11 And it
came to pass that he commanded that their little children should be brought.
12 So
they brought their little children and set them down upon the ground round
about him, and Jesus stood in the midst; and the multitude gave way till they
had all been brought unto him.
13 And it
came to pass that when they had all been brought, and Jesus stood in the midst,
he commanded the multitude that they should kneel down upon the ground.
14 And it
came to pass that when they had knelt upon the ground, Jesus groaned within
himself, and said: Father, I am troubled
because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel.
15 And
when he had said these words, he himself also knelt upon the earth; and behold
he prayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written,
and the multitude did bear record who heard him.
16 And
after this manner do they bear record: The eye hath never seen, neither hath
the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus
speak unto the Father;
17 And no
tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the
hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard
Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the
time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.
18 And it
came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of praying unto the Father, he
arose; but so great was the joy of the multitude that they were overcome.
19 And it
came to pass that Jesus spake unto them, and bade them arise.
20 And
they arose from the earth, and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of
your faith. And now behold, my joy is full. (3 Nephi 17:11-20, emphasis added)
When Jesus says he is
troubled, it is a little difficult to know what He was bothered by. For a long
time I thought it was a generalized statement about being disturbed about the
house of Israel.
But gradually I came
to the conclusion that He must have been bothered about something specific He
saw happening among the people in front of Him at that time as they brought
their children forward.
I think we have this
idealized vision of how it happened with people all moving quietly and
reverently, with children acting perfectly, but it probably wasn’t like that at
all. It may have been a mass of
confusion, with pushing, and irritation, and children rollicking all over or
freaking out over being separated from their parents and then being shushed
fiercely and crying, with children bugging each other, and so on. It is even possible there was some
verbal or physical abuse in the process of getting those children
situated. This would certainly be
disturbing to Jesus.
I notice though, that
His response after noting their wickedness was to have everyone kneel down and
to pray for them. And once that is
accomplished, the tone and mood of the gathering has totally reversed because
the multitude was overcome with joy, and Jesus said His joy was full.
I think what He did
is a good pattern for us. If we are troubled by someone’s wickedness, we can
pray for them too, and that can help us overcome feelings of sadness and
grievance. It is a way we can use our agency on behalf of an offender.
How might the
multitude have felt to know that Jesus considered their actions wicked? It
would have been rather a shock. It would call for soul-searching. But then to
hear Him pray for them really must have been heartening and encouraged them to
repent. Then they would have been able to feel the same joy Jesus felt. Perhaps
this is why Jesus told them afterward that they were blessed because of their
faith. Rather than take offense to His assessment of their spiritual condition,
they softened and repented.
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