Alma’s Son Who Was Also Named Alma

Mosiah 27

Mosiah 27:36-37 And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.

Alma and his people are safe in Zarahemla, right? Wrong. Let me explain.

Do you remember how King Noah was trying to be good by himself without God? Do you remember how Abinadi tried to teach King Noah how to be good with God? Well, if you remember all that, then you probably remember that Noah didn’t listen. Only Alma listened. And ever since that time, Alma tried to be good. He tried to trust in Jesus. But there was a problem. Alma had friends and children who had known and seen Alma before Abinidi came. They had seen all the bad things Alma taught and did.

And so while Alma was trying to do good things and teach about Jesus, some people felt he was a hypocrite.

Hypocrite, a definition:

Like Alma, we are all hypocrites. We try to be good. We say to our family and friends, “I’m going to be nice, and fair, and clean, and honest. Why don’t you join me? We will be nice, fair, clean, and honest together.” But without a doubt, we mess up. We slip, or lie, or cheat, or say something mean. And that makes us a hypocrite because we are saying one thing and doing another. And even though it is hypocritical, we all dislike hypocrites.

That’s why a lot of people didn’t like Alma. They said, “Alma, That’s why a lot of people didn’t like Alma. They said, “Alma, you are a hypocrite. We saw all the bad things you did before. And now you are telling us to be good. How does that make any sense? Even Alma’s own son thought this. And that made Alma sad.

Alma felt sad because he felt responsible. And he felt sad and responsible because he was a parent. And all parents feel like this sometimes. That’s part of parenthood.

Alma thought, “This is my fault. How am I going to judge my own son who is following my own bad example?” And so Alma didn’t know what to do. He was a hypocrite. Maybe, deep down, he was still bad. Because the bad things he had done were still impacting people in a bad way. People like his son.

Alma asked King Mosiah what to do. And King Mosiah didn’t know. Because guess what: even King Mosiah’s sons were making mistakes and doing bad things. And so Alma asked God. And God told Alma that there is only one bad thing that makes someone bad. And that’s ignoring Jesus. If you or anyone else does something bad, all they need to do is turn to Jesus with open arms so that he can hold you and change you. And that is exactly what Jesus will do. He will make you good.

And so, God explained, the only thing that makes people bad is not letting Jesus make you good. “Alma,” God said. “You are not bad. You are good. Forgive yourself. And forgive your son. You did bad things in the past. But I can redeem the past. Because of me, you will not be a hypocrite.”

Alma learned that the past could not be undone but it could be transformed. And Jesus could transform it, right now, in the present. And that’s what Jesus did. He sent an angel to Alma’s son while he was out walking with Mosiah’s sons. The angel was so loud and so bright, like lightning and thunder, that it scared Alma’s boy so much that he passed out cold. And Mosiah’s sons carried him to his bed, and their eyes were big and their hands were shaky and they whispered that they had heard a voice. And Alma’s son lay unconscious for three days, and people thought he was dead. But it worked. It got Alma’s son’s attention. And when the boy woke up, he had turned to Jesus and become good, just like his father.

And Alma understood something. He now understood what it meant to be bad. He was not bad and his son was not bad. But he also understood something about being good. In the Bible, it says good people have beautiful feet. That had never made any sense to him. It probably doesn’t make any sense to you. It hadn’t made any sense to Noah or his priests. No one seemed to know what it meant. But now Alma understood.

Beautiful feet, a definition:

Some people paint their toenails so that their feet are easier to look at. But there is only so much you can do because feet are not particularly beautiful. Yet, feet are very good and useful. They move you from one place to another. They are your base and your balance. Imagine living without feet! So while feet have a tendency towards ugliness, that is exactly what makes them like Jesus. Jesus was not beautiful. He was not handsome. People did not like Jesus because he had a nice haircut or cool clothes. They liked Jesus because he had beautiful feet. Which is just another way of saying, people liked Jesus because of how he marched them forward. He transformed the past. He made them good.

So to have beautiful feet is to be like Jesus. It is to help people be good — good like Alma and like Alma’s son. And Alma was very proud of his son. Not because his son was perfect. Not because his son had made up for all the bad things he had done. Not because his son was any better or any worse than Alma had been. They were both imperfect.

They shared the same nose and weaknesses. They had the same eye color and shortcomings. They even shared the same name. They were both Alma. And both Almas had done some really bad things. But after messing up, they both turned to Jesus. Which means they had one other thing in common. They shared the same feet. And Jesus was their feet.

Joshua is an award-winning writer and director. His recent book, Ali the Iraqi, was published by BCC press. Sarah is a literature and theology doctoral student studying the Book of Job in the twentieth century.

Artwork by Maddie Baker.