After the days of Joseph in Egypt, the House of Israel “was fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty” (Exo 1:7). Fearing their strength, Pharaoh “set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens” and “made their lives bitter with hard bondage” (v. 11, 13). Despite these difficulties, the House of Israel remained strong.

As many rulers in the world before and after, Pharaoh sought to weaken the people by killing its children. He demanded that Israel’s newly born sons drown in the sea. Fortunately, his plan failed. Ironically, one of those sons sentenced to death was saved by his daughter and was destined to deliver Israel from bondage. She called his name Moses.

In a burning bush, the Lord visited an 80-year-old Moses who left Egypt 40 years before to start a new life. He told Moses-

I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey (Exo 3:7-8).

He sent Moses to Pharaoh with plagues to persuade him to let His people go. When Pharaoh refused, as the Lord knew he would, God commanded Moses to command His people to take a “lamb…without blemish, a male of the first year” and sprinkle its blood on their homes’ posts. This was done as a “token” and a “memorial” of the Lord’s deliverance when He passed over Israel and took Egypt’s first born (v. 12-14).

In the meridian of time, our Heavenly Father sent His Holy Son as the Lamb of God to deliver us from the burdens, bondage, and bitterness that this life would bring. Kneeling, pleading, and trembling while in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Savior, strengthened by an angel, sweat blood from every pore for our pains and our sorrows (D&C 19:15-19). After paying such an exquisitely painful price for our sins, couldn’t the Father now let His Beloved and Only Begotten Son live the remainder of His mortal days to die peacefully surrounded by family and friends? Why was it necessary for Jesus to suffer and die the way He did?

What happened in that garden made sacred by the Savior’s suffering and sacrifice is incomprehensible for our mortal minds. We cannot fathom the how and the what He faced for us there. Without an understanding of this, how then could we appreciate our Father’s plan for us and exercise faith in His Son?

Though we can’t understand what Jesus did for us in Gethsemane, we can somewhat grasp His sufferings at the hands of those who hated Him. He was betrayed by someone He deeply loved and trusted. He was beaten, mocked, spit upon, scourged, and crucified as a criminal between two actual criminals. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. He allowed all of this to happen to Him knowing well that He had the power to prevent this.

At any time during His ministry or during His capture, Jesus could have cursed any who tempted, taunted, or attempted to hurt Him. News of those who suffered painfully, even unto death, would spread like wildfire, as those stories of His healings. As much as His detractors despised Him and desired to do Him harm, their fear of His wrath would deter them. Yet, our Father in Heaven “prepared a more excellent way” to prepare our minds and hearts to have faith in His love and in His mercy for us through His Son’s sufferings (Ether 12:11).

Alma taught that the Redeemer—

…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.

And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; 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.

Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance (Alma 7:11-13).

Because Jesus suffered innocently injustice for us, we know that He can and will stand between us and justice if we have faith in Him. Because He suffered infinitely for us, we know that He will be longsuffering toward us if we trust Him. Because He forgave those who not only crucified Him but also didn’t seek His forgiveness for doing so, we know that He will forgive us when we sincerely seek His forgiveness. Because He suffered emotional, physical, and spiritual pain, more than any of us can suffer, we know that He will succor us if we turn to Him (Msh 3:7). Because He suffered temptation “of every kind”, we know that He will strengthen us against ours if we follow Him. Because He suffered the sorrows from our sins, we know He will relieve us from ours if we submit our wills to Him.

The Apostle Paul put it well when he said—

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:15-16).

To “find grace to help in time of need” certainly refers to our time in need. Yet, I also believe that it implies for us to find grace to help others in their time of need, even during our suffering.

When the Master appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, He told him—

But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me (Acts 26:16, 18).

The Lord later told Paul through a vision that his servant Ananias would bless him. He then directed Ananias—

Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake (Acts 9:15-16).

Paul shared with the Corinthian saints what he suffered in his Savior’s service to deliver His people—

Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness (2 Cor 11:24-25, 27).

Eventually, Paul, like his Master, would suffer in His service the ultimate fate in dying at the hands of others.

King Benjamin taught his people, “For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” (Msh 5:13).

After washing His apostles’ feet as a servant, including him who would betray Him, the Master taught them—

For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him (John 13:15-16).

How can we know our Savior and serve as saviors on mount Zion if we have not tasted, “even in the least degree” what He did and have “fellowship of His sufferings” (D&C 19:20, 2 Cor 1:5-7, Obadiah 1:21, Phili 3:10)? Just as the Redeemer’s sufferings allow Him to draw us all unto to the Father, ours can allow us to draw others to Him.

Years ago, I attended a fireside at the University of Utah Institute of Religion. Virginia H Pearce who served as a member of the Young Women General Presidency and who is also the daughter of President Gordon B Hinckley was the speaker. In her message, she mentioned an experience her sister had. She and her family moved into a new neighborhood. She found a group of friends among the sisters in the ward. Interestingly, many of them were widows. She wondered why it was that she was drawn to them. Not long thereafter, the Lord showed her why. When her husband passed away, these good women, with whom she developed loving relationships with, served her as the Savior would during a difficult time. They were to her saviors on mount Zion, deliverers of her bitter burdens.

Elder Jeffrey R Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught—

To be a follower of Jesus Christ, one must sometimes carry a burden—your own or someone else’s—and go where sacrifice is required and suffering is inevitable. A true Christian cannot follow the Master only in those matters with which he or she agrees. No. We follow Him everywhere, including, if necessary, into arenas filled with tears and trouble, where sometimes we may stand very much alone.

As we take up our crosses and follow Him, it would be tragic indeed if the weight of our challenges did not make us more empathetic for and more attentive to the burdens being carried by others. It is one of the most powerful paradoxes of the Crucifixion that the arms of the Savior were stretched wide open and then nailed there, unwittingly but accurately portraying that every man, woman, and child in the entire human family is not only welcome but invited into His redeeming, exalting embrace. (Jeffrey R Holland, “Lifted Up upon the Cross”, October 2022 General Conference, Sunday Morning)

Before the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered, Joseph asked John Taylor to sing the words of the hymn “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.” In this hymn, a person meets a stranger who suffers pain, poverty, and persecution. Despite suffering himself, he succors the stranger in his suffering. He then described what this service meant to the Master who suffered for us all.

Then in a moment to my view
The stranger started from disguise.
The tokens in his hands I knew;
The Savior stood before mine eyes.
He spake, and my poor name he named,
“Of me thou hast not been ashamed.
These deeds shall thy memorial be;
Fear not, thou didst them unto me.”
(“A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief”, Hymns, no. 29)

After the Lamb of God returns to rule His kingdom during His millennial reign, all will know the truth of these words—

And now the year of my redeemed is come; and they shall mention the loving kindness of their Lord, and all that he has bestowed upon them according to his goodness, and according to his loving kindness, forever and ever.

In all their afflictions he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence saved them; and in his love, and in his pity, he redeemed them, and bore them, and carried them all the days of old (D&C 133:52-53).

During this sacred season where we reflect on the tokens and memorials of our deliverance from our pains and sorrows through Christ, let the tokens of our hands and memorials of our deeds stand as witnesses of Him who is our Deliverer and our all (“Redeemer of Israel”, Hymns, no. 6). This is my hope and prayer for you and me.