With His Stripes

To my son, 

               Over two decades ago President Faust recounted a story in general conference that helps us to see the sacrifice of the Savior from a different perspective. He related how in a small schoolhouse in Virginia the boys were so rough that no teacher had been able to control them. He said, ““Then one day an inexperienced young teacher applied. He was told that every teacher had received an awful beating, but the teacher accepted the risk. The first day of school the teacher asked the boys to establish their own rules and the penalty for breaking the rules. The class came up with 10 rules, which were written on the blackboard. Then the teacher asked, ‘What shall we do with one who breaks the rules?’ ‘Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,’ came the response.” So with that set in place, soon there was something stolen. The lunch of a big student, Tom, was taken by Little Jim who was ten years old and very hungry. “As Little Jim came up to take his licking, he pleaded to keep his coat on. ‘Take your coat off,’ the teacher said. ‘You helped make the rules!’ The boy took off the coat. He had no shirt and revealed a bony little crippled body.” His family was so poor that he only had one shirt and had left it at home to be washed, wearing only a coat. As the teacher hesitated and wondered if he could really go through with it, “Big Tom jumped to his feet and volunteered to take the boy’s licking. ‘Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed?’ the teacher asked. After five strokes across Tom’s back, the rod broke. The class was sobbing. ‘Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. ‘Tom, I’m sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!’” Whether this story is true or not, it is a powerful parable of what the Savior is willing to do for us. He bore the weight of our sins for us, even though He was a sinless man. He took stripes for us, just as Isaiah declared, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Abinadi taught that He stands between us and justice, meaning that He intercedes so that the full weight of justice with its demand for punishment won’t come upon us (see Mosiah 15:9).

                And so, what should we do, knowing this? Just as Little Jim in the story showed his appreciation for Big Tom with a great outpouring of love, so should we show great love to the Savior for what He did for us. And how do we show Him that? He told us: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Striving to keep the commandments doesn’t pay the debt for our sins, but it shows the Savior that we truly love Him. And then He in turn will watch over us and help us succeed in all that we are doing. He doesn’t desire to punish us but to save us from punishment. Or, as He said, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). We listened to a powerful example of this in Church today as a brother spoke openly about some of his sins and the struggle he faced trying to get back on the path. Ultimately it was the Savior who was His greatest friend, not there to condemn Him but to help him to become better. I want you to know that the Savior took upon Him all our pains and griefs so that He can help us through all our weaknesses and sins and trials. I hope you will remember the imagery of this story when you make a mistake, knowing that the Savior still loves you and stands ready to take the weight of justice upon Himself so that you can be free. Take to heart these words of Lehi: “And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit” (2 Nephi 2:28).  

Love,

Dad