EASTER TALK

This is the talk I gave in Sacrament meeting.

I've always loved the Spring. The days are longer, the flowers and shrubs return, General Conference is just around the corner, and of course there's basketball.
Marianne and I never had a gardener. She loved everything about gardening, so we landscaped four homes. She definitely had a green thumb and I had the green stains on my pants to prove it.
We spent our last day together buying and planting shrubs and flowers. In fact our last conversation was about how she wanted us to teach our children how to garden.
During the winter when it was time to prune the garden, Marianne would do the cutting and I would gather the clippings in bags. When I would come home and see the results of Marianne's pruning I would always laugh. I could tell what kind of day she had based on the how the garden looked. If she was feeling frustrated, she would take it out on those poor shrubs. But the shrubs always came back in the Spring. Each year they became larger and fuller and more beautiful.
Now it's my turn to do the pruning and I marvel every spring as the garden awakens the world seems renewed.

As I am getting older and learning more about the Savior, I realize that everything testifies of Jesus Christ.
He is the source of all light and life.
Springtime is symbolic of the Savior’s resurrection.
Just as spring inspires renewed hope and new life, so does the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Major events of our Heavenly Father's plan of salvation,, have occurred in sacred gardens: the garden of Eden, the garden of Gethsemane, and the garden of the Empty Tomb.
Even the crucifixtion took place in a garden:
JOHN 19:41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; JUST LAST WEEK WE CONSIDERED THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. REMEMBER, HE FIRST APPEARED TO MARY MAGDALENE AND MARY THOUGHT HE WAS WHAT? SHE THOUGHT HE WAS THE GARDENER.
MORE IRONY IN THE LIFE OF THE SAVIOR. EVEN AFTER HIS RESURRECTION.
For Jesus, REMEMBER, irony began at His birth. Truly, He suffered the will of the Father “in all things from the beginning.” (3 Ne. 11:11.) This whole earth became Jesus’ footstool (see Acts 7:49), but at Bethlehem there was “no room … in the inn” (Luke 2:7) and “no crib for his bed”
As the Creator, Christ constructed the universe, yet in little Galilee He was known merely as “the carpenter’s son.”
Christ was keenly aware of this constant irony: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”
YET THIS WAS A DIFFERENT KIND OF IRONY. ALMOST A REVERSE IRONY. FOR ISN'T JESUS 'THE GARDENER.' IN NO LESS THAN 9 OF HIS PARABLES HE PORTRAYED HIMSELF AS THE 'GARDENER.'

THE SOWER AND THE SOILS
THE SEED
THE WHEAT AND THE TARES
THE BARREN FIG TREE 
THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD
THE WICKED HUSBANDMAN

While preparing a lesson a week ago
I was impressed with the following scripture:
HELAMAN 3:
And lead the man of Christ in a strait and dnarrow course across that everlasting egulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—
  30 And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the aright hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.

OUR LIVES HAVE IRONY ALSO.
We come from the presence of our Heavenly Father AND WE HAVE BEEN FOREORDAINED TO RETURN IN GLORY.

Yet we have bodies that are weighed down by gravity illness sickness weakness and sin. Brigham Young at the funeral of his sister in contrasting our mortal body with our spirit likened our physical bodies to a clod of dirt.
We have lost all memory of our experiences and stature in the Preexistence.
We who are destined to become Heavenly parents. Yet we might find it difficult to get our kids to clean their room.
We are to be joint heirs with Christ yet we might find it hard to get to the temple or to fulfill other responsibilities.
This is actually called dramatic irony. Where the audience is aware of the plot but the characters in the play ARE NOT. WE TEND TO FORGET SOMETIMES WHO WE ARE, DON'T WE?
2 Ne. 11: 44 Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him.
If we pay attention we notice that everything around us testifies of Christ the Creator and the Resurrected Christ.
But it is the scriptures that truly testify in sometimes remarkable ways of the divinity of Jesus Christ.
This has been true since the beginning. Adam and Eve at the very beginning were told by the angel to offer animal Sacrifice in similitude of the ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER.
Last week the Jews celebrated the Passover.
The observance of Passover was instituted to commemorate the time when DESTROYING ANGEL passed by those Israelites whose door was marked with the blood of a lamb and Israel was freed from bondage. Prophetically, each Passover lamb had to be a young male, firstborn, without blemish, slain at a specified time of day and month, unbroken in bone, roasted with fire, eaten with bitter herbs, and ultimately consumed so that nothing remained.
Christ was the Son, Firstborn, spotless above all. He was slain at the prophesied time, at the same hour when the traditional Passover lambs were being slain at the temple in Jerusalem.
Bitterness surrounded every aspect of his death—the crown of thorns, the mocking, the vinegar given when he thirsted. His bones were not broken, though those of the thieves who hung with him were.
As in the original Israelite Passover, through the shedding of blood, death was overcome and men were freed from bondage. Even the command, “And ye shall let nothing of it remain …” (Ex. 12:10) seems to have meaning. Christ’s body was placed within the tomb. Those who loved him fully expected that it would remain there. Yet a great and marvelous miracle occurred, and when the tomb was opened, “nothing remained.”

