From the Improvement Era, April 1952 –

The Opened Door: An Easter Story

By Lucile Hawkins Farr

Omar and his wife, Elana, sat quietly talking outside their house. It was in the cool of the evening, and the gentle breeze from the large oak tree was soothing and refreshing after the heat of the day. The happy voices of children at play came merrily from the nearby hill, and Omar and Elana sat watching the children playing. Their glances rested lovingly on the little figure who sat in a wheelchair with his crutches across his knees. This was their son, Ezrom, slight of build with pale, serious face topped with blond, curly hair. It was the eyes, however, in the child’s face which people remembered. They were enormous brown eyes, and in them were shadowed all the pain and suffering he so patiently bore. All the denial of play and running and jumping that other boys knew was pictured in their depths, but bravery and patience were mirrored there also.

Now he sat watching the others as they played with each other, and he laughed and shouted with them as they rushed back and forth in their abandoned play. Forgotten were his crippled legs, forgotten the wheel chair and crutches his father had labored with such care to make for him, forgotten everything but the happiness and abandon of his friends at play.

Back at the house, Omar glanced over at his wife, and she hurriedly busied herself with the sewing she held in her lap so her husband might not see the tears that welled so quickly in her eyes. Omar’s eyes, too, were sad and his voice bitter as he spoke. “Our son, too, should be playing with the others instead of limping around on crutches while they play. It isn’t fair that the sickness should leave him crippled and weak while other children are straight and strong.”

“No, Omar,” his wife spoke gently, “you mustn’t feel bitter. The Lord was good to us when he spared his life.”

“What’s good about it?” he spoke angrily. “Sometimes I think it would have been better had he been taken than to go through life with no pleasure, nothing but pain and self-denial.” The piece of wood Omar was carving snapped sharply in his powerful hands.

“Oh, Omar, please don’t say such things. You frighten me. There are things he is able to do which he enjoys. Why just today he carved a little figure of a horse, almost as good as you can do, and he is strong, strong in character, Omar, because of his suffering. He has learned, patience and kindness, and he has a way of understanding life and things which few adults have. He enjoys life, I am sure, when the pain isn’t too bad.”

“That’s it,” her husband retorted, “when the pain isn’t too bad! And when is that? Hardly ever! Oh, I know he doesn’t complain, and he tries to keep cheerful; but I know and you know what he goes through, and it isn’t fair, Elana, it isn’t fair that it should be this way!”

Rising abruptly, Omar thrust his hands deep into the pockets of his tunic and turned toward the house. “I’m going down the road to see my friend, Enor. He has said the Prophet Nephi is going to speak again tonight in the public square, and he has asked that I should go with him.”

“I’m so happy, Omar, that you are going to hear the prophet. With so much dissension and wickedness in the land and one tribe plotting against the other, we do need words of advice and admonition to show us the way.”

Omar turned, looking tenderly at his wife. “It may be late before I return. You and the boy shouldn’t be concerned for me but retire early that you both may rest, and I will tell you the words of the prophet in the morning.”

After Omar’s departure, Elana sat for some time sewing the braid on her son’s tunic. She always tried to find bright, cheerful colors with which to trim the clothes he wore, and she was always rewarded by the happiness in his voice as she placed them before him.

“Oh, this color, look Mother Elana, so cheerful and bright, like the colors of the flowers growing on the hillside!” At other times, “This one, Mother, is the one I choose, green, like the grass that grows so deep in the meadows and makes our sheep so fat. Green is a nice color. Sometimes when out in the meadow I crawl from my chair and lie face down in the cool grass and pretend I am straight and strong and can run like the deer that graze on the hillside. This is the color I choose this time.”

Tenderly Elana put the last stitch in the tunic and carefully folded it. She continued to sit and enjoy the coolness of the evening. How wonderful it is, she mused, to be sitting in our own yard close to the house Omar has built so well. It would last many, many years and be used to house many generations to follow after them. How grateful they should be for the fine sheep grazing in the meadow nearby! They had taken good care of these sheep, for the wool made their clothes, and once or twice a year they killed one for the meat. Yes, the Lord had been good to them.

