The Story of Ammon, The Good, Sneaky Missionary
Alma 17-18
Alma 17:12 And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare unto them the word of God.
Ammon was one of the sons of Mosiah. He was going to teach the Lamanites. But there was a problem. The Lamanites didn’t like the Nephites. And nobody wants to be told what’s what from somebody they don’t like. But Ammon really wanted to teach the Lamanites all the stuff he knew about God and so he came up with a plan. A sneaky plan.
First, he would trick the Lamanites into liking him. Then, once they liked him, they would listen to him. And once they listened to him, he could teach them all the stuff he knew. He would start by teaching them about why everyone was here on the earth and what would happen after they died. Ammon thought that if the Lamanites knew all of these facts about God, they were sure to believe in him. Because it all made so much sense. God was the reason for everything.
Now that Ammon had concocted his sneaky plan, he commenced step one: getting the Lamanites to like him. Ammon thought to himself, “Ammon, what is likable? Bunnies are likable because they are cute.” But how was Ammon going to be like a bunny? And then he remembered that the Lamanites were known to catch and eat bunnies for dinner without even cooking them. A bunny would not do. So he thought, what is the most likable thing of all?
Ammon remembered his parents. He liked his parents a whole lot. And why did he like his parents? He didn’t know exactly. It was just that they liked him so much. No, “like” wasn’t a good enough word for it. They loved him. And because they loved him so deeply, he couldn’t help but love them too.
That was it! Ammon knew what to do. He was going to learn to love the Lamanites. Then they wouldn’t be able to help but love him too. And so Ammon tried to love the Lamanites. He tried as hard as he could. He squinted his eyes, shut and held his breath, and tried to feel love. He felt something. It was a good feeling. Was it love? Had he done it already? This was going to be easier than he thought.
And so he marched right into the center of a city to meet the people. And there they were. They were handsome and pretty and tan and beautiful. And he was shaky and nervous because he was going to meet new friends. And he raised his hand and waved hi and said, “My name is Ammon, I love you and I am so glad to meet you.” And they grabbed him and kicked him and slapped him and tied his hands together and brought him to the king of the city.
“Loving these people is going to be harder than I thought,” Ammon said.
The king did not look very nice. And when he spoke, he did not sound very nice either. “Who do you think you are?” the king said. “We don’t like Nephites even when they are miles away. We like Nephites even less when they come into our city. Why did you think you could just walk right in? We don’t like you.”
Ammon did not know what to say. He was sore from being kicked, his lip was bleeding, and his wrists hurt from the ropes around them. And he was feeling a little sad that his sneaky plan was not working out the way he had imagined. But he was still optimistic. And Ammon said, “I am sorry you don’t like me. But I want to like you. Let me be your servant. That way I can get to know you. And once I get to know you, how can I help but like you? That way everyone is happy. I get to like you. You don’t have to like me. And you get an extra servant who works for free.”
The king could see no problems with his logic. And so he agreed. And Ammon began to work for the king. He took care of his sheep and prepared his food and his horses. In the process, Ammon learned about the king’s favorite food and his favorite horse, his hobbies, and his great wealth. But he also learned some bad things about the king. The king had a temper. And that temper was hard to love. Because when the king had his temper, he would do bad things. He even had a few of his servants executed for making a mistake.
This worried Ammon. Not because he was scared of being executed. But because he was worried that he would not be able to love a man with such a terrible temper. Ammon had thought that if he got to know the king, it would be easy to love him. But the opposite was happening. It was becoming harder and harder and harder. But still, Ammon remained optimistic.
And so Ammon prayed to God and said, “I need help loving this man.” And God came into Ammon’s heart and filled it with love. And that love was so powerful that Ammon became the greatest servant the king had ever had. Ammon cleaned faster, cooked tastier, and protected the sheep better than anyone else had ever done. He was so good that when a large group of men tried to steal some of the sheep, Ammon fought them all off by himself.
The king was amazed at what Ammon could do. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he was beginning to like Ammon. And so he decided to ask Ammon a few questions. “Ammon,” he said. “Why are you doing so much for me?”
Ammon replied, “Because I love you and I want what is best for you.”
And the king said, “Why do you love me, Ammon? Don’t you know I have a terrible temper? Don’t you know I’ve done bad things? I am not lovable. I am just powerful. I could understand why you would fear me. But I don’t understand how you could love me.”
“At first, it was not easy to love you,” Ammon said. “But I asked for God’s help, and he put love into my heart because he already loved you. And that love was like a torch that lit my own candle. And now I love you too. And I want to teach you about why you are here and where you are going so that you will believe in God.”
The king looked a little dizzy. He already knew about God. He called God “The Great Spirit.” But while he knew about God, he had never felt God. Not like this. God was filling his body, it felt warm as fire and cool as water. And just before the king fainted to the floor, Ammon saw a look of astonishment flash across his face.
Astonishment, a definition:
Astonishment is what happens when you feel the love of God. It feels like a surprise birthday, only better because we can all imagine how fun a birthday can be. But we are all always unable to imagine how much God loves us. It is too much.
Ammon’s sneaky plan had worked. He had come to love the king. And so the king loved him back and listened to what he had to say about God and Jesus. It was no small surprise when the king already knew about God. But knowing about God isn’t quite the same thing as feeling God. What the king needed was to experience God. And once that happened, the king’s understanding of life transformed. And he was able to believe everything Ammon taught him. And feel it, too.
And Ammon realized that his sneaky plan was not as sneaky as God’s plan. God had never meant Ammon to teach the king things about God. God could not be taught. God could not be explained. God did not exist because he made sense. He just existed. And he loved. And his love is small and big, hot and cold, fire and water. And it is by this love that God moved from Ammon to the king and to each of us.
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.