My Brothers And Sisters It Is With...

My brothers and sisters: It is with deep humility that I rise this morning to say something to you. As always, I trust that you will add your prayers to mine that what I say may be of some value to us. Without the help of the Lord we stand but weak mortals, not able to do too much to the advancement of his cause. ¶

I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the devotion, the loyalty, and the great service of thousands of our Latter-day Saints. There is no sacrifice which they will not make. They stand as ready to do the bidding of the spirit as manifested through the Presiding Authorities of the Church as did the early Saints even in the time of the Savior and thereafter, and the early Saints in the beginning and the opening of this the Last Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. I am grateful to you for that. I appreciate that without that loyalty and that devotion the work of the Lord would drag, and we should not do the things that he desires that we should do. Thank you for your devotion, your loyalty, your service. ¶

It is a trite expression that we live in an age of materialism, a materialism which has enthroned worldly things and in a materialism that has cast a shadow even over our spirituality. As I see it, one of the great reasons for this is the shadow which we have cast over Jesus as the Christ. Even some of our great sectarian churches, like ourselves sons of our Heavenly Father, are forsaking him. They are making of Christ, as I have often said, a great teacher, a great philosopher, a great character, where they do not question that, but they deny to him that he was and is the Christ. ¶

Of all of the innumerable testimonies regarding his personality, I should like to call your attention only to two or three. The first is the great prayer which he offered on the night before his crucifixion, after they had left the chamber and gone out to the Mount of Olives, that great prayer: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3.) And the testimony of Peter before the Sanhedrin, when challenged as to the name by which he had performed the miracle at the Gate Beautiful of the temple, he replied: ". . . the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, . . . for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:10, 12.) ¶

And that testimony embodied in that great declaration of the Father himself to Moses, because it is the epitome, the summary of the gospel of Jesus Christ: "For behold, this is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (P. of G. P., Moses 1:39.) ¶

There has been an apostasy from that knowledge of the Christ. You know, the more I contemplate the life of the Savior, the more I am impressed, the more I come to value his lowliness, born in the home of a lowly carpenter, not in the halls of the great, not in the palaces of national rulers, but with royal blood in his mortal veins. I am impressed with the observation which he made to a man who came seeking to follow him, to go with him, and he said to the man, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." (Matt. 8:20.) ¶

He was indifferent, so indifferent to the worldly things. His mind was fixed quite otherwise. The very temptation that came to him from Satan, when Satan offered him all the kingdoms of the world if he would merely bow down and worship him, offered him all the power that could be bestowed through human hands; but he cast that aside. ¶

I recall how after he fed the multitude of five thousand, they would have taken him and made him king, but he thrust that aside also. Worldly power had no allurement. Worldly power was not for him. ¶

I recall that as he stood before Pilate, Pilate's first question was political. "Art thou the King of the Jews? . . ." (Matt. 27:11.) And finally he said to Pilate, who six times tried to get the Jews to release Jesus — he finally said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world," and that his mission was to establish truth, and then that poor, perplexed Pilate queried, "What is truth?" (See John 18:36-38.) ¶

I have in mind the things which He did, the miracles which he performed. There were only three occasions, I believe, when he undertook specifically to provide food for the multitude or for anyone. The first was the feeding of the five thousand on the mount, the second was the feeding of the four thousand on the plain, and the third was that beautiful incident on the Lake of Galilee after he was resurrected when, as the fishermen, the Apostles who had turned again to fishing, drew near the shore with their nets empty, he, the Resurrected Christ, stood on the shore with coals of fire and fish and bread prepared for eating. ¶

I recall but one instance where in fact he furnished money, and I am not sure of another incident somewhat similar to it. I refer to the time when he lacked money for taxes, and he sent Peter down to secure it from the mouth of a fish. He was not providing money to those with whom he worked. The other incident where money was involved directly for him, was when he was asked if taxes should be paid to Caesar, and he, taking a coin and showing the image thereon, said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." (Matt. 22:21.) ¶

As to wealth: You will remember how the rich young ruler came to him and asked what he should do. The Savior told him to obey the commandments. He said, "Master, all these have I observed from my youth." Then said the Master, "Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor . . . and follow me." And the rich young man turned away. (See Matt. 19:16-22.) He wanted all of the spiritual blessings which God could bestow, but at the same time he wanted to retain his wealth. ¶

John's disciples came questioning. ¶

"Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, ¶

"And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? ¶

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: ¶

"The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." (Matt. 11:2-5.) ¶

That is the work of the Savior. ¶

On another occasion, he said unto another, "Follow me," but the other said, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." (See Luke 9:59-60.) ¶

"And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. ¶

"And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:61-62.) ¶

Much more along this line might be said, but I want to call your attention to his formula, the principle which guided him, and how beautiful it is, and how it lets all of us who are poor come to him, and how it promises to us his spirit. He said in the closing of the incident that was connected with the coming of the disciples, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28.) ¶

I thank the Relief Society for their song. ¶

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. ¶

"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matt. 11:29-30.) ¶

His gospel can be lived, can be enjoyed by the poorest of us; the poorest of us may enjoy the blessings of the gospel, the blessings of the priesthood which accompany it. We need neither worldly position nor wealth in order to enjoy all that he has to give. His is the salvation and exaltation if we follow him, of all of us. There is nothing requiring more than a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and all that flows therefrom. ¶

May the Lord give us the power so to live that we may have the blessings which he has promised; may he give us, to each of us, the broken heart and the contrite spirit; may we turn to Jesus the Christ, the Author of our salvation, our Elder Brother; may we worship him in spirit and in truth; may we approach our Heavenly Father through him, that his blessings may be ours, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