Her eyes traveled beyond the meadow to the skyline of the distant city, and they clouded as she thought of the wickedness in that mighty city of Zarahemla. Throughout the land a secret order had been growing rapidly. It was a wicked group of men who belonged to this order. They were selfish, deceitful men who murdered for money and high position, who loved gold more than their own souls. These men were called the Gadianton Robbers, and many who professed to be good, honest people, secretly belonged to this vicious order. So powerful had this group become that the people in the land had divided into bands with leaders over each group that they might protect themselves from the cunning viciousness of the Robbers. But even in these very groups which sought to protect themselves, many of their leaders themselves had become wicked and treacherous and were flattered and won over to join with the Robbers. Surely something must happen to change this state of affairs or the country would perish from hunger: hunger for true brotherhood, honesty, integrity, and the word of the Lord. Had their forefathers not been divinely guided over land and sea to this fruitful land of lush grass and towering mountains? Had not their granaries been filled to overflowing with rich golden grain, and were their bins not bulging with fruits and vegetables of all kinds? The soft, rolling hills had given freely of their rich deposits of gold, copper, silver, and other precious ores. These metals had been refined and used to make implements for farming the rich soil and to make steady and firm the tall buildings rising in the cities. Now these same ores were being used to make spears and other implements of war. Yes, their forefathers had been given the promise that this land would be theirs to inhabit and enjoy as long as they would remember him and keep his commandments. Now so many had forgotten this sacred promise that they were rapidly outnumbering the righteous and were plunging blind- ly into the dark well of unbelief and destruction.

Elana’s mother had told her as a child of the great prophet Samuel, who had warned the people to repent and had told them it would not be long before the Savior of the world would be born, and it was only five years after his warning when the Christ child was born in the far-off country across the sea. At one time for two days and a night, he said, there had been no darkness and the sun shone brightly. The people here in the promised land had rejoiced, and for a few years after lived righteous, peaceful lives. It wasn’t long, however, before the love of power and lust for gold crept into their lives, and they soon drifted back into wickedness. The Prophet Samuel had also predicted that this same Jesus would be crucified and would suffer three days and then would be buried but would come forth from the tomb a resurrected being. During this time there would be no light throughout the land, and the sun and moon and stars would cease to shine and there would be great storms, earthquakes, and cities and people would be destroyed. Soon after this, Christ was to come to this land and teach the people. Many of the people had laughed at the prophet and sought to take his life, but the Lord had preserved him until he had accomplished his mission.

Thirty- three years had passed since that memorable day, and the Prophet Nephi, a descendant of the Prophet Nephi who had left Jerusalem over six hundred years ago and led his people to this land, went from city to city telling the inhabitants to repent or great calamities would come upon the earth and they would be destroyed.

How thankful I am, El ana thought, that Omar and I have been taught the gospel and to believe in the prophet’s teachings. She and Omar had always had great faith and had taught Ezrom to have faith also, and they believed that some day Ezrom would be able to walk again. Tonight had been the first time she had ever seen Omar rebellious be- cause of his son’s affliction. It was good that he had gone to hear the prophet. It would renew his faith and trust in the Lord.

Elana started suddenly from her thoughts as she heard a distant peal of thunder, and looking up she saw huge, black clouds gathering in the sky. Hurriedly she gathered up her sewing and started for the hill where the children were scurrying homeward before the rain started.

Ezrom had already started his chair rolling toward her, and he called to her as she came toward him. “I’m coming, Mother, as fast as I can!” Elana hurried faster. Reaching her son she took hold of his chair to help him along. Loud peals of thunder came closer and lightning was like jagged teeth of flame across the sky.

“I think if we hurry we can reach the house before the rain starts,” she said. “It all came up so suddenly. One minute the sun was shining brightly and the sky was blue, and the next, the wind was blowing and it was thundering and lightning.”

“I know, Mother,” the boy replied. “I have never seen anything like it before.” As he spoke there was a rumbling as if the whole mountain were caving in on them, and the earth trembled beneath their feet. It was getting so dark they could scarcely see their little house. They barely reached the door when torrents of rain fell from the black clouds. Safe inside, she sat down to catch her breath. The tempest in- creased. Never had she heard the wind shriek so loudly. Never had the rain come down in such torrents; the thunder was deafening! Could this be the prophecy coming true? Impulsively she reached out and took hold of her son’s hand and held it tightly.

“Don’t be afraid, Mother. I am all right, and I’m sure we will be protected, no matter what happens. I won’t ever be afraid as long as you are with me.”

Elana looked at him wonderingly, a little startled that his thoughts had been the same as hers. So often when they were together with silence between them and one or the other broke that silence, they would both laugh joyously to find their minds running in the same channels, pondering the same problems or musing over some delightful experience of the day. Now she looked questioningly at her son and spoke with a quick intake of her breath. “Then you, too, feel this is the time of which the prophets have warned us?”

“Yes, Mother,” he replied, “I have the strangest feeling as if I had lived through this very moment before, as if I had been waiting all my life for this to happen. All the things you and Father have taught me about the Christ having to suffer for us must now be coming true in that land across the sea. At this moment, he must be suffering terribly so that we will be saved, just as the Prophet Samuel has told us. I’m not afraid, Mother. I am only sorry our Savior must suffer so and die for us.”

