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My father, now eighty-five years old, tells a story of being five years old and visiting his grandparents in Heber, Utah. One sunny summer afternoon, Dad wandered into his grandmother’s garden and began harvesting and eating onions, which he claims were almost as sweet as apples. 

When Grandma DeGraff came out and caught him, she let him know that his behavior was bad, even sinful. By the end of the lecture, Dad believed he was bad. 

He can’t remember how long he sat in the dirt, stunned, simmering in shame, and stinking of onions when his grandpa finally came out. Grandpa DeGraff said, “Steve, what you did was wrong. But I love you. There’s no one I’d rather give these onions to than you. All you have to do is ask.” Dad said, “Grandpa’s forgiveness brought me back into my humanity.” 

We know how good, joyful, and freeing receiving forgiveness feels. It connects us to the person who forgives us and can even help us feel more connected to God. 

But forgiving is not always easy. C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.” More recently, Sister Kristen Yee, Second Consuelor in the Relief Society General Presidency, taught this same truth: “Forgiving can be one of the most difficult things we ever do and one of the most divine things we ever experience.”

It is normal to struggle with forgiving. It is normal to want retribution, or revenge, when others sin—especially when their sins hurt us. 

Yet when Christ was on the cross, He opened the door for our forgiveness and repentance. In a simple moment that was pivotal in eternity, Christ forgave His crucifiers: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” 

This Easter, as we contemplate our Savior’s Atonement, we can learn learn at least seven lessons on the nature of forgiveness from Christ’s time on the cross.

Lesson One: We Worship a Loving and Forgiving God 

The first word Christ utters in the process of forgiving His crucifiers is “Father.” Christ previously showed us in the parable of the Prodigal Son how our Father responds to an imperfect child: “But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

There are no lectures in this offering of forgiveness; there is no delay. Christ tells us clearly in this parable that God forgives us lovingly and completely. When Christ reaches for that divine forgiveness at the moment of His own death, He knows the gift will be granted. Symbolized in Christ’s cross itself is a forever open-armed God—one who is willing to forgive us and is waiting to embrace us.  

Lesson Two: Even When We Forgive, We Might Still Experience Pain 

Even when we forgive, we might still experience pain, grief, or loss as a result of what has happened. When Christ forgave those actively hurting Him, the pain He felt did not immediately stop. So why should we forgive, knowing we might still experience the effect of the offense? 

Our pain might not be magically erased by forgiving, but forgiving can help us pivot. Elder Gerrit W. Gong has taught that, “Often condemnation focuses on the past. Forgiveness looks liberatingly to the future.” 

Lesson Three: Forgiveness puts Responsibility in the Right Places

During His ministry, Christ had forgiven sins Himself. But while on the cross, He asks God to do it: “Father, forgive them.” Christ gave their sins to God to manage.

We might be handed something painful, but it’s not our responsibility to hold onto that thing forever, to carry it, and wonder why our offender handed it to us in the first place. Elder David E. Sorenson said: “Forgiveness means that problems of the past no longer dictate our destinies, and we can focus on the future with God’s love in our hearts.”

There’s a certain amount of relief in the fact that forgiveness is not conditional on our offender in any way. Forgiveness is a way of taking ourselves out of the equation with an offender: We get to work directly with Christ, and allow Christ to work with our offender.

Lesson Four: We Must Forgive Human Weakness

When Christ petitioned our Father for forgiveness of the people who were crucifying Him, He didn’t talk about their murderousness, He addressed their ignorance: “They know not what they do.” 

Our oldest son, Owen, was four years old when he let us know his feelings about not getting to have a family movie party one night. He left us a note on green construction paper: “I love you. But I’m still mad.” Forgiveness is what allows us to keep love in our hearts, even as we navigate the friction of daily life. 

Lesson Five: Through Forgiveness Our Pain Can Be Transformed  

In this life we will suffer. We are told this in the scriptures, and we have experienced plenty of it. German philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand reminded us that we sometimes mistake “Christ’s transfiguration of all suffering for an elimination of all suffering.” Suffering is part of life, and yet through Christ we know that suffering is not meant to be our final destination. 

Christ’s suffering was not the end, but Christ had to experience death in order to be resurrected to a new life. Likewise, we have the promise that God can transform all of it—our pain, destruction, and mourning—not that the hard things will be erased from our lives but transformed. 

Isaiah tells us that beauty can rise from the ashes of our lives, that joy can come from our grief, and praise can come from heaviness. We don’t often quote the next verse in this Isaiah passage, but it conveys the fact that the most difficult things, the “desolations of generations,” the big things, even as big as “waste cities” shall be raised up through Jesus Christ.

Lesson Six: Forgiveness Should Become Part of Our Nature

Forgiveness is the only part of the Lord’s Prayer that Christ emphasizes through repetition. When He talks about our daily need of bread, forgiveness is mentioned as well. 

The immediacy of Christ’s forgiving those in the moment they were sinning against Him on the cross indicates that forgiveness was part of His very nature. I had a BYU Religion student write about how a forgiving nature could create a culture of love in her home. “I want to create a space where forgiveness is not withheld, not earned, not delayed—but simply given. I want my children and spouse to feel that mistakes are part of life, not the end of love.” 

Forgiveness is not a checklist we march through, but a mindset and a heart-set that can become part of who we are. We might even become so forgiving that we don’t look for offenses. Not picking something up in the first place means we won’t have to figure out how to set it down later. 

Lesson Seven: We Are Not Alone as We Forgive 

In the throes of His agony, Christ was not alone. He had heavenly help in Gethsemane and on Calvary when Christ asked His Father to forgive the people hurting Him. We are not alone in forgiving, either. 

Sister Yee has taught that Christ “does not ask us to [forgive] without His help, His love, His understanding. Through our covenants with the Lord, we can each receive the strengthening power, guidance, and the help we need to both forgive and to be forgiven.” 

“I stood there with coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion—I knew that too. ‘Jesus, help me!’ I prayed silently. ‘I can lift my hand, I can do that much. You supply the feeling.’

“Woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes, ‘I forgive you, brother!’ I cried. ‘With all my heart!’

“For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. 

I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.” 

What Forgiveness Is Not

When offering forgiveness feels insurmountable, we may be assuming that we have to do more than Christ has actually asked us to do. Elder Neil L. Andersen wrote a useful list about what forgiveness is not. 

• Forgiveness is not failing to protect ourselves, our families, and others. 
• Forgiveness is not continuing in a relationship with someone who is not trustworthy. Christ’s response to those threatening to harm Him at Nazareth is instructive: He did not lecture, try to persuade, or call down lightning bolts. Christ simply “went his way” (30)—and never goes back. Forgiveness does not always include relational reconciliation. 
• Forgiveness is not condoning injustice. The late Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught that Christ never called evil things good, and neither should we.
• Forgiveness is not dismissing the hurt or disgust we feel because of the actions of others. We should be patient with ourselves while we heal and progress toward forgiving.
• Forgiveness is not forgetting but remembering in peace. 

A Path to Joy

Elder Holland has explained that none of us have “traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.” The divine forgiveness that God offers to us is complete and it is joy-filled. 

God has His forgiving arms forever open to us, waiting to embrace us without delay. When we choose to forgive, like Christ did on the cross, God’s love can flow through us, and we open ourselves to connection with others and with God.  

The post Forgiveness: Seven Lessons from the Cross appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

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Imagine you are a first-century Jew at the time of Jesus. You saw the famed Rabbi of Galilee perform miracles. He multiplied food and raised the dead, miracles echoing Elijah and Elisha. You heard him teach doctrines that built upon the law of Moses, but he drew out principles that made the law much more challenging. You saw him ride into Jerusalem on a colt, cleanse the temple, and teach that he was not only the Messiah, but Deity himself. 

And then he was betrayed by his friend and follower, Judas (known in Hebrew as Judah), the namesake of his own people. And rather than take his place on the political throne of Israel, you witnessed this Son of David condemned by Jew and Gentile alike, then tormented, crucified, and placed in a tomb. 

What would you expect next if your only source of reference was the Hebrew Bible? Would you have recognized Jesus of Nazareth in the scriptures you studied? Could you have anticipated from scripture that this self-proclaimed Messiah would miraculously come back to life—forever?

As Easter approaches, perhaps we can feel more charity and empathy for the disciples’ confusion following Christ’s death. Their source of scripture was the Hebrew Bible, which we call the Old Testament. While the Nephites and potentially some ancient Israelites had explicit teachings about the Atonement and Resurrection, the Jews in Jesus’ day faced an open question. 

Despite being longer than the rest of the Latter-day Saint canon combined, the Old Testament has fewer explicit references to “the fundamental principles of our religion”: “the testimony of the apostles and prophets concerning Jesus Christ, ‘that he died [for our sins], was buried, and rose again the third day.”

Yet while the Old Testament speaks less explicitly of Christ, shadows of His Atonement and Resurrection can be found in its pages. Some teachings of Christ may have been intentionally veiled in rituals and prophetic language. But just as the temple veil was rent at Jesus’s death, making clear that the way back to God was through Christ, the Spirit can lift the veil from our understanding, helping us see that the Easter message is implicit in the Old Testament’s pages. 

Why Isn’t the Resurrection Clearly Taught in the Old Testament?

Restoration scripture makes clear what the Old Testament does not: ancient prophets like Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Isaiah, and others knew of Christ’s mission to some degree. This makes the relative absence of discussion about Christ’s suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection in the Old Testament puzzling. As I see it, scripture (particularly the Book of Mormon) provides three potential explanations. 

The first is that revelation occurs gradually: “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.” It may be that knowledge of Christ’s atonement, death, and resurrection was originally sparse, leading to less emphasis in earlier scripture. But our teachings about ancient prophets, if taken literally, are too clear about prophets’ knowledge of Christ’s atonement and resurrection for these doctrines to be considered only seedlings. This must be supplemented by other explanations.

The second possibility is that teachings of a suffering “Anointed One” were rejected, lost, or censored by those who compiled the texts. For example, the Book of Mormon cites Israelite prophets like Zenos, Zenock, and Neum—who aren’t in our canon elsewhere—that taught of Christ’s suffering, crucifixion, and burial. These prophets were stoned and cast out, and perhaps their teachings were likewise discarded.

Nephi also states that the Bible was altered before its international distribution: “they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious.” The editing and authorship history of the Old Testament is complex, and some books could have been crafted by an editor who did not know of or believe in Christ, despite prophets having taught of Him. 

A third possibility is that Old Testament teachings of Christ were veiled to the people by God’s prophets, or even veiled to prophets by God Himself, because of ancient Israel’s spiritual unpreparedness, or for some other divine purpose. Paul spoke of a “veil” that obscures understanding “in the reading of the old testament,” but that this “veil is done away in Christ.” The veiled message Paul speaks of likely came by giving Israel rituals that would resemble Christ’s sacrifice, as well as giving them sacred texts that veiled the mission of Christ or that could point to Him as a secondary, or higher, meaning. The true nature of Christ’s mission could only be gleaned by revelation.

Taken together, these explanations allow us to admit that explicit Old Testament references to Christ are sparse, but that Christ’s mission can still be found through the Spirit’s tutelage. Jesus taught that “the scriptures” of his day—meaning the Old Testament—“are they which testify of me” and commanded his audience to “search” them. With that imperative, I turn now to veiled Easter teachings of Christ found in the Old Testament for those with “eyes to see, and ears to hear.”

Ancient Israelite Prophecy of Christ’s Sacrifice

Abinadi, teaching about the Messiah’s divinity, condescension, atonement, and resurrection, claimed that “all the prophets who have prophesied ever since the world began [have] spoken more or less concerning these things.” Perhaps some of this teaching was censored, but much of it may have been inspired thematic and narrative parallels in scripture that constituted “more or less” a prophecy. As Nephi said, “all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him,” including parallels in sacred history, poetry, and even prophecies with other primary meanings. Jacob added a second witness that the Israelite scriptures “truly testify of Christ” and “that none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ.”

Christ’s atoning sacrifice in Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary is mirrored in some Old Testament narratives. In the Akedah, God commands Abraham to bind and then offer a burnt sacrifice of “thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest.” This excruciating story, rife with philosophical complexity, does not thoroughly explain itself, but Jacob saw it as typifying Heavenly Father’s offering of His Only Begotten Son for our sins. In further parallels to Christ, Isaac rode a donkey to Mount Moriah, just as Christ rode a donkey for his triumphal entry to Jerusalem, and Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice to its site, just as Christ carried a wooden cross to Golgotha. When Isaac asked his father where the offering was, Abraham replied, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” Isaac was miraculously delivered, and a ram in the thicket was provided as a substitute, symbolizing how the Lamb of God would ultimately sacrifice in our place. 

