Week 14: John 20:15

In John 20:15 Mary Magdalene has gone to take care of the body of Christ but has come to discover that it is not where it was laid. As she mourns someone she assumes to be a gardener comes and asks her why she weeps and she responds "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." She does not recognize that it is Christ who has come to her in her state of mourning and she brushes him off and almost accuses him of being the cause of her current problem. As I read this I wondered how often we do something similar. Sometimes when we are struggling the Spirit is trying to come to us and teach us something important and we ignore his message and proceed to blame God for the problem with which we are dealing. The Savior was patient with Mary though, and waited for her to realize who He was and then was able to show her the miracle that was His resurrection. I know Christ waits patiently for each of us and if we are looking for His hand in our lives, we will be able to more fully recognize the miracle of the Atonement.

Week 13: Matt 27:26

In Matt 27:26 Pilate releases Barabbas, a man accused of theft, murder, and sedition, and lets him go free while he delivers Christ to be crucified. When reading this verse we naturally dislike Barabbas and the fact that he would let the innocent Christ go to the cross when he himself is guilty. However, don't we all do the same thing? Barabbas is a representation of each one of us. We are all far more wicked than Christ and yet he suffered and died for us. While there is no record of how Barabbas responded to being set free there are two options. He could be grateful for the second chance he was given and hold Jesus near to him knowing that an innocent man died in his place or, he can go about his life forgetting the incident and acting as if he was never sentenced to death. These are the same choices we face. When we partake of the sacrament each week we covenant to always remember him and therefore need to choose the first option. We must not go about our lives forgetting the pains and sacrifice that Jesus bore for each one of us. We are all guilty of doing so but each week as we partake of the sacrament we are given the opportunity to start over and try again to do better.