Last
night we all colored eggs as a "family activity". It's funny how
everything we do together now takes on added significance, since we have
a reporting date for Adam to leave the nest and head out on his
mission.
Ron
spent much of yesterday collecting Dax, Kaili and Ellie from the youth
conference they had attended in Nanaimo while Adam and I spent the day
at our respective jobs.
Ron
and I were "invited" to give talks during Sacrament at church this
week. Being Easter Sunday, I chose to tackle the subject of "What is
Easter?" The following is basically what I delivered to the
congregation. . .
When I think of Easter, what comes to my mind? Honestly,
since I spent the first 40 years of my life as an agnostic, the things
that used to spring to my mind first were- bunnies, chocolate,
chocolate-bunnies, colorful eggs, flower covered bonnets, shiny new
shoes, and new dresses with lots of lace and bows. Now, my list also includes the resurrection and atoning sacrifice that Jesus the Christ made for me.
There
are some who question why we would celebrate the death of Christ, and I
must admit as a child, with limited exposure to Christian beliefs and
doctrine, I understood that my Catholic grandmother saw Easter as a Holy
occasion, though I didn’t “get” why she saw it as such a joyous one. It
seemed a bit macabre to me; celebrating the death of the Savior. I
knew that the resurrection was a part of Easter too, but the crucifix
on her wall just seemed to reinforce the idea that Easter was primarily a
celebration of the end of Christ’s life. My spiritual, but less devout
protestant grandmother also saw Easter as an important occasion, but to
my eyes, not an overtly religious one. My understanding of Easter was
(and in some ways probably still is) obviously, very shallow and
uninformed. You know how they say talks are assigned to teach the speaker; well I got a bit of an education on this one. . .
So what is Easter really? According to the Bible Dictionary- “This word occurs only once in the Bible (Acts 12:4) and then would be better translated passover. The word Easter
is from Eastre, a Norse goddess whose pagan festival was observed at
the spring equinox. The association of this pagan goddess with the
celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was only by adaptation
and synthesis. There is no real connection. Jesus, being the Lamb of
God, was crucified at passover time and is the true Passover (see 1 Cor. 5:7).
He was raised from the grave on the third day thereafter. It thus
became a springtime anniversary, and has come to be called Easter in the
Christian world.”
So
we can see the term “Easter” is really just one of tradition and
convenience. Next, I decided to look at “Passover” and its relevance to
Christ. The following is largely from a July 1985 Ensign Article by By John P. Pratt.
I probably have what could be called an analytical mind (read skeptic
here) and was drawn to this particular article, because each statement
Brother Pratt makes, has at least one scriptural reference to back-up it
up. Many of his statements have 2 or three references, and they are from the Old and New
Testaments
as well as modern revealed scripture. . . If you would like the
references, see me later and I will be happy to share them with you.
Elder
Pratt writes in his article- “The Passover feast centered on the
paschal lamb, which was a sacrificial lamb, a male without blemish and
with no broken bone, even after death. (See Ex. 12:5, 46.) Likewise, Jesus was the “Passover,” the “Lamb of God” (1 Cor. 5:7; John 1:29), a male without blemish and with no broken bone, even after death (John 19:36). He was the Firstborn of God in the premortal existence (D&C 93:21), sanctified in the flesh as were the firstborn of Israel (Ex. 12:23–24), and slain even as were the firstborn of Egypt (Ex. 12:29).
The
Passover lamb was to be chosen on 10 Nisan, the tenth day of the Jewish
lunar month Nisan. It was to be killed by “the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel” on 14 Nisan (Ex. 12:6),
which was usually the day of the first full moon of spring. Jewish
sources state that the lamb was sacrificed between 3:00 and 5:00 P.M. on
that day.” You
may (or may not) have noticed last Friday (Good Friday) was a full
moon. This is also why Easter seems to "skip around" every year, our
calendar is different from the Jewish one.
Elder Pratt’s article continues- “Jesus, too, was “chosen” on 10 Nisan 4 at his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when he was hailed as the Messiah (see Matt. 21:1–9; Mark 11:1–11; Luke 19:37–40; John 12:12–16), which had been prophesied by Zechariah (Zech. 9:9).
The multitude who had assembled in Jerusalem for Passover later
consented to his death when they “all” cried out on 14 Nisan, “Let him
be crucified.” (Matt. 27:20–23.) The Lamb of God died about 3:00 P.M. (Matt. 27:46) on the day of preparation for Passover (John 19:14), 14 Nisan, just when the paschal lambs were also being slain.
Of
course, at the triumphal entry the multitude did not understand that
they were choosing the Lamb of God to sacrifice, but believed they were
choosing a king (Luke 19:38)
whom they expected to liberate them from Roman rule. And at the
Crucifixion they were unaware that they were sacrificing the Lamb of
God, but believed they were slaying an imposter who could not even save
his own life. (Matt. 27:41–44.)
The
preparation of the lamb for the feast had to be hurriedly completed
before sunset, after which would begin the first day of Passover, 15
Nisan, a day sanctified as a special Sabbath day. After sunset, the lamb
was eaten with bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and wine. This
ritualized Passover meal was also called the feast of unleavened bread;
it began a week in which no leavened bread was eaten, symbolic of the
haste of preparation which did not allow enough time for bread dough to
rise. (Ex. 12:18–20, 34, 39; Lev. 23:6–8.)
