When the Father’s plan of salvation and happiness was presented (See Alma 42:5,8), one was required to atone to provide redemption and mercy to all those who accepted the plan. The Father asked, “Whom shall I send?” He who was to be known as Jesus freely and willingly chose to answer, “Here am I, send me” (Abraham 3:27). “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever” (Moses 4:2).
The crimson thread of redemption that reveals the infinite love that the Savior has for all humanity flows through the entirety of the scriptures. His story is the GREATEST story ever told. From Bethlehem cradle, to preaching in the temple, to the sermon on the mount, to His last hours with His disciples, to His intercessory prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and the ultimate betrayal by one of His own, to the mockery of trials that were illegal according to Jewish law and custom, to the cruel Roman cross on Golgotha Hill, to His Glorious Resurrection – there was one central message written in RED. That message was simple, yet powerful. That message to us all is “I LOVE YOU!”
In Kenya Clark’s beautiful Easter video, we return to the Garden of Gethsemane. All but one of the Master’s disciples accompanied Him to the garden. The disciple who did not accompany Him, Judas Iscariot by name, would be the one who would soon betray Him with a kiss. The Savior’s heart begins to grow heavy and He turns to His followers and says, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch” (Mark 14:34). And the scriptures continue to tell us, “he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him” (Mark 13:35). And then in the next verse, we hear Him say to the Father, “nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” We learn that our Savior suffered such great agony and sorrow as He earnestly prayed to the Father that “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).
Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be in the Garden of Gethsemane that night and witness the events that took place? What feelings and emotions would we have experienced as our Lord and Savior knelt in earnest prayer interceding on our behalf? Kenya had the opportunity to experience what it must have been like as she portrayed the angel from Heaven that appears before the Lord to strengthen Him. The scene is powerfully inspired.
Although the video is a portrayal of that night in the garden, the passion that is put into it by Kenya and the other actors reminds us of the reality of it all – just how much the Savior loves us and how much He sacrificed for us. One can sense the feelings and emotions that Kenya must have felt as she imagined meeting and approaching the Savior as He is praying and suffering.
Although the video was filmed in the mountains on a cold 20-degree night, that cold could never penetrate the warmth that was felt in everyone’s hearts. Kenya’s angelic voice, as she sings the words of the song “Gethsemane,” is a powerful witness and testimony of the Savior’s infinite love for all humanity. “Gethsemane, Jesus loves me. So, He gave His gift to me from Gethsemane.”
Who is Jesus Christ? It is He of whom the prophet Isaiah prophesied would be “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). He is the one who bore our grief and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4). He was “wounded for our transgressions . . . bruised for our iniquities. . .. And with His stripes, we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). He was oppressed and afflicted and was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep, before her shearers is dumb, He opened not his mouth (Isaiah 53:7). He who knew no sin became sin’s final sacrifice. He paid a debt that He did not owe – a debt that none of us could ever pay on our own.
As is beautifully portrayed in the video, this is the Christ! He is the Holy Lamb of God, our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Master, and our King. To the testimonies that have been borne through the production of this marvelous video by all those who participated in it, we at Latter-day Saint Musicians also add our testimony at this glorious Easter season that He is the Resurrection and the Life! He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God! He Lives!