In another example reminiscent of the crucifixion and resurrection, Moses is commanded to raise up a brass “serpent and set it upon a pole” for the Israelites to look upon for healing from fatal snake bites. As with the story of the Akedah, the Christian significance of the story is never explained in the Old Testament, but Christ Himself and Book of Mormon prophets interpret it as a veiled symbol of Jesus raised upon a cross to save us by having the faith to look to Him. 

Beyond narrative mirroring, Christ’s mission seems to be directly or indirectly described in isolated phrases and references. New Testament authors like Matthew felt comfortable declaring that Old Testament passages were “fulfilled” when they provided an inspired parallel, even if the context of the passage doesn’t indicate at all that it is messianic prophecy. I argue that we can generally feel comfortable accepting these parallels as well if we acknowledge that there might be a different primary meaning. 

Language echoing Christ’s betrayal and crucifixion is also scattered across the Psalms and connects Christ to his royal ancestor David. The Psalmist(s) describes betrayal by a “familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread”; being despised, mocked, and taunted about how “He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him”; being surrounded by “the wicked,” after which “they pierced my hands and my feet”; being given “vinegar to drink”; crying “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”; having his clothing divided among a crowd; and being “poured out like water.” The context of some of these psalms suggests that the entire psalms were not necessarily messianic prophecy, yet Gospel authors understood them as being strongly implicated, and Psalm 22 in particular bears stunningly similar parallels.

Finally, there were prophets whose writings could be fairly classified as more direct prophecies of Christ’s sacrifice, most notably Isaiah. In particular, two of Isaiah’s four “Servant Songs” testify strongly of Christ, even if they applied to multiple people (the unnamed servant has variously been understood to be Jesus, Israel, Isaiah, Cyrus, and others). One of the Songs speaks of an unnamed servant who listened to God without rebelling, who gave his “back to the smiters,” and who did not hide his face “from shame and spitting.”

Isaiah’s fourth Servant Song, even though contested in interpretation, is by far the most reminiscent passage in the Old Testament of Christ’s atonement. It describes a lowly “servant” of God with “marred” appearance who has “no form nor comeliness [and] no beauty that we should desire him,” and who is “despised and rejected of man; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Although many prophets have been unpopular, the affliction this servant bears is for our griefs, our sorrows, our transgressions, and “the iniquity of us all.” The servant is given as an atoning “offering for sin” by which he will “justify many” and make “intercession for the transgressors.” In so doing he was “cut off out of the land of the living,” “made his grave with the wicked,” and “poured out his soul unto death.” And despite his death, he will be “exalted and extolled, and be very high,” will “prolong his days,” will “see his seed,” and will be divided “a portion with the great [and] spoil with the strong.” Even if there were other applications of this prophecy, it testifies beautifully of Christ’s mission and is perhaps the rarest gem of prophecy of Christ in the Old Testament.

Sacrifice 

In addition to prophecies,  the Old Testament practice of sacrifice foreshadows Christ’s sacrifice for us all. 

The Old Testament speaks openly of a victorious, reigning Messiah, but says little of a Messiah who suffers for sins. But that changes if we learn to see ancient animal sacrifice as a shadow of “that great and last sacrifice” that would satisfy the demands of justice for our sins. 

Though animal sacrifice is as old as Adam, the books of Moses codified its intricacies. With five distinct offerings—burnt offerings, peace (well-being) offerings, sin offerings, trespass offerings, and meat (grain) offerings—the Mosaic rules for sacrifice were complex. The sacrifices had mixed and overlapping purposes: atonement or expiation of sin, removal of ritual impurity, gratitude, memorial, obedience, or petition for deliverance. Animals of both genders and even non-animals were used for many offerings, but all offerings were food items, often with symbolically pleasing smells. Sometimes the offeror ate the sacrifice, other times the priests ate it, and burnt offerings were simply burnt for God.

Some special sacrifices were associated with holy days, such as the Day of Atonement or Passover, and some were performed on behalf of all of God’s people. The Passover sacrifice, in particular, involved the slaughter of a male lamb, whose blood saved the firstborn sons of Israel. And whatever other sacrifices were given, all firstborn animals were to be given to the Lord. 

We can see how these many purposes of sacrifice map onto Christ’s atonement and our own personal sacrifices. We see similarities to Christ describing himself as food and drink that must be ritually consumed by others. We especially connect the image of a male lamb of Passover to the Christian message because scripture calls Jesus the Lamb of God. In general, though, the Christian meaning of these sacrifices was hidden at the time. It is not clear from Leviticus that the Israelites were anticipating a final sacrifice. Leviticus merely taught the underlying principle that blood represents the sacredness of life, and “it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” 

As we take the sacrament this Easter season, we symbolically consume Christ’s body—just as Israelites did with animal sacrifice—and are divinely fed. We also promise to give up our sins. As the late Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, “Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed.” We can also follow Christ’s example and the other purposes of sacrifice in sacrificing our own time and wills, obeying God, expressing gratitude, asking God for what we need, and being “an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.” 

The Law of Moses

In addition to its sacrifice requirements, the Law of Moses foreshadowed Christ, who later declared not only that he fulfilled the law but that “I am the law.” As the Book of Hebrews teaches, “the law [of Moses] ha[s] a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things.” The law seemed to require revelation to see Christ shadowed in it. Abinadi and Benjamin both taught that the Israelites “did not all understand the law,” not because of low intellect, but because they “hardened their hearts.” This was certainly true of Sherem, who claimed Jacob was wrongly “converting” the law of Moses into worship of Christ. 

Nephite prophets saw Mosaic Law as creating a typological framework for an ultimate self-sacrifice to atone for all sins. Nephi taught that “for this end hath the law of Moses been given”: “proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ.” Abinadi taught that it was “a shadow of those things which are to come.” Amulek testified that “the whole meaning of the law, every whit” was to point to “that great and last sacrifice” of “the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.” We, too, can acknowledge the complexity of the Law of Moses while affirming that it served as a type and shadow of Christ’s atonement to ancient Israelites.

The Old Testament and Resurrection

As for its teachings about the resurrection specifically, the Old Testament shows a plurality of views about the afterlife. Resurrection isn’t clearly taught in many of its books, especially the earlier ones. Jews in the days of Jesus were divided on whether it occurred. Pharisees, who accepted the later prophetic texts, believed in resurrection; Sadducees, who held only to the older books of Moses, did not. Zoramites like Zeezrom and Antionah, who demonstrate knowledge of the early Hebrew Bible books, are also puzzled by references to the resurrection. 

The Book of Daniel declares that “many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” But that book falls relatively late in the Old Testament, and the clarity of the doctrine is obscured as we move back in time—perhaps another veiled or censored teaching. Though there is some uncertainty about what he meant, Isaiah prophesied that our God “will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces;” and “O Lord. . . Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body [or “together their bodies”] shall they arise.”

Other than these passages, there are a few resurrection passages that are debated but possibly veiled or which might have a secondary meaning. Ezekiel prophesied that a valley of dry bones will come to life as normal people, primarily as a metaphor for the restoration of Israel, but perhaps also suggesting the possibility of resurrection. The Hebrew grammar is jumbled, but Job seems to say, with words not in Hebrew italicized, “though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet [from] my flesh shall I see God.” 

With these powerful images of resurrection available to him, Jesus, surprisingly, does not cite Daniel, Ezekiel, or Job when prophesying of his own resurrection. Instead, Jesus sees the most relevance in the story of Jonah (or Jonas in Greek): “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”  We don’t instinctively think of Jonah being swallowed by a “great fish” as death, but Jonah’s prayer from inside the fish uses the language of death: “out of the belly of hell [Sheol] cried I, and thou heardest my voice.” He stayed there for three days before his deliverance.

Perhaps more importantly, God is the one who breathes life into humanity, and he saves Israel from death and bondage repeatedly. The Exodus is just one beautiful example of God delivering his people from bondage—a frequent metaphor for death in scripture. And God shows himself in the Old Testament to be a God of miracles. The same omnipotence that would allow God to part the Red Sea, stop the sun in the sky, shake the earth, obliterate cities, turn back armies, bring springs to life, and deliver his people is the same power required to perform the most stunning of all miracles: to raise from the dead.  

Christ is the Meaning

Finding Christ in the Old Testament happens the same way we develop a testimony of Christ in the first place. Nephi tells us that a key to understanding Isaiah, for example, is the “spirit of prophecy”—that is, the “testimony of Jesus” obtained by revelation. If we encounter Christ’s character in the course of our study, we have found him in the text. Peter, who recognized Christ as the promised Messiah, told Jesus, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” not because it was a logical imperative in scripture, but because our “Father which is in heaven” had “revealed it unto [him].” The Lord’s counsel for studying the Apocrypha also applies to the Old Testament: “whoso is enlightened by the Spirit shall obtain benefit therefrom; And whoso receiveth not by the Spirit, cannot be benefited.” 

Christ is indeed “in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things.” Like the first-century Jews who needed the Spirit to understand Christ in their scripture, we, too, can seek the Spirit’s help in unveiling Christ in every part of our lives, however hidden He may seem. As we search the scriptures and apply “our hearts to understanding,” we can come to see what Jesus taught His apostles: that the Old Testament scriptures “are they which testify of me.”

As Christ “yielded up the ghost” on Calvary, “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom,” a symbol of overcoming the barriers to God’s presence under the old covenant. As the Book of Hebrews teaches, we can now “enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus . . . through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.” Just as the veil in the temple symbolized Christ’s broken body, the veil of the Old Testament is also rent by Christ Himself through revelation. 

Perhaps we can now better understand, with the scarcity of explicit references to Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, how confused Christ’s disciples must have been immediately after his death. For those on the road to Emmaus, this confusion was dispelled when Jesus, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets . . . expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself,” and why he “ought . . . to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory.” He was the veiled meaning all along.

The post Unveiling Christ this Easter appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

Humility is not humiliation; it’s the start to something better.

What “The Day Of The Ashes” Meant

In the early medieval West the name dies cinerum—“day of ashes”—appears in the Roman books; by the later first millennium, marking the head with ash had become the way common Christians entered Lent. In 1091, Pope Urban II extended the custom at Benevento; soon liturgical books called the day Feria Quarta Cinerum (Ash Wednesday). The words were simple, the meaning older than Christendom: repentance and mortality, echoing Genesis 3:19.

The gesture sprang from Scripture’s grammar of contrition—Daniel turning “with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes” (Daniel 9:3), Job repenting “in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6), Nineveh in sackcloth (Jonah 3). Dust was catechesis.

The Restoration’s Witness: Dust, Nothingness, Promise

If medieval Christians called us dust, Restoration scripture continues the theme—and then refuses to leave us there. King Benjamin commands disciples to “remember… the greatness of God, and your own nothingness” so they can learn to “always retain in remembrance” His goodness (Mosiah 4:11–12). Alma is blunter: “I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak” (Alma 26:12). And Helaman’s lament is bracing: “How great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth” (Helaman 12:7–8).

This is not self‑loathing; it is spiritual realism. Dust is teachable. “If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness,” the Lord says—not to crush, but to make “weak things become strong” (Ether 12:27). 

The Orthodox Beginning: Clean Monday

Eastern Christians start Great Lent on Clean Monday, a different tradition to enter the same period of the year. It is the first step of fasting, confession, and household “cleansing”—a positive, springlike beginning that pairs sobriety with joy. The day frames repentance not as dour exhibition but as purification, a clearing to make room for grace.

While these traditions have developed different practices, they both intuitively understand that to begin the season that ends with the glorious resurrection, we should start with humility. 

A Latter‑day Saint On‑Ramp To Easter

Modern life trains us to curate an image of greatness. The Book of Mormon’s anthropology is corrective: remember God’s greatness and our dependence, and remember covenant possibility (Mosiah 4:11–12). Moses felt it—“man is nothing”—and then saw God’s work unfold through him (Moses 1:10, 39). In other words, recognizing our nothingness is not an insult; it’s permission to be redeemed. And refusing to recognize it can prevent our redemption.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ celebrate Easter with worship and witness but have not historically observed Ash Wednesday or Lent as formal religious seasons. 

As we seek to apply Elder Stevenson’s counsel, we don’t need to import another church’s liturgical calendar, but we would be wise to recognize the accumulated wisdom in the way they’ve chosen to celebrate the season. 

So how might Latter‑day Saint families launch an Easter season, starting from the ground, in humility?

Choose a starting day. You might key it to the first Monday several weeks before Easter (a nod to “clean” beginnings) or to a family fast day. Mark the start in family council: “Today we begin our walk to Easter.” Small, simple, said out loud.

Name the truth. Read together Moses 1:10; Mosiah 4:11; Helaman 12:7–8. Let each person finish the sentence: “Because I am dust, I will…” (serve, forgive, listen). Keep it under five minutes; keep it tender.

Consider the Metaphor. Perhaps the timing of planting in much of the northern hemisphere can give you or your family a reason to get into the dirt and dust. This could allow you to connect to the lowliness metaphor in a unique way.

