In mortality we have the certainty of death
and the burden of sin.
The Atonement of Jesus Christ offsets these two certainties
of mortal life.
But apart from death and sin, we have many other challenges
as we struggle through mortality.
Because of that same Atonement, our Savior
can provide us the strength we need to overcome
these mortal challenges.
That is my subject today.
Most scriptural accounts of the Atonement concern
the Savior's breaking the bands of death
and suffering for our sins.
In his sermon recorded in the Book of Mormon,
Alma taught these fundamentals.
But he also provided our clearest scriptural assurances
that the Savior also experienced the pains and sicknesses
and infirmities of His people.
Alma described this part of the Savior's Atonement:
"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions
and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might
be fulfilled which saith he will take
upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people."
Think of it!
In the Savior's Atonement, He suffered "pains and afflictions
and temptations of every kind."
As President Boyd K. Packer explained:
"He had no debt to pay.
He had committed no wrong.
Nevertheless, an accumulation of all of the guilt,
the grief and sorrow, the pain and humiliation,
all of the mental, emotional, and physical torments known
to man--He experienced them all."
Why did He suffer these mortal challenges "of every kind"?
Alma explained: "And he will take upon him
their infirmities, that his bowels may
be filled with mercy, according to the flesh,
that he may know according to the flesh
how to succor his people according
to their infirmities."
For example, the Apostle Paul declared that
because the Savior "hath suffered being tempted,
he is able to succour them that are tempted."
Similarly, President James E. Faust
taught, "Since the Savior has suffered anything
and everything that we could ever feel or experience,
He can help the weak to become stronger."
Our Savior experienced and suffered
the fulness of all mortal challenges "according
to the flesh" so He could know "according
to the flesh" how to "succor [which
means to give relief or aid to] his people according
to their infirmities."
He therefore knows our struggles, our heartaches,
our temptations, and our suffering,
for He willingly experienced them
all as an essential part of His Atonement.
And because of this, His Atonement empowers Him
to succor us--to give us the strength to bear it all.
While Alma's teaching in the seventh chapter
is the single clearest of all the scriptures
on this essential power of the Atonement,
it is also taught throughout holy writ.
At the beginning of His ministry,
Jesus explained that He was sent "to heal the brokenhearted."
The Bible often tells us of His healing people
"of their infirmities."
The Book of Mormon records His healing
those "that were afflicted in any manner."
The Gospel of Matthew explains that Jesus healed the people
"that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses."
Isaiah taught that the Messiah would bear our "griefs"
and our "sorrows."
Isaiah also taught of His strengthening
us: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed;
for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee;
yea, I will help thee."
Thus, we sing:
"Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, ...
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand."
Speaking of some of his own mortal challenges,
the Apostle Paul wrote, "I can do all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me."
And so we see that because of His Atonement,
the Savior has the power to succor--to help--every mortal
pain and affliction.
Sometimes His power heals an infirmity,
but the scriptures and our experiences
teach that sometimes He succors, or helps,
by giving us the strength or patience
to endure our infirmities.
What are these mortal pains and afflictions and infirmities
that our Savior experienced and suffered?
We all have pains and afflictions
and infirmities at one time or another.
Apart from what we experience because of our sins,
mortality is filled with frequent struggles, heartaches,
and suffering.
We and those we love suffer sickness.
At some time each of us also experiences pain
from traumatic injuries or from other physical or mental
difficulties.
All of us suffer and grieve in connection
with the death of a loved one.
We all experience failure in our personal responsibilities,
our family relationships, or our occupations.
When a spouse or a child rejects what
we know to be true and strays from the path of righteousness,
we experience particularly stressful pain,
just like the father of the prodigal son
in Jesus's memorable parable.
As the Psalmist declared, "Many are the afflictions
of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him
out of them all."
Thus, our hymns contain this true assurance:
"Earth has no sorrow that heav'n cannot cure."
What cures us is our Savior and His Atonement.
