We Trusted That It Had Been

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Sacred Grove with my family. It was a wonderful experience to be able to ponder the experience of Joseph Smith and his role as the prophet of the Restoration. I did see something, though, that I wasn’t expecting. At one point walking through the wet paths I heard my eight-year-old yelling something in the distance, and I was told that he and some others had seen a snake. As I was walking on the path a few minutes later, I also saw a snake. It was harmless, and as I turned around after watching it, I saw another one slithering in front of my daughter. She got up and walked away, and gratefully she did not see it. The sound from her yells would have been much louder than my son’s! It was, nonetheless, rather unexpected to see snakes in the Sacred Grove. As I thought about this, I realized that there were some unexpected things for Joseph as well starting with his experience there. He certainly was not expecting to be attacked by the adversary when he started to pray: “I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.” After the darkness was dispelled and the Father and Son appeared to him, he was not expecting the answer he got about what church to join: “I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong.” And he certainly was not expecting the response he got from the local preacher when he shared his vision: “Some few days after I had this vision, I happened to be in company with one of the Methodist preachers, who was very active in the before mentioned religious excitement; and, conversing with him on the subject of religion, I took occasion to give him an account of the vision which I had had. I was greatly surprised at his behavior; he treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles, and that there would never be any more of them” (JSH 1:15, 18-19, 21). This was only the beginning of the unexpected persecution he would face all of his life for trying to follow the revelation from God that he received.

               As I think about Holy Week that we commemorate this week, I realize that there were also some unexpected things that happened during the last week of His life. The Jews who celebrated His entrance into Jerusalem at the beginning of the week were expecting a Messiah to come and free them from the Romans, so to subsequently see Him crucified by the end of the week dashed their hopes. This was expressed best perhaps by the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. After describing His condemnation and crucifixion, they lamented, “But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel” (Luke 24:21). His death and crucifixion surely astonished and broke the hearts of so many disciples who, even though He had alluded to it, could not fathom that this could happen to the One who had performed so many miracles. As some mocked, “He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him” (Matthew 27:42). Surely the faithful also were tempted with such thoughts as they saw Him suffer. And even the Savior Himself, that last week, met with the unexpected when He faced His incomprehensible suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was so overwhelming that somehow even He, who was perfect, had not expected it: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). But He persevered, as did the Prophet Joseph, giving us a powerful example what to do when we have unmet expectations: keep persevering: “Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:19).