![\"Resurrection](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/12\/504px-Fra_Angelico_-_Resurrection_of_Christ_and_Women_at_the_Tomb_Cell_8_-_WGA00542.jpg\")
<\/a>(Fra Angelico, ca. 1440-1442)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In the 13 March 2022 episode of the Interpreter Radio Show, Terry Hutchinson, John Gee, and Kevin Christensen discuss the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s latest film project, Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon<\/em>, as well as a recent Interpreter<\/em> journal paper on fiery flying serpents<\/a> and various aspects of the story of Joseph of Egypt. (You can listen to or download the 13 March 2022 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show at the link supplied above.)\u00a0 That is the first period of the show.\u00a0 The second portion of the show is a roundtable discussing the upcoming Come Follow Me lesson #17 (Exodus 18\u201320). The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640 \u2014 at least, it can be heard in the Salt Lake Valley \u2014 or, alternatively, you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n We have now entered into the week preceding Easter or, as it\u2019s often known, \u201cHoly Week.\u201d\u00a0 In that connection, here are a pair of past Deseret News<\/em> columns that I wrote some time ago but that are directly relevant to the season:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHoly Week aids Easter reflections\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Jesus purged the temple at Jerusalem\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I also enthusiastically recommend the content at this<\/em> link, which can be found on the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>.\u00a0 I cannot think of a better way of getting into the spirit of Easter than to immerse oneself in the music of Easter:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTabernacle Choir 2022 Easter Concert Available Online: \u2018He Is Risen\u2019 streams beginning Palm Sunday\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m just a tiny bit late in calling this to your attention, but all is not lost.\u00a0 There\u2019s still plenty of time for you and your family to catch up:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEaster Day-by-Day\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers some good and very accessible resources that can help you to remember and to reflect upon the atonement and resurrection of Jesus this week:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJesus Christ lives. This message is just as important now as it was on the day of His Resurrection. You can love, hope, forgive, change, grow, and live again #BecauseOfHim\u201d<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And there are resources available from the Interpreter Foundation, as well.\u00a0 Several years ago, for example, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> began commissioning a special article for publication every year at Easter \u2014 or, more accurately, annually on Good Friday.\u00a0 Here are links to the articles that we\u2019ve already published in this series:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cResurrection Month\u201d<\/a> (Claudia Bushman)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cChrist and the Work of Suffering\u201d<\/a> (Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Crucifixion as a Mockery, Witness, and Warning of the Judgment\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(George L. Mitton)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe First Easter\u201d<\/a> (S. Kent Brown)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEasters: The Eternal Atoning Sacrifice Testifies of the Everlasting Redeeming Savior\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(Alan C. Ashton)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Healing and Exalting Powers of Christ Weave Together at Easter\u201d<\/a> (Ann Madsen)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhy Did You Choose Me?\u201d<\/a> \u00a0(Joseph Grenny)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThree Streams of Gratitude for Jesus\u201d<\/a> \u00a0(Mitt Romney)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And now, perhaps, it\u2019s time yet again for another of my favorite poems.\u00a0 It\u2019s the late poet and novelist John Updike\u2019s \u201cSeven Stanzas at Easter.\u201d \u00a0Updike (1932-2009) was a two-time winner of the National Book Award and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In order to understand the poem completely, you need to know the noun\u00a0remonstrance<\/em> (re-MON-strance), which denotes \u201ca forcefully reproachful protest\u201d:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Make no mistake: if he rose at all<\/strong><\/span> It was not as the flowers,<\/strong><\/span> The same hinged thumbs and toes<\/strong><\/span> Let us not mock God with metaphor,<\/strong><\/span> The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,<\/strong><\/span> And if we have an angel at the tomb,<\/strong><\/span> Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0<\/p>\n Updike\u2019s poem, in part, reminds me of a comment from the Prophet Joseph Smith:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.\u201d<\/strong> \u00a0(History of the Church,<\/em>\u00a03:30; from an editorial published on page 44 in the\u00a0Elders\u2019 Journal,<\/em>\u00a0July 1838; Joseph Smith was the editor of the periodical)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n How central is the concept represented by this holiday to our faith and our hope for the future?\u00a0 It is, simply, everything<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n You might find this of interest.\u00a0 I did:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
\nIt was as His body;<\/strong><\/span>
\nIf the cell\u2019s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe amino acids rekindle,<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Church will fall.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nEach soft spring recurrent;<\/strong><\/span>
\nIt was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the<\/strong><\/span>
\nEleven apostles;<\/strong><\/span>
\nIt was as His flesh; ours.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nThe same valved heart<\/strong><\/span>
\nThat\u2014pierced\u2014died, withered, paused, and then regathered<\/strong><\/span>
\nOut of enduring Might<\/strong><\/span>
\nNew strength to enclose.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nAnalogy, sidestepping, transcendence,<\/strong><\/span>
\nMaking of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded<\/strong><\/span>
\nCredulity of earlier ages:<\/strong><\/span>
\nLet us walk through the door.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nNot a stone in a story,<\/strong><\/span>
\nBut the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of<\/strong><\/span>
\nTime will eclipse for each of us<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe wide light of day.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nMake it a real angel,<\/strong><\/span>
\nWeighty with Max Planck\u2019s quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe dawn light, robed in real linen<\/strong><\/span>
\nSpun on a definite loom.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nFor our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,<\/strong><\/span>
\nLest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed<\/strong><\/span>
\nBy the miracle,<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnd crushed by remonstrance.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n