Behold Thy Mother By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Lesson May 2016

Behold Thy Mother
By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles


INTRODUCTION

SAY: As I was preparing this lesson, I thought of a time in my life where I was good Mormon man but I felt that I had to do everything myself without any help from God.  I was unaware of my defficency at the time.  Only look back brings what I lacked at the time to my awareness.  I am sure that 20 years from now I will look back at today and realize things that I cannot see today.  By the way, I am aware of God watching over me even at that time years ago.

SAY: Reflect back on a time in your life where you came to an awareness that God was watching over you or was even carrying you.  Perhaps a time in your life where your testimony grew of the Lord's love for you.  We will ask for your stories later in the lesson.

LEARNER READINESS

READ A

READING A - Prophesying of the Savior’s Atonement, Isaiah wrote, “He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” A majestic latter-day vision emphasized that “[Jesus] came into the world … to bear the sins of the world.” Both ancient and modern scripture testify that “he redeemed them, and bore them, and carried them all the days of old.” A favorite hymn pleads with us to “hear your great Deliv’rer’s voice!”

SAY: In the quote we just read, Elder Holland quotes D&C 133:52-53 when he said of the Savior, in the last days when Zion is established, that "He redeemed them, and bore them, and carried them all the days of old".

SAY: I found the preceding verse interesting as well.  Let's read both verses:

READ B

READING B - D&C 133:52 - 53

52 And now the year of my redeemed is come; and they shall mention the loving kindness of their Lord, and all that he has bestowed upon them according to his goodness, and according to his loving kindness, forever and ever.
53 In all their afflictions he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence saved them; and in his love, and in his pity, he redeemed them, and bore them, and carried them all the days of old;

Q: Why do  you suppose the redeemed of the Lord in that future and past day, mention among themselves the loving kindness of the Lord?

READ C

READING C - Bear, borne, carry, deliver. These are powerful, heartening messianic words. They convey help and hope for safe movement from where we are to where we need to be—but cannot get without assistance.

Q: What is this assistance that we all need?  What is this loving kindness that the redeemed of the Lord, as they look back at their lives, make mention of?

READ D

READING D - These words also connote burden, struggle, and fatigue—words most appropriate in describing the mission of Him who, at unspeakable cost, lifts us up when we have fallen, carries us forward when strength is gone, delivers us safely home when safety seems far beyond our reach. “My Father sent me,” He said, “that I might be lifted up upon the cross; … that as I have been lifted up … even so should men be lifted up … to … me.”

Q: What is the mission of our Savior?

LEARNER INVOLVEMENT

SAY: At this point in Elder Holland's talk, Elder Holland changes subject ever so slightly.

READ E

READING E - But can you hear in this language another arena of human endeavor in which we use words like bear and borne, carry and lift, labor and deliver? As Jesus said to John while in the very act of Atonement, so He says to us all, “Behold thy mother!”

READ F

READING F - Today I declare from this pulpit what has been said here before: that no love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child. When Isaiah, speaking messianically, wanted to convey Jehovah’s love, he invoked the image of a mother’s devotion. “Can a woman forget her sucking child?” he asks. How absurd, he implies, though not as absurd as thinking Christ will ever forget us.7

Q: What most closely approximates our Saviors love for us?

READ G

READING G - This kind of resolute love “suffereth long, and is kind, … seeketh not her own, … but … beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” Most encouraging of all, such fidelity “never faileth.” “For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed,” Jehovah said, “but my kindness shall not depart from thee.” So too say our mothers.

Q: Why is it important to understand the God's love for us is like a mother's love?

LEARNER APPLICATION

SAY: Let's delve a little deeper into Elder Hollands analogy of why the Lord uses mothers as an metaphor for how loves us.

Q: How dependent is baby on his mother? [completely]
Q: What kind of time commitment is involved by the mother?
Q: How bound up is the mother in the life of the child?
Q: Is the baby aware of all the work and assistance he is receiving from his mother?
Q: According to this analogy, how intricately involved is God in our lives?

SAY: Perhaps we are more dependent on the Lord than we have ever realized.  Perhaps God has been watching of me and you more than we can comprehend.  As a mother is bound up in the life of her child, God is bound up in our lives.  He cares about us deeply.

And as children, we don't even realize it.

Q: Are there limits to what God can do?   Are there limits to what our mothers can do?  [agency]
Q: Will God give us things that will hurt us or stop our progression?

TELL STORY of little girl on youtube that wanted her mother make the sun stay up.  She cried and cried having a little temper tantrum demanding that her mother stop the sun from going down.  The mother said to the child that other children need the sun to shine them as well.

Q: Why is important for us to believe and acknowledge that God is intricately involved in our life?

SHARING TIME

SAY: Brethren, could you share a life changing experience where your awareness of God watching over you increased or where you knew you were being carried?  Where you began walking in His Grace and felt secure in His love?

[if not answer] This has happened multiple times in my life.  First, was as a child. Another, when I was a teenager, another as an adult, where I finally confessed to God that I was out of control and needed Him.  Something changed at that time.


SAY: I am reminded of a scripture in Alma 33.  Verse 16 says:

16 For behold, he said: Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people, because they will not understand thy mercies which thou hast bestowed upon them because of thy Son.

SAY: Alma goes on tell the people the story of when the people were being bitten by fiery serpents and how Moses took one of the serpents and put it on a stick and raised it up.  Let me read it to you:

19 Behold, he was spoken of by Moses; yea, and behold a type wasraised up in the wilderness, that whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live.

20 But few understood the meaning of those things, and this because of the hardness of their hearts. But there were many who were so hardened that they would not look, therefore they perished. Now the reason they would not look is because they did not believe that it would heal them.

21 O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?

SAY: Alma then goes on to say:

22 If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works.

Q: Why bring these verses of scripture to your attention?  [look to the Savior]

Q: Brethren, do we have to solve all our problems on our own or can we look to Christ, lifted up on the cross?

Q: How do we do it?  How do look to Christ and be healed?

SAY: I believe that the God wants us look to Christ in everything.  He wants us to deeply acknowledge God's Hand in our lives.  We put our trust in God in every aspect of lives.

Listen to the next verse:

23 And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye will. Amen.

SAY: Let's plant Christ deeply into our hearts and nourish this seed by our faith until it becomes a tree.  Our burdens then become light through the joy of His Son.

CONCLUSION

SAY: Brethren, when we look to God and come unto Christ, he heals us.  We are filled with His love. He blesses us with His Grace.  We know, like a loving mother, that he is watching over us and cares deeply for us.  Like a mother, he hears our crys.  He anticipates our needs. And the more we depend on our Savior, the more this relationship grows.  I am grateful for my Savior and that he has rescued me and continues to rescue for as long as I am in this mortal life (and beyond)