Easter 2023

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EASTER-WHO SAID IT? HANDOUT

First, the activity. Now how this works is you’ll see that in the left-hand column we have a number of quotes from the last week of the Savior’s life. In the right-hand column you’ll see a list of people. Your job is to match the quote with the person who said it. And this could be more than just a quick handout activity. As you correct the answers, you could also talk briefly about the significance of each of these statements and what they may teach us.

So here are the answers.

1. Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest (Matthew 21:9)

The answer would be H, the people of Jerusalem. This was what the people shouted as Jesus entered the city riding on a donkey. This moment is often referred to as the Triumphal Entry. Back in Jesus’s day, conquering heroes and kings would often ride into the city on their war horses after a great victory. Interesting that Jesus comes in riding a donkey. Suggesting that he would be a different kind of conqueror. A different kind of hero. One that would come to triumph over sin and death but in a spirit of humility and meekness.

2. Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended (Matthew 26:33)

The answer is C. Peter. This is how Peter would respond to Christ when he revealed that all men would be offended of him. Peter objects to this notion and claims that he would NEVER be offended or deny. Jesus sadly prophesies then that Peter himself would deny him three times before the next morning. Now we know what is going to happen, don’t we. Jesus’s prophecy will be correct, and Peter will learn that he was not as strong as he thought he was. Perhaps this story from Peter’s life teaches us the importance of humility and trusting in the Lord.

3. My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt (Matthew 26:39)

The answer is A, Jesus Christ. Some of the most beautiful and important words ever spoken. In them we learn how difficult the pains of the atonement must have been for our Savior. He asks if there were any other possible way to accomplish what needed to be done. And we know the Father’s answer to that prayer. No, there was no other way. Yet, Jesus was willing to always do the will of his Father, regardless of how difficult or painful. He is THE ultimate example of obedience and humility. Hopefully we could respond in a similar way when we are asked to do something difficult—nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

4. I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him (John 19:4)

The answer is D. Pontius Pilate. The whole interchange between Christ, the Jews, and Pilate is so fascinating. We’ll do an entire lesson on this in the future. But this is Pilate’s final judgment on Jesus. I find no fault in this man! Though he didn’t realize it, truer words were never spoken. Jesus genuinely had no fault in him. And yet, because of Pilate’s willingness to please the people, to compromise with evil, he will allow the very Son of God to be crucified.

5. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom (Luke 23:42)

The answer is E. The thief crucified next to Jesus. One of my favorite things about the last hours of the Savior’s life are all the examples of Jesus Christ reaching out to comfort others. In the midst of his own pain and suffering, he was still focused on others. We’ll take a closer look at this when we get there, but I invite you to look for examples of this yourself. From the Last Supper to the Cross, look for all the times and ways that you see Jesus comforting others. These words spoken to the man crucified next to him is just one of many.

6. Truly this was the Son of God (Matthew 27:54)

The answer is B. A Roman Centurion says this after Jesus has died and the earth begins to quake. I’d love to know the story of the rest of that man’s life. Did he change? Was he converted? We don’t know for sure. But fascinating that one of the only people testifying of Jesus Christ’s divinity at the cross was a Roman soldier.

7. Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen (Luke 24:5-6)

The answer is G. The angels. When a group of believing women come to the tomb, they find the stone rolled away and two angels standing there. Their words are the great message of Easter. He is not here, but is risen. The tomb was empty. We know that our Redeemer lives.

8. Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away (John 20:15)

The answer is F. Mary Magdalene. That conversation between her and the resurrected Lord is one of my favorite stories to ponder during Easter. It’s full of such hope and tenderness. I’ll speak about that moment in more detail in just a minute.

And that covers all the answers for the handout activity.

Now for the rest of the video I’d like to share just two brief thoughts with you. One focused on the Atonement or Jesus Christ’s suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, and one focused on the Resurrection. Again, I hope you’re OK with the fact that I’m not going into great depth here, but we will be covering these ideas when we get to those chapters later this year.

THE BITTER CUP

ICEBREAKER

So first, Gethsemane. And if you studied the Doctrine and Covenants with me a few years ago, this thought will sound familiar. But this, to me, has become one of most profound things that has helped me to understand the nature of Jesus Christ’s suffering and sacrifice for us. Now, as a seminary teacher, I've heard a lot of different analogies and object lessons used over the years to try and help me to understand the nature of the atonement. Maybe you've heard some of them. The parable of the bicycle comes to mind, footprints in the sand, the push-ups and donuts story where the teacher has the young man do pushups for each person in the class, or the dream of the filing cabinets, where Christ comes in and signs his name on each of the cards that record the man's sins.

And as wonderful and as helpful as these analogies are, I still believe that the best object lesson for understanding the atonement is the one that Jesus Christ himself chose. He chose to compare his suffering to a specific object. See if you can find it in the following two places. Doctrine and Covenants 19:18 and Matthew 26:39.

