I appreciate the gracious invitation President Wheelwright has extended to me to speak at this devotional and to this unique community. I have a great fondness for BYU-Hawaii. While I have worked here providing legal services for the last 15 years, my time here, and the wonderful influence that BYU-Hawaii has had on me, goes back even further to a time when I first came to take part in what was then called the LTM - or the Language Training Mission - as part of my preparation for my mission to Japan. At that time, I was fresh off the farm, both literally and figuratively - coming from a farming community in southeastern Idaho. Hawaii and this campus were my first visit to a place that was far outside of my comfort zone. But, I understand that most of you are also from distant and probably even more exotic places than rural Idaho and have had your comfort zones challenged. I would also guess that, like me, you have found that this is a pretty good place to find a new comfort zone.
From my first visit here and from each of my regular visits here for the last 15 years, wonderful things have been the result of my association with BYU-Hawaii, particularly the warm friendships that I have enjoyed and for which I am deeply grateful.
I particularly appreciate the fact that I have been asked to share some thoughts as part of this devotional. As an attorney, I find that as part of my job I do a lot of talking ”some think way too much talking” but rarely is my talking in this kind of gathering and under such special circumstances as these. It seems that often my talking causes me to be in the unenviable position of making somebody unhappy or even angry. I hope that will not be the case on this occasion. Instead, I hope and pray that the things that I have prepared will be conveyed by the Spirit that we all may be edified.
In my line of work as an attorney, both now and before I started working for this university, I have spent my life occupied if not dominated by questions ”questions of legality, questions of fact, questions of justice, questions of right and wrong, and questions of fundamental fairness. Ironically, the chief tool that attorneys use to address questions and to arrive at a definitive or even a workable answer usually involves asking more questions. These additional questions take the form of interrogatories, direct examination, and cross-examination. As you can imagine, those questions in turn generate a whole series of new questions, which lead to yet other questions in what would appear to be an almost infinite progression. The fact that attorneys always seem to have an endless set of questions has gotten to the point that in court a groan or maybe even a chuckle goes up when an attorney assures the judge that he has only a few more questions for a witness.
As to this process of propounding question upon question, some find this process troubling, if not simply irritating, and others challenge its general sanity. As to the question of sanity, I note that in the scriptures, particularly in the New Testament, we lawyers don't often come off all that well. Most often we are lumped right in there with the liars and hypocrites. The other scriptures, and particularly the Book of Mormon, don't hesitate to take a shot at lawyers accusing us of being "expert in the cunning devices of the devil,... [that they] might destroy that which is good" (Alma 10:13) and in stirring "up the people to rioting and all manner of disturbances and wickedness that they might have more employ" (Alma 11:20). Well, I am not so sure about these characterizations” you know we do have to eat too.
The power to ask questions - and ask the right questions - is both formidable and fundamental. Think in the scriptures how often parables or sermons are the direct response to a really soul stretching question? And even the "trick" questions that were put to the Savior by those unsavory lawyers, to "tempt him," because "he knew the intents of their hearts," He turned those attempts to trap Him into unparalleled teaching moments for those who have "ears to hear." By the way, the Lord Himself was pretty good at getting in a zinger or two including asking the Pharisees and Sadducees a question that "no man was able answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions" (Matt 22:46). But instead the Pharisees and Sadducees "took counsel to kill him" (Acts 9:23).
But think of the wonderful answers that were given to such important questions as:
"Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" (Matt 12:10)
"Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?" (Matt 18:1)
"How often shall my brother sin against me?" (Matt 18:21)
"What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" (Matt 19:16)
"Which is the great commandment in the law?" (Matt 22:36)
"Who is my neighbor?"
"Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar?" (Matt 22:17); and
Art thou he that should come? (Matt 11:3)
And these are just a sampling of the questions that are found in only the first few chapters of Matthew in the New Testament.
The New Testament, however, is not unique in using this question ”answer style of revealing the gospel. For example, in the Explanatory Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants, it states that "[t]hese sacred revelations were received in answer to prayer, in times of need, and came out of real life situations involving real people." Apparently, there is something compelling about questions and answers that resonates with us in revealing gospel truths. It could be something as simple as the fact that questions can be made, through our own experience, very personal, thus opening our ears and minds to understanding the answers. This could be what Nephi refers to when he invites us to "liken" the scriptures to ourselves (see 2 Nephi 11:8). By making the questions personal, not always an easy task, the answers will then be personal and will take on a whole new and life - changing importance.
