As I do most years, I celebrate more than just Easter day; I
celebrate the Easter season, and particularly Holy Week, from Palm Sunday
through Resurrection Sunday.
Celebration can take a lot of forms, as it does for other
holidays (holy days) as well. For me, that involves home decorations, food,
family traditions, music, study, and anything that helps me focus on the reason
for the celebration. Easter is particularly rich in meaning, so it’s full of
opportunities.
At Christmas I’ve been filling my decorations with nativity
scenes my entire adult life, so I have a pretty sizable collection of small ornaments
and table decorations. For Easter there are beginning to be decoration items
related to the actual meaning of Easter, little scenes, maybe with moving
parts, to tell the story. But I haven’t acquired any yet. I have a couple of
small art pieces, and I painted one last year, of the moment of resurrection.
This year I have plans to do one of the empty tomb. It’s still in planning
stages, but I’m hoping to get time this weekend to make it a reality.
Music celebration is something I fully embrace. This year on
actual Easter Sunday, the twice-a-year Worldwide General Conference of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be taking place (it’s always
the first Saturday and Sunday of April and October). So we’ll be listening to
the Tabernacle Choir and hearing messages from general church leaders,
including our prophet and apostles, as well as a few others. So music locally was
done this year on Palm Sunday. Our ward (congregation) did a very nice program,
mostly music, for our sacrament meeting (worship service) this past Sunday. I
was assigned the organ that day, and I play for the choir and the Primary
(children 3-11). And I sang a solo, accompanied on organ.
I did that solo again in the evening for our stake concert
(a stake is a geographically combined group of congregations, like a diocese;
ours has eight wards). I also sang in the choir.
The piece I sang was “He Was Despised,” an alto aria from
Handel’s Messiah, not one of the more well known ones, but one I really
like to sing. Handel knows how to write for the different voice parts, and all
of the alto solos are a good fit for my voice; they feel good to sing. This one
is mournful. It uses the words from Isaiah 53: “He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” written some 700 years before
they happened.
I am the most beginning of beginners at watercolor painting.
But I wanted a way to celebrate Easter. And, as I mentioned last week, I was
intrigued by the calculation of the moment of resurrection, based on the Shroud
of Turin, that the moment “took 34,000 trillion watts of energy emanating from
the body in a flash of one 140th of a billionth of a second to produce that
image.” It had to be a huge amount of energy, but a short enough time that it
didn’t burn the Shroud and everything else.
So I imagined that brief flash, possibly too brief to have
been perceived by human eyes, had there been any to see it. But you can do such
things in imagination.
"The Moment of Resurrection" by Linda Nuttall, April 2025
I would like to have produced something better; I won’t
mention the flaws, but I do see many. But as a way of celebrating
Easter, I’m somewhat pleased with how it turned out.
I imagined it with the stone already rolled away by the
angels—so they are perhaps inside to witness. There wouldn’t have been a lot of
room, but I didn’t feel capable of painting them on the outside looking in.
Also, the arched doorway is not likely how it looked. The
opening would likely have been much smaller, and possibly squarish. But we have
a Church symbol, using the arched doorway with the Christus statue, by
Thorvaldsen, representing the risen Savior emerging from the tomb. The arch
shape does match the gate into Jerusalem that the returning Lord will enter through.
So, anyway, I took that artistic license.
I also added the olive tree at the edge of the
scene. I don’t know how close the tomb is to the Mount of Olives, where
Gethsemane was, the place of the olive press, a symbolic representation of
Jesus’s suffering. But it seemed like something worth having in the scene.
The area isn’t typically verdant, but a photo I saw of the
garden tomb had some flowers in the foreground. And Mary Magdalene, who first
saw the risen Lord, mistook Him for the gardener before He called her by name, so I thought there ought to
be some garden flowers there.
Since I wrote last week about the Shroud of Turin, and the
strong possibility that it was evidence of the death and resurrection of
Christ, I found additional sources.
There’s a conversation Pastor Jeremiah Johnston has with Michael Knowles, where he goes through many of the same evidences he had with Glenn Beck, but he
also has with him the head covering. This answered a question I had: why was
the image on the Shroud but not on the head covering? He explained that they
would have covered His head while taking his dead body down from the cross, and
they would have laid him down, and then removed the head covering to wrap the
body, and then would place the head covering over the top. The head covering, by
the way, has had a known provenance since the beginning. The head covering,
interestingly, has stains that coincide with markings on the Shroud, so that
the two items verify each other.
