Anybody considering the Savior’s crucifixion must get their arms around Matthew 12:38-40. In this scripture, the Savior says he will be in the grave three days and three nights, just as Jonah was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights. Mark 8:31 also says the Savior would be resurrected after three days.
So, if Jesus was crucified on a Friday, how can that be three days and three nights?
So, I stumbled across this web site that tells you how to say Happy Easter in many different languages. Armenian is my favorite:
Քրիստոս յառեաւ ի մեռելոց
(Kuhreestos harryav ee merrelotz)
– Christ is risen from the dead
Օրհնեալ է յառութիւնն Քրիստոսի
(Ornyal eh harrootyunuhn Kuhreestosee)
– Blessed is the resurrection of Christ (response)
It seems the Orthodox churches have a nice tradition of emphasizing what Easter is about. We could learn something from them.
The latest edition of Sunstone Winter 2009 is a rich collection of writings by a variety of authors. I have enjoyed and savored each piece including the poetry section, the various columns, and book reviews.
About six months after I was baptized in 1999, I moved to Brazil with my family as part of an expatriate assignment. About a year-and-a-half after moving to Brazil, I was called to the bishopric of our small ward in Rio de Janeiro. And one day when the bishop was out of town, a new man, most likely a gringo, walked in and sat on the stand next to me right as I was about to preside over a Sacrament meeting for the first time. That man was Neil L. Andersen, who was just named in 2009 an apostle of the Lord.
This week in Elder Benson’s email home to us he related an interesting account he had with an Assistant Minister of a church in Houston.
Forever ago the Elders who were in our area before us helped a woman who had locked her keys in her car. We switched companions for a day and the District Leader, who was one of those Elders, and I went out to talk with people on the street. We bumped into the woman with the car keys problem. We asked if we could visit her. She said yes. Later my companion and I arrived at the appointed time and she wasn’t there, but her husband David was. He said if I could answer his question correctly he would listen to us. The question was, “If Jesus had wanted to be a priest could he have become one?” I answered, “no, because Jesus was not a Levite”. He let us in.