Go, Call Thy Husband

Sister Susan H. Porter spoke in the most recent general conference and mentioned the passing of her husband: “Five years ago my husband, Bruce, became seriously ill when we were serving with the consecrated Saints in the Europe East Area. We returned home, and he passed away only a few weeks later. My life changed overnight. I was grieving and felt weak and vulnerable. I pled with the Lord to direct my path: ‘What would Thou have me do?’” One of the unique aspects of the fact that she has now spoken twice in general conference (she also spoke in October of last year) is the fact that her husband was also a general authority and has also spoken four times in conference. Surely she never imagined through his decades of service as a general authority that one day she too would speak to the saints in a day when he would no  longer be with her. But, like Moroni, sometimes we find life’s course is “contrary to that which [we] had supposed” and we move forward nonetheless. As she struggled to know what to do in her unexpected circumstances, she recounted, “A few weeks later, I was going through my mail when a small picture in a catalog caught my eye. As I looked closer, I realized it was an artist’s rendition of the Samaritan woman with Jesus at the well. At that moment the Spirit spoke clearly to me: ‘That is what you are supposed to do.’ A loving Heavenly Father was inviting me to come to the Savior and learn.” In the end that is the invitation the Lord gives to all of us, no matter what unusual path our life has taken: come unto the Savior and learn of Him. His invitation to Martin Harris in 1829 is just as relevant for us today: “Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:23). 

                In the story of the woman at the well, Jesus testified to her that He had “living water” to offer to her which would not fail. She responded, “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” His response was an interesting invitation: “Go, call thy husband, and come hither.” I think there are multiple applications we can make from this instruction to her. The most obvious is that He was calling her to repentance. When she responded that she had no husband, Jesus responded, “Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly” (John 4:17-18). She was living in sin and this was His way of gently inviting her to confess that and to change. His invitation to all of us is always first to repent. Perhaps a second important point He was making to her and to us is that as we come unto Him we must seek to bring our family to Him as well. We have a responsibility as disciples to help bring our children, siblings, parents, and especially our spouse to the Savior with us as we strive to follow Him. As President Nelson taught, “Exaltation is a family matter.” In the Doctrine and Covenants we learn, “In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; And if he does not, he cannot obtain it” (Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-3). The Lord wants us to come together. President McKay taught this to a group of men about their responsibility to their families: “Let me assure you, Brethren, that some day you will have a personal priesthood interview with the Savior, Himself. If you are interested, I will tell you the order in which He will ask you to account for your earthly responsibilities. First, He will request an accountability report about your relationship with your wife. Have you actively been engaged in making her happy and ensuring that her needs have been met as an individual? Second, He will want an accountability report about each of your children individually. He will not attempt to have this for simply a family stewardship but will request information about your relationship to each and every child.” So as we strive here on the earth to come to Him through prayer, the study of the scriptures, partaking of the Sacrament, and worshipping in the temple, He says to us now: “Go, call thy spouse. Call thy children. Do these things together.” Our responsibility is to seek to bring them with us to Him.

                Lastly, I think the Savior’s invitation to the woman at the well was a call for all of us in general to do missionary work. This the woman understood and proved faithful immediately in that regard. Sister Porter observed, “She became a powerful witness, declaring to those in her city that Jesus was the Christ. ‘And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman.’” The account continues, “So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (John 4:39-42). She had helped them find Him, and they gained their own witness of His divinity through the Holy Spirit. The Savior’s call is for us to do likewise today. He says to us, “Go, call [others], and come hither.” We are to make a call to follow Him—to ourselves, to our families, and to all we know—so that we can all finding healing and forgiveness in His endless source of “living water.”