Waters from the temple

1 Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar….

8 Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.

9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh….

11 But the miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.

12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

I love the imagery of how these living waters heal make everything live and how they come from the temple. I also think it is profound how this river (moving water) has all the trees growing and fruiting on both sides of it.

Contrast this with what it says of the marshes and miry places where the water is stagnant. Those places will not be healed and are salty and dead.

To me that teaches how our conversion needs to move us to do things, to bear fruit. If we stop moving forward, we stagnate and start to die.

Keep moving forward!

Jesus raises the son of the widow of Nain

11 ¶ And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.

12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.

13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.

16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

17 And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about. (Luke 7:11-17)

Significant points:

The woman was a widow and her only son was now dead.  When a husband dies, the source of a families livelihood is removed.  Often when a father died, the sons were expected to provide for the family in his stead.  This woman not only had lost her husband, but she only had one son to provide for her needs and now he was dead too.  She had a life of poverty ahead of her.   

So when Jesus had compassion on the woman, He saw her difficulty and poverty.  Jesus brought the woman’s son back to life so that he could continue to help his mother, among other purposes.

Another significant point:

Jesus touched the bier of the dead son.  The bier is a moveable frame on which a body is carried to the grave.  According to the Law of Moses, this would probably have made him ritually unclean.  There were rules that things and people who came in contact with the dead were to be considered unclean:

11 ¶ He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.…

13 Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.

14 This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.

15 And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.

16 And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. (Numbers 19:11,13-16)

This was meant to teach people that they would be defiled if they came into contact with the spiritually dead.  As said before, touching the bier of a dead person would probably be considered unclean, yet Jesus did this, then raised the dead man to life.

The message in His action was clearly to declare His divinity and purity as something more powerful than death or the ritual law.  Not only did He have power to overcome uncleanness, but He could overcome death.  Instead of being defiled by contact with the dead man, Jesus had the power to heal (and also sanctify) the dead man.   It is no wonder then that the people instantly recognized Jesus as “a great prophet” or as God visiting His people.

Probing the counsel to “Stand in holy places”

Sunday school lesson 36 has an attention activity showing some repeated counsel about standing in holy places from different parts of the D&C.  You may have just gone through this lesson, but I want to look at these scriptures to see if they can tell us more about how to stand in holy places, since that’s kind of abstract counsel.  Yes, we usually take it to mean attending the temple, but is that all?

31 And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land.

32 But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die. (D&C 45:31-32, emphasis added)

The context of this verse tells of overflowing scourges and desolating sickness, and outside the range of those verses is desolations, murder, and massacre.  Among this, we are to stand in holy places.  Holy places seem to be places of refuge that help us withstand the difficulties spoken of.

In desolating sickness, we can stand in holy places with healing priesthood power, good sanitation practices, healthy diet, prayer for the sick, service to help one another, and faith in God that He has all power.  Is going to the temple the best thing if you are in close contact with communicable disease?  (Sanitation and hand-washing, people!)

In natural disasters, we can stand in holy places with our emergency preparedness, organizing together, watchcare and service to others, and keeping up the devotional practices that give us strength like prayer, scripture study, FHE, and church.  And going to the temple. 

Among violence, we can stand in holy places by not seeking revenge, avoiding anger, forgiving, praying for comfort and protection and courage, showing love, as well as continuing devotional practices.  And going to the temple.

Note that in contrast to the disciples who stand immovably in holy places, the wicked will lift up their voices, curse God, and die.  What does that really look like?  I suspect it is a ton of complaining, venting anger, bitterness, outrage.  It will probably involve many people looking at the widespread suffering and asking, “How could God let this happen?” and getting angry at God for not preventing it.  But because they were not willing to keep the commandments that would mitigate their suffering, they can only suffer and eventually die in their sins.  Very sad.

The contrast shows that the wicked place blame on God and yet don’t do the things He asks that would make it better for themselves or others, while the righteous trust God and at the same time keep the commandments and their obedience makes things better for themselves and others around them.

The next “stand in holy places” scripture comes at the end of the section that prophesied the Civil War and more troubles to come afterward:

6 And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations;

7 That the cry of the saints, and of the blood of the saints, shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies.

8 Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen. (D&C 87:6-8, emphasis added)

Bloodshed, famine, plague, earthquake, storm, and a consumption (a consuming event) that will eventually make an end of all nations.  It also mentions the cry of the Saints and the blood of the Saints coming up into the ears of the Lord.

So not only does this tell us that standing in holy places will help us survive disasters, but while society and governments collapse, the organization of the church will help us maintain order among our own, through our obedience and diligence as we “be not moved.” 

Since it seems there are Saints who will be wronged and even killed unjustly, standing in holy places will mean staying with the principles of faith, forgiveness, prayer, and leaving justice in the hands of God.  And going to the temple.  We’ll also need courage and faith in the final judgment that God will right our wrongs.