I am sure that you have had that experience of going to the scriptures with specific questions or problems and are able to find incredibly specific answers or insights. Certainly those answers or insights have always been there, though they might not have been appreciated as we dutifully did our daily scripture reading. It is only by having a clear and compelling question that we are prepared for the answers that the scriptures contain.
Again, the important questions that are specifically posed in the scriptures led to answering revelations, parables, and sermons that the Lord has invited us to "feast on," (2 Nephi 31:20), to make them our "daily bread," (Matt 6:11) and in those instances where understanding does not readily come, we are counseled to "ponder them in our hearts" (3 Nephi 17:3).
As to this invitation to ponder the scriptures, I have often found the Lord's counsel quizzical in that the Lord has asked us to ponder, usually an activity of the mind, with an instrument, our hearts, which is not usually thought of as part of the deliberative process. But, maybe that is the beauty of it. The act of pondering, and especially pondering things in our hearts, must offer just the right combination of intellect and spirit through which we can understand the nuances and complexities of scriptural instruction. The mind without the heart apparently does not engage real spiritual understanding. By itself, the mind may, like a computer, get stuck in one of those endless processing loops: "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of that truth" (2 Tim 3:7). And the heart, ever ready to "feel what is right" (D&C 9:8), often lacks the language needed to bear witness of the truth. Together, however, they can work as a kind of Liahona to find our way in and through the messages that are there for us in the scriptures.
But what is it to ponder things in our hearts? The scriptures don't give us many examples of how this is to be accomplished, and the ones they do give are not always straightforward or easy. For example, remember Oliver Cowdery's brief foray into translation? If you will recall, Oliver was promised the gift of translation in Section Eight of the Doctrines and Covenants and with the important work of translation that Joseph Smith was then involved in translating the Book of Mormon, Oliver was anxious to use his promised gift. Oliver's failure in exercising his gift, however, is recorded in the very next section, Section Nine, and is accompanied with the following direction concerning his failure:
"Behold, you have not understood: you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind: then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right" (D&C 9:7-8).
While the Lord's corrective instructions are clear enough, there is little to indicate just exactly what it was that Oliver was supposed to have studied out in his mind. There were no known dictionaries or lexicons for the hieroglyphics, or reformed Egyptian, that the Book of Mormon was apparently written in for Oliver to use in any regular translation process. We also know painfully little about the actual translation process Joseph Smith used in translating the Book of Mormon to understand what exactly it was that Oliver was supposed to have studied out in his mind. Yet, there was something that Oliver was to have done, to have pondered on, before the necessary inspiration was to come. While pondering things in our hearts is apparently the way that the Lord will reveal much to us, it will also stretch us in ways that we may not expect because it may engage abilities and skills that we have not already mastered.
While I don't profess to have the best understanding of what it is to ponder the scriptures in our hearts, I think that I can offer at least one aid to use in pondering the scriptures that might be of some help, or at the very least it won't hurt. And that leads me back again to where I started -- back to questions.
The fact that most if not all of the scriptures that we are to read and ponder are answers to specific questions leads to the simple matter of whether we actually recognize or have firmly in mind the questions that led to the answering scriptures. Simply put, in reading the scriptures do we get the questions?
If in reading the scriptures we don't pay attention to or lose track of the questions, how helpful are answers really? To try, as some have, to understand the scriptures - the answers - free of the context of the questions they are responding to, can, as Alma has observed, lead to "some [who] have wrested [the scriptures], and have gone astray" (Alma 41:1).
To appreciate the import of the connection between questions and answers ”lest we wrest them and go astray” let me draw an interesting example from popular culture, to illustrate the importance of that connection. In his book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, (Okay, I will bet that you didn't expect to have that source referred to in a devotional talk, but maybe because I am a lawyer I can get away with it) the author Douglas Adams provides the following short vignette, which does a wonderful job of illustrating the importance of understanding the answer by knowing the question.
