Shortly after the death of Christ, an up-and-coming Pharisee, Saul, was dutifully persecuting Jewish apostates. While on the way to the city of Damascus, his next target for executing his extermination orders, he was given a superlative call to repentance from that God who had dictated the very Law of Moses to the Jews 1,200 years earlier. The ancient voice of the lawgiver that had echoed upon Sinai once again spoke to man:
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 26:14, NASB).
Of course, Saul hadn't been persecuting Christ personally—he had been going after followers of Christ—so why did Christ say that Saul was persecuting him? In a blinding moment, Saul obtained through revelation the following teaching from Jesus’ mortal ministry:
But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me."
Then these righteous ones will reply, "Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?"
And the King will say, "I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!"
Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, "Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me."
Then they will reply, "Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?"
And he will answer, "I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me." And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life (Matt 25:31 – 46, NLT).
Jesus takes personally that which we do to those around us. For all of us, this ought to strike our souls with sorrow or fear in consequence of the sins we have trespassed against others—for we have done it unto Christ!
But as the scriptural record bears out, this Saul, who had sinned against God, would someday become Paul, one of God’s greatest servants. This is a testimony of the greatness of Jesus’ personality as he always chooses to forgive if we sincerely seek forgiveness, as Saul did hereafter.
As Christ has set the example for us, personally, let us also remember that for all things we take personally, we also forgive:
“Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin” (D&C 64:9).
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