20 And, behold, there is none other place appointed than that which I have appointed; neither shall there be any other place appointed than that which I have appointed, for the work of the gathering of my saints—

21 Until the day cometh when there is found no more room for them; and then I have other places which I will appoint unto them, and they shall be called stakes, for the curtains or the strength of Zion.

22 Behold, it is my will, that all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places;

23 And prepare for the revelation which is to come, when the veil of the covering of my temple, in my tabernacle, which hideth the earth, shall be taken off, and all flesh shall see me together. (D&C 101:20-23, emphasis added)

The context of this instance of “stand in holy places” talks about the gathering of the Saints in Zion and in stakes and preparing for the time when all flesh will see Jesus.  It seems to me that gathering with the Saints is one part of standing in holy places because we encourage each other and our service to each other helps us practice discipleship.

So it seems to me that more than being in a particular place, “standing in holy places” means to act in doctrine in a way appropriate to the emergency or need.  It’s falling back on gospel principles to get through the hard thing, the trial, the affliction, the whatever.  Going to the temple and going to church is only a few of the many good ways we can respond, although it could be argued that if you prepare yourself for the temple, that encompasses keeping a whole raft of commandments.

I think “stand in holy places” is yet another way of saying “keep the commandments” that build your house with an unshakeable foundation in the Savior.

Three signs the Lord gives Moses for the Israelites

After Moses was called by God to deliver Israel from bondage in Egypt, Moses has some doubts that Israel will believe that he is the one to do this great work.  The Lord gives him three signs to use to help convince the Israelites of his qualifications.

1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.

2 And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

4 And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:

5 That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

6 ¶And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.

7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.

8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. (Exodus 4:1-9)

The signs are interesting, not only for their miraculous nature, but because of the messages they send.  They have a teaching function, and it can tell us something about God and the power He gives to prophets if we understand them better.

The first sign is throwing down the rod and it becomes a snake, then taking it up again and it becomes a rod again.  The second sign is putting his hand in his bosom, and it becomes leprous, then repeating the gesture and his hand is healed.  The third sign is taking some water from the river and pouring it out on the land where it would become blood.

The question these signs were meant to answer was that of doubt that the Lord really had appeared to Moses.  How were these signs to dissolve those doubts?

At its most basic level, these signs communicate Moses has acquired a miraculous power to change things.  He can change things because he has been changed by his encounter with God.  If he has the power to change things, then he can certainly help change their situation.

Moses has gained through God the power of life.  This power can make a dead rod alive and change it into an animal.  And it can change it back the way it was before.  With our scientific knowledge, we know how profound this change is.  It happened on the molecular level, changing wood fibers into bones, flesh, blood, muscles, scales, and all the DNA change with that, the creation of a brain and maybe even putting a snake’s spirit into it, all in the time it took the rod to fall from Moses’ hand to the earth.  And then changing it back again in the time he picked it up by the tail.  It implies that Moses has been given keys to spiritual life as well.

The signs also teach that Moses can now do what God can do.  Or rather, he does what God tells him to do and then miracles happen.  This message is an important one for us to learn about our church leaders and to trust the Lord ourselves.  It teaches how important obedience is and how blessed we may be when we obey without hesitation. 

The miracle of the leprosy coming and going teaches about God’s power of healing and power over the human body.  In the time it took for Moses to put his hand into his bosom and pull it out again, God formed the virus or bacteria in Moses’ hand and caused it to multiply and spread in his skin until it was visible.  And then, in the time it took for Moses to repeat that motion, the Lord removed the disease or changed it into healthy tissue.  We should have no doubt that whatever our physical afflictions or handicaps or medical issues, the Lord has the power to fix them immediately.  It is also to suggest the Lord’s power to heal the wounded soul and remove sin.

The miracle of drawing some water from the river and pouring it out on land and having it turn into blood teaches about the Lord’s power to change what the Moses sets apart.  To take the water out of the river was to separate it from the other waters, essentially setting it apart.  By this, the Lord hoped to teach that He had given Moses the power to take the Israelites from among the people and set them apart, and that they would be changed by that. 

This can help us today as we consider that we members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are set apart from the world.  We are also called and set apart for different church callings and we are changed by that. 

It is neat to me to know that we have a prophet on the earth today who has the same priesthood power that Moses had.  If President Monson were commanded by the Lord, he could do the same miracles Moses did.  It is also neat to me that we have these stories preserved for us so that we can learn the lessons the Lord wanted to teach through the miracles he had Moses do.

How have miracles in your life taught you?

What I’ve learned from four operations in four weeks

 

Yes.  Four operations in four weeks.  No, I wasn’t the one operated upon.  It was my husband.  For a massive kidney stone.  The mother of all kidney stones.  A kidney stone for which he will always be remembered by his urologist and associated nurses, one which was so big that it was as big as his kidney.  (This was back in March and April, by the way, but I am only mentioning it now because it feels..safe.)

