EASTER

 In my last post I told you about the Iglesia de Santa María de Leboreiro. As I was standing at the door examining the tympanum...

I happened to look down to my left, and growing out of a opening in the stones was a single calla lily...

I thought, "How is it that out of such adverse circumstances something so beautiful and delicate can grow?" But then I reflected, "Isn't this what Easter is all about? Isn't it the victory of hope, beauty, and power of God over the deep adversity, pain and challenges of mortality?

There are two paintings by Carl Bloch that tell the story.... First, the "The Burial of Christ."

This painting expresses the pathos of the moment that the Savior's body is laid to rest in the tomb. Yet, at the same time it delivers a message of hope. Note that at the Savior's feet is a clutch of lilies and just to the side of his wound is another lily. Some traditions hold that the lily was born from a drop of blood that fell from the Savior's side at the crucifixion; a message of hope by a flower that grows in blooms in early spring. The other painting is "The Resurrection."

I first saw this painting at a special exhibit that featured some of Bloch's paintings at BYU. Here, as in the previous painting, lilies appear, but this time bursting out from the tomb; the fulfillment of the hope brought about by his voluntary offering of himself to redeem us from the Fall. Here Bloch has captured the inability of earth (the stone), the forces of the world (the Roman helmet and spear) and the greed and corruption of society (the two dice) to subvert the fulfillment of His Mission. If you look closely at the feet of Christ in the painting, you will see all of these images represented.

I often reflect on the verses 6 and 7 from 2 Nephi, chapter 2:

Wherefore redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.

Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.

A little further on in this chapter, in verses 11-12, we read:

For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God.

In 1 Corinthians 15 (verses 21-22, 45-49, 53-57), Paul teaches us a profound lesson regarding the eternal plan of God; one based on one action responding to another that would lead to the redemption of humanity. He writes:

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

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And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

The first man is of the earth, earthly: the second man is the Lord of heaven.

As is the earthly, such are they also that are earthly: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

And as we have borned the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

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For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

But, thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

To teach Christians about the Fall of Adam and his relationship to the role of Jesus Christ in overcoming the effects of the sin, artists would often represent the Crucifixion with a skull and bones at the foot of the cross...

Tradition holds that these are the bones of Adam. So, returning to the scripture in 1 Corinthians 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

It is impossible to separate the two events just as it is impossible to separate the Savior's birth from his death and resurrection. In our theology we learn that the Fall was not a happenstance or mistake. It was a necessary step towards spiritual growth and progress; thereby becoming like our Heavenly Father. In the same way, the atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection are complements to the Fall, the two being bound up into a single purpose: "For this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). Neal A. Maxwell said it clearly when he observed...

"Jesus' daily mortal experiences and His ministry, to be sure, acquainted Him by observation with a sample of human sicknesses, grief, pains, sorrows, and infirmities which are "common to man' (1 Corinthians 10:13). But the agonies of the Atonement were infinite and first-hand! Since not all human sorrow and pain is connected to sin, the full intensiveness of the Atonement involved bearing our pains, infirmities, and sicknesses, as well as our sins. Whatever our sufferings, we can safely cast our care upon him; for he careth for [us]" (1 Peter 5:7)."

"Jesus is a fully comprehending Christ."

"The Atonement, then, was infinite in the divineness of the one sacrificed, in the comprehensiveness of its coverage, and in the intensiveness—incomprehensible to us—of the Savior's suffering."

I think that when we pause and reflect on the hopefulness of life and focus on what Christ has made possible when he took upon himself our pains and sorrows, then we find greater purpose and mission in our daily activities.

Our experience along the Camino symbolizes the journey that this life can be. There are easy, pleasant days. There are tedious and strenuous days. There are rainy and miserable days. There are combinations of all the above. Like I was reminded of by a pilgrim we met, "It isn't always the destination but the journey itself that builds and strengthens us." We look to Christ and know that the goal is eternal life, but that life, that ultimate goal is only possible as we walk the path and rely on the love and redemption made possible through Christ. Indeed, we are his lambs and we should strive to hear his voice in all that we do.