A Mormon's Easter Thoughts

Easter Thoughts

By Ronnie Bray

A gentle knock came to the front door. Gay opened it to find a man offering her a religious tract. As he did so, he invited her to attend his church, saying, “We are celebrating the death of Jesus. Will you join us?” Gay politely declined his kind invitation, declaring, “We celebrate his Resurrection.” 

The interview over, the door closed and Gay was left to ponder his emphasis on the death of Jesus at Easter, rather than on his rising. She told me this when I woke some time later and rejoined the human race. She explained that perhaps she had got herself on her high horse with him. However, considering her highest umbrageous horse is less than a quarter the size of the smallest dwarf miniature steed I doubt that his feelings were bruised.

But, that was not the end of the exchange. During the course of that day, I pondered the conversation and determined that each of them was right to some extent, provided they had not mutually excluded that part of Easter that the other had emphasised. My ruminations led me to acknowledge that Easter is not a single event, but a series of connected and interdependent events, some of which lay far back in human history before the first Easter, some that were significant at the time they took place, and some that reached forwards into a future that was to come, some of which have been, and some that are yet to come.

It became plain that if we divest Easter of any of its appurtenances, even one that seems insignificant, then we do it grave disfavour and diminish its importance. Easter is unchanged by our neglect, but our neglect reduces the blessings we can receive when our meditations and prayers focus on the occasion, because we fail to appreciate the significance and blessings predicated on an inspired recognition of Easter and all its parts.

Access to the complete range of blessings through Easter is God’s method of transforming us into a covenantal relationship with Him, and the means by which he draws us closer to Christ as beings saved by the mystical union that makes us one with Them, and which is the central reason for Easter.

The atonement by sacrifice of the Saviour was established when Heavenly Father brought us, his spirit children that Saint Paul calls, ‘His offspring,’ into life in heaven and prepared the earth to which we would, if obedient, be sent to inhabit mortal bodies to be proven faithful and obedient even when we no longer enjoyed his presence, eventually to return to his presence as resurrected, immortal, and saved beings. It was this opportunity that caused us, his children, to shout for joy, as the prospects were unveiled pre-mortally. The Book of Job refers to this occasion.

Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? – Job 38:3-7

Our divine Parent foresaw the need for his sons and daughters to be redeemed from their human frailty, and so He prepared for salvation through the divine intervention of a Saviour to bring those that would honour and follow him to become like His Firstborn Son, even Jesus Christ.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. – Romans 8:29

This redemption of the human family was the grand purpose of Creation. By means of the Fall of Adam and Eve, and their ensuing mortality, these purposes were moved forward. The Fall was not, as some have thought, a tragedy for humanity, but a necessary part of Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation. We owe the opportunities that mortality presents to us to the Fall, for if it had not occurred we would not be capable of becoming as joint heirs with Christ of all that the Father has, including exaltation.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. – Romans 8:16-17

For many millennia, all that humankind could do was trust God and wait for the Messiah who would redeem man from mortal death and from the consequences of our own sinfulness. This redemption by atonement,  prefigured in the Old Testament Law of sacrifice, under which animals were offered in symbolic sacrifice of that which was to come. This Law was fulfilled when the blood of Jesus Christ was shed as he suffered and bled on the cross at Golgotha.

We may not know, we cannot tell

What pains he had to bear.

But we believe it was for us

He hung and suffered there.

[Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander]

In everything he did, Jesus showed those that follow him how they should live. He was obedient to the will of his Father, he willingly submitted to the commission his Father gave him, and took upon himself the sins and sufferings of humanity so we could re-enter the presence of God our Father when our mortal journeys are run.

Remembering with gratitude all that went before Easter to make it possible, and contemplating the events of Passion Week that culminated in the death and Atonement of Jesus occasions our remembrance and gratitude, both to Jesus as well as to He that sent His Son into the world, and cause us to affirm our obedience as his disciples, as our hearts rejoice for ‘the greatest of all gifts,’ which is eternal bliss in the presence of God and His Christ.

A Joyous and thoughtful Easter to all.

© 2013 – Ronnie Bray