בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לזְּמַן הַזֶּה.

Bārūch atāh Adonai Elohênū melekh ha`ôlām šeheḥeyānû veqîmānû vehigî`ānû lazman hazeh

Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who hast given us life and sustained us and brought us to this season

Saturday, April 5, 2025

Walking with Jesus before Holy Week and Easter


One of my favorite Holy Land excursions, with both BYU Jerusalem Students and commercial tour groups, is a walk up the Wadi Hamam or "Valley of the Doves." This is likely the route that Jesus would have taken from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee, and we always begin our walk with a devotional about the call of the disciples and then singing "Come, Follow Me." I like to imagine that we are ourselves following Jesus along this trail, walking with and learning from him.

One of my personal preparations for Holy Week and Easter is to read in the week before Palm Sunday the accounts of Mark often called "The Road to Jerusalem," focusing on the three Passion Predictions (Mark 8:27–38; 9:30–37; 10:32–45). This allows me to imagine myself walking with Jesus to Jerusalem for the final week of his mortal life. While some Christians of high liturgical traditions do this by observing a formal period called "Lent," I would like to encourage you, and myself, to spend some time walking with Jesus in the coming weeks as we prepare to commemorate his atoning sacrifice and celebrate his glorious resurrection.

Prophetic and Apostolic Encouragement

Several weeks before Easter in 2023, the First Presidency wrote a letter directing that only a sacrament meeting focusing on Jesus' atoning sacrifice and glorious meeting should be held on Easter Sunday. With more time for families on that day, they called upon to worship at home "to commemorate this most important holiday."



Then, in the opening talk of the April 2023 General Conference, in response to a First President Letter,  Elder Gary Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve said, 

The First Presidency’s letter caught my attention, and it caused me to reflect on the way our family has celebrated Easter through the years. The more I thought about our celebrations, the more I found myself wondering if we are inadvertently shortchanging the true meaning of this holiday, so central to all believers in Jesus Christ.

​Those thoughts led me to ponder the difference between the way we have celebrated Christmas as compared with Easter. . . . ​Our family celebrations at Easter, however, have been somewhat different. I feel our family has relied more on “going to church” to provide the meaningful, Christ-centered part of Easter; and then, as a family, we have gathered to share in other Easter-related traditions. I have loved watching our children and now our grandchildren hunt for Easter eggs and dig through their Easter baskets.

But the First Presidency letter was a wake-up call. Not only did they invite all of us to make sure our celebration of the most important event to ever happen on this earth—the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ—includes the reverence and respect the Lord deserves, but they also gave us more time with our families and friends on Easter Sunday to do so.

It seems we are all trying. I observe a growing effort among Latter-day Saints toward a more Christ-centered Easter. This includes a greater and more thoughtful recognition of Palm Sunday and Good Friday as practiced by some of our Christian cousins. We might also adopt appropriate Christ-centered Easter traditions found in the cultures and practices of countries worldwide. 

(Gary E. Stevenson, "The Greatest Easter Story Ever Told," Liahona [May 2023]: 6-9).

Over the years—first with the publication of God So Loved The World: The Final Days of the Savior's Life in 2011, then through this seasonal blog with ideas for personal and family celebrations, and at last with Greater Love Hath No Man: A Latter-day Saint Guide to Celebrating the Easter Season which I published with Trevan Hatch in 2023—I have gathered ideas on how we can better prepare for marking and celebrating this most holy season.

While Latter-day Saints do not observe Lent or even Holy Week as an institution, there is much that we can learn from the devotion of some other Christians as they prepare for Easter. In accordance with Krister Stendahl's concept of "holy envy," while we do not need to adopt the practices or beliefs of other religious communities, we can be inspired by their devotion to find ways to more fully worship God within our own faith tradition.

Here are two excerpts from Greater Love Hath No Man, one that gives the background of Lent and describes how some Christians observe it, and another that shares some suggestions for Latter-day Saints that might help you spent more time in the scriptures, be more prayerful, repent and prepare spiritually, and offer more service to prepare for Easter.



Celebrating Ash Wednesday and Lent in the Christian Tradition 

(Greater Love Hath No Man, 20-21)

Lent is a season of Christian observance that prepares believers for Holy Week. Among the many traditional Christian groups, forty days of fasting is observed over six, seven, or eight weeks, with Sundays excluded in Western Christianity and Saturdays and Sundays excluded in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The origins of pre-Holy Week fasting date to at least the second century, with forty days (Latin, Quadragesima) of fasting being firmly in place by the late fourth century in both the East and West, as is documented by Egeria in her account of the preparations for Easter that she observed in her visit to Jerusalem.[1] While Romance languages still use words based upon the Quadragesima for this period, English and other Germanic languages use variations of the word “Lent,” signifying “season of spring” or “springtime.”

In Roman Catholicism and among some Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends during Holy Week on Maundy Thursday. In Eastern Christianity, Lent begins on Clean Monday. Both Ash Wednesday and Clean Monday function similarly. These are days of confessing, seeking forgiveness, and committing to an attitude adjustment of forsaking sins. On Ash Wednesday, a priest places ashes on the foreheads of Catholic Christians in the shape of a cross while uttering some version of, “From dust you came and to dust you will return.” The ashes come from the prior year’s palm branches, which we will see in our discussion of Palm Sunday below were used to commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry. This practice by ancient Israelite practice, where ash was a symbol of mourning and penance (see Job 42:6; Jonah 3:5–6; Esther 4:1; Daniel 9:3; Matthew 11:21).

The activities and observances of Lent are symbolic of Jesus’ forty-day wilderness retreat. Jesus’ fast and abstinence during this time is the model for Christians as they prepare for Holy Week. Three areas of discipleship come into focus during Lent: (1) righteousness toward God, as manifested through prayer and repentance, (2) righteousness toward neighbors as manifested through almsgiving and charity, and (3) righteousness toward oneself as manifested in fasting and avoidance of sins and luxuries. This last area of focus includes abstinence of various carnal passions, weaknesses, or gluttony—individuals may choose to forego meat, sugary foods, alcohol, profane speaking, gambling, laziness, video games, frivolous spending, etc. In addition, many increase personal prayer and devotional Scripture reading in their daily schedule. The practice of fasting during preparations of Holy Week are based on Matthew 9:15: “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (NRSV). In addition, to be successful while contending with evil and even casting out demons, Jesus said, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29 KJV).[2] Fasting comes in different forms. Many Christians fast by eating one meal per day, allowing some flexibility for additional smaller meals for those who require it.

