Learn of Him
Believe in Him- Follow Him
While quoting extensively from the scriptures, President Thomas S. Monson incorporated the great message of Easter into his Sunday morning address.
President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, began by quoting Luke's account of a lawyer's question, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and the Savior's response: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." The lawyer, President Monson related, then asked, "Who is my neighbour?"
President Monson retold the Savior's parable of the Good Samaritan, recorded in Luke 10:30-37, in which Jesus taught that he who showed mercy was neighbor to the man who fell among thieves. "Go, and do thou likewise," the Master directed.
"Times change, the years roll by, circumstances vary - but the Master's counsel to the lawyer applies to you and to me just as surely as though we heard His voice speaking directly to us this beautiful Easter morn," President Monson said. "How might we fulfill today the first part of the divine commandment to love the Lord our God?
"The Lord declared, He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me,' (John 14:21);Come, follow me,' (Luke 18:22); I have set an example for you,' (3 Ne. 18:16), `I am the light which ye shall hold up - that which ye have seen me do,' (3 Ne. 18:24.) What, indeed, did He do?
"Born in a stable, cradled in a manger, He brought to fulfillment the prophecies of the ages. . . . With the birth of the babe in Bethlehem, there emerged a great endowment, a power stronger than weapons, a wealth more lasting than the coins of Caesar. This child was to be the King of kings and Lord of lords, the promised Messiah - even Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
President Monson spoke of the Savior's youth, baptism and ministry. Of the Savior's anguish in Gethsemane, President Monson said, "He wrought the great Atonement as He took upon Himself the sins of all. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves."
He told of the Savior's final hours of mortality, of His crucifixion, and words from the cross. "He died - the Great Redeemer died!" President Monson testified.
"Two questions, spoken at an earlier time, roll as thunder to the ears of each of us: `What think ye of Christ?' (Matt. 22:42), and "what shall
weT do . . . with Jesus.' (Matt. 27:22.) I proffer these three suggestions:
"1. Learn of Him. Learn of me,' He pleaded,for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.' (Matt. 11:29.)
"2. Believe in Him. The writer of the proverb urged, `Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.' (Prov. 3:5-6.) His is the only name under heaven whereby we might be saved.
"3. Follow Him. He brought reality to the word compassion. He showed us the way. He marked the path we should follow. Selfless service characterized His entire life.
"By learning of Him, by believing in Him, by following Him, there is the capacity to become like Him. The countenance can change, the heart can be softened, the step can be quickened, the outlook enhanced. Life becomes what it should become. Change is at times imperceptible, but it does take place.
"The Savior's entire ministry exemplified love of neighbor, the second part of that lesson given to the inquiring lawyer - spoken of as the `royal law.' (See James 2:8.)
"A blind man healed, the daughter of Jairus raised, and the lepers cleansed - all were neighbors of Jesus. Neighbor also was the woman at the well. He, the perfect man, standing before a confessed sinner, extended a hand. She was the traveler; He was the good Samaritan. And so the caravan of His kindness continued.
"What about our time and place? Do neighbors await our love, our kindness, our help?"
President Monson related two accounts that characterize love for neighbors. One was about a commercial airline flight that was diverted, with 150 passengers aboard, to a remote town in Alaska to rescue a badly injured boy and deliver him to a hospital. Many of the passengers missed connecting flights because of the rescue mission, but none complained. They took up a collection for the boy and his family. Later, when the pilot announced the boy was going to be all right, they cheered.
He then told about a boy named Paul and a telephone operator, Sally, who were good Samaritans to each other since he had many questions to be answered and she, having no children, looked forward to his calls. When his canary died, she consoled him, saying, "Always remember that there are other worlds in which to sing."
Years later Paul again made contact with his friend Sally. Three months after that, when he called again, an operator told him Sally had passed away but added that Sally had left a mesage for Paul: "Tell him I still say there are other worlds in which to sing. He'll know what I mean."
President Monson said, "There are indeed other worlds in which to sing. Our Lord and Savior, brought to each of us the reality of this truth. To the grieving Martha He comforted, `I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.' (John 11:25-26.)
"If we truly seek our Lord and Savior, we shall surely find Him. He may come to us as one unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same words, `Follow thou me,' and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands, and to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and they shall learn in their own experience who He is."