In his book, Adams describes a Pan-dimensional, hyper-intelligent race that create the ultimate computer, Deep Thought, that can answer any question. When the computer is turned on the hyper-intelligent race asks the computer if it can answer the ultimate question, the meaning of "Life, the Universe and Everything." The computer states that it can answer the question but to process the answer it will take 7 1/2 million years. Before they can stop it, Deep Thought begins the calculation. Seven and one-half million years later "Bing" it has the answer, and the children of the seven thousandth generation who had waited for the answer gather around the computer in great anticipation to see what the answer is to the ultimate question of the meaning of "Life, the Universe and Everything." There is then this following exchange:
"You're ready to give [the answer] to us?" [The people inquired in great excitement]
"I am," replied Deep Thought, "Though I don't think that you are going to like it."
"Doesn't matter! We must know it! Now." They replied.
"Now?" inquired Deep Thought.
"Yes! Now ..."
"All right," said the computer and settled into silence again. The tension was unbearable.
"You're really not going to like it," observed Deep Thought.
"Tell us!" [The people yelled]
"All right," said Deep Thought, "The answer to the Great Question ..."
"Yes..."
"Of Life, the Universe and Everything ... "said Deep Thought.
"Yes - Yes!"
"Is ..." said Deep Thought, and paused.
"Is ... Forty Two."
It was a long pause before anyone spoke.
"Forty two! [What does that mean?] Is that all you have to show for seven and a half million years work?"
"I checked it very thoroughly," said the computer, "and that quite definitely is the answer.
"I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you have never actually known what the question is.... Once you know what the question actually is, you'll know what the answer means."
OK, not to ruin the plot of the rest of the book, but it centers around discovering what the ultimate question actually is.
As Adams explains through the computer Deep Thought, it is impossible to really understand an answer if you don't actually understand the question. Putting this observation in the context of the scriptures, and knowing that the majority of what we find in the scriptures -- the stories, the parables, the sermons, and even the miracles are answers - are prophetic responses to the most perplexing and important questions of our spiritual lives, and our relationship with the Lord. To read the scriptures without knowing or really understanding the questions can be a difficult if not a bewildering experience, as hard as trying to understand how "42" is the answer to the meaning of "Life, the Universe and Everything." I would suspect that this is a reason that we at times find the scriptures hard to understand.
Remember that the scriptures themselves admonish us that answers will not be provided to us unless we ask with "real intent." I don't think "real intent" is just really, really wanting an answer. Like with Oliver Cowdery, I think it means that we must have done all that we can to truly understand the questions, make them personal, and are thus prepared to receive the answers. And again, like Oliver, what must be done in each situation may be a little different but something we have to work out.
If you will indulge me, I would like to spend the rest of the time that I have testing this little aid that I have suggested on one of the most famous of the parables that Jesus gave us and see if we can track the underlying questions that are posed and see if we can better understand the answers that the parable provides. The parable I want to use in this test is the parable that we all know, the parable of the Prodigal Son as recorded in Luke chapter 15. I want to suggest that this parable is offered to address a really troubling, if not harsh, question that is posed to the Savior; and the parable ends with the Savior leaving hanging an intentionally unspoken but far-reaching question that brings an important focus to the parable and to the original question that was asked. Finally, as in all of the Savior's teachings the unspoken question left at the end of the parable reaches directly to us wherein we can make this parable very personal and life-changing. Let us see if these questions are really borne out.
First, and maybe as a bit of an aside, it should be noted that the word "prodigal" or the words "prodigal son" are never used in the scriptures. In a very tantalizing way this leaves us with the question of just who is prodigal - but that is only an aside and not the real question. Anyway, let's turn to the text and see what question this parable actually presents and answers.
The first two verse of Luke chapter 15 sets the stage for the question that the parable answers. The "publicans and sinners" have drawn near to hear the Lord. The "Pharisees and scribes" were also there. Not to hear, but to "murmur." And what were the Pharisees and scribes murmuring? They were questioning the Lord: (to paraphrase, they were asking the Lord) "How come you are hanging out with these losers?" With the lines drawn between these two clear-cut camps, the publicans and sinners on one side and the Pharisees and scribes on the other, it is not surprising that Jesus' answering parable tracks these two camps and frames as central to the story a Father who has two sons.