In some cultures, pre-Lenten festivities provide opportunities for merriment and indulging of pleasures before the beginning of the fast (and, at times, have devolved into sexual promiscuity and debauchery). The most well-known of these festivities is Carnival and Mardi Gras, which ends the day before Ash Wednesday on “Fat Tuesday,” also called Shrove Tuesday. Although these somewhat “wild” celebrations might have a negative conversation to us, marking a clean division between normal time and the special period of preparation for Easter is important. During the week prior to the beginning of Lent, Christians eliminate all animal products from their homes. They do this by making foods containing eggs, milk, etc. Consequently, eating pancakes on the last day of festivities before Ash Wednesday (i.e., Shrove Tuesday) became a widespread tradition in England, just as eating king cake became a tradition during Mardi Gras in Louisiana. Some participants bake a little baby Jesus doll into the cake. The person who receives the piece with the doll is destined for a prosperous year and might be required to make next year’s cake. Discussions during this last festive meal typically center on what pleasures each participant plans to sacrifice during Lent. 



[1] Itinerarium Egeriae 27.1–29.2 = McGowan and Bradshaw, Pilgrimage of Egeria, 160–65.

[2] The earliest, most secure manuscript traditions only read “by prayer,” omitting fasting. See Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. (Stuttgart: United Bible Societies, 1994), 85. 



Suggestions for Latter-day Saints

(Greater Love Hath No Man, 29-30)

        Latter-day Saints do not have a history of preparing for Holy Week and Easter through practices such as Lent and Lazarus Saturday, but just as we love to get ready for the Christmas season each year, we can more intentionally prepare ourselves and our families through scriptures, music, decorating, and other traditions that we can choose for ourselves. Because Jesus’ entire ministry was a prelude for his great saving work, one thing we can do is to make his ministry one of the focuses of our study in the time between our celebrations of Christmas and Easter. For instance, after studying Matthew 1‒2, Luke 1‒2, and the Book of Mormon prophecies about Jesus coming in the month leading up to Christmas, we could then supplement our other personal and family scripture study by also reading about Jesus’ ministry from one of the Gospels.[1] While Latter-day Saints do not generally observe any kind of formal Lenten fast, we could certainly use our monthly fast before Easter to express gratitude for the life and mission of our Lord Jesus Christ and to pray for deeper, richer testimonies as we approach Easter. Being mindful of what we are preparing to celebrate can also encourage more personal devotion, greater charity, and more selfless ministering. In his 2018 Ash Wednesday homily, the late Father Peter Van Hook, pastor of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Provo, encouraged his congregation not only to think of what they were giving up for Lent but also to think of what they could do more during that preparatory period—he encouraged renewed, more frequent prayer, richer scripture study, and more service to others.[2]

            Just as we decorate for Christmastime, as the Easter season approaches, we can make a concerted effort to fill our homes with spring flowers; display prints of art depicting the ministry of Jesus, such as vignettes by traditional painters such as Heinrich Hofmann (1824‒1911), Carl Bloch (1834‒1890), Jacques (James) Joseph Tissot (1836–1902), Frans Schwartz (1850‒1917), and Harry Anderson (1906‒1996), as well as Latter-day Saint artists such as Minerva Teichert (1888‒1976), Simon Dewey, Greg Olsen, Walter Rane, J. Kirk Richards, and Liz Lemon Swindle;[3] and shifting the music we play, perhaps gradually listening to more religious and classical music. Just as many families gather many evenings in December for family devotionals to prepare for Christmas by enjoying Christmas stories, reading scriptures, and singing carols, many Latter-day Saint families might find that holding daily devotionals in the week or two before Easter can become another treasured tradition. For instance, the texts from Mark and John that we have discussed could be studied individually or read together with our families or with groups of interested friends, forming the heart of daily devotionals that could also involve hymn singing. Borrowing from the old Christian tradition of gathering around an Advent wreath for the four weeks before Christmas, lighting a new candle each Sunday and holding a devotional, the Huntsman family has started a new Holy Week tradition. We have created a flowery “Easter Wreath” surrounding a purple candle, a red candle, and a white candle. Starting with Lazarus Saturday, when we recall Mary’s anointing of Jesus, we light the purple candle that night and Palm Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, remembering the kingly phase of Holy Week in each of our daily devotionals. Then on Wednesday, Thursday, and Good Friday we light the red candle as well, recalling that Jesus is also our priest. Finally, Easter morning, we add the white candle to celebrate Resurrection morning.

While the greater part of this book concentrates on how to use the week leading up to Easter to prepare ourselves to fruitfully celebrate the atoning work of Jesus Christ, the scriptural preludes to Jesus’ last week in this chapter might be used to set the stage for our own journey through Passion Week. After starting with the story of the blind man healed in stages near Bethsaida on Sunday, family home evening the next day might focus on Peter’s confession, taking the opportunity to discuss the importance of a fuller, deeper testimony of the person and work of Jesus Christ. This could be supplemented with a conference talk such as the October 2004 address “Pure Testimony” by President M. Russell Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve since 1985 and that quorum’s acting president since 2018.[4] Because music can invite the spirit in a powerful way, consider singing a hymn such as “Testimony” or a selection from the Children’s Song Book such as “Search, Ponder, and Pray.[5] Then, after reading the passion predictions over the course of the next three days, the story of Bartimaeus could be the topic for Friday. Then the next day could cover the Bethany episodes, discussing the symbolism of the raising of Lazarus and the Mary’s anointing of Jesus and how they were preludes to Jesus’ final week. Families with young children might even enjoy baking Lazarakia together or having some other treat that would make the pattern of daily family gatherings to read, sing, and pray a fun as well as spiritual experience. These and other ideas for each of the days of Holy Week have been gathered together in Appendix H: Celebrating Holy Week—A Family Resource Guide.



