He Healed Them

After His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, one of the first things that Jesus did was to cleanse the temple: “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” The Easter Holy Week Study Plan produced by the Church highlights the importance of this event in the context of what the Savior did next: “Once the temple was again a sacred, holy space, Jesus Christ compassionately healed people there: ‘And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them’ (Matthew 21:14).” The manual continues, “We learn two important lessons from this event. First, we show love for God by honoring sacred spaces—this includes our hearts, our minds, and our homes—and striving to keep them clean from sin and corruption. Second, God wants to heal us and help us become true disciples of Christ, especially when we are weighed down by burdens as imperfect people living in an imperfect world.” Perhaps then if we are searching for more of the healing power of the Savior, we need to do more to “clean up” our homes and our lives. As we strive to remove contention, anger, and unkind feelings from our homes, then will the Lord’s Spirit be able to make them holy places. Then, we can hope more confidently for the healing of the Savior to come in and help us with our figurative blind and lame.

                We see this same principle on a larger scale with the visit of the Savior to the Americas. Before coming down among them as a resurrected Being, He had to rid the land of the iniquity and evil that was there, and this was done in a way far more dramatic than the cleansing of the temple. There were earthquakes, fires, whirlwinds, and terrible storms which brought great destruction to the Lamanites, Nephites, and Gadianton robbers who for the most part had turned exceedingly wicked. The Savior’s voice lamented in the darkness, “Wo, wo, wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice, because of the slain of the fair sons and daughters of my people; and it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen!”  Like with the cleansing of the temple, after this the Savior was ready to heal those who remained: “O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” (3 Nephi 9:2, 13). And He did exactly that when He came in person. At the end of the first day teaching them He said, “Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you. Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.” He then proceeded to heal all those among the 2500 people who were afflicted: “And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him” (3 Nephi 17:6-9). What a sublime scene this must have been! I don’t think it is by chance that this came after the wicked were destroyed and the land, like the temple in Jerusalem, was cleansed from iniquity.  

                Based on this lesson, the Easter study plan invites us in these words, “What is something you could do this week to prepare to receive the Savior’s compassion or healing? Is there something in your physical space that needs to be removed, changed, or cleaned up? Is there something in your heart or mind that needs to change? The Lord invites us on this day—and every day—to become clean and whole as we seek Him, ask for forgiveness, and repent.” As we seek to find the Savior’s healing for ourselves or others, we should seek first to purify our hearts and sanctify our homes so that His Spirit can dwell among us. Surely as we reduce the worldliness in our lives, rid our homes of contention, and repent of the negative feelings in our heart, the Savior will be ready to extend the healing we need in our families.