We didn’t know it would be four operations at the beginning.  It was just going to be one, but they didn’t get it all in the first one.   (And get this—he needed at least one more after the four.)

But I’m starting to digress.  I was going to share what I learned from all this, which was plenty.

Lesson #1 is the importance of getting a priesthood blessing before the operation(s) begin.  My husband got one.  He was an absolute trooper throughout this whole ordeal.

Lesson #2 is the importance of the caregiver getting a priesthood blessing before the operation(s) begin.  I got an excellent one.  I was blessed to have a strong mind, which, if you happen know how badly I react to seeing blood and wounds (fainting, etc.) , was wondrously fulfilled.  I wasn’t bothered at all by changing my husband’s bandages and dressings, which to me was simply miraculous.

Lesson #3 is the importance of calling the visiting teachers and setting up a dinner to be delivered for the night husband comes home from the hospital.  Just do it.  Even if you are determined to be self-reliant, just do it.  And then have a good meal plan in place for the week that is easy and fast to prepare. 

Lesson #4 is the importance of packing a lunch and few good books for the family waiting room in the hospital, no matter how short you think the operation will be. 

Lesson #5 is that the Lord gives extra comfort through the Holy Ghost if you happen to have to watch general conference in the hospital on your ipad while your husband is operated on.

Lesson #6 is that if the operation takes hours longer than you were told it would take, then be prepared for… anything.

Lesson #7 is the importance of immediately writing down what the doctor tells you about how the operation went.  This information will be shared with all the close friends and family who are interested about how it is all going.  (If more operations are needed, writing down becomes even more important, just to keep things straight.)

Lesson #8 is to realize that if the doctor says he’s going to have to do another operation, be prepared for at least two or three more.  Having to do another operation means the first one only partially worked or didn’t work at all, so the doctor is going to have to figure it out as he goes, which means he’s going to have to try different things, and he may have to try several different things, each of which may require its own operation.

Lesson #9 is the importance of having a good attitude, expressing gratitude, and remembering as much as possible how wonderful modern medicine is.  Good attitude helps everybody deal better.

Lesson #10 is to carry a card with all medications being taken along with their strengths and what they are for.  This will be shared with various nurses, and it can help you have discussions with doctors and prevent unnecessary prescriptions.  (One doctor prescribed one antibiotic, and another doctor prescribed a different one.  Having a list handy would have helped clarify which one should be taken.) 

Lesson #11 is it is rather fun to read a satire such as a Terry Pratchett novel out loud in a hospital, especially the parts in which the character Death has dialogue or is mentioned.  A patient with a sense of humor might appreciate an excuse to laugh at Death. (My husband did, at least.)

Lesson #12 is to get a supply of bandages and dressings from the hospital before you leave.  Hospitals have a certain nice kind of wide tape that corner drugstores do not carry.  They also have bandages that the corner drugstore doesn’t have.

Lesson #13 is to ask nurses to train you on how to change bandage dressings. 

Lesson #14 is that instructions on care may strangely contradict between nurses and operations, in which case you should be prepared to ask questions and use your common sense. 

Lesson #15 is to pray for what you and husband need specifically, even medical stuff. 

Lesson #16 is to not to be concerned about the furniture when trying to find a comfortable place for husband to lie at home, even if his bandages leak.  Yes, even if those bandages leak urine. 

Lesson #17 is that stores sell nice big absorbent pads to put down underneath leaky bandages.

Lesson #18 is to tell the Relief Society president what is happening at the beginning because if she finds out only after the third operation, she will feel absolutely terrible.  She feels that if she doesn’t know about every major health difficulty that ward members are going through she has somehow dropped the ball.  (She hasn’t, and she knows she hasn’t, but she’ll still have a nagging feeling that she failed somehow.  So show some charity and at least keep her in the loop.)

Lesson #19 is to remember that sooner or later this will be over.  It is also important to remind one’s spouse of this, especially since after the third operation it will begin to feel to him as if he’s always been sick and won’t get better.  (What’s really happening is that by the time he’s just starting to feel better, he has to have another operation, which puts him back feeling wounded again. And by the time he’s starting to heal from that, he has another operation, so he never gets to the point of feeling 100%.)

Lesson #20 is that anyone (and their near family) who has to deal with a nephrostomy tube and a urine collection bag for two months is going to appreciate the body’s amazing plumbing waaaay more than they ever did before.

Jesus Cleanses a Leper and Suffers Some Consequences, Mark 1:40-45

40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.

42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.

43 And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;

44 And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

45 But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter. (Mark 1:40-45)

In this story a leper comes to Jesus, asking to be cleansed. 

