followHIM - What are the two shortest scriptures? • follow HIM Favorites • May 1 - May 7

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

Hank Smith and John Bytheway discuss the two shortest verses in scripture, "Jesus wept" (John 11:35) and "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32), and explore their meanings and significance.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.coFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Hello, my friends. Welcome to another Follow Him Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I'm here with the wonderful John, by the way. Welcome, John, by the way. Thanks. I wonder how wonderful I am. Thank you. You are wonderful. The question for today's Follow Him Favorites, John, is what are the two shortest verses in Scripture? And interestingly, they're both in this week's lesson. So tell us, what are the two shortest verses in scripture? Wow, they are. In John, we have Jesus wept. Two syllables. It's kind of like Hank Smith, two syllables. I have more syllables in my last name than Hank Smith in his whole name. But yeah, here's Jesus wept. Two syllables.

Why was he weeping, Hank? Yeah. So this is at the death of Lazarus. Everyone is around and he sees everybody weeping. He sees Mary and Martha weeping because Lazarus is their brother and he's gone. And it says that Jesus wept. When I was a seminary teacher, I used to have students want to do this verse for their devotional. And they'd stand up and say, the devotional for today is John 11, 35. Jesus wept. And they'd usually laugh. They'd think that was funny. And I would say, wait, wait, wait, wait,

stay up there. Why is Jesus weeping? And they would say, I don't know. And I'm like, well, look it up. Let's look it up. So we go to John 11, 35 and they say, well, he's weeping because Lazarus is dead. I'm like, well, does, well, he's weeping because Lazarus is dead. I'm like, well, does that make a lot of sense? Because Lazarus is about to be alive. He is 10 seconds or 10 minutes from being alive. So could Jesus be weeping for that? And eventually we would come to the conclusion that Jesus was not weeping because Lazarus

was dead, but he has that much empathy for the people around him, that he's able to feel what they feel. Perfect. It always reminds me of Alma the Elder, after he talks to the wicked priests of King Noah, and some of them believe, and he takes them out to the waters of Mormon and says, here's the waters of Mormon. Are you willing to come into the fold of God and be called his people? And one of the things he says, are willing to mourn with they that mourn. And that's exactly what Jesus was doing there, showing the empathy you just mentioned. Yeah.

Mourn with those that mourn. I love that, John. We could be better about listening so closely to other people that we start to feel what they feel and start to put ourselves in their position. And it's so affirming for them that if you can say, wow, I've been there. I know what that feels like. Or I don't know exactly what that feels like. But wow, that can be so helpful to them to help them carry that.

So validating. John, what is the second shortest verse in Scripture? Well, I guess that would be Luke 17, 32. Remember Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife. John, what is Jesus talking about? What are we remembering there? Well, we talked about this, I suspect, last year quite a bit.

But they're leaving Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot's wife looked back. Elder Holland gives this beautiful talk called Remember Lot's Wife, where he says it wasn't just that she looked back. She wanted to go back. And what happened to her, Hank? The scriptures say she turned into a pillar of salt. So hopefully Lot had his fries there. I heard that. It sounds kind of harsh. Please read Elder Holland's talk to see what may have really happened there. And I have a commentary, Hank, our friend Kelly Ogden, D. Kelly Ogden, this commentary, they actually quote the Quran, the holy book of Islam, which says that she is one of those who went back. Maybe more than just looking back, but went back,

but it wasn't a good choice to make. So the Savior saying, remember Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife, Don't look back. I remember Elder Holland saying, it can be, don't look back at the good times and think, oh, those were my best days are behind me. Or don't look back at your former sins. Leave those in the past. When something has been repented of as much as it can be repented of, then leave it, leave it in the past. He says at the end of that talk, keep your eyes on your dreams. They're in the future. You'll live to see miracles of repentance and forgiveness of trust and divine love that will transform your life today and forever. He says, faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past, but it doesn't stay there. Faith

trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the high priest of good things to come. So, yeah, how fun. The two shortest verses in scripture and we got them in the same lesson. We hope you'll join us on our full podcast. It's called Follow Him and we're with Dr. S. Michael Wilcox this week. You're going to love what he has to say about these chapters and then come back and join us on another follow him favorites.