Fast to make room. Perhaps make a special effort to fast on the first Sunday in March, or add an additional fast on the Sunday before or after the traditional Ash Wendesday day as a way of starting the season in humility. 

Prime the house. Borrow a line from Clean Monday: do some literal cleaning, donate gently used items, and clear a shelf for an “Easter table.” If you’re going to do spring cleaning anyway, why not find a way to connect it to the start of an Easter spiritual celebration?

Read the story. Last year, Public Square Magazine published “40 Days to Easter,” a set of readings that covered the life of Jesus Christ. This calendar or similar scripture reading traditions can begin as part of a countdown to Easter. 

We are in an exciting season. Medieval Christians were 600 years into their tradition before Ash Wednesday began to develop. Latter-day Saints are still shy of 200, and so we are purposefully considering ways to expand our traditions and point our lives toward Jesus Christ. As we consider how to celebrate the season, we should be thoughtful about what our unique faith brings, and continue to remain in conversation with our fellow Christians and the ways they have found to celebrate.

The post A Latter-day Saint Prelude to Easter appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

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“For unto you is born this day …” The first Christmas homily is preached to people whose names we don’t know. People whose names were barely known then. No titles, no platform—just workers on the late shift, keeping watch because someone has to. And heaven opens there.

Then a second scandal: learned men cross borders to kneel before a baby who cannot hold up His own head. And behind it all, the greater scandal: the Maker of worlds arrives in the most powerless form we know.

Yes, the angels announce to shepherds.
Yes, kings worship a baby.
Yes, God comes as a child.
Yes, we worship a Lord executed in the manner reserved for the disgraced.

The weak, strong. The last, first—this is not a footnote to Christmas. It is the pattern.

Christmas reveals the grammar of the gospel: God’s strength moves through human lowliness. Christianity is a religion of the meek for the meek; it upends the ancient habit of equating glory with dominance and piety with prestige. If we want to be where the glory is, we must go where the angels went—toward the overlooked, the small, the tired, the last shift.

Nativity in the Age of Metrics

Our moment is fluent in power—digital, economic, and civic. We speak it in metrics and platforms, in credentials and capital, in influence and leverage. We measure one another by visibility and reach—by what can be photographed, clipped, tagged, repeated, and scaled.

And even religious life can drift into that current. Public ambition begins to look like the same thing as holiness. The nativity knocks the ladder sideways.

The Church of Jesus Christ is not a stage for the impressive; it is a covenant family where the “weak and the simple” often carry God’s work (see 1 Corinthians 1:27; Doctrine and Covenants 1:19–23). Advent is our annual reminder that the kingdom’s center of gravity is low.

And this is not sentimental. It is practical. People on the margins—by income, schedule, language, health, age, or social confidence—often know something the center forgets: how to receive, how to ask, how to depend. That posture is not a deficiency; it is the doorway to grace. “Blessed are the meek,” the Lord says, “for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). In other words: the future belongs to the teachable.

If you want to know what you worship, watch what you honor. If you want to know who you’re becoming, watch whom you notice—and whom you pass by.

Christmas tells us where God’s attention goes first—and where ours must go if we want to become like Him.

An Old Standard and The Gospel’s Reversal

For most of human history, the “standard” for divinity was obvious: gods were supposed to look like power made permanent. The holy belonged at the top—near empire, victory, wealth, and spectacle. If the divine ever showed itself, it would do so in the arenas of the impressive: the secure throne, the triumphant general, the gleaming temple, the unassailable lineage. Heroes were strong, untouchable, and admired—more like perfected versions of our power than a contradiction of it.

That’s why Christianity is so strange. We forget how strange because we have lived inside its math for two millennia, but the claim is still breathtaking: the God we worship does not merely visit human weakness—He enters it. 

Christianity does not simply soften power with kindness. It rewrites what counts as power.

Scripture names the pattern with almost embarrassing clarity.

The announcement goes to shepherds (Luke 2:8–20). Not to the palace. Not to the religious elite. Not to the persons whose approval would have made the message “credible.” Heaven speaks first to those who were already awake in the cold.

A young woman says yes—quietly, without leverage, without any guarantee that obedience will be safe—and then she magnifies the Lord (Luke 1:38, 46–55). She does not present a résumé. She offers her body, her life, her future. Her song is a prophecy of reversal: the proud scattered, the mighty brought down, the lowly lifted.

“The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Not “visited.” Not “appeared.” Dwelt. He took up residence in our vulnerability. He entered the world the way every one of us entered it: unable to speak, unable to walk, dependent on hands that could drop Him.

And then the descent continues. The Lord “descended below all things” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:6; see also 122:8). The least are His stand‑ins: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). Paul refuses to boast in strength and instead confesses the strange mathematics of grace: “When I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

This is not an exception for Christmas pageants. It is the bright‑line norm of discipleship: God chooses smallness as His stage. The divine life is revealed not by crushing enemies but by carrying crosses; not by insulating the holy from the unclean but by touching lepers and lifting the fallen. Bethlehem is the first note in that reversal, and it keeps sounding wherever disciples learn to stop worshipping invulnerability—and start worshipping the God who chose weakness as the doorway to glory.

Christmas is the first movement in that symphony of reversal. Bethlehem is not merely a scene. It is a doctrine.

A Christmas rule of meekness

Christmas teaches a reversal so complete that we can mistake it for sentiment. But the gospel’s elevation of weakness is not a warm slogan; it is a holy discipline. It does not romanticize injury, excuse vice, or bless exploitation. The Lord never asks the oppressed to call their wounds “virtue. ”  The gospel never calls sin “smallness” so we can baptize our appetites as humility.

He heals. He delivers. He forgives. He makes clean.

So what, exactly, is being elevated?

Meekness is not passivity. It is strength under the Lord’s rule—strength bridled, submitted, and therefore safe. It is power that refuses to eat people. It is competence turned outward rather than upward. In the kingdom of God, the measure of strength is not how high you can climb, but how faithfully you can stoop without contempt.

This is why the gospel can honor both the lowly and the gifted without confusion. Public stewardships, education, eloquence, and leadership are not intrusions into holiness; they are potential consecrations—when they bend toward service instead of self-display. The boundary is simple and searching: weakness welcomed, pride resisted. Wherever influence is used to bless the overlooked, it becomes meekness in motion. Christmas does not abolish excellence. It abolishes contempt.

And because this pattern begins in Bethlehem, it cannot remain private. A world trained to prize dominance will always treat the lowly as disposable, the slow as inconvenient, the dependent as embarrassing. Christmas contradicts that instinct at its root. It teaches us to look again—to honor the unseen labor, to make room without fanfare, to practice a quieter kind of courage that notices the tired, the newcomer, the anxious, the socially invisible. Often the first work of discipleship is simply to stop stepping over the places where God likes to dwell.

Bethlehem is God’s verdict on where greatness begins.

The cheapest seats got the first announcement. The smallest body held the Ancient of Days. The condemned cross became the throne of mercy. The gospel does not merely tolerate weakness on the way to “real” power; it reveals weakness as the place where God most loves to work.

If we want more glory in our wards and in our world, the instructions are uncomplicated:

Go low.
Make room.
Walk toward the margins—

because that is where the angels still sing.

The post The Night Shift Heard Heaven First appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

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Whenever we talk about Thanksgiving and its origins, we refer to the first Thanksgiving in 1621. We talk of the Pilgrims and Wampanoag and the great feast they had together, celebrating the abundant harvest which was, in great part, thanks to the Wampanoag’s help. That is a part of our past well worth remembering. But there is actually another Thanksgiving story, equally important, which we don’t often recall. And this story includes an important founder of our nation who is likewise unfamiliar. This story, the first Thanksgiving under the new Constitution, had nothing to do with harvests or Pilgrims or American Indians.

[Boudinot] could not think of letting the session pass … without offering an opportunity to all citizens of the United States of joining, with one voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings he has poured down upon them. With this view, then, he would move the following resolution:

Resolved, That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public Thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness.

This Thanksgiving proclamation would not be a reminder about great harvests or friendly people. This Thanksgiving would be about the Constitution, its new form of government, and the peaceable way it came about for everyone’s protection and happiness.

Surprisingly, only a month before, President Washington himself had written to James Madison, mentioning that he was contemplating asking the Senate to implement a day of Thanksgiving. However, this proved unnecessary, as Boudinot, feeling the same way, initiated the process in the House of Representatives.

After some debate about the appropriateness of this idea and whether they had the power to put forward such a resolution, Representative Roger Sherman, a Congressman from Connecticut, as well as a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, spoke in agreement with Boudinot. He felt the resolution was justified and reminded them of the long tradition of calling for a day of Thanksgiving. In fact, having a day of prayer and Thanksgiving, or even fasting, prayer, and Thanksgiving, was common. Sherman reminded them that it was more than just a routine practice in the colonies. The idea actually extended all the way back to the Old Testament times after King Solomon finished building the Temple. 

Boudinot’s resolution passed. Within just a few days of receiving the resolution, President Washington issued the proclamation. It was subsequently published in newspapers throughout the fledgling nation.

Perhaps the first Thanksgiving held here on the North American continent was for the Pilgrims to celebrate a great harvest with their American Indian friends. But the first Thanksgiving held in these United States was actually to give thanks to God for His help in establishing the new constitutional form of government through peaceful means. This story of the nation’s first Thanksgiving is less remembered today. And knowledge of a key catalyst of this Thanksgiving has largely disappeared from view. Who was this man, so intent on ensuring that God be given proper appreciation?

Elias Boudinot (pronounced Boo’-din-oh) is by no means a household name in the United States today. His personal legacy as a U.S. founding father has faded from public view. This neglect is unfortunate, considering the important roles he played during the country’s founding.

In 1772, Elias was appointed as a trustee of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University). Not long after this appointment, however, rumblings of the coming revolution began to spread throughout the colonies, and Elias was swept up in the cause. While he felt that many of Britain’s actions toward the colonies were unjust, he initially hesitated. But once it was clear that the war of independence was inevitable, Boudinot was all in. 

In the spring of 1777, Gen. Washington commissioned him to serve as Commissary General of Prisoners. This position ended in 1778, when he was elected to the Continental Congress, where he served for a year. In 1781, he was elected to Congress under the Articles of Confederation and was quickly elected as the presiding officer of the Confederation Congress. He served in that position during the end-of-war negotiations with Great Britain, during which, as president of the Congress, he signed the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War. After the war ended, Boudinot remained heavily involved in the young nation’s transition to peacetime independence. 

Following this service in the U.S. Congress, Washington appointed him director of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. After completing ten years in this role, Boudinot finally retired to Burlington, New Jersey. 

Boudinot’s ancestors were devout French Huguenots, and Boudinot carried on this tradition of devotion. His Christian values led him to shun slavery. As the question was being debated in Congress, a few supporters of slavery tried to use the Bible to support their position. Boudinot responded with a sober warning. While God had preserved America thus far, He would not necessarily turn a blind eye to the sin of slavery forever:  

It is true that the Egyptians held the Israelites in bondage for four hundred years, … but … gentlemen cannot forget the consequences that followed: they were delivered by a strong hand and stretched-out arm, and it ought to be remembered that the Almighty Power that accomplished their deliverance is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

Considering these words, it comes as no surprise that he gave complete credit to God for the success of the fledgling American nation as well. A letter from Boudinot in 1783 makes it clear that, in his mind, involving the Lord was the only way America could have survived its violent separation from England: 

I have been in the midst of principal scenes of action during the whole contest. I have not been a bare spectator. I have carefully watched and compared the steps of Divine Providence thro’ the whole, and as the result, I can assure you that our success has not been the effect of either our numbers, power, wisdom, or art. It has been manifestly the effect (I was going to say the miraculous effect) of the astonishing interposition of a holy God in our favor. I do not mean in the least to derogate from the bravery, wisdom, patience, and perseverance of our army. … My meaning is that in no instance have our numbers, power, wisdom, or art been such that, in the judgment of impartial judges, success could have been reasonably depended on, independent of the overruling power of heaven. In many instances, our misfortunes have been our happiness, and often our blunders and mistakes have been the cause of our succeeding beyond the most sanguine expectations.

On another occasion, Boudinot lauded the Constitution and the new form of government that was being established while also expressing an earnest hope that the coming prosperity and newfound liberty of America would be preserved by the virtue and faith of the people:  

Who knows but the country for which we have fought and bled may hereafter become a theatre of greater events than yet have been known to mankind? May these invigorating prospects lead us to the exercise of every virtue—religious, moral, and political.

Boudinot’s most important writing is a book penned in response to a later work of Thomas Paine’s. In 1776, Paine wrote his famous pamphlet, Common Sense, which took the American colonies by storm. It preceded the Declaration of Independence by six months and helped to solidify the colonists’ resolve to break free from Britain—and it cemented Thomas Paine’s status as one of the Revolution’s most memorable figures. John Adams himself noted, “[W]ithout the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain.”

