From End Times to Sacred Time: Holy Week and the Latter-day Saint Liturgical Year (Easter)

Maxwell Institute Podcast

Christianity, Education, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 809 Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2026

⏱️ 7 minutes

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Summary

What happens when children ask, “Why do we do this?” In this reflective episode, Kristian Heal explores Exodus 12:26 and the powerful relationship between story, ritual, and memory in the life of faith. From the dramatic deliverance of Israel in the Exodus to the quiet, repeated practices that keep that story alive across generations, this episode considers how sacred traditions are designed not just to remember the past—but to shape the future. Heal examines how narrative and ritual work together to sustain hope, especially in moments of uncertainty, and how a culture of questioning and answering becomes essential to passing faith from one generation to the next. As ancient Israel marked time through Passover and sacred observance, so too do modern believers find meaning through practices that connect them to God’s saving work. Ultimately, this episode invites listeners to consider how the most prophetically audacious story of all—the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ—continues to be remembered, reenacted, and lived today.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From Brigham Young University's Maxwell Institute, this is the Maxwell Institute podcast, Faith
0:08.7	Illuminating Scholarship. In 2026, we are releasing a series called Old Testament Reflections. Each week,
0:15.4	a scholar offers a short reflection on the Come Follow Me reading. Today's piece, from end times to sacred time, Holy Week in the Latter-day Saint liturgical year, Easter, is written and read by Christian Heel.
0:32.1	According to British theologian J.G. Davies, the development of Holy Week in the Christian tradition was all about
0:39.1	a reconceptualization of time. This change coincided with the conversion of Constantine and the
0:46.6	First Council of Nicaea in 325. In the three centuries before Nicaea, the Christian attitude
0:53.6	to time was shaped by their conviction that they were living in the last times.
0:59.6	This belief was pervasive in the early Christian sources, fueled by persistent persecution and the minority status of Christians within the Roman Empire.
1:10.0	Early Christians lived outside of time, an inner state
1:13.7	of love and fear. So says Ignatius of Antioch, quote, these are the last times. Henceforth, let us have
1:22.8	reverence. Let us fear the long-suffering of God, lest it turn into a judgment against us, for either let us fear the long-suffering of God, lest it turn into a judgment against us, for either let us
1:31.1	fear the wrath which is to come, or let us love the grace which now is, the one or the other,
1:38.3	provided only that we be found in Christ Jesus unto true life, close the conversion of Constantine, Christians began to live in time.
1:51.3	Christianity was now in the world, and the story of Christianity quickly began to sacralize history,
1:58.6	as seen in the life of Constantine and the ecclesiastical history
2:02.3	of Eusebius of Caesarea. Christians not only made history sacred, but time itself. The year
2:10.1	became a memorial of the life of Christ, divided into several seasons. Advent, the season leading
2:17.1	up to Christmas, Christmas, beginning with the
2:19.9	Nativity of Christ, Epiphany, the appearance of Christ in the world represented by the visit
2:25.2	of the Magi, Lent, the preparation for Easter, Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Easter Saturday,
2:31.8	and Easter, from the Sunday of resurrection to Pentecost.
2:36.0	The year became a temporal temple, a school for learning of Christ, with Holy Week as the
	...

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