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Welcome to the Recent Speeches podcast presented by BYU Speeches, featuring inspiring new devotionals and forums given each week on BYU Campus. Be sure to check out our other podcasts by searching BYU Speeches wherever you get your podcasts or by visiting Speeches BYU Edu Podcasts. This devotional address entitled Joyfully Receive the Unexpected Messiah was given on April 15th of 2025 by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

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It is indeed an honor and a joy for Sister Uchtdorf and me to be back at BYU and especially during this most important week. And I don't mean finals week, although that is very important too, and you should all study very hard for your exams. And as soon as this devotional is over, okay, I wish you a handful of luck in these final days and fair professors. However, this week is even more important for another reason. In fact, it's arguably the most sacred week in the Christian calendar. We commemorate our Savior's final days in mortality, culminating with his glorious resurrection and triumph over death on that beautiful Easter Sunday. Now, during General Conference and in recent days, we have been blessed with a multitude of messages and testimonies celebrating these sacred events. But only two days ago, the Christian world remembered Palm Sunday. Today, let's turn our thoughts to this historic day when Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, rode triumphantly yet humbly into the holy city of Jerusalem. The city streets were crowded with people who had gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Word spread quickly that Jesus of Nazareth was coming, and it created quite a stir. All the city was moved. The Scriptures say a great multitude gathered at the city gate to welcome Him. Some spread their clothing on the ground to honor him as he entered their beloved city. Others cut down branches from palm trees and spread them on the road. People were cheering and shouting with a loud voice, blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory to the highest. The atmosphere was absolutely electric. People started asking, who is this? The Pharisees wanted to put a stop to all the commotion, but of course that was impossible. The air was charged with excitement and anticipation. Can you imagine how the Savior's disciples must have felt? This was the moment they had been waiting for. Finally, people were recognizing Jesus as the Promised Messiah. Finally, the wait was over. The suffering would now end. The children of Israel would be liberated because their King had arrived. They were filled with eager anticipation, but were they anticipating the right things? Well, in time. The shouts of praise and jubilation died down. As happens so often in life, the crowds dispersed. People went back to their regularly scheduled activities. They had their Passover meal. They were still subject to Rome and still had to pay taxes. But many of them probably looked back on that Sunday in Jerusalem and wondered what all the fuss had been about. Meanwhile, Jesus had a quiet last supper with his apostles in the upper room. He taught them, encouraged them, and prayed for them. He gave them the sacrament ordinance, something to remember him by. Then he walked into a garden called Gethsemane, and there alone he took upon himself the sins of the world. He walked the winepress alone, and no one was with him. By the end of the next day, Jesus was hanging on the cross, suffering a cruel and humiliating execution between two common thieves. Instead of adoration, he now received mocking if he be the King of Israel, the people said, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. Some observers must have been sincerely confused. Was this the same man who caused all that commotion a few days ago? Wasn't he supposed to be our deliverer? How will he save us if he can't even save himself? One of the thieves being crucified with Jesus verbalized what many people were surely thinking. Aren't you the Messiah? He said. Save yourself and us. With the advantage of hindsight, we can clearly see that people had mistaken expectations about Jesus real mission. John observed that at first even the disciples didn't understand. By accepting the agony and enduring it to the very end, he was indeed saving them, even those who crucified him. By his own free will and choice, he gave himself as the final and complete sacrifice. That is what the Messiah is. And by this he was saving you and me and all who will ever live on this earth. Descending from the cross and saving himself would have been impressive, and it may have persuaded some that he was more than a human being, perhaps even showing them that he was the Son of God. But the fact that he chose to take his cross, walk the winepress alone and bring the ultimate sacrifice to the divine altar to rescue all of God's children, even though he had power to save himself, has become the supernal witness that he is indeed the Son of God, submissive to His Father's will and committed to fulfilling his Father's plan of salvation to the last breath, with all the additional insight and abundance of revelation that has enlightened the world to this day. And if we are willing, we can understand that now that is the case. He is the Messiah. But, my dear young friends, how would we have reacted in the moment right there in Jerusalem or up in Galilee. Perhaps we shouldn't be too judgmental of our fellow humans of that ancient time who