There are others also talking about the Shroud and its authenticity.
The Happy Lady compiled a 37-minute video of short clips of people talking about the Shroud,
and about the reality of the resurrection of our Savior. In the middle (maybe
20 minutes in, if I remember right), she shows the AI generated image based
on the Shroud of Turin, which AI has animated. It’s startling how lifelike
it is. She also has clips of a woman, raised Jewish, who had a near death
experience as a teen when she was thrown from a horse. She could describe Jesus
and how He looked. Artists had attempted to depict Him based on her detailed
description, but she said they were never quite right. And then, when she eventually
saw that AI image based on the Shroud, she was stunned at how closely it resembled
the Jesus she had met.
I don’t base my testimony of Christ’s atonement and
resurrection on a piece of cloth, or even on others’ testimonies. I have the
whisperings of the Spirit telling me these truths. But I love seeing the
possible evidences, and pray that interest in such things might bring someone
close enough to encounter the real Jesus Christ in their lives.
He lives! That moment of resurrection changed everything for
all mankind for all eternity.
We’re just about to begin Holy Week, which culminates in celebrating
the greatest event in human history. Christmas would not celebrate an important
birth had not the resurrection also happened some thirty-three years later.
While we go through this life depending on faith more than
knowledge, there are some things that are evidence for our faith. And we can
use those things to strengthen our faith, but they don’t replace it.
Dr. Jeremiah J. Johnston talks with Glenn Beck about the Shroud of Turin, with a replica displayed behind them. Screenshot from here.
A couple of months ago, Glenn Beck interviewed Pastor
Jeremiah Johnston, an evangelical pastor who has specialized in the study of
Christ’s death and resurrection (BlazeTV version here, YouTube version here). He tells that, when he defended his
dissertation at Oxford, his supervisor, a good person and scriptural expert,
was going to give him full marks, but hesitated and asked, “Do you actually
believe the resurrection of Jesus happened?” Johnston answered that, yes,
going by the evidence, the most likely explanation was that it really happened.
And this brilliant scriptural scholar says, “I don’t see it that way.”
The hesitancy to believe—among pastors and biblical experts—is
something I’ve been aware of for some years. Only about half of pastors believe
in the literal resurrection of Christ, our Lord and Savior. I don’t know what they hang their faith on, if not that. It must take some
mental gymnastics to preach of Christ, but only as a historical figure worth
admiring for his teachings.
Evidence doesn’t seem to convince some people. And the
people it would likely convince probably already have faith. But that is not
always true. Sometimes the evidence opens an unbelieving mind up to think, “What
are the ramifications for my life if this is true?” And whatever brings people
closer to Christ is for the good.
Johnston’s purpose on Glenn Beck’s program was to provide
evidence for the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. Until the last few years,
I hadn’t thought much about this. Catholic relics may or may not be interesting
museum pieces, but I wouldn’t see them as necessary for faith. And many are
inventions, albeit old ones by now. As Glenn says, you could make a forest of
the supposed authentic crosses of Jesus.
Back in the 1980s, the Shroud was carbon dated as a forgery
made around 1200 AD. That is pretty damning evidence. But it turns out the
sample piece used for that carbon dating was taken from a repair patch. The Shroud
has survived at least three fires, and has singe marks to prove it. There are
multiple places where new fabric was woven in to make repairs.
More recent sampling—avoiding the repairs—has been
different. Now there are newer techniques and technologies for dating. They
used a something called WAXS—wide-angle x-ray scattering—comparing the
Shroud of Turin to a shroud from Masada, both showing decay approximating 2000
years.
Experts in some 60 scientific and scholarly disciplines have
studied the Shroud. There was careful examination of the pollen found on the Shroud.
One would expect, since it has traveled quite a bit, that it would have pollen
and other microscopic bits showing its European locations. But it turns out
most of the pollen actually shows plants from the Israel area, and not just any
plants from there, but plants that bloom and have pollen in the spring—at the
time of Passover, which is when Christ’s death and resurrection took place.
Another remarkable thing is that the image on the Shroud is
a negative, as in a photographic negative. If it were a forgery, it was made as
a negative centuries before the invention of photography and any understanding
of photo negatives. In other words, if it were forged, it was done in a way
that neither the forger nor anyone seeing it would understand what they were seeing.
Also, there is no evidence of paint, oxidation, or added pigmentation. The
image isn’t stained through. A linen thread has between 70 and 150 fibers; the
image penetrates only about 3 fibers, although I believe blood stains penetrate through.
