A Chosen Vessel

Alma told the people of Gideon that Christ “shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel” (Alma 7:10).  A “vessel” is something that holds something else, and so this description makes perfect sense since Mary literally was a vessel to the Savior when He was in the womb. She was also a vessel the sense that she held great truths within her about Jesus and His mission. Luke mentioned in conjunction with the miracles surrounding her birth, “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Surely incredible things were revealed to her about the Savior, His life and atonement, and the plan of salvation which she held within her like a vessel and shared only with those ready to receive it. The prophet Mormon spoke of how angels were sent “to prepare the way among the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him” (Moroni 7:31). Indeed, Mary did receive the “word of Christ” declared unto her by an angel as she was told of her role in the coming of Jesus to the earth. And she did indeed “bear testimony of him” as a chosen vessel, witnessing to Elizabeth for example, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour….He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever” (Luke 1:46-47,54-55). She rejoiced in the Savior and stood by Him until the end, and as a chosen vessel brought a witness of the Savior to those around her.

               There is only one other specific person who is labeled as a “chosen vessel” in the scriptures, and that is Paul. At the time of his vision the Lord declared this to Ananias: “Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). So here for Paul to be a “vessel” was to carry the name of the Savior all over the world. This of course he did as he took the gospel to the Gentiles from Jerusalem to Greece and Rome and dozens of other places as he gave his life in missionary service. He even bore the name of the Savior before kings such as when he declared to Festus and Agrippa his testimony: “That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:23). As a chosen vessel, like Mary, he carried with him a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ and took that to many.

               Mormon’s comment about “chosen vessels” in general suggests that each of us can be a vessel for the Lord, and what the Lord said of Paul indicates that we do so as we bear His name to others. At baptism we covenant to take upon us the name of Christ, and surely fulfilling that obligation is part of what it means to be a chosen vessel. In the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord spoke of “bearing my name before the world” and the need to “promulgate my gospel, the fulness thereof, and bear record of my name.” Those called are to “bear testimony of my name and to send it abroad among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people” and to “testify of my name and bear glad tidings unto all the world” (24:10, 112:1, 114:2, 118:4). We can each seek to bear His name to those around us as we share the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.