In Spanish they say
Jesucristo to mean Jesus Christ and the Prophet Joseph Smith is José Smith.
This past week when I was
teaching at zone conference I accidentally referred to the Prophet Joseph Smith
as "JoséCristo." All the missionaries laughed,
knowing I had made a mistake. But I
thought, “why did I make this mistake?” and I realized that I see many
Christlike qualities in the Prophet Joseph Smith, that he and the Savior were similar
in my mind.
I think of the time the
prophet was in Liberty Jail, and as horrific as was his personal circumstance,
he was most worried about the Saints (D&C 121:2). Like Christ, his life was focused on service
to others.
I thought of Joseph going to
Carthage “like a lamb to the slaughter” when he knew he would seal his testimony
with his blood. Our Savior gave his mortal
life willingly “And truly the son of man goeth as it was determined.” (Luke 22:22)
I thought of Joseph’s being
despised and hated as the Savior was (Isaiah 53:3) and Joseph accepting that
this would happen from the first visit of Moroni (JS Hist v. 33)
I thought of the Son of Man
who had no place to lay his head (Matt 8:20) and the Lord’s warning to Joseph
Smith that in temporal labors he shall not have strength (D&C 24:9)
Like most “Freudian slips,”
they are based in actual feelings, and I really feel like Joseph Smith was a
Christ-like man.
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