were genuinely puzzled by this unexpected Messiah. Haven't we all experienced an occasional disconnect between what we expect in life and what actually happens? Aren't unexpected surprises part of our the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of high ideals. Many of us are drawn to the Savior precisely because he lifts our sights and our aspirations high above and beyond anything the world has to offer. We believe, for example, that every human being is a beloved child of the most glorious being in the universe. And because of that, each of us has limitless potential and glorious divine destiny. We believe in the blessed and happy state of those that are willing to keep the commandments of God. We have faith that the path of discipleship is the path of divine joy, that living the Gospel leads to happy, peaceful life with strong family relationships that will go beyond this life into eternities. Those are some of the ideals of the gospel. They are beautiful and hopeful, and they are true eyewitness of that. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that they don't always match the messy, mundane realities of mortality. In a perfect world, everyone who would always keep the commandments of God In a perfect world, we would all would feel blessed and happy, and every faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would have a strong, fulfilling marriage and family. But the fact is that some of us face very complex, daunting challenges that make these blessings seem almost out of reach. So what do we do when the beautiful, universal, eternal ideals of the gospel clash with the painful, individual, mortal realities of life? There are at least two things you should remember. Never give up on the ideal and don't disregard the real. Accept both. It is not easy for our mortal minds and hearts to hold onto two concepts that seem to contradict one another. So to resolve the disconnect in our minds, we might jump quickly to conclusions like if I am suffering, I must have done something wrong. Or if I am not seeing the blessings I hope for, the promises must not be real. Or as this thief on the cross wondered, if he is the Christ, why doesn't he end my pain? But maybe there is another way to look at things. Didn't the Lord say, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts? We don't have to look far to see examples of this principle in action. There are so many things in life that God sees differently than we do. Let's take for example, the well known scripture from the book of Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy. We tend to think of joy as the absence of sorrow. But what if joy is not the absence of sorrow? What if joy and sorrow can coexist? What if they have to coexist? It is interesting that Lehi's declaration about joy comes in the same breath as his observation about the fall of Adam and Eve. He seems to be saying that their transgression in the Garden of Eden, which brought pain and death and sickness and sorrow into the world, also made way for joy. In other words, if you wait for sorrow to end before you experience joy, you might miss joy completely. To experience a measure of sorrow may enable your heart and mind to receive pure, heavenly joy. How is that possible? The answer comes, like so often, from Jesus Christ and of course, the plan of happiness given by the Father. And to use Eve's words, it is the joy of our redemption and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient. And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God. That is the principle. The deep joy God offers to us is much different from the shallow pleasures the world advertises. It is the kind of joy President Russell M. Nelson taught. We can feel joy even while having a bad day or a bad week or even a bad year. With that in mind, let's return to the crucifixion of the Savior and the thief who said, aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us. There was another thief being crucified that day, and he had a different view of that, of what it meant to be saved. He said to his fellow thief, don't you fear God since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. He then said to Jesus, lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. The second thief was suffering just like the first one. He surely would have liked to be saved from the fate on the cross. But he trusted the Lord's wisdom and his timing. So when things don't seem to fit perfectly and you don't have a good answer before assuming that there is no good answer, take the advice from the book of Ecclesiastes. Do not be quick with your mouth. Do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth. Have you ever noticed how different things look from a higher elevation? Maybe you have had the experience of hiking y mountain or one of the breathtaking peaks surrounding this valley. When you reach the summit and look back down at the valley, isn't it amazing how small everything looks while on the valley floor a tree or a vehicle or a building can seem like a huge obstacle. But from the mountaintop, with a higher perspective of things, they aren't so intimidating any longer. God invites us to follow his way to a higher and holier perspective. You will see the world and its challenges with different eyes. You will see things in the context of the whole creation and the plan of salvation. You will get a more complete and encompassing insight in a way that is not possible when you are in the thick of things. I believe that Scripture study and daily prayer are part of these