Our Advocate

The visiting teaching message for July is "The Divine Mission of Jesus Christ:Advocate". It begins,"Jesus Christ is our Advocate with the Father. The word advocate has Latin roots meaning “one who pleads for another.”¹ The Savior pleads for us, using understanding, justice, and mercy. Knowing this can fill us with love and gratitude for His Atonement."

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what that means, and here are a few of my thoughts:

The Savior has a perfect understanding of each one of us; as we learn in Alma 7:11-13,

“And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and sicknesses of his people.

“And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

“Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.”

Through His Atonement, Jesus Christ became one with each of us; He felt and experienced all of our sins and transgressions, our mistakes and our infirmities and disappointments. He felt the pain and consequences that we experiences because of our own sins but also because of others’ sins against us. He knows exactly who we are and WHY we are who we are—the things that have shaped each one of us.

Because of His Atonement, Jesus Christ has earned the right to be our judge; He knows each case. He has also earned the right to be our advocate—or our adversary. He satisfied the demands of justice  (see 2 Nephi 2:8-9), and He chose “to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men…For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men” (Moroni 7:27-28).

Having a perfect knowledge of each us, Christ could argue against us; He could point out all of our imperfections and mistakes and sins and say that justice requires us to be permanently cut off from God. Instead, He chooses to be merciful and points out that He is willing to pay the price to satisfy justice and asks the Father to let us repent and be forgiven and ultimately to be allowed back into His presence.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means that Christ is our advocate, and I think I have more questions than answers, but I’ve had a few insights that I’d like to consider more.

What is an advocate and why do we need an advocate? What if Jesus Christ weren’t our advocate? What do we learn about Jesus Christ because He is willing to be our advocate?

The basic definition of advocate is someone who pleads the cause of another person. Jesus Christ pleads our cause…but He’s pleading our cause with Heavenly Father, who is perfect and He would judge us righteously. So, do we need Christ to argue in our behalf or plead our cause? If so, why? What would happen if He weren’t? What if He said, “I’ll atone for them, so justice is fulfilled, but that’s all I’m going to do”?

One thought I’ve had is that this is similar to a passage about prayer from the Bible Dictionary: “Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them.” Heavenly Father desires to give us everything that we need, but sometimes, we have to ask before He gives those blessings to us. We need to do a little bit of work. Similarly, with trying to become like Him and trying to return to Him, we need to do some work and we need to ask…but in some ways, we probably don’t even know how to plead our cause; we don’t know what we need or fully understand the reasons we did something or how we’ve been shaped or influenced by others. Jesus Christ, though, knowing each of us individually and perfectly, knows exactly how to plead our cause.

I think another reason we need Jesus Christ to be our advocate is because we need to know that Someone believes in us and is supporting us; some of the synonyms for “advocate” are friend, supporter, and true believer. Who doesn’t need a friend, supporter, and true believer? Knowing that Jesus Christ believes in us and is supporting us surely sustains us in our lives.

Some of the antonyms and near antonyms of “advocate” are: adversary, antagonist, enemy, rival, belittler, critic, faultfinder. Which of us wants an enemy or a rival competing against us, or someone who belittles, criticizes, and finds our faults? I don’t. And the thing is, Jesus Christ could do that—He could easily point out our faults and since He lived a perfect life, He’d be a rather formidable rival, and we would always falls short in comparison. However, that’s not who He chooses to be. He chooses to be our friend and advocate.

I don’t know how things would play out for us if Christ weren’t our advocate; I do think Heavenly Father would still judge us fairly. However, knowing that Christ not only atoned for us but also continues working on our behalf, advocating for us, helps us to know how much He loves us and how much He truly wants us to accept His Atonement so that we can be saved.

As a final thought, thinking about Christ’s role as our advocate makes me think of the fourth verse of “Reverently and Meekly Now,” a sacrament hymn that is written in the first person, as if Christ Himself were addressing us:

At the throne I intercede;

For thee ever do I plead.

I have loved thee as thy friend,

With a love that cannot end.

Be obedient, I implore,

Prayerful, watchful evermore,

And be constant unto me,

That thy Savior I may be.

Jesus Christ is the Savior and advocate of all who will accept Him as such. He loves us and He is asking us to let Him work in our lives and in our hearts. He’s our advocate with the Father, but I think sometimes He’s also our advocate with ourselves. When we are ready to give up on ourselves and think we just aren’t ever going to be good enough, He reminds us that we are children of God, that He is our Savior, and that together, we CAN do all that Heavenly Father asks us of us.