[1] See for instance, Eric D. Huntsman, Good Tidings of Great Joy: An Advent Celebration of the Savior’s Birth (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011), esp. 136‒37, 143‒47.

[2] Personal recollection of Father Van Hook’s 2017 Ash Wednesday homily (Journals and Correspondence of Eric D. Huntsman, vol 31.1, March 1, 2017, p. 1).

[3] For collections and discussions, see Dawn C. Pheysey and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, The Master’s Hand: The Art of Carl Heinrich Bloch (Provo: BYU Museum of Art; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010); Ashlee Whitaker et al., Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, Henrich Hofmann, and Frans Schwartz (Provo: Brigham Young University Museum of Art, 2014); Judith F. Dolkart, David Morgan, and Amy Sitar, James Tissot, The Life of Christ: The Complete 350 Watercolors, ed. Judith F. Dolkart (New York: Brooklyn Museum/Merrell, 2009); Daniel Zimmer, The Art of Harry Anderson (St. Louis: Illustrated Press, 2018), 10‒14, 188‒97; Greg Olsen, Wherever He Leads Me: The Greg Olsen Collection (American Fork, UT: Covenant Communications, 2002); Simon Dewey, Altus Fine Art, https://altusfineart.com/collections/simon-dewey; Walter Rane Fine Art Store, https://walterraneprints.com/collections/fine-art-prints; Susan Easton and Liz Lemon Swindle, Son of Man: Volume III, King of Kings (Seymour, CT: Greenwich Workshop Press. 2007); J. Kirk Richards, Fine Art Reproductions, http://www.jkirkrichards.com/wstore/product-category/fine-art-reproductions/.

[4] M. Russell Ballard, “Pure Testimony,” Ensign (November 2004): 40‒43.

[5] Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1985), no. 137; Children’s Songbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1989), 109.

Prelude to the Passion 1: The Road to Jerusalem

From Caesarea Philippi, Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem (see Luke 9:51; 13:22). Along the way he prepared his disciples for his coming sacrifice, death, and resurrection through three so-called "Passion Predictions."

While Latter-day Saints do not, as a rule, observe Lent, there are scriptural passages in the New Testament Gospels that they can read, alone with their families, in preparation for a more intensive study during Holy Week, the days leading up to and including Gethsemane, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. 

But there are passages from Mark and John that can help set the stage and prepare for a more intentional celebration of Holy Week itself. I call these "Preludes to the Passion," and the first set of episodes occur as Jesus concludes his Galilean Ministry and starts on the road to Jerusalem. These may be conveniently read in the week before Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

A dirt trail in the Wadi Hamam, or "Valley of the Doves," follows a path often taken by Jesus

On this journey to Jerusalem, Jesus gave some powerful teachings that help us better understand his atoning sacrifice. The earliest account of these teachings can be found in Mark, which most scholars feel was the first Gospel to have been written. Mark can be seen as a three-act drama with the first, longer act consisting of Jesus’s authoritative ministry in Galilee (1:14‒8:21); the second, a shorter act covering his journey to Jerusalem (8:22‒10:52); and the third, culminating act portraying his momentous final week in Jerusalem (11:1‒16:8).[1] These divisions are geographic and thematic, not chronological—ignoring any previous visits by Jesus to Jerusalem, Mark’s structure makes Jerusalem the culmination and focus of Jesus’s entire mortal ministry. 

While the third act provides the basic framework for our discussion of Holy Week, the relatively short second act prepares us for what Jesus would accomplish in Jerusalem even as Jesus tried to prepare his disciples for what was coming. It begins with the story of Jesus’s healing of a blind man in stages, in which the healed man can represent the disciples’ imperfect understanding of who Jesus was and what he came to do. After Peter’s powerful but incomplete confession, the rest of the act is built around three important “passion predictions,” where Jesus prophesies of his coming betrayal, suffering, and death before concluding with another healing story, this time of a man whose sight is completely restored, representing coming to a fuller knowledge of Jesus and his salvific work.

Christian tradition produced customs and observances that helped believers prepare for the Passion in a similar way. One of the better known of these observances is Lent, a liturgical period common throughout much of traditional Christendom that is a time of fasting and spiritual preparation based on Jesus’s own forty-day preparation in the wilderness.  



Suggestions for Latter-day Saints

Between Christmas and two weeks before Easter, consider reading one of the accounts of Jesus’s ministry (Mark 1‒8; Matthew 3‒20; Luke 3‒18; John 1‒10). In the weeks before Palm Sunday, start decorating your home with spring flowers and prints of art depicting the ministry of Jesus, and renew your dedication to your personal prayer life, scripture study, and service to others.

Consider decorating the home further for the week before Easter, filling it with fresh flowers and potted plants and putting up Christ-centered art that matches the events of each day in Jesus’s last week.

Some families may even want to borrow from the model provided by the Christmas-season Advent wreath, which is an evergreen wreath with four candles. Each Sunday in the four weeks before Christmas a new candle is lit and a family Christmas devotional is held by its light. Perhaps starting with Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday, the family can set up an “Easter wreath,” a flowery wreath with three large candles: a purple one representing that Christ is our king, which can be lit starting on Palm Sunday; a red one representing that he is our priest, added starting on Spy Wednesday; and a white candle, lit Easter morning, which proclaims that Christ came forth alive from the tomb with healing in his wings.

