Joyfully Receive the Unexpected Messiah

Triumphal Entry

It is an honor and joy for Sister Uchtdorf and me to be back at BYU, especially during this most important week. And I don’t mean finals week—although that is very important too, and you should all study very hard for your exams, as soon as this devotional is over.

This week is even more important for another reason. In fact, it’s arguably the most sacred week in the Christian calendar. We commemorate our Savior’s final days in mortality, culminating with His glorious Resurrection and triumph over death on that beautiful Easter Sunday.

In recent days, including at general conference, we have been blessed with a multitude of messages and testimonies celebrating these sacred events.

Only two days ago, the Christian world remembered Palm Sunday. Today, let’s turn our thoughts to that historic day when Jesus Christ, the King of kings, rode triumphantly yet humbly into the holy city of Jerusalem.

The city streets were crowded with people who had gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Word spread quickly that Jesus of Nazareth was coming, and it created quite a stir. “All the city was moved,” the scriptures say.¹ A great multitude gathered at the city gate to welcome Him. Some spread their clothing on the ground to honor Him as He entered their beloved city. Others cut down branches from palm trees and spread them on the road. People were cheering and shouting “with a loud voice . . . : ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’”²

The atmosphere was absolutely electric.

People started asking, “Who is this?”³

The Pharisees wanted to put a stop to all the commotion. But of course that was impossible. The air was charged with excitement and anticipation.⁴

Can you imagine how the Savior’s disciples must have felt? This was the moment they had been waiting for! Finally people were recognizing Jesus as the promised Messiah. Finally the wait was over! The suffering would now end! The children of Israel would be liberated because their King had arrived!

The people were filled with eager anticipation—but were they anticipating the right things?⁵

Expectations

Well, in time the shouts of praise and jubilation died down, as happens so often in life. The crowds dispersed. People went back to their regularly scheduled activities. They had their Passover meal. They were still subject to Rome and still had to pay taxes. Many of them probably looked back on that Sunday in Jerusalem and wondered what all the fuss had been about.

Meanwhile, Jesus had a quiet Last Supper with His apostles in the Upper Room. He taught them, encouraged them, and prayed for them. He gave them the sacrament ordinance, something to remember Him by.

Then He walked into a garden called Gethsemane, and there—alone—He took upon Himself the sins of the world. He walked “the winepress alone,” and no one was with Him.⁶

By the end of the next day, Jesus was hanging on a cross between two common thieves, suffering a cruel and humiliating execution. Instead of adoration, He now received mocking. “If he be the King of Israel,” the people said, “let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.”⁷

Some observers must have been sincerely confused. Wasn’t this the same man who had caused all that commotion a few days ago? Wasn’t He supposed to be our Deliverer? How will He save us if He can’t even save Himself?

One of the thieves being crucified with Jesus verbalized what many people were surely thinking: “Aren’t you the Messiah?” he asked. “Save yourself and us!”⁸

With the advantage of hindsight, we can clearly see that people had mistaken expectations about Jesus’s real mission. John observed that at first even Jesus’s disciples didn’t understand.⁹

By accepting the agony and enduring it to the very end, He was indeed saving them, even those who crucified Him. By His own free will and choice, He gave Himself as the final and complete sacrifice. That is who the Messiah is. And by this He was saving you and me and all who will ever live on this earth.

Descending from the cross and saving Himself would have been impressive, and it may have persuaded some that He was more than a human being, perhaps even the Son of God.

But the fact that He chose to take His cross, walk the winepress alone, and bring the ultimate sacrifice to the divine altar to rescue all of God’s children— even though He had the power to save Himself—has become the supernal witness that He is indeed the Son of God. He was submissive to His Father’s will and was committed to fulfilling His Father’s plan of salvation to the last breath.

With all the additional insight and abundance of revelation that has enlightened the world to this day, we can understand that now—if we are willing. He is the Messiah! But, my dear young friends, how would we have reacted in the moment right there in Jerusalem or up in Galilee?

Perhaps we shouldn’t be too judgmental of our fellow humans of that ancient time who were genuinely puzzled by this “unexpected Messiah.”¹⁰

When Things Don’t Seem to Fit

Haven’t we all experienced an occasional disconnect between what we expect in life and what actually happens? Aren’t unexpected surprises part of our lives?

