The Sacrifice of the Sons of Mosiah

I was impressed with the sacrifice of the sons of Mosiah as I read again the story of their departure on their long mission.  Their actions remind me of the woman “which was a sinner” that “brought an alabaster box of ointment” to Jesus and “began to wash his feet with tears” and anointed them with the expensive oil.  When some wondered at why He would allow this, Christ told the parable of the creditor who had two debtors that owed different amounts and were both forgiven.  Christ asked “which of them will love him most?” to which Peter responded the one who had been forgiven the most.  Christ then pointed out that this woman was showing more love for the Savior than Peter had, and He commented, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little” (Luke 7:37-47).  The sons of Mosiah clearly were among those who had been forgiven much, and because of that it seems that their love for the Lord and their desire to serve Him was much greater than other “righteous” people among the Nephites.  Their love was so strong that they “could not bear that any human soul should perish” and so they made a great sacrifice to go among their enemies to preach the gospel (Mosiah 28:3).  Others who were presumably had the same faith in God “laughed [them] to scorn” and questioned the sons of Mosiah, “Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth?” (Alma 26:23-24)  These Nephites clearly did not have the same kind of deep love that the sons of Mosiah had which stemmed from the great forgiveness the Lord had given them. 

               The sacrifices that the sons of Mosiah made to preach the gospel to the Lamanites were significant.  They “suffered every privation” and were “cast out, and mocked and spit upon, and smote upon [their] cheeks.”  They were “stoned, and taken and bound with strong cords, and cast into prison” (Alma 26:28-29).  We see a bit of this in the story of Aaron and his brethren who were cast into prison in Middoni and when they came out, “they were naked, and their skins were worn exceedingly because of being bound with strong cords.  And they also had suffered hunger, thirst, and all kinds of afflictions” (Alma 20:29).  Surely they endured great physical hardships in order to preach to the Lamanites.  They also made another kind of sacrifice that was perhaps equally difficult: they left their society, friends, and family for fourteen years.  We read about the conversion of the sons of Mosiah in Mosiah 27, and after their life-changing experience, we read that “they traveled throughout all the land of Zarahemla, and among all the people who were under the reign of king Mosiah, zealously striving to repair all the injuries which they had done to the church” (Mosiah 27:35).  We don’t know how long this took place, but they likely were home very little as they spent all of this time trying to fix the wrong they had done.  The text tells us that “after the sons of Mosiah had done all these things” they went to their father and requested to be able to go preach among the Lamanites (Mosiah 28:1).  Soon thereafter they departed on their mission, having it would seem had very little time to spend with their father Mosiah since their conversion.  Surely they had a strained relationship with him before their spiritual awakening, and they must have yearned to be with him and develop that bond anew now that they understood and believed in what he must have taught them all along.  Yet their desire to preach the gospel was so great that they sacrificed this and left, never to see their father again. King Mosiah died less than a year or so later as recorded in the next chapter, and his sons likely didn’t know of his passing for a very long time.  Jesus said, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37).  The sons of Mosiah showed that they loved the Lord even more than their father, giving everything to serve Him.