BYU-Hawaii students Ana Mendoza and Alexa Benavides spent Easter in the Holy Land learning new traditions of both Easter and Passover and visiting the sites and places where Jesus would have been during the Easter week.
“It's been an extremely powerful experience to cross paths with people of other faiths. Especially, around this time those of Jewish and other Christian faiths,” said Mendoza, a junior from California majoring in psychology.
“Their devotion has taught me how to be a better Christian, that there is so much good left in the world, and despite the turmoil in this Holy Land we all find common ground on our knees.”
The students had were in Jerusalem during the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Christian holiday of Easter, which fell on the same week.
“I think it's awesome to celebrate everything God has done for us,” said Alexa Benavides, a junior from California majoring in international cultural studies. “The Jews with the Passover is a reminder of God's awareness of His people, and the last week of Christ's life is a reminder of his love. It’s amazing.”
Mendoza explained, “They don't typically fall on the same week, but it didn't seem out of the norm. It almost seemed like it was meant to be together.”
Benavides and Mendoza along, with their BYU Jerusalem Center classmates, participated in Holy Week traditions. They said they had never heard of some of the events before.
The traditions included the Palm Sunday walk, Midnight Catholic mass at the Church of All Nations and St. Peter's Basilica, the Vila Dolorosa Procession that ended at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and an Easter morning worship service at the Garden Tomb.
Benavides said, “A tradition I did not know before coming here was the Palm Sunday walk. I saw it on the calendar every year and would think, ‘Oh yeah, Easter is coming up,’ but I will confess I didn't think much of it. Christians from all over the world came together and celebrated.”
Mendoza added, “The Gethsemane Processional, which is a walk from Gethsemane to Dormition Abbey, was something I didn't know about. It represents Christ's walk from Gethsemane to Caiaphas.”
Mendoza continued, “The next day we did the Via Dolorosa, which is symbolic of Christ's walk with the cross through Jerusalem.”
When compared with their own families Easter traditions, they said experiencing the week in Jerusalem was a very different experience.
“We normally go to a church service and then have dinner together as a family,” said Benavides. “But this week was insanely different, and I want it to be more like it is here. So I will be adding some traditions to my Easter celebrations in the years to come. “
Mendoza agreed, “This was a completely new way to experience Easter. The only similarity was Easter services on the Sabbath. Otherwise it was a lot of new traditions, experiences and perspective. I understood the last week of Christ's life in a much more personal sense.
“I traveled around the world to realize that to walk as Christ walked doesn't require being where he was. In fact it only requires living how he lived and loving how he loves.”
Benavides added, “I always had a connection to God as being my Heavenly Father and Jesus being my brother, but these last few months have strengthened my faith and belief in the atonement of Him who offered his life to God and me. He has been with me every step of the way. Everyone always talks about how they both love us and what they did, but being here made that real for me.”
Professor of Religion Eric Marlowe said his experience was similar to Mendoza and Benavides when he attended the Jerusalem Center.
“The biggest thing about studying at the Jerusalem Center, and you can do this without being there, is the amount of time and concentrated focus you give the Savior’s life while there,” said Marlowe. “I’m confident if we gave the same amount of time and focus to His life, regardless of location, our relationship with Him would be deeply affected.”
Marlowe compared being in Jerusalem during Easter to another experience where he had the opportunity to go with his father to a place where Marlowe’s dad had been employed as a youth. His father had told him stories about fishing and the work he had done there building fences and hauling timber from the mountains.
Marlowe explained, “I knew my dad before that, and I don’t believe it changed my understanding of his care for me. But somehow being able to connect his experience with the physical place, fishing where he fished, made him a little more relatable and real to me.”
Marlowe concluded, “I don’t believe studying in Jerusalem will necessarily yield a stronger testimony of Christ. However, in my experience, having walked where He walked has made His ministry more relatable and visual to me.”
They said sharing in the celebration and tradition with people of different Christian creeds and sects made the Holy Week that much more educational. The Easter morning service at the tomb was arranged by a Baptist church.
“It was remarkable to see how many Christians came from all walks of life to celebrate the most important walk of life,” said Benavidas, referring to the sites and places visited by Christ in the last week of His mortal ministry.
Mendoza said, “There was something very powerful about Jerusalem being alive with love and observance of an ancient tradition. The streets themselves tell of Christ's life. And the people remember their heritage well – Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. It was beautiful to see the tradition.”
Benavides concluded, “This has been an incredible experience I will cherish for the rest of my life. I love this land and all the memories I have made learning about peoples, places, and the Savior of the world.”
Writer: Patrick Campbell