Sabbathought: The Greatest of All

This phrase---"the greatest of all"---appears seven times in scripture. Seven times only. Each time it points us to the same answer. How do you answer the question, "Who or what is 'the greatest of all'?"

It may serve us well to take a cryptic path in discussing this. To speak in headlines and terse telegram language so as to give you a chance to arrive at the correct conclusion.

Perhaps we should just pose the question and leave it to germinate in your mind. And then come back to it after a suitable season of plodding around it. Surely it is of interest and importance to know what the scriptures say is "the greatest of all."

Perhaps we can identify the greatest of all, and then leave it with you to work out the seven places where this four-word phrase appears, and see for yourself the context of them.

Too much like a homework assignment? I agree. But then it is good to do our homework.

In a talk given to a Young Adult audience in San Diego in 1977, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland --- he was simply "Jeff" to thousands of us back then --- spoke of the untold value of the scriptures.

"Do we get books from angels every day?" he asked. "And yet we can't even give it away." Speaking, of course, of the Book of Mormon.

In a stake conference, he asked, would it really be expecting too much if the stake president said, "Laura, would you come up and speak for ten minutes on the theme that runs through the Book of Hebrews, please?" Brother Holland wondered aloud if that is really too much to expect from a Latter-day Saint youth. He was, and is, of the mind that we all should know our scriptures, and Him of whom they speak. He invited all those in the audience who had read the Old Testament from cover to cover to meet him outside after the meeting in a phone booth . . . !

Ironically, the theme that runs through the Book of Hebrews answers our basic question here: What or who is the greatest of all? --- although the phrase itself does not appear there.

Surely by now it is obvious that the Greatest of All is Christ. For He is.

We'll illustrate our point with just one of the scriptural instances where we find the phrase.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Saints: "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."

Now, as we have observed before, a text without a context is a pretext --- an excuse to make anything say what we want it to say. The correct context of these words from Paul is found in Mormon's sermon on the subject delivered in a Nephite synagogue.

There Mormon taught: "Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail---

"But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever . . . ."

So, what is charity? It is the greatest of all. Meaning what? Charity is the pure love of Christ. That is why it is the greatest of all. Because it originates and proceeds from Him who is the Greatest of All.

The mistake we have made is in thinking that the key word in this phrase is "love" --- or "pure" --- or "charity". Not so. The gospel does not deal in abstract things. We are not following an abstraction, or a list of principles or doctrines. We are following a Person. And that person is the Christ. And He is the greatest of all, so the pure love that proceeds from Him is rightly called the greatest of all.

It is a simple idea, but one that has evaded most of us. So that we have followed the philosophies of men and adopted the half-baked idea that love is the greatest of all, and that All You Need Is Love.

We'll visit this again another time, with illustrations of the other places in scripture which speak of Christ as the greatest of all.

In the meantime, we'll conclude with this remarkable description from---of all people---Napoleon Bonaparte whose main virtue is that, for all his vanity (he crowned himself emperor because he judged the Pope of the day to be unworthy to do so), he knew truly Who it is that is the Greatest of All.

Napoleon's words:

"From first to last Jesus is the same, always the same---majestic and simple, infinitely severe and infinitely gentle. Throughout a life passed under the public eye, He never gives occasion to find fault. The prudence of His conduct compels our admiration by its union of force and gentleness.

"Alike in speech and action, He is enlightened, consistent, and calm. Sublimity is said to be an attribute of divinity. What name then shall we give Him, in whose character were united every element of the sublime? I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Everything in Him amazes me. His spirit out-reaches mine, and His will confounds me.

"Comparison is impossible between Him and any other being in the world. He is truly a being by Himself. His ideas and His sentiments, the truth that He announces, His manner of convincing are all beyond humanity, and the natural order of things.

"His birth and the story of His life; the profoundness of His doctrine, which overturns all difficulties, and is their most complete solution. His gospel, the singularity of His mysterious being; His appearance; His empire; His progress through all centuries and kingdoms---all this is to me a prodigy, an unfathomable mystery.

"I see nothing here of man. Near as I may approach, closely as I may examine, all remains above my comprehension---great with greatness that crushes me. It is in vain that I reflect---all remains unaccountable! I defy you to cite another life like that of the Christ."

Powerful testimony. . . . And Napoleon was only speaking of Christ's character and life. . . . No mention, nor perhaps insight, into His Atonement and His mission. Profound indeed.

More later on this.

Steve

[Dedicated to Charlie Leavitt.]