Although this book suggests devotionals starting with Palm Sunday, some families might want to start a week before, using the ideas discussed in chapter 1. Readings for this week could be as follows:

  • Sunday: read Mark 8:22‒26 and discuss the symbolism of the blind man healed in stages.
  • Monday: read Mark 8:27‒30 and its parallels in Matt 16:13‒20 and Luke 9:18‒21; read “Pure Testimony” by M. Russell Ballard (Ensign, November 2004, 40‒43) and discuss the elements of a testimony, especially what we need to know about who Jesus is and what he did for us; sing “Testimony” (Hymns, no. 137) or “Search, Ponder, and Pray” (Children’s Songbook, 109).
  • Tuesday: read Mark 8:31‒38; discuss what it means to follow Jesus Christ.
  • Wednesday: read Mark 9:30‒37; discuss what it means to be a servant and be like a little child.
  • Thursday: read Mark 10:32‒45; discuss what it means to serve others and have the greatest serve the least. 
    • Also, consider what it must have felt like for Jesus as drew closer to Jerusalem and knew that his greatest trials were about to begin.
  • Friday: read Mark 10:46‒52; compare and contrast Bartimaeus and the blind man healed in stages.
  • Lazarus Saturday: See Preludes to the Passion 2

These passages can be read in the familiar KJV version or from my own fresh translation of these texts, excerpts of which I have included below.

Some inspiring art includes Carl Bloch, Healing the Blind Man and The Raising of Lazarus; vignettes from James Tissot’s The Life of Christ such as The First Shall Be Last, Jesus and the Little Child, Get Thee Behind Me, Satan, The Two Blind Men at Jericho, The Resurrection of Lazarus; Harry Anderson, Christ and the Children; Michael Coleman, Road to Jerusalem; and J. Kirk Richards, Sight Restored. 



Texts: Mark 8:22–38; 9:30–37; 10:32–52

The “second act” of Mark begins with Jesus healing an unnamed blind man near Bethsaida in the northern part of the Holy Land (Mark 8:22‒26). It concludes with the healing of a second blind man, a beggar named Bartimaeus, as Jesus and his disciples leave Jericho on the last stage of their journey up to Jerusalem (10:46‒52; parallels Matt 20:29‒34; Luke 18:35‒43). This type of literary framing is called an inclusio, by which an author begins and ends a discrete portion of his or her text with the same term, motif, image, or theme. Prominent between these two healings are Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ (8:27‒30) and the three passion predictions (8:31‒38; 9:30‒37; 10:32‒45) that prepared his disciples—and by extension us—for the events of Passion Week.

Sunday

8

22Next they came to Bethsaida. Then they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored him to touch him. 23After he had taken the blind man’s hand, he brought him out of the village. When he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24When the man looked up, he said, “I see people who look like trees walking around.” 25Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again, and the man looked intently, was restored, and saw everything clearly. 26Jesus sent him to his house, saying, “Don’t even go into the village!”



Towards the end of his Galilean Ministry, Jesus heals a blind man near Bethsaida, interestingly in stages rather than all at once. After this healing, he briefly visits Caesarea Philippi, where Peter testifies that Jesus is the Son of God but shortly shows that while he now knows who Jesus is, he does not yet really understand what he has come to do. Jesus and his disciples than embark on the road to Jerusalem, at the end of which he heals another blind man, this time in Jericho. In Miracles of Jesus, 91‒96, 100‒-103, I suggest that these healings represent the incomplete understanding of Peter and the other disciples.


In Greater Love Hath No Man, 16, we wrote:

By beginning and ending the second act with stories of Jesus healing blind men, Mark establishes the restoration of sight as a motif that helps us interpret much of what happens on the road to Jerusalem. These miracles are not only about the blind men whose sight Jesus restored. They are also about his original disciples not initially seeing, or fully understanding, who Jesus was and what he came to do. The first, the story of the blind man healed in a village near Bethsaida, is an unusual miracle story because Jesus does not restore the man’s sight completely and at once. Instead, he heals the man’s blindness in stages, something that was troubling enough to Matthew and Luke that they left this episode out of their Gospels. The surprising details of how Jesus healed the man—such as applying his saliva and laying on his hands—are rather typical Marcan features, since this Gospel regularly makes miracles more magical and interesting than do Matthew and Luke. After Jesus’s initial efforts, the man can see the basic outlines of people and discern their movements, but he cannot make them out clearly, leading Jesus to touch the man’s eyes again, which finally allows him to see correctly. Rather than seeing this stepwise healing as an indication that Jesus lacked the ability to heal the man correctly, Mark seems to have been using the story as a symbol of the incomplete understanding and testimony of the disciples, with the blind man’s healing in stages representing how they progressively come to know what his saving work was to be." 

As we ourselves approach Holy Week, how complete is our understanding of who Jesus is and what he has done for us? How clear is our spiritual sight? 


Monday

27Then Jesus and his disciples left for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he began to question his disciples, asking them, “Whom do people say that I am?” 28Some replied, saying to him, “John the Baptist,” others, “Elijah,” and still others, “One of the prophets.” 29So he kept questioning them, “But whom do you say that I am?” Peter, answering, said to him, “You are the Christ!” 30Then Jesus insisted that they should not speak about him to anyone.


The cave out of which the headwaters originally emerged. Herod built a temple to Augustus Caesar in front of it.

Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ, or in Matthew’s expanded version, “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (16:16) occurred at or near Caesarea Philippi, a lovely site in the northern reaches of the Holy Land. At the time of Jesus, this was the capital of the tetrarch of Philip, one of the sons of Herod the Great. For centuries, the bubbling up of the life-giving waters of one of the Jordan River’s headwaters from a deep cave there had led pagans to worship various numbers of their gods there, including Pan, the wild god of the wilderness. But Herod had built there a shining temple to Augustus Caesar, who had been adopted as the son of Julius Caesar. Because the first Caesar has been declared a god by the Roman Senate, Augustus was able to style himself, Divi filius, or “son of the deified Julius.” But the site will ever be remembered by Christians as the place where the Holy Ghost revealed to the apostle Peter that Jesus was the true Son of God.