I don’t know for certain that the Shroud of Turin is
authentic. But when I listen to Pastor Johnston and others who have studied
it, my mind is certainly open to the possibility that it is.
If it is authentic, there are some things we can know about the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The image on the Shroud is of a bearded
man of Semitic features. His shoulders were dislocated, which Johnston explains would have been the result of the weight of the body on the
outstretched arms.
The image on the Shroud has 30 to 50 puncture wounds on the
head, as could have been caused by a crown of Bethlehem thorns. Johnston demonstrates
that the crown was more of a helmet than a wreath, as often depicted. The
thorns are long and sharp. Even a single poke would cause significant pain.
Crown of thorns replica made with Bethlehem thorns; 9-inch nail replica in the background. Screenshot from here.
The crown of thorns was not a usual practice of crucifixion;
there is only record of this one instance. It was an added misery, mocking our Savior
as “King of the Jews,” which the Romans posted on a sign above him. You might
recall, the Jews who called for His crucifixion protested that it should say He
called himself King of the Jews, implying that He wasn’t really. But the Romans
didn’t acquiesce to that wish; they left the mocking label that identified him
accurately.
There was a lot of blood on the Shroud. It was identified as
human blood, type AB, which is rare; we know it as universal receiver blood. It’s
possible to differentiate between blood spilled while alive and post-mortem
blood. There was blood related to the scourging; this torture was so severe
that many crucifixion victims did not survive it to be hung. They’ve counted
over 372 wounds from the scourging—where two Romans used flagrums, causing six wounds
per strike. The count does not include the sides of the man, because the image
is two-dimensional.
Glenn Beck holds a replica of a Roman flagrum, used for scourging. Screenshot from here.
There’s blood where the nails were placed. These were 9-inch
nails, and the Romans knew how to place them for maximum pain; in the hands only
would not have held the weight of the body, so they placed nails in the wrist,
where nerve endings would cause even more pain. The feet, or ankles, are nailed
together with one nail. Excruciating doesn’t begin to describe the pain our
Savior went through on the cross—only shortly after his ordeal in Gethsemane,
which caused sweat like blood from every pore, beyond the endurance of a normal
mortal.
So, blood from those sources was shed during life. But there’s
blood near a wound in the side, where the Romans used a short sword, or lance,
to ensure his death (rather than breaking leg bones, as was typical, but that
would happen to go against prophecy—not that the Romans knew this). This blood,
mixed with water, was post-mortem blood. And, while Pastor Johnston didn’t
mention this, I’ve understood that the water mixed with blood coming from that
piercing of the side, up and into his heart, showed that His heart had burst.
Jesus literally died of a broken heart.
Glenn Beck holds a replica of a spear or lance used to wound Jesus in the side, penetrating up into His heart, to ensure death. Screenshot from here.
The image shows a man with bent knees. That would have been
his position when rigor mortis set it, which lasts about 40 hours. Dr. Johnston estimates that Jesus would have been dead for 39 hours, rising just before
rigor mortis ended and decay set in.
One of the fascinating things the Shroud may be telling us
is of the flash moment the resurrection happened and the image was created.
Pastor Johnston says,
Another scientist, another school has given five years to
study this, just the amount of electromagnetic energy or even radiation it
would take to produce an image on a shroud like this. But the fascinating thing
is the timing, because, when they sample it, it takes a lot of time to get the
image on the shroud, but then the shroud would burn up almost instantaneously.
So we know the image of the Shroud, based on five years of
study on light—and again, you can read all this; it's fascinating—we know that
it happened in one 140th of a billionth of a second, and it took 34,000
trillion watts of energy emanating from the body in a flash of one 140th of a
billionth of a second to produce that image. So in other words, God took the
first selfie.
I don’t know how they figured out how to measure those
things. But, wow! I’m picturing the tomb, with that flash of light emanating
from it. I don’t know whether the angels who rolled the stone away were there
before or after that moment. I’m picturing them rolling the stone away first, so
they could have entered and witnessed the moment. So I’m picturing a bright
flash coming from inside, through an open doorway, rather than smaller streams
of light escaping around the not-quite-airtight stone. (I’m trying to think how
to paint this, although it would be better if a real artist gave it a try.)
The tomb, with the large stone to be rolled away, was not
the typical tomb. Usually such family tombs would be about a meter square with
indentations cut into the stone, like fingers, where multiple bodies could be
laid. The bodies would remain until decomposed, about a year, and then the bones
would be collected and placed in an ossuary. We saw this age-old process
practiced in a cemetery we toured in New Orleans a couple of years ago.
