Take a look at these 6 images.
As you can see, three portray Christ suffering in Gethsemane, and three portray the Savior's
crucifixion.
If you had to choose one of these paintings to hang in your home, which would you choose?
My friend Anthony Sweat and I asked this question to more than 800 Latter-day Saints and found
that 97% of them chose one of the Gethsemane images, and only 3% chose an image of the
Crucifixion.
Maybe these results don’t surprise you.
After all, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we focus on the living
Christ.
At the same time, we also believe in the loving Christ.
And Jesus Christ personally defined His greatest act of love as His Crucifixion.
He said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends.”
The apostle Paul said, “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.”
Given that Christ on the cross is a manifestation of His love, why do some people shy away from
crucifixion images?
Many church members have told me something like this: “I don't like thinking about
Jesus on the cross, because it makes me sad.”
Does that statement resonate with you?
Although some Latter-day Saints avoid thinking about Christ's death, ancient prophets, and
the Savior himself, have commanded us to contemplate it.
Mormon wrote to his son Moroni, “...may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings
and death...rest in your mind forever.”
Similarly, Jacob wrote, “We would to God that we could persuade all men [to] . . . believe
in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross.”
Do we follow Mormon and let Christ’s death rest in our minds?
Do we listen to Jacob and view his death?
These words from Book of Mormon prophets become even more impactful when we consider what
Jesus Christ has directly revealed in our day.
In Doctrine and Covenants 6:36, the Savior says, “Look unto me in every thought; doubt
not, fear not.”
Do we notice the very next verse?
Immediately after telling us to look unto him, Jesus states, “Behold [meaning “fix
your eyes upon”], the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails
in my hands and feet.”
In our day, the living Christ has personally invited us to fix our eyes on the wounds in
his side, hands, and feet.
This does not mean we need to constantly stare at pictures of Christ’s Crucifixion, but
perhaps we don’t need to be so reticent about looking at Crucifixion images.
Some of us could benefit from spending more focused time pondering the death of Christ.
Such a meditation might entail picturing the Savior before Pilate, envisioning a crown
of thorns placed on his head, or visualizing him on the cross.
We might imagine how we would have felt if we were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of
Jesus, or a Roman soldier present that afternoon.
If you’re interested in learning more about how Crucifixion images can connect us with
Christ, follow @TheLovingChrist on Instagram.
Yes, the image of His death may evoke feelings of sorrow for those who love Jesus and prefer
not to dwell on His crucifixion.
However, it can also evoke feelings of joy and hope, as we remember Christ's statement:
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
As we view His death, we view His love.
Contemplating what Christ experienced at Calvary provides us with comfort in crisis, causing
our hearts to stir with sentiments like those shared by Elder Jefferey R. Holland: “However
dim our days may seem, they have been a lot darker for the Savior of the world.
[As a reminder of those days, Jesus has chosen, even] in a resurrected, otherwise perfected
body, to retain for the benefit of His disciples the wounds in His hands and in His feet and
in His side – signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and the perfect;
signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn't love you.
... It is the wounded Christ who is the Captain of our souls – he who yet bears the scars
of our forgiveness ... These wounds are the principal way we are to recognize Him when
He comes.”
One person shared with me her experience on pondering Christ's crucifixion.
She said, “I used to not like seeing pictures of the Savior on the cross.
However, after learning more about what the scriptures teach, I tried to focus more on
Christ's crucifixion during the Sacrament.
This gave me something to focus on, and really helped me feel my Savior's love.
Thinking about the crucifixion has helped me feel closer to Jesus Christ.”
The powerful practice of pondering the Savior's crucifixion can help us keep our sacramental
promise to “always remember him”.
When we follow the Savior's exhortation to fix our eyes upon, in His own words, “...the
wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet;”,
we can receive great strength.