The way the leper risks the scorn and disgust of the people around him in order to get to Jesus tells us a little something about how people might feel coming to Jesus among Saints.  They might worry about not fitting in, about not being as good.  They brave rejection of society on the chance that they might be helped.  It tells us a little about how determined one has to be to come to Christ when the environment is disapproving or forbidding.  But we see it is all worth it.

That the leper asks to be cleansed is instructive to us.   The leper had spent much time calling, “Unclean!  Unclean!” to warn people away from him; it was the dearest wish of his life to someday be clean again.  His request to be cleansed can make us remember that without Jesus, we would all be unclean forever, outcasts from the presence of God, and that the hope to be cleansed of our sins and remain clean is one of the most important desires of our lives.

I love that the man knows that Jesus CAN cleanse him.  The question is WILL Jesus choose to cleanse him?  When we suffer disease, this idea of divine prerogative can help us in our faith.  God definitely CAN heal us.  The question is always WILL He?  If He chooses not to, can we maintain our trust in Him?

The neat thing to me is that Jesus’s compassion for the man caused him to touch him, knowing that he had not had normal human contact ever since he’d been diagnosed with the disease.  It is a compassionate act, and a healing one; the leprosy leaves the man.  It is a teaching miracle, meant to show Jesus’ power to cleanse and purify even the most virulent of diseases, and is meant to help people learn to believe Jesus can cleanse from terrible sins as well.  Just as Jesus’ touch cleanses physically, it cleanses spiritually. Jesus could not be contaminated.  Rather, He could sanctify.

In a different reading of this story, Jesus is not moved with compassion, but with indignation by the leper.  This is jarring, but we can understand why Jesus might be indignant—the leper is endangering others, risking contaminating others by violating the societal quarantine restrictions in the Law of Moses.  Healing the leper also saved others from being exposed to the same infection.  We can then understand why Jesus so carefully charged the man to go show himself to the priests.  The man broke the Law by coming in the city, so he was to demonstrate his healing by now keeping the Law and fulfilling all the forms set down for achieving reestablishment into society.  The forms made it official. 

Jesus had technically gone beyond the Law of Moses to touch the man, and perhaps He asked the man to keep quiet that He had touched him.  In spite of this, the man blazed the matter abroad and Jesus could no longer openly enter the city.  Perhaps Jesus had to go through a form of quarantine by staying out of the city for a while.  Still, people knew He hadn’t really been contaminated by leprosy, so they followed Him out into the desert places where He stayed.  One could say that from a certain point of view, Jesus took on Himself the penalty of the leper for a time, and this anticipated and testified of how Jesus would, in His atoning sacrifice, take upon Himself the pains and sickness and suffering of His people.

Jesus’ instruction to the man to not tell anyone what was done have always seemed to me to be odd.  He does this over and over when He does miracles, and so often He was disobeyed.  We know later He wanted His disciples to preach the gospel to every creature, so you’d think stories of miracles done would help that cause.  Sometimes it almost seems as if requiring silence was a ploy to get more attention in expectation that they would do the opposite.   But seeing it this way doesn’t work because we must believe Jesus spoke the truth, so we must suppose that somehow Jesus felt the cause of the gospel would not be helped by spreading stories of miracles.  How and why?  In thinking about it, I thought of a few problems that Jesus was seeking to prevent.

First, Jesus was trying to avoid self-aggrandizement.  He gave the glory to His Father, and He focused on His mission of saving souls.  He wanted people to believe in His saving power, but He didn’t want the wrong kind of publicity, and He didn’t want notoriety based on sensation.  He wasn’t a circus or an entertainer, and the spreading of miracle stories would have drawn people eager for sensation.  (We might ask ourselves, “In ways can I bring others to Jesus without drawing undue attention to myself?”)

Second, He needed freedom to move from town to town.  Preaching to a town at a time meant the numbers were controllable and He could be fairly confident of reaching just about everyone, and the weak or hesitant wouldn’t have to fight crowds to reach Him.

In short, Jesus was concerned that spreading the news would attract the wrong kinds of people and end up creating too great an obstacle for the right kinds of people to reach Him (“Right kinds” meaning “humble and repentant”).  We see later that He was justified in this concern; stories after this point speak of people who had to be pushy, or yell loudly, or tear up roofs of other people’s houses, or climb trees, or just squirm in close enough to touch His garment, and we can only dream of the people who might have been saved if they hadn’t been intimidated or discouraged by the huge press.  We see the huge crowds alarmed the Jewish leaders and they felt they had to keep an eye on Him and check His power with the people in any way they could, and He had to spend valuable preaching time parrying their attacks.

It is interesting that Jesus commanded the former leper to go show himself to the priests “as a testimony to them,” even as He commands him not to tell anyone else.  It sounds like Jesus privileges action and fulfilling the Law over telling of miraculous stories of change. 