But this larger tomb would have been for a wealthy man—or a
king. It is believed to have been newly purchased by Joseph of Arimathea, for
himself and family. It had never been used. And the Shroud, measuring 14 feet 3
inches long by 3 feet 7 inches wide, would have been what Joseph of Arimathea
had prepared for his own eventual death.
The replica that Dr. Johnston displays in Glenn’s studio—an
exact photograph to scale—is about as close to examining the actual Shroud as
most of us will get. The Shroud is kept in Turin, Italy, and the Archbishop there, at
this point, has decided that in this coming jubilee year it will not be
displayed. There are new and improved ways to safeguard such an item while
making it viewable, but so far that is not being done.
As we said, the image is a photo negative. The positive
shows white hair—"like wool”—which we would assume is different from His
earthly hair color. I’m fascinated by the images that come from the Shroud. An
image, even a photo, doesn’t always give us a full idea of how someone looks.
But it’s something.
This is the actual image, turned into a positive, from the Shroud.
Image of the face on the Shroud, turned from negative to positive. Screenshot from here.
There’s an AI rendering—I’m not sure which of these, below.
The one on the left comes up in the video on BlazeTV, but the one on the right
is used in the same place in the video on YouTube, near the 10-minute mark. The conversation between
Glenn and Jeremiah is this:
GB: What is the most famous icon painting of his face that's,
like, split in half, right?
JJ: Yes, this is fascinating, because I actually have a dear
friend, Doug Powell, who's taken that icon in the image of the shroud, and he's
put it in Midjourney AI to produce what I think is the best, closest image of
the face of Jesus. And it is a Semitic man; it is a man from the land of
Israel.
AI-generated images based on the Shroud; left is from BlazeTV; right is from YouTube.
I don’t know either way. The left one feels more peaceful;
the right one looks a bit angry, although it could be pained expression or simply not
smiling. Jesus would definitely look like a man from Israel. Johnston mentions
iconography from coins and early depictions that look more like the image on
the Shroud than the weaker, less manly medieval depictions, and that seems true
to me.
The summary of all this is that the real Jesus of Nazareth
died by crucifixion, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and rose from the dead on the third day.
What evidence do we have that he rose and physically lived
again? Many testimonies in the scriptures. Mary Magdalene was first to see him.
Then there were the remaining eleven except Thomas, and then there were the
disciples again with Thomas. He ate fish and honeycomb with them, showing that He
was not just a spirit; He had a physical body. In the interim, there had been
the two men on the road to Emmaus.
And then there is the long period of time, up until
Pentecost (50 days after Passover, if I understand right) teaching and training
His disciples, setting up His Church, during which some 500 people witnessed
him.
In the Book of Mormon, He visited the people on this
continent sometime after the resurrection—and were told they were whom He had
referred to as His other sheep of another fold, and that there were others He
would visit as well. There are similar such stories from various places around
the world: northern America, Central America, Russia, Africa. In the Book of
Mormon, the record shows He had them come and see Him up close, and witness the
wounds in His hands and feet and side. He taught them. He blessed the children.
And He set up their church structure, as He had done with the apostles in
Jerusalem. I would think He did similar teaching and instruction with any other
scattered sheep He visited.
In 1820 He was seen by Joseph Smith, a 14-year-old boy in
upstate New York. And there are multiple times Joseph Smith and others
witnessed our Lord and Savior as a resurrected being. One notable visit was after
the Kirtland, Ohio, Temple dedication, April 3, 1836, after which there were also
visits from Moses, Elijah, and Elias, conferring their priesthood keys with
laying on of hands—meaning they had physical bodies as resurrected beings as
well. (There’s a good video covering both ancient and more modern encounters
with the risen Lord, here.)
There are many stories of people interacting with Him in
near death experiences. And in dreams. (I had such a dream once, although mine
was clearly only a dream, not a vision, for which I had to spend some time working
out the symbolic meaning, but I couldn’t describe His appearance afterward.) I have known of people in our day who testify with knowledge that He
lives and has a tangible body. It may be that there are more such experiences
than we know, but they are not spoken of because of their sacredness.
It seems much more likely to me that the resurrected Jesus
lives, and it’s all real, than that thousands of accounts, both historical and
more recent, are all a lie. That is logic and reasoning. But beyond that, there
is the Spirit speaking to me, telling me that He lives, and He went through
what He did because He loves me—and loves all of our brothers and sisters who
have lived or will live on this earth.
