One of the most poignant messages of Jacob has to do with “looking beyond the mark.” He explained that:

“…the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand.

“Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.” (Jacob 4:14)

While Jacob here refers to the historical Jews specifically, this scripture has an incredible amount of relevance and applicability to us today.

The tragic flaw of the Jews lies in their dissatisfaction with “words of plainness,” which led them to place increased importance on more tangential or logistical matters.  Neal A. Maxwell explained:

“Intellectual embroidery seems to have been preferred to the whole clothing of the gospel—the frills to the fabric. In fact, one can even surmise that complexity was preferred over plainness by some because in conceptual complexity there might somehow be escape, or excuse, for noncompliance and for failure. In any event, this incredible blindness which led to the rejection of those truths spoken by prophets and which prevented the recognition of Jesus for who he was, according to Jacob, came ‘by looking beyond the mark.’ ” (On Being a Light [address delivered at the Salt Lake Institute of Religion, 2 Jan. 1974], p. 1 )

Often times the answers to many of our questions are in closer proximity than we might think—sometimes they are in plain sight. The tendency to seek wisdom in the unknown while ignoring the resources that are available to us too often proves to be counter-productive or detrimental.

“Jacob speaks of people who placed themselves in serious jeopardy in spiritual things because they were unwilling to accept simple, basic principles of truth. They entertained and intrigued themselves with “things that they could not understand” (Jacob 4:14). They were apparently afflicted with a pseudosophistication and a snobbishness that gave them a false sense of superiority over those who came among them with the Lord’s words of plainness. They went beyond the mark of wisdom and prudence, and obviously failed to stay within the circle of fundamental gospel truths, which provide a basis for faith. They must have reveled in speculative and theoretical matters that obscured for them the fundamental spiritual truths. As they became infatuated by these “things that they could not understand,” their comprehension of and faith in the redeeming role of a true Messiah was lost, and the purpose of life became confused. A study of Israel’s history will confirm Jacob’s allegations.” (Dean L. Larsen, “Looking beyond the Mark,” Ensign, Nov 1987, 11)

The departure from (or de-emphasis of) the foundational and core doctrines and principles of the gospel has been responsible for a great deal of confusion and even apostasy.  Quentin Cook said:

“Some people seem to be embarrassed by the simplicity of the Savior’s message. They want to add complexity and even obscurity to the truth to make it more intellectually challenging or more compatible with current academic trends. The Apostasy occurred in part because of this problem. The early Christians adopted the Greek philosophical traditions, trying to reconcile their own beliefs with the existing culture. The historian Will Durant wrote: “Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it. The Greek mind, dying, came to a transmigrated life.”” (Quentin L. Cook, “Looking beyond the Mark,” Liahona, Mar 2003, 21)

So then, what is “the mark” that we must strive not to “look beyond”?  I think the answer to that comes in a New Testament account of an exchange between Jesus and a Pharisee:

But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Jesus said unto him,

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt 22:34-40)

I believe the passage speaks for itself.  Here the higher law is set forth, and all other aspects of the law and gospel are herein included.  The majority of religious quandaries can be resolved by appealing to Jesus’ words.  The life, example, and redemption wrought by Christ are the central elements of the gospel, and should be the central focus—the mark—of the Saints.

Unfortunately, the gospel is too often immaturely perceived as a collection of do’s and don’ts, or a checklist of things to do in order to obtain a reward.  This line of thinking invariably leads to nit-picking over things like behavioral standards, the questions of how far is too far, how much is too much, what is or isn’t OK to consume, what is or isn’t appropriate to view, who we should or shouldn’t associate with, where we should or shouldn’t be seen, or any other number of “strivings about the law” which the apostle Paul condemns as “unprofitable and vain.” (See Titus 3:9)

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ has come to save that which is lost—us.  The way to him is by turning our lives over to him, and making him our foundation.  Well did Helaman tell his sons Nephi and Lehi:

“And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”  (Helaman 5:12)

Jesus Christ, and the divine love that he embodies, is “the mark”.  Let us not look beyond him, but rather look to him, and live.