The Passover feast centered on the paschal lamb, which was a sacrificial lamb, a male without blemish and with no broken bone, even after death. Likewise, Jesus was the “Passover,” the “Lamb of God”, a male without blemish and with no broken bone, even after death .
He was the Firstborn of God in the premortal existence, sanctified in the flesh as were the firstborn of Israel , and slain even as were the firstborn of Egypt.
The Jewish Passover lasts one week. It starts on a Monday. It always begins on the 10 of the Jewish month Nissan. Our calendar the date is different from year to year. Sometimes March and sometimes in April. The earliest it can occur is March 15 the latest is April 18.
On the first day of Passover, Monday it begins by the lamb being chosen. This corresponds to the Saviors triumphal entry into Jerusalem. (Zech 9:9)Where the Jews accept Jesus temporarily albeit as their promised Messiah. It is ironic that they (the Jews) thought they were choosing a King, but in reality they were choosing to sacrifice not only paschal lambs, but the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Zechariah 9:9   9 ¶ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon a colt.
On the following Friday the paschal lamb is sacrificed. The Jewish law required that the lamb be killed by the whole congregation of Israel. PEOPLE HAD COME TO JERUSALEM BECAUSE THE LAW REQUIRED IT. This was to occur at the temple between 3 and 5 in the afternoon by law. Of course at the same time the paschal lambs were being slain at the temple the Savior (the Lamb of God) was crucified.
Remember the Jews had gathered at Jerusalem for the Passover and they responded to a perplexed Pilate:
22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They ALL say unto him, Let him be crucified.
  23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. (MATT 27)
(EMPHASIZE the Jewish leaders crucified the Savior not the Jewish people)
The next event follows the very next day SATURDAY. This is the Feast of the Passover which celebrates the liberation of the captive Israelites from Egyptian bondage. . This event corresponds to the Christ as a spirit liberating the captive from Spirit Prison.
DC 138  18 While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful;
  19 And there he preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection and the redemption of mankind from the fall, and from individual sins on conditions of repentance.
The following day is Passover Sunday. This is when the Jews offer the firstfruits of their harvest to the Lord. This corresponds to the Resurrection of the Savior. He becoming as Paul described “the firstfruits fruits of them that slept.
Lehi also explained that the Savior, “being the first that should rise … is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved.” (2 Ne. 2:8–9.)'
And of course the Garden tomb was empty and “nothing remained” was fulfilled. Jesus had been resurrected and would soon show himself to Mary than his apostles and then to others.
According to Paul over 500 people in one place. And of course the Nephites testified as well.
According to Jewish law and the Jewish calendar the the celebration of the firstfruits of the harvest is always celebrated on the 16 day of Jewish month of Nissan. This would also represent the day of the Resurrection.
The closing words of the Old Testament contain Malachi’s promise that Elijah the prophet would be sent before the Messiah to fulfill an important mission:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Mal. 4:5–6.)
Today the Jews still believe that Messiah will come but he will be proceeded by the coming of Elijah.
Malachi’s words were considered so important that the Savior gave to the Nephites all of chapters 3 and 4 of Malachi [Mal. 3, 4], which end with this prophecy of Elijah’s return.
Also this was among the scriptures Moroni taught Joseph Smith on his first visit even though they are quoted a little differently.
 38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
  39 He also quoted the next verse differently: 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 promise of Elijah, taught by the scribes in Jesus’ day, is still remembered by the Jewish people every year at Passover. A special place at table is set for him, with a cup of wine. At a prescribed time during the meal, the door is opened for him to enter.
The day of Jesus’ resurrection was important enough to commemorate beforehand in the Passover ceremony and also to celebrate afterward by changing the Sabbath to Sunday. But there was another commemoration of this important day to take place.
Even in our day, the Lord has promised that “all the days of their days, months, and years, and all their glories, laws, and set times, shall be revealed in the days of the dispensation of the fulness of times.” (D&C 121:31.)
We know that Elijah has returned. He returned on Easter Sunday Apr. 3 1836 in the Kirtland Temple. It is interesting that Apr. 3 in 1836 was also the 16 of the month Nissan, passover week and the same date that Jesus was resurrected.
There is an article in the 1985 July issue of the Ensign where a university professor of astronomy uses information about the life of Christ from the Book of Mormon, the DC and New Testament to identify Apr.3, 33AD as the date of the Savior's resurrection.
So, how often does Easter Sunday occur on both April 3 and 16 Nisan, as it did in a.d. 33? It happens less than once every century, on the average. The year 1836, April 3 was the only such occurrence in the nineteenth century.
The apostle Paul, “Now ye are the body of Christ,” and explained that all positions in the Church are important. (1 Cor. 12:12–31.)
DC 20:1 The rise of the Church of Christ in these last days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh, it being regularly organized and established agreeable to the laws of our country, by the will and commandments of God, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April—
Presidents Harold B Lee and Spencer W Kimball each said that this date was the birth date of the Savior.
Thus the DATE of birth of the church coincides the with the DATE of birth of Christ.
Alma in the Book of Mormon uses the words restore and restoration to describe the resurrected body.
When did the restoration of the gospel become complete? When did the dispensation of the fullness of times begin. When Christ came to the Kirtland Temple and introduced Moses, Elias and Elijah. Completing the restoration of the final keys to gather Israel and to perform temple work. Thus the DATE of restoration of the Gospel coincides with the DATE of resurrection of Christ.
I WOULD LIKE TO NOW CONSIDER HOW JESUS USED THE SCRIPTURES TO TEACH US ABOUT HIS ATONEMENT:
THE GOOD SAMARITAN.
 A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
Jerusalem, the holy city, represents the place of holiness, or the innocence and purity we had before coming to earth.
The journey down to Jericho represents the fall each of us experiences as we come to earth and makes wrong choices and commits sin.
The robbers are the spiritual enemies we encounter on earth.
The wounds are the real spiritual wounds we receive through sin and mortal adversity
The priest and Levite are those who could and should help us but fail to do so.
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