The Law of Moses gave directions regarding how the priests were to diagnose skin diseases and declare someone cleansed or not, but it didn’t give any power to actually heal.  It was diagnostic, not therapeutic.  But having provisions for declaring a person clean shows that the Law had been given in implicit faith that the Messiah would come and heal people and healing was possible.  Who knows how long it had been since the leper-cleansing testimony provisions of the Law had been performed?  It would tell the priests in an unmistakable way that the Law was being fulfilled, even in little-known points, even in anticipatory senses.  They would see there was a healing power at work in the land, greater than the power of mortal priests.

Sadly, we have no mention that the leper went to the priests as a living testimony as instructed.  It is possible that he felt he could skip this step, reasoning that he knew he was healed so there was no point in being ceremonially declared healed.  There’s a lesson that is suggested by this speculation—it is important to go through all the forms required for repentance because they demonstrate our full willingness to submit to God.  Talk is cheap, and obedience is not.

On asking “why” disability came

I ran across something recently from the Church Handbook on disability:

Leaders and members should not attempt to explain why the challenge of a disability has come to a family.  They should never suggest that a disability is a punishment from God (see John 9:2-3).  Nor should they suggest that it is a blessing to have a child who has a disability. (21.1.26)

When I first read this I was startled, but as I thought about it I could see it is very wise.  Trying to answer the “why” question can lead to all kinds of insensitive comments.

Disability is hard enough to deal with without a manufactured synthetic burden of guilt or blessing.  If we are the one experiencing the disability, guilt about it may paralyze us in despair if we feel we deserve it, or it may provoke anger at God if we feel we don’t.  If we feel we should consider it a blessing, this dismisses and perhaps even denies the difficulties we face in such a way that we will feel frustrated with our challenges.

Meeting others with disability can give us a gnawing uncomfortable feeling that the same thing could easily happen to us or our family members.  We may try to quiet those fears by saying to ourselves that it could not happen because we are somehow more righteous.  We may scrutinize others’ lives looking for their faults, seeking a connection between those faults and their disabilities so we can say it is a punishment.  We may distance ourselves, as if disability is something “catching."

Thinking someone else’s disability is a blessing from God is an even more subtle way of distancing ourselves.  When we tell ourselves that the disability is a blessing, we try to convince ourselves that things are not as bad as they look such that we don’t feel obligated to offer support, encouragement, or help.  After all, they don’t need it because they are blessed, right?

I really like the scripture cited:

2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. (John 9:2-3)

The disciples want to know who is to blame for the man’s disability.  Jesus has this fabulous perspective.  Disability is not a punishment for sin in the pre-mortal life.  It’s not the man’s fault.  Neither is it the fault of the parents.  And further, Jesus doesn’t blame God for it either.  It seems like finding meaning in disability isn’t about looking at the past; it’s about looking to the future as an opportunity to see how the works of God will appear.  Of course, the rest of this story is that Jesus healed the man, which definitely manifested a miraculous work of God, but other works of God include how a disabled person uses their life for good and the kind of choices they make in response to their limitations.

Not attempting to explain why a disability comes is good in a few other ways that I can think of.  First, people most involved have to come to terms with it on their own, and that usually comes from the experience of living with it.  If meaning is imposed from the outside, the soul doesn’t own it and will usually reject it.  Second, making statements about the reason why God would allow disability to come to a family is kind of cheeky, since we are mere mortals and don’t know all the mind and purposes of God in all His creations.

However, we can try to become more observant to see how the works of God are made manifest, both through miracles of healing and miracles of progression.

It seems to me that the first major work of God made manifest is the parents who adapt to a child’s special needs and nurture day after day after day…

From this come other works of God, found in those who have disabilities:

·      Compensatory gifts—Development of amazing strengths to compensate for the disability.  Many of these gifts we would have no idea the possibility of them existed.  How would we know about the possibilities for expression through sign language if no one had hearing impairments?  How would we know it was possible to have such sensitivity of hearing and touch if there were no blind?

·      Optimism—Needed to surmount the huge challenges and barriers to living a better life.

·      Work – No progress is made without it. 

Other ways the works of God have been made manifest are seen in society as a response to disability:

·      Intellectual curiosity, which has led to better understanding of the nature of certain disabilities and training for coping and compensating.

·      Service by helpful individuals.

·      Creation of organizations to advocate for and educate society about disabilities to eliminate social stigma and misunderstandings.

·      Creative use of resources to create aids or cures. 

The final work of God we can look forward to is the healing in the day of resurrection.

 

Perhaps the question to ask in the face of disability is not “Why?” but “Now what?”

