A LOVE DIVINE

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.....he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.....and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:3-5)

Two miles from Jerusalem, on the southeast slope of Mount Olivet lay a village called Bethany, a name meaning 'house of the poor'. It is in this beloved village, in the home of Simon the leper, among his most devoted and beloved friends, Lazarus whom He had raised from the dead and his sisters Mary and Martha, that Jesus and His disciples spent the holy week of the Passover. It can only be imagined with what sorrow and heavy hearts His last week on earth was spent in the company of those who accepted Him as the Son of God, and who knowing of His impending death (Matt 26:2) prepared and offered support. It is in this home that He received the holy anointing in preparation for His kingly burial as the beloved Mary, who loved to sit at Jesus' feet and hear His words of eternal life, took from her treasures an alabaster box containing the costly ointment of spikenard with which she anointed the Saviour's head and feet and wiped them with the hairs of her head and no doubt, her tears. Later in the week He sat at supper with His disciples, who 'were His own and who He loved unto the end' (John 13:1) instituting the sacrament that they might always remember Him and have His spirit with them, washing the disciples feet admonishing them to be servants of all and commanding them to love one another as He had loved them.

Outside Jerusalem's walls, there was in Jesus' time, a pleasant garden spot by the name of Gethsemane where Jesus and his disciples retreated for pondering and prayer. It is here that He taught them the doctrines of the kingdom and where they together communed with the Father of us all. It was in this sacred spot, following the Passover, and on this holy ground where the Saviour of the world took upon himself the sins of all mankind. Gethsemane, meaning 'oil-press', exacted from Him who created us all, the greatest suffering known to man. 'Just as oil is pressed unmercifully from an olive in order to extract each precious drop, the law of justice exacted its full payment from the Saviour of Mankind as He willingly wrought out the infinite Atonement' (Larry D. Keeler, Gethsemane).

As the Saviour wrestled with His agony wanting the cup to pass from Him, we no doubt, with all the host of heaven, stood in line clutching our burdens of mortality, waited with bated breath, hoping against all hope that He would not shrink back from the bitter cup and leave us unransomed and lost.  As He subjected Himself to the agony of Gethsemane, the scope of which He never imagined, the 'oil-press' extracting blood through every pore, the Saviour, assisted and comforted by an angel from on high, fulfilled His promise that not one tear would fall unnoticed and not one sin be overlooked during the exquisite agony He suffered for our sakes. It is in that moment of His total submission to the Father's will, when the price was paid, the slates wiped clean and the tears of our sorrows wiped away, that we understood the worth of our souls and the love which He bore for those who had been given Him as His own. The plan conceived before the world was, at once became the plan achieved.

Later, as He hung on the cross, enduring the physical pain of crucifixion, 'all the infinite agonies and merciless pains of Gethsemane recurred. And finally, when the atoning agonies had taken their toll....he voluntarily gave up the ghost. As the peace and comfort of a merciful death freed him from the pains and sorrows of mortality, he entered the paradise of God....[and there] consisting of all the holy prophets and faithful saints from ages past; these, comprising all who had taken upon them His name, and who being spiritually begotten by him, had become his sons and his daughters, even as it is with us; all these were assembled in the spirit world, there to see his face and hear his voice' (Bruce R. McConkie, The Purifying Power of Gethsemane, Conference Report, Ensign May 1985). What love must have flowed at the sight of the Saviour who did not shrink back from drinking the bitter dregs of a cup that we might live and live more abundantly (John 10:10). The sacrifice given, the suffering completed, the sting of death removed eternally.

"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, [as they mourned and wept (Mark 16:10)] and saith unto them, They haven taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple......so they ran both together....." 

(John 20:1-4)

Not yet fully understanding and not really believing that such joyous news could be real, that their Lord had assuredly risen (Mark 16:11), and fearing the Jews (John 20:19) who had the power to take His body away, the beloved disciples must have harboured a spark of hope, that what the women who had seen Him had said was true, and that they will once again walk by His side and hear the words of eternal life come from His lips, for they who had loved Him before, had loved Him still. The grief and the sense of irreparable loss of yesterday must have turned to wonder and anticipation that He truly lived once again, for the women who had 'wept at the cross and sought to care for His wounded and lifeless body and had come to His tomb to weep and worship their Master' (Bruce R. McConkie, DNTC, 1:843) had testified that they had seen Him and worshipped Him at His feet. It is to them that the angel announced 'He is risen!' and it was they who were honoured to see the resurrected Lord first. With what joy and wonder the beloved apostles received Him when He first came to them within the closed doors of a room where they were assembled! For forty days He ministered to them and taught them all they needed to know concerning the building up of His kingdom and rolling forth of His great work (Acts1:3). How they must have believed all that He told them would be fulfilled for His resurrection bore witness of the truthfulness of His words. Now that His sacrifice was complete, their work was beginning. They were to take His gospel to the ends of the earth, to all nations, to the Jew and Gentile alike, that all may know that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and Saviour of the world, that He alone is 'the way, the truth, and the life' (John 14:6). 

"And now, as pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood of God - I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that He is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person. I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God's Almighty Son......" 
(Bruce R. McConkie, The Purifying Power of Gethsemane, Ensign May 1985)