And if this is all true, then what I need to do is try to
live like Him—not the going through crucifixion, but the obedience to the laws
of Heaven, the living a life of integrity, love, truth, and mercy—so that when
we see Him in the flesh, we shall be like Him. Compared to what He went through
for us, His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.
I have for some years celebrated Easter by concentrating on the
scripture stories of Holy Week, and the art and music—some of the most glorious
music ever written (see here, here, here, and here, for example). I celebrate Easter
with eggs and bunnies and chocolates too, because those things are available,
and fun, and remind us that spring is a time for rebirth, which we celebrate as
symbolic evidence of the resurrection.
This year I hope my testimony here today may help someone
celebrate Easter with more recognition of the grandeur of the most
glorious day ever to have happened—until He comes to live among us again for the prophesied
thousand years.
Please enjoy this video I found touching: "Greater Love."
We can refer to this entire week as Holy Week, from Palm
Sunday to Resurrection Sunday, or Easter. There are some specific things that
happen on each of the days—at least as far as we know or can derive from
scripture, some significant memorable events. But there are better places than
here to get all the details. (I really enjoyed this video, and this one also. There are
also a number of videos of the life of Jesus produced by The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints; some are used within the first video, and I have used screenshots from several of those as well.) I’ll
just cover a few things that stand out to me.
There’s a practice surrounding Passover, where
the unblemished sacrificial lamb is chosen, and kept with the family for
several days, to make sure it is indeed unblemished.
the family selects a sacrificial lamb, and cares for it for four days, before making the sacrifice for Passover, screenshot from here
This is symbolic of the Savior, the Lamb of God, who was
sacrificed for us. It was always about Him, even when it was a practice to honor
the time when the Destroying Angel passed over (thus Passover) the
children of Israel. A lamb’s blood was brushed on the door posts to identify
the homes of the Lord’s people. And this last plague, the loss of the
Firstborn, was the one that finally got the children of Israel out of Egypt.
To those of us with eyes to see, so much of the Old
Testament testifies of the Savior. And I believe the people then knew that
these things testified of their coming Messiah.
The lamb was chosen and then kept by the family for about four
days. This would have coincided with Jesus’s entrance into the city on Palm
Sunday. The gospels differ on the timeline, but if John’s version is accurate,
Jesus would have been examined by the high priest at the same time the
sacrificial lambs were being examined for their purity. And, again, on that
timeline, Jesus would have died on the cross at the very hour the sacrificial
lambs were being killed. It was required that they be killed without breaking
any bones; Jesus, unlike the other two prisoners crucified that day, had no
bones broken.
houses were cleared out of leaven ahead of the Passover celebration, screenshot from here
Also as part of the Passover
celebration, houses were cleaned out, and all leavening was removed, which was
considered corrupting; the unleavened bread also indicated the haste with which
the children of Israel had to leave. But, about that household cleansing: what
happens after Jesus’s entrance into the city? He goes to the temple, His Father’s
house, and cleans it from the corruption of those doing business there.
Jesus drives the moneychangers from the temple, screenshot from here
During this Holy Week, the Lord holds a supper in an upper
room (a Passover meal according to all the gospels except John), with his
chosen twelve. He uses the meal to create with them a covenant—they eat and
drink in remembrance of Him, and they will always have His Spirit to be with
them.
Later that night, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the sacrifice
begins. And then He is apprehended, and examined—as the sacrificial lamb is. The
next day He is killed, on the cross, in the most cruel of execution methods.
What we call Good Friday is the day He was killed and taken
down from the cross—before sundown, which marked the beginning of the Sabbath.
He was laid in a borrowed tomb. Guards were set there, to
make sure no one could take His body and claim He had risen—although even His
close disciples, whom He had told about the coming death and resurrection,
failed to understand what was about to happen.
Early that Sunday morning, the women went to the tomb,
bringing spices, as preservatives for the body. This would have been their
first opportunity, since He was laid there just prior to the Sabbath, and it
was dark again by the time the Sabbath ended. They found the stone rolled away
and the guards missing. And two angels are there, telling them the Savior is risen
(Matthew 28:1-10).
angels tell the women that Jesus is not in the tomb, screenshot from here
They ran to tell the apostles (nice short video here), some of whom thought this must be the idle tales
of women. But Peter and John both ran straightaway. They found the tomb empty,
and angels told them He had risen (John 20: 1-10). We don’t know how they
thought through this news. But we know Mary waited outside the tomb, and when
she saw a person she thought was the gardener, she asked where he might have
taken her Lord.