In my own life, I was diagnosed with a learning disability called Attention Deficit Disorder when I was around 15 or 16 and started taking medicine for it.  I hardly ever call attention to it or mention it because I don’t like to label myself or use it as an excuse, so it is usually a surprise to people when they find out.  I mention it now to point out one of the ways that God’s works have been made manifest in me, which is in this blog.  Surprisingly enough, one of the compensatory gifts of having ADD is the ability to hyperfocus on activities that I am particularly interested in, and it just so happens that I am particularly interested in the scriptures and writing about them.

Do you or a family member or a friend have a disability?  How have you seen the works of God manifest?

The chastisement of our peace was upon him

But he was wounded for our transgressions,

he was bruised for our iniquities:

the chastisement of our peace was upon him;

and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

 I was always puzzled by the line “the chastisement of our peace was upon him,” which testified of Christ’s suffering; I wondered how our peace would be a chastisement to Him.  An experience I had in my college years while visiting my family during the summer gave me some insight. 

We were all at the dinner table and somehow my brothers got in an argument.  As their older sister, I wanted to make peace between them, but one of my brothers didn’t want to recognize that what he had done was wrong.  This made me sad to see that he was at peace with what he had done and didn’t want to do better.  I felt like it was a chastisement of me for my efforts to settle the problem.  I suppose that in the same way, Christ is hurt when we are at peace with the sins we have committed and don’t want to repent. 

We can interpret that line in a different way if we substitute of with for.

The chastisement for our peace was upon him.

This continues the pattern of parallelism set up by the first two lines of the verse.  If you notice, the first two lines speak of paying for sins, but the third line builds in the possibility of achieving peace.  This makes even clearer that he took the chastisement that we would suffer for our sins so that we could have peace in our hearts. 

I can’t help but mention one other line from this verse.

with his stripes we are healed – I love this image; it captures the miracle of the atonement.  When I read this, I envision a whip scoring Christ’s back and another man’s wounds miraculously healing with each blow.  I envision Christ watching that healing take place and enduring His beating so that the healing can be completed.  Now although that isn’t in the New Testament, I feel sure that as Christ endured His scourging He was thinking of this scripture and envisioning the healing of the countless numbers of people who had relied on Him and would rely on Him far into the future.

Isaiah 53 has some beautiful imagery about Christ’s atonement.  What lines from it have you worked hard to appreciate and understand?  What have you learned?  Please share in the comments, or write a blog post on it and share the link with us!

The impotent man healed by action

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

10 ¶ The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.

11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.

12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?

13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.

14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. (John 5:1-14)

When I was reading this, something that stuck out to me was the man’s answer when Jesus asked him if he wanted to be made whole. He said, “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me” (v7). He doesn’t think his long problem is his fault; it’s someone else’s fault, someone else gets the luck, no one is willing to help.

This is meaningful to me because sometimes I go through stages when I feel like I am “impotent” or powerless to act. Like the man who sat waiting for a sign of something good about to happen and waiting for someone to help him, I sometimes wait, thinking that I need a lucky break or I need someone or something to come into my life and help me with a problem. Jesus tells the man to rise, take up his bed, and walk, commanding him to act. In the moment of action, the man is healed of his infirmity. This teaches me that if I simply rise up and take action, in that moment, I am healed of my powerlessness.

An example of times when this happens is when I feel like I have something I need to write for this blog. Often I feel like the essence of what I have to communicate is so sublime and edifying that any attempt I make to express it will fail. So I dither, waiting to be inspired. I read scriptures, conference articles, and a mountain of uplifting things, hoping to be “moved upon” so that I can feel up to writing what I feel has to be written. But I still feel inadequate and powerless.

For some reason, I have to be reminded over and over that I just need to ACT. I need to begin, to try. I have impressions to just sit down and dash something off as quickly as possible without thinking too hard about it. So, I pluck up some courage and I do. And in the process of acting, I overcome my feelings of powerlessness.

How interesting that when the man acts miraculously, he immediately gets smacked down by the Jews for breaking the law. The Jews had many little rules for what could and couldn’t be done on the Sabbath. Someone who broke the rules was considered unholy and could be killed. Jesus healed on the Sabbath. To the spiritually in tune, this would signal that He was holy and of God. Then Jesus instructed the man to carry his bed, which was contrary to the nit-picky Pharisee rules, but which was within the spirit of the law of the Sabbath. If the Pharisees could accept that someone who broke the nit-picky rules also did a miraculous healing, that would indicate to them their rules were unnecessary. (Unfortunately they didn’t get it.)

“Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” -- Jesus was warning not merely of a repeat of the infirmity that might come upon him, but speaking spiritually of spiritual prison in the hereafter and not just spiritual impotence if he didn’t repent, but spiritual death. Jesus meant for the miraculous healing to teach about His power to save from crippling sin.

To me, this story teaches me about how we need to ACT for ourselves. Specifically, for everyone of us who want to be free of sin, we have to choose to ACT. We can’t be forgiven if we don’t take the first step of seeking forgiveness.

