Easter Dinner
The Bread of Life
I am so hungry. When I get home, I’m going to have roast beef, mashed potatoes, maybe some vegetables sufficiently soaked in cheesy sauces. Perhaps a little salad, for sure a homemade buttery roll. And certainly some sort of delicious dessert. But Easter dinner isn’t just what’s coming after church today—it happens to be the subject of my talk to you today. That’s right—I am going to speak about Easter dinner.
My brother told me once that while he lived in Minnesota, his wife’s grandmother, not a member of our church, attended church with them on an Easter day like today. It was her feeling, or her disappointment, that the Mormon Church wasn’t as lavish as her church in their celebration of Easter. She had been to sacrament meetings many times before, and she noted that Easter Sunday was the same as every Sunday at our church. She was right. And I can understand why a member of a different church, used to treating Easter services as extra special, may wonder why our services on Easter weren’t exceptional or different from our regular services. Our church and our gospel has reason and wisdom behind the way we administer our worship services and our meetings together. And we did have a wonderful Easter morning-side this morning. But it is a fair question to ask ourselves if Easter has extra special meaning to us. And for me, as I mentioned earlier, it is Easter dinner that is perhaps most special to me.
Easter, also called Pascha, is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. Many have wondered why Easter is so early this year. It was barely even spring down in moab this weekend. Easter always falls after the first full moon (Friday) after the spring equinox (Thursday). Easter is also linked to the Jewish Passover not only for much of its symbolism but also for its position in the calendar. The Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples before his crucifixion is generally thought of as a Passover meal, based on the chronology in the Synoptic Gospels.(see Wikipedia)
Easter in our church sees millions across the world, gathering together, and reenacting the last supper through the adminstration of the sacrament, in which we partake of the bread and water, symbols of the atoning and resurrecting Christ. And Easter, in my house, will see grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren, gathered together for a glorious feast.
But is dinner ever really that special? Can it really be considered worshipful, or is it just indulgence? I think it can be very meaningful. In fact, I think dinner, or Easter dinner, can be as meaningful as any event in history. Recall the words of Elder Maxwell who said:
“When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?”
Elder Maxwell’s vision showed him that the true history of mankind, the world-changing events, occur not in congresses, but in kitchens. Even at dinner tables.
Contrast what the world says are the meaningful events in history with what Elder Maxwell forecasts to be the meaningful events of history. Elder Holland last conference contrasted the great Council of Nicea which produced the traditional Christian understanding of the nature of God. Contrast that great meeting of religious and secular leaders with the unheralded and unnoticed first vision of Joseph Smith, where he came to know the true nature of the Godhead, all by himself in a grove of trees.
Consider the last supper. Not too many people there. A humble setting. Just some of the Father’s most noble children, sharing together one last meal with the Savior. In a 1991 Liahona article, Terry Treseder wrote that “Our Lord’s last meal as a mortal stands out in gospel history as the beginning of events so great in magnitude that every human soul—living, dead, or yet unborn—would come to depend on Jesus the Messiah for immortality and exaltation. The timing for this significant event was the choice of the master teacher. The Last Supper was not only outstanding as a new sacrament. It was also the fulfillment of more than a thousand years of promises repeated and prayed for every year during the Passover service since the days of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. The more we understand and appreciate the Passover service as the Jews observed it in Jesus’ day, the more deeply we can understand our sacramental covenants and marvel anew at the infinite love and patience of our Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Christ used the last supper, and instituted the tradition of the sacrament as tokens and tools for remembrance.
One of the nice things about being given the opportunity to talk in church is that from the time you are asked to the time you give your talk you get to see how many places your topic shows up. For me I spent the weekend down in Arches National Park observing all the types of Christ. While there we didn’t have running water in camp. So we visited a natural spring to fill up our canteens. And one of the hikes we went on ended in huge natural bridge and on one end coming out of a crack in the solid rock cliff, was a stream of water. I have a great picture of Nate trying to fill up a water bottle in the crack before it has a chance to be spoiled. We still weren’t sure if was safe so we didn’t drink. But we brought a bottle back if anyone wants to try it out for us.
Because of my mindset I remembered the words of Christ;
“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14
We also saw cairns leading us through the wilderness, the North Star, flowers resurrecting after a long winters sleep. We learn from Alma that “all things denote there is a God” (Alma 30:44)
Perhaps we should strive to see types of Christ more often then when we are preparing a lesson or talk and use them to help us remember Him and keep His commandments.
The scriptures refer to other types of Christ with food. In John 6:35: “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” Or how about the manna from heaven, the fruit of the tree of life, the olive press, and Christ born in a manger or animal trough. Or how about one of the Scripture’s most beautiful prophesies, in Revelation 7:17 where we read that “the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Food symbolizes Christ. It symbolizes life, nourishment and development. Gathering together to partake of food, brings us into remembrance of the last supper, into remembrance of what Christ did for us.
Elder Holland’s address last conference draws distinctions between our belief in Christ, and traditional Christianity’s understanding of Christ. After the last supper, after the agony in Gethsemane, and after the crucifixion, Christ did something that should be very meaningful to us today, and something that we should consider as we sit down to Easter dinner. Christ resurrected. The world would dismiss it, but he did it. He resurrected. He has a body, an immortal body. And what did Christ do to show that he indeed was the resurrected and embodied Christ.
We read in John 21:
9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.
And in Luke 24:30 to show the two apostles at Emmaus “he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.”
And so Christ came, the Resurrected Christ. And he left for us the sacrament, so that we would never forget. And he left us Easter dinners, that we might eat and drink, with those we love, and use our bodies and our hungry stomachs to contemplate and meditate upon the bread of life, the provider of eternal life, even he who will feed us and lead us to living fountains of waters, whereupon God will wipe away all tears from our eyes. We will sit and sup today, knowing that we will live again, with glorified bodies, all because of our Savior Jesus Christ.
I would like to bear my testimony using the words penned by
Charles H. Gabriel:
I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,
I’m Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.
I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,
That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.
Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me
Enough to die for me!
Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!
He lived. He died for me. He died for you. He resurected. He lives again. Joseph Smith saw Him, even on the right hand of God. He leads this Church today. I testify in His name, even Jesus Christ. Amen.