And what is it? A cup. And more specifically from Doctrine and Covenants 19, a bitter cup. Experiencing the atonement was like drinking something very bitter. Well, what's something that you can drink that is bitter? Vinegar comes to mind. Imagine what it would be like to drink a large cup of vinegar. And when I teach this, at that point in the lesson I’ll actually pull out a cup and bottle of vinegar and I'll invite a student to come forward and just take a small sip of vinegar. Just a few drops to see how they react. And usually they'll twist up their faces and grimace and wince. I wouldn't have them drink it though, you don't want to make them sick, but it's not dangerous to take just a taste of it. And then I give them a candy bar and a drink of water for being willing to volunteer. But then I ask the class if they could imagine drinking a large cup of vinegar. What would that experience be like? Now go back into verse 18 to look for the Savior's reaction to drinking the bitter cup, right at the end of the verse. It says, he shrank. As soon as he brought that cup to his lips, he reacted much like each of us would probably react. We would shrink from it. We’d say, I don't want to drink this. It's too bitter. And what was it that the Savior prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane as he began to experience the pains of the bitter cup of the atonement?

Matthew 26:39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

So he wondered and asked if there were any other way to accomplish what needed to be accomplished without drinking the contents of that cup. And what apparently was God's answer to that prayer? No, son, I'm afraid there is no other way. You need to drink that cup. The salvation of all of my other children depends on you drinking that cup. And so we picture the Savior taking the cup back to his lips and beginning to drink and drinking deeply from the bitter cup. And he drinks that cup all the way from Gethsemane to the cross. And the description we get of the Savior's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane in the New Testament is always in the third person. But here in the Doctrine and Covenants, we get to hear it from him in the first person. He himself describes what his suffering was like. It's so personal and poignant that it's amazing that he even lets us read it.

What words and phrases does he use to describe that suffering in verse 18? He trembled because of pain. He bled at every pore. He suffered both body and spirit. This wasn’t just physical pain. But spiritual, mental, emotional. In another verse in the Doctrine and Covenants Jesus uses the phrases, “how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not. (Doctrine and Covenants 19:15) Isaiah refers to this cup in Isaiah 51:22 and gives the cup another name. Can you see it? There the cup is called the cup of trembling. And in our verse in Doctrine and Covenants 19 he says the cup caused him “to tremble because of pain.” You can just imagine what happen if you began to drink an entire cup of vinegar. You would begin to tremble and shake.

Now if you really want to understand exactly what was in that cup, go to Alma 7:11-13 to find the words used to describe exactly what bitterness it was that he was drinking. See if you can find the 8 different words that describe what he was feeling. And you have, pains, afflictions, temptations, sicknesses, death, infirmities, sins, and transgressions. And not only certain kinds of pains and afflictions and temptations, but pains and afflictions, and temptations “of every kind”. That would be physical, social, mental, and emotional pains and afflictions. I think we often focus on the fact that Jesus paid for our sins and transgressions, which he did, but sometimes we forget that he also felt all of our pains, sicknesses, and infirmities too.

So I want you to picture the object lesson in its entirety here. And I want you to make it personal. As we go throughout our lives, we’re filling up our own bitter cup with all those things from Alma 7. Our own cup of trembling. Filling it with all our pains, and afflictions, and temptations and sicknesses and infirmities, and sins and transgressions and death itself. And we look down at that cup and say, “Let this cup pass from me.” And Jesus approaches us and says, I will take out of thy hands this cup. And remember, in the Garden of Gethsemane, it’s not just our cup, but the cup of all of God’s children, that have ever lived, that do live, and that ever will live. And he brings that cup to his lips, and he takes a taste, and he shrinks at it. Oh, it’s so bitter! And he prays. “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”. And what follows is one of the most important and beautiful words in all of scripture. Nevertheless. I'm so grateful for that word. “Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” I'm stand in awe and am grateful that Jesus was willing to say, nevertheless. Even though it was bitter, even though it was hard to bear, even though it caused him to bleed from every pore, he was still willing to drink it, for you and me. And as he drinks that cup, he begins to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore. He partook of it, and drank all of it, right to the bottom, right to the dregs. And then, you may recall, of the seven things Jesus said while hanging on the cross, he made only one request for himself. He asked for something as he hung there. What was it? Find it in John 19:28. He said, "I thirst". He wanted a drink of water--a very common request of a dying man. And what did they give him? Vinegar. How fitting that the last taste on the Savior's lips before he died was bitterness. It's right after that that Jesus says, "It is finished, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit". And he dies. Jesus drank the bitter cup right to its last bitter drop.