There are telling parallels between the Father's two sons, both travel, albeit one travels a little further than the other; both end up in fields distant from their Father (we will see just how distant and what that distance represents); both are watched carefully by the Father, who values them both, and the Father seeks both of them out where they are; and both sons prepare and give important and revealing little speeches to their Father. The parable ends, however, with the two sons in very different places, both physically and spiritually, and there is left hanging a life-defining question. Anyway, let's take a look at the two sons and their progression.
The first son, the owner of the all-important birthright and all that goes with it, the double portion and the responsibilities towards all of the Father's household, remains in his place with the Father. The younger son, however, younger and thus entitled to less inheritance, claims his "portion of goods" and goes to a "far country" (Luke 15:12-13). He "wastes his substance in riotous living" (Luke 15:13). And when "he had spent all" (Luke 15:14) and the inevitable famine, both physical and spiritual, comes, the younger son joins himself to a citizen of that country who sends him ignominiously to the fields to feed the swine. The younger son is left to feed himself on the "husks that the swine did eat," for "no man gave unto him" (Luke 15:16). In a succinct fashion the Lord paints with great accuracy the world in which we live - a self centered, pleasure seeking world where the essential mantra is "There is no such thing as a free lunch."
Then the greatest thing that can happen to this younger son or to any of us for that matter”happens. He "came to himself" (Luke 15:17). Paul in First Corinthians makes it clear that a fundamental purpose of this life is the journey to come to ourselves and "know [ourselves] even as ... [we] are known" (1 Cor. 13:12). And who is it that really knows us? That benchmark can only be our loving Heavenly Father. Joseph Smith also taught this great doctrine in D&C Section 76 when he described those "who dwell in [God's] presences, [they] are the Church of the Firstborn; and they see as they are seen, and know as they are known" (D&C 76:94).
What the younger son comes to is his circumstance, where he really is, who he really is. This is very much like the testing question that our Heavenly Father asked Adam and Eve after they had partaken of the forbidden fruit and had hidden themselves because they were naked. In returning "to walk in the garden in the cool of the day" (Genesis 3:8), the Lord asks, "Adam, where art thou" (Genesis 8:9)? The question is not one where the Lord is soliciting information, He knows exactly where they are, but it is meant to invite, very lovingly, for Adam and Eve to take stock of where they are and why. With that question asked and Adam and Eve having given their answer (not a very good one you will recall), the Lord then gives Adam and Eve direction and instruction as to what their lives are to be like and the wonderful plan that is then in store for them, and ultimately for us.
With the younger son reaching this life-defining moment, he determines to "arise and go to [his] Father" (Luke 15:18). With that important decision made he prepares a little speech to give to his Father to explain what he has come to and where his life is. His speech is short and to the point:"Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son" (Luke 15:18-19). He does not seek reinstatement, he knows that he is not worthy of that honor, but instead asks:"Make me as one of thy hired servants" (Luke 15:19). It looks like this son has got it just about right. (See Alma 38:14).
Can't you just imagine the younger son practicing his little speech as he trudges, ragged and barefoot, back home. The grind of the world and the roughness of the road have done their refining. His Father, however, almost ruins the younger son's carefully rehearsed return. Rather than being able to quietly knock on the back door and humbly move into the servant quarters, the Father sees his son a "great way off" (Luke 15:20)”his Father has vigilantly been watching for him, He had never given up on him”and when he sees him, even at a great distance, he runs to him and falls on his neck and kisses him. At that point, we have to imagine that the younger son has to push the Father away a little so that he can deliver his speech. I mean, he has been practicing it for miles, and he is not going to miss his chance to deliver it. But he can barely get any of it out before his Father is having him clothed with the best robe, placing shoes on his feet, and restoring to him the family ring.
Then the party begins. The fatted calf is prepared, and the whole household makes merry. How merry? Christ gives us two examples of just how joyous the party is supposed to be. Earlier in chapter 15, Christ tells us of the rejoicing that occurs when a shepherd who has lost a sheep in the wilderness and leaving the ninety and nine recovers the lost lamb. Once the lamb is returned, the shepherd calls to all his neighbors and friends to rejoice with him over the lost lamb that has been found. So too is the joy and rejoicing, when the woman who has lost one of ten pieces of silver, and after sweeping and "seeking diligently" (Luke 15:8) finds it. Both are seemingly modest examples of joyous returns of what had been lost; could there be a real comparison to the joy of the return of a child?
