Partaking of the Fruit

In his talk in general conference this morning, Bishop Waddell referred to the vision of the tree of life.  He talked about those who partook of the fruit but still fell away when the scorn came from the great and spacious building, and he compared that group to those who stood with Lehi and did not heed the words coming from the building.  Bishop Waddell suggested that the difference between the two groups was found in the way they partook of the fruit.  The first group “tasted of the fruit” but then stopped to listen to the voices from the building, and they became ashamed.  The second group “were partaking of the fruit” as the world’s voices mocked them, and so they gave no heed to those voices.  His point I think was that we must continuously partake of the fruit; if we partake and then stop, we will be vulnerable to heeding the mocking voices from the world.  We can never be satisfied to “have partaken” of the fruit; we must each day seek anew to partake and fortify ourselves from the scorn of the world. 

                This idea is similar to other scriptures in the Book of Mormon that teach us to continually seek spiritual nourishment.  Nephi encouraged us to “feast upon the words of Christ” that we might know the things that we should do (2 Nephi 32:3).  He also encouraged that we “press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end” (2 Nephi 31:20).  Similarly, Jacob told us to “receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love” (Jacob 3:2).  Feasting implies continually partaking, not simply “tasting” of the food that the Lord has to offer us.  King Benjamin also talked about ensuring that if we have once “known of his goodness and tasted of his love” then we must continue to “remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God” and keep calling on his name.  That persistent supplication will allow us to “always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God” (Mosiah 4:11-12).  It is continually partaking of God’s love—and not merely tasting from time to time—that the gospel requires.  Alma said it this way, “And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?” (Alma 5:26).

                The Savior also used metaphors of eating and drinking to describe how we can be continually blessed by following Him.  He told the woman at the well, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).  He said something similar to the Nephites when He gave them the Sacrament: “And he said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled” (3 Nephi 20:8).  I’ve often been puzzled by this invitation from the Savior since it seems at first pass to imply that we perform some kind of one time action to accept of the spiritual food and drink that the Savior has to offer, and then we will never hunger or thirst again.  But I don’t think that’s what He means—the invitation for the woman at the well was to drink and keep drinking, and I think the promise is that the water to drink will never run out.  Unlike the physical well which might dry up, she will always have water available from the well if she will keep drinking.  The Savior’s fruit is always available—if we only taste it we will get hungry again, but if we keep “partaking of the fruit” then our “soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled.”