I had the privilege and opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting today. I was asked to speak about holy week and the events leading up to Christ's atonement and resurrections and then Eveanne spoke about the crucifixion and resurrection. It was a beautiful meeting, and I was grateful for the opportunity to testify of Christ and speak about the events of holy week. They asked me to speak for 10 minutes, and there was way too much to share all that I wanted to share. I had to cut a decent amount out of this, but here's what I shared plus a bit more:
It is no accident that we refer to this upcoming week as
Holy Week. The events of this week are
the most important events in history.
And they truly are holy, sacred, and divine. The Living Christ Document states: “None other has had so profound an influence
upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth….He gave His life to
atone for the sins of all mankind. His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of
all who would ever live upon the earth.
We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all
human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the
Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of
the world.”
Holy Week commenced on Palm Sunday which we commemorate
today. In Matthew 21:1-11, we read:
1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and
were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two
disciples,
2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over
against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with
her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
3 And if any man say ought unto
you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send
them.
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold,
thy King cometh
unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus
commanded them,
7 And brought
the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
8 And a very great multitude spread their
garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in
the way.
9 And the multitudes that went before, and that
followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to
the Son of David: Blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the
city was moved, saying, Who is this?
11 And the multitude
said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
The people shouted praises.
They waved palm fronds and welcomed Him as their rescuer…but the rescue
they expected was from Roman rule and not from sin and death.
Elder Gong taught, “Traditionally, palms are a sacred symbol
to express joy in our Lord, as in Christ’s Triumphal Entry into
Jerusalem, where “much people … took branches of palm trees, and
went forth to meet him.” …In the book of Revelation, those who praise God
and the Lamb do so “clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” Along
with “robes of righteousness” and “crowns of glory,” palms are included in the
Kirtland Temple dedicatory prayer. Of course, the significance of Palm Sunday
goes beyond crowds greeting Jesus with palms. On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered
Jerusalem in ways the faithful recognized as fulfillment of prophecy. As
Zechariah and the Psalmist prophetically foretold, our Lord entered
Jerusalem riding a colt as multitudes knowingly cried, “Hosanna in the
highest.” Hosanna means “save now.” Then, as now, we rejoice,
“Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
Elder Gong continues:
“At Easter, we sing hallelujah. Hallelujah means “praise ye the Lord
Jehovah.” The “Hallelujah Chorus” in Handel’s Messiah is
a beloved Easter declaration that He is “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.”
The sacred events between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday are
the story of hosanna and hallelujah. Hosanna is our plea for God to save.
Hallelujah expresses our praise to the Lord for the hope of salvation and
exaltation. In hosanna and hallelujah we recognize the living Jesus Christ as
the heart of Easter and latter-day restoration.”
We, too, can and should praise our Savior with choruses of
Hosanna and Hallelujah. We praise Him as
we lift our voices in song. We praise
Him as we pray sincerely and humbly. We
praise Him as we lovingly care for our brothers and sisters and are moved with compassion
as He so often was. We praise Him as we
emulate His example. We praise Him as we
worship joyfully in church and at the temple.
We praise Him as “we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of
Christ, prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophesies that our
children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”
(2 Nephi 25:26) All of our words,
actions and choices can be ways to sing hallelujah and hosanna.
After this triumphal entry, Christ continued ministering to the people throughout
the week. On Monday, He cleansed the
temple. In Matthew 21: 12-15, we read: “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and
cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables
of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall
be called the house of prayer;
but ye have made it a den of
thieves.
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the
temple; and he healed them.
15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw
the wonderful things that he did, and the children
crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they
were sore displeased,
Always, Christ went about doing good. He healed the blind and lame and cared for
the poor. He cleansed the temple so it
could be sacred and holy as it was meant to be.
So, too, He can cleanse us from our sins and heal our troubled
hearts. Elder Gong reminds us that Christ
“lives—not only then, but now; not just
for some, but for all. He came and comes to heal the brokenhearted, deliver the
captives, recover sight to the blind, and set at liberty those who are bruised. That’s
each of us. His redeeming promises apply, no matter our past, our present, or
concerns for our future.”
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Christ taught the people. He gave them the two great commandments, to
love God and love others. He taught His
disciples that if they care for the sick, the needy, and the imprisoned, they
are doing it unto Him.
On Thursday, Christ observed the Passover. He instituted the sacrament. In Matthew 26:26
-29, we read: “26 ¶ And as
they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and
brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and
said, Take, eat; this is my body.
27 And he took the cup,
and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye
all of it;
28 For this is my blood of
the new testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of
sins.
