HE IS RISEN

 

He Is Risen…..

 

The suffering endured

The power displayed

The love manifested

 

(Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement)

(Matthew 28:6)

The Hope of Israel

King of Nations

The Lord of Hosts

Eternal King

The Son of God

The Balm of Gilead

The Son of Man of Holiness

The King of Zion

The Rock of Heaven

The Son of Righteousness

The Great I am

The Good Shepherd

The Stone of Israel

The Son of Man

The Great Amen

The Mighty One of Jacob

The Shepherd of Israel

The Word of Life

Man of Counsel

The Bright and Morning Star

The Holy One

Endless

Eternal

Messiah

The Lamb of God

The Great Jehovah

The Rock of Our Salvation

The liberator of the captive, the succor of the weak, the balm of the afflicted, the well of all perfection, the fountain of all righteousness…..

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Jesus Ascends by Chris Brazelton)

 

THE RISING

 

With what heavy steps

You approached the garden’s gate!

You suffered, You atoned,

You hung lifeless on the cross,

As you met Your appointed fate.

 

I waited for my turn on earth

And watched with angels

Your rise from the darkened tomb

That could not contain

The magnitude of You.

 

I saw Your glory that shone so bright

Defeating death and making all anew

And I wept for the greatness of hope

That rose with You.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: On The Third Day by Greg Collins) 

HIS WOUNDS AND TEARS

 

The wounds He earned so long ago

Are with Him still today;

The tears are shed for evermore

For lambs that go astray.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus Wept by Mindi Oaten)

TRUST

 

"There is a story told that a company of botanists seeking some special flowers up in the Canadian Rockies, came one day to a very rare flower down on the side of a cliff.  To reach it they would have to retrace their steps and go back ten miles to come up from the valley below.  Someone suggested that if they had a rope they could let a boy down to pick the specimens.  That suggestion was prompted by the fact that a little boy had been following them for about an hour, watching them silently.  They got the rope and said:

 

'Here lad, we'll give you $5 if you will put this rope around you and permit us to let you down to get those flowers'. Without saying a word the lad scampered off.  They thought they had frightened him.  He went to a house nearby and soon came back with a man by his side.  Then the little fellow answered: ‘You may put that rope around me, and I'll get the flower, if you'll let my dad hold the rope'." (President David O. McKay, CR. April 1944)

 

When you study the scriptures you can see so clearly the intimate and close connection the Saviour had with the Father whilst in mortality. He spoke of Him incessantly. Once I counted 163 references that He made to the Father during His visit to the Americas. Fifteen of those referenced His obedience to Him which included the sacrifice He was to offer and save the rest of us (John 10:17-18).

 

The closeness Jesus felt to the Father during His life was such that when He told His disciples that they will scatter and leave Him in the end, He said with assurance: “….yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” and “He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him (John 8:29; 16:32).

 

This is a clear indication that Jesus felt sure the Father would be with Him during His atoning sacrifice  and so perhaps it was not just sheer obedience but also trust that there will be a rope around Him to the very end. Perhaps this trust played a big part in enabling Him to say, “not mine, but Thy will be done” as He began to submit to His excruciating ordeal (Matthew 26:39).  

Imagine then the shock when He was descending into the bottomless pit of human suffering to discover there was no rope around Him, like in the Garden, and no Father to catch Him….when He uttered that heart breaking question asking why the Father had forsaken Him (Matthew 27:46). There are reasons why it had to be so but the startling point is, the Saviour was utterly and totally alone.

Here again there had to be trust even though the rope was not there. There had to be trust that He could finish His crucible until every soul was atoned for and until He could give His all in the voluntary surrender of His life (John 10:18). There had to be trust until He could say: “It is finished” (John 19:30)

I have been puzzled by the concept of suffering my entire life. I used to think there had to be a better way to exaltation, for the Saviour and for us. Over time I received glimpses here and there about that necessity but none of these intellectual explanations seemed to make a dent into my understanding pertaining to my life. The other day I had a revelation about it so intense and so poignant that it took the explanation of my life to another level.

Through it I learnt something extremely important: the Eternal Father knows me to the depths of my soul and the plan for my life which I agreed to before I was born was so finely crafted that it has the power to prepare me for something much greater. I came away from that experience sobbing and understanding His mercy for the life He had planned for me. All I have to do is trust that there is a rope around my waist like Christ ‘who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross’ (Hebrews 12:2).

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Thy Will Be Done by Jay Bryant Ward)

 

THE VEIL

 

I stood at the veil

As You were about to leave

Sorrowing that not all would believe.

 

I prayed for Father’s power

To protect Your gentle heart

From the blow that might tear You apart.

 

I knew my soul You would save

And all Your promises You would fulfil

I stood at the veil, unable to leave,

Holding Your crown for You to receive.

 

I stood and waited that fateful day

In awe of what You did to pave the way.