With my son, Samuel, at Banias, the modern site of ancient Caesarea Philippi

 “In the next episode Jesus leads his disciples farther north to the region around Caesarea Philippi, where he begins to ask his followers who people thought he was (Mark 8:27–30; parallels Matt 16:13–20; Luke 9:18–21). His ministry up to that point had reminded many of John the Baptist, a fearless preacher of repentance, and Elijah, a great miracle worker, but Jesus was more than that, is persistent questioning leading Peter to declare boldly, “You are the Christ!” (Mark 8:29, my translation). Significantly, this is the first time in Mark since the Gospel began with the words “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1) that the title Christ had been used by anyone in that text. Literally meaning “the anointed one” (Hebrew, māšîaḥ, hence “Messiah”; Greek, christos), the title had usually been used for the anointed king of Israel or the similarly anointed high priest. Although the prophecies of Isaiah had introduced the idea of a suffering servant, messianic expectations at the time of Jesus focused primarily on the idea of a great king in the mode of David who would redeem Israel from her enemies. 

“Indeed, Jesus’s subsequent conversations with Peter and the other disciples on the road to Jerusalem quickly reveal that they seem to have shared this expectation. The fuller version of Peter’s confession known from Matthew puts a more complete Christological confession on Peter’s lips, with the chief apostle proclaiming, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16; emphasis added), and the Matthean account provides additional teaching about revelation and a promise of the keys of the kingdom. Yet even in Matthew’s version, although it was revealed to Peter who Jesus was, he did not yet really understand what Jesus had come to do. Instead, Peter was like the blind man who had begun to see but not clearly; he did not yet fully understand what he saw” (Greater Love Hath No Man, 17‒18).

As we prepare for Holy Week, taking inventory of our own testimonies of Jesus—both who he is and what he has done for us—is an important exercise as we approach the commemoration of his salvific suffering, death, and resurrection. M. Russell Ballard’s talk, “Pure Testimony” (Ensign, November 2004, 40‒43), is an important reminder of what a real testimony is (and, conversely, what it is not). Among other things, he taught, “Our testimony meetings need to be more centered on the Savior, the doctrines of the gospel, the blessings of the Restoration, and the teachings of the scriptures.” In particular, he declared, “Testify God is our Father and Jesus is the Christ. The plan of salvation is centered on the Savior’s Atonement.” 


Tuesday  

31Next he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo much suffering, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the experts on the law, be put to death, and after three days rise again. 32He was saying this openly, so Peter, taking him aside, began to rebuke him. 33After Jesus had turned around and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan, for you do not have the things of God in mind but rather human concerns.”

34When he had called the crowd to him together with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow behind me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for me and the good news will save it. 36For how will it profit someone to gain the whole world but forfeit his life? 37What can someone offer in return for his life? 38Indeed, whoever is ashamed of me and my word in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”


James Tissot, "Jesus Traveling"
“[The fact that Peter and the other disciples did not yet clearly see what Jesus came to do] becomes very clear in the next episode, in which Jesus’s prophecy of what would befall him in Jerusalem is met with resistance by Peter, leading Jesus to deliver corrective teaching to him and the other disciples (Mark 8:31–38; parallels Matt 16:21–28; Luke 9:22–27). This is the first of the three passion predictions foretelling the coming suffering that Jesus will soon endure: “The Son of Man must undergo much suffering, be rejected by the elders, and chief priests, and the experts at the law, be put to death, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31, my translation). The image of a suffering Messiah, however, is not one that Peter is yet prepared to accept. Having just made a bold, faith-filled declaration that Jesus was the Christ, he now rebukes Jesus, apparently sharing the contemporary idea that the Messiah would be a political king who could not be defeated by his enemies. This misconception was, in fact, in line with the kind of earthly dominion with which Satan had tempted Jesus (Matt 4:8–10; Luke 4:5–8), but the KJV’s translation of Mark 8:33, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” though similar to Jesus’s earlier rebuke of the devil, “Get thee hence, Satan” (Matthew 4:10), may convey the wrong idea. Rather than rejecting Peter completely, Jesus’s rebuke, which we have rendered as “Get behind me,” literally “fall in behind me” (Greek, hypage opisō mou), seems to suggest that Jesus was calling upon Peter to resume his proper place following Jesus rather than trying to get ahead of him, endeavoring to tell him what to do and keep him from accomplishing his sacrificial death” (Greater Love Hath No Man, 18).

The words of the much-loved hymn “Come, Follow Me” (Hymns, no. 116) take on such powerful meeting in this context:

“Come, follow me,” the Savior said.
Then let us in his footsteps tread,
For thus alone can we be one
With God’s own loved, begotten Son.

“Come, follow me,” a simple phrase,
Yet truth’s sublime, effulgent rays
Are in these simple words combined
To urge, inspire the human mind.

Is it enough alone to know
That we must follow him below,
While trav’ling thru this vale of tears?
No, this extends to holier spheres.

Not only shall we emulate
His course while in this earthly state,
But when we’re freed from present cares,
If with our Lord we would be heirs.

 

Verses 34‒38 then directly address how we—not just Peter and the original disciples—must be willing to sacrifice everything in order to follow Jesus. Regarding this passage, we wrote:

“Jesus then broadens his correction to all his disciples, and by extension to us, teaching that those who follow him must be willing to deny themselves and take up their crosses. While “taking up a cross” is an easily understood metaphor for taking up a difficult, even dangerous, burden today, it was a graphic, terrifying image in a society where the sight of this cruel form of capital punishment was common. On the one hand, Jesus is preparing his followers for how he will die. On the other, he is calling upon all of us to be willing to sacrifice everything, no matter how painful that is, for him and the kingdom. Trying to save our physical lives is an exercise in futility; we will all die someday. But when we lose our lives in the sense of subsuming them in the service of the Master and in the joy of the gospel, there will be the promise of eternal life when Jesus returns in glory (Greater Love Hath No Man, 19).

The glory he brings he will share with us, leading us to the final two, less often-sung verses of “Come, Follow Me”:

We must the onward path pursue
As wider fields expand to view,
And follow him unceasingly,
Whate’er our lot or sphere may be.

For thrones, dominions, kingdoms, pow’rs,
And glory great and bliss are ours,
If we, throughout eternity,
Obey his words, “Come, follow me.


Wednesday 

9

30When they had left that place, they passed through Galilee, but Jesus did not want anyone to know, 31for he kept teaching his disciples and saying to them, “The Son of Man is being handed over into the hands of men—they will put him to death, and three days after he has been put to death, he will rise again.” 32They did not understand the saying but were afraid to ask him.

