He Loveth the World

One common statement that is repeated by followers of the Savior is this: Jesus loves you. There are many confirmations of the fact that Jesus loves the children of our Father in Heaven. He spent much of His mortal ministry serving and helping others and described His work to the disciples of John this way: “Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached” (Luke 7:22). His work consisted of healing people, even raising them from the dead, and preaching the gospel to the poor. One touching example of this is this story: “And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed” (Mark 1:40-42). He had compassion and love for this man with leprosy and healed him, and surely He has great compassion for each of us in our difficulties. He loved men and women equally, and I love this story showing His care for a woman in grief: “Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother” (Luke 7:12-15). He had compassion on this mother and brought back to life her son in a show of great love. One of my favorite descriptions of Him is this short statement about His interaction with a rich man: “Then Jesus beholding him loved him” (Mark 10:21). I believe that is how He looked upon all those around Him—beholding them, He loved them, healed them, and then invited them to follow Him and repent. At the end of His ministry, John wrote that the Savior “loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” Jesus said to His apostles shortly before giving His life, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:1, 34). One of the purposes of His life is to show us all how to love because He loved others until the end.

               The most powerful indication of His love for us was described by John this way: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). He gave His life out of love for His Father and for each of us to redeem us from sin. Moroni put it this way: “And again, I remember that thou hast said that thou hast loved the world, even unto the laying down of thy life for the world, that thou mightest take it again to prepare a place for the children of men. And now I know that this love which thou hast had for the children of men is charity” (Ether 12:33-34). Nephi described the suffering Jesus went through in His final hours this way: “And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men” (1 Nephi 19:9). He suffered for us, enduring even scourging, because of His loving kindness for each of us. President Joseph F. Smith, pondering this great sacrifice of the Savior for us, wrote about “the great and wonderful love made manifest by the Father and the Son in the coming of the Redeemer into the world” (Doctrine and Covenants 138:3). Isaiah described the Savior this way: “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9). He was afflicted with our afflictions and in His love redeemed us through His suffering. I love how Nephi summed up the Savior’s love for us: “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation” (2 Nephi 26:24). He loved us so much that He laid down His life to draw us to Him. The scriptures make it clear over and over again: Jesus loves you.