Meditation on 3 Nephi 28

What do you want after I’m gone?” Zed swallowed. He had expected the question but still was not ready. No one answered.

The question echoed in the silence. Which of you, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? If asked for fish, will you give a snake? Ask and you will receive.

The questioner reached out. Zed tilted his head slightly and raised an eye to see just past the head in front of him to where the questioner’s hand rested briefly on another. They spoke quietly. Zed couldn’t hear. The questioner touched another and another, as they spoke. Zed strained to listen, watching sincere wishes flicker across faces. The questioner turned, and Zed returned behind the head. Heart racing, he silently rehearsed familiar words. They are delivered from that awful monster, death. If I die in the dark, it’ll be because I don’t ask.

“What do you want after I’m gone?”

Zed heard the question repeated faintly, and soon less faintly. Closing his eyes, he thought he could make out others’ words, asking for reunion and rest, and the questioner’s response, “You’re blessed.”

“Zed, what do you want me to do for you when I’m gone?”

He shuddered. My wish is a sin. I should be content with my allotment. We must die.

“Look!”

Zed dared not move, but essayed a peek at the ground. The feet of the questioner were near. If I touch even his clothes! The grace, justice, power, and mercy of deliverance from death.

“I know your thoughts.”

Zed’s face burned.

“You want what John, whom I love, asked of me.”

Zed started. Carefully, his head was raising. Tentatively, his eyes were meeting the questioner’s. As many as look with trust will live.

“So you’re more blessed, because you’ll never die.”

Zed was touched, not by the questioner, but by a friend at his side. The questioner continued to speak. Zed was touched again, by another friend. The questioner moved on to others. Zed almost reached out, but he realized he was not alone. They were no longer ashamed of their desire, and they lived.

Lincoln Cannon

Mormon Transhumanist Association