"The God of Jacob, Yieldeth Himself . . . as a Man"

The Synoptic Gospels provide the details of Jesus' atoning sacrifice. But the Book of Mormon provides a clearer perspective and added details of our Savior's sacrifice.

In Mark's Gospel no time is wasted in getting right to the miracles. Twenty-two verses into his Gospel we find Jesus teaching in the synagogue and His audience is "astonished at his doctrine" (Mark 1: 22). But Mark isn't gonna tell you anything Jesus taught (unlike Matthew) because there's a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit. The battle is on with the unclean spirit crying out, "Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us?" (v. 24). And what makes this miracle even better, it represents a direct confrontation with Satan.

In Mark the word miracle comes from the Greek word dynamis, the root of our English word dynamite or dynamic. It is a sheer demonstration of power. Here is a link to the original Greek word. If you look at the references you can see it never appears in John, who uses a different word for miracles. In every case in John it's sēmeion, meaning sign, mark, or token. There are seven distinct miracles in John, each with the purpose of pointing to a Messianic role, as an identifying marker.

However, when Jesus makes His final journey to Jerusalem and the Atonement unfolds, everything changes in Mark. Jesus "yields Himself as a man" (1 Nephi 19: 10). In Mark He enters Gethsemane " sore amazed," and "very heavy" (Mark 14: 33). In the Greek sore amazed means "struck with terror." With echoes of a whimpering child Jesus pleads in the familial case, "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt" (Mark 14: 36). This form of addressing the Father is akin to "dad, daddy, or poppa." 

Jesus, who once cursed the fig tree, becomes the One being cursed. A tenant of the Law of Moses acclaimed, "For he that is hanged is accursed of God" (Deuteronomy 21: 23). Speaking of this, Paul said, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Galatians 3:13).

And Jesus, the source of "living water" cries out on the cross, "I thirst" (see John 4: 10; 19: 28). As a recovering alcoholic, I am so grateful that Jesus knows from my perspective what it's like to get thirsty.

As Elder Holland once said, “It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.” (Conference, April 2009).

In the Book of Mormon, Alma speaks of the infinite Atonement. Jesus would not only take upon Himself our sins, as awful as that is, but also our pains, sicknesses, and infirmities. One of my favorite verses states,

"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 the 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" (Alma 7: 11-12).