The Way: Remembering Him

It was a fascinating short talk, full of meat. That is how I would describe the Conference talk entitled "The Way" by Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge (see: Ensign, November 2008, p. 34-36). If readers missed studying this talk, it is worth the return.

The talk began with a reading from seven quotations from scriptures, which I have listed with my own commentary:

Quote #1 -- John 1:1, 4
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

Commentary: If the "Word was God," then why is it necessary to say "the Word was with God?" Jesus is God as part of the Godhead, but is separate from the Father.

Quote #2 -- D&C 19:1
“I am Alpha and Omega, Christ the Lord; yea, even I am he, the beginning and the end, the Redeemer of the world.”

Commentary: Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet; Omega is the last. The basic phrase “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” is found throughout scripture: Revelation 1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13; 3 Nephi 9:18; D&C 19:1; 35:1; 38:1; 45:7; 54:1, 61:1; 63:60; 68:35; 75:1; 81:7; 84:120; 112:34; and 132:66. This phrase, announcing the special nature of Christ, begins six Sections of the D&C (cited above). Further, passages like D&C 39:1, Moses 6:67, and Moses 7:29 state that Jesus is "from all eternity to all eternity." Is it OK to equate Jesus with God, and is it OK to say He is eternal with no start and no finish? Is Jesus temporary?

Quote #3 -- John 4:14
“Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Commentary: When Jesus spoke these words to the Samaritan woman, he must have had the following verse in mind: Jeremiah 2:13 – "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." The cited verse suggests that people should recommit themselves to God, the spring of living water and eternal life. Also, people need to stop digging broken cisterns (wells) without water. What is meant by wells "that can hold no water?"

Quote #4 -- John 6:35
“I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

Commentary: In a following verse (v. 49) Jesus said, "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead." Why is Jesus associated with the bread that brings life and manna associated with the food that brings death?

Quote #5 -- John 8:12
“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Commentary: President Monson often cites these words from a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins: "'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God / That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!' / So I went forth and finding the Hand of God / Trod gladly into the night." Since Christ is "the light of the world," how is He "safer than a known way?"

Quote #6 -- John 11:25–26
“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”

Commentary: When it come to the atonement, I need to think of the "three R's." of the atonement. They are redemption, resurrection, and relief (see e.g., Alma 7:11-12). How does Christ related to these concepts?

Quote #7 -- John 14:6
“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Commentary: Living without Jesus is like trying to drive a car in the blur of darkness. Proper religious behavior has both light and direction. We need the spiritual equivalent of headlights and maps. As Latter-day Saints our headlights are Jesus, and our maps are what?

Quote #8:
Only He [God] can forgive our sins. Only He can heal us. Only He can change us and forge a godly soul. Only He can bring us back into His presence. And He will do all of that and much more if we but remember Him to keep His commandments. What then shall we do? We will remember Him to keep His commandments.

Commentary: Elder Corbridge used the following phrase twice in the above quote: "remember Him to keep His commandments." First, where does that phrase come from in the Church? Second, does the phrase mean "remember Jesus IN ORDER to keep the commandments" or does it mean "remember Jesus AND keep His commandments?" Could the phrase mean both?

Elder D. Todd Christofferson recently said in a talk entitled "Always Remember Him" at a BYU-Idaho devotional (Jan. 27, 2009):

The sacramental blessing on the bread commits us … to take upon us the name of the Son, “and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given [us]” (D&C 20:77). It would also be appropriate to read this covenant as “always remember him to keep his commandments.” This is how He always remembered the Father. As He said, “I can of mine own self do nothing … because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30).

Please notice that Elder Christofferson came close to defining the phrase "remember him to keep his commandments," recognizing that we can do nothing of ourselves unless we place ourselves into the will of the Father. Again, the concept of enabling power (a form of grace) seems to come into play.

Quote #9:
… Jesus Christ entered a garden called Gethsemane, where He overcame sin for us. He took upon Himself our sins. He suffered the penalty of our wrongs. He paid the price of our education. I don’t know how He did what He did. I only know that He did and that because He did, you and I may be forgiven of our sins that we may be endowed with His power. Everything depends on that. What then shall we do? We will “take upon [us] the name of [the] Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given [us]; that [we] may always have his Spirit to be with [us]” [D&C 20:77]. Everything depends on that.

Commentary: These are some of the largest questions of life and existence: What did Jesus do for us? What should we do? How shall we do it?

The atonement of Jesus is something we must remember everyday. The atonement inspires and enables us to keep the commandments, which BEGINS with remembering HIM, in order that THE WAY may be opened before us.

I encourage you to read the entire talk, using the link at the top of this essay. It is clear that Jesus is the WAY, not us. We must put ourselves into the hands of God, and then God will carry the burden.

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Copyright 2009 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] c0m; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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