Elana squeezed his hand gently, and there were tears in her eyes as she said softly, “Yes, dear, I, too, wish with all my heart he might be spared this terrible thing which has come to him.”

She rose to light a candle, but the darkness was so thick and damp by now that the taper would not burn, and she returned to sit by her son.

“If only your father might find his way home to us, I would not tremble so. Surely he will be guided safely home, for he is a good man, and we need him here by our side. We can’t tell what lies ahead the next few hours, and his very presence gives me courage. I know we have been promised the righteous would be spared, and we have tried to live up to the teachings of the prophets, but when I hear the noise of the wind and thunder and the shaking of the earth, I cannot help feeling a little frightened. Perhaps it is because I realize more than ever how small and helpless we humans are when the elements are turned loose. All we have is our trust in our Heavenly Father, and Ezrom, this is the greatest protection anyone could ask for.”

“Yes, Mother,” he spoke quietly, “and let us pray now to Heavenly Father to bring Father Omar back to us safely.”

It wasn’t long before their prayers were answered, for suddenly the door was flung open and then quickly closed against the storm, and Omar called to them, his voice thick with anxiety. “Elana, Ezrom, are you safe?”

“Oh, Omar, you have come back to us!” Elana cried, and Omar, stumbling through the dark to them, soon held both wife and son close in his arms.

“I thought I would never get here fast enough to see if you were both safe, and now I am with you my heart is full of thankfulness. The Lord has been good to us this night, and we must continue to have faith that all will be well with us.”

Elana trembled in his arms. “Is this the time the prophets told us was coming, Omar?”

“Yes, Elana. As soon as the storm commenced, Nephi told us to hurry to our homes, that this was the beginning of the three days of darkness and for us to stay inside our homes and continue to pray, then we would have nothing to fear. He told us there would be earthquakes and fires and huge cities would be destroyed, but that the faithful would be preserved. We will pray now and thank our Heavenly Father that the three of us are together. No matter what may happen outside, we will not be afraid here in our little home.”

So for three days there was total darkness, so thick neither candle or torches would burn, and there was no light of any kind, save when the lightning flashed. The noise of the thunder and earthquakes and the shrieking of the wind were terrible to hear, and people cried out in fear saying, “Oh, that we had repented before this great and terrible day and had not stoned and killed the prophets!” And there was great sorrow and anguish throughout the land. The great city of Zarahemla was burned, and many other wicked cities destroyed and swallowed up in the earth. But inside their snug little home, Omar and his wife and son continued to pray, and they with many other righteous ones were saved from destruction, and they praised their Heavenly Father for preserving them.

Then out of the darkness a voice was heard among the people saying, “Behold I am Jesus Christ, the Son of Godl” And the voice continued to talk to them and give counsel and advice, then all was quiet for many hours. And once more the same voice spoke to them, and once more all was quiet except for the noise of the storm. When the darkness cleared, a great multitude of the people who had not been destroyed gathered around the temple in the land of Bountiful. The Prophet Nephi was there, and Omar and his wife and son had journeyed to be near him to talk of the wonderful things which had occurred. Omar had pushed the wheel chair all the way to the temple, and he was very tired. Ezrom was tired, too, but happy because he could be near his beloved prophet. While they were all busy talking of the storm and of hearing the voice of the Savior, they heard another voice from the heavens saying, “Behold my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name — hear ye him.” And they looked up into heaven, from where they saw a man descending out of heaven, clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them and stretched out his hand to them saying, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

“And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world. . . . ‘

And the people fell upon their knees and rejoiced. And Omar and his wife and Ezrom rejoiced with them, and the Savior stayed many days and taught them many things. He chose his Twelve Disciples to carry on and teach the people after he should leave them, and he showed them how to bless the sacrament and partake of it.

He told them of his teachings in the land across the sea; of his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem and how they had wanted him to tarry with them, but he had said to them, “… other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” But his Apostles had not understood him. He turned to the Nephites and Lamanites gathered around him and said, . . . ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have . . . behold, ye have both heard my voice, and seen me; and ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the’ Father hath given me.”

Many other marvelous and wonderful things he taught them, even as he had taught the people across the sea, and then he told them he must leave them, and the people were sorrowful. He saw the tears in their eyes, and he, too, wept and said, “Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, … or deaf or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them.”

And the people did bring their sick, and they were healed, and the boy Ezrom with his great faith went forth and was healed also, and he stood straight and strong and tall, and he rejoiced with his father and mother and gave thanks. A new day had dawned for him. The door had been opened to a new life full of hope and promise, and Ezrom standing on the threshold looked beyond into the glorious future. The door had been opened because this same Jesus who had brought about the miracle of his healing had died and been resurrected that he and all generations to follow after might have eternal life.