I’m the music leader in primary right now and we’ve been learning a song called “As a Child of God” and the lyrics have a great message about the power that we have in our lives.

I came to earth with power to choose

Good choices bless me and my family too

As a child of God I receive special light,

The Holy Ghost helps me to know what is right.

That idea that I am born with the power to choose and my choices can bless me and my family has rolled around and around my mind this month and has spurred me to act and choose in ways that I know will lead to improvement (healing) in my character.

How have you been healed of impotence by ACTing?

Paul’s healing handkerchiefs and aprons: A type and shadow of priesthood service

11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. (Acts 19:11-12)

It strikes me that one reason these miracles are exceptional (besides the obvious NEAT-O factor) was because of the unusual needs demonstrated. Paul didn’t go himself, so he must have been prevented either by more pressing needs or because the number urgently needing healing was so great and in a situation so precarious that he could not get to all of them in time. (Some kind of plague?) In this situation, it would make sense for him to go to who he could and then send handkerchiefs and aprons to those he could not get to immediately or at all.

This type of healing required great faith from him and from those who needed the healing. He had to have faith that God would honor this “act of sending” with the same healing as if he was present to bless the sick. The sick person similarly had to have faith that God would heal through the cloth tokens of Paul’s presence.

In a way, the handkerchiefs and aprons could be said to be a type of priesthood service. The handkerchiefs and aprons in and of themselves did not have power to heal. But when sent on a divine mission, invested with power from God, sent by one with authority, they could heal. In the same way, priesthood holders, in and of themselves don’t have this power. But when sent on a divine mission, they manifest the power of God to do what God would do if He were here. I’ve witnessed that.

Type of Christ: The tree heals the waters for the Israelites

I stumbled across this little incident in Exodus recently and was struck by it.

23 ¶And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
25 And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,
26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. (Exodus 15:23-26)

Here the Lord uses the miracle of healing the waters to teach a lesson. The tree (a thing of life) healed the waters and made them sweet. The Lord teaches that He is like the living tree that can heal them and their bitter lives if they keep the commandments.

Also note that the tree healed the waters by coming down among the waters. Just as the tree healed by coming down among the waters, the Lord will be able to heal Israel by coming down as a mortal among them and atoning for them.

This miracle becomes a type and shadow of the condescension of God, prefiguring Christ’s mortal life and mission.

Image: The Love of YHWH, http://theloveofyhwh.yolasite.com/about-mysterys.php

Alma as a type of Christ in the healing of Zeerom

3 And also Zeezrom lay sick at Sidom, with a burning fever, which was caused by the great tribulations of his mind on account of his wickedness, for he supposed that Alma and Amulek were no more; and he supposed that they had been slain because of his iniquity. And this great sin, and his many other sins, did harrow up his mind until it did become exceedingly sore, having no deliverance; therefore he began to be scorched with a burning heat.
4 Now, when he heard that Alma and Amulek were in the land of Sidom, his heart began to take courage; and he sent a message immediately unto them, desiring them to come unto him.
5 And it came to pass that they went immediately, obeying the message which he had sent unto them; and they went in unto the house unto Zeezrom; and they found him upon his bed, sick, being very low with a burning fever; and his mind also was exceedingly sore because of his iniquities; and when he saw them he stretched forth his hand, and besought them that they would heal him.
6 And it came to pass that Alma said unto him, taking him by the hand: Believest thou in the power of Christ unto salvation?
7 And he answered and said: Yea, I believe all the words that thou hast taught.
8 And Alma said: If thou believest in the redemption of Christ thou canst be healed.
9 And he said: Yea, I believe according to thy words.
10 And then Alma cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord our God, have mercy on this man, and heal him according to his faith which is in Christ.
11 And when Alma had said these words, Zeezrom leaped upon his feet, and began to walk; and this was done to the great astonishment of all the people; and the knowledge of this went forth throughout all the land of Sidom. (Alma 15:3-11)

These are the things that make Alma a type of Christ:

• Alma taught Zeezrom the truth (previously in Ammonihah).
• Alma suffered because of Zeezrom’s sins (imprisonment, abuse, mocking, etc.), yet he escapes though Zeezrom thinks he is dead.
• Alma becomes an advocate to God for Zeezrom for healing and salvation on account of faith in Christ.
  

“I Am Not Sent”

In this story I think about why the Savior may have intended to put off the Canaanite woman who was looking for healing for her daughter. I also look at what was so great about her faith that enabled her to overcome Christ’s divine sense of priority.

21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. (Matthew 15:21-28)

So the first question we are faced with is this: Why does Jesus not respond immediately like he does so many other times for others who beg him to come and heal their stricken family members? Is His mercy selective? It is hard to believe that it would be. It doesn’t seem consistent with His character that He would play favorites. We get an answer to this question in Mark’s version of the story: “But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs” (Mark 7:27).