Particularly poignant for teenagers
is the feeling of rejection when peers
seem to join in happy relationships and activities
and deliberately leave them out.
Racial and ethnic prejudices produce
other painful rejections for youth and adults.
Life has many other challenges, such as unemployment
or other reverses in our plans.
I am still speaking of mortal infirmities not caused
by our sins.
Some are born with physical or mental disabilities that
cause personal suffering for them
and struggles for those who love and care for them.
For many, the infirmity of depression
is painful or permanently disabling.
Another painful affliction is the circumstance of singleness.
Those who suffer this circumstance
should remember that our Savior experienced this kind of pain
also and that, through His Atonement,
He offers the strength to bear it.
Few disabilities are more crippling
to our temporal or spiritual lives than addictions.
Some of these, like addictions to pornography or drugs,
are likely to have been caused by sinful behavior.
Even when that behavior has been repented,
the addiction may remain.
That disabling grip can also be relieved
by the decisive strength available from the Savior.
So can the severe challenge experienced by those
sent to prison for crimes.
A recent letter testifies to the strength that can come even
to one in that circumstance: "I know
that our Savior is walking these halls,
and I have often felt Christ's love within these prison
walls."
I love the testimony of our poetess
and friend Emma Lou Thayne.
In words we now sing as a hymn, she wrote:
"Where can I turn for peace?
Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,
I draw myself apart,
Searching my soul?
Where, when my aching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know, where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One."
Who can be succored and strengthened
through the Atonement of Jesus Christ?
Alma taught that the Savior would take upon
Him "the pains and the sicknesses of his people"
and "succor his people."
Who are "his people" in this promise?
Is it all mortals--all who enjoy the reality of resurrection
through the Atonement?
Or is it only those select servants
qualified through ordinances and covenants?
The word people has many meanings in the scriptures.
The meaning most appropriate for the teaching
that the Savior will succor "his people" is the meaning
Ammon employed when he taught that "God is mindful
of every people, whatsoever land they may be in."
That is also what the angels meant
when they announced the birth of the Christ
child: "Good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people."
Because of His atoning experience in mortality,
our Savior is able to comfort, heal, and strengthen
all men and women everywhere, but I
believe He only does so for those who
seek Him and ask for His help.
The Apostle James taught, "Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
and he shall lift you up."
We qualify for that blessing when we believe in Him and pray
for His help.
There are millions of God-fearing people
who pray to God to be lifted out of their afflictions.
Our Savior has revealed that He "descended below all things."
As Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, "Having 'descended below all
things,' He comprehends, perfectly and personally,
the full range of human suffering."
We might even say that having descended beneath it all,
He is perfectly positioned to lift us and give us
the strength we need to endure our afflictions.
We have only to ask.
Many times in modern revelation, the Lord declares,
"Therefore, if ye will ask of me you shall receive;
if you will knock it shall be opened unto you."
Indeed, because of Their all-encompassing love,
our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ,
hear and suitably answer the prayers
of all who seek Them in faith.
As the Apostle Paul wrote, "We trust
in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially
of those that believe."
I know these things to be true.
Our Savior's Atonement does more than assure us of immortality
by a universal resurrection and gives us
the opportunity to be cleansed from sin by repentance
and baptism.
His Atonement also provides the opportunity
to call upon Him who has experienced
all of our mortal infirmities to give us the strength to bear
the burdens of mortality.
He knows of our anguish, and He is there for us.
Like the good Samaritan, when He finds
us wounded at the wayside, He will bind up our wounds
and care for us.
The healing and strengthening power
of Jesus Christ and His Atonement
is for all of us who will ask.
I testify of that as I also testify of our Savior, who
makes it all possible.
One day all of these mortal burdens will pass away,
and there will be no more pain.
I pray that we will all understand
the hope and strength of our Savior's Atonement:
the assurance of immortality, the opportunity
for eternal life, and the sustaining strength we can
receive if only we will ask.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.