Adams records in his journal his conversation with Thomas Paine concerning his book, Common Sense. It is an early hint at Paine’s future work, The Age of Reason:

I told him further, that his reasoning from the Old Testament was ridiculous, and I could hardly think him sincere. At this, he laughed, and said he had taken his ideas in that part from Milton: and then expressed a contempt of the Old Testament and indeed of the Bible at large, which surprised me. He saw that I did not relish this, and soon check’d himself, with these words ‘However, I have some thoughts of publishing my thoughts on religion, but I believe it will be best to postpone it, to the latter part of life.’

He kept his word to John Adams and, beginning in 1794, Paine published a work that incited quite a bit of controversy. This work of Paine’s, entitled The Age of Reason, embraced many of the Enlightenment-era philosophies of the day, including deism, which some contemporaries condemned as atheistical.

In the dedication to his daughter, Susan, Boudinot explained: 

I was much mortified to find the whole force of this man’s vain genius pointed at the youth of America. … This awful consequence created some alarm in my mind lest at any future day you, my beloved child, might take up this plausible address of infidelity. … I have endeavored to … show his extreme ignorance of the Divine Scriptures … not knowing that ‘they are the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth.

While he is not as well remembered as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, or John Hancock, Elias Boudinot played a consistent and influential role in the founding of America. He was a model of the values held by the founders, who wished to see their nation prosper under God for many years to come and who lived their lives accordingly. Boudinot’s priorities of faith, family, and virtue made him beloved as a father, husband, friend, and statesman. And his writings, including The Age of Revelation, testify to his faith and the service he gave the citizens of this country. Thus, while the general public does not know him today, he undoubtedly left his mark upon countless contemporaries and most certainly upon America every Thanksgiving season. 

Recognizing the importance of Boudinot’s work, The Age of Revelation, Mount Liberty Press, the publishing imprint of John Adams College, has issued a new, annotated edition of the work. In this way, the College honors Elias Boudinot and looks forward to a revival of appreciation for the man, his work, and the faith of a generation that brought about the United States of America. The Mount Liberty edition of The Age of Revelation is available on Amazon.

The post The First Thanksgiving Was for the Constitution appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

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The Jewish holy days were structured to witness of Christ. God’s most important events were and are fulfilled on these designated days. Author Gale Boyd shares excerpts of her ideas from her book Days of Awe: Jewish Holy Days, Symbols, and Prophecies for Latter-day Saints to help us learn how we can celebrate the message of the Resurrection this Easter season. Passover week contains 3 holy observances through which we can see Christ’s last week on Earth as a planned set of events prophesied in detail through those holiday traditions and rituals.

The culminating event of the last week of Jesus’ life was His resurrection. Jesus went to great lengths after He rose to make sure His disciples understood what He had done and that the resurrection would be His gift to all mankind. In fact, we know that God the Father has a resurrected body (JSH 1:17)—a glorified body of flesh and bone. We also know that Christ retains His resurrected body and will through eternity and that resurrection is provided by them for all living things regardless of worthiness. We believe that resurrection is the “end all be all” of our physical existence and that no form of life exceeds it—with perfect, incorruptible bodies, resurrected people who overcome the world through Christ can literally become co-heirs with Christ. 

Over time, orthodox Christian churches have focused on the importance of Christ’s resurrection over the good news of His birth, making Easter a more important and festive holiday than Christmas in countries where most people follow orthodox Christian traditions. In the United States, helped along by a creative, money-driven marketplace, the religious and irreligious trappings of Christmas have ballooned with no sign of letting up. Easter is not only eclipsed by Christmas but even by Halloween.

God established with ancient Israel a yearly procession of High Holy Days that prophesied the Savior’s first and second comings. He ordained these Holy Days to be centered on the temple and commanded them to be observed forever (Exodus 12:14; Leviticus 23). In fact, according to Ezekiel, these will be our holidays during the millennium. At that future time, we will see and understand both the symbolic prophecies and their fulfillment as we celebrate. (An example is giving the gold plates to Joseph Smith on Jewish New Year—Rosh HaShanah—whose symbolism is of the separation of the wicked and gathering of the righteous.)

God ordained seven High Holy Days to be commemorated by Israel. The first three, in the spring (Sacrifice of the Lamb, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits), are symbolic of the Savior’s birth, ministry, death, and resurrection. The last three, in the fall (Religious New Year, Days of Awe, and Day of Atonement), focus on the separation of the wicked from the righteous, final repentance, and the coming of the millennial Messiah. The one in the middle is the Feast of Weeks, signifying the gifts of the Spirit and the Scriptures during our wilderness walk. Three pilgrimages to the temple to honor these holy days were required for those who were able.

The Shape of the Week of Christ’s Death

The spring pilgrimage to the temple included three holy convocations, with the Passover sacrifice (a high holy sabbath) being observed on the 14th day of the month of Nisan. (The Jewish month of Nisan always occurs in the spring—March/April—according to the Jewish lunar/solar calendar, and Passover begins on the first full moon after the spring equinox.) The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins the next day on the 15th of Nisan (another high holy sabbath day), and the First Fruits festival takes place on the day after the sabbath occurring during the week. The message of the entire holiday is deliverance.

Passover was the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb, a perfect, first-born male under one year of age with no broken bones. This innocent lamb typifies Christ, and at the first Passover, it was sacrificed between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m., as Christ would be. In Hebrews, Paul said this about Jesus: 

For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself (7:26, 27). 

When Jesus officiated at the Passover for His apostles, He was both the offerer and the offering.

Remember that Christ was crucified as lambs were offered in the temple. He was hurriedly taken down from the cross because the Sabbath was nigh. But John said this was not a normal Saturday sabbath but a High Holy Day: “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away” (John 19:31, emphasis added). The “preparation” was for the Passover. Still, Christians over the centuries have celebrated Good Friday, picturing the crucifixion on that day. Scholars of the Center for Nazarene Judaism have determined that there were no Friday-night-to-Saturday Passovers during the 20 years surrounding Christ’s crucifixion, while John says Jesus was taken down for the Passover high holy sabbath. Jesus was crucified on Thursday. 

Remember that when Christ ministered in Israel, He was forced to withhold much information because of the wickedness of that generation. He said, 

… An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:39, 40).

The Book of Mormon prophets prophesied the signs of Christ’s death. After the wicked were destroyed by storms and earthquakes, there were three full days of utter darkness. Again, the Sign of Jonas was fulfilled. We know from Doctrine and Covenants, Section 138, that during these full three days, Christ visited the righteous in the Spirit World and established a way for those in Spirit Prison to learn the gospel and repent. We begin to see another of the fruits of the atonement. Jesus made a way for all to hear His message and to choose or reject Him in the Spirit World if they had no opportunity or refused the opportunity during mortality.

The Promise of First Fruits

First Fruits during Passover week was a wave offering in the temple by the high priest. The observance of “First Fruits” during Passover week is called Bikkurim in Hebrew, a word whose root is “honored son.” God commanded that it should be observed on “the day after the Sabbath that falls during Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread.” This would result in thousands of years of arguing among Jewish scholars. Did the Lord mean the day after the normal Saturday Sabbath or the day after the High Holy Day Sabbath? Jews still don’t agree, so they schedule this observance for the 16th of Nisan.

If the Lord meant the day after the normal Saturday Sabbath, then Bikkurim would always fall on a Sunday. Preparations for Bikkurim began weeks before it occurred. The priests would plant a small field of barley close to the temple. They were not allowed by the Lord to water, weed, or care for this barley at all—it had to “grow up unto itself.”

The high priest would go down into the field surrounded by interested onlookers, who would give their common consent when the priest found the most perfect sheaf of grain. He would set this sheaf apart by tying it with a flaxen cord. Then, he would harvest it and take it to the temple to offer as a wave offering. After that wave offering, the Jews could partake of their new barley harvest. The wave offering guaranteed a perfect harvest until Passover the following year.

This wave offering was offered as Christ rose from the dead on Sunday, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, after three full days and nights. Jesus’ resurrection initiated a perfect harvest of souls—the perfected unity of spirit and body for all. So we have the resurrection as a fruit of Christ’s atonement; we also see that through the atonement, all mankind will hear the gospel and choose or reject it before the resurrection. But there is more…

The Importance of Elijah

Elijah has always been an important part of Judaism. A seat is reserved for him in the synagogue, and a seat is reserved for him at the Passover feast. At a certain point in the Passover recitation, the door is opened to receive him. The Jews expect Elijah to return just before the Millennial Messiah arrives.

When Moroni visited Joseph Smith (JSH-1) over and over throughout the night, and again the next day (during the fall Jewish holidays), he recited the promise of Elijah every time: “… And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.” 

The curse, the wasting, means to be left “without root or branch”—to have no family, to be alone. The perfect harvest of the resurrection was always meant to include the sealing of families together and the sealing of souls into God’s eternal family. Thus, Elijah visited Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple to bestow the sealing power. And he did it on Bikkurim, the 16th of Nisan, a Sunday, the day Christ rose from the dead. The resurrection, the preaching of the gospel in the Spirit World, the eternal uniting of families together and into God’s own family—the atonement of Jesus is the most glorious of all blessings to mankind.

Our Holy Days

God’s most important events were and are fulfilled on these designated days. The fact that the visitations and restoration of keys in the Kirtland Temple occurred on the First Fruits holiday shows that God continues to fulfill the prophetic symbolism of the Jewish holidays in our time. The Jewish holy days were structured to witness of Christ, so the Jews would recognize Him at His coming. As Latter-day Saints continue to develop the richness of our Easter celebrations, may we consider the precedence observed by our ancient brethren and sisters and seek to develop rituals and traditions that point our hearts to recognizing the reality of Christ’s Resurrection and His 2nd Coming.

The post The Jewish Roots of the Resurrection—and the High Sabbath Christianity Forgot appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

Some believers try to “save” God from the embarrassment of having created a world with so much suffering by downplaying the suffering that plainly exists.  But this won’t do. Denying the depth of suffering is a way of looking away from the world God created. The pain of the world can’t be banished just by averting our eyes. Suffering persists, and sooner or later, just about everyone will face suffering that will not be silenced or ignored.

Is all this human and divine suffering really necessary? There may not be a satisfactory answer to this question in this life. But it is possible to hazard a few guesses about why God might permit suffering to persist. 

In what follows, I am not making the case “for suffering.” I’m not suggesting that we should “like” suffering or that we should seek it out. I’m also not saying that suffering always has an upside. I am suggesting that suffering can play an important role in our path towards God, and if it does, then our personal Via Dolorosa will not have been in vain. 

One way that suffering can help us turn towards God is by humbling us and disabusing us of false beliefs. Suffering disrupts our comfortable routines and shallow certainties. In the depths of pain, we are forced to take a hard look at our lives to see what we are missing. We often find that we are not as virtuous, kind, faithful, or courageous as we thought we were. We find that we were going through the motions rather than loving God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. God tries to speak to us in many ways, but when we are “past feeling” (1 Nephi 17:45), when we ignore the simple and profound ways that God tries to teach us, God is willing to use other means to get our attention. As C.S. Lewis says, pain is God’s “megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” In this space, there is an opening for us to turn towards God. 

Pain forces us to look beyond the mundane and the trivial. In times of ease and comfort, it is easier for us to be bewitched by fleeting pleasures. But when true difficulty comes, we are drawn to look for what Blaise Pascal calls “a firmer way out.” In these circumstances, challenges and suffering are a gift from God to disburden us from false attachments. As one bible commentator writes, “And should we not consider all crosses, all things grievous to flesh and blood, as what they really are, as opportunities of embracing God’s will, at the expense of our own? And consequently, as so many steps by which we may advance in holiness?”

Pointing out that suffering is a precondition for joy might lead some readers to seek out suffering for its own sake, but this is not necessary. Like old age, suffering will find us whether we look for it or not. Further, the quest for righteous living will necessarily require us to face numerous difficult challenges. Jesus’ invitation to follow Him is upfront about the costs of discipleship: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt. 16:24, emphasis added). Loving fallen human beings is its own source of sorrow, as the example of our Heavenly Father shows (Moses 7:28-33). Apparently, part of the price of having joy is knowing misery. Paul As Bruce C. and Marie K. Hafen write, “The sorrows of our lives [can] carve and stretch … caverns … that] expand the soul’s capacity for joy.” Paul gloried in the tribulations that helped him know Christ better: “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). 

Another way that suffering can work to our benefit is by making us deeper people. I don’t mean deeper in the sense of being intellectually deeper (though it may also include that), but existentially deeper. Through suffering, we become aware of the broader scope of possibilities of human existence. 

We humans are generally creatures of comfort. We avoid or ignore the terrors that lurk just beyond a functional horizon of consciousness. Though we are dimly aware of just how bad things can get—especially when a friend or family member falls prey to some great injury or misfortune—we often suppress and downplay these possibilities, flattering ourselves that such things probably won’t happen to us. But then catastrophe arrives at our door, and we descend into the underbelly of pain and suffering that shatters whatever sense of normalcy we once had. 

