Words That Cannot Be Spoken

The day of the Sandy Hook school shooting I listened in horror as the news about the shooting rolled out every hour on the hour; each report more horrific than the last.

As I made my way home that evening with a heavy heart I happened to be listening to a religious music station.  At the conclusion of a particularly beautiful song an announcer with a deep, smooth radio voice came on and said that he would like to say a prayer for the victims and families of Sandy Hook.  As he did, the power of his prayer affected me in a way that I just can't do justice in print.  As I sat listening at a red light, I felt a tear making its way down my cheek.

In 3 Nephi 17:17 it says that Jesus prayed and the words that he spoke, "no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive..."

I'll admit that this scripture has both frustrated and puzzled me for years.  Why couldn't they just write the words he said so I could experience Jesus praying?  What does that even mean that the words cannot be written?   But I think I finally understand, because of Sandy Hook.  I could play for you a recording of the prayer that was given that day, but it would not likely have the impact that it did on me that day; because it wasn't just words.  It was the horrific events of the day leading to an emotional build-up which made a place in my heart for those words at that particular time.  The power of that moment could only be experienced in that moment.

It's kind of like when you hear a song from high school and you feel a sudden rush of emotion that you haven't felt for years.  Playing that song for a friend would not do it justice because its not just a song.  The reason it's more than a song is that song played, for example, the first time you kissed someone and that flood of excitement is forever fused with the music, the car you drove home and the time of night you were driving.  A three-dimensional moment was created that is the sum of all the parts.  So today, when you hear that song, see the car or drive late at night the experience comes back to you, but no one else can truly appreciate what your feeling just by hearing one part of the experience; like the song.  It would be like trying to get a friend to understand the smell of a flower by showing them a picture of one.

So, as frustrating as it is, there are words that no tongue can speak, neither can be written because they were so much more than just words.  The Nephites had lost numerous cities and countless people to natural disasters and then they were present for the first appearance of Jesus Christ on the American continent; which meeting culminated in the healing of the sick and the Savior praying with them to Heavenly Father.  Thus, just having the words Jesus spoke in that prayer simply would not do justice to what was happening in that moment.  In fact, because of the sacred nature of that moment, it would be a sacrilege to have recorded his words for people to read out of context.

Perhaps in the next life, we can first experience all the background that gave life to the words that were spoken that day. 

1 Corinthians 2:14
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.