Nephi’s Farewell

2 Nephi 31-33

2 Nephi 33:7, 12 I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgment-seat. And I pray the Father in the name of Christ that many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day.

Nephi had become old. He was old, and he was going to die soon. Before he died, he wanted to write out his testimony one more time because it had changed a little bit the older he became.

First, Nephi wrote about Jesus. He wrote about how Jesus would come to earth, and how Jesus would love everyone on the earth. He would love them and show them how to return to God. Jesus would be humble and he would be baptized so we would also know to be baptized. He would help people repent so we would know how to repent. He would send the Holy Ghost so that we could feel God close to us when we are sad, or scared, or lonely, or just need to know that at least one single person in the universe knows our name and cares about us.

The other thing Nephi wrote about was God’s love.

Wait, you might say, isn’t that what Nephi has been writing about this whole time? You’re right! That’s what all of his visions and scriptures have been about from the very first time we met Nephi. But some things take a very long time to learn in our souls, even if we have already learned them with our heads. And that’s why God is always telling us that he loves us, and Jesus loves us, and that we should love each other — because we forget sometimes and because those things are hard to believe deep in our souls.

Sometimes, we think, “Heavenly Father, surely you don’t love ALL people. What about people who disobey you? You must be too disappointed to love them? And what about people who are angry with you? Or people who don’t believe you exist? What about people who hate, or hurt each other? Or people who will hurt and kill Jesus? You cannot love those people.”

We’ve all had these thoughts. And Nephi was just like the rest of us. When the people in Jerusalem wanted to kill Lehi, when Laman and Lemuel said mean things, or when they beat him, Nephi would forget that God loves them, and he would become angry. And he would want them to stub a toe, or trip and fall, or be shocked with electricity.

But whenever Nephi thought this way about anyone, God’s infinite love would shine through all the brighter. “Yes, them, Nephi,” God would say. “Yes, all people. Yes, they too are mine.” And even though it was very hard to believe, Nephi slowly, slowly, steadily came to believe it. You see, it is difficult to believe God loves everyone because that means that we are supposed to love everyone too. And that is really, really hard to do because people can be mean or smelly or strange or hurtful. But at the end of Nephi’s life, he tried one last time to love everyone.

Nephi knew it would be hard. He had tried many times before to copy the deep, sublime, impossible depth of God’s love. God’s love was thick and white and pure. And in comparison, Nephi’s love was thin and plain and pretty much see-through. It was like trying to turn a plain cup of water into cream. But Nephi knew he had to try, once more, before he could finish his book.

And so Nephi thought of every person he had struggled or fought with. And there were two people more than all the rest who he still was angry at, and who he did not want to love. It was Laman and Lemuel who had fought with him and his family in so many wars and ways. They were supposed to be his older brothers. They were supposed to be good and kind and helpful, not cruel and mean and hateful. But despite everything and despite their many many many mistakes, Nephi knew that God still loved them. And Nephi wanted to be good like God and so he opened his heart, and tried once more.

And then it happened. Nephi’s anger was shrinking. It was giving way to something else, something deeper, stronger, purer. Instead of feeling angry or bitter or hurt, he felt love. A love deeper than any love he had ever known. It was a love called charity. And it was filling him up like a warm glass of milk spilling over and over and over, or like a fruit from his father’s tree.

Charity, a definition:

Charity means loving people like God loves them. Charity is patient. It is kind. It is never jealous, or proud, or angry. It doesn’t look down on people because they are poor, or strange, or different. When people are sad, it says, “I will cry with you.” When people are happy, it says, “I will dance with you.” It protects people, trusts people, hopes in people, and stands by people to the ends of the earth. And it is the strongest, most important, most powerful force in all the world. It is more powerful than waves, wind, storms, or fire. It is more powerful than hate, more powerful than war. And when everything else fails and falls away, charity will never, never, never, never fail.

And Nephi breathed out a long sigh. His hand shook as he picked up his pen to write his final words. “God,” he said, “I have tried. I have tried so hard all my life. And I think I am finally doing it.” And God gathered Nephi, who was old and weak and tired, up into his arms like a child. 

“Nephi,” God said, “You are doing it. I knew you could.”

And do you know what Nephi wrote on his very last page? He said, “I have charity for my people, and I have charity for Laman and Lemuel. I have charity for the people in Jerusalem. I have charity for the Gentiles who will come and live here someday. And I believe that God loves every single person. And I believe that many of us, if not all of us, will be saved and will live with our heavenly parents and with Jesus someday.”

And that is one of the most hopeful, beautiful, God-like thoughts imaginable. Because God loves everyone even if they are short or tall or mean or silly or lost or ugly. And he loves them even if they’ve forgotten all about God. Even if they are angry at God. Even if they curse God, and swear that God doesn’t love them. Even if they are mean or hurtful. Even if they do the most terrible, horrible, vile things, God still, somehow, loves them. And he is working tirelessly, endlessly to save them and bring them home.

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.