Meanwhile, Boyd Matheson, the opinion editor for the Deseret News, shared insights on how knowing, remembering, and serving Jesus Christ can make us better in our efforts to become his true disciples. And on this Easter Sunday, in the aftermath of bombings in Sri Lanka, the Asia Area Presidency (Elders David F. Evans, Peter F. Meurs, and David P. Home) offered a nessage of solidarity and comfort to those affected thereby.
With those messages in mind, I wanted to share some thoughts I have had in conjunction with this holy day. As those of us who are adherents to various Christian faiths today mark the milestone of Christ taking away the sting of death and the victory of the grave, Latter-day Saints know, as detailed in the scriptures, that the Savior's mission neither began in Be4thlehem not concluded on Calvary's cross.
His was an infinite mission. In the premortal realm, when Lucifer sought to destroy the agency of man and frustrate the Father's plan by compelling all of us to adhere to God;s laws (in return for which he wanted the honor, glory, and power of our Heavenly Father), Jesus Christ stepped forward and promised to redeem all those who would believe on His name, and make the difference for what we would lack at times when, in the natural course of mortality, we would fall short.
From the beginning of time (which was initiated by and through the fall of Adam), the prophets of the Old Testament and Book of Mormon testified of the coming of the Messiah, who would not redeem people in their sins, but would save them from the effects of their transgressions of the law. Those prophets liooked forward to the time of His coming in the flesh, and prophesied of the impact His mortal mission and ministry would have on the whole human race.
As the only one to be born of a mortal mother and an immortal father, His birth took place in a lowly stable, as he was cradled in a manger. From the very beginning of His life, some sought him to worship Him, while others, due to their misunderstanding of prophecies relating to His life and mission, sought to take away his life. All that we know about his childhood is summed up in a single sentence: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."
When he was 12 years of age, as His mortal parents headed home from Jerusalem after the commemoration of the Passover, Joseph and Mary realized He was missing, and when they looked for Him, they found Him in the temple speaking with learned men who were hearing Him, asking Him questions, ad were amazed at his wisdom and understanding of holy writ. Jesus said to Joseph and Mary, "Wist [know] ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"
At the age of around 30 or so, Jesus began His formal ministry, calling disciples and working miracles, including turning water into wine, healing the sick, raising the dead, and teaching the doctrine of His Father to all who would hear Him. When He spoke to His disciples about His atonement, death, and resurrection, few uinderstood what He said.
The persecution against Him continued. The time came for Him to take the burden of our sins, transgressions, pains, sicknesses, and sorrows. The level of intensity associated with His atonement caused Him to bleed from every pore. As He thus suffered, His three chief disciples, Peter, James and John, fell asleep. He asked: "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" He said to His Father: "If thou be willing, let this cup pass from me. Not my will, but thine be done." Returning to Peter, James and John, He told themL "Sleep on now, and take your rest", knowing that there would be no rest for Him.
One of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, approached Him, and having made arrangements with governmental leaders to do so, kissed Him as a way of pointing out who He was. Jesus said to him: "Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" As the Roman soldiers stepped forward to apprenehend Him, Peeter cut off the ear of Malchus, the servant of Caiaphas, who was one of two High Priests of Jesus' day before whom He would be brought (the other being Annas). In an act of compassion, the Savior instructed Peter to let the process play out, and healed the ear of Malchus. He would also be brought before Pontius Pilate twice.
In the midst of this course of events, many of His disciples fled. One who remained was Peter. Being confronted by 3 individuals at 3 separate times, Peter thrice denied knowing the Savior. Upon the third denial, the cock crowed, fulfilling a prophecy of the Savior that Peter would thrice deny knowing Him. As a result, Peter went out and wept bitterly.
