In its 2025 Easter message, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wrote that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ “is a gift to all of Heavenly Father’s children who have ever lived on this earth.”
Church President Russell M. Nelson has invited Latter-day Saints to do more than simply celebrate this sacred event — they can remember the greater love that made it possible. The Church is also placing Easter messages online at Easter.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
At this time of year, Brigham Young University emeritus professor Richard Neitzel Holzapfel often thinks about New Testament scholar N.T. Wright, who said:
“This is our greatest festival. Take Christmas away, and in biblical terms you lose two chapters at the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away, and you don’t have a New Testament; you don’t have a Christianity” (see “Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church,” by N.T. Wright).
Holzapfel attended Hebrew Union College as a graduate student, taught at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies and has written many books regarding history and the life of Jesus Christ. He is also a former mission president and Area Seventy. In an episode of the Church News podcast, he shared some insights about Holy Week and witnesses — both ancient and modern — of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection.
The start of Holy Week
Holy Week begins with Jesus Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem, and it is called Palm Sunday. Holzapfel said New Testament scholars Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg have suggested that it is most likely that Pilate came to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday also.
The capital of the Judean province was in Caesarea Maritima on the coast, so Pilate would have had to travel to Jerusalem.
Coming from the coast, Pilate would have entered Jerusalem from the west side, in a procession full of soldiers, spears, horses, chariots and trumpets to intimidate and show imperial power and imperial theology.
Meanwhile, Jesus Christ was coming from the east from the Mount of Olives to enter the holy city.
“But unlike Pilate, Jesus rode a lowly donkey, and instead of weapons, His followers carried branches, including some cut from nearby palm trees,” Holzapfel said. “Instead of deafening sounds of horses’ hooves, soldiers stomping in unison, military drums beating and trumpets blaring, Jesus’ disciples joyfully walked and danced towards Jerusalem singing, ‘Hosanna.’”
This was not a triumphal entry in the imperial Roman sense — it was the entry of the Messianic Son of God and a fulfillment of prophecy.
“That really has given me a lens to think Jesus came in peace, proclaiming peace, not as a warrior king,” Holzapfel said.
Passion is the word often used to describe the suffering, death and burial of Jesus Christ. The Passion narrative is the longest detailed account in the New Testament of any event, Holzapfel said. Readers can follow Jesus Christ day to day and, in some cases, hour by hour or even minute by minute. Looking at some of the sites where these events could have occurred can help with understanding.
Friday
Jerusalem was destroyed after Jewish revolts in A.D. 66 and 70. Then, after the Bar Kokhba revolt in A.D. 133, the Romans razed the city and rebuilt a new Roman colony there. Thus, artifacts and sites that were originally found were not of the first century, when Jesus Christ would have been there.
But as people have kept digging, more has been discovered, and scholars now think they know exactly where Jesus was on Good Friday when the hearing happened in front of Pilate.
“You can go there today on the west side of modern Jerusalem, just south of the Jaffa Gate, and there are some still original stairs from the first century,” Holzapfel said. “Even up closer to the wall, there’s still part of the original floor. And we think this is where Jesus met Pilate, where the crowd stood and where He was condemned.”
From there, Holzapfel said, Jesus Christ walked north by the Joppa Gate and then to Golgotha, where He was crucified at the ninth hour, which would be 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon. Jesus Christ was then buried in a tomb before evening when Shabbat would have started.
Saturday and Sunday
Saturday is referred to as “silent Saturday,” as the four Gospels in the New Testament do not say much about this day — though Restoration scripture has revealed what the Savior was doing on the other side of the veil.
On Sunday, the tomb was empty.
“One of the thoughts that I continue to think when I visit there is the fact that the tomb was empty, which really shows that life is not empty in Christ,” Holzapfel said. “With Him, we can feel bound to Him, and we can feel He’s caring for us. And so while the tomb was empty, our life doesn’t have to be empty. Not that we won’t have moments of grief when somebody we love passes away, but ultimately, life is full, and Easter is really that joyous occasion.”