Well the party is on, and the household, the Father, and the returning son are at the party. So where is the first son?
He also has traveled away from his Father's house, perhaps not as far as the younger son, and maybe not to such an exotic place, but he has traveled nonetheless. He has ended up in a similar place to the younger son - in a field. But this is his Father's field, not the kind of field that the younger son was exiled to when he was sent to fed the swine. While the slogan for the field where the younger son feed the swine was there is "no such thing as a free lunch," the Father's field is quite different. As Hugh Nibley points out, under the Lord's plan and in the Lord's field, "everything is a free lunch."
The older brother hears "music and dancing," and he inquires of a servant as to what it means. He is told of his brother's return and the celebration that his Father has called for, fattened calf and all. But unlike his Father, the older son's response is not on the order of running and falling on the neck of his brother and kissing him, but rather he becomes "angry" and refuses to go in.
But who or what is he angry with? He undoubtedly is angry with his brother, the wastrel, the one who has been so unwise as to spend all in riotous living and has sullied the family's good name. But isn't he also angry with his Father, and particularly with his Father's reaction? Isn't he angry that his Father has compassion for his brother, has forgiven him and welcomed him back as one of his sons? Isn't he angry that there is a party?
Isn't anger a little bit of an odd reaction under the circumstances? The older brother has been with the Father this whole time, but apparently mere proximity has done little to develop in him the same characteristics as the Father. The elder brother is not charitable; he is not compassionate; and most of all he is not forgiving. He does not understand or apparently does not appreciate the incredible miracle that has occurred with the sinner's return. And by not going in to the party, his stance in the field, similar to the distant field that his younger brother found himself in, is indicative of the gulf that exists between himself and his Father. In the older brother's case, however, is his stance in the field mere petulance or is there something more fundamental about the gulf that he has put between himself, his father, and the party? We know a little bit about spiritual gulfs that can exist when we read about Nephi's description of that "gulf of misery" that exists between the righteous and those pointing and mocking from the great and spacious building (See, 1 Nephi 12:18).
At this point, the Father, ever vigilant, and valuing the older son like the younger son, sought the older son out in the field and "entreated him" (Luke 15:28) to join the party. We don't have the words of the Father's entreating because they appear to have been of little interest to the older son. Without really wanting to understand but only wanting to be heard, the older son launches into his little speech that he has prepared. His speech is very different than the one delivered by the humbled younger son. Where the younger son had "come to himself" we have no evidence that the older son had arrived at that same point. Thus, where the younger son had realized exactly where he was, had recognized that he was not worthy to be a son, and had sought only to be a servant in his Father's household, the older son's assessment of his own position is very different. He declares that he has never "transgressed" (Luke 15:29) any of his Father's commandments - certainly a bit of a deluded and self-serving stretch in anyone's book -- and his speech begins with what sounds like a complaint about the fact that "Lo, these many years do I serve thee ..." (Luke 15:29). Apparently, for the older son, serving was not only not enough; in fact it was something he seems to feel was a bit demeaning.
Also, rather than appreciate the miracle that has occurred -- the literal rebirth of his spiritually dead brother -- he is concerned only with his turf. How is it that his wastrel brother got the fatted calf, and he didn't even get a lowly "kid" to party with his friends? The bitterness of this speech is made all the more poignant when the older son, with great calculation, will not even refer to the younger son as his brother. But, with a biting bitterness refers to the younger brother when addressing his Father, only as "thy son" (Luke 15:30).
The substance of the older brother's little speech is simple. "How can you countenance such terrible conduct? Devouring thy living with harlots" (Luke 15:30), and for this you have killed the fatted calf and would celebrate his return?