33Then they came to Capernaum, and while Jesus was in the house, he began to ask them, “What were you arguing about along the way?” 34They kept quiet, for along the way they had argued with each other over who was greater. 35So when he had sat down, he called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he will be last of all and servant of all.” 36Then taking a child, Jesus placed him in the middle of them and, taking him into his arms, said to them, 37“Whoever receives one of these children in my name receives me, and whoever receives me does not receive me but rather the one who sent me.”



The second passion prediction on the road to Jerusalem (Mark 9:30–37; parallels Matt 17:22–23, 18:1–5; Luke 9:43–48) is followed by strife among the disciples as to who will be the greatest among them, presumably because they want to know who will take Jesus’s place when he is gone. This gives the Lord an opportunity to teach the principle that “If anyone wants to be first, he will be last of all and servant of all” (v. 35). To illustrate this, he takes a small child in his arms and teaches that whoever receives children—in this instance representing not only those who are innocent and but also members of the Church who are often referred to as “children of the Kingdom”—in fact is receiving the Father.

Carl Bloch, "Christ with the Children"

In Matthew, when his disciples ask who is greatest in kingdom of heaven, Jesus sets a child in front of them and says, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me” (Matt 18:3‒5).

When we humble ourselves and become as a little child, we know that the Lord keeps us close and blesses us. “Dearest Children, God Is Near You” (Hymns no. 96) tenderly portrays this:

Dearest children, God is near you,
Watching o’er you day and night,
And delights to own and bless you,
If you strive to do what’s right.
He will bless you, He will bless you,
If you put your trust in him.

Dearest children, holy angels
Watch your actions night and day,
And they keep a faithful record
Of the good and bad you say.
Cherish virtue! Cherish virtue!
God will bless the pure in heart.

Children, God delights to teach you
By his Holy Spirit’s voice.
Quickly heed its holy promptings.
Day by day you’ll then rejoice.
Oh, prove faithful, Oh, prove faithful
To your God and Zion’s cause.

Thursday

10

32They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was leading them. They began to be astonished, and those who were following started to feel afraid. So when he had taken the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what things were going to happen to him: 33“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the experts on the law, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles. 34And they will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him, and after three days he will rise again.”

35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him, asking him, “Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask you.” 36So he asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand and one at the left, in your glory.” 38But Jesus said, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39They said to him, “We are able!” But Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized, 40but to sit at my right hand or on my left is not mine to grant; this is for those for whom it is prepared.” 41When the other ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42So when he had called them to him, he said to them, “You know that those who appear to rule the Gentiles domineer over them, and their great ones tyrannize them. 43Yet it is not so among you. Rather, whoever wants to become great among you, he will be your servant. 44And whoever wants to be first among you will be the slave of all. 45For indeed the Son of Man did not come to be served, rather to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 


 As Jesus and his disciples continued farther on the road to Jerusalem, they “began to be astonished” (Greek, ekthambounto). This is the same word that Mark uses of Jesus when he began to suffer in Gethsemane (Mark 14:33), although the KJV renders it there as “astonished,” which does not carry quite the same feeling. In the road to Jerusalem episode, Mark then adds that those following Jesus began to feel afraid, perhaps because of Jesus two earlier gloomy passion predictions but also because they were well aware of the dangers that awaited them in Jerusalem. 

In this gloomy mood, Jesus then delivered his third passion prediction (Mark 10:32–34; parallels Matt 20:17–19; Luke 18:31–34), which is followed by a seemingly impertinent request from the brothers James and John to sit on the right and left hands of Jesus when he comes into his kingdom. In Matthew’s account, it is the mother of James and John, who makes this request. In both cases the misunderstanding or misbehavior on the part of Jesus’s disciples is followed by corrective teaching, calling upon them—and us—to be willing to be a servant to others. 

This third and final prediction is also the most explicit, adding details about the abuse, spitting, and scourging that Jesus will endure and making it clear that the purpose of his death was to be a ransom for us. Significantly, in Jesus’ discussion with his disciples after the prediction, he explicitly says that not only that he had come to serve rather than be served, he also would “give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). This is the first explicit description of the salvific significance of his imminent death in any of the Synoptic Gospels.

"Salome asks seats for her sons, James and John"


Friday

46Then they came to Jericho, and as he was leaving Jericho with the disciples and a considerable crowd, Bartimaeus (or “son of Timaeus”), a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. 47When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was there, he began to cry out and say, “O Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48Many started to rebuke him, telling him to be quiet, but he cried out even more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49When Jesus stopped, he said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying, “Take heart, get up! He is calling you.” 50When Bartimaeus had thrown off his cloak and jumped up, he came to Jesus. 51Jesus said to him in response, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My master, I want to see again!” 52So Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him in the way.


In contrast to the initially incomplete understanding of Jesus' identity and mission that was symbolized by the healing of the blind man in stages at Bethsaida, a full, clear spiritual understanding of the mission of Jesus Christ is symbolized by the story of blind Bartimaeus that ends Mark’s second act. Unlike the man healed near Bethsaida, who had his sight restored in stages, this beggar, recognizing Jesus as the Son of David, or Messiah, cries out to him, pleading unreservedly for mercy. Throwing aside his cloak, which was probably the means by which he collected the alms that he begged, the blind man comes to Jesus and pleads for his sight. Jesus complies, stating that the man’s faith not only led to his healing, because it also allows him to see Jesus for who he really is, but it also saved him (Greek, sesōken se) in a deeper, spiritual sense. Bartimaeus then follows Jesus “in the way,” which in this case meant going with him from Jericho up the road to Jerusalem, where Jesus was about to begin his Passion Week. Bartimaeus’s willingness to cast aside his means of earning his living also connects this scene with the first passion prediction, when Jesus had enjoined Peter and the other disciples who wanted to follow him to be willing to lose their lives for his sake (see Mark 8:34–35). Likewise, we need to be willing to give up everything and open our eyes, not just to know that “Jesus is the Christ” but also to understand what it meant that he suffered, died, and rose for us, celebrating it not just each year at Easter but every week. Are we, in fact, willing to follow Jesus “in the way”?  (Greater Love Hath No Man, 19‒20; see also Miracles of Jesus, 100‒103). 