Down here, it’s deeply uncomfortable. No one wants to stay. But there is a sense in which we are more acquainted with reality here than when we are comfortable. Dross cannot endure the refiner’s fire. Jesus taught, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up” (Matthew 15:13). Here we gain perspective on what matters most. 

And, crucially, here we can find other people in a way that we cannot find them anywhere else. Everyone feels pain, and everyone wants their pain to matter. There is something deeply validating about having someone empathize with your pain, to feel it with you as you feel it yourself. When we pass through deep valleys of pain and suffering, we become capable of descending into those same valleys with other people, helping them face the terrors that seem overwhelming. According to Alma, part of the reason Jesus suffered all that He did was so that “his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:12). You never forget a friend who arrives and supports you in a moment of extremity.

When we tell the story of Easter, we rightly focus on the resurrection of Christ and the empty tomb, for joy and redemption have the last word. But that joy wouldn’t be what it is without the terrible price Jesus paid to achieve it. As Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf recently taught, “We tend to think of joy as the absence of sorrow … But what if joy and sorrow can coexist? What if they have to coexist?” Suffering prepares us for the joy Jesus won at such a high cost.

The post Drinking the Bitter Cup: ​​Finding Purpose in What Hurts Most appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

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In recent years, observing the events of Holy Week has increased in importance for Latter-day Saints. Social media influencers and BYU professors like John Hilton III speak more noticeably about the Easter season. A notable invitation from Elder Stevenson said, 

How do we model the teaching and celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Easter story, with the same balance, fulness, and rich religious tradition of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Christmas story? It seems we are all trying. I observe a growing effort among Latter-day Saints toward a more Christ-centered Easter.

This change is necessary in these latter days if we are to become a people who “talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, and preach of Christ” (2 Nephi 25:26).

Typically, mentions of Easter exclusively include the most key moments from the Holy Week: “7 stories for the 7 days” of the week, including: 

• The Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-40, John 12:12-19) 
• Jesus’ Prayer in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46) 
• His Crucifixion on Good Friday (Matthew 27:27-56, Mark 15:16-41, Luke 23:26-49, John 19:16-30) 
• And the crowning moment of His literal resurrection on Sunday (Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-18)

All of these events are central to the meaning of Easter and Holy Week in the Christian tradition worldwide.  

However, in pondering personal “lessons from Holy Week” in preparation for Easter, my mind immediately went to a story that is lesser known, yet significant in the grand story of Easter and the mission of Jesus Christ. I thought of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus Christ with oil. She was the ultimate example of “eyes to see and ears to hear.” She seemed to know what the twelve apostles did not yet fully grasp: Jesus Christ would die to be resurrected and become the Savior of the world.

Mary of Bethany was the sister of Martha and Lazarus, living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She is known in another story for sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to His teachings while her sister was busy and “cumbered about much serving.” The event that caught my pondering also took place at a dinner in Bethany, though later in Christ’s life. As an act of deep love and reverence for the Savior, Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with oil and wiped them with her hair; symbolic as both an honor to Him and a preparation.

The Bible tells what type of oil was used. The text refers to “nardos” (νάρδος). “Nard” in the Greek New Testament refers to spikenard, a plant native to the Himalayas. It was rare and costly, which is why Judas Iscariot criticizes the act: 

Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

This [Judas] said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always (John 12:5-8).

Mary knew what Judas and others would not, and Jesus Himself was confirming Mary’s thoughts and personal revelation. This oil, spikenard oil, was known in the ancient world for both its medicinal properties and its use in burial rituals. It was a key component used to prepare the dead for burial. She used the oil because she seemed to understand that Jesus was heading toward a sacrifice and burial. Many others, including his apostles and disciples, did not fully grasp this concept even after several attempts by Jesus to explain so (Matthew 16:21-23 & 17:22-23, and Mark 8:31-33 & 9:30-32, among others). His disciples often seemed oblivious to or confused by His prophecies. I don’t know why the disciples “missed the mark,” but it is clear Mary knew exactly what she was doing. Christ recognized that her anointing was a prophetic act, preparing His body for burial. Mary had a remarkable understanding of Jesus’ mission and impending death, so she felt the need to prepare him by performing a burial ritual. 

I observe that Mary had “eyes to see and ears to hear” what Jesus was trying to teach all along. He had a mission, and it was different than what most supposed. Instead of being a political/military leader and victorious Messiah rescuing the Jews from Roman rule, Christ came to fulfill the Atonement. He came to pay the price for our sins and sufferings so we would be clean to live with our Father in Heaven again.

What better example than Mary can we have as Latter-day Saint women? We can play an important role in knowing Christ and knowing what others can’t see. We can have a deep relationship with Jesus Christ and have more of an understanding of His mission. We can learn line upon line, precept upon precept. We can show faith by action, show our devotion like Mary, and instead of anticipating His death, we can anticipate His return. Even if others are in denial or unable to see it clearly, we can prepare our minds and our hearts for His Second Coming. 

Perhaps the greatest part about the Easter story and Holy Week is that the story isn’t over. He told his disciples that after His resurrection, He would be coming again (see textbox). May we be those disciples, those women, who are anticipating the great prophecies of old that when Jesus Christ returns, “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Isaiah 40:5).

The post What Mary Knew: Burial, Resurrection, and the Second Coming appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

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Approaching the Easter season, I reminisce about the Easter religious rituals from my Catholic childhood and their impact: how they prepared me to receive God’s restoration, and a deep desire to make Easter more meaningful in my life today.

I was raised in a good home as a practicing Catholic. I went to mass each Sunday, CCD each Tuesday evening (religious education for children and youth), and regularly partook in the sacrament of confession to a parish priest. At age 7, I was given the sacrament of First Holy Communion, and at 14, the sacrament of Confirmation, to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Catholic tradition. I selected a confirmation or “new” name for myself to be received as part of that sacrament. In our daily life we regularly prayed together as a family, occasionally saying a rosary as well. My Mom often encouraged me to do both of those things on my own. Our Father, Hail Mary, and Grace before meals were regular prayers I said alone and with family. Christmas, with its preceding four-week Advent celebration looking forward to Christmas Eve mass and then Christmas day gifts, was always joyful and exciting. We lived in Northern Virginia for about 8 years of my childhood and would attend midnight mass as a family at the National Shrine in Washington, D.C. I have wonderful memories of those years.

A strong focus each year of my youth as a Catholic was Easter and the preceding “Holy Week.” The Lent season starts with Ash Wednesday beginning a 40-day period of contemplation, simplifying, and fasting, and concludes on Holy Thursday. During this time, it is traditional to “give up” something of our worldly pleasures––in addition to not eating between meals and not eating meat on Fridays––in order to experience sacrifice on a personal level as we focus on Jesus’ sacrifice for us. As a child, I would usually choose something like chocolate or television to give up. Sundays were a “free” day where we could still partake of the thing we’d given up, which eased the difficulty of missing out on something I loved for what seemed like an eternity in the life of a young girl.

After enacting the entry, we would then present what is referred to as the “passion narrative” from the four Gospels in the New Testament. The priest would be Jesus, someone would be Pontius Pilate, and the congregation would be the crowd chanting, “Crucify Him!”. 

We would also go to church on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and sometimes other days that week. The Good Friday services usually included reviewing the “Stations of the Cross.” Most Catholic churches have a series of 14 scenes depicting the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. The congregation would follow the priest to each depiction as the description was read.

When I was 12, we moved back to our home state of California, where I attended Mater Dei (Latin for Mother of God) Catholic High School, developing my faith even more. After two years at college in Orange County, I transferred to Utah State University in Logan. While I was completely fulfilled and content with my faith at the time, most of my new friends were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we would have some wonderful conversations about faith and our beliefs. On Ash Wednesdays, I would come to class with ashes on my forehead, and it sparked some thoughtful and respectful questions from my friends.

At the time, the Catholic church in town was a small and beautiful chapel on campus with dark wood inside and a Tudor-style brick exterior. I have profound memories of my first Holy Thursday service there and how deeply I felt the power of that day, that night, and what was to come. That is a sacred memory for me. The following day, Good Friday, it was raining. It was grey and bleak and such a perfect backdrop for me to spend the day thinking about Jesus on the cross at Calvary. Good experiences … At the same time, I feel hope … in the restored Gospel’s focus on the risen Christ

Over the years, I had some friends, whom I deeply loved and trusted, share with me their beliefs in the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We had many back-and-forth conversations about the nature of the Godhead, the full depth and breadth of the atonement of Jesus Christ, and the authority of the Priesthood. I witnessed miracles, sought revelation, and badgered and begged my God for answers and guidance to my confusion and questions. I didn’t get them the way I wanted, but I knew He was there and with me on this journey. These conversations brought me to a point of believing some of the new things I was being taught but not quite feeling ready to fully embrace the restored Gospel, be baptized into a new church, and accept the personal and family challenges that would entail. I stopped attending mass but always kept Holy Week and Easter sacred in my mind and heart.

Years later, at age 37, after taking the missionary discussions four times and having many refining experiences, I was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And for a few years, I felt an emptiness around Holy Week as my LDS friends carried on as normal. I knew it was supposed to be held sacred in my heart, so I would study the four Gospel accounts of that week in the New Testament on my own and try to keep the week simpler where I could, as I had in my youth. Eventually I realized the most appropriate place for me to be on Good Friday was in the temple. I would celebrate the sacrifice and mighty atonement of my Lord by being in His house, doing His work, and helping His children move forward.

A few years ago, I noticed a trend … my friends wanted to know more about Holy Week. They would have a Passover dinner or focus on those same New Testament accounts of the days leading up to Easter. They were hungry for more. There were books being written about how to increase one’s understanding of Easter and deepen the experience of the season. In 2023 the Church announced our worship services on Easter would only include Sacrament Meeting, and Elder Stevenson from the General Conference pulpit proclaimed we needed to refocus on Easter and its surrounding events. He challenged us to make this as important a season in our homes as we do Christmas.

As I spend time in the temple on Good Friday, I still struggle sometimes with a yearning from my youth to be more somber on this day. Inside me are deep contrasts: a dimly lit, dark wood chapel of over 30 years ago where the congregation chanted in song, “Watch and pray …” against the bright light, pure whiteness, and cheerful countenances found in the temple today. It can bring some loneliness, but I don’t want it to be like any other temple session––I don’t feel cheerful. So I think of how lonely my Savior felt in that Garden … on that Cross … and I know I am not alone. I know He appreciates my efforts to remember Him. To know Him.

I loved growing up Catholic. When I think back on those years, I have nothing but gratitude for my mom’s encouragement and support in having a relationship with God. Prioritizing my relationship with my Father in Heaven over rituals and beliefs has allowed me to personalize my faith journey and be more intentional about worship, especially at Easter.  I see the flecks of truth in my childhood experiences of Catholic sacraments, taking a new name, and choosing––even embracing––sacrifice for what it is, sacred. At the same time, I feel the hope that is more evident in the restored Gospel’s focus on the risen Christ and joyful anticipation of His return.

This year will mark ten years since the passing of my Dad, and just last week, I sat with a dear pet as she left this mortal life. So as Easter draws nearer, I can more fully appreciate the depths of Good Friday’s despair by understanding that Holy Saturday may have been a day of quiet sadness on this side of the veil, but it was a day of glorious work and teaching on the other. When I ache that my family and many of my friends and I don’t agree with each other on some very sacred things, I can find peace knowing there are so many things on which we can focus where we do meet each other in holy places of understanding and growth. And ultimately my hope lies in a deeper understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ—from Thursday to Sunday—as the path home for me and also for everyone I love. My Catholic youth has given me precious roots for my personal tree of knowledge and faith to withstand the winds and grow stronger in the light of the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The post Easter’s Meaningfulness: Where the Rosary Meets the Restoration appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

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To say life was difficult at home would have been the understatement of a lifetime. My dad had been unemployed for over a year, and our family of eight felt the crushing strain financially and otherwise. While I was used to a life of financial worry, this time felt different—desperate, even.

As a new high school graduate, I had my whole life before me, and I could not wait! With a small nest egg of money I earned at a local ice cream shop, I excitedly began a new chapter of life at BYU. In my naïve 18-year-old mind, I believed my family’s worries would remain at home in Arizona, allowing me to build a carefree existence in Provo.

I could not have been more wrong.

As I settled into college, I did all I could to support myself, not wanting to ask my parents for a single dollar. And, while I was getting by on my own, I could not hide from my family’s financial devastation. Just weeks into the fall semester, in an unexpected blow, I learned we would soon lose our home to foreclosure.

No job. No home. No money. What would become of us?

Trying to distract myself, I buried myself in school, work, and social activities. I was outwardly stoic, driven, and composed. But, beneath the surface, I was crumbling. While I loved being away at school, I could not shake the feeling that I had abandoned my family in their time of need. Perhaps, had I stayed, I could have worked hard enough to save our home. Maybe this financial tsunami that threatened to destroy us was partially my fault.