The Father's response is quite simple, but loaded with implications. It is loving and generous. He addresses his son's hurt but sets a unique stage with an insightful statement. He says, "Son, thou art ever with me" (Luke 15:31). There is an important rhetorical question in that simple statement. The question is, since you have always been with me surely there is nothing about what your brother has been through that is enviable or that you wanted or wished for yourself is there? The subtlety of the rhetorical question from the Father to the older son is really this: If there is anything that the younger son has done that is appealing or alluring that you feel you have missed, haven't you bought into the greatest lie that Satan has ever perpetrated” the lie that sin can be happiness. Remember, Mormon described the awful state of the truly damned as those who sorrowed because the Lord would not "suffer them to take happiness in sin" (Mormon 2:13). The Father assumes that of course the older son knows and recognizes this deception and that is why he has always remained with him.
Then the Father focused on what appears to be the telling point, the rights of the older son and the rights of the birthright. He tells the older son that "all that I have is thine" (Luke 15:31). At first we think, OK, that's right - that's fair, the younger son should not get any more of the Father's inheritance, any more of his stuff. Is this what is important to the older son and, more importantly, is this what the Father has in mind? Just what is the "all" that the Father refers to? It isn't just stuff, is it?
What was it that the Father was so quick to restore to the younger son when he returned? While the things that he gave the younger son, the shoes, the robe, the ring, and the fatted calf were certainly of some value, though arguably perishable, their symbolic meaning far outweighed their intrinsic value. Those objects signified that the younger son is again his Father's son. Nothing could be more important. A child that had "joined himself to a citizen of [a far] country" ”obviously a reference to Satan”returning and again becoming the son of his Father was a return worth celebrating. He was dead in a every real sense but was now alive. For the older son to only focus on whether he got a "kid" or a "fatted calf" was to overlook the most precious thing that the Father could give him”recognition of him as his son. And as a son, what is the real inheritance that is due from the Father? Ironically, the real inheritance from the Father is not stuff, but the things of real value”all of his love, compassion, and forgiveness? And of course this is particularly ironic because these are the very traits that the older son has seemed to have missed out on, even though he had always been with the Father. How do you think the older son will feel about this kind of inheritance?
We don't get to see if the light of understanding is beginning to dawn in the eyes of this oldest son, because this is the moment that Christ chose to end the parable. But, let's count up where all of the characters stand at this point. The younger son, having come to himself, seeking nothing more than to serve in the household of his Father is home, restored to the position of being a beloved son and is in at the party. The older son, who has ever been with the Father, has petulantly separated himself from the party and is standing in the field with his Father entreating him to join in the celebration.
So here is the urgent final question. Does the older brother come to himself and join the party? Does he accept his real inheritance, the love, charity, and forgiveness that are so abundantly available from his Father?
While this is the important unanswered question posed by the parable, let's go back and not forget the original setting of the parable and the question for which the parable itself was offered. Remember we had the publicans and the sinners who had come to listen to the Savior. And we had the Pharisees and scribes who had come to murmur. One group had already joined the party; the other is petulantly complaining about the unfairness of the celebration and has refused to join in. Can't you just picture the Savior looking at the Pharisees and scribes and leaving the poignant question just hanging in the air, "Well, are you going to join the party?"
Finally, isn't this the question for us also? Certainly, we are all prodigal, but will we come to ourselves? Will we know as we are known? Will we see as we are seen? Will we extract ourselves from where we have joined ourselves to the world and return to become sons and daughters of our Father? Will we ever be able to let go of the pettiness of whether we have been given a kid or the fatted calf, and lay hold on the inheritance that our Father has laid up for us. In short, are we at the end of the story going to find ourselves still standing, pouting in the field and refusing to go in to the party? Or will we, with humility and thankfulness, join the celebration?
Well, what do you think of the test? I don't know about you but I think that the approach I have suggested kind of works. There are important questions, really important questions which underlie not only the scriptures but every part of our lives. Many people see our lives as a quest for answers, but I hope that we don't forget that an essential part of coming to an understanding of the answers is in really understanding what the questions mean.
Finally, there is no question more important than the one that Luke records, and the Savior poses: Are you going to the Lord's party? But do we know what that question really means, and do we appreciate what it actually asks of us?
I hope and pray that we can in the course of our lives come to understand what this important question really means. And I say these things in the name Him who has asked this life defining question, even Jesus Christ, amen.