Italian School (17th Century), "Christ Healing the Blind Man of Jericho"

Michael Coleman, "Road to Jerusalem"



[1] France, Gospel of Mark, 11‒15. See also Smith, Gospel according to Mark, 20‒23.

Monday, January 6, 2025

Epiphany

The Magi arranged before the Christ Child in our Nativity
Epiphany, or "Three Kings' Day" in Western Christianity," marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas. The word epiphaneia means "manifestation" in Greek, and it signfies the "striking appearance" or theophany God made flesh in the person of Jesus.  It began to be celebrated on January 6 for several different reasons in early Christianity. First, before December 25 was settled on as the day of Jesus' birth, some early Christians actually commemorated it in early January. In Eastern Christianity, it was the day of Jesus' baptism or new birth, when his divine status was attested by the sign of the dove and the voice of God. But in the Western tradition, it became the day that commemorated the visit of the Magi, to whom Jesus' divinity was made manifest by the star of Bethlehem.

Because the Magi were traditionally Persian wise men, very early Matthew's account of their seeking, finding, and worshipping the Christ Child came to represent how the Lord was made manifest to all nations.

Reading the account of the visit of the Wise Men and singing songs such as "We Three Kings," is a fun, but also potentially thoughtful, way to conclude our Christmas season . . . which we still try to prolong right through Epiphany. But reflecting on that episode and some that followed closely after it, such as the the Massacre of the Innocents, can provide opportunities to discuss such issues as why we give gifts at Christmas time, why is there so often sadness in this happy season, and what we can give the Savior.  To this end, I have included between the listing of scriptural accounts and some musical suggestions three excerpts from my Christmas book.

I have also added after the music section a couple of movie ideas, which work well for younger and older children respectively.


Scriptural Accounts (see Good Tidings of Great Joy, 97–112, for detailed discussion of each of these episodes)
  • The Story of the Wise Men (Epiphany, Matthew 2:1–12)
  • The Escape into Egypt (2:13–15)
  • The Massacre of the Innocents (Matthew 2:16–18) 

The traditional Anglican collect for Epiphany reads as follows:
O God, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know thee now by faith, to thy presence, where we may behold thy glory face to face; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.




Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna (Wikimedia Commons)
How the Wise Men Became Kings (see Good Tidings of Great Joy, 104) 

Matthew uses the term magoi for the special visitors who come to the child Jesus bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Nowhere, however, does he number them, but because he speaks of wise men in the plural, there must have been two or more.  Early artistic representations depict two, three, four, or even as many as twelve wise men visiting the Mother and Child.  The number three seems to have become established because of the number of gifts that they brought.

More interesting is how the Magi came to be viewed as kings.  The possibility of their royalty might have been suggested by their wealth, since gifts they presented Jesus were worthy of a king.  But early Christians seem to have made the connection with royalty as they reflected upon certain Old Testament passages, such as Psalm 69:29 and 72:10, that suggested that kings from among the nations would come to Israel bearing gifts.  Particularly significant, however, were passages from the prophet Isaiah.  Connecting the coming of kings with the light of a rising star, Isaiah 60:3 prophesies “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”  A few verses later some of their gifts, and even the camels that were later assumed to be their conveyance, are mentioned: “The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord” (Isaiah 60:6).

While the various Eastern churches produced a variety of names for the wise men, by the third century the tradition in the West settled on the names Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior for the “kings.”  Eventually the three were associated with different continents and peoples, showing how all the nations of the earth come to honor Jesus.


Farandole (March of the Three Kings) - Mormon Tabernacle Choir


In Connection with the Slaughter of the Innocents: Sadness at Christmastime (see Good Tidings of Great Joy, 114) and my Christmas Resource page entry for "Childermas" on December 28.

The grief of the mothers of Bethlehem compels us to face a sad reality: what is such a joyous season for so many is often a cheerless or even depressing time for others.  As Elder Jeffery R. Holland has written, “For many people in many places this may not be an entirely happy Christmas, one not filled with complete joy because of the circumstances facing a spouse or a friend, a child or a grandchild.  Or perhaps that was the case another Christmas in another year, but one which brings a painful annual memory to us yet.”   To the list of those who have lost a loved one or suffered some personal pain, I would add those who are alone, ill, or chronically depressed at Christmastime.  Circumstances beyond our control often weigh heavily upon us, set in sharp contrast by the seeming joy of so many around us.  And sometimes the sadness we feel is simply the regret and letdown that comes when a happy time comes to a necessary end and we are confronted with the monotony or dreary routine of day-to-day living.

In his short book, Shepherds Why This Jubilee, Elder Holland concludes by reflecting on a sad Christmas in his own life, recounting the year his own father suffered a heart attack following surgery right before Christmas.  In the hospital early Christmas morning in 1976, facing the imminent loss of his father, the sound of a newborn baby jolted him out of his sorrow.  Comparing the joy of that baby’s parents to that of Mary and Joseph that first Christmas, Elder Holland considered the great plan of salvation that the Babe of Bethlehem, as the Man on the Cross, would effect for us.  He wrote, “Temporary separation at death and the other difficulties that attend us as we all move toward that end are part of the price we pay for birth and family ties and the fun of Christmas together . . . These are God’s gifts to us—birth and life and death and salvation, the whole divine experience in all its richness and complexity.”

Christmas may not always be happy.  But the coming of Jesus into the world that wonderful night made possible the great suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord, which are the true tidings of great joy.  Hopefully we can ameliorate our own sadness by serving and giving to others, lightening their burdens and easing their loneliness.  Ultimately, however, we must with faith lay hold on the promise that joy—true joy without end—often lies ahead.


