Mosiah 3:7 says Jesus Christ would experience “temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue.” One word stops Kevin: thirst. As a 19-year-old missionary, that word changed the way Kevin saw the Savior. Jesus didn’t only experience Gethsemane and the cross. He experienced mortality. He got hungry. He became exhausted. He was tempted. He knew what it felt like to have a body that hurt and a strength that could run out. That realization leads Kevin and Justin into a much bigger conversation: What might temptation have been like for someone who could never give in? Did Christ’s relationship with the Father help Him endure what no one else could? What can His fatigue teach us about our own exhaustion? And how personal might the Atonement really be? No polished answers. Just one verse, two friends, and a lot to ponder.
What does it change when we remember that Jesus Christ actually experienced mortality?
In Mosiah 3:7, King Benjamin describes a Savior who would suffer temptation, physical pain, hunger, thirst, and fatigue.
Kevin shares why the simple word “thirst” has stayed with him since hearing Elder Jeffrey R. Holland speak while Kevin was a missionary in the MTC. Until that moment, he had sort of understood Christ’s suffering—but had never really pictured Jesus simply being hungry, tired, or thirsty.
That thought opens several questions:
What was temptation actually like for Jesus?
Could temptation have carried an unusual weight because Christ could never give in and still accomplish His mission?
At the same time, could His extraordinary relationship with the Father have given Him extraordinary strength?
Kevin and Justin also explore fatigue—physical, emotional, and spiritual—and what it means that Christ Himself experienced exhaustion.
Justin shares his experience using fasting as a way to seek greater closeness with God, which leads to a conversation about dependence, humility, and spiritual connection.
Finally, Kevin shares a very personal way he sometimes imagines the Atonement—not as doctrine, but as a question:
What if Christ’s suffering for each of us was even more individual than we understand?
Maybe we can’t comprehend everything Jesus experienced.
But perhaps Mosiah 3:7 can help us see Him a little more clearly—not only as the resurrected Lord, but as the Savior who walked through mortality before us.
Two Dudes Pondering the Universe, One Verse at a Time.