Lay Down His Life

After the revelation now recorded as section 103 in the Doctrine and Covenants was given, Joseph and many others sought to recruit men to go with the Camp of Israel to Missouri. Wilford Woodruff at the time was in Richland, New York, and on April 1, 1834 Parley P. Pratt arrived there looking for those who could join. One account records, “Because of the demands of farming and business interests, Wilford doubted at first that he could reasonably accept the call. Nevertheless, after contemplating the alternatives he resolved as Pratt had admonished to do his ‘duty to try to prepare’ himself. Accordingly he used ‘every exertion to settle’ his accounts, arrange his affairs, and equip himself for the march to Missouri.” Wilford had only been a member of the church since December 31^st of the previous year, and yet he made the enormous sacrifice to go on this long expedition and help those whom he had never met in Zion. And though he may have hesitated at first, once he was resolved to go, no one could turn him back. Elder Bednar recounted, “As Wilford Woodruff was settling his business affairs and preparing to join Zion’s Camp, his friends and neighbors warned him not to undertake such a hazardous journey. They counseled, ‘Do not go, if you do you will lose your life.’ He replied, ‘If I know that I should have a ball put through my heart the first step I took in the state of Missouri I would go.’ Wilford Woodruff knew he did not need to fear evil consequences as long as he was faithful and obedient. He clearly was on the Lord’s side.” As the Follow Him podcast pointed out, Wilford’s words echoed the Lord’s own statement in His call to gather men to undertake this mission: “Let no man be afraid to lay down his life for my sake; for whoso layeth down his life for my sake shall find it again. And whoso is not willing to lay down his life for my sake is not my disciple” (Doctrine and Covenants 103:27-28). Wilford Woodruff was willing and ready to lay down his life for the Savior, and he showed it in his sacrifice to follow the call of the Lord.

               This story and the whole Zion’s Camp expedition invites us to consider how willing we are to also sacrifice for the cause of the Lord. The Savior said this in mortality: “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). The Savior doesn’t want any half-hearted disciples; He wants those who are willing to give their all to Him. As He said elsewhere, “For whosoever will save his life must be willing to lose it for my sake; and whosoever will be willing to lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (JST Luke 9:24). It seems at this time that one of the reasons Zion had not fully succeeded was because the people were not fully willing to do this. In particular, the Lord chastened the people for their unwillingness to give of their substance as the gospel requires us: “But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance, as becometh saints, to the poor and afflicted among them” (Doctrine and Covenants 105:3). They had not been willing to give of their means to help others as they should. The Lord had given a stark warning about this in the previous revelation: “Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment” (Doctrine and Covenants 104:18). That is strong language—the Lord is clearly serious about our willingness to sacrifice and give as He commands. We may not have to physically travel hundreds of miles at the peril of our lives like Wilford Woodruff to follow the commands of the Lord, but surely we have the opportunity continually to give of our substance to build up Zion and bless the poor. Undoubtedly this is an important part of what it means for us today to “lay down” our lives for the Lord, and if we want to be His disciple we must do it.