Holy Week Easter Sunday

Women represent the stages of life.

Jesus conquers both deaths - sin and mortality.

 Raw Transcript

all right welcome to our last short
video here of the Holy Week being Easter
Sunday and the resurrection of Jesus
Christ Now when we last left you uh
yesterday we were talking about Jesus
being in the underworld or in the nether
world or in the spirit world And there
he is uh doing missionary work
organizing those that are in paradise to
go to the spirit prison and to teach
there in the spirit prison The night
before Friday night would have been when
they needed to go and bury Jesus or put
him away into the tomb into the suppler
And he was buried
with spices right with frankincense and
myrr and oil and wrapped in the linens
And he was he was buried like a king I
mean huge amounts of money Some people
estimate that the cost of the
frankincense and myrrh primarily would
have been somewhere around a half a
million dollars And so he's buried as if
he is a king into this supplicer and uh
um laid there and uh wrapped in the
linen and left and then the stone is
rolled out in front of the supplic
remember supplicer and then he's guarded
by the Romans and then there comes an
earthquake and some will say it was the
angels uh some will say the earthquake
was an aftershock of the earthquake that
happened
uh during the time that Jesus was on the
cross Uh but regardless the the the the
Romans are startled the soldiers are
startled the the
the stone is rolled away the angels
appear Some have the accounts of one
angel and some the accounts some
accounts have two different angels
Joseph Smith makes it clear in Mark that
it is two angels that are appearing
there and uh and the Romans are no more
Well that that Sunday morning very early
in the dawn you know the the beginning
of a it's the beginning of a new day a
new dawn is is the imagery here The
women show up at the suppler again to
again anoint Jesus Again it's the women
that are anointing him And it's Mary
Magdalene and it's Mary the mother of
James and it's Joanna and and it's uh
Salom and and and others that are there
and they're there and and it's important
that they're there It's important that
the authors show that they're there
because the women are always there and
shown as those that are part of a new
birth or a new stage in life
They are the ones for example of course
you have Mary obviously the mother of
Jesus there when he's born so the mother
obviously is always there when someone
is born and you have Mary later on
depicted as as having Jesus in her lap
even a uh um a a fullgrown Jesus uh when
he is taken down from the cross laying
in her lap she represents the throne the
throne of the king she's the one who
gives the right to the son to be the
king through her lineage through that uh
matrine matrinal patriarchy as Bruce
Porter calls it And so the women are
always there obviously at the birth but
they're always there at the death as
well They're usually depicted there as
the death They're the ones that are
mourning the most You see this in the
Book of Mormon when Ishmael dies There's
a big deal with the women and and and
mourning And so you see at the cross you
have the women that are there all around
the cross again at the time of his
death And you're going to have them now
there again at the time of his
resurrection And and it's like it's a
new stage Often times there's a new name
given Uh they would be there at the
coronation where there would be a new
birth of the king coming out uh in in
Israel would be coming out of the Holy
of Holies being born again as we see in
Psalm
110 and uh and perhaps even sometimes
when they're first coordinated having a
new name given to them which still
happens today with kings and royalty
around the world and uh and so it's a
it's a a symbol of a new birth And of
course the mother needs to be there for
that And so women are always represented
there In in ancient Egypt you would have
you would see that in many depictions as
as as a spirit is is coming down into
the underworld they are met first by a
woman in a tree who may offer them
something And uh then you you know maybe
Isis as an example and and and then you
come down through the underworld and
through your resurrection as you go back
up in and and you're resurrected you
pass through another woman who is in a
tree again and uh you move on to your
own exaltation because they're there
Those women are there at those points in
our lives in those stages in our lives
They represent a new birth a new
beginning And and here we have it again
depicted this way and shown this way um
with the women that are at the tomb Now
they get to the tomb and of course
they're probably expecting that they're
not going to be able to do anything I
mean how are they going to going to be
able to anoint Jesus when the stone is
there and all the guards are there Of
course when they get there there are no
