I Am the Light

In his recent general conference talk, Elder Gong encouraged us in our efforts to minster to others. He said this, “As followers of Jesus Christ, we seek to minister to others as He would because lives are waiting to change…. Our Savior is our perfect example. Because He is good, He can go about doing good. He blesses the one and the 99. He is ministering personified. We become more like Jesus Christ when we do ‘unto … the least of these’ as we would unto Him, when we love our neighbor as ourselves, when we ‘love one another; as I have loved you,’ and when ‘whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.’” Elder Gong’s message was that we should seek to do as the Savior would in our individual ministering: “Let us reach out and care as our Savior would, especially to those whom we are privileged by love and assignment to minister. In so doing, may we draw closer to Jesus Christ and each other, becoming more like Him and the followers of Jesus Christ He would have us each be.” He shared many examples of those around the world who are doing just that, ministering and reaching out to others in positive and powerful ways. Of course, our greatest examples of ministering are found in the New Testament and Book of Mormon. We read how the Savior Himself served and blessed others, healing the sick, curing the leper, feeding the hungry, comforting the sorrowful, forgiving the penitent, teaching the disciple, inviting to repentance the sinner, and even raising the dead. Just about every chapter in the four gospels and in the account of the Savior among the Nephites shows us some way that He ministered to the people with love and compassion, and that is surely how we should strive to fulfill our own responsibilities to minister to others. As He summarized to the Nephites after serving them, “Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do” (3 Nephi 18:24).

               Today I finished rereading a short novel by Honoré de Balzac called Christ in Flanders, and I think it has something to teach us about ministering. This recounts a story of a boat ferrying people between an island named Cadzant and a coastal city in Belgium (Ostend) in the Middle Ages. One evening as the ship was making the voyage with many passengers, a great storm arose that threatened to capsize the vessel. One of the passengers was a Bishop. As the storm rose in intensity, “[A] lady was on her knees entreating absolution of the Bishop, who did not heed her.... The Bishop bestowed his benison on the waves, and bade them be calm; it was all that he could do. He thought of his concubine…. and the perverse Bishop, so far from thinking of the power of Holy Church, of his duty to comfort Christians and exhort them to trust in God, mingled worldly regrets and lover's sighs with the holy words of the breviary.” The Bishop was so in name only; he was so caught up in the world and himself that he did little to help those around him in this time of danger. Another passenger, on the other hand, did what that Bishop was supposed to do. The story recounts, “The wind blew from every quarter of the heavens, the boat span round like a top, and the sea broke in. ‘Oh! my poor child! my poor child!... Who will save my baby?’ the mother cried in a heart-rending voice. ‘You yourself will save it,’ the stranger said. The thrilling tones of that voice went to the young mother's heart and brought hope with them; she heard the gracious words through all the whistling of the wind and the shrieks of the passengers.” Soon after that he comforted another troubled woman saying, ‘Have faith, and you will be saved.’” He was a beacon of hope to them as the danger increased while the Bishop could think only of his own selfish desires.   

             Then, while in sight of their destination, the boat capsized. The account records, “The stranger with the light about his head spoke to this little world of drowning creatures: ‘Those who have faith shall be saved; let them follow me!’ He stood upright, and walked with a firm step upon the waves. The young mother at once took her child in her arms, and followed at his side across the sea…. The worn-out sinner, believing in the omnipotence of God, also followed the stranger.” All the poor and humble and those with faith followed him, walking the final distance to shore on the water. Here’s how the story describe some of those who didn’t make it: “The bold steersman clung like a remora to the wreck of his boat. The miser had had faith, and had risen to go, but he tried to take his gold with him, and it was his gold that dragged him down to the bottom. The learned man had scoffed at the charlatan and at the fools who listened to him; and when he heard the mysterious stranger propose to the passengers that they should walk on the waves, he began to laugh, and the ocean swallowed him. The girl was dragged down into the depths by her lover. The Bishop and the older lady went to the bottom, heavily laden with sins, it may be, but still more heavily laden with incredulity and confidence in idols, weighted down by devotion, into which alms-deeds and true religion entered but little.” The man in the story of course was Jesus Christ Himself, risen to visit and save these people. He was a true minister, comforting and blessing those who would listen to and follow Him. He was and always is our light to hold up to others as we seek to serve. As the final passage of the book declares, “Belief is Life”—real belief in Jesus Christ will bring true life to us and all those we seek to minister to.