The Greatest Hero

As my children get older, they are starting to develop an admiration for the popular stars of today, from musicians to sports players to well-known YouTubers. In one case in particular, the obsession has become so intense that I was told their favorite star was as smart as Einstein and as generous as Mother Teresa and, essentially, could do no wrong. We have tried to convince my child that this popular musician is, in the end, a person like the rest of us, but in the culture of their schools it is easy to start to develop this level of infatuation when so many of their peers are fixated on these celebrities. So, I really appreciated Bishop W. Christopher Waddell’s talk in the most recent general conference. He taught, “Although we admire and respect many talented and remarkable men and women for their abilities and contributions, the degree to which they are revered, if taken to an excess, can be the equivalent of the children of Israel worshipping a golden calf in the desert of Sinai…. What was once innocent childhood fun can become a stumbling block when ‘hero worship’ of politicians, bloggers, influencers, athletes, or musicians causes us to look ‘beyond the mark’ and lose sight of what is truly essential. For the children of Israel, the challenge was not the gold that they brought with them on their journey to the promised land but rather what they allowed the gold to become: an idol, which then became the object of their worship, turning their attention away from Jehovah.” We must be careful that our admiration for the popular people of today does not develop into a worship akin to the golden calf of ancient days; we have to make sure that what was said of Cain and others in his day is never true for us: “They loved Satan more than God” (Moses 5:13). The word Satan there could be replaced with any worldly object, for if we choose anyone or anything before God, it is in the end the same result. As Bishop Waddell quoted Elder Maxwell: “If you have not chosen the kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead.” We need to choose God first and love Him more than all the things and people and philosophies of the world that seek so relentlessly to gain our hearts.   

               And so, what do we do? The best solution, as Bishop Waddell taught, is to learn to worship the greatest hero. He declared, “The hero—our hero, now and always—is Jesus Christ.” He continued by describing what the Savior has done, “Not only was Jesus Christ the leader in defending our Father’s plan, but He would also play the most crucial role in its implementation. He responded to the Father and volunteered to offer Himself ‘a ransom for all,’ to pay a debt that each of us would incur through sin but could not pay on our own…. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when faced with such an overwhelming task, the Savior bravely stated, ‘Not my will, but thine, be done,’ and proceeded to take upon Himself the combined pains, the sicknesses, and the suffering for the sins of all who would ever live. In a perfect act of obedience and commitment, Jesus Christ completed the supreme heroic act in all of creation, culminating in His glorious Resurrection.” There is none other who has done anything remotely comparable to what the Savior has done for us. He was the Firstborn of the Father in the premortal realm and though a God and the Creator of the world, chose to take upon Him the weakness of flesh and humbly come to the earth to fulfill the Father’s plan. He lived His life in perfect service to His Father’s children as The Living Christ declares: “He ‘went about doing good’ (Acts 10:38), yet was despised for it. His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow His example. He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He taught the truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come.” This perfect life was just a prelude, though, to His great atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world, an act so painful that the angel described it this way to King Benjamin: “And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people” (Mosiah 3:7). He Himself declared of His experience, “Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink— Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:18-19). He did not shrink, and the Son of God descended below all things in order to rise up triumphant over sin and death. Only through Him can we be resurrected and cleansed from all our sins to ultimately receive all the blessings the Father can give us. No other mortal being has done anything remotely similar, and it is He who should be the Hero of us all. I hope that despite the pressures of popularity in the world, we can keep our hearts fastened upon the greatest Hero ever to walk the earth. May Alma’s words to the people of Gideon be true of each of us: “I trust that ye have not set your hearts upon riches and the vain things of the world; yea, I trust that you do not worship idols, but that ye do worship the true and the living God, and that ye look forward for the remission of your sins, with an everlasting faith, which is to come” (Alma 7:6).