Chapter 20
Jesus provides bread
and wine miraculously and again administers the sacrament unto the people—The
remnant of Jacob will come to the knowledge of the Lord their God and will
inherit the Americas—Jesus is the prophet like unto Moses, and the Nephites are
children of the prophets—Others of the Lord’s people will be gathered to
Jerusalem. About A.D. 34.
After the remarkable experience of the Savior’s prayer, He
commanded them to cease their vocal prayer. “And the children of Israel said to
Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out
of the hand of the Philistines” (1 Samuel 7:8).
“But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and
not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first
place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will
consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the
welfare of thy soul” (2 Nephi 32:9).
He told them (and us as well) we should never cease praying
in our hearts. We should always carry a prayer with us. When Alma1 and his
people were taken into bondage, they were told to cease praying. If they were
caught praying, they would be executed. “And Alma and his people did not raise
their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and
he did know the thoughts of their hearts” (Mosiah 24:12).
They were then commanded to stand up and they did. He took
bread and broke it. He blessed it and gave it to the disciples to eat. The
twelve were next commanded to break bread and give it to the multitude.
When they had given all the bread, He called them bake and
blessed the wine and gave it to the twelve. They were commanded to give the
multitude the wine.
Now, if you’ve been following Mormon’s account closely, you
will notice he made no mention of bread and wine being available. The prayers
had been finished and suddenly the Savior was breaking bread. Here we see a
miracle similar to the feeding of the 5,000.
“And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass,
and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he
blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to
the multitude.
“And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of
the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
“And they that had eaten were about five thousand men,
beside women and children” (Matthew 14:19-21).
John added a comment to Matthew’s account. “Then those men,
when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that
prophet that should come into the world” (John 6:14).
One moment, there was no bread or wine. The next, Christ was
breaking bread and commanding the twelve to give the multitude wine. The
multitude saw an unforgettable miracle performed before their very eyes.
As He taught the twelve in Jerusalem, He explained to the
Nephites they were to partake of the bread in the remembrance of His body.
“And this shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I
have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do
always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to
be with you” (3 Nephi 18:7).
“The Lord gave lunch to the people in the first place simply
because they were hungry, they needed it, and he ‘was moved with compassion’
(Matthew 14:14, 15:32). He both fed them and taught them, but the knowledge was
worth far more than the food–he told them not to labor for that (John 6:27).
When he miraculously produced the lunch, they wanted to accept him as their
prophet and king (John 6:14–15), even as the Nephites, who when they had eaten
and were filled all burst out in one joyful chorus of praise and thanksgiving
(3 Nephi 20:9). Why the excitement? Hadn't they ever eaten dinner before? That
had nothing to do with it; what thrilled them was seeing clearly and
unmistakably the hand of the Giver, and knowing for themselves exactly where it
all comes from and that it can never fail. Now if we ask, who at these
love–feasts got the biggest share or ate the most? We at once betray the
poverty and absurdity of our own precious work–ethic. Such questions would be
nothing short of blasphemous to all present, as if one were to interrupt the
ordinances and stop the feast by announcing: "Hold it right there, you people!
Don't you know that there is no free
lunch?’”[1]
“Being filled with the Spirit is
closely associated with the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper—where those involved
cried and gave glory to Jesus…”[2]
They were to drink the wine in remembrance of His blood.
“When I partake of the sacrament, I sometimes picture in my
mind a painting that depicts the resurrected Savior with His arms outstretched,
as if He is ready to receive us into His loving embrace. I love this painting.
When I think about it during the administration of the sacrament, my soul is
lifted as I can almost hear the Savior’s words: ‘Behold, mine arm of mercy is
extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed
are those who come unto me.’”[3]
[1] Work
We Must, But the Lunch Is Free, Hugh W. Nibley, Reprinted with permission
from Approaching Zion, vol. 9 of The
Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1989),
203–51, Maxwell Institute website (emphasis in original).
[2]
Book
of Mormon Pneumatology, John Christopher Thomas, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Volume 24 2015:222.
[3]
The
Sacrament—a Renewal for the Soul, Sister Cheryl A. Esplin, October 2014
General Conference.
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