Pondering Easter

What does Easter mean to you?

Do it mean simple the Easter bunny coming and leaving some eggs with treats and other goodies?  Or does it hold the religious meaning?
Maybe your like me and it hold a little bit of both.....

For me Easter hold both the religious and secular meanings.  I revile in the fun a child has as they search for eggs left behind by the "Easter Bunny" and the joy of getting a nice little present.  It can affirm the being good aspects of childhood.  But, Easter is so much more.  It is that celebration of the final atoning acts performed by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It all started with the Passover supper held by Jesus with his disciples in that upper room.  What we now call the "Last Supper".  That final of times when he had the ability to instruct and teach to his apostles.  The time when he instituted the sacrament and gave some parting words or advice and council.

Short there after he went to the Garden of Gethsemane and bleed for our sins.

 41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

 42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, ^aremove this cup from me: nevertheless not my ^bwill, but thine, be done.

 43 And there appeared an ^aangel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

 44 And being in an ^aagony he prayed more earnestly: ^band his sweat was as it were great drops of ^cblood falling down to the ground.

Luke 22: 41-44 

Then after had finished bleeding from every pore for our sins he was betrayed into the hands of the Romans and the Chief Priests who had conspired against him.

We all know of his illegal trial before the priests and his scourging by a multi-pronged  whip.  His eventual other trials before Herod and Pontius Pilate where he became a political hot potato.

Then the final capstone to the whole Atoning process.  His death on the cross at Golgotha, after many long agonizing hours of hanging there in pain that one can not even imagine.  Which after three days lead to his resurrection and final glorious act of the Atonement.

I have many a time thought what would have happened if Christ has not been crucified or if he had not bleed for our sins in the garden.  Would the Atonement be whole? The answer is simple - NO.
We have the need for both portions of the Atonement.  The conquest of physical and spiritual death.  And both of these Jesus Christ the Only Begotten Son accomplished in less then a week's time.  Both parts are necessary to be able to accomplish our final goal of returning to live once again with our Heavenly Father.

So take this time to dwell on the good news that Christ brought us.  Do no dwell on the fact that he died on the cross.  Dwell on the fact that Mary found his tomb empty.  Dwell on the fact that he arose and over came physical death and has thus imparted this gift unto us all saint and sinner alike.

"Jesus Christ was the only one capable of performing the magnificent Atonement because He was the only perfect man and the Only Begotten Son of God the Father. He received His commission for this essential work from His Father before the world was established. His perfect mortal life devoid of sin, the shedding of His blood, His suffering in the garden and upon the cross, His voluntary death, and the Resurrection of His body from the tomb made possible a full Atonement for people of every generation and time.

The Atonement makes the Resurrection a reality for everyone. However, with respect to our individual transgressions and sins, conditional aspects of the Atonement require our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, our repentance, and our compliance with the laws and ordinances of the gospel."

What Does the Atonement Mean to You? By Elder Cecil O. Samuelson Jr. 

He Is Not Here

“Our Savior lived again. The most glorious, comforting, and reassuring of all events of human history had taken place—the victory over death. The pain and agony of Gethsemane and Calvary had been wiped away. The salvation of mankind had been secured. The Fall of Adam had been reclaimed.

He is Risen a Prophet's Testimony - President Thomas S Monson


So take some time out and find out the most recent words from the modern day prophets.  For the gospel of Christ is not on that has since been left to the dust and past.  It is a living gospel and we have the opportunity to feed from the living waters each 6 months at general conference. 

April 2012 general Conference Sessions

Be filled this is much to be thankful for this Easter Season.

Buaidh - NO - Bas