Mary waits outside the empty tomb, screenshot from here
And He said, “Mary,” calling her by name. And she realized
it was her beloved Lord and Savior (Mark 16:9; John 20:10-18).
This is the first of many encounters His disciples had with
Him. He meets with the remaining apostles in their room later (Mark 16:14; John
20:14)—all the remaining except Thomas, who then says he’ll need to see Him
with his own eyes. Which happens later (John 20:24-29). He eats with them. He
has them verify the wounds in His hands and feet, and in His side, where the
spear pierced Him to verify His death.
He meets with a couple of the disciples on the road to Emmaus,
talking with them for some time without revealing His identity until they are
about to part (Mark 16:12; Luke 24:13-35).
two travelers on the road to Emmaus meet Jesus, and talk with him, not recognizing him until He leaves them, screenshot from here
He meets His disciples on the sea shore, again telling them
to cast their nets on the other side of the boat—as He had done in the miracle
of the fish when He first called them to follow Him (John 21:2-14). Peter then
recognizes Him and jumps in to swim to Him. Jesus has prepared a fire and a meal
for them. And He goes through the questioning of Peter, three times, “Do you
love me,” to which Peter declares that he does. And the Savior tells Him, “Feed
my lambs,” and "Feed my sheep." Peter is to continue the ministry.
Peter and several of the apostles return to fishing, screenshot from here
Jesus asks Peter to "Feed my lambs," screenshot from here
There is a period of time when He meets with a rather large
congregation of followers, 500, and teaches them for some time. And when He
leaves, two angels are there, asking why they are staring up into heaven, and
foretelling that, when He returns, for His triumphal reign, He will descend in
a similar manner to how they saw Him ascend into heaven.
He was more than a Spirit. He had a body (Luke 24:39). He
asked Mary not to hold Him, because He was yet to ascend to His Father (John
20:14-17); but He had a body to hold. And He had people touch Him (Luke
24:39-40; John 20:25-29).
He ate fish and honey with the disciples (Luke 24:42-43).
Trying to figure the numbers of witnesses from that time,
there was Mary Magdalene, Peter, the ten plus others with them (not Thomas), the
eleven plus others when Thomas was there, Cleopas and another on the road to
Emmaus, seven who were fishing, apostles on a mountain in Galilee, apostles on
the Mount of Olives, 500 believers (I Corinthians 15:6), Stephen at the time of
being stoned to death, Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-6).
That’s a lot of witnesses. (There’s a good collection of
these witnesses’ accounts, and their scripture references, here.)
It seems impossible that so many separate witnesses could be deceived. It seems extremely unlikely that so many followers of Jesus would lie. No explanation other than His resurrection explains all
those witnesses.
And we can pray and ask, and the Holy Spirit will testify the truth to us directly.
He lives. He is the firstfruits of them that slept (1 Corinthians
15:20). As with so many things related to His life, death, and resurrection, He
was raised on the day that was celebrated as the firstfruits offering of the
barley. All things testify of Him.
the firstfruits offering of barley was threshed and ground, and mixed with oil and frankincense, screenshot from here
We celebrate His resurrection again this year, as His
followers have done since around 33 AD. Even the way we count years denotes His
reality.
If this most important of all stories is true, then our
lives have meaning: we are here for a purpose, and we will continue to live
with purpose after we die.
And we are in the foretold times, the last days, when we
prepare for His coming again, this time to rule and reign as King of Kings. A
being powerful enough to conquer death—yet loving enough to sacrifice Himself
for our sakes—this being is worthy of our love and devotion. And it is by
choosing to be on His side in the battle against evil that makes His imminent
return a Great rather than Dreadful Day for us.
For some things there are no words. That’s why we need music
and art.
This Sunday we celebrate the most wonderful and amazing—beyond
words—event in the history of creation: Christ Completing the Atonement by Rising
from the Dead.
I’ll celebrate today with just a few words to tie the artwork
to the events. The artists, I find, as I do this collection, both happen to be
from my religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Walter Rane and Ken Turner (Ken is a personal friend here in Texas; I have highlighted him for his 9/11 piece "Out of the Ashes").
Palm Sunday—the Sunday before the resurrection—our Lord and
Savior entered Jerusalem according to prophesy.