29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth
of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink
it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.
Today, and each Sabbath, we remember Him as we partake of
the sacrament.
And then, after telling his disciples that one would betray
him and telling Peter that he would deny Him (both of which would be fulfilled)…He
went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Words
cannot adequately portray all that happened there.
Matthew 26 says, “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place
called Gethsemane,
and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons
of Zebedee, and began to
be sorrowful and very heavy.
38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with
me.
39 And he went a little further, 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.
Years ago, I remember President Gustafson speaking of
this sacred event and how the Savior asked them to watch with Him. And yet the disciples fell asleep. I remember President Gustafson telling us
that we have the opportunity to watch with Him each week as we partake of the sacrament
and spend an hour in sacrament meeting.
We should be able to dedicate one hour of each week to “watching” with
Him…putting away any distractions and focusing solely on Him. I’ve tried since then to do this.
In Doctrine and Covenants 19, the Savior tells us: “For behold, I God, have suffered these
things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; But if they
would not repent they must suffer even as I ; Which suffering caused myself,
even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at
every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink
the bitter cup and shrink-Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook
and finished my preparations unto the children of men.”
In agony that we can’t truly comprehend or describe, he
suffered the pains, the sins, the afflictions, the sicknesses, and the sorrows
of each of us. So great was His
suffering that He bled from every pore.
But He did it for us. Hebrews
12:2 teaches us to look to Christ as the author and finisher of our faith “who
for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.” President Nelson said, “And what was the joy
that was set before Him? Surely it
included the joy of cleansing, healing, and strengthening us, the joy of paying
for the sins of all who would repent; the joy of making it possible for you and
me to return home-clean and worthy- to live with our Heavenly Parents and
families.”
Because Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, He is
able to succor us. He understands our
suffering, our joy, our pain, our heartache.
Chieko Okazaki spoke of Christ’s suffering in the garden and
on the cross. Her words have helped me
to more fully understand Christ’s atonement.
She said, “The gospel is the good news that can free us from guilt. We
know that Jesus experienced the totality of mortal existence in Gethsemane.
It's our faith that he experienced everything- absolutely everything. Sometimes
we don't think through the implications of that belief. We talk in great
generalities about the sins of all humankind, about the suffering of the entire
human family. But we don't experience pain in generalities. We experience it
individually. That means he knows what it felt like when your mother died of
cancer- how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows what it
felt like to lose the student body election. He knows that moment when the
brakes locked and the car started to skid. He experienced the slave ship
sailing from Ghana toward Virginia. He experienced the gas chambers at Dachau.
He experienced Napalm in Vietnam. He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism.
Let me go further. There is nothing you have experienced as a woman that he
does not also know and recognize. On a profound level, he understands the
hunger to hold your baby that sustains you through pregnancy. He understands
both the physical pain of giving birth and the immense joy. He knows about PMS
and cramps and menopause. He understands about rape and infertility and
abortion. His last recorded words to his disciples were, "And, lo, I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:20) He
understands your mother-pain when your five-year-old leaves for kindergarten,
when a bully picks on your fifth-grader, when your daughter calls to say that
the new baby has Down syndrome…He knows the pain you live with when you come
home to a quiet apartment where the only children are visitors, when you hear
that your former husband and his new wife were sealed in the temple last week,
when your fiftieth wedding anniversary rolls around and your husband has been
dead for two years. He knows all that. He's been there. He's been lower than
all that. He's not waiting for us to be perfect. Perfect people don't need a
Savior. He came to save his people in their imperfections. He is the Lord of the
living, and the living make mistakes. He's not embarrassed by us, angry at us,
or shocked. He wants us in our brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and
our grief. You know that
people who live above a certain latitude and experience very long winter nights
can become depressed and even suicidal, because something in our bodies
requires whole spectrum light for a certain number of hours a day. Our
spiritual requirement for light is just as desperate and as deep as our
physical need for light. Jesus is the light of the world. We know that this
world is a dark place sometimes, but we need not walk in darkness. The people
who sit in darkness have seen a great light, and the people who walk in
darkness can have a bright companion. We need him, and He is ready to come to
us, if we'll open the door and let him.”
My words cannot convey my love for Him or my testimony of
Him. My words are inadequate. But I know He lives.
Shortly before his death, Elder Bruce R. McConkie bore
powerful testimony of Jesus Christ:
“Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and
was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King.
This I know of myself independent of any other person.
I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel
the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my
tears.
But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he
is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation
comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way.”
The Living Christ concludes:
“Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands
today on the right hand of His Father.
He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that
leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come,”
