The Same Sociality

Elder Andersen spoke recently at the BYU Education Week.  He started out by sharing some of what happened during the last week of Elder Perry’s life earlier this year.  I was touched as he spoke about how members of the Twelve visited with him and how they shared some of Elder Perry’s last moments together.  Elder Perry apparently even prepared a recorded testimony for his brethren in the Twelve to encourage them in the work they now continue.  Elder Andersen talked about how President Packer and Elder Perry were about to reunite and how he (Elder Andersen) requested of Elder Perry to meet him if possible when he would join them on the other side of the veil.  As he shared these experiences I thought of this famous verse from the Doctrine and Covenants: “And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy” (D&C 130:2).  Elder Andersen spoke with confidence, showing his trust that the message of this verse was true: he would be able to be reunited and be with his great friends who passed away.  

                As I thought about the incredible bond of brotherhood that must exist among those in the quorum of the Twelve, I thought about the original Twelve and the great love that must have existed among them.  In particular, I wonder if we don’t see that same loyalty and devotion between Peter and John, two of the chief apostles.  In addition to when they were together as a whole quorum, these two were frequently together in the stories of the New Testament as they sought to serve the Lord.  They took part together in the great manifestations of the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1).  They went together with Jesus as he raised the daughter of Jarius from the dead (Mark 5:37).  Peter and John were there with Andrew and James on the Mount of Olives as Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse (Mark 13:3).  They were at that same place not too many days later as the Savior suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33).  They “ran both together” to the sepulchre when they heard that Christ’s body was no longer there (John 20:4).  All of these experiences (and surely many more of which we have no account) that they shared together during Christ’s three-year ministry must have bonded them together in total loyalty. 

                After Christ’s death, Peter and John moved forward the work in incredible ways, and we see them together again in several stories.  They were then together fishing when the Savior visited them on the Sea of Galilee; John called out “It is the Lord” and Peter “cast himself into the sea” to go to Him (John 21:7).  After Christ’s ascension, “Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer” and together they healed a lame man who was begging for alms (Acts 3:1-7).  Because of this, Peter and John were arrested together, though they were ultimately let go.  Much of Acts 4 discusses their preaching during that experience.  Later we read that Peter and John were sent to Samaria together when it was found out that they had begun to receive the word of God (Acts 8:14).  In our dispensation we likewise know that they were together to come to the Prophet Joseph to bestow the Melchizedek Priesthood, “declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom” (D&C 128:20).      

                Perhaps what we can learn from this is that service to the Lord and spiritual experiences will do more to bind us together with friends than anything else.  In sharing these type of experiences we get a glimpse of that “eternal glory” that can ultimately be a part of all of our true friendship that we start developing in this life.