The painting is called “Triumphal Entry” by Walter Rane.
The crowds were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. That
is what Jesus was celebrating during the Last Supper later that week. According to
custom the diners sat on the floor at a low table. It was during the meal that
Jesus blessed and gave them the bread and wine as a covenant for them to
remember Him and keep His commandments.
This painting is Walter Rane’s
“In Remembrance of Me.”
At the end of the meal, when “they had sung an hymn”
(Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26), they went out onto the Mt. of Olives. According to the New Testament Student Manual on our Church website, the hymn they sang
was probably the traditional Jewish recitation from Psalms
113-18, 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.
The painting is Ken Turner’s “They Had Sung an Hymn.”
Ken Turner's "They Had Sung an Hymn" found on his Facebook page a year ago, no current link
What happened in the garden of Gethsemane is significant
beyond our understanding. It was here that Jesus suffered beyond what normal
mortals can suffer, so intense that He bled from every pore.
There’s a song our young children sing about this part of
the story, called “Gethsemane.” I first heard it in a recording by Claire Crosby—actually
it was the first video I saw of her as well; I think she was three.
This painting is another Ken Turner, “Gethsemane.”
Peter was the apostle we often think of as impulsive. He
drew a sword and cut off the ear of one of the soldiers. Jesus immediately
healed the ear. One would think that would indicate to any soldier or observer
or accuser that He was who He said He was.
This painting of the healing, and the instruction to Peter
not to stop what needed to happen, is Walter Rane’s “Suffer Ye Thus Far.”
Then came the illegal trials, the scourging, and the crucifixion,
until Jesus could say, “It is finished.” He was the sacrificial lamb, without blemish.
The sacrificial lambs had just been selected for Passover, and then the
Sacrificial Lamb that they symbolized began His ordeal. The lamb image is a
screenshot of a video related to our Sunday lesson a couple of weeks ago.
Jesus’s mother was one of the few staying at His feet during
the ordeal on the cross. They needed to take His body down and place it in the
tomb rather quickly, as the Sabbath approached. Imagining this moment is beyond
pain.
This is Walter Rane’s painting “Christ Taken from the Cross.”
Early Sunday morning the women went to the tomb to anoint the
body with oils. They did not find Him, but an angel told them He was risen. I
have heard people comment on the napkin that had been placed over His face. It
was folded neatly. Tradition was, if a person got up from a dinner table, for
example, and was not finished, he would fold the napkin neatly. It signified he
would return.
This painting by Walter Rane, “He Is Not Here,” is one of my favorites.
He
appeared to his apostles, and ate with them. He appeared to them again when
Thomas was with them. He appeared to some of them on the road to Emmaus.
He appeared to them again on the shores of Galilee. And He
spent weeks among them, teaching them, guiding them in how to spread the gospel—the
good news. That good news is that He overcame death for all, and He overcame
the separation from God for all who would accept His atonement and keep their
covenant to always remember Him and keep His commandments.
It is in keeping those commandments that our lives are
different. They are not restrictions from a full and happy life; they are the very
guidelines to a good life.
We are reminded, at Easter—and always—that it is not life,
but the tomb, that is empty. He came that we might have life, and have it more
abundantly (John 10:10).
I’ll add one more piece of music. This is Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah!”
redone with lyrics for the Easter story. I first discovered the words a year
ago. (I’ve been arranging the piece for two dulcimers.) But this rendition was
passed along to me several times this past week. I think it’s the prettiest one
I’ve heard: “An Easter Hallelujah—Cassandra Star & her sister
Callahan.”
He taught us how to love perfectly. And He promises to make
up the difference for our imperfections if we simply love Him and earnestly
strive to love one another as He loves us.
His love is beyond words. But it is not beyond what we can
feel.
It’s Easter Season. For Jews, that’s Passover week. For Christians,
the whole week leads up to the resurrection of Christ, Easter Sunday.
Meanwhile, the world is plagued.
We don’t like being plagued. But we try to find the good in
it. And there are some good things. A friend celebrating Passover suggested
that, if God wanted all the families of the earth to be at home together for
Passover, well, this is a way. For Easter, because we’re empty nesters, we will
miss gathering with our children and grandchildren. I don’t think we’ve had
that happen before. But for families with children, this Easter is likely to be
more memorable, more focused, than any other in their growing up years.
A lot less candy. A lot more family togetherness. A lot more
prayer.