In a March 16 social media post, President Nelson invited individuals to remember that Jesus Christ’s Atonement and His death would be incomplete without the “crowning of His glorious Resurrection.”
It was at the Garden Tomb, President Nelson’s post said, that Jesus Christ’s atoning work was fully realized and His victory over sin and death became truly complete.
“When we talk of the greater love of Jesus Christ for each of us, I testify that Jesus Christ’s Resurrection is the ultimate expression of that love,” President Nelson wrote.
Witnesses of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection
The New Testament lists many witnesses and evidence of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection. President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, listed the following in a social media post on March 16:
- The Savior’s appearance at the empty tomb to Mary Magdalene, who was the first person to witness the resurrected Lord (see John 20:11-18).
- Cleopas and another disciple walking with the resurrected Christ on the road to Emmaus and later dining with Him (see Luke 24:13-35).
- Christ appearing to 10 of the apostles after His Resurrection, showing them His hands and feet (see Luke 24:39) and eating fish and honeycomb (see Luke 24:42-43).
- The apostle Thomas feeling the wounds in the Savior’s hands, feet and side (see John 20:27).
- Over 500 people simultaneously seeing the risen Lord in Galilee (see 1 Corinthians 15:6).
- Paul’s witness that he personally saw the resurrected Savior (see 1 Corinthians 15:8) and his teachings about the living Christ, such as those found in 1 Corinthians 15:20 and 1 Corinthians 15:22.
Add to those the 2,500 people in 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon who saw the resurrected Jesus Christ and felt the prints in His hands and feet.
Christianity is based on the story of witnesses, Holzapfel said.
“Thank God, praise God, that we have witnesses — in the multitudes — of this incredible, important, decisive moment,” Holzapfel said. “I would say that the Resurrection of Christ isn’t just that the door of eternity was open; it was thrown open and will never be closed again.”
Gaining a witness and living Apostles
Everyone today who seeks to know Jesus Christ through the scriptures can obtain a spiritual witness that He lives, Holzapfel said.
To explain, Holzapfel shared a story of when he took a trip to Jerusalem with a friend as college students. At the end of their trip, they went to the Garden Tomb, which is another location where some believe Jesus Christ, after He was crucified, was buried and resurrected. This is found close to the Damascus Gate outside the city walls of Jerusalem, in a peaceful spot off the road with a beautiful, lush garden.
While he was there, a busload of people came and lined up in front of the entrance for a photograph and he heard one of them say, “Isn’t it great to be here to feel the presence of Jesus?”
But Holzapfel looked up at the door and remembered the words: “He is not here. He is risen” (see Luke 24:6).
“And it hit me: I don’t have to come to Jerusalem to feel Him. I don’t have to be here,” Holzapfel said. “If I will spend the time in praying and meditating and reading the words of the story, I can have the same experience of feeling the presence of Jesus. It’s the event that the Spirit testifies, not the location.”
Holzapfel recommended that one could start on the first Sunday of Holy Week and read the accounts from the four Gospels for each day, so that when Easter Sunday arrives, the Spirit can touch their hearts, just like in Luke 24:32 when the disciples said, “Did not our heart burn within us?”
President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, said in a March 9 social media post: “Because Jesus Christ broke the bands of death, every one of Heavenly Father’s children will rise again in a perfected, resurrected body that will never die. This sure promise can turn the sorrow of losing a loved one into hope, filling our hearts with peace and a joyful anticipation of reunion.”
Holzapfel has spent his academic life learning Greek and Hebrew, visiting sites in the Holy Land, taking classes, and writing books and articles — and it hit him one day that all of his colleagues know about Jesus Christ through the writings of dead apostles. But living Apostles walk on the earth today.
“We have a Paul, we have a Peter, we have a Matthew in our presence today,” Holzapfel said. “I appreciate God’s continual love by continuing to send apostles and prophets in our own day who testify of Christ. This First Presidency is unbelievable. We have modern witnesses testifying of these events, to add to all the other witnesses that we have.”
