And behold, I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. What does it mean to have a "broken heart?" When I think of a broken heart, I think of someone who has lost it all, someone who's dreams are shattered, someone who can't make it on his or her own. Then I think of Jesus Christ, the Master Healer. I think of Christ taking someone's broken heart and mending it piece by piece, "one by one." (See Elder David A. Bednar and Paul Cardalls' song "One by One": https://www.lds.org/new-era/2016/07/one-by-one?lang=eng.) In the end, the heart is completely restored. No cracks, no missing pieces. Whole and perfect, as if the heart had never been broken. A broken heart is the sacrifice that Christ requires in place of the Mosaic requirement of animal sacrifices. "The shedding of blood in animal sacrifices was an outward ordinance intended to remind those involved of the future sacrifice of the Son of God and of the need for the believer to offer up at the same time an inward sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit... "The 'broken heart' spoken of in the scriptures is not the sorrow one feels because he has lost a close relative or loved one or suffered some other personal disappointment in life. Rather, the broken heart spoken of in the scriptures is the natural consequence of a person’s recognizing and admitting his own sins and imperfections (https://www.lds.org/manual/aaronic-priesthood-manual-2/lesson-19-a-broken-heart-and-a-contrite-spirit). A contrite spirit is a repentant spirit--a spirit willing to put off the natural man and become a Saint. For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. Only through the atonement of Jesus Christ can I have a "broken heart and a contrite spirit." To do so, I must yield to the Holy Ghost's promptings and run from the adversary's temptation. When I become like a little child, submitting my will, trust, faith, and hope to the Father.
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Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. The Law of Moses required that all males attend the three feasts of the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The House (or Academy) of Hillel, a school of Jewish law that "thrived in 1st Century B.C. Jerusalem" taught that women must also attend the feast of the Passover. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Hillel.) Attending this feast was an act of "devout obedience" by Mary and Joseph. (See http://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/2-41.htm.)
At age 12, Christ went with his parents to the feast of the Tabernacles. "At twelve a Jewish boy became a son of the law, with the responsibility of a man, putting on on the phylacteries which reminded of the obligation to keep the law." (See https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/phylacteries and http://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/2-41.htm.) Like his parents, Jesus was strictly obedient to the law of Moses. It was not until the Christ's death and resurrection that the ceremonial law of Moses was fulfilled. (See https://www.lds.org/scriptures/gs/law-of-moses?lang=eng.) What would it be like to have a perfectly obedient child? You would never have to worry about him coming home late at night. If he said he would do a chore, the chore would always get done. Interestingly, Jesus' parents' worries stemmed from Christ spending 'too much' time preaching his Heavenly Father's gospel or teaching at the temple. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. Jesus had a humble, loving step-father. Before the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, and told him that "that which is conceived of [Mary] is of the Holy Ghost," Joseph desired to "put her away privily," without specifying the cause. Joseph did not want to make a public example out of Mary, or put her to shame. (See http://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/1-19.htm.) His name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Jesus' mortal life was part of a much larger plan. Jesus Christ is central to the Plan of Salvation. He was prepared from the beginning to perform the Atonement. Just as God had a specific plan for Jesus Christ (down to a predetermined name), God too has a detailed plan for my life. And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord. Jesus had a devoutly obedient mother. She followed all applicable laws (circumcision, purification) with respect to the birth of her son. I too should follow civil and eternal laws.
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