A New Heart

I was asked to speak in our Sacrament meeting on Easter Sunday. This is more or less what I said, with a few links added and some sentences edited for clarity. My talk was based in part on the talk Behold, the Lamb of God by Elder Jeffrey Holland.

Last November, a sweet baby girl entered the world. She was welcomed by her mom, her dad, a big brother, and a big sister. In February, at age three months old, her mom took baby Alizee to the doctor because she was pale, coughing, crying, and not growing much. The doctor discovered that she had a critical heart malformation that would require surgery to repair. Alizee was hospitalized for a time, and then a month later, hospitalized again. Unfortunately, in her home country of Belize, pediatric open-heart surgery is not available. Even if it were, the cost would far surpass anything that her parents could ever afford.  

Thankfully for Alizee, her case was referred to a non-profit organization called HeartGift. Alizee and her mother arrived in San Antonio in April. They stayed with a host family who provided a place to stay, meals, rides to appointments, and emotional support before and after Alizee’s hospital stay. Alizee was able to receive treatment and surgery by a medical team who donated their time, at a hospital that donated tens of thousands of dollars, to mend her broken heart and give her a new life with her family in Belize.

Alizee going home from the hospital

I see in Alizee’s experience the story of each of us. Christ’s Atonement, his crucifixion, and his resurrection, which we celebrated with all Christian faiths during Holy Week and Easter, mend our broken hearts and give us new life now and the promise of eternal life in our heavenly home with our Heavenly parents, paying the price that justice demands, a price we could never hope to afford.

The plan was prepared from before the creation of the world. We would need a way to overcome physical death and the separation from God that would come about through the fall, a deliberate choice of Adam and Eve to bring us into this world, a necessary step in our journey back to God and becoming like him.

After the fall, Adam and Eve were taught to sacrifice the first of their flock, a type or symbol of Christ, who would come: the Lamb of God. Abraham’s almost-sacrifice of Isaac, the continued sacrifice of a perfect first-born lamb in ancient tabernacles and temples, and the Passover offering of the children of Israel to escape the 10th plague of the death of the firstborn all pointed towards Christ, the Lamb of God.

This title, Lamb of God, testifies of his greatest act, the infinite sacrifice he made of himself. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son; that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). It was prophesied by all the prophets, as their purpose was to turn those who heard them to Jesus Christ. Christ’s sacrifice fulfilled the Law of Moses and changed what he asks of us. To the believers in the new world, Christ taught:

"And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings. And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost. . . Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin" (3 Nephi 9:19-21).

We are thus commanded to offer to him a broken heart and a contrite spirit. We make this offering when we take the Sacrament each week in this meeting, called our most sacred hour. Elder Holland taught us to remember, as those little cups of water are passed to us, that Christ drank the most bitter cup. Was he afraid? Did he know how excruciating would be his agony in the Garden, how lonely and difficult would be his task? Maybe a more relevant question to ask is how can I show him that I accept his love and honor his sacrifice? How can I keep my promise to always remember him? How can I “cast away my transgressions and make me a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezekiel 18:31)?

In Doctrine and Covenants 59: 5, I think it is no coincidence that Christ teaches the early modern saints about the two great commandments: "to love the Lord with all thy heart, with all they might, mind and strength; to love thy neighbor as thyself."

And then in vs 8: "Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit."

One way that we prepare for the Sacrament and offer in sacrifice our broken hearts is by acting in Christ's place, loving and serving our neighbor, and providing evidence to God that we are his. King Benjamin teaches,

"And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you--that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God--I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants" (Mosiah 4:26).

I want to add that if you are at home with your kids, you are feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. Your children, your family, they are also your neighbors. They are your people. Ministering to your family is ministering.

When we act in his place here, as his hands, as his ears, giving words of comfort, this transforms us, as he promised to the Israelites:

"...ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them" (Ezekiel 36: 26-27).

Another way to always remember him is to involve him, through prayer, in our life. Alma instructs his son Helaman:

". . . cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God. . ." (Alma 37:36-37).

King Benjamin teaches us that God “is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another” (Mosiah 2:21). Every breath can be a reminder of God’s love for you.

Lastly, look for him in your life. If you look for him, you will find him, everywhere. Every day can be a celebration of Christ’s atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection, when you see him in your life. In Jeremiah 29, the Lord speaks to the captive Jews in Babylon through the prophet Jeremiah: "And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).

There is evidence of him in all of creation. Let all things remind you of him and his love. Christ is in the wildflowers, in the rising of the full golden moon, in fields of tall grasses, in the cool morning air.

Wildflowers after a morning run

He is in the birdsong. He is in the innocent curiosity of children, in the wide-eyed alert observations of a baby, even in the sometimes belligerent choices of teenagers learning to use their agency. Let all these things fill our hearts with gratitude to God. And when we cry over the horrible events that happen every day in our world, and experience physical pain and shattering loss, let us remember, as Elder Holland said, “that Christ died from a heart broken by shouldering entirely alone the sins and sorrows of the whole human family.” He knows our pain and understands our loss.

My hope today is that we will look forward to his return and prepare as did those of old, that we will better prepare our hearts as an offering to him, that we will always remember him, and that we may have his spirit to be with us, always.