“Coventry Carol”
               
This moving carol is one of the only surviving pieces from a medieval cycle of mystery plays that was produced every year by the Shearman and Tailors’ Guild in Coventry, England.  In addition to usual Christmas stories such as the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Adoration of the Magi, the guild also produced a scene about the Massacre of the Innocents.  A certain Robert Croo wrote some or all of the play, and hence the lyrics to this song, in A.D. 1534.  The haunting music to which it is now sung was edited and published by Thomas Sharp in A.D. 1825.
               
In this carol the women of Bethlehem sing to their children, trying to keep them quiet so that the soldiers of King Herod do not hear them.  But the raging king orders his soldiers onward, and in the fourth and final verse the women bewail the death of their children.
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.

O sisters too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day?
This poor youngling for whom we sing,
“By, by, lully, lullay.”

Herod the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day.
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.

That woe is me, poor child for Thee!
And ever mourn and say,
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
“By, by, lully, lullay.”



Giving Gifts at Christmastime (see Good Tidings of Great Joy, 106–107)

The gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh offered by the Wise Men to Jesus have served through the centuries as a precedent for the giving of gifts at Christmas.  Today we are moved to give gifts—both presents of worldly things and also gifts of the heart—to those whom we love at this special season.  While we often lose sight of the true purpose of giving, Jesus’ teaching that “inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40), implicitly suggests that when we love, serve, and give to those whom Christ loves, we are, in fact, giving to him.

Rachel helping Samuel with his lines as one of the three kings
In some cultures the example of the Wise Men is remembered on January 6, or Epiphany, which is celebrated as “Three Kings Day.”  On this occasion children often receive candy and toys in their shoes, which are left out the night before.   But a bigger influence on the tradition of giving gifts in the Christmas season was the legend of St. Nicholas of Myra, a fourth century bishop in a Roman town in Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey.  Although no evidence about Nicholas has survived from the time in which he lived, in the Middle Ages many stories circulated about his famous kindness and generosity.  Because he reputedly saved three young girls by secretly giving them bags of gold, his example became the model for anonymous giving, in line with the Savior’s injunction, “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what they right hand doeth” (Matthew 6:3).  Nicholas also became the patron saint of children, and when his relics were moved to Bari in Italy in A.D. 1087, he and his story became part of Western European culture.  Thus his feast day on December 6 became the customary day to give gifts to children, and by the sixteenth century German children were hanging their stockings out on the eve of his feast day for him to fill with presents as he had given bags of gold to the girls at Myra.

The Protestant Reformation disapproved of the veneration of saints, so Martin Luther encouraged another incarnation of the spirit of giving in the form of the Christkindl or “Christ Child.”  Also known as Kris Kringel, this figure gave gifts on either December 25 or New Year’s Day rather than on St. Nicholas’ feast day.  Likewise, Henry VIII is said to have introduced a figure known as “Father Christmas” in England.  The Dutch, however, continued the tradition of St. Nicholas in the form of Sinterklaas, bringing him to New Amsterdam, later New York.  Through the writings of Washington Irving in 1809 and an anonymous 1823 poem called “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (later known as “The Night before Christmas” and attributed to Clement Clarke Moore), “Santa Claus” became an important fixture in American Christmases, from where he has spread around the world.

While we continue to give gifts to our loved ones openly at Christmastime and receive them in turn, there is something about the spirit of Santa Claus that continues to reflect and add to the joy of the Christmas season.  As famously expressed in a New York Sun editorial on September 21, 1897, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy . . . he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”   Similarly, LDS story teller George Durrant has written, “There really is a Santa Claus.  A Santa who knows that one of the happiest things we can do at Christmastime is to give something to someone without telling him who gave it . . . A Santa who enjoys getting the blame for things that make Christmas a time for little ones to have a full measure of Christmas joy.”

But in the midst of both known and anonymous gift giving at Christmastime, for believers the ultimate gift remains the tidings of great joy that come from knowing that God gave us his Son at Christmas time—and that Christ loved us so much that he suffered and gave his life for us.

My creche at work



Music for Epiphany

John Henry Hopkins, Jr., wrote "We Three Kings" in 1857, and it became one of the first carols written in the United States to achieve widespread popularity.  Although it is based upon the traditional identification of the magi with "three kings," a tradition that developed rather late, it seems particularly appropriate for a family celebration of Epiphany, especially if there are small children.





Other musical suggestions include Mack Wilberg's processional "Carol to the King."




Connected with idea of giving the Babe of Bethlehem gifts is the beautiful rendition of a Catalonian carol that Mack Wilberg published as "What Shall We Give the Babe in the Manger" in 2001.  Then associate director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Dr. Wilberg published this setting of the traditional Catalonian carol with an English paraphrase by David Warner.   The lyrics by Warner movingly connect the visit of the Wise Men at the birth of Jesus with the rest of the Savior’s ministry and with his saving death and resurrection. 

The first verse finds us with the Magi approaching the Baby, wondering what can be an appropriate gift from us. The second verse moves through Jesus’ boyhood and ministry, seeing him as the boy in the temple and the man teaching and working miracles by the Sea of Galilee.  The verse concludes with Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday before carrying his cross on Good Friday.  Following a reflection on his resurrection in the third verse, the song resolves that the only fitting gift that any of us can give the Savior are tears for his mercy and love.
What shall we give to the Babe in the manger?
What shall we offer the Child in the stall?
Incense and spices and gold we’ve a-plenty.
Are these the gifts for the King of us all?

What shall we give to the Boy in the temple?
What shall we offer the Man by the sea?
Palms at his feet and hosannas uprising,
Are these for him who will carry the tree?

What shall we give to the Lamb who was offered,
Rising the third day and shedding His Love?
Tears for his mercy we’ll weep at the manger,
Bathing the Infant come down from above.




Movies and Stories great for Epiphany

  • "The Little Drummer Boy," a Christmas classic, is great for families with small children both because of the supporting role of the three kings but even more so because the drummer boy learns about true giving and the power of love.
  • "The Other Wise Man," a wonderful story by Henry Van Dyke, is a good story to read together or to watch as a DVD production (for example, as "The Fourth Wise Man"). 

Christmas Quick Links