Such ecclesiastical and political rejection became more personal when the citizenry in the street turned against Jesus as well. Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, interrogated Him once, and Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor in Judea, did so twice, the second time declaring to the crowd, “I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man.” 3 Then, in an act as unconscionable as it was illogical, Pilate “scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.” 4 Pilate’s freshly washed hands could not have been more stained or more unclean. With that He was brought before the gentile rulers in the land. “What further need have we of witnesses?” they cried. In their rush to judgment these men and their councils declared their verdict quickly and angrily. Soon enough He was arraigned before the Israelite leaders of the day-first Annas, the former high priest, then Caiaphas, the current high priest. But eagerness to continue walking with Him would quickly begin to wane. ” 1Īs President Uchtdorf so beautifully noted earlier, we know from scripture that Jesus’s messianic arrival in Jerusalem on the Sunday preceding Passover, a day directly analogous to this very morning, was a great public moment. … I looked, and there was none to help and I wondered that there was none to uphold. Rightly He would say: “I have trodden the winepress alone and of the people there was none with me. I speak of the Savior’s solitary task of shouldering alone the burden of our salvation. To all such, I speak of the loneliest journey ever made and the unending blessings it brought to all in the human family. In short it can include all of us at various times in our lives. This group can find within its broad circumference a soldier far from home, a missionary in those first weeks of homesickness, or a father out of work, afraid the fear in his eyes will be visible to his family. Our empathy embraces wives forsaken by their husbands, husbands whose wives have walked away, and children bereft of one or the other of their parents-or both. These might include those longing to be married, those who have lost a spouse, and those who have lost-or have never been blessed with-children. Brothers and sisters, my Easter-season message today is intended for everyone, but it is directed in a special way to those who are alone or feel alone or, worse yet, feel abandoned. Thank you, Sister Thompson, and thanks to the remarkable women of this Church.
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