Spiritual Matters First

In the last general conference Elder Chi Wong spoke about the New Testament story where four individuals helped a man with palsy find his way to Jesus.  Because the way was blocked to them, they climbed up on the roof and let him down from there so that Jesus could heal him.  One of the insights he shared was that the account describes how Jesus forgave and healed the man because he “saw their faith” (Mark 2:5). 

Somehow the combined faith of those who brought the man to Jesus was part of the reason that Jesus could bless him.  What is interesting to me is the order in which Jesus attended to the man: he first forgave his sins and then he healed him.  Surely the people lowering the man to see Jesus were not thinking about having his sins forgiven; they wanted Jesus to heal his physical ailment.  But apparently the Savior thought it more urgent to forgive his sins—that was the real need.  While we are usually prone to be concerned about our physical needs before our spiritual needs, I think the Savior here was showing what was most important.  This reminds me of what we see in D&C 111.  Concerned about the Church’s debts, Joseph Smith went to Salem, Massachusetts because there was supposed to be treasure there that they could obtain to help pay their creditors.  He was, at least in that moment, heavily concerned about their temporal needs.  In the revelation that he received while there, the Lord was not concerned about Joseph getting money; rather, He wanted the gospel preached to the people.  He said, “I have much treasure in this city for you, for the benefit of Zion, and many people in this city whom I will gather out in due time for the benefit of Zion” (D&C 111:2).  He also alluded to the work of family history as He referred to “the more ancient inhabitants and founders of this city” (D&C 111:9).  So while Joseph and his brethren went up in search of money that could help meet the Church’s financial needs, the Lord redirected them to see what was most important.  The Lord wants us to focus first on spiritual needs and the temporal problems will be sorted out.