Before Easter there must be a cross

I walked today where Jesus walked, In days of long ago; I wandered down each path He knew, With rev'rent step and slow. Those little lanes, they have not changed-- A sweet peace fills the air. I walked today where Jesus walked, And felt His presence there. . . .

I knelt today where Jesus knelt, Where all alone He prayed; The Garden of Gethsemane-- My heart felt unafraid! I picked my heavy burden up, And with Him by my side, I climbed the Hill of Calvary, . . . Where on the Cross He died!

I walked today where Jesus walked And felt Him close to me! 

In a very real sense, all can walk where Jesus walked when, with His words on our lips, His spirit in our hearts, and His teachings in our lives, we journey through mortality. I would hope that we would walk as He walked--with confidence in the future, with an abiding faith in His Father, and with a genuine love for others. Jesus walked the path of disappointment. Jesus walked the path of temptation. Jesus walked the path of pain. Consider the agony of Gethsemane. "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. . . . And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." 

And who among us can forget the cruelty of the cross. His words: "I thirst. . . . It is finished." 

Yes, each of us will walk the path of disappointment, perhaps due to an opportunity lost, a power misused, or a loved one not taught. The path of temptation, too, will be the path of each. "And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves."  Likewise shall we walk the path of pain. We cannot go to heaven in a feather bed. The Savior of the world entered after great pain and suffering. 

We, as servants, can expect no more than the Master. 

Before Easter there must be a cross.

While we walk these paths which bring forth bitter sorrow, we can also walk those paths which yield eternal joy. We, with Jesus, can walk the path of obedience. We, like Jesus, can walk the path of service.

Like a glowing searchlight of goodness is the life of Jesus as He ministered among men. He brought strength to the limbs of the cripple, sight to the eyes of the blind, hearing to the ears of the deaf, and life to the body of the dead.

His parables preach power. With the good Samaritan He taught: "Love . . . thy neighbour."  Through His kindness to the woman taken in adultery, He taught compassionate understanding. In His parable of the talents, He taught each of us to improve himself and to strive for perfection. Well could He have been preparing us for our journey along His pathway.

Finally, He walked the path of prayer.

Three great lessons from three timeless prayers. First, from His ministry: "When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name." 

Second, from Gethsemane: "Not my will, but thine, be done." 

Third, from the cross: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." 

It is by walking the path of prayer that we commune with the Father and become partakers of His power.

Shall we have the faith, even the desire, to walk these pathways that Jesus walked......

As you and I walk the pathway Jesus walked, let us listen for the sound of sandaled feet. Let us reach out for the Carpenter's hand. Then we shall come to know Him. He may come to us as one unknown, without a name, as by the lakeside He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same words, "Follow thou me," and sets us to the task which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands, and to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings that they shall pass through in His fellowship; and they shall learn in their own experience who He is.

We discover He is more than the Babe in Bethlehem, more than the carpenter's son, more than the greatest teacher ever to live. We come to know Him as the Son of God. He never fashioned a statue, painted a picture, wrote a poem, or led an army. He never wore a monarch's crown or held a scepter or threw around His shoulder a purple robe. His forgiveness was unbounded, His patience inexhaustible, His courage without limit.

Jesus changed men. He changed their habits, their opinions, their ambitions. He changed their tempers, their dispositions, their natures. He changed men's hearts....

The passage of time has not altered the capacity of the Redeemer to change men's lives. As He said to the dead Lazarus, so He says to you and me: "Come forth." Come forth from the despair of doubt.

Come forth from the sorrow of sin. Come forth from the death of disbelief. Come forth to a newness of life. Come forth.

As we do, and direct our footsteps along the paths that Jesus walked, let us remember the testimony Jesus gave: "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. . . . I am the light and . . . life of the world."  "I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father." 

To His testimony I add my witness: He lives.

Thomas S. Monson