One day, amid this escalating trial, I stopped by the desk in the Morris Center to retrieve my mail. Hiding in the small stack of envelopes was a folded piece of paper with my name on it. Opening it, I read these simple words: “Lynnette, let those pearly whites shine, and know that you are loved.”

There was no signature, and the absence of a stamp told me this note had been dropped into my mailbox by someone who knew which box was mine. But nobody fitting that description knew anything about my heart-wrenching challenges. 

Except God.

As I read those words through tear-filled eyes, I knew they had come from Him through the willing hands of someone who had followed a simple prompting. To me, that letter from heaven said, “I see you. I know you. I love you. Everything will be okay.”

For me, the incomprehensible thing about the Lord’s love is that it is both infinite and strikingly personal. In a garden long ago, His love led Him to do what would be impossible for the rest of us. While His friends slept, He pushed through excruciating pain and did what the Father sent Him to earth—atone for all humanity’s sins. I can think of no greater manifestation of infinite love.

But, somehow, miraculously, His love is also deeply personal. It reaches across time and space, borders and boundaries, and finds its way into individual hearts. It is amplified on a thousand daily stages that all lead to Him, often through the hands of those who hear and heed His call to help. 

Long ago, the resurrected Savior stood on the seashore with His chief apostle, Peter, who would soon take over the leadership of His church on earth. In their final conversation, before He ascended to heaven, the Lord asked Peter a significant question: “Peter, do you love me?” When he answered in the affirmative, Christ instructed Peter to “feed my lambs.”

Then again, the same question: “Peter, do you love me?” Perhaps the Master had not heard, so Peter answered again, “Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.” The same urgent instructions bridged the space between them: “Feed my sheep.”

The Master Teacher undoubtedly knew the power of repetition. So, a third time, He asked His increasingly confused apostle: “Peter, do you love me?”

At this point, Peter was noticeably rattled. What was he missing? Did the Lord not understand or approve of his answer? But, once more, he pleadingly replied, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”

Not missing a beat, the Savior repeated the familiar instructions that would forever change the trajectory of Peter’s service: “Feed my sheep.” 

With such a short time to spend with His beloved apostles before returning home to His Father, the Savior needed Peter to grasp what it meant to love Him because love would always be the foundation of His work. Consequently, if Jesus had a few minutes to spend with each of us, I believe He would teach us exactly what He taught Peter in that historic conversation over 2000 years ago: If you love Me, take care of my children.

Loving God has never been and never will be passive—it is feeding, lifting, serving, and succoring on His behalf. It is finding the lost, nurturing the lonely, and strengthening the weak. It is praying to know how we can be His hands and then following quiet promptings to do unexpected things we otherwise would not do. 

Nearly thirty years ago, a folded piece of paper containing a few simple words of encouragement interrupted a cascading waterfall of challenges with undeniable evidence of God’s love for me. I may never know whose hand wrote those words, but like Peter of old, they had learned to follow the Lord’s call to share His love. I will be forever grateful for that simple gift, which continues to point me to Him.

The post Share His Love: Why Christ Still Asks Us to Feed His Sheep appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

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In early 2022, I learned I would not get the job I had hoped for despite several interviews and much effort. The evening I found out, a woman from my church congregation called and asked me to join her in helping Tammi. Tammi, another member of our congregation, had only one leg and couldn’t walk with it. She had been ill and, in an accident I no longer remember, had fallen and needed help getting back into her wheelchair. I hurried to Tammi’s place. Together we moved Tammi onto a sheet (or some other length of cloth) and used it to lift her up and into her chair. I was struck by the fact that Tammi never apologized or acted awkward about the situation. She responded with good humor and gratitude. Perhaps because of the grace with which she responded, I felt a deep peace there in her apartment. That peace helped to give me comfort in my disappointment about the job I didn’t get.

My experience with Tammi showed me that while there is value in the contemplative aspects of religious observance—such as prayer, reflection, and study—they are incomplete without the active component of service. I have felt the love of God more abundantly through service, both when I have given it and, more frequently when I have received it.

It is not always easy to accept service. Our culture often emphasizes a transactional view of relationships. I frequently catch myself keeping score, saying things like, “I owe you one,” after a favor. As I have served and been served, however, I have learned the economy of service is more complex and beautiful than a transactional economy. I have been reminded when on the receiving end of service that my relationship with the Savior is defined by the fact that He did —and does—for me what I can’t do for myself. Repaying Him for His sacrifice and His daily care is impossible. However, while reciprocity can be important, as I learned with Tammi, gratitude can more than repay service. I am moved by John Milton’s words in Paradise Lost: “A grateful mind/ By owing owes not, but still pays, at once/ Indebted and discharged; what burden then?” (4:55-57). Although I haven’t mastered the application of the principle, I have learned it is better to express gratitude for service than to apologize for needing it.

Part of the mystery of the economy of service is that simple gestures can be tremendously valuable. When a young woman watched my children for free so I could take my wife on a date, I felt like I had been given a fortune. A caring conversation with friends after not getting the job in 2022 was one of the things that helped me the most with my disappointment. These seemingly simple acts were really blessings beyond blessings. They show me the Savior knows what I truly need better than I do. He understands what service is necessary, and He provides it through loving individuals and families. Leo Tolstoy captures this in beautiful words in his story What Men Live By,

“God does not wish men to live apart, and therefore he does not reveal to them what each one needs for himself; but he wishes them to live united, and therefore reveals to each of them what is necessary for all … though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. He who has love is in God, and God is in him, for God is love.”

The service given to me and my family has been a window to the love of God for me and my family. It has helped me grow in gratitude and wonder for Him and His care for us through others.

I believe it is in acts of service that we come to know our Savior because it is in such acts that we emulate Him. We begin to understand Him as we ‘[go] about doing good” as He did (Acts 10:38). Two passages from the Book of Mormon harmonize with this thought:

“I say unto you, I would that ye should remember to retain the name written always in your hearts, that ye are not found on the left hand of God, but that ye hear and know the voice by which ye shall be called, and also, the name by which he shall call you.

For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” (Mosiah 5:12-13).

“And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17).

Coming to know God is not an academic exercise of comprehending complex theological concepts; it is learning to live as He lives through faith, hope, and pure love.

As we commemorate Easter and remember the Savior’s suffering, death, and resurrection for us, I hope our hearts will turn to those around us. I hope to be more attentive to those who are struggling and to offer what assistance I can. I believe that our faith in Him as the risen, living God will be strengthened as we learn to live as He lives, that is, living our lives for others through service.

The post The Savior’s Love Isn’t Earned Through Service—But It’s Revealed Through It appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

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Just as there is power in diving deep into the words of Christ, there can be power in seeing the broad picture of His ministry quickly.

Leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have emphasized the need to focus on the life of the Savior in the time between Christmas and Easter and to celebrate Easter with the same robust customs and cultures as we do Christmas.

In response to this emphasis, my family is starting a new tradition in 2025. We have purchased a small tree that looks like a birch in winter—stark and empty.

Next to it, we will keep a basket of Easter eggs in the bright colors of spring blossoms, labeled with dates and with a looped ribbon on top. Spring is a wonderful symbol of Easter because we see life returning to the Earth. Eggs also represent new life. The plan is to see this tree become filled with color as the Easter season progresses.

Each egg will include a part of the story of Jesus’ life. It summarizes but also seeks to pull out meaningful verses to read. Our family will read that part of the story each night leading up to Easter and then hang the egg on the tree. Our hope is that this will become a meaningful tradition that we can look forward to each year. 

The tradition will begin on March 12th for 2025, and the final egg will be placed on Easter day, April 20th. This 40-day period leading up to Easter aligns with scriptural and Restoration patterns of preparation, transformation, and revelation. In the Old Testament, Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai in the presence of the Lord. In the New Testament, Jesus fasted for 40 days in preparation for His ministry. After His resurrection, He ministered for 40 days before ascending into heaven. Symbolically, 40 often represents a period of spiritual preparation and transformation, making it a fitting amount of time to immerse ourselves in the life of the Savior.

Leading up to Easter, here is how I am breaking down the story of Jesus’ life if you wish to use it for your own families.

March 12 — Jesus at the Temple

Long ago, a baby named Jesus was born. His mother, Mary, and Joseph loved Him deeply. Wise men brought Him gifts, and shepherds rejoiced at His birth. But as a baby, King Herod tried to kill Him. His family fled to Egypt and later returned to Nazareth, in Galilee, a land north of Jerusalem, where Jesus grew up.

Jerusalem was a bustling city filled with people, animals, and the sounds of celebration. The temple stood tall and magnificent, a sacred place where people came to worship God. Jesus loved being there. He listened intently to the teachers, asking thoughtful questions and sharing answers that amazed everyone who heard Him.

When the feast ended, Mary and Joseph began the journey home, thinking Jesus was with their group. Realizing He was missing, they returned to Jerusalem and searched for three days. They found Him in the temple, learning and teaching. Luke 2:48 says, “And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.”

Jesus replied, “How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” Though they didn’t fully understand, Mary treasured these words in her heart.

Jesus returned to Nazareth and was obedient to His parents. As Luke 2:52 says, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Even as a boy, He showed how to grow by learning, working, loving, and drawing closer to God.

March 13 — The Baptism of Jesus

When Jesus was about thirty years old, He came to the Jordan River, where John the Baptist was baptizing. John had spent years in the wilderness, clothed in camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey, boldly proclaiming, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 

As Jesus approached, John recognized him, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” he asked. But Matthew 3:15 tells us, “Jesus answering said unto him, ‘Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.'” 

As Jesus was baptized and came up out of the water, the heavens opened above Him. The Spirit of God descended like a dove, resting upon Him, and a voice from heaven declared, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 

Soon after, John bore his testimony. In John 1:29, he calls Jesus “The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John told his followers what he saw at Jesus’ baptism the day before. Some of the Jewish leaders heard John’s testimony.

March 14 — The Temptations of Jesus

After His baptism, the spirit led Him to the wilderness to prepare for His ministry. While in the wilderness, He fasted for forty days and nights.

During this time, Satan tempted Him. In Matthew 4:3, Satan says, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Jesus replied, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Then, Satan set Jesus on the temple’s pinnacle, saying, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee.” Jesus answered, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

Finally, Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, offering them to Him if He would worship him. Jesus said, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

After the final temptation, Satan left. Angels came and ministered to Jesus. 

March 15 — The Marriage at Cana

After fasting, Jesus traveled back home to Galilee. Jesus went to a wedding with his mother. Weddings in those days were joyful, multi-day celebrations filled with family, friends, and feasting.

As the festivities continued, Mary noticed a problem—the wine had run out. Concerned, Mary approached Jesus and said, “They have no wine.”

In John 2:4, Jesus responded, “Mine hour is not yet come.” Nevertheless, Mary turned to the servants and said, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”

Nearby stood six stone 20-gallon waterpots. Jesus instructed the servants, “Fill the waterpots with water.” They filled them to the brim. Then he told them to take them to the host of the wedding. The servants obeyed, and when the governor tasted the water that had been turned into wine, he marveled. He called the groom. John 2:10 says, “And saith unto him, ‘Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.’”

This was the first miracle Jesus performed.

March 16 — Jesus’ Passover Trip to Judea

Just like He did as a child, Jesus returned to Jerusalem each year for Passover. After His preparation, baptism, and fasting, this trip marked the start of Jesus’ ministry. 

Upon entering the temple courts, Jesus was troubled by what He saw. Merchants and moneychangers filled the sacred space, turning it into a bustling marketplace. The clinking of coins and the cries of traders echoed in the air, disrupting the peace of God’s house.

John 2:15 tells us, “When he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables.” Jesus declared with authority, “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”

While in Jerusalem, Jesus began to perform more miracles, and people began to hear about Him.  One night, a Pharisee named Nicodemus came to Jesus in secret. In John 3:2, he says, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.”

Jesus taught Nicodemus about the necessity of being born again, saying, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He spoke of the great love of God, declaring in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

After the Passover, Jesus and His new followers traveled in the area around Jerusalem, called Judea, teaching and baptizing those who believed.

March 17 — The Samaritan Woman at the Well

After His time in Judea, Jesus was ready to travel home to Galilee. Between them was Samaria. Many Jews looked down on Samaritans and avoided the area. But Jesus not only chose to travel through Samaria but to stop there at a place called Jacob’s Well. 

As Jesus rested by the well, a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me to drink.” The woman, surprised that a Jewish man would speak to her, replied, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?” 

Jesus said that He could give her living water. Puzzled, the woman asked how He could provide such water since He had nothing to hold the water in. John 4:13-14 says, “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

The woman then said, “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” Jesus replied, “I that speak unto thee am he.” 

Leaving her waterpot behind, the woman ran into the city, telling everyone, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” Many Samaritans came to see Jesus and believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony. 

