New Testament Lesson #3
Matthew 2; Luke 2
First of all, thank you Aaron for your insightful comments and questions at the end of last week’s blogpost. I was hoping that someone would comment on your questions. And, interestingly, Alexis did bring up similar points in Relief Society today. And I think her conclusion, that it is, as always, a question of faith, although possibly frustrating, nevertheless can help us. Our topic in Relief Society was D. Todd Christofferson’s talk: “Firm and Steadfast in the Faith of Christ.”[1]And we looked at it from the point of view of trials coming before conversion, specifically this scripture “And after their temptations, and much tribulation, behold, I, the Lord, will feel after them, and if they harden not their hearts, and stiffen not their necks against me, they shall be converted, and I will heal them” (D&C 112:12–13). Maybe, it is healing we should be seeking for? Just my thoughts.
This week’s scriptures are so well known to us. As a child growing up in the Church of England, I was often blessed to do the reading at Christmas, to the extent that I knew the first half of Luke 2 off by heart. But I soon learned that just because I could repeat something by heart, didn’t mean I understood it.
I have a couple of comments that might spark some thought. We know so little of Jesus’s early life, before His baptism, but I think of what trust our Heavenly Father had in Mary and Joseph to give them His Son as a helpless baby. And what spiritual confirmation of His divine role as Savior and Redeemer of the world came to the rich and the poor: the Wise men and the shepherds. It is our privilege to have that same confirmation as we use the abilities the Lord has granted us to come to Him, to know Him, and to follow Him.
And harking back a little to last week and then forward to Gethsemane, what does it take to say as Mary: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). And as the Savior Himself: “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).
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