Joyfully Receive the Unexpected Messiah

Well, in time the shouts of praise and jubilation died down, as happens so often in life. The crowds dispersed. People went back to their regularly scheduled activities.

Meanwhile, Jesus had a quiet Last Supper with His Apostles. He taught them, encouraged them, and prayed for them. He gave them the sacrament ordinance, something to remember Him by.

Then He walked into a garden called Gethsemane, and there—alone—He took upon Himself the sins of the world. He walked “the winepress alone,” and no one was with Him (Isaiah 63:3).

By the end of the next day, Jesus was hanging on a cross between two common thieves, suffering a cruel and humiliating execution. Instead of adoration, He now received mocking. “If he be the King of Israel,” the people said, “let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him” (Matthew 27:42).

Some observers must have been sincerely confused. Wasn’t this the same man who had caused all that commotion a few days ago? Wasn’t He supposed to be our Deliverer? How will He save us if He can’t even save Himself?

With the advantage of hindsight, we can clearly see that people had mistaken expectations about Jesus’s real mission.

Haven’t we all experienced an occasional disconnect between what we expect in life and what actually happens? Aren’t unexpected surprises part of our lives?

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of high ideals.

But it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they don’t always match the messy, mundane realities of mortality.

In a perfect world, everyone would always keep the commandments of God. In a perfect world, we all would feel blessed and happy, and every faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would have a strong, fulfilling marriage and family.

But the fact is that some of us face very complex, daunting challenges that make these blessings seem almost out of reach.

So what do we do when the beautiful, universal, eternal ideals of the gospel clash with the painful, individual, mortal realities of life?

There are at least two things you should remember:

Never give up on the ideal.

Don’t disregard the real.

It’s not easy for our mortal minds and hearts to hold on to two concepts that seem to contradict one another.

So, to resolve the disconnect in our minds, we might jump quickly to conclusions: “If I’m suffering, I must have done something wrong.” Or “If I’m not seeing the blessings I hoped for, the promises must not be real.”

But maybe there’s another way to look at things. Didn’t the Lord say, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts [higher] than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9)?

Have you ever noticed how different things look from a higher elevation? When you reach the summit and look back down at the valley, isn’t it amazing how small everything looks?

God invites us to follow His way to a higher and holier perspective. You will see the world and its challenges with different eyes; you will see things in the context of the whole creation and the plan of salvation.

My dear friends, you are in a part of your life when important decisions need to be made: consequential choices on education and occupation, who to marry, and when to start having a family. For all these choices you need the blessings of heaven and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. And it is there. It is available. Follow the pattern the Lord taught Oliver Cowdery: “Study it out in your mind; then … ask [God] if it be right” (Doctrine and Covenants 9:8).

You have a brain and a heart. And you will know.

So please ask your Heavenly Father for blessings and guidance. Share with Him your hopes, dreams, and desires. But in doing so, make sure that you are not trying to get Him to see things your way. Ask Him to open your eyes to see things His way. That’s when the answers start to flow. That’s when you climb the mountain and begin to see things from a higher perspective—even Heavenly Father’s perspective.

You will see that many things that seemed very big and overwhelming are in reality much smaller and not so threatening anymore.

At the same time you will discover the eternal significance of certain things that seemed small to your mortal eyes.

In our prayers we follow the example the Savior set for us in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, “Father, … not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Answers to your prayers will come. Of this I testify. Perhaps not your way, but certainly His way. Sometimes they come through a scripture, a sacred feeling, or the words of a trusted person, but come they will.

The Lord indeed knows you. He knows your heart. He knows your name. These moments can be to you like that holy, peaceful moment on a beautiful spring morning outside an empty tomb when a young woman was weeping and the resurrected Jesus called her by name (see John 20:16).

Can you feel Jesus, with His gentle voice, calling you by name? Remember, the Savior knows your name. He loves you.

On Palm Sunday, Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem drew a crowd. It was a glorious and exciting moment. But even more important was what Jesus did after He entered Jerusalem—even though much of it was done quietly, privately, even unnoticed by most people.

It may not have been what the people expected of the Messiah. But it was what God had promised. And it was what the people—humanity, you and I—what we all needed. It was the heavenly gift and the atoning sacrifice that all of humanity, all of God’s children, needed.

“Behold,” the prophet Zechariah said, “thy King cometh unto thee” (Zechariah 9:9).

Just as He entered triumphantly into Jerusalem, the gentle Christ enters your lives individually, if you will receive Him.