Likewise,
the body of Jesus had to be hurriedly prepared for burial before the
sunset would commence the Sabbath, which would be a “high day” (John 19:31) because it was not only Saturday, the weekly Sabbath, but also 15 Nisan, the first day of Passover.
It
was on 15 Nisan, after the slaying of the firstborn, that Pharaoh
declared liberty to the captive Israelites. After their long period of
bondage in Egypt, it must have been a day of great rejoicing. One reason
that 15 Nisan was sanctified as an annual feast day was to commemorate
that day on which the Lord brought Israel out of bondage and released
them from the chains of slavery. (See Ex. 12:14–17, 29–31; Ex. 13:3, 14–15.)”
The
law of Moses states that “on the morrow after the sabbath” of Passover,
the priest should wave before the Lord a sheaf of the firstfruits of
the harvest.
5 (See
Lev. 23:10–12.) On Easter Sunday, 16 Nisan, the morning after the Jewish Sabbath,
6 the Savior, through his resurrection, became “the firstfruits of them that slept.” (
1 Cor. 15:20, 36–38.)
Jesus had already taught that he was like a kernel of grain which must
abide alone until it dies in the ground, whereupon it can bring forth
much fruit. (See
John 12:23–24.)
Lehi also explained that the Savior, “being the first that should rise …
is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for
all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved.” (
2 Ne. 2:8–9.)
Now,
Quoting Elder Cecil O. Samuelson Jr. of the Seventy, in an address he
gave at Brigham Young University Women’s Conference on May 5, 2006.-
“Because of the Resurrection, all of us will have immortality.” . .
and he goes on to say . .” That Jesus experienced what He experienced,
not because He couldn’t avoid it but because He loves us, is sobering
indeed. Jesus also loves and honors His Father with a depth and loyalty
that we can only imagine. If we feel to honor and love the Savior in
return, we must never forget that He did what He did for us that we
might not suffer to the same degree what justice alone would require of
us.” I’m going to repeat that last part again, “. . . . If we feel to
honor and love the Savior in return, we must never forget that He did
what He did for us that we might not suffer to the same degree what
justice alone would require of us.”
What an unbelievable blessing for us! This day, Easter, commemorates our release from the bonds of sin and makes possible our reunification with our Heavenly Father. I know there is no possible way for me
to recompense for any of my past mistakes and sins on my own. Some of
those sins were inadvertent and made of ignorance or misunderstanding-
but, I’m sorry to say, others were willful and intentional on my part.
Hopefully, any future transgressions will be mostly accidental and not
deliberate; with my stubborn streak, you just never can tell! Inadvertent,
intentional, accidental, or deliberate- no matter what I want to call
them, they are still sins that need to be answered for. Once
again; thank goodness for Heavenly Father’s plan of Salvation and my
eldest brother’s willingness to take my sins upon Himself.
Back to Brother Pratt's article which goes on to explain “The
importance of the Savior’s resurrection occurring on Sunday was
emphasized when the sanctified Sabbath day was changed from Saturday,
the seventh day, symbolic of the day of rest from the labor of the
Creation (Ex. 20:11), to Sunday, the Lord’s Day (Acts 20:7; D&C 59:12), the glorious day of the Savior’s resurrection.”
Many
of you may have known why we as a church observe the Sabbath on the
first day of the week but I have puzzled about this a bit, and haven’t
felt as though I had a “good” answer when asked by others to explain our
observance. When I looked up the Sabbath in The Bible dictionary I found that it says “After
the ascension of Christ, the members of the Church, whether Jews or
gentiles, kept holy the first day of the week (the Lord’s day) as a
weekly commemoration of our Lord’s resurrection (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10); and by degrees the observance of the seventh day was discontinued. (See Lord’s Day.)”
The
Bible Dictionary continues. . . “The change from observing the last day
of the week to the first day of the week is not so important as is the
concept and principle of the Sabbath. In either case, the Sabbath was
symbolic of the mighty works of God, i.e., the creation of the earth,
the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and the resurrection of Jesus from
the dead.”
Now, just a couple of final points from Brother Pratt’s Article-
He
says “The Easter story has two main parts: the Savior’s suffering and
his triumph. The emblems of the sacrament remind us of his suffering,
both in body and in spirit. (See D&C 19:18; D&C 20:75–79.)” And
finally, according to Brother Pratt - “The Sabbath was changed to
Sunday as a reminder of the day of triumph, the day death was conquered.
In a sense, one celebrates Easter every Sunday by partaking of the
sacrament.”
The Church has recently posted Bible videos online at LDS.org/bible videos. There is one called “He is Risen”,
it is about 7-1/2 minutes long and shows many of the events surrounding
Christ during what we now think of as Easter. It begins with a
portrayal of His triumphant return to Jerusalem. It
then touches on the last supper, Gethsemane, the betrayal by Judas
Iscariot, the Crucifixion and finally Christ’s ascension to The Father. There is a second 3-1/2 minute video called “Jesus is Laid in a Tomb” and third 4 minute one called “Jesus is Resurrected”. If you have not seen these videos, I believe they are well worth your time.
After
delving deeper in to the “True” meaning of Easter, I hope that I will
see not only Easter, but every Sunday in a new light; with a little
deeper understanding of the truly sacred nature of these events. I testify that Jesus was and is the Christ, He loved and continues to love us and died for us. For this I am truly grateful. In the Sacred name of Jesus, Christ Amen
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