What Kind of Savior are You Looking For?

It had been a crazy day.  Hectic needs, exploding diapers, phones ringing...yah.

During my tiny break time from external demands, I had Eli on the bed next to me while I took some needed down time. The morning hours had been packed and a little noisy towards the end. I had managed to get some soup in the pot for dinner and just needed a little breather upstairs to piddle. 

I like piddling. 

 And puttering. I get that from my dad, I guess :D. 

 I cut out some family history cards for the temple and organized them while listening to Alma 8 and 9 when Alma and Amulek are teaching the people about how they need to repent and come to God, rather than sinning against the light they have. It made me think about the Pharisees and how they wanted a Messiah that would come down and make their life comfortable and free of pain. Their enemies destroyed, everything good.

And He didn't, in one sense of the word.

Instead He actually seemed to make things “worse” for some of them: introducing doctrine, beliefs and ways of life that turned brother against brother, healing people that later got in trouble for it and were challenged for it. So what did He bring? 

What did the coming of the Messiah do for His chosen people?

He gave them peace in the midst of trials, perspective about what was truly important. He taught us that trials and afflictions are a part of perfection; trials and afflictions are pretty much all he experienced from a very young age. He did not keep aloof in a padded castle with kind and perfect people all around. His friends and community rejected him, disciples turned away, apostles betrayed, religious leaders condemned him to death and “dishonor.”

Today, don't people get mad at God for the same reasons? “If there was a God, He would make my life better.” No, actually, just as Christ did not come to be the Messiah that the Jews had in mind. The Jews were blind to what Christ was actually offering, just as we—in our pursuit of a life full of ease, comfort and free from trials—sometimes reject our God because He does not “deliver us” from all of those.

We are just like those Pharisees that insist that our Messiah act a certain way and turn a blind eye to what He actually offers. Not only do we turn a blind eye, but we actively reject Him and His word and say, “There can obviously be nothing to that because it doesn't make my life without pain. Without sorrow. Without grief.”

Remember? The latter was Satan's plan. God's plan required the rigor to become like Him, not pets to be coddled and protected. Gods are not created on the pillows of comfort but in the fire of affliction. When things are going so terrible wrong, maybe it actually means that all is terribly right and we may just be nearer to God than we realize.

So what did Christ do, if He didn't fit the Messianic role the Jews had in mind? 

Bridge the gap between us and God. Give us the chance to start over—again and again and again. Suffer so He could succor. Give us peace in impossible circumstances. Break the bands of death so this life wouldn't be the end. He fought all the right battles and was victorious in every way that was eternally relevant.

Best gifts ever.