PROVO, Utah — Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman recently visited the new Temple Square Visitors’ Center with members of her extended family. While there, her 4-year-old grandson approached the Christus statue and asked how the Savior got the marks in His hands and feet.
So President Freeman told the story of Jesus Christ’s life, death and Resurrection. Upon considering this new information, her grandson’s question changed: “Why did He get the marks?”
“And that’s what I want to talk about tonight,” President Freeman said, adding: “One of the most important questions you will answer in the next 18 months or two years is that question. ‘Why did He get the marks?’ It will be your opportunity to bear witness of that throughout the world.”
President Freeman spoke about the Savior’s condescension, ascension and atoning power, during a devotional at the Provo Missionary Training Center on Tuesday, June 30.
She was joined by her husband, Brother Greg Freeman, who spoke before her.
Brother Freeman encouraged missionaries with the story of Joshua, the Old Testament prophet who came immediately after Moses. Joshua probably felt overwhelmed in his new role, just like new missionaries might feel overwhelmed in theirs, Brother Freeman said. But God’s promise to Joshua applies to missionaries, too: “Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest” (Joshua 1:9).
“That is exciting to me,” Brother Freeman said. “That is exciting to all of us who have served missions, because guess what? He is with us after our missions. He is with us at all times.”
‘He entered their story’
Teaching from the “Preach My Gospel” manual, President Freeman said mortality gives individuals a physical body, the chance to use agency wisely and the opportunity to walk by faith.
Christ’s condescension, then, refers to His choice to experience mortality. President Freeman noted 1 Nephi 11, where an angel teaches Nephi about Christ’s condescension through visions of the Savior’s birth, baptism, ministry and death.
Part of what the Savior does, President Freeman said, “is meet us where we are, as we are. That’s why the King was not born in a palace. He was born in a stable. He experienced humanity at its very lowest place.”
President Freeman also invited several missionaries to share their favorite New Testament stories, which ranged from the woman who touched Christ’s robe (see Matthew 9) to the man waiting for healing at the pool of Bethesda (see John 5).
In each of those stories, President Freeman said, the Savior was in reaching distance — for sinners, for lepers and for any other kind of outcast.
“He entered their story,” she said. “You should anticipate the same would be true for you. When we talk about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we’re talking about His ability to come to our level and help us overcome.”
But the Savior’s goal isn’t just to meet people where they are, as they are; it’s to lift them up to where He is, President Freeman said. And through sacred ordinances and covenants, individuals can experience Christ’s ascension.
“Those ordinances and those covenants help us become more like Him,” President Freeman said. “Every time we take the sacrament, every time we walk into the temple, what’s happening is we are in a process where we are learning to become more like Him.”
Consider how Mary Magdalene must have felt after the Savior’s death, President Freeman continued. She probably experienced sadness and discouragement; she, too, probably wondered why Christ had to receive the marks in His hands and feet. But when she went to His tomb, something remarkable happened: She turned and saw Him (see John 20).
“That will happen in all of our lives,” President Freeman said. “There will be moments when life feels hard, when mortality feels hard. This is mortality — we anticipated that there would be hard things here.
“But we should also anticipate that we would encounter Jesus here. That is true of our story. That is true of God’s plan.”
‘For you’
Returning to the story about her young grandson, President Freeman shared her simple, two-word answer to his question: “For you.”
“He got the marks for you,” President Freeman said. “So that He could meet you where you are, as you are. And then so He could lift you up to where He is, as He is. So He could take you home. …
“The Lord will be with you and on your side. And never forget why He got the marks.”