I could scarcely comprehend

Your godly enduring might

I stood at the veil and gave You my heart.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Symphony of Suffering by Aeron Brown)

GODLY SUFFERING

 

In Section 19 of Doctrine and Covenants, the Saviour revealed the most personal details of His suffering during the Atonement. Here He dismissed ‘the insinuation’ that His sweat was ‘like’ drops of blood, as mentioned by Luke in his Gospel, and confirmed that indeed His agony was so great that He sweat actual blood from His pores (v 18; Luke 22:44).

I have experienced pain in my life but I cannot fathom such extreme form of it. This is how Elder James E. Talmage described it:

“Christ’s agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind, both as to intensity and cause….He struggled and groaned under a burden such as no other who has lived on earth might even conceive as possible. It was not physical pain, nor mental anguish alone, that caused Him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only God was capable of experiencing.

“No other man, however great his powers of physical or mental endurance, could have suffered so; for his human organism would have succumbed, and syncope would have produced unconsciousness and welcome oblivion. In that hour of anguish Christ met and overcame all the horrors that Satan, ‘the prince of this world’ could inflict….. (Jesus the Christ, p 613)

And here is another horrific thing about it. This excruciating spiritual pain was added to the physical pain of the crucifixion as He hung on the cross: “Again, on Calvary, during the last three hours of his mortal passion, the sufferings of Gethsemane returned….if we interpret the holy word aright, that all of the anguish, all of the sorrow, and all of the suffering of Gethsemane recurred during the hours when darkness covered the land….could it be that this was the period of his greatest trial, or that during it the agonies of Gethsemane recurred and even intensified!” (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, “Mortal Messiah” 4:232, note 22; see also Talmage, “Jesus the Christ” p 661 and Tad R. Callister, “The Infinite Atonement” p 141)

There is another scripture in Section 19 of Doctrine and Covenants which I find most alarming. In His vehement command to us to repent, the Saviour explained that if we would not repent, we must suffer even as He suffered, to pay for our own sins (v 17). This drives fear into me. I have suffered in my life and the last thing I would want is to undergo suffering at such great scale as I have never experienced before.

Herein enters Christ’s unfathomable mercy. Verses 4-12 offer great insight into God’s punishment. Here we are told that the punishment given from God’s hand is ‘eternal and endless punishment’ because Eternal and Endless are two of His names. It does not mean that a sinner is to be eternally and endlessly made to suffer.

I worshipped You in heaven

As my Saviour and my King.

I knew Your holy suffering

Would pay for everything.

 

Now I am here in my mortal frame,

I am amazed at the price You paid

For the value of my name!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Hail King of the Jews by Mindi Oaten)

A SUPPER OF LOVE

 

Because the Saviour instituted the Sacrament following the Last Supper, the early members of the Church maintained a practice of having a meal together followed by the Sacrament. Paul advised the Corinthians against this practice, however, as the meals were sometimes consumed before all the saints arrived, resulting in discord among them (1 Corinthians 11:17-22).

This was contrary to the culture of the Near East where dining together was an expression of unity, peace and friendship. It was during a meal together that any problems and disagreements were resolved and all parties were reconciled.  Paul referred to the sacrament as ‘communion’ not just between individuals and Christ but also between fellow saints (1 Corinthians 10:17).

Since we collectively, by baptism, become the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13), and since the sacrament is a renewal of our baptismal covenants, each time we partake of the sacrament, we affirm our communion with one another and with the Saviour, and thus become one. The Sacrament, therefore, becomes ‘a meal’ of unity, peace and friendship.  So united, we enjoy greater communion with Him who has brought us together by virtue of His sacrifice. (See the New Testament Institute Manual for above scripture references and their explanations)

In John's account of the Last Supper in chapters 13-15 Jesus used the word 'love' 20 times in 14 verses. This made it clear indeed that what He was about to do for them through His infinite sacrifice was a token of love and should be a token of love forever more. Then the admonition to all who would accept that love through the emblems of the sacrament: "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12); "...this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19).

Jesus predicted that in our day people will not keep the commandments and because 'iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold' (Matt 24:12). His discourse on love in relation to the sacrament should be something we as the saints of latter-days seriously think about because of our responsibility to become a Zion people. 

I had always considered the Sacrament a very individual and personal ordinance between me and the Lord. The greatest spiritual connection I have felt with the Saviour was during the pandemic lockdowns when I was fortunate enough to sit at my daughter’s kitchen table and partake of the sacrament with her, her husband and my grandchildren. Each time, my emotions would surge to the point of tears.

I was reminded of the very first Sacrament where the Saviour sat at just such an ordinary table and blessed the emblems of His sacrifice. As my son-in-law passed the sacrament to me on the kitchen plate I came to know what it means to ‘eat His body’ as I have eaten off that kitchen plate before.

I didn’t fully understand it at the time but upon reflection I came to understand that the greatest reason my emotions surged was the unity I felt with those I love during my most sacred moment when I felt united in spirit with Christ. This is the power of the Sacrament….to unite us through His sacrifice with a bond that can never be broken. This is what is meant to be the body of Christ.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: In Remembrance by Brent Borup)