What a wonderful weekend it has been. Not long ago we finished listening to the last session of the 179th General Conference for our church. It was so special, and many of the talks touched my heart. One imparticular was by Elder Holland and it was such a touching tribute to our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ.
Easter is my favorite holiday. I found a book several years ago that has been a HUGE influence on the way we spend Easter. It is called A Christ-Center Easter By. Janet and Joe Hales. Click on the picture for a link. It is subtitled: Day-By-Day Activities to Celebrate Easter Week. Easter Activities for Latter-Day Saint Families. We have incorporated many of these ideas into our Easter Holiday and it is soooo amazing! My love of the Savior and an appreciation of his life and sacrifice have been deepened thanks to these activities and I pray that they will do the same for my children as we repeat these activities each year.
I feel it very appropriate to share at the beginning of this Easter week, Elder Hollands talk. I will not print the whole thing in it's entirety however it is so touching that I will print most of it. So be sure and read the whole thing when they have it posted at lds.org. Please enjoy:
We know the divine plan required Jesus to be Crucified, but it is wrenching to think that one of his special witnesses, who sat at his feet, who heard him pray, and watched him heal, and felt his touch, could betray Him and all that He was, for thirty pieces of silver. Never in this world has so little money purchased so much infamy. We are not to judge Judas' fate, but Jesus said of his betrayer, 'good were it for this man, if he had not been born.'
Of course, others among the believers had their difficult moments as well. Following the Last Supper, Jesus left Peter, James, and John to wait while He ventured into the Garden of Gethsemane alone. Falling on his face in prayer, sorrowful unto death, the record says, 'His sweat came as great drops of blood,' as He pled with the Father, to let this crushing, brutal, cup pass; but of course it could not pass. Returning from such anguished prayer, He found His three chief disciples asleep; prompting Him to ask, 'could ye not watch with me one hour?' So it happens two more times, until on his third return he says compassionately: 'Sleep on now, and take your rest' though there would be no rest for Him. Moments later after Jesus' arrest and appearance at trial Peter, accused of knowing Jesus and being one of His confidants, denies that accusation, not once, but three times. We don't know all that was going on here, nor do we know of protective counsel which the Savior Himself may have given to his apostles privately, but we do know Jesus was aware that even these precious ones would not stand with him in the end and he had warned Peter accordingly. Then with the crowing of the cock, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord and he went out and wepted bitterly. Thus, the supporting circle around Jesus gets smaller, and smaller, and smaller, giving signifigance to Matthews short verse, 'all the disciples left and fled.' Peter stayed near enough to be recognized and confronted. John stood at the foot of the cross with Jesus' mother. Especially and always the blessed women in Saviors life stayed as close as they could but essentially his lonely journey back to his father continued without comfort or companionship.
Now I speak very carefully even reverently of what may have been the most difficult moment in all of this solitary journey to Atonement. I speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically, but which he may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually. That concluding desent into the paralyzing despair of Divine withdrawal when he cries 'My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?' The loss of mortal support he had anticipated, but surely he had not, apparently, comprehended this. Had He not said to his Disciples: 'Behold, the hour is now come that you shall be scattered, every man to his own and leave me alone. And yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. The Father hath not left me alone. For I do always those things that please Him.' With all the conviction of my soul, I testify that He did please His father perfectly, and that a perfect father did not forsake his son in that hour. Indeed it is my personal belief that in all of Christs' mortal ministry the father may never have been closer to his son than in these agonizing final moments of suffering. Never-the-less, that the supreme sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus, the comfort of His spirit, the support of his personal presence. It was required, indeed it was central, to the significance that this perfect Son, who had never spoken ill, nor done wrong, nor touched an unclean thing; He had to know how the rest of human kind would feel, us, the rest of us, 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. But Jesus held on! He pressed on! The goodness in Him allowed Faith to triumph, even in a state of complete anguish. The trust that He lived by told Him inspite of his feelings, that Divine compassion is never absent. That God is always faithful, that He never flees, nor fails us. When the uttermost farthing had then been paid, when Christs determination to be faithful was as obvious, as it was utterly invincible, then finally and mercifully it was finished. Against all odds and with none to help or up hold him, Jesus of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God restored physical life, where death had held sway. And brought joyful, spiritual, redemption out of sin, and hellish darkness, and despair. With Faith in the God He knew was there, He could say in triumph 'Father into thy hands, I commend my spirit. Brothers and Sisters one of the great consolations of this great Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long lonely path utterly alone we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company to us for our little version of that path, the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, Prophets and Apostles, teachers, leaders, friends, all of these and more have been given us as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone or unaided even if we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said 'I will not leave you comfortless. My father and I will come to you and abide with you.' My other plea brothers and sisters at Easter time is that these scenes of Christs lonely sacrifice laced with moments of denial, and abandonment, and at least once out right betrayal, must never be reenacted by us! He has walked alone once. Now may I ask that never again will He have to confront sin without aid and assistance. That He never again will be found unresponsive or see unresponsive on-lookers. In our present day as we approach this holy week.....may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not in the word only, and not in the flush of comfortable times, but in deed, and in courage, and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear. This Easter week and always may we stand by Jesus Christ at all times and in all things, and in all places that we may be in, even until death, for surely that is how he stood by us, when it was unto death and when he had to stand entirely and utterly alone.
Happy Easter all of you!!