So it seems that Jesus considered the Jews the children of the kingdom who had be fed the doctrine and the miracles first, meaning the children hadn’t eaten yet.

Why were the Jews considered the privileged “children”? Because they had been taught the nature of God. They had the writings of the prophets, and they had the commandments including “be holy, for I the Lord thy God am holy”. They were the children of the kingdom who were the husbandmen of the vineyard, and they were vineyard itself. They had stewardship over the kingdom. “They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ” (Rom. 9:2-5).

…Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 9:4-5)

If Jesus were to drop everything and go with the woman to cast the devil out of the woman’s daughter, He would be neglecting His duty to the house of Israel, who needed to be ministered to first as God had promised Abraham long ago. Heavenly Father’s plan and promise was that through Abraham’s seed, all kindred’s of the earth would be blessed, but that meant Abraham’s seed had to be blessed first.

It is also important for us to notice another thing that Jesus said—“I am not sent.” This shows us that while it may have appeared to everyone else that Jesus was going wherever He wanted whenever He wanted, Jesus was actually taking orders from His Heavenly Father. Further, this suggests that when He heard the Canaanite woman’s request, during the time when He didn’t answer her, He must have been praying silently to the Father as to whether it was the Father’s will to go with her or not. Then the feeling must have come that He was not to go with her because there were more people of Israel who needed Him. A difficult answer, but He was obedient to it.

Yet the Canaanite woman persisted. “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

Why did she persist? Surely because it was her only hope. In her desperation, her mind must have taken hold of the words Jesus spoke—“Let the children first be filled.” (I bet she was a strong and well-spoken woman with an active and incisive mind, familiar with argument, ready to take advantage of the least rhetorical opening that could give her hope.) “Let the children first be filled” must have suggested to her that there might be leftovers. I can almost see her wheedle. “Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Rather than be content to be grouped with the common negative identifier of “dog” as a gentile (with masterless, greedy, wandering, scavenger characteristics), she jumped to identify herself with the more positive image of dogs, as tamed faithful servants who were dependent on the master for whatever food was left after a good meal. This suggests further that she knew who the master was and who the master’s children were and she wasn’t going to argue with that. She knew where the “food” came from; she knew salvation was of the Jews. “Just give me a leftover miracle,” she seemed to plead.

And Jesus relents, commending her great faith. What was so great about her faith? I felt I needed to examine this.

When the Canaanite woman addresses Jesus as “O Lord, thou Son of David” we see that she not only has heard the prophecies about a coming Messiah and his ancestry, but she strongly believes that Jesus fulfills those prophecies.

Asking for mercy for her daughter who is vexed with a devil indicates several things. That she knows the problem is a devil indicates that she has a natural gift for discerning spirits. Her appeal to Jesus showed her strong faith that He had all power over the spiritual realm and He could help her daughter. We also must conclude that the Canaanite woman presents herself to Jesus as a manifestation of the faith of her afflicted daughter as well. (If the afflicted daughter didn’t believe in Jesus’s power, it is unlikely that Jesus’s power would have affected her at that long distance. If the Canaanite woman didn’t believe in Jesus’s power, she wouldn’t have come to Him and would have even disregarded the faith of her daughter.) So we can surmise that the Canaanite woman and her daughter had heard of Jesus’s power and miracles and that they both had pinned all their hopes on Jesus’s identity and authority.

It is notable that when Jesus casts the devil out of the Canaanite woman’s daughter, He does it at long distance. This is extraordinary because it is a departure from the way He usually casts out devils. In all other recorded cases of the New Testament when Jesus cast’s out devils, He comes to the afflicted person, tells the devils to leave, and the devils leave. He has to be there to tell the devils to leave and the faith of the afflicted person (or an advocate for the afflicted person) works with Jesus’s power to work the miracle. But in this case, the afflicted girl never comes into Jesus’s presence.

This teaches us something about Jesus’s power. It teaches us that if we ever feel ourselves afflicted and vexed by a devil, if we believe in Jesus, He can cast the devil out of us from wherever He is. We don’t quite know what brought the devil on the girl in the first place, whether it was sin or some uninvited torment. If it was for sin, forgiveness from Jesus would cast it out. If it was an uninvited torment, Jesus could command the devil to leave.

There’s an epilogue to this miracle. After Jesus’s encounter with the Canaanite woman, we see that He did exactly as He said; He went back to Galilee and filled the children of the kingdom.

29 And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.
30 And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:
31 Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. (Matthew 15:29-31)

We see that there were indeed many of the children of the kingdom who needed to be filled. A few verses after this is recorded the miracle of feeding the four thousand. Because Jesus allowed Heavenly Father to guide Him, He was able to make appropriate choices and know where His priorities lay. This enabled Him to bless many people, not just a few, and fill them both physically and spiritually.

Another thought-provoking view of the incident can be found at Koinonia.