They Overcame the World By Love

Today is the 175^th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum.  President Ballard, the great-great-grandson of Hyrum, said recently, “My feeling is we have to stand in awe, in reverence, and deep appreciation for their courage, their spirituality, their integrity, and their love for the Lord Jesus Christ. They were willing to give their lives, if required, to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ.”  He referred to book about Joseph written by their mother, Lucy Mack Smith, saying this about the time of the martyrdom, “As she cried in agony, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken this family?’ Lucy Mack Smith reported hearing a voice reply, ‘I have taken them unto myself, that they might have rest.’ As she looked at their bodies, she said, ‘I seemed almost to hear them say, “Mother, weep not for us, we have overcome the world by love; we carried to them the gospel, that their souls might be saved; they slew us for our testimony, and thus placed us beyond their power; their ascendancy is for a moment, ours is an eternal triumph.”’” 

They did indeed “overcome the world by love” and their final actions showed it.  As the troubles were mounting in the city after the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor, Joseph told them, “I love you with all my heart. You have stood by me in the hour of trouble, and I am willing to sacrifice my life for your preservation.” After Joseph and Hyrum fled the city, thinking I believe that this would help prevent the violence, some called them to come back and turn themselves in.  Joseph responded, “If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of none to myself,” and they turned around, knowing that it would be to die for their friends.  Joseph declared his love for the people as he rode away to Carthage, “This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens,” but then added his concern for them, “Little do they know the trials that await them.”  In the jail he wrote to Emma, telling her, “Give my love to the children and all my friends.”  Joseph showed love even to the guards in the jail, thinking of their salvation even at the time of his peril when “he bore powerful witness of its divine authenticity to the guards on duty. He testified that the gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored, that angels still ministered to humanity, and that the kingdom of God was once more on the earth.”  When the attack came, Joseph sought to defend those three whom he loved who were with him.  After Hyrum was shot and Joseph could no longer do anything to defend them, he “dropped his revolver to the floor and darted for the window. As he straddled the windowsill, two balls struck his back. Another ball hurtled through the window and pierced him below the heart…. His body lurched forward and he pitched headfirst out the window.”  That act of giving himself to be shot likely saved the lives of John Taylor and Williard Richards, for the mob immediately rushed outside and left those two alive in the prison cell.  His final moments showed the greatest kind of love as he “lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).   

            While they waited in jail Hyrum and Joseph read these words from the Book of Mormon about how Moroni too had overcome with love, “And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore thy garments shall be made clean….  And now I … bid farewell unto the Gentiles; yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood” (Doctrine and Covenants 135:5).  Like Moroni, Joseph and Hyrum similarly sought to help the world come unto Christ and have charity, and even though they were rejected at large, it did not matter—they had had charity and sealed their testimonies with their blood.  They overcame the world by love, giving an example of us of how we too can triumph over all the challenges of mortality: through love.