(Aldste Cummings)
Hej hej!
This week was a mixture of very rewarding and pretty
frustrating. A lot of our appointments fell through and had to be rescheduled
for next week, but it's all good.
We taught a man from Ethiopia who had gone through so much
in his life and had the strongest, most passionate faith in Jesus Christ. It
was incredible. He was imprisoned and harassed for his religion in Libya, and
had seen his closest friends executed for refusing to deny their beliefs and he
never gave up the faith. Truly an inspiring story. He was so excited to meet us
and even began to cry when we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon in his
native language.
Therese was baptized on Saturday! Literally our entire
congregation from church was there to support her and we had a big party
afterwards. She said the following day in church that it was the best day of
her life and she is so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This week I want to talk a little about what I think is one
of the most powerful and even poetic verses in the King James Bible. On the
surface it's very simple. If you just read over it, you'll probably just notice
that the grammar at the end seems a little funny and move on. But it's so much
more than that.
In John 8, Jesus begins a pretty relentless and unapologetic
criticism of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They continually
fail to grasp the full import of his words and insist that they are blessed and
holy because they are the children of Abraham and heirs to the Abrahamic
covenant. Finally, Christ says these words: "Before Abraham was, I
am."
The use of "I am" here in the original Greek is
the same as the usage in the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament in
Exodus 3:14. Thus, in one single sentence, Jesus confounds their argument, and
not only associates himself with--which alone would be considered
blasphemy--but even identifies himself as their Lord, even Jehovah. The Creator
of the World, the Voice in the Burning Bush, the Architect of the Exodus, the
very Hand that wrote the Law they profess to keep, and now, the Savior of
Mankind. The rabbis fully understood the significance of what he said, and
immediately began to pick up rocks to stone him to death.
So powerful a statement, in so beautiful and simple a
phrase. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and our Savior. I know
that through Him and his sacrifice, we can find forgiveness, peace, strength,
and, ultimately, be perfected. I love Him, and I know He loves us all.
Love,
Äldste Cummings
