Empower the People

Today I read Luke 20, which has the stories of the scribes asking Jesus about the seven brothers who all had the same wife, the parable of the wicked husbandmen, the Pharisees asking Jesus by what authority He did the things He did, and the Pharisees asking if it is lawful to pay tribute to Caesar. When I read chapters like this where the Pharisees, and Sadducees and scribes are all trying to trap Jesus, I have to wonder at their actions. They are the spiritual leaders of their people and along comes Jesus teaching a very different type of doctrine. I sometimes wonder if I were in their shoes, in other words someone came around teaching Latter-day Saints a different type of doctrine and performing miracles, how I would react. The difference I think is that the Pharisees were not interested in the well being of the people, they were more concerned with retaining their power an authority. They did not care about the people and their salvation.

Jesus really did make a good analogy when He compared the Pharisees to a sepulcher how the Pharisees were white and pristine on the outside but full of dead bodies on the inside. They were more concerned with how they were viewed by others than they were their own salvation. They were more concerned with remaining in power than they were the salvation of the people they had authority over. So I can't help but wonder, if something similar were to happen in this day and age, how would I react? Would I be distrustful or would I follow the Spirit and know that the person was sent from God? As a Latter-day Saint, I feel that if such a thing were to happen, our Prophet would tell us about it and then I could pray to receive confirmation and so the analogy is not really similar. You can't compare the two since for one I am not in a position of power over anyone except at my job. I am also not worried about losing what little power I do have, I am more concerned with doing a good job and helping those who I have authority over succeed.

And I think that was the Pharisee's downfall. It was the same one the Catholic church made for centuries. Instead of wanting to empower the people they had authority over, they wanted to remain in power. It was more important to them that they have control than the people be saved. The Catholic priests did not want the common man to have the Bible so they could remain in control and remain a necessary part of the common man's life. So likewise did the Pharisees fulfill a similar role centuries before the Catholic church was founded. They looked upon themselves as interpreters of the law and even enforcers. I have no idea what they would do to people they found transgressing the law, but I imagine it was not pretty. Instead of being the people's guides and teachers, they had become a sort of spiritual police force, not remembering that a person's spirituality is between them and God and no one else. Even in a family, as a husband and a father, I can set rules and do my best to enforce them, but at the end of the day, if my wife chooses to transgress the commandments, it is between her and God and all I can do is counsel and try and help her repent.

Children fall prey to this snare of Satan all the time. How often do we tell children to do something or not to do something and their first reply is that so and so does it. We as a natural man or woman see someone doing it and naturally assume because they did it, it must be alright for us to do it. This is doubly so if the person we saw do it is a member of the church. The best thing we can do for others and for our children is to set a good example and to make sure they know that it does not matter what anyone else does, it only matters what we do. Salvation is a personal act that has to be accomplished on an individual level with the exception being eternal marriage. That takes two and makes you part of a team that needs to pull equal weight. As you and your spouse work together it gets so much easier if you both have the same goals and work as a team. And as you and your spouse work as a team, it will set the example for your children and what they should strive to emulate when they are grown and you can face Heavenly Father with a clear conscience regarding how you taught your children. And that's really the best we can do in this life, is set the right example and lead by our actions. Until tomorrow.