As a cast member of the musical “Savior of the World: His Birth and Resurrection” in 2024, I grew closer to my Savior in several ways, with one experience particularly deepening my connection to Christ.
In the show’s second act, I usually joined other cast members on the colonnade as we portrayed angels, allowing me to watch the second act almost in its entirety.
Looking down as scripture stories came to life on stage, I found myself anticipating the same scene each night — the visitation of the resurrected Savior.
As the actor portraying the Savior entered the stage — with lights illuminating the pure-white costume — an overwhelming feeling of peace and hope filled my heart, and tears filled my eyes. I felt as if the Savior were there.
One night during the run’s final week, I was asked to help with a backstage task during the second act. Positioning myself behind a panel, I realized I would not be able to see the Savior. Disappointed, I thought that if I couldn’t see the Savior, the Spirit would not be felt.
I listened in darkness to the portrayal of Cleopas and an accompanying disciple on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24:13-32 tells that after mourning the death of the Savior and losing hope He would return, the two are met by the Savior on the road to Emmaus, not recognizing Him, because “their eyes were holden” (verse 16).
In the production, Cleopas recounts the experience and asks, “Tell me, when did you first recognize it was Jesus?”
The disciple answers, “When He took the bread and blessed it.”
“Yes,” says Cleopas. “It was just like in Galilee, when He fed the five thousand, there was that feeling.”
They continue, questioning their sadness, why the Savior appeared to them and how they could have been slow to believe. In response to each other’s doubts, they sing: “Did not our hearts burn within us as He walked with us? Did not He open the scriptures by the way? Did not He come as promised to even us to take our sins away?”
As the scene concluded, I initially questioned how they were not able to recognize the Savior as He walked with them. But I then thought, “How many times in my life have I walked side by side with the Savior and not recognized Him?”
Moments later, I heard the familiar strains of “I Stand All Amazed,” recognizing it as the moment in the production that the Savior would enter.
I frantically tried finding any hole or crack in the stage’s panel to see the Savior — but to no avail. But I heard the familiar line, “Peace be unto you” (Luke 24:36).
I listened in darkness to the remainder of the show, including the portrayal of Thomas, who unlike the other apostles had not seen the risen Christ.
As Thomas sang, “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe,” it paralleled my initial thought that if I couldn’t see the Savior appear onstage, the Spirit would not be felt and the experience wouldn’t be the same.
In a July 2023 Liahona article titled “Our Own Road to Emmaus,” Elder Patricio M. Giuffra, a General Authority Seventy, says belief is not dependent solely on physical evidence but also on faith and spiritual discernment. Recognizing Jesus Christ in our personal lives and spiritual journeys requires being spiritually attentive and open to Christ’s presence in everyday life, he taught.
In “Savior of the World,” the apostle Peter recalls how Cleopas and the disciple walked side by side the Savior, spoke to Him and yet did not recognize Him. Peter tells Thomas, “To see Him, Thomas — to see Him as He is, for who He is — we must look with our hearts.”
Tearfully, I listened and felt the profound presence of the Spirit.
As the Savior returned to the stage to appear to Thomas, I looked down from my place backstage — I couldn’t see the actor portraying the resurrected Christ, but I could see the light illuminating him on stage. Seeing the light and feeling the Spirit helped me know the Savior was there.
On each person’s own road to Emmaus, taught Elder Giuffra, “we may not see how He stays with us, strives with us, works with us and cries with us. Even in our saddest moments, if we take notice, we can feel Him with us and hear His words: ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10).”
I now know I need not see the Savior with my eyes to know He is there, nor do I need to see Him walking alongside me to know He will be with me every step of the way.
— Emerson Manning recently concluded an internship with the Church News.