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of high ideals. Many of us are drawn to the Savior precisely because He lifts our sights and our aspirations high above and beyond anything the world has to offer.

We believe, for example, that every human being is a beloved child of the most glorious being in the universe! And because of that, each of us has limitless potential and a glorious divine destiny!

We believe in “the blessed and happy state of those that [are willing to] keep the commandments of God.”¹¹ We have faith that the path of discipleship is the path of divine joy—that living the gospel leads to a happy, peaceful life with strong family relationships that will go beyond this life into the eternities.

Those are some of the ideals of the gospel. They are beautiful and hopeful, and they are true. I am a witness of that.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they don’t always match the messy, mundane realities of mortality.

In a perfect world, everyone would always keep the commandments of God. In a perfect world, we all would feel blessed and happy, and every faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would have a strong, fulfilling marriage and family. But the fact is that some of us face very complex, daunting challenges that make these blessings seem almost out of reach.

So what do we do when the beautiful, universal, eternal ideals of the gospel clash with the painful, individual, mortal realities of life?

There are at least two things you should remember:

• Never give up on the ideal.
• Don’t disregard the real.

Accept both.

It’s not easy for our mortal minds and hearts to hold onto two concepts that seem to contradict one another.

So, to resolve the disconnect in our minds, we might jump quickly to conclusions: “If I’m suffering, I must have done something wrong.” Or “If I’m not seeing the blessings I hoped for, the promises must not be real.” Or, as the thief on the cross wondered, “If He is the Christ, why doesn’t He end my pain?”

God’s Way Is Not Our Way

But maybe there’s another way to look at things. Didn’t the Lord say, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts [higher] than your thoughts”?¹²

We don’t have to look far to see examples of this principle in action. There are so many things in life that God sees differently than we do.

Let’s take, for example, the well-known scripture from the Book of Mormon: “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”¹³

We tend to think of joy as the absence of sorrow.

But what if joy is not the absence of sorrow?

What if joy and sorrow can coexist?

What if they have to coexist?

It’s interesting that Lehi’s declaration about joy comes in the same breath as his observation about the fall of Adam and Eve. He seems to be saying that their transgression in the Garden of Eden, which brought pain and death and sickness and sorrow into the world, also made way for joy.

In other words, if you wait for sorrow to end before you experience joy, you might miss joy completely. To experience a measure of sorrow may enable your heart and mind to receive pure heavenly joy!¹⁴

How is that possible? The answer comes—as answers so often do—from Jesus Christ and the plan of happiness given by the Father.¹⁵ To use Eve’s words, it is

the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.
And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God.¹⁶

That is the principle.

The deep joy God offers to us is much different from the shallow pleasures the world advertises. It is the kind of joy President Russell M. Nelson taught: “We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!”¹⁷

“God Is in Heaven and You Are on Earth”

With that in mind, let’s return to the Crucifixion of the Savior and the thief who said, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

There was another thief being crucified that day, and he had a different view of what it meant to be saved. Here is what he said to his fellow thief:

“Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”¹⁸

This second thief was suffering just like the first one. He surely would have liked to have been saved from his fate on the cross. But He trusted the Lord’s wisdom and His timing.

So when things don’t seem to fit perfectly and you don’t have a good answer, before assuming that there is no good answer, take this advice from the book of Ecclesiastes:

Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth.¹⁹

Climb the Mountain, See Things Differently

Have you ever noticed how different things look from a higher elevation? Maybe you’ve had the experience of hiking Y Mountain or one of the breathtaking peaks surrounding this valley. When you reach the summit and look back down at the valley, isn’t it amazing how small everything looks? While you are on the valley floor, a tree or a vehicle or a building can seem like a huge obstacle. But from the mountaintop, with a higher perspective of things, they aren’t so intimidating any longer.

God invites us to follow His way to a higher and holier perspective. You will see the world and its challenges with different eyes; you will see things in the context of the whole creation and the plan of salvation. You will get a more complete and encompassing insight in a way that is not possible when you are in the thick of things.

I believe that scripture study and daily prayer are part of these excursions into higher and holier places where the ideal and the earthly reality are better understood.

My dear young friends, connect with Heavenly Father daily, elevate your view, and raise your perspective on life and on your personal situation.

Connect with your Father in Heaven by praying to Him and by pondering His words. He is your Father, and He wants you to speak to Him, just as any loving father would.