Upon the second time Jesus was brought before Pilate, the prefect of Judea, Pilate said to an obsersving crowd: "I find no fault in this man." In accordance with tradition, Pilate presented the people with a choice: they could either release Jesus or Barabbas. The people chose Barabbas, and clamored in relation to Jesus: "Crucify him!" Pilate washed his hands before the people in an attempt to absolve himself of responsibility for what happened. But in allowing that to occur, Pontius Pilate had ignored a dream his wife said she had, as a result of which she had urged him not to take action on such matters.
Jesus was then sourged (a process that involved being whipped with strands to which shards of glass, rock, and other sharply-pointed objects were threaded). Roman soldiers cast lots for His clothes, and He was given a crimson robe, while his head was crowned with plaited thorns. Forced to carry his own cross, when He stumbled under the weight thereof, a man from the crowd was selected to carry it for Him. Upon reaching Calvary's hill, He was nailed to that corss. He was lifted up thereon, being placed between two thieves. A marker above His corss identified Him as "the king of the Jews".
As He hung in agony from that cross, in order to fulfill the full measure of His Son's divinely-appointed mission, our Father temporarily withdrew the comfort of His presence. Faced with that challenge, the Savior said: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" When He understood that He had accomplished all that needed to be done, He said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my Spirit. It is finished." Having said this, He died.
His mortal remains were then entombed, while His spirit ascended to His Father. As modern scripture informs us, He spent the 3 days of that mortal entombment spiritualy miinistering to the souls of the dead. He was then resurrected, and those who sought to know where He was were informed: "He is not here, for He is risen." Following His resurrection, after He ministered to His disciples in Jeusalem, He appeared to His Nephite followers in the new world, and subsequently to members of the lost ten tribes of Israel (the account of which ministry is yet to be revealed as part of this dispensation).
After again ascending to His Father, the two Heavenly Beings appeared to the prophet Joseph Smith in the spring of 1820 to open the last dispensation, which has since become known as "the dispensation of the fulness of times." That appearance ended a multi-century period of aposatacy which took hold worldwide. In this dispensation, we have been reminded that Jesus Christ still stands at the head of His Church, and has entrusted the keys thereof to His special witnesses in whom is vested the power and authority of the apostleship.
Throughout this dispensation, those so called to the office and authority of the apostleship have born a united and unified testimony of His life, ministry, and mission. The Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon testified: "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!
"For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—
"That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God."
And two additional testimonies of the Savior, given by two of His apostles in this dispensation, have always had a [owerful impact on me: Elder Bruce R. McConkie's final apostolic testimony, entitled "The Purifying Power of Gethsemane", and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's Easter 2009 testimony, "None Were with Him". Both of those addresses are well worthy of your review.
In the meantime, in addition to testifying of His life, ministry, and mission, apostles of this dispensation have been clear that He will come again, and will reign on the earth for 1,000 years. They have also counseled all of us repeatedly to prepare ourselves for that great day. My patriarchal blessing acknowledges that we are currently in the Saturday evening of time (which puts us at sometime between 5 PM and 9 PM), and it is my hope and prayer that we will be ready when Sunday arrives.
We are blessed each year to have the opportunity to pause and rflect on the life, mission, and ministry of our Savior. The hope given to each of us by and through the atonement, death, and resurrection of the Savior provides reassurance that we will all overcome death, and that all who believe in Him and follow His counsel will also be redeemed from the impact of spiritual death. Because of Him, we have hope for peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come. His is the invitation: "I stand at the door and knock. If any man shall hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with me."
While He wants very much to be part of our lives, He never forces His presence on anyone. All of us have the daily choice as to whether or not we will open the door to Him. It is my hope and prayer that, on this Easter Sunday and always, as we remember His great atoning sacrifice, and acknowledge that He died that we might live, we may take this opportunity to open that door, and let Him and the divine influence and serenity His presence provides into our lives. As we do so, may we also mold our behavior, actions, thoughts, words, and deeds to enable His influenece to shape us into what He needs us to be. If we can do so, we will be all the better for it. That this may be our blessing and privilege of this day and always is my humble prayer as I close this Easter message in the name of Him whom we celebrate each Easter Sunday, even Jesus Christ, Amen.
