The Law of Love and Self-Sacrifice

The character in Tolstoy’s War and Peace that most impressed me was the Princess Mary Bolkonski, for she was full of faith in Jesus Christ and was astoundingly unselfish. For much of the novel she lived with her irascible father, who often railed into her various reasons. At one point in the novel the story recounts, “Prince Nicholas Bolkónski’s health and temper became much worse. He grew still more irritable, and it was Princess Mary who generally bore the brunt of his frequent fits of unprovoked anger. He seemed carefully to seek out her tender spots so as to torture her mentally as harshly as possible. Princess Mary had two passions and consequently two joys—her nephew, little Nicholas, and religion—and these were the favorite subjects of the prince’s attacks and ridicule…. He continually hurt Princess Mary’s feelings and tormented her, but it cost her no effort to forgive him. Could he be to blame toward her, or could her father, whom she knew loved her in spite of it all, be unjust? And what is justice? The princess never thought of that proud word ‘justice.’ All the complex laws of man centered for her in one clear and simple law—the law of love and self-sacrifice taught us by Him who lovingly suffered for mankind though He Himself was God. What had she to do with the justice or injustice of other people? She had to endure and love, and that she did.” She was able to love her father no matter what he did, and her focus on love instead of justice is a powerful example of a Christian life. Often in my home our children focus on things being fair—i.e. they want justice—when others receive something they don’t or when someone, in their eyes, deserves a punishment hasn’t been readily meted out. But to follow the Savior means that we focus on mercy, not justice. As John declared, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16). He did not come to give us justice—none of us really want what we deserve—but to give us mercy through faith in Him.

Amulek taught this about the Savior’s mission to the Zoramites: “And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance. And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety” (Alma 34:15-16). Through His great atoning sacrifice, He overpowers justice such that we do not have to bear the weight of what we really deserve if we will come unto Him. Abinadi put it this way: “Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice” (Mosiah 15:9). He stands between us and justice, satisfying the demands that justice makes on our behalf so that he can offer us mercy. And what He demands is that we show that same mercy for others in their sins, just as Mary did towards her father: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15). We must “endure and love,” seeking not justice for ourselves but forgiveness towards others. That is how the Savior lived His life, seeking to lift others, and forgiving even up until His last breath: “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). When we learn to truly focus on the “law of love and self-sacrifice” instead of a desire for justice, we will see what it means to follow Him.