guards and the the stone is rolled away
Imagine And they come there and they see
that there's nobody there in the tomb
He's gone And so the women run
off Uh Mary hangs back but the other
women run off and they go tell the
apostles what has happened And uh this
is we get a couple stories going on here
at the same time But but one thing we'll
see here is that when the women go back
you may see that the apostles may have
been hiding in fear They may be hiding
um because they could be next right
maybe they're going to be crucified next
Maybe they're going to be killed next So
they may be hiding and and the women run
back and talk to them and at first
they're saying these are idol tales uh
that these women are telling us but
finally we're we learn that Peter runs
back Now in the Gospel of John he adds
himself in there He says no it's Peter
and me the two of us that run back And
it's kind of interesting how that goes
because John makes sure we understand
that he arrived there first And again
Peter may be the oldest or one of the
oldest and John is probably the youngest
So maybe he's able to run back a lot
faster but he John comes back first and
he looks inside but he doesn't go inside
Remember John is likely a
priest And so he is not allowed to be
around the dead like that So he pro he
holds off He doesn't he doesn't go in
and and Peter then uh will will go in
and and see that uh that Jesus is not in
there Right so it says here in John 20:4
and we're going to go through a few of
these verses here in chapter 20 of John
says so they ran both together Peter and
John and the other disciple that's
himself he never uses his own name did
outrun Peter and came first to the
supplr and he stooping down and looking
in saw the linen clothes lying yet he
went went he not in right he's a priest
so then Simon Peter comes following him
and went into the supplicer and seeth
the linen clothes lie eye and the napkin
that was about his head not lying with
the linen clothes but wrapped together
in a place by itself So so the disciples
do not you know they don't understand
the the scripture the verse about his
being resurrected Now isn't this
interesting right for as yet it says in
verse 9 they knew not the scripture that
he must rise again from the dead Okay
Well what did that what does that mean
they didn't know that What does that
mean they didn't know that Now again
where do we find that
scripture where is that detail of
resurrection for the son of God found
anywhere in the Old Testament i mean you
might be able to stretch something to
get to that but I think it's kind of
hard to find and to find something that
that would be exactly that scripture
Where is
it of course we know that that's in the
Book of Mormon We get that in the Book
of Mormon but where do we get it in the
Old Testament so they had that scripture
and of course they would have had that
in the festivals in the ancient festival
and the ancient temple drama They knew
that the son of God was supposed to rise
again and resurrect again in glory after
death That was always what happened Well
until they corrupted it until they
corrupted the temple drama So they don't
understand it They run they go back they
go back home But then it says in verse
11 that Mary stood without at the
suppler weeping and as she wept she
stooped down and looked into the
supplicer and seeth here we have John
saying the two angels that's what Joseph
Smith was said in white sitting the one
at the head and the other at the feet
where the body of Jesus had lain So we
get this imagery again this temple
imagery of of the throne of God the ark
of the covenant and the throne with the
two cherubam on the sides I think that's
the imagery that's being portrayed here
And they said unto her,"Woman why
weepest thou?" And 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
I think that there is a uh we're going
to get the same thing on the road to
Emmas here just a little later as Jesus
a resurrected Jesus visits the apostles
that the disciples on the road to Emmas
and they don't understand until after
he's he's he's actually breaking bread
with them And I think that's a message
to us right do we see this clearly do we
even now understand the atoning
sacrifice and
the the the resurrection the triumph of
Jesus Christ and what that means to us
do we see it clearly do we see Jesus
clearly in that sense and I understand
that he may have a different countenance
here at this point but I think it's a
message to us as well So in verse 15
Jesus saith unto her woman why weepest
thou whom seeketh thou when she's
supposeding him to be the gardener saith
unto him "Sir if thou hast borne him
hence tell me where thou hast laid him
and I will take him away." It's just you
know it's it's impossible to believe
that he's alive again right i mean we
would probably all do the same thing And
Jesus saith unto her "Mary." And she
turned
herself and saith unto him "Raboni,"
which is to say "Master." There's a
