows and understands when we are stressed and perplexed? The complete consecration which effected the Atonement ensured Jesus’ perfect empathy; He felt our very pains and afflictions before we did and knows how to succor us (see Alma 7:11–12; 2 Ne. 9:21). Since the Most Innocent suffered the most, our own cries of “Why?” cannot match His. But we can utter the same submissive word “nevertheless …” (Matt. 26:39).

The Most Innocent suffered the most. Why? In the words of Nickel Creek: “He was showing His love.” He first loved us. No wonder, therefore, that the first great commandment is what it is:

My beloved brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: “Did you love me?” I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.”¹³ And if at such a moment we can stammer out, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,” then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty. (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “The First Great Commandment”)

What does all of this have to do with 3 Nephi 22? Everything. In this chapter Jesus quotes Isaiah at length, delivering one of the most beautiful and poetic descriptions of His mercy and kindness in all of scripture. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ, our merciful and kind Savior. In Elder Maxwell’s words, “Christ paid such an enormous, enabling price for us! Will we not apply His Atonement in order to pay the much smaller price required for personal progress?”