The Body of Christ

Seems like a good time following the thoughts on the Blood of Christ and its sanctifying effect on ours, to talk about the Body of Christ. It is also so closely tied with Christmas and its meaning so here goes.

The Vision of the Tree of Life is shown twice in the Book of Mormon. Lehi's vision is meant as reward and affirmation for a life well lived - he gets to taste the fruit of the tree of life and see that many of his family eventually will as well. Nephi's version is meant as a learning moment to prepare him for his coming call. He doesn't taste the fruit or see his family make it. It is instructional.

Once Nephi's initial request to see what his father say is answered, his next question is to know the interpretation thereof (1 Nephi 11:11). Nephi wants to understand what the Tree of Life means. The answer, if taken in detail, is really interesting. The answers come in the following order:

1. Nephi is shown Mary in Nazareth before she is pregnant with Jesus - this image is the first answer. Interesting that this is where explaining the tree of life starts.

2. Then the question that Nephi must understand BEFORE the tree of life can be explained (1 Nephi 11:16), "Knowest thou the condescension of God?" This is the supreme concept of the tree of life. Nephi makes an attempt, a guess, saying that he knows God loves us, then adds a humble statement that he doesn't understand all things.

3. The angel then goes on to explain the condescension of God back with the picture of Mary. Condescend means to lower one self to a lesser position - of course that of the Savior leaving his supreme position in heaven for birth as a mortal. But even more specifically, the angel could have chosen any number of snipets from the life of Christ including the Atonement, but Mary was selected for this critical statement: "the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh". The KEY was the condescension is most embodied in the evidence and source of Christ receiving mortal flesh. The flesh is the condescension.

4. Nephi has now gained this understanding, but still misses ever so slightly, as the angel enhances his new found understanding by adding something that is only realized through life experiences over time - "and most joyous to the soul".

We often celebrate Christmas in that it began the life and mission of Jesus Christ. That is appropriate, but it also misses some of the important point taught to Nephi. The celebration is that Jesus - God, voluntarily took on mortal flesh. Voluntarily aligned Himself with us. When He became like us He became the Hope of Israel - once God had condescended to our plane the connection was made and the chance that as He went down we might have hope to come up. It is interesting to me that this was the answer to the interpretation of the Tree of Life.

One more thought for today. 2 Nephi 9:5 has a misplaced pronoun. Substitute the second 'it' with the word 'Jesus':

"Yea, I know that ye know that in the body he shall show himself unto those at Jerusalem, from whence we came; for it is expedient that it (INSERT 'JESUS') should be among them; for it behooveth the great Creator that he suffereth himself to become subject unto man in the flesh, and die for all men, that all men might become subject unto him.

Doesn't it make more sense? And if yes, why does Jacob refer to Christ as 'it' rather than 'He'? The answer is that 'it' does not refer to Christ - 'it' refers to the physical body of Christ. Jesus had already been 'among' them many times visiting Moses and numerous other prophets in person, but that wasn't enough. The key was having the physical bdy of a God that subjected God to the flesh and earned the chance for all to 'become subject uno him'.