recognition now of him And Jesus saith
unto her "Touch me not." What he's
really saying here in the Greek is "Do
not hold on to me." He's probably
holding on to her She's probably holding
on to him or maybe
both And he she says "Do not do not hug
me." Basically do not embrace me For I
am not yet ascended to my
father but go to my brethren and say
unto them I ascend unto my father and
your father to my God and your God And I
think that the thing that we get from
this to understand what he's saying here
is look I am your advocate I am your
elder brother I am the one paving paving
the way But I you are to do the same as
me Right i ascend unto my father and
your father You're going to do the same
thing or you should I invite you to do
the
same Right to my God and your God What I
do here you can do also You will
resurrect like I have
resurrected and you will return to God
the father if you follow me and do as I
do It is the invitation that that Jesus
gives us And I think this is an
important thing to understand in our
culture We're changing this so
much that that you know the Easter is
not just about the love of God for us
right it is it is the love we have for
God It is an invitation for us to repent
and to become like him and an invitation
to come follow me Come follow me back to
our father ultimately by putting on the
character of God and becoming more like
me And this is what the world hates The
world hates this and tries to push this
away Even within the church we can we
grab a culture that hang on to a embrace
a culture that does not talk about our
growth and development and repentance
and pain in trying to put on that new
character That's work that is difficult
to do But that's what the real joy of
the Holy Week is It It's not just that
we will resurrect It's that we can
become like him He has paved the way for
us to become like
him And we don't want to lose that
doctrine of exaltation We don't want to
lose that doctrine of eternal life It is
a gift that he has given to us And that
gift is an
invitation to become like him Now the
other thing that's important to
understand is the resurrection
represents both the atoning sacrifice
and the the victory over sin as well as
the vic victory over mortal death
because he is resurrected as a celestial
being And so there is a victory over
both deaths the first and the second
death as Elmet says states it And that's
important to see because in the Garden
of Eden you had the fall which is the
fall through both deaths We see that
Garden of Eden story and that account
And sometimes we forget about the death
of sin the spiritual death the
separation from God is the spiritual
death And that is from transgression
that is from rebellion that is from sin
And so in the Garden of Eden when Satan
says to Eve "You shall not surely
die." What he is saying to her I believe
first and foremost is "You will not be
judged if you partake of
this You're not going to be judged
because judgment is spiritual death And
you're not going to die in immortality
either." That's the second way to look
at it But first and foremost there I
believe is
judgment separation from God And so
there is the death of sin the spiritual
death and the death of mortality with
our bodies and the Holy Week combined
here The atoning sacrifice at Gethsemane
on the cross and and from the
tomb is the conquering of those two
deaths both
deaths which is the death of sin
spiritual death and the death of
mortality where we are all going to
resurrect with that death of mortality
right we're all going to have our bodies
again We're all going to still live with
a body
but we are not all at that point going
to have conquered spiritual
death That only happens through that
atoning sacrifice and our repentance and
growth and becoming more like God right
obeying the commandments following the
way of Christ
So
the fall is two deaths and the Holy Week
the atoning sacrifice and resurrection
of Jesus Christ is the victory over both
deaths that happened from the Garden of
Eden That's important to
understand And this is part of the plain
and precious things that are forgotten
and that we can forget as well Even
though we're in the
church right even though we're given
this doctrine through the scriptures and
through the prophets if we
forget about what our true purpose is
and identity is and and what our
objective should
be then we fall back on one of those two
deaths and and we lose the understanding
of what we're trying to
accomplish And as we remember Jesus and
his him in Gethsemane and on the cross
and the pain and the suffering the
payment the cost for all of this we need
to also look at Easter and remember the
triumph over all of it the triumph over
all adversity over all death And that
with that path that has been paven for
us already we have the invitation and
the choice to follow through and know
that at the end there is a triumphal end
if we choose it Happy Easter