Passover and Easter

Today is Passover in Israel and everything is very quiet here in Tiberias.  Not so in Jerusalem we understand however.   I want to share some of the feelings we have been having as we tread the land upon which the Savior gave not only His mortal footsteps but His very heart, might, mind and strength in the process of accomplishing the Atonement.

Over the past ten days we have been traveling on and off with the BYU Jerusalem students in the Galilee area close to where we live in Tiberias.  Each of the professors give insights while we are traveling to various spots in this amazing land.  We have heard from S. Kent Brown, Bill Hamblin, Craig Manscill and Chad Emmett. 

We went to Mt. Tabor which is the second tallest mountain in Israel.  It, along with Mt. Hermon are considered possibilities for the place where the Transfiguration took place. 

As you recall, Matthew 17, Mark 9; Luke 9:28-36 recount the events when Jesus, Peter, James and John went “up into an high mountain apart,” and “there appeared unto them Moses and Elias.”  This was a time for conferring the keys of the Priesthood by Moses and Elias (Elijah) upon Peter, James and John in preparation for the forthcoming death of the Savior.  Heavenly Father spoke as a “voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” 

 

Both Carl and I assumed this meeting with the Father, Moses and Elijah was for the benefit of Peter, James and John, to receive the keys of the priesthood, but Brother Brown pointed out that in addition Jesus had need of the comfort and strengthening from this experience Himself.  Though a God, yet a man, He bore the frailties of being human.  He got tired.  He had no place of His own to rest His head.  The crowds would press in on Him, wanting Him to heal and feed them.  The apostles would take Him out in the boat to give Him time to rest from the multitudes that came. 

As the time of the atonement and crucifixion approached, Jesus knew that it was coming, but He could not know what it would feel like.  According to Pres. Brown, having the comforting power of His Father, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John, must have been a time for Him to gather strength and power for what lay ahead.  He also sought the apostle’s strength and comfort during Gethsemane to watch with him.  Three times He approached them, but even then they did not understand what He was going through.  As it says in Isaiah:

He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: He hid not His face from shame and spitting.

 
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows! He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed.

Luke 23:44-46 records “And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.  when on the cross, He called out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me, He must have felt the total weight of humanity without the help of the Father who loved Him.   And then there was the mother that loved Him.

John records 19:25-    Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.  When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman behold thy son!  Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!  And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. 

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.  Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.  When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished…

Matthew JST 27:54 records “Father, it is finished, thy will is done.” And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said,  Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

This picture was painted Mattias Grenwald in 1432

“And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.”  Matthew 27: 51

Because of the approaching Sabbath--then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.  But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.  John 19:32-34

I cannot imagine the horror of these events and the anguish of those that loved Him.  Surely they knew of the events that were to transpire, because he had told them—He was going to Jerusalem to die.  But it was clear they did not understand the magnitude on their lives.

From Mark 15:  43 we learn: Then came Joseph of Arimathaea, an honorable counselor which also waited for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.  We learn from the Bible Dictionary that Joseph was also “a member of the Sanhedrin and a rich and faithful Israelite who took no part in the condemnation of our Lord.” 

From John 19:39-42 we also learn that Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred weight.  Then they took the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.  There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

Fortunately for us, it doesn’t end there.  The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.  Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre , and we know not where they have laid him.

They come and see only the linen clothes wrapped together.  John 20: 8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed.  For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.  Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping; and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where body of Jesus had lain.  And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?  She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.  And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus.  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?  Whom seekest thou?  She supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir if thou have born him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.  Jesus saith unto her, Mary.  She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master….then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the dors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.  And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side.  Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

This is a picture we took just last week on the side of the road enroute to Mt. Carmel.  Notice the stone which has been rolled to the side of the tomb.   Amazing to see one still in existence.

The disciples were glad when He appeared unto them.  I am glad that through the scriptures and my own study  of them that being here in the Holy Land is helping me see and feel the gladness that the Savior continues to offer us as we seek Him.

Love from Melanie