The Seventy

In Luke chapter 10, the Lord appoints the seventy. He gives them specific instructions on how to teach His people and gather His sheep. He speaks of the power that they are endowed with and says, “Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” The Lord instructs the seventy to go into the cities and speak of Him and share the gospel. He tells them that those who accept them, are in turn accepting Him and those who reject them, are also rejecting Him. The article of faith, 1:6 that says, “We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church,” is referring to the organization of those like the seventy. To this day, there is an organization of the seventy, called by God and acting in his name, upon the earth, just like there is a Prophet called by God who receives revelation for us and in whom I believe and follow him. Trusting in the organization that is still here on this earth brings us closer to the Lord now. 

Prince of Peace

One of my favorite scriptural stories is the portion of John 9 that tells about the a blind man that was healed by the Lord (my contribution to my families Christmas Eve talent show was actually a historical-fiction type story of this!). He had been blind since birth. A beggar. The Lord healed him by rubbing mud on his eyes and telling him to wash in the pool of Siloam. It was a miracle. The non-believers were offended, and cast him out. As soon as he knew what happened to the man, Christ searched for him and found him like he searches for each of us. Liz Lemon Swindle painted a picture of a Christ face while he is searching for him. She says, “I could see the determination on Christ’s face as He made His way through the crowd. I draw comfort from knowing that if He will search after him, He will search after me.” Liz Lemon Swindle

For my New Testament class assignment, I was asked to create a chart showing three people in the story’s spiritual blindness or spiritual sight:

Pharisees- Spiritual Blindness	Blind Man- Spiritual Sight	Parents- Spiritual Blindness
“How can a man…” v16 “And there was a division among them.” v16 “Did not believe…” v18 “Give God the praise, we know…” v24 “did not hear…” v27 “We know not from whence he is.” v29	“I do see” v15 “He is a prophet” v17 “I know one thing…” v25 “I have told you already and ye did not hear…” v27 “Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, yet he hath opened mine eyes.” V30 “if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.” He knew. He knew he would be found. He knew he would be saved.” v31 “Lord, I believe.” v38	“We do not know” v21 “He shall speak for himself.” v21 “feared the Jews” v22

One of my favorite lines in this story that I had not noticed before reading it this time, is “why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, yet he hath opened mine eyes.” Even after all the grief the Pharisees and people were putting him through, he still responds with what he knows. He even sounds a little sassy at that… “Well look at that. You not knowing where he came from doesn’t change the fact that he healed my blindness… I mean, look at me guys…” I love that the experience this man had was so special to him that nothing could make him forget it. Even his own parents were so afraid of being cast out of the synagogue that they would not take a side, even their own son’s side. Their fear was valid, the man was cast out. The important part of this story is that because he defended his faith, stood up for righteousness, and was persecuted for it, the Lord came to find him personally. Just as he does in our lives. Even in impossible looking and feeling circumstances, something always work out when we are standing for our faith. The man says to the Pharisees, “if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.” (v31). He knew he would be found. He knew he would be saved. The last verse of this story he says, “I believe”. It is the perfect ending because he believed and had faith throughout the whole parable. He was the only person to believe and the only person that got to be with the Lord himself. 

Peter and the Storms of Life

When the apostles first saw the savior walking on the water toward them, they were frightened. But, once the Lord told them who he was and not to fear, Peter’s immediate response was “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” As I think about that response, I try to put it into modern terms. In my life, storms sometimes rage. Whether it is drama natural to the life of a young single adult or major and all encompassing difficulties, storms rage. In my little boat of sanity, that can be thrashed in the waves, I sometimes don’t understand how to escape the encompassing storm, until I realize that the one who can and wants to save me, is waiting for me to hear Him, to recognize that he is just outside of my boat.

I wondered if Peter’s response, “if”, was asking for a sign rather than exercising faith, but I feel that that is actually just his desire to run to the Lord, the part of Peter that had just great faith that he knew the impossible was possible for something so important. Being human, however, Peter began to sink when fear rose back up and pushed away that child like faith. The Lord “immediately” grabs him and asks why he would doubt. Peter had the faith it took to step out of the boat, but the moment he took his focus off of the Lord and onto the distractions of the world happening around him, it was not strong enough to withstand the currents pushing against him.

Doctrine and Covenants section 88 verse 67 says, “And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.” The point of this life is to get better at it. Peter’s first reaction was the reaction I would hope to have and to keep in all of my distressing times. However, it is not always how I react. Sometimes I take a while to recognize that I am not alone (that’s usually when I get the most dramatic about things…), but only when I hear Him calling, “Be of good cheer, it is I! Be not afraid!” do I finally figure it out. 

A Timeless Literature

My posts of late have been sparse. As I have made the excuse before, school takes up a lot of my time. And the depressing amount of spare time I do have is used for doing laundry, grocery shopping, cooking something other than Top Ramen, working in church callings, or sometimes (okay, maybe more than sometimes) taking a nap… Learning is hard work! But, I still love to read. I still love to study words and still find so much meaning in telling the stories of our lives and experiencing the events of others.

With this post, I am taking a slight turn in the topics of discussion. I am currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada. Quite a change from the small town Rexburg, Idaho where I completed my university education. I am student teaching in an honors English class and taking an online religion class with it. In the class, I am participating in guided study of The New Testament in the King James version of The Holy Bible. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know The Bible to be the word of God as I know The Book of Mormon to be another testament of Christ and truth as well. I am excited to be taking this class because in all of the time I have studied the scriptures, I have never read The New Testament cover to cover. That is my goal here.

Each week, part of my assignment will be to make a blog post on the week’s topic. The Bible is a slightly different genre than my blog is used to being filled with, but it is one of the greatest works of literature of all time.

(My favorite picture of Christ. "Prince of Peace" by Liz Lemon Swindle)

Today’s topic: Parables

1.       During Christ’s ministry, his teaching strategy of choice was often parables. Parables were an effective tool in His situation because they teach deep and important messages while requiring an honest desire and learned ability to understand. A parable is a story used to teach a specific principle. Christ explained to his apostles that he only taught in parables because those who didn’t understand, were not ready to understand. The bible dictionary aptly explains, “Thus it is that the parable exhibits the condition of all true knowledge. Only he who seeks finds.” True knowledge and understanding requires work, and through that work the meaning and personal application is deepened and implanted in one’s memory.

2.       The parable of the tares can explain one reason why the Church sends out so many missionaries. The parable of the tares involves a sower of good seeds (representing the Son of God sending His children and angels to the earth) and an “enemy” who secretly sowed seeds that are destructive to the original wheat seeds, tares. The man’s servants ask if they should pull the tares out to save the wheat and he replies that they should wait until they are grown, harvest the wheat and separate it from the tares, then burn the tares and bring the wheat to his barn. Missionaries are sent out to all corners of the world to bring the gospel and knowledge of Christ to those who do not have it. Followers of Christ continue his work here on earth and join his army in the fight against the evil influences trying to thwart his work. Being “brought into His barn” is representative of being with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father in eternal happiness. 

3.       The parable of the treasure and the pearl of great price in Matthew 13 describes a man who gave up his worldly possessions in search of something of greater value, the pearl of great price. The pearl that holds great value can represent the gospel. It is the thing that means the most in life and is the most important to understand and to hold on to. Those who are willing to sacrifice worldly wealth and recognition in order to maintain their relationship with God understand that this life is not the life that matters. What we choose to do here matters because that is what creates our character, what we take with us. But the events and glories of this life are not as important as becoming who God would have us be and keeping a real relationship with our Father in Heaven.