excursions into higher and holier places where the ideal and the earthly reality are better understood. My dear young friends, Connect with Heavenly Father Daily elevate your view and raise your perspective on life and your personal situation. Connect with your Father in Heaven by praying to him and by pondering His Word. He is your Father and He wants you to speak to him just as any loving Father would. Personal prayer and Scripture study are perfect ways to communicate with Him. Personal prayer will help you to focus your life on the weightier matters. Of course, the purpose of prayer isn't for you to share new information with the all knowing God of the universe. Jesus said, your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask him. But pray with your heart and mind. Use not vain repetitions. My dear friends, you are in a part of your life where important decisions need to be made. Consequential choices on education, occupation, who to marry and when to start having a family. For all these choices you need the blessings of Heaven and the guidance by the Holy Ghost. And it's there. It's available. Follow the pattern the Lord taught Oliver. First study it out in your mind. Then ask God if it be right. You have a brain and a heart and you will know. So please ask your Heavenly Father for blessings and guidance. Share with him your hopes, dreams, desires, but in doing so, make sure that you are not trying to get him to see things your way. Ask him to open your eyes to see things his way. That's when the answers start to flow. That's when you climb the mountain and when you begin to see things from a higher perspective, even Heavenly Father's perspective, then shall your confidence wax strong in the presence of God. Enlightened truth shall distil upon your soul as it dews from heaven. Small drops, one at a time 24 7. You will see that many things that seem very big and overwhelming are in reality much smaller and not so threatening anymore. At the same time, you will discover an eternal significance of certain things that seemed small to your mortal eyes. Your personal prayers may be simple and plain, and they should be, but they should be heartfelt. They are meant to be frequent, but never commonplace. In our prayers, we follow the example the Savior has said for us in the Garden Gethsemane when he father, not my will, but thine be done. Answers to your prayers will come. Of this I testify, perhaps not your way, but certainly his way. Sometimes they come through a scripture, a sacred feeling, or the words of a trusted person. But come they will. The weekly opportunity to partake of the sacrament is also one of those recurring quiet moments that can lead to a greater recognition of the weightier matters in life. How profoundly you need the sacred time when you renew your covenants and be still as you ponder where you are in your personal discipleship. The Savior himself expressed the sacredness of this ordinance when he said to his disciples, this do in remembrance of me. What a blessing to have a time set aside to renew our witness that we are willing to always remember him and keep his commandments, and in return, receive his divine promise that you may always have his spirit to be with you, to guide you, to help you, to lift you up. As you intentionally make time and room for these quiet, small, simple, but deeply spiritual moments, you will discover that the Lord indeed knows you. He knows your heart. He knows your name. These moments can be to you like the holy peaceful moment on a beautiful spring morning outside an empty tomb when a young woman was weeping and the resurrected Jesus called her by name. Mary, he said, can you feel Jesus with his gentle voice calling you by name? Remember, the Savior knows your name. He loves you. On Palm Sunday, Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem threw a crowd. It was glorious, and it was an exciting moment for so many. But even more important was what Jesus did after he entered Jerusalem, even though much of it was done quietly, privately, even unnoticed by most people. It may not have been what the people expected of the Messiah, but it was what God had promised. And it was what the people, humanity, you and I, we all needed. It was the heavenly gift and the atoning sacrifice all of humanity, all of God's children needed. Behold, the prophet Zechariah said, thy king cometh unto thee, just as he entered triumphantly into Jerusalem. The gentle Christ enters your lives individually if you will receive him. Therefore, during this sacred Easter week, I invite you to each personally ask yourselves, will I show Jesus Christ that I want him to be my king? Will I invite Jesus Christ to have his triumphal entry into my life? Will I allow Jesus Christ to change my heart, to lift my vision and to teach me his higher and holier ways? My dear young friends, my dear fellow disciples of Jesus Christ, I testify and bear witness of the living Son of the living God, our Savior and Redeemer, the unexpected Messiah you have chosen to follow Him. He's your strength. He's your salvation. He's your joy. I bless you with hearts that are open and white as the gates of Jerusalem to joyfully receive the Messiah, the Savior, the King of Kings. I bless you with eyes to see his miraculous power working in your life wherever you are. And as one of his apostles, I testify of his power, his love, and his tender care for each and every one of you and leave you my blessings in the sacred name of our Master, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.