The Promise of Easter

Easter always fills my heart with wonder and gratitude. All week I have been reading the New Testament gospel accounts of the last week of the Savior's life. I began last Sunday, Palm Sunday, by reading the Savior's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Each day since I have tried to read what was written about what Jesus did on the corresponding day of the week. Of course, the gospel accounts are not always explicit about when each event took place, so I just did my best.

We know that Jesus taught in the temple during the first part of the week. He gave us some truly sublime teachings at this time, along with delivering some of his harshest criticisms of the Jewish ruling elite. This appears to have fanned the flames of their already bitter animosity toward Him. If I'm not mistaken, the Last Supper took place on Thursday, as also his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. The trial began that night and lasted until the next day, Friday, when he was crucified.

Reading the account of the Last Supper, for me, is at once a sublime and profoundly melancholy experience. The events seem to move along inexorably toward Gethsemane, the trial, the crucifixion, and my instinct is to try to stop them from happening. I can relate to Peter, who, when told of Jesus' intent to go to Jerusalem to die replied, "Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee." (Matt 16:22) This remark drew, perhaps the harshest rebuke ever given by the Savior (Matt. 16:23). Though I relate to Peter, I understand the rebuke, for I know that all these events were necessary to bring to pass God's Plan of Redemption.

Yesterday was Saturday, and I found that I had almost nothing to read, as almost nothing was written about that day. Still, I found myself wondering what it must have been like for the people who loved Jesus and believed Him to be the Messiah. That Saturday must have been the low point for many of them and a sore test of their faith. It may have seemed to be the end of all their hopes. Though Jesus had told them repeatedly that He needed to die and that He would resurrect (Matt. 16:21, John 12:24, John 2:19), no one seemed able to understand it (John 20:9).

Today I finished my weeklong exercise by reading the written accounts of the resurrection and I basked in the exultation that these accounts always bring. The words of a favorite hymn express my feelings so well:

He is risen! He is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice.
He has burst his three days’ prison;
Let the whole wide earth rejoice.
Death is conquered; man is free.
Christ has won the victory. 

I think it is no coincidence that Christ's victory over death took place in the spring when all the world wakes from winter's sleep. As I look out my window I see plum trees bursting with flowers, newly green hillsides, and a radiant blue sky adorned by an occasional fluffy white cloud. All of these changes are brought about by the sun, whose rays shine down and give life to everything.

I believe that all things testify of Christ and that these things are meant to teach us a powerful truth. Each fall we see grass die and leaves falling from trees. Days grow shorter and sunlight more precious and scarce. Cold descends like a blanket over everything and chills our bones. But with all these changes we don't despair because we know that, in spring, life will return to our hills and valleys and we will once again laugh together in the park and bask in the light of the sun.

Today the world is gripped in a global pandemic unlike any the world has seen for a hundred years. It is a fearsome time, filled with suffering for so many. Times like these can try our faith and make us wonder, even as the faithful followers of Christ did on that Saturday so long ago when all seemed lost. The promise of Easter is that, however dark the time, good times are to come. Jesus said, "Ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you" (John 16:22).

There is a song that beautifully expresses this promise:

My bretheren, I have found
A land that doth abound
With fruit as sweet as honey;
The more I eat I find,
The more I am inclined
To shout and sing Hosanna. 

My soul doth long to go
Where I may fully know,
The glory of my Savior;
And as I pass along,
I'll sing the Christian song
I'm going to live forever. 

Perhaps you think me wild,
Or simple as a child;
I am a child of glory;
I am born from above,
My soul is filled with love;
I love to tell the story. 

My soul now sits and sings
And practices it's wings,
And contemplates the hour
When the messenger shall say
'Come quit this house of clay,
And with bright angels tower.' 

And as I pass along
I'll sing the Christian song
I'm going to live forever,
Forever.

The promise of Easter is a promise of life to all people through the infinite love of Jesus Christ.