March 18 — Ministry Starts in Galilee

After returning to Galilee, Matthew 4:17 tells us, “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” His words and miracles spread, drawing eager crowds.

One morning, Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee. He saw Peter and Andrew, one of John the Baptist’s followers, fishing with nets. He told Peter to go out a little bit further and cast the nets. Peter told him that they had been fishing all night and hadn’t caught anything. But he trusted Jesus. Peter caught more fish than the nets could handle. When they came back to shore, Matthew 4:19 says, “[Jesus] saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They left their miraculous catch and followed Jesus. James and John were on the shore fixing their nets. Jesus called them, and they followed Him too. 

In Bethsaida, Jesus met Philip, who told Bartholomew, “We have found him, Jesus of Nazareth.” Though skeptical, when Bartholomew met Jesus, he said, “Thou art the King of Israel.”

Jesus traveled, teaching in synagogues, healing the sick, and casting out demons. He cleansed a leper who said, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”

In Capernaum, Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and many others. While he was teaching in someone’s home, a group of friends took the roof off to lower a paralyzed man down. Jesus healed him, saying, “Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.” The crowd glorified God. More gathered around Jesus amazed at His power. 

March 19 — Gathering the Apostles

As Jesus walked along, He saw a man named Matthew, a tax collector, sitting at his booth. Tax collectors were often despised by their fellow Jews and seen as dishonest and oppressive. Yet Jesus looked at Matthew and said, “Follow me.” Immediately, Matthew rose and followed Him.

Matthew knew many people who lived sinful lives. He invited many of them to have dinner with Jesus. 

Not everyone thought Jesus should meet with them. Matthew 9:11-13 says, “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

The Pharisees also asked Jesus why His disciples did not fast as often as they did or accept their Jewish ritual immersion since they followed the full law. Joseph Smith’s translation of Matthew 9:19-21 teaches, “Jesus said unto them, Ye keep not the law. If ye had kept the law, ye would have received me, for I am he who gave the law. I receive not you with your baptisms because it profiteth you nothing. For when that which is new is come, the old is ready to be put away.”

Soon after, Jesus went up to a mountain and spent the night praying. When He came down, He called his disciples to Him and chose twelve as Apostles: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, and Matthew; His brothers Jude and James; and Simon, Thomas, and Judas.

March 20 — Sermon on the Mount

As crowds gathered, Jesus went up a mountain to teach. 

Jesus began with the beatitudes. He taught that we should be poor in spirit and meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, be merciful, be pure in heart, and be peacemakers. He promised to comfort those who mourn and that those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness will gain the kingdom of heaven. 

Jesus urged them to let their light shine before others so their good works would glorify God. Jesus taught us to be righteous not just on the outside but on the inside. He warned against lust, dishonesty, and seeking revenge, teaching instead to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, and trust God. He said to only get divorced for adultery.

Jesus taught in Matthew 6:9-10, “After this manner therefore pray ye,” and gave this example, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

Jesus warned about false prophets and emphasized the importance of acting on His teachings. Matthew 7:24-27 says, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.”

March 21 — Jesus in Nain

Jesus traveled to the small town of Nain, followed by His apostles and a large crowd. As He approached the city gate, He saw a funeral procession. The only son of a widowed mother had died. She and many of her neighbors were mourning. 

Jesus said to the woman, “Weep not.” Luke 7:14 says, “And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.” Immediately, the dead man sat up and began to speak. Fear gripped the people, and they said, “A great prophet is risen up among us,” and that “God hath visited his people.” 

While in Nain, Jesus dined with a Pharisee named Simon. A well-known sinner in the city heard Jesus would be there. So she came and began to weep at his feet. She washed them with ointment and her tears. Simon thought that if Jesus were actually a prophet, he would know what kind of woman this was. Jesus knew what he was thinking. He said that Simon never washed Jesus’ feet, but this woman did because those who are forgiven more love more. 

Jesus turned to the woman and said, “Thy sins are forgiven. Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” The other Pharisees at the dinner wondered who Jesus was to forgive sins. As he continued his travels, several important women began to join him, including Mary Magdalene.

March 22 — Opposition Rises

Jesus traveled from city to city, healing, teaching, and casting out demons. Most people marveled. However, some of the Pharisees were troubled by his growing influence. 

When Jesus healed a man who was blind and mute by casting out a demon, Matthew 12:24 says, “But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.”

Jesus knew their thoughts and said, “If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself.” In Matthew 12:28, he finishes, “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” The Pharisees then demanded to see a sign. In Matthew 12:39-40, Jesus answered, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

March 23 — Jesus Teaches About the Kingdom of Heaven

While traveling, Jesus taught parables, stories that teach a lesson. While near the Sea of Galilee, crowds gathered, so He took a boat out so they could hear Him, and He taught five parables.

The first was about a sower who planted seeds. Some fell on the path, others on rocks, others in thorns, and some on good soil that grew. Jesus said the seeds represented the word of God. 

The second compared the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed. It starts out as the smallest but grows into a massive plant.

The third compared the kingdom of heaven to leaven that a woman hid in three measures of flour so that they would all rise. 

The fourth parable was about a man who found treasure hidden in a field and sold all he had to buy it and of a merchant who discovered a pearl of great price and did the same. 

The last compared the kingdom of heaven to a net that is cast into the sea. It gathers every kind, but when they get to shore, they pick what is good and bad. Jesus explained in Matthew 13: 49-50, “So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Jesus asked His disciples, “Have ye understood all these things?” They answered, “Yea, Lord.”

March 24 — Traveling to Gadara

As word of Jesus spread, He began to travel farther. He left to go to Gadara, a town to the east across the Sea of Galilee.

As they traveled, a fierce storm arose, with waves crashing into the boat. The disciples were looking for Jesus. Mark 4:38-41 tells us that when they found Him, they said, “Master, carest thou not that we perish? And [Jesus] arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Passing the caves on the outskirts of Gadara, Jesus met a man possessed by demons. No one could control him. He broke ropes and chains. But when the demons saw Jesus, they begged Him not to cast them out. Jesus cast the demons into a herd of pigs that ran over a cliff and drowned. The man came to his right mind, got dressed, and sat down.

The herdsmen nearby ran to the city to tell people what they saw, but when they heard, they were afraid of Jesus and asked Him to leave.

As Jesus prepared to depart, the healed man begged to go with Him. But Jesus said in Mark 5:19, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.” The man went throughout the land around Gadara, telling everyone what Jesus had done. 

March 25 — Jesus Travels Through Galilee Performing Miracles

As Jesus returned, Jairus, a synagogue ruler, asked Jesus to heal his sick daughter. In Luke chapter eight, As Jesus went, a woman suffering from a twelve-year illness touched His garment, believing she would be healed. Instantly, she was cured. Jesus turned, saying, “Who touched me?” She confessed, and He reassured her, “Thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.”

Messengers then told Jairus his daughter had died, but Jesus said in Mark 5:36, “Be not afraid, only believe.” At Jairus’ house, He told the mourners, “The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.” Taking her hand, He said, “Talitha cumi,” meaning, “Little lamb, arise” (Mark 5:41), and she rose immediately.

Later, two blind men followed Jesus, asking Him to have mercy on them. In Matthew 9:29, He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it unto you,” and they were healed. Soon after, He cast a demon out of a mute man, who then spoke. The crowd marveled, but the Pharisees accused Jesus of using demonic power.

Through these miracles, Jesus revealed His power over sickness, death, and spiritual oppression, proving His divine authority.

March 26 — Jesus Sends His Apostles on Missions

As the word of Jesus spread, more people desired to learn about Him. Jesus brought His apostles to Him in Matthew 9:37. He told them, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.” 

He sent them in pairs, saying, “Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” They were to preach the kingdom of heaven, heal the sick, and cast out devils, giving freely as they had received.

He warned them of opposition: “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” He assured them that God would give them the words to speak.

The apostles went forth, preaching, healing, and casting out devils. If rejected, they shook the dust off their feet as a testimony. Through their mission, Jesus’ message spread.

March 27 — The Ministry of John the Baptist Ends

John the Baptist continued to preach the gospel. When Herod, the leader the Romans put in charge of the Jews, married Herodias, the woman who divorced his brother, John the Baptist, said it was a sin. So Herod put John in jail. 

But this didn’t satisfy Herodias. She wanted John killed. But Herod worried that killing John would make his followers angry. So Herodias and her daughter came up with a plan. At Herod’s birthday, her daughter danced so well for Herod that he promised to do anything she asked. She asked him to execute John. Herod didn’t want to, but he did what she asked. John the Baptist’s head was brought to her on a platter. 

John’s disciples came and buried his body, then went to tell Jesus. Jesus was sad and went alone into the desert to pray. John the Baptist came to prepare the way for the Messiah. His fearless stand for truth cost him his life, but his mission had been fulfilled. 

But soon after Herod heard of the miracles Jesus had been performing. In Luke 9:7 Herod worried John had come back from the dead, “John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things?”

March 28 — Feeding the Five Thousand

When they heard what happened to John, the twelve apostles returned to Jesus. The crowds went with them to find Jesus in the desert. Despite His sadness, He was moved with compassion for them and spent the day ministering to them.

It was near the time of the Passover, and as evening approached, the disciples urged Jesus to send the people away to find food. But He said, “Give ye them to eat.” In John 6:9, Andrew pointed out, “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” Jesus instructed the people to sit in groups on the grass. Taking the loaves and fishes, He gave thanks, broke them, and distributed them to the disciples to give to the crowd.

Astonishingly, everyone ate and was filled. When they gathered the leftovers, there were twelve baskets full. In John 6:14, the people, seeing the miracle, said, “This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.”

March 29 — Jesus Walks on Water

After feeding the five thousand, Jesus sent His disciples ahead by boat while He went up a mountain alone to pray. As night fell, the disciples’ boat was in the midst of the sea, tossed by strong winds and waves.

In the early hours of the morning, Jesus came to them, walking on the water. The disciples, seeing Him approach, were afraid and cried out, thinking they had seen a spirit. But Jesus immediately spoke to them, saying, in Matthew 14:27, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.”

Peter, filled with faith, called out, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.” Peter stepped out of the boat and walked toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind and waves, fear overtook him, and he began to sink. He cried, “Lord, save me!” Immediately, Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said in verse 31, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”

As they returned to the boat, the wind ceased, and the disciples worshiped Jesus, saying, “Of a truth thou art the Son of God.”

March 30 — His Ministry in Gennesaret

After crossing the sea, Jesus and His disciples arrived at Gennesaret. As soon as the people recognized Him, they spread the word throughout the region. The sick were brought to Him, and many begged just to touch the hem of His garment.

Meanwhile, Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem confronted Jesus, questioning why His disciples did not follow the traditions of ceremonial handwashing. Jesus responded in Matthew 15:7-9, “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” He explained that it is not what enters the mouth that defiles a person but what comes from the heart.

Many of those who had been with Jesus when he fed the five thousand continued to follow Him and ask for food, like the manna that came to Moses’ people. Jesus declared in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

Some murmured at His words, and many who had once followed Him turned away. When Jesus asked the twelve if they, too, would leave, Peter answered in John 6:68-69, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

March 31 — Word of Jesus Grows

As word of Jesus’ teaching and miracles reached Jerusalem, opposition grew there, and many wanted to kill Him. So Jesus traveled North away from Jerusalem. 

Jesus entered a house, hoping for rest. A Canaanite woman sought Him out in Matthew 15:22, crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.” Since she was not Jewish, the disciples urged Jesus to send her away. Jesus replied, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Still, the woman persisted, kneeling before Him and saying, “Lord, help me.” She said that even dogs get to eat crumbs from the master’s table. Moved by her faith, Jesus healed her daughter instantly.

Jesus returned to Galilee. The crowds brought the lame, blind, and mute to Him, and He healed them all. Mark 7:37 records, “And [they] were beyond measure astonished, saying, he hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.” Once again, a large crowd followed Him into the wilderness. For three days, they remained with Him, and He refused to send them away hungry. Jesus performed another miracle of feeding the crowds.

April 1 — The Pharisees & Sadducees

Jesus continued his travels, this time to the region of Magdala. But when He arrived, the Pharisees and Sadducees confronted Him, demanding a sign from heaven to prove His authority. Jesus rebuked them, saying in Matthew 16:2-3, “When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”

As they sailed across the sea, Jesus warned His disciples, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” At first, they misunderstood, thinking He spoke of bread. But He explained that He was speaking of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, whose teachings corrupted the truth, just as a little leaven affects an entire loaf.

Meanwhile, back in Bethsaida, people brought a blind man to Jesus, begging Him to heal him. Taking the man by the hand, Jesus led him out of the village. He spit on his eyes and restored his sight. Jesus told the man in Mark 8:26, “Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.”

