Prepare the Way

Service during youth can naturally help our young people to prepare for the burdens of adulthood in the Lord’s church.

What would Jesus’ mission be like without the preparatory work of John. This is a model for the relationship between the Aaronic priesthood and the Melchizedek priesthood.

We need to give the Aaronic priesthood holders a clear and practical understanding of how vital they are and their work is in the kingdom.

I had the blessing of growing up in a small branch. Because our numbers were few, the youth were called upon to actively participate in all aspects of the branch. I was very busy and loved feeling useful. On Sundays I officiated at the sacrament table, served in my priesthood quorum, and functioned in various other callings. During the week I often accompanied my father and other adult priesthood holders as we home taught members, comforted the sick and afflicted, and helped those in need. No one seemed to think I was too young to serve or even to lead. For me, it all seemed normal and natural.

The service I rendered during those teenage years helped me build my testimony and anchor my life in the gospel. I was surrounded by good and compassionate men who were committed to using their priesthood to bless the lives of others. I wanted to be like them. In serving with them, much more than I realized at the time, I learned to be a leader in the Church and also in the world.

I wonder how we can replicate that situation where or young men can feel needed and trusted in priesthood service in wards with large numbers of active and experienced men.

The perfect model of the close relationship that exists between the two priesthoods is found in the interaction between Jesus and John the Baptist. Can one possibly imagine John the Baptist without Jesus? What would the Savior’s mission have been like without the preparatory work performed by John?

John the Baptist was given one of the most noble missions to ever exist: “to prepare the way of the Lord,” to baptize Him with water, and to make ready a people to receive Him. This “just … and … holy [man],” who had been ordained to the lesser priesthood, was perfectly aware of both the importance and the limits of his mission and his authority.

People flocked to John to hear him and be baptized by him. He was honored and revered in his own right as a man of God. But when Jesus appeared, John humbly deferred to One greater than himself and declared, “I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, … who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.”

For His part, Jesus the Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father, who held the higher priesthood, humbly recognized the authority of John. Of him, the Savior said, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”

Allow me to share the true story of Alex, a quiet, thoughtful, and bright young priest. One Sunday, Alex’s bishop found him alone in a classroom in a state of great distress. The young man explained how painfully difficult it was for him to attend church without his father, who was not a member. Then he tearfully said it would probably be better for him to leave the Church.

With genuine concern for this young man, the bishop immediately mobilized the ward council to help Alex. His plan was simple: to keep Alex active and help him develop a heartfelt testimony of the gospel, they needed to “surround him with good people and give him important things to do.”

…

Little by little, Alex changed. His faith in the Lord increased. He gained confidence in himself and in the power of the priesthood that he held. The bishop concluded: “Alex has been and will always be one of my greatest blessings in my time as bishop. What a privilege it has been to associate with him. I genuinely believe that no young man has ever gone into the mission field more prepared by his priesthood service.”

{To bishops:} I invite you to reflect upon each of the young Aaronic Priesthood holders in your ward. Not one of them should ever feel left out or useless. Is there a young man whom you and other priesthood brethren could help? Invite him to serve alongside you. Too often we try to entertain our young men and relegate them to a spectator role, when their faith and love for the gospel can be best developed by magnifying their priesthood. By actively participating in the work of salvation, they will be connected with heaven and they will gain awareness of their divine potential.

This can be done in wards of any size.

My dear brethren of the Melchizedek Priesthood, I invite you to strengthen the essential link that unites the two priesthoods of God. Empower your Aaronic Priesthood youth to prepare the way before you. Tell them with confidence, “I need you.” To you young holders of the Aaronic Priesthood, I pray that, as you serve with your older brethren, you will hear the voice of the Lord telling you: “Thou art blessed, for thou shalt do great things. Behold thou wast sent forth, even as John, to prepare the way before me.” In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.