My friends, this Easter Sunday I encourage you to remember that cup. And there is an ideal time to do that. Because every Sunday we do something in this Church that also involves a cup and drinking something. What is it? The sacrament. And that cup isn’t bitter, for us, is it. There’s a reason it’s not bitter. HE drank the bitter cup. And so I drink from this cup, that small, tiny little cup, in remembrance of he who drank the bitter cup—a cup that was as large and deep as eternity itself. I invite you to ponder that symbol this Easter Sunday as you take that cup to your lips.

THE GREATEST MIRACLE

One more thought here on the resurrection—the greatest miracle that Jesus ever performed. Before that point, we might say that the greatest miracle Jesus performed was to bring Lazarus back from the dead, after he had been dead for days. But, it’s one thing to raise somebody else from the dead, it’s completely another to bring yourself back from the dead. And for this I just want to focus on one small part of that story. That moment when Jesus reveals himself to the first person to see the resurrected Lord. That tender moment in John chapter 20 when Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb and discovers that Christ’s body is not there. And there she is weeping at the sepulcher. One, at the loss of her Master that she’s already experienced, and now another loss that’s almost more than she can bear. And can you picture that moment for a second? She’s alone, kneeling there in the Garden peering into the empty tomb. And in verse 14 it says that “she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus.” and that's probably because her eyes are filled with tears. She can’t see clearly. And she thinks it’s the gardener. And Jesus speaks and says, “Woman, why weepest thou.” As if to suggest, there’s no need to cry Mary. My story is one with a happy ending. But she doesn’t realize who it is yet. And so she says, “Sir, if thou have borne him hence tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away.” Jesus then says, “Mary” and oh, I wish I could get the tone of that right. I never think I do. It must have been said with such tenderness and love and familiarity that she could immediately recognize that it was him. And what a moment that would have been for her to turn around and see Jesus Christ, her Master, alive!

This is powerful to me for two reasons. One, because I too know that my Redeemer lives! I personally have been to the Garden tomb in Jerusalem and peered into that hollowed out rock. And I can personally testify that the tomb is still empty. He is risen!

This also helps me to remember that Mary is not the only person who will have the chance to experience something like this. One day, we too will get to see those that we have lost . One day WE are going to turn around and there they will be, and we will cry and hug and rejoice at the reality and the power of the Resurrection. Because of His resurrection, all of us will be resurrected and all the pain and loss and grief that we have suffered will be gone. Our sorrow will turn to joy. Just like it did for her that day.

I testify that that is possible only because of and through the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

One final thought. In verse 17 Jesus says to Mary “touch me not” and I think we always assume that means that Mary was not allowed to touch Jesus at that moment. Like there was something about touching Jesus's resurrected body that would be harmful to her or she wasn’t worthy of that glory, or that Christ’s resurrected body was so powerful that she couldn't handle it. I'm not so sure that that's the case. Because Jesus is always asking people to touch him and the wounds in his hands and in his side and his feet. That’s usually the very first thing he says when he appears to someone. Come, and touch me! And that's why I think it's significant that Joseph Smith changes that little phrase in the Joseph Smith Translation. If you look at the footnote, Joseph, through inspiration, changes the word to “HOLD me not.” That suggests to me that that Jesus is only saying that he can't stay long because he still needs to report to Heavenly Father that he is risen—that he had completed his mortal mission. So it’s like he’s saying “Mary, don't hold me back too long. I can’t stay forever. I still need to go and report to my father.” But in my mind, I do picture them embracing. I don't know how you couldn't at

the joy of seeing somebody alive that you thought was dead. To really confirm that this thing that is too good to be true is real. So I believe they embraced, and that Jesus gave her that special moment, then gently reminded her that he had something very important to do. And that's beautiful to me to think that Mary Magdalene was the first person to see the resurrected Lord. And that might cause someone to ask, why her? Why not Peter? Why not the other apostles? Why not his own mother? And I don't claim to know the definitive answer to that question, but I like to think that it was a spontaneous moment. That it was something unplanned that just happened because of the circumstances and because of the kind of being Jesus Christ is. Something about his character. Jesus had just been resurrected and needed to make the most important report in the history of the universe. To go to his Father and tell him that he had performed the atonement, that he had drunk the bitter cup, that he had overcome death and sin for all mankind. And he’s on his way, BUT, a woman was crying, and he just couldn't help but comfort her and give her that moment of reassurance and confirmation of her faith and joy. That was Christ’s nature. Ever focused on the individual.

CONCLUSION

And with that thought, may I please wish all of you an amazing Easter this week. I know that he loves you as an individual. I believe in Christ. I know that my Redeemer lives. He is risen. And because of his sacrifice, we too can overcome the bitterness of our own cups, and even death itself. And in their place, we will find peace, and comfort, and joy, and redemption. That, to me, is the spirit of Easter. Thank you! And God bless you all.