This past weekend was our worldwide General Conference,
which we could tune into online, fortunately. For those of us far away from
Utah, that’s how we always do it. The odd thing was that, even in Utah everyone
had to do it by tuning in. The Tabernacle Choir still provided music—but all
was from previous recordings, since they can’t get together right now. The speakers
for each session (there are 5 sessions over two days) met in a room, spaced
from one another, instead of in the Conference Center with 25,000 of their
closest friends and neighbors.
During that conference, our President, Russell M. Nelson,
asked us to join together in a worldwide fast, this Friday, Good Friday, April
10. He asked us to pray for relief from the virus, protection for the
caregivers, relief for the economy, and a return to our normal lives. He asked
us to share this so it will be not just a fast for Latter-day Saints, but for
everyone.
That has been happening. Someone started a public Facebook
group, Worldwide Fast April 10, to share, and to encourage.
May people have shared their stories. So many have shared
their concerns that, because they haven’t been faithful for a long time, they
might not be worthy to join. They’re welcomed. What if they’re gay? They’re welcome.
What if they haven’t prayed in years? Join us in prayer. What if they’ve never
fasted before? Good time to give it a try.
So, a word about the pattern of fasting and prayer.
Walter Rane painting "Master, I Have Brought My Son Unto Thee" recounted in Mark 9
There’s a moment in Christ’s life, recounted in Mark 9, when
he had been healing people. His disciples came to him privately afterward,
asking why they had been unsuccessful in healing the young man Jesus had just
healed. He answered, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”
Sometimes a simple prayer is not enough for a more serious problem. Sometimes
you need to add fasting to prayer.
In our Church, we have a monthly fast day. The traditional
pattern is to eat dinner one evening, and then don’t eat or drink again until
dinner the following day, so 24 hours later. The money for the two missed meals
is given as an offering to the poor. (This fast offering is over and above
tithing.)
We usually do this on a Sunday, during which we go about our
regular Sunday practices. We don’t appear to fast—although grumbling stomachs
can be heard. And we often use this day to share our testimonies, our experiences
with Christ in our lives. We pray throughout, preferably with a particular
purpose that we pray for. We end the fast with a prayer. Then we eat.
That is the standard. But there can be variations. It can go
longer. Or shorter, depending on your abilities and strength. Small children
don’t typically fast. Older children might start by missing just one meal.
People who need to take medicine can drink water and do that. People who need
to take medicine with food might need to eat.
The going without food does something to help us recognize
our physical limitations and dependency on God. But people with health issues—nursing
mothers, diabetics, etc.—can work toward that focus in their prayers another
way. If they cannot, or should not, go without food and drink for a full 24
hours, they can sacrifice something else, or simply consecrate the day and
their prayers, and ask the Lord to accept their offering.
In other words, it’s about a lot more than getting really
hungry.
When we look at times in scriptures when there were plagues,
such as famines or pestilence, relief would come once the people turned back to
God.
I don’t think this means God inflicts his people with these
things. I think we live in a fallen world where these things are part of what
we face. But we can face and overcome the world when we are connected to God.
When we don’t connect to Him, He doesn’t reach out His protective hand indefinitely.
What can we expect from this special day of fasting and
prayer? We can expect a turning of our hearts to God, which is always a good
thing. And if we are sincere and united, I believe He will hear our prayers and
grant us relief.
I don’t know what that will look like. I do believe it will
mean something miraculous—something that those of us who join together in this
fast will recognize as miraculous. Those who do not pray with us might be able
to call it just science or nature, but those of us who prayed will know more.
I don’t know timing. I don’t know what things will look
like. But I do believe if we pray for those four things, we will look back at
this day in the not too distant future and see—this was when things began to
change. This was the turning point.
And possibly we will remember the way we felt, united
together in our turning to God. We will feel love toward one another. And that
will be a very good thing as we face whatever the next challenge to the world
might be. We might even feel closer together in this time of isolation than we have felt for a very long time.
Come and join us in this Worldwide Fast, April 10, 2020.
And then enjoy a beautiful Easter morning, celebrating The
One who overcame death, and overcame this fallen world.
%20shroud%20replica%20Johnstone.png)
%20crown%20of%20thorns%20and%20nail.png)
%20flagrum%20scourge.png)
%20spear%20lance.png)
%20shroud%20image%20positive.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
%20angels%20at%20the%20tomb.png)
%20Mary%20waits%20outside%20the%20tomb.png)
%20road%20to%20Emmaus.png)
%20fishing.png)
%20feed%20my%20lambs%202.png)
.png)