April 2 — Meeting with the Apostles

Jesus’ next destination was Caesarea Philippi, a town on the edge of the kingdom. While there, Jesus held a meeting with His apostles. In Matthew 16:13, He asked, “Whom do men say that I am?” They answered, “John the Baptist, Elias, or one of the prophets.” 

“But whom say ye that I am?” 

Peter declared, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus blessed Peter, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father in heaven. Upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Jesus warned the apostles not to reveal His identity yet.

Jesus then told them that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer, die, and rise again. Peter objected, but Jesus rebuked him in Matthew 16:23, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those of men.” He then taught his apostles in verses 24-25, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever loses his life for my sake shall find it.” 

Jesus concluded, “Some standing here shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” The apostles were prepared for what was about to come. 

April 3 — The Mount of Transfiguration

After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up into a high mountain. As they prayed, Jesus was transfigured before them. Mark 9:3 describes, “His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.”

Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared, speaking with Jesus about His coming death and resurrection in Jerusalem. Overwhelmed, Peter proposed making three tabernacles on the mountain—one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elias. But as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud declared, in Matthew 17:5, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” 

The disciples fell on their faces in fear, but Jesus touched them, saying, “Arise, and be not afraid.” When they looked up, only Jesus remained. As they descended the mountain, in Matthew 17:9, Jesus commanded them, “Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead.”

April 4 — Teachings and Miracles After the Transfiguration

As Jesus and His disciples descended the mountain, they found a crowd around a desperate father and his son, tormented by an unclean spirit. The apostles had failed to heal him, but Jesus said in Mark 9:23, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” The father cried, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!” Jesus cast out the spirit, and the boy was healed instantly.

In Capernaum, tax collectors asked Peter if Jesus paid the temple tax. Jesus, though exempt, instructed Peter in Matthew 17:27, “Go thou to the sea, and cast an hook …” In the mouth of the first fish they would catch, “thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.”

When the disciples asked who was the greatest in heaven, Jesus brought forth a child, saying in Matthew 18:3, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus also taught about forgiveness, saying in Matthew 18:22, “I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.” He illustrated this through the parable of the unforgiving servant, who was forgiven a great debt but refused to show mercy.

During their travels, Jesus encountered hesitant followers and warned in Luke 9:62, “No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” 

April 5 — Jesus Sends the Seventy

Jesus decided it was time to start traveling to Jerusalem. He needed to visit one more time before the end of His ministry. He sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village. When they were rejected, James and John asked, “Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven?” Jesus rebuked them in Luke 9:56, saying, “The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”

Jesus appointed seventy disciples to go forth and teach His message. He said, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.” They were to go in pairs, take no money, and rely on hospitality. Jesus warned unrepentant cities, declaring, “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!” (He said that if His miracles had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago.

Meanwhile, some of the apostles urged Jesus to attend the Feast of Tabernacles, saying that Jesus needed to draw attention to Himself. But He declined, saying, “My time is not yet come.”

April 6 — Feast of the Tabernacles

Jesus chose to visit the Feast of the Tabernacles in secret, arriving halfway through. The people were astonished as He taught, and Jesus explained, “My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak for myself.” 

Some speculated this was the Jesus that the Pharisees wanted to arrest. But Jesus reassured the apostles they wouldn’t be able to. On the last day of the feast, the Chief priests sent officers to arrest Jesus, but they returned without Him, saying in verse 46, “Never man spake like this man.”

The next morning, in the temple, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, testing Jesus. He said in John 8:7, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” One by one, they left. Jesus then told her, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” 

To another group, Jesus declared in verse 12, “I am the light of the world.” The Pharisees challenged His authority, but He proclaimed, “If ye continue in my word … ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Tensions rose as Jesus told them, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Enraged, they took up stones to cast at Him, but He slipped away. 

April 7 — Ministry in Jerusalem

Jesus stayed in Jerusalem for a time to minister to the people there. Jesus met a man blind from birth. His disciples asked if the blindness was caused by sin, but Jesus answered in John 9:3, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” He made clay, anointed the man’s eyes, and sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam. The man returned seeing. But the Pharisees who were watching condemned Jesus for healing on the Sabbath.

Jesus replied, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”

April 8 — The Good Samaritan

Jesus left the city but stayed in the area for a while. Some of the seventy He had sent on missions returned. They rejoiced in Luke 10:17, “Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.”  Jesus responded, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” He prayed, thanking Heavenly Father, and invited all who listened in Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 

Jesus visited his friends Mary and Martha. When Martha got upset that Mary was talking to Jesus instead of helping serve dinner, Jesus replied, “Mary hath chosen that good part.

A lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbor was. Jesus told a story about a man on the road to Jerusalem who was beaten and left for dead. A priest and a Levite passed by, but a Samaritan stopped, cared for him, and provided for his needs. Jesus then asked, “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?” When the lawyer answered, “He that showed mercy on him,” Jesus said, “Go, and do thou likewise.”

Before He left, some Jews asked in John chapter 10, “How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I and my Father are one,” and said that their law says, “Ye are gods.” Once again, the crowd grew enraged and took up stones to kill Him, but He escaped their grasp for the last area He had to travel.

April 9 — Parables in Perea

Jesus returned to a region called Perea, the place where he had been baptized. 

He told the parable of the lost sheep, saying in Matthew 18:12, “If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?” 

Jesus continued to heal, including on the Sabbath. He taught the people to be humble. He had dinner with a Pharisee and taught, “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11). He taught a parable about a rich man teaching the dangers of being rich and of a great banquet, where the master welcomed the poor and outcast instead. 

Jesus also taught about mercy and faith with the parables of the lost coin, the prodigal son, the unjust steward, and the mustard seed. 

As John 10:42 records, “And many believed on him there.”

April 10 — Raising of Lazarus

A message reached Jesus that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was very sick. But Jesus stayed where He was for two more days, seemingly unconcerned. 

Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand; finally, He said in John 11:14-15, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe.” Lazarus lived in Perea but closer to Judea, the apostle Thomas encouraged Jesus to go despite the danger. 

When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Martha met Him, saying, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” Jesus assured her, “Thy brother shall rise again.” Martha thought Jesus was talking about the resurrection at the last days. Mary came and Jesus cried with both of them. They walked to the tomb with a crowd of family and followers. 

Jesus ordered them to move the stone. They hesitated at His odd request. In verse 40, Jesus said, “If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” Jesus lifted His eyes and said, “Lazarus, come forth.” The dead man emerged, still wrapped in burial clothes. 

Many who saw believed, but others reported to the Pharisees. The chief priests and council feared His growing influence and said, “If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him.” From that day, they plotted to kill Him.

April 11 — Teachings on the Way to Jerusalem

After raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus began to travel back toward Jerusalem, and many people approached Him along the way. 

First, a Pharisee tested Him, asking, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?” Jesus responded that marriage was ordained by God and that divorce was not part of His original plan.

Next, a rich young ruler asked Jesus how to gain eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments. When the man claimed he had, Jesus said in Matthew 19:21, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor … and come and follow me.” The man left sorrowful. Jesus turned to the crowd and taught, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” He taught a parable of a landowner who hired workers at different times of the day but paid them all equally. When some complained, he answered that he had done no wrong since they had agreed to the wage. He asked, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” 

As they traveled, Jesus prepared His disciples for what was to come. He taught about His second coming and said in Matthew 20:18, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be betrayed … and they shall condemn Him to death.”

April 12 — Jesus Prepares to Enter Jerusalem

As Jesus neared Jerusalem, Zacchaeus climbed a tree to see Him. Jesus called him down and said He would stay at his house. Zacchaeus was so joyful he promised to give half his goods to the poor. Jesus told him in Luke 19:9, “This day is salvation come to this house.” 

The mother of James and John approached Jesus, asking that her sons sit at His right and left hand in His kingdom. Jesus reminded her in Matthew 20:27 where true greatness comes from, “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” 

Jesus also performed many miracles in the final leg of His travels. He healed two blind men. He healed ten lepers, but only one came back to thank Him. 

Jesus continued to teach in parables, including one about servants who invested money well and received more money in return to invest. 

April 13 — Palm Sunday

As Jesus neared Jerusalem, He sent two disciples to find a donkey with a colt. When they came back, Jesus rode into the city on the colt, fulfilling the prophecy, “Behold, thy King cometh … meek, and sitting upon an ass.”

The crowds spread garments and palm branches, shouting as recorded in John 12:13, “Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord!” When the Pharisees told Him to silence them, He replied in Luke 19:40, “If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” 

That night, a woman anointed Jesus with costly ointment. Some murmured at the cost, but Jesus responded in Matthew 26:10-12, “She hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.”

April 14 — Monday

The next day, Jesus went into the temple and saw merchants and money changers turning His Father’s house into a marketplace. Angered, He overturned their tables and said in Matthew 21:13, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” 

The blind and lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. When the chief priests saw the miracles and heard children crying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. Jesus answered, “Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Matthew 21:16).

April 15 — Tuesday

The next day, on His way back to the temple, Jesus saw a fig tree without fruit. Jesus cursed the tree, and it withered. 

When He arrived and began to teach, the chief priests and scribes tried to trick Him “By what authority doest thou these things?” they asked. Jesus answered with a question about John the Baptist. He then told a parable in which the landowner’s son was killed by the tenants.

They tried again, asking Jesus about paying tribute to Caesar. Jesus replied, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” They asked Him what the greatest commandment was. Jesus taught in Matthew 22:37-39, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Jesus warned against the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, calling them blind guides and whitewashed tombs, beautiful outside but full of corruption.

Seeing a poor widow donate two mites to the temple, Jesus said, “This poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury.” 

As they left, the disciples marveled at the temples’ grandeur. Jesus prophesied it would be destroyed. That night, He prophesied on the Mount of Olives about the signs of His second coming but warned, “No man knoweth the day nor the hour.”

April 16 — Wednesday

Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles, noticed how the chief priests attacked Jesus. So, the next day, he went to them and asked, “What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?” They offered him thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. From that moment, Judas sought an opportunity to betray Jesus.

April 17 — Thursday

The next day began the Feast of Unleavened Bread; Jesus directed His disciples to prepare the Passover in a furnished upper room. That evening, as they ate, He said, “One of you shall betray me.” The disciples were sorrowful. Judas asked, “Master, is it I?” Jesus replied, “Thou hast said” (Matthew 26:25).

In Matthew 26:26-28, during the meal, Jesus took bread, broke it, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then He took the cup, saying, “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.”He commanded them to remember Him.

After supper, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, teaching, “Ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” He warned Peter, “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice” (Matthew 26:34). Peter insisted, “I will not deny thee” (Matthew 26:35).

At Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” There, He suffered for the sins of all mankind. Judas arrived with a multitude and betrayed Him with a kiss. Jesus was arrested. 

April 18 — Good Friday

Throughout the night, Jesus was taken to local leaders. Peter followed but was worried he would be captured. And he denied knowing Christ. After the third time, the rooster crowed, and Peter wept. 

Jesus was taken to Pilate. When asked, “Art thou the King of the Jews?” He answered, “Thou sayest it.” Pilate, finding no fault in Him, offered to release either Jesus or the murderer Barabbas. The crowd, urged by the chief priests, shouted, “Crucify him.” Pilate washed his hands and sentenced Jesus to death.

After being scourged, soldiers mocked Jesus, placing a crown of thorns on His head. He was led to Golgotha, where Simon helped carry His cross. Nailed between two thieves, Jesus told one in Luke 23:43, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Jesus forgave the soldiers who killed Him. He told His apostles to care for his mother. Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” His final words were, “It is finished.” He let himself die. The earth shook; darkness fell for three hours. 

A soldier declared, “Truly, this was the Son of God.”

One of Jesus’ wealthy followers, Joseph of Arimathea, requested His body, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a tomb. 

April 19 — Holy Saturday

After Jesus died, He went to the spirits who had died to teach them. 

The chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again” (Matthew 27:63). Fearing His disciples would steal the body and claim He had risen, they asked Pilate to secure the tomb. Pilate agreed to place a massive stone to block the tomb and post guards outside it. 

Meanwhile, the women who had followed Jesus went to care for his body. Luke 23:56 records, “They returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” Mary Magdalene and others planned to return after the Sabbath to anoint Him.

As night fell, the tomb was sealed, and soldiers stood watch.

April 20 — Easter Sunday

At dawn, Mary Magdalene and other women returned. They found the stone rolled away. An angel appeared, saying in Matthew 28:5-6, “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.”

Mary ran to tell the disciples. Peter and John raced to the tomb and found the linen clothes left behind in the empty tomb. Mary remained, weeping. Jesus appeared to her, but she did not recognize Him until He said, “Mary.” She turned and cried, “Rabboni!” Jesus told her in John 20:17, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”

The guards reported to the chief priests that they had seen the angels, but they bribed the guards to say the disciples had stolen the body. 

That evening, Jesus appeared to His apostles. He said in John 20:19, “Peace be unto you.” He showed them His hands and side. Jesus told them to preach repentance and baptism in His name, promising, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”

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