The sections for this week include 101, 103, 105. We are talking about the 1833 expulsion of the Saints from Jackson County, Missouri and Zion's Camp. For a primer in the expulsion from Jackson County here are the basics from the chapter in the Institute Manual.
The title for the lesson comes from section 101 verse 3. The Saints in Jackson County were being pushed from their homes--sometimes violently. Joseph, at home in Kirtland, had only heard bits and pieces of what was occurring in Missouri. As section 101 makes clear, the citizens of Missouri (indefinitely called the mob) were at fault, but so were the Saints in Jackson County. Verses 6-8 tell us of some of the ways the Saints were at fault. Elder Maxwell taught of three sources of adversity: our own sins, the sins of others, and the state of a fallen world. Whatever the source of the adversity, we have a possibility to learn and grow from the situation. This situation would test them and try them and their reaction was all important. Joseph wrote this as a letter to the Saints, not to harp on their faults, but to give them peace. Though they had lost Zion, all was in the Lord's hands.
For me, this week is all about how we react to adversity and how we endure. What does it mean to be "chastened and tried, even as Abraham?" What is an Abrahamic sacrifice? What could be your Abrahamic sacrifice?
Section 103 verse 22 is the call for Zion's Camp. The Saints were to walk to Jackson County, Missouri (about 900 miles) to try and help their brothers and sisters. Several volunteered in the High Council as Joseph read the revelation, yet the Lord said they needed at least 100 (and no more than 500). Missionaries were sent out among the Saints to recruit more of the Saints to help.
Tom Alexander had written one of my favorite articles on Zion's camp here. Parley P. Pratt went to Richland, New York as he searched for more Saints to join Zion's Camp. There he met recent convert Wilford Woodruff who quickly decided to join Zion's Camp and how it changed his life quite completely. Alexander briefly compares the different trajectory of Wilford's brother Azmon (the Woodruffs have some crazy names), who chose not to go.
Zion's Camp was not just made up of men, here Andrea Radke Moss writes about the contributions and experiences of the women and children of Zion's Camp. Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight went to Pontiac, Michigan to find volunteers. Craig Manscill writes about their journey here.
Joseph received the revelation in Section 105 on the banks of the Fishing River in Missouri. The Fishing River is a tributary of the Missouri River--the Missouri River is the northern border of Jackson County (eastern Kansas City and modern-day Independence). Zion's Camp had walked the 900 miles to get there and then in verse 13 the Lord says--Wait, don't fight. I'll fight your battles for you. Not fighting once they got there was perhaps as difficult as the decision to go in the first place.
Our end goals are not always the Lord's end goals. Sometimes He tells us to turn around and go home and trust that He will take care of things. Again, it is our reaction that matters.
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