When Thou Art Converted - Luke 22:31-32

I’m having a problem understanding the exact timeline for the night that began the atonement, so I’m just going to do my best, try to cover everything and hope that it all makes sense in the end. The Passover meal had been eaten, Jesus had washed His disciples’ feet, Judas has been sent away, and the sacrament has been instituted, it’s been a busy night, not knowing that it was his last one with His disciples in this capacity, Jesus tried to make the most of it. Matthew tells us that Jesus ended the formal night when “they had sung an hymn.”

My brother figured out that “an” was the correct usage for things like “hymn” and “prayer” etc. so now whenever we get together he says, “now we’ll sing an hymn” or “we’ll say an prayer” it’s just funny and brings the scriptures to life. The IM says, “The ‘hymn’ the Savior and His disciples sang at the conclusion of the Last Supper was probably the traditional Jewish recitation from Psalms 113-118, called the Hallel. Psalms 113-14 were traditionally sung at the beginning of the meal, and Psalms 115-18 were traditionally sung as part of the formal closing of a Passover meal.” This traditional ending would have nicely tied all the messages together to escort out the old law and usher in the new commandments.
Jesus and His disciples leave the upper room and begin their journey to the Mount of Olives. Jesus knows what’s facing him there in the garden, but he still takes even the time walking there to give last instructions to those who were to uphold His work and spread His gospel. It’s like when you are experiencing an awful time in your life, and then you look back at another time you thought was bad and think, “ahh… the good old days.” This is probably how the Apostles felt looking back at their time with Christ after the role and responsibility of gospel leadership fell on their shoulders.
Walking towards the Mount of Olives, Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” I had always thought that this meant that Satan had a specific affinity for Peter, and didn’t really care about any of the other ones. But the IM points out, “In Luke 22:31, the Greek pronoun translated as ‘you’ is plural, indicating that the Savior gave this warning to all His disciples.”
My understanding was incorrect in that Satan wanted them all, he wants us all, not to be his followers or his helpers or anything else, he wants us all to be destroyed and miserable. I always imagined that Satan would want an army to command, but he doesn’t want that, he wants followers only so that he can proliferate hate and misery faster, there is no loyalty with him. In one of the Percy Jackson movies, this guy betrays everything he knows and loves in order to free this imprisoned fire monster, and when he finally does it, he pledges his loyalty to the monster, and while he’s still speaking, the fire monster picks him up and eats him. That was the most profound explanation for me to understand Satan and what his desires are. It’s not just Peter or the disciples, he wants us all.
One of the most interesting statements to me in all of the scriptures is when Jesus says, “when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” It’s not so much the words that He says that is fascinating, but who he says them too. He says them to Peter, the man who has been a devout disciples for at least 3 years, who is the leader of the disciples and one of Jesus’ closest friends and believers. How is it possible for this man to not be fully converted? And if even Peter wasn’t converted after living with Jesus for 3 years, then how it possible for us to be converted, ever? There are a couple of factors in play here. First is that, yes, the Savior might have stood in their midst and taught them daily, but they did not have the Holy Ghost.
Jesus was the only one who could have performed the atonement, no one else was qualified, and without the atonement, our existence here would have been painful and pointless, so we needed him to make the plan work. But even Jesus said repeatedly, He was only here doing the work His Father had given him. Heavenly Father didn’t need Jesus’ atonement to be saved and exalted because He already was, but we needed it. Jesus didn’t come up with the plan, it was presented to all by God Himself in a council, it was afterward that Jesus got involved. He might be the executioner of the plan, but he didn’t come up with it, he needed guidance and direction and opportunity for the plan to work. Even with the plan and the Savior, those closest to Him couldn’t fully understand and accept the gospel without the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost takes into our open hearts understanding and belief of what has been planned and taught. 

Listening to the most recent general conference in the car on the way to work this morning, I think it was Elder Quinten L. Cook who said something like, “the only person who is authorized to receive revelation for the whole church is President Nelson.” So I thought, “Then why have all these other people speaking to us, why not just have President Nelson come and talk the whole time.” Then I remembered the pattern that I had learned previously. The prophet at the time receives revelation directly from God regarding the entire church, and then the other general authorities teach it to the people. Heavenly Father made the plan, Jesus implemented the plan and gives instruction, and the Holy Ghost teaches the plan to the people. I don’t think it means that Jesus can’t make people understand His doctrine, just that it doesn’t seem to be his specific role.
The fact that Peter wasn’t “converted” despite his intense relationship with the Savior is understandable in the context of not having the Holy Ghost with them yet. I have always wondered why they didn’t have the Holy Ghost with them, it would seem like if there was every a more important time to have the Spirit, it would have been during that time while the Savior was on earth. I can speculate that perhaps Jesus and the Holy Ghost together might be too powerful an influence that the disciples wouldn’t have built up a testimony on their own. Maybe the combination would have made people too aware and therefore accountable for choices that they made when they weren’t spiritually prepared. I’ll have to think about this.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks is quoted in the IM as he “confirmed the importance of being converted, even for those with a testimony of the truth”: saying, “In order to strengthen his brethren- to nourish and lead the flock of God- this man who had followed Jesus for three years, who had been given the authority of the holy apostleship, who had been a valiant teacher and testifier of the Christian gospel, and whose testimony had caused the Master to declare him blessed still had to be ‘converted.’ Jesus’ challenge shows that the conversion He required for those who would enter the kingdom of heaven was far more than just being converted to testify to the truthfulness of the gospel. To testify is to know and to declare. The gospel challenges us to be ‘converted,’ which requires us to do and to become. If any of us relies solely upon our knowledge and testimony of the gospel, we are in the same position as the blessed but still unfinished Apostles whom Jesus challenged to be ‘converted.’ We all know someone who ahs a strong testimony but does not act upon it so as to be converted… Now is the time for each of us to work toward our personal conversion, toward becoming what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.”
There are many people who believe things but don’t do them. I believe that eating healthy and exercising will make my body feel better, but I don’t do it. Even those who believe that the gospel is true doesn’t mean that they will live it. I did this for many years, I believed the church was true, but I still did my own thing. The process of conversion comes as we live the gospel instead of only knowing the gospel.