When soldiers arrived to arrest the Savior in His final days of mortality, Jesus asked, “Whom seek ye?” and they replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said, “I am he” (John 18).
To President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “that is one of the most stirring lines in all of holy scripture.”
President Holland told this story from Christ’s life during the Sunday morning session of October 2024 general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His message explored the Savior’s “divine DNA” and the ways He expressed His love.
President Holland particularly emphasized the importance of not trivializing who the Lord is.
“Down through history, many have simplified, even trivialized, our image of Him and His witness of who He was,” President Holland said. “They have reduced His righteousness to mere prudishness, His justice to mere anger, His mercy to mere permissiveness. We must not be guilty of such simplistic versions that conveniently ignore teachings we find uncomfortable.”
The Savior’s love and ‘divine DNA’
Jesus came from a humble background with no notable education or wealth, yet He confounded scribes and lawyers with His doctrine, President Holland said.
From His teachings in the temple and His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, to His final, unjustifiable arrest, Jesus was routinely placed in difficult and “devious” situations in which He always triumphed, “victories for which we have no explanation except His divine DNA.”
Yet the “dumbing down” of His image has persisted throughout history, President Holland said, even in regards to the Savior’s ultimate defining virtue: His love.
Christ taught two great commandments about love during His mortal mission, President Holland said: “Love the Lord thy God… [and] love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:37, 39). And in order to keep these commandments, individuals must follow what He taught about love: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) and “Love one another; as I have loved you” (John 13:34).
President Holland said the qualifying phrases of these two scriptures define true, Christlike love, also called charity.
They show two ways that Jesus loved: first, He loved with “all of [His] heart, might, mind, and strength” (Matthew 22:37). This gave Him the ability to both heal the deepest pain and declare the hardest reality, President Holland said.
“He’s one who could administer grace and insist on truth at the same time. … His love allows an encouraging embrace when it’s often needed and a bitter cup when occasionally it has to be swallowed.”
Secondly, Jesus demonstrated His love through aligning His will to Heavenly Father’s.
President Holland noted how, when Christ appeared among the Nephites, He told them He had “suffered the will of the Father” (3 Nephi 11:11). He could have introduced himself in a number of ways, but in this instance, he declared His obedience to the Father’s will — despite feeling abandoned by His Father in His hour of greatest need.
“Christ’s charity — evident in complete loyalty to His divine will — persisted and continues to persist, not just through the easy and comfortable days but especially through the darkest and most difficult ones,” President Holland said.
Stay the course
President Holland also spoke about enduring on the gospel path. To those who feel that life only gets harder the more they try, or whose faith is being challenged, or who experience moments of fear, “remember that it has been so for some of the most faithful and marvelous people in every era of time.”
Stay the course, President Holland said, because “we signed on for the whole term — not ending with the first short, introductory quiz but through to the final exam.”
He testified that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the vehicle God has provided for exaltation. Its gospel is true, and the priesthood legitimizing it is not derivative; Church President Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of God, just as his predecessors were and his successors will be.
And one day, President Holland said, that prophetic guidance will lead a generation to see the Savior’s return.
“When we stand before Him and see the wounds in His hands and feet, we will begin to comprehend what it meant for Him to bear our sins and be acquainted with grief, to be completely obedient to the will of His Father — all out of pure love for us.”