I remember that when I was younger, and I heard the passages of scripture about Jesus's Crucifixion.
At times I felt upset and confused at why God, Our Father, would allow
Jesus Christ to be in such agony that He would feel that He was
forsaken, as Christ called, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?" (Matt. 27 :46)
I
can hardly consider those words out of my Savior's mouth, and not feel
fear for those whom allowed Him to be in such despair, and my entire
being sinks at those spoken words by my Savior, Jesus Christ.
As
I have studied and pondered those spoken words, I appreciate and
understand that Jesus Christ " feeling forsaken" was part of the price
that He paid in order to not only save us, but also to be able to succor
us, as we will each have times that we feel forsaken by God.
Elder Oaks states it perfectly in his address titled, " Strengthened by the Atonement " (Oct.2015) he says,
"The Book of Mormon states, “And he will take upon him their infirmities, that his
bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may
know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their
infirmities” (Alma 7:12).
For
example, the Apostle Paul declared that because the Savior “hath
suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).
Similarly, President James E. Faust taught,
“Since the Savior has
suffered anything and everything that we could ever feel or experience,
He can help the weak to become stronger.
Our
Savior experienced and suffered the fullness of all mortal challenges
“according to the flesh” so He could know “according to the flesh” how
to “succor [which means to give relief or aid to] his people according
to their infirmities."
He therefore knows our struggles, our heartaches,
our temptations, and our suffering, for He willingly experienced them
all as an essential part of His Atonement. And because of this, His
Atonement empowers Him to succor us—to give us the strength to bear it
all. "
Elder Holland explains this wonderfully in his address titled " None were with Him " (April 2009) as he states :
"Indeed, it is my personal belief that in all of Christ’s mortal ministry
the Father may never have been closer to His Son than in these
agonizing final moments of suffering. Nevertheless, that the supreme
sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and
solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His
Spirit, the support of His personal presence. It was required, indeed it
was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son
who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing
had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we
did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He
had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually,
to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving
one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone."
As
I have my own trials and experiences I have not felt forsaken, However -
as I consider these things - I now know why the Savior must have had
the need to speak that He did feel forsaken - This was for me - This was
for you - and this was for all of us.
Because I know that my Savior did feel forsaken (Matt.27:46), and
because I know that He did indeed forgive those whom put Him in that
position(Luke 23:34), and because I have witness that in His pain He not
think of Himself, but did think of His Mother(John 19:25-27), and
because I learned that this was all His will (John 19:30, Luke 23:46)
and lastly because I know that He did in fact over come it all, take our sins upon Him and resurrect on the third day -
I
know with a perfect example before me how I should also react to my
trials. I know that He knows how I feel in every circumstance. I know
that He - the one who endured this all for me -
will be able to help me.......
Because as Joseph B. Wirthlin states it:
"Each of us will have our own
Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the
shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will
experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together
again. We will all have our Fridays.
But
I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will
come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.
No
matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this
life or the next, Sunday will come." (Sunday Will Come, Oct. 2006)
AND
HE WILL BE WITH US TO SUCCOR ALL OF OUR " FEELINGS OF BEING FORSAKEN"
HE WILL BE WITH US IN HIS EXAMPLE AND WITNESS OF HIS LIFE AND
RESURRECTION. HE WILL BE WITH US AS HE KNOWS WHAT WE HAVE FELT, AND WAS
ABLE TO ENDURE IT....
HE WILL HELP US ENDURE IT TOO.
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