In an exchange with some of the rulers of the Jews, Jesus told a couple of parables characterizing their rebellious mindset. In the second, regarding a householder and the husbandmen he employed in his vineyard, Jesus related the fate of the householder’s son: “when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance” (Matthew 21:38). Of course, the householder’s son represented Christ Himself, and the husbandmen were the Jewish leaders who refused to give honor to Christ and instead wanted to occupy His place at the head of the Church.
Nephi, one of the prophets in the Book of Mormon, experienced portions of this parable throughout his life. Six hundred years before Christ, Nephi’s father, Lehi, was a wealthy man who saw a divine vision and was commanded by the Lord to join the prophets who were warning the inhabitants of Jerusalem of imminent destruction if they didn’t repent. After at least one attempt on his life, Lehi received a revelation directing him to take his family and flee into the wilderness for their safety.
In doing so, Lehi left behind his wealth; ultimately, to fulfill another of the Lord’s commandments to Lehi, his sons tried bartering his treasure for a Jewish record. In the process, they lost possession of Lehi’s riches.
Nephi allowed his heart to be softened toward the Lord and His direction. He began to receive his own revelations, and the Lord promised him, “And inasmuch as thou shalt keep my commandments, thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren” (1 Nephi 2:22).
Laman, Lehi’s oldest son, was often angry. He insisted that the people of Jerusalem were righteous because they adhered to the law of Moses (1 Nephi 17:22). He didn’t believe the prophets when they said the people had become wicked and almost ripe for destruction.
Over the years they spent in the wilderness, Nephi’s older brothers became more jealous toward him as his spiritual leadership emerged, and their animosity grew. As the oldest son, Laman, the ringleader, stood to lose the most, at least from his perspective. He would have received half of all of Lehi’s property, but the family walked away from their land and they lost their gold and silver. All that was left to Laman was to be in charge someday. He insisted that “it belongs unto us, who are the elder brethren, to rule over this people” (2 Nephi 5:3). And by “us,” Laman principally meant “me.”
Why is this significant for us? What lesson is to be found in Nephi’s experiences with Laman?
One of the great ironies of the way Laman, and the Jewish officials in Jesus’s time, behaved was that if they had chosen to follow the prophets and be humble, they would have received what they really wanted. The family wouldn’t have had to look to Nephi for righteous, Spirit-directed leadership. At least some of the rulers of the Jews could have been found among the seventy who proclaimed Jesus’s name, or even among his apostles. But they allowed their pride to prevent them and to blind them to the point that they rejected the Lord altogether and became murderous in their intent. They favored what amounted to a worldly crown over the eternal crowns they could have received.
President Russell M. Nelson, the Lord’s current prophet, taught in October 2023, “Here is the great news of God’s plan: the very things that will make your mortal life the best it can be are exactly the same things that will make your life throughout all eternity the best it can be!” (“Think Celestial!”).
True, enduring power—spiritual power—comes to us as we make and keep covenants with the Lord through baptism and the ordinances of the temple. We don’t have to feel like we’re competing with others for the Lord’s blessings, as if what He offers is finite and divisible. We don’t need to envy others what they receive from the Lord. We can secure an inheritance and crown for ourselves. The decision and the power belong to each of us.
Image by talpeanu from Pixabay
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The Weekly Parable 