I was invited to give a talk in church. This is what I shared today.
Disciples
Three days after Jesus’ crucifixion he spent time with two disciples who were traveling to Emmaus. He taught them from the scriptures, and he ate with them. After some time, they finally recognized him as Jesus.
Luke 24
31) And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32) And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
These disciples felt the witness of the Holy Ghost. This is the manner in which we are most often taught to expect spiritual guidance. The still small voice.
Shepherds
Let’s consider the shepherds in Luke 2.
In verse 7, Jesus is born, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. In the very next verse, even before Luke tells us that Jesus was named and circumcised, the shepherds have their moment.
Luke 2
8) And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9) And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
Paraphrasing, the angel says “The Savior of the world was just born, here are front row tickets, just walk into Bethlehem and look for a baby in a manger, you can’t miss it. Oh, and by the way, here’s a choir!!!”
This is how the shepherds were directed to visit Jesus. Afterward, they shared the news with many people.
16) And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17) And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18) And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
These shepherds received spiritual guidance directly and clearly! Then, they followed their instructions.
Wise Men
Now let’s talk about the wise men, who were led in a very different fashion. Some time after Jesus was born, maybe a year or two, the wise men arrived on the scene.
Matthew 2
1) Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2) Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
So they saw a star in the east, then started walking… west? They may have come from the Parthian Empire, whose culture had many astrological traditions and a social class of magi. But this chapter is all the canon tells us of the wise men – some apocryphal texts mention them, and different Christian traditions have different ideas about how many wise men there were, their names, whether they were kings or PhDs or social media influencers.
In verse 7, Herod the king had to ask the wise men when the star had appeared; he hadn’t heard about it until this time.
9) When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
11) And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
They were warned in a dream to avoid Herod as they traveled home.
In Your Language
I think it’s interesting that the wise men were men of consequence, but not rabbis or cantors. They probably weren’t Jewish. I’m comforted that Heavenly Father loves and trusts so many of his children who don’t fit a mold. Quoting Sister Tracy Browning in her October 2024 General Conference talk:
“God’s plan is merciful toward the limitations of our humanity; provides us with our Savior, Jesus Christ, to be our Good Shepherd; and inspires us to use our agency to choose Him.”
Heavenly Father spoke to the wise men “in their language”. Their native language was probably something like Persian or Arabic, but that’s not what I’m talking about. They would worship the King of the Jews, if given the chance. They watched for a sign according to their understanding – they watched the stars and were familiar with certain prophecies. In so doing, God used these wise men as instruments to deliver some resources of earthly value and spiritual symbolism – gold, frankincense, myrrh.
Heavenly Father spoke to the shepherds “in their language”. They weren’t so fancy as the wise men, and maybe that was the point. Despite angels and shepherds turning the volume all the way to 11, Herod the king didn’t know his kingship would be threatened until the wise men visited him in person.
The disciples on the road to Emmaus were in a funk, saying “we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel” but he had been crucified. Heavenly Father sent them comfort and assurance through the Holy Ghost.
In My Language
The most common way that Heavenly Father answers my spiritual questions is the method of the wise men. The second most common would be the method of the disciples walking to Emmaus – through the still small voice. However I’ve noticed that he teaches me through the still small voice more often in recent years.
If I could reduce this to a formula, it would be this:
- Submission – Would I accept whatever answer that I might receive? Am I willing to do anything, or give up anything to have this understanding? If not, then I shouldn’t expect much.
- Ask clearly and sincerely – Sometimes fasting can help.
- Get back to work and get out of my head – Wait and watch for an answer while working for my employer, doing chores, hobbies, things that I normally fill my life with.
- And if I feel frustrated or impatient, then it can help to remember scriptures like D&C 122 when Joseph Smith was a prisoner in Liberty Jail. He was counseled to be patient.
(Not) In My Language
When people say something like “we decided to punt the decision until next week” I know what that means because I have heard the word “punt” used this way so many times. I’ve read between the lines, I know that it’s something like delay or put off or defer.
I’m also aware that the word “punt” is a term used in football, in fact my example sentence uses the term metaphorically. However, I don’t know what “punt” means literally. I didn’t even look it up while preparing for this talk — that’s how little I care about football.
I’m also not a BYU fan. It has nothing to do with the fact that Utah State has (1) put more student-built satellites into space than any other university, or (2) that I myself am a fifth generation Aggie, or that (3) Logan is so beautiful and Provo is so … Provo. I’m just not interested in BYU. So when Heavenly Father wants to teach me something, he doesn’t use BYU football metaphors.
Similarly, I have no interest in astrology. Astronomy is fascinating, I’m particularly excited about what the JWST is revealing about this massive universe we live in. But I don’t read horoscopes and I don’t guide my life by whether Mercury is in retrograde or whatever. If the wise men asked me to travel with them to Jerusalem to worship the King of the Jews who was definitely just born because there’s a new star in Orion’s belt, I would politely decline and go back to watching YouTube videos about anything but BYU football and astrology.
Airplanes
I’ll teach you a simple metaphor that I do understand, and that you can understand. Airplanes cannot fly if they aren’t moving forward. When an airplane flies too slowly, the wing can’t hold the airplane aloft, and the airplane stops flying and starts falling or “stalling”. Every airplane has a different minimum airspeed, referred to as the “stall speed”. For example the Piper Cub stall speed is 38 mph, while some fighter jets and spy planes have stall speeds around 200 mph.
Here’s the metaphor. Just as we read in Ether 12:6 “ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith”, I might say “you experience not the miracle of flight, you wonder not at this incredible perspective of geography and geology and meteorology that touch and surround you every day, until after you maintain the required airspeed.” And again quoting Sister Tracy Browning’s General Conference talk:
God knows that the higher you are, the farther you can see.
I’ll take this metaphor one step further. When an airplane does stall, our natural human instinct is to pull back on the stick, in order to keep the nose up. However, this only makes the stall worse – the correct response to a stall is exactly the opposite – let the nose fall, it usually takes just 10 or 15 degrees of pitch attitude. This way, gravity helps the airplane to fly forward faster, until it is flying faster than the stall speed. We call this recovering from a stall.
Here’s the metaphor. When we sin, it’s natural to resist repenting. The natural man wants to continue living in the warmth and comfort of our previous blessed condition, and protects our ego. But this only exacerbates the negative effects of the sin. Counter-intuitively, the correct response is to “Fall. Forward.” – to lean into the opportunity to regain spiritual momentum through humble repentance.
Every licensed pilot has practiced stall and recovery at least a hundred times, often thousands of times, in order to become a better pilot. Because of the Fall of Adam and Eve, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we must practice sin and repentance to become like our Heavenly Father.
Closing
God has taught me some gospel principles through aviation. He has taught me other gospel principles through my other areas of interest. I have a testimony that, to the degree to which I submit to His will, He teaches me and helps me to grow.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
