This week's blog is a little disjointed, but we'll see where it goes. I'm scheduled to speak in my ward on June 26 on the theme of sacrifice. Being as it is one day before the anniversary of the martyrdom, naturally, I am going to spend at least a little bit of time talking about Joseph Smith, and his example of sacrifice. So these are just a few ideas, more in terms of helping myself to formulate my thoughts than anything. How did Joseph Smith exemplify the principle of sacrifice?
1) The Prophet was willing to sacrifice how others thought of him in order to obey the Lord. Early on in his ministry, the Prophet had an experience where he transgressed a strict commandment of the Lord in order to please his friend; allowing Martin Harris to take the 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript home to show his wife. The experience was a difficult one. The young Joseph Smith wanted to help his friend and financier who was being pressured to show that he wasn't wasting his time and money on a useless pursuit. We all know how that story went. The Prophet learned a hard lesson as the Lord chastised him, saying, "Behold, you have been entrusted with these things, but how strict were your commandments; and remember also the promises which were made to you, if you did not transgress them. And behold, how oft you have transgressed the commandment and the laws of God, and have gone on in the persuasions of men. For behold you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words--Yet you should have been faithful" (D&C 3:5-8).
Joseph Smith had to learn how to let go of his natural inclination to please those around him whenever that required that he disobey God. Like the Prophet, each of us has to come to a point where we learn how to sacrifice our desires to be well thought of by our peers in order to follow the commandments of the Lord.
2) The Prophet was willing to sacrifice his own financial well being for the good of the Lord's kingdom. A few months ago, I wrote about the financial difficulties that the Prophet experienced as a result of his dedication to the Lord's kingdom. Time and time again, the Prophet put himself in financial peril in order to build the Lord's kingdom. Furthermore, his generosity with his own funds extended to those around him. When a number of Nauvoo residents began talking about the plight of a poor brother, whose farm had burned down the previous night, the Prophet was the first to "put his hand in his pocket" and remove five dollars, remarking, "'I feel sorry for this brother to the amount of five dollars; how much do you feel sorry?'" (Andrew Workman, "Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith," Juvenile Instructor, 15 October 1892, 27:641).
3) The Prophet sacrificed his life for the Kingdom. Almost from the beginning of his ministry, The Lord made it clear to the Prophet that the world might "do unto you even as they have done unto me" (D&C 6:30). He was told, "Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them" (D&C 24:8). The history is clear on this matter: Joseph Smith and Mormonism were lightning rods for enemies and persecution. Now, to be clear, we managed to bring many of our struggles upon ourselves. The early Saints weren't perfect, and were, perhaps, not always as kind and loving and inclusive of their neighbors as they ought to have been, but the litany of Joseph Smith's struggles is more than anyone ever earns in this life. To have your life threatened numerous times, to be arrested on multiple trumped up charges, to be taken away from home and family; and finally to be killed is more than I can imagine. And yet his was a life lived in crescendo, with the finest teachings and greatest moments coming at the end, evidences of a lifetime of faith in God.
I've, of course, got a lot more to consider, but here is a start.
Brett
It always fascinates me that the very thing which underscores for me the divinity of Josephs's calling and role in the Restoration -- his humanity -- can be at the same time, the thing which cause others to question it.
ReplyDeleteIf we were to examine Joseph's divine role as the first prophet, seer and revelator of this dispensation through a strictly academic lens, it's so easy to critique his decisions as being inherently faulted. From the financial failures of wildcat banks to issues with frontier justice and even plural marriage, many people choose to focus on the admittedly questionable points of Joseph's life, wondering how a prophet of God could make such faulted and utterly human decisions.
If we only looked at these things, surely our testimonies would falter. However, when I pause to consider the great works which Joseph helped to bring forth in spite of his humanness (or perhaps because of it?), the generations which he affected for good through his failures, faith and sacrifice, my testimony is strengthened by the idea that God could use such an ordinary person to do such extraordinary things.
I have a feeling that Joseph himself would be among the first to admit he was not perfect and that not everything he did in his life was ideal. However, everything he did as a leader of the church was done in concert with the Almighty and His son. The inherent doctrines are sound, the Book of Mormon is true.
Truly, "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven," and for that I am eternally grateful.