Personal prayer and scripture study are perfect ways to communicate with Him. Personal prayer will help you to focus your life on “the weightier matters.”²⁰ Of course the purpose of prayer isn’t for you to share new information with the all-knowing God of the Universe. Jesus said, “Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”²¹ Pray with your heart and mind. “Use not vain repetitions.”²²

My dear friends, you are in a part of your life when important decisions need to be made: consequential choices on education and occupation, who to marry, and when to start having a family. For all these choices you need the blessings of heaven and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. And it is there. It is available. Follow the pattern the Lord taught Oliver Cowdery. First, “study it out in your mind; then . . . ask [God] if it be right.”²³

You have a brain and a heart. And you will know.

So please ask your Heavenly Father for blessings and guidance. Share with Him your hopes, dreams, and desires. But in doing so, make sure that you are not trying to get Him to see things your way. Ask Him to open your eyes to see things His way. That’s when the answers start to flow. That’s when you climb the mountain and begin to see things from a higher perspective—even Heavenly Father’s perspective. “Then shall [your] confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and [light and truth] shall distil upon [your] soul as the dews from heaven.”²⁴ Small drops, one at a time—24/7.

You will see that many things that seemed very big and overwhelming are in reality much smaller and not so threatening anymore.

At the same time you will discover the eternal significance of certain things that seemed small to your mortal eyes.²⁵

Your personal prayers may be simple and plain—and they should be—but they should be heartfelt. They are meant to be frequent but to never become commonplace.

In our prayers we follow the example the Savior set for us in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, “Father, . . . not my will, but thine, be done.”²⁶

Answers to your prayers will come. Of this I testify. Perhaps not your way, but certainly His way. Sometimes they come through a scripture, a sacred feeling, or the words of a trusted person, but come they will.

The weekly opportunity to partake of the sacrament is also one of those recurring, quiet moments that can lead to a greater recognition of “the weightier matters” in life. How profoundly you need this sacred time when you renew your covenants and can be still as you ponder where you are in your personal discipleship!

The Savior Himself expressed the sacredness of this ordinance when He said to His disciples, “This do in remembrance of me.”²⁷ What a blessing to have a time set aside to renew your witness that you are willing to always remember Him and keep His commandments and in return receive His divine promise that you “may always have his Spirit to be with [you]”²⁸ to guide you, to help you, to lift you up.

As you intentionally make time and room for these quiet, small, simple but deeply spiritual moments, you will discover that the Lord indeed knows you. He knows your heart. He knows your name. These moments can be to you like that holy, peaceful moment on a beautiful spring morning outside an empty tomb when a young woman was weeping and the resurrected Jesus called her by name. “Mary,” he said.²⁹

Can you feel Jesus with His gentle voice calling you by name? Remember, the Savior knows your name. He loves you.

“Behold, Thy King Cometh unto Thee”

On Palm Sunday, Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem drew a crowd. It was a glorious and exciting moment. But even more important was what Jesus did after He entered Jerusalem—even though much of it was done quietly, privately, even unnoticed by most people.

It may not have been what the people expected of the Messiah. But it was what God had promised. And it was what the people—humanity, you and I—what we all needed. It was the heavenly gift and the atoning sacrifice that all of humanity, all of God’s children, needed.

“Behold,” the prophet Zechariah said, “thy King cometh unto thee.”³⁰

Just as He entered triumphantly into Jerusalem, the gentle Christ enters your lives individually, if you will receive Him.

Therefore, during this sacred Easter week, I invite you to each personally ask yourself:

• Will I show Jesus Christ that I want Him to be my King?
• Will I invite Jesus Christ to have His triumphal entry into my life?
• Will I allow Jesus Christ to change my heart, to lift my vision, and to teach me His higher and holier ways?

My dear young friends, my dear fellow disciples of Jesus Christ, I testify and bear witness of the living Son of the living God, our Savior and our Redeemer, the unexpected Messiah. You have chosen to follow Him. He is your strength. He is your salvation. He is your joy.

I bless you with hearts that are open as wide as the gates of Jerusalem to joyfully receive the Messiah, the Savior, the King of kings. I bless you with eyes to see His miraculous power working in your life wherever you are. And as one of His apostles, I testify of His power, His love, and His tender care for each and every one of you and leave you my blessing, in the sacred name of our Master, Jesus Christ, amen.

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