To Claim His Rights of Mercy

I was struck by the language of Moroni 7:27 in which Mormon spoke of how “Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men.” If we were to say that someone in authority was going to “claim his rights”, we would probably complete that phrase with words like of power or to the throne or to rule. But here Mormon taught that the Savior rose from the grave and sat down on the right hand of His Father so that he could have His rights of mercy. In other words, His infinite suffering and great atoning sacrifice, culminating in His glorious resurrection, was all done so that He could have the right to be merciful to us. Most of us when we want to claim our rights it is for our benefit—we want our right to do this or that and we will fight to obtain what we deem to be ours. But the Savior in His perfect humility and deference to His Father, claims His rights to show mercy to us. Because He paid the price for sin, we can be forgiven and receive mercy from Him while the laws of justice are satisfied. As Amulek taught, “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” (Alma 34:15). If we will but repent, He can use those rights of mercy He has rightfully claimed to forgive and bless us.

                And so if we are to be more like the Savior, we should we aspire to get the power to bless and be merciful. We should seek influence and increase not for our own benefit but so that we can show mercy and compassion and love to others. This was how, for example, Jacob taught we should seek for riches: “After ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted” (Jacob 2:19). We should seek for wealth so that we can have the ability to be merciful. Pahoran showed a similar desire when he said this in his letter to Moroni: “I, Pahoran, do not seek for power, save only to retain my judgment-seat that I may preserve the rights and the liberty of my people. My soul standeth fast in that liberty in the which God hath made us free” (Alma 61:9). In other words, he sought for power in order to bless and protect and help his people; it wasn’t so that he could obtain more things for himself. President Nelson taught something similar about education to the people of Kenya in a visit there in 2019: “Education is one of your prime objectives. The glory of God is intelligence. Fill your mind with truth, more every day than there was the day before. Expose yourself to good books, to good thoughts, to good music. Education is the difference between simply wishing you could do something of value and being able to do something for your fellow men.”  In other words, we are to seek for education to bless others and be enabled to show mercy by helping our fellow men. This is exactly what President Nelson did: because he gained so much education about the human heart, he was able to save lives and bless those who otherwise would have perished. 

                Therefore in the gospel of Jesus Christ we need not hide our talents or put them under a bushel. Rather, we are to let them “shine before men” so we can “glorify [our] Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:15-16). And what does it mean to glorify Him? It means to serve and bless and uplift His children. As we strive to multiply our talents we become more and more enabled to show mercy to all those around us. We can seek to obtain our right to be merciful as we follow after Him in service and love to our fellow men.