The good Samaritan is our Savior, who administers wine (representing the blood of his atoning sacrifice) and oil (symbolic of the Holy Ghost). He binds up our wounds and carries us on his own beast.
The inn represents the Church, the place of safety and healing where the Lord takes us and stays with us as we begin our recovery.
The innkeeper can symbolize the leaders of the Church who represent Christ when he is gone, ministering to those in need.
The two pence (and more, if needed) represent the cost of returning us to spiritual health. The Lord pays the full price that is required
Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

MY FAVORITE description of Christ and the atonement is found in the parable of the prodigal son.
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.And he arose, and came to his father.
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.
And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
The Father I believe represents Christ.
We all are in need of atonement. The Savior has invited us all.
Matt. 11: 28 ¶ Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
CHRIST TEACHES US IN THIS PARABLE THAT AS WE COME UNTO HIM (REPENT) HE SEES US FROM A LONG WAY OFF (OR AS WE BEGIN REPENTANCE) AND RUNS TO US AND EMBRACES US AND REJOICES WITH US.
ALMA GAVE US A DESCRIPTION OF CHRIST AND HIS ATONEMENT. HE TEACHES US THAT CHRIST'S ATONE­MENT HEALS US NOT ONLY FROM THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN, BUT ALL OF OUR PAIN, SUFFERING AND SORROW.
ALMA :11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, 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.
ETYMOLOGY IS THE ORIGIN AND MEANINGS OF WORDS. SUCCOR. FROM THE LATIN SUCCURRER MEANS:TO GO BENEATH, TO RUN TO HELP, TO RUN TO THE RESCUE.
It was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world, in Gethsemane that His pain was equivalent to the cumulative burden of all men, in Gethsemane that He descended below all things so that all could repent and come to Him. EZRA TAFT BENSON.
TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 'SUCCOR' was the perfect word
I testify all things testify of Jesus Christ and his atonement.
I TESTIFY THAT HE HAS DESCENDED BELOW ALL THAT HE MIGHT BE ABLE TO SUCCOR US IN OUR INFIRMITIES. I KNOW THAT HE LOVES US AND HAS A PLAN FOR EACH OF US.
AS I LOOK BACK ON MY OWN LIFE I NOTICE A PATTERN TO MY LIFE THAT ACTUALLY INDICATES AN OUTLINE OF A PLAN THAT IS BEGINNING TO COME TOGETHER.
JOSEPH SMITH SAID TO BRIGHAM YOUNG."Tell the people to be humble and faithful, and be sure to keep the spirit of the Lord and it will lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the small still voice; it will teach you what to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them, their hearts will be ready to receive it. They can tell the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits; it will whisper peace and joy to their souls; it will take malice, hatred, strife and all evil from their hearts; and their whole ****** will be to do good, bring forth righteousness and build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren if they will follow the spirit of the Lord they will go right. Be sure to tell the people to keep the Spirit of the Lord; and if they will, they will find themselves just as they were organized by our Father in Heaven before they came into the world."13
I BEAR TESTIMONY OF THESE THINGS. TESTIFY THAT HE WILL FROM TIME TO TIME PRUNE US BACK, DIG ABOUT US AND NOURISH US ALL BECAUSE HE LOVES US (ALLEGORY OF THE OLIVE TREE).