Mosiah 27

(March 12, 2015)

                One thing that took me a long time to understand was that the angel was not appearing there to save the Church (a heart attack by Alma the Younger would have accomplished the same thing).  Instead, the angel was there to save Alma the Younger.  Ironically enough, the work of the Lord needs little Divine intervention to come about.  The Lord has a perfect plan, and it is capable of reaching fruition without many angels coming down.  These miracles (whether healings, Divine visitations, or something else) are not done to accomplish their ostensible purpose but rather to educate and teach though who experience (directly or indirection) these miracles.

                C. S. Lewis put it best, if I can paraphrase him.  Christ did not need to turn water into wine.  God knew how many people would be at the wedding feast and how thirsty they would be at the foundation of the world.  He could have made grapes more plentiful or the rain more frequent such that the harvest would be greater.  He could have inspired the purchaser to buy more wine, and even provided the money to do so through naturalistic means.

                When Christ turned water into wine, therefore, it wasn’t about the wine.  It was a demonstration of Christ’s power – and this particular miracle (as opposed to others) was enacted to teach important lessons about Christ and His attributes.  This is true about each and every miracle that we see or read about – the lepers could have been born clean or become clean through natural means, but Christ healed them to show each of us that we too can be made clean (spiritually) through Christ.  Miracles are real (I have certainly seen them enough in my life), but their purpose is not specifically to accomplish their purpose but rather to teach us through their presence.  And, to once again paraphrase Lewis, it is more important that miracles exist than that we happen to receive the one that we are asking for.