Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born and died
in unique circumstances.
He lived and grew up in humble conditions,
without material things.
He said of Himself, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air
have nests; but the Son of man hath not where
to lay his head."
He never received honors, favors, recognitions,
nor preferred treatment from the political leaders of the earth,
nor from the religious leaders of His day.
Neither did He sit in the highest
seats of the synagogues.
His preaching was simple, and even though multitudes followed
after Him, His ministry always consisted of blessing people
one by one.
He performed innumerable miracles
among those who accepted Him as the one sent from God.
He gave His Apostles authority and power
to do miracles "and greater works" than those He performed.
But He never delegated to them the privilege
of forgiving sins.
His enemies became indignant when they heard Him say,
"Go, and sin no more," or "Thy sins are forgiven [thee]."
That right belonged only to Him because He is the Son of God
and because He would pay for those sins with His Atonement.
His power over death was another divine attribute.
Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue,
pleaded "that he would come into his house:
for he had only one daughter, ... and she lay a dying."
The Master heard his plea, and while they were walking,
a servant came to Jairus and told him,
"Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master."
Upon entering the house, Jesus asked for everyone to go out,
and straightway, taking her by the hand, He said to her,
"Arise."
On another occasion, while He was travelling to the city
of Nain, He came upon a funeral procession,
a widow weeping for the death of her only son.
Full of mercy, He touched the bier and said,
"Young man, I said unto thee, Arise."
The people, upon seeing the miracle, exclaimed,
"A great prophet is risen up among us; and, ...
God hath visited his people."
This miracle was even more noteworthy
because they had already declared the young man legally
dead and were on the way to bury him.
With two young people brought back to life,
the evidence of His authority and power over death
astonished the believers and filled the defamers with fear.
The third occasion was the most impressive.
Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were siblings
whom Christ would often visit.
When people informed Him of the death of Lazarus,
He took four days to come to the family.
In consoling Martha, He categorically testified to her,
"I am the resurrection, and the life:
he that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live."
When the Savior asked for the mourners
to remove the stone from the sepulchre,
Martha timidly whispered to Him, "Lord, by this time
he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days."
Then Jesus lovingly reminded her, "Said I not unto thee,
that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest
see the glory of God?"
And having said this, He cried out with a loud voice,
"Lazarus, come forth." "And he that was dead came forth."
After Lazarus's four days in the grave,
the enemies of the Son of God were faced with irrefutable
evidence they could not ignore, diminish, or distort,
and they senselessly and maliciously "from that day
forth ...
took counsel together ... to put him to death."
Later on, the living Christ celebrated
in Jerusalem, along with His Apostles,
the last Feast of the Passover; established the ordinance
of the sacrament; and gave them the commandment
to love one another through sincere service.
After that, in the most sublime show of His love for humankind
and in full exercise of His will,
He went bravely and determinedly to face
His most demanding trial.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, in utter loneliness,
He suffered the most intense agony,
bleeding through each pore.
In total submission before His Father, He atoned for our sins
and also took upon Him our illnesses and afflictions
in order to know how to succor us.
We are indebted to Him and to our Heavenly Father
because His sacrifice blessed everyone from Adam, the first,
to the last of all human beings.
Once His agony in Gethsemane was concluded,
He voluntarily gave Himself up to His detractors.
Betrayed by one of His own, He was hurriedly
condemned in a manner both unjust and illegal,
in a trial both manipulated and incomplete.
That same night He was accused of the crime of blasphemy
and condemned to death.
In their hatred and thirst for vengeance,
because He testified to them that He was the Son of God,
His enemies plotted for Pilate to condemn Him.
To that end, they changed their accusation of blasphemy
to sedition so that His death would be by crucifixion.
His condemnation among the Romans was even more cruel:
their mockings and scorn regarding
His spiritual kingdom, the humiliating coronation
with a crown of thorns, His painful scourging,
and the prolonged agony of His public Crucifixion
were all clear warnings for every person who
might dare to declare himself or herself His disciple.
At each moment of His suffering, the Redeemer of the world
showed exceptional self-control.
He always thought of blessing others;
with kindness and tenderness, He pleaded for John
to take care of His mother, Mary.
He asked His Father in Heaven to forgive
the executioners who crucified Him.
With His work on earth fulfilled,
He commended His spirit to God and breathed His last breath.
The physical body of Christ was taken to the tomb
and remained there three days, incorruptible.
While His disciples were suffering
from sadness, discouragement, and uncertainty,
our Savior, in another phase of His Father's glorious plan,
extended His ministry in a new way.
In the short period of three days,
He worked untiringly to organize the immense work of salvation
among the dead.
Those days became some of the most hope-filled
of all the family of God.
During that visit He organized His faithful followers so
that they would bear glad tidings of redemption
to those who did not in life come
to know of the glorious plan or who had rejected it.
Now they would have the opportunity
to be freed from their captivity and to be redeemed
by the God of both the living and the dead.
With His work completed in the spirit world,
He returned to earth--forever to unite His spirit with His
physical body.
Even though He had authoritatively shown His power
over death, the scriptural accounts
of those He brought back to life before His Resurrection
demonstrated that they were only coming back
to a life that had been miraculously prolonged.
They would yet die.
Christ was the first to be resurrected and never
die again, to possess forever a perfect and eternal body.
In His resurrected state, He appeared
to Mary, who, as soon as she recognized Him,
began to worship Him.
Our Redeemer, with great tenderness,
warned her concerning His new and glorious condition:
"Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended
to my Father"--providing an additional witness that His
ministry in the spirit world was real and complete.
Later, using language that confirmed
the reality of His Resurrection, He said,
"I ascend unto my Father, and your Father;
and to my God, and your God."
After going to His Father, He returned again
and appeared to His Apostles: "He
shewed unto them his hands and his side.
Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord."
I testify that Christ will return in a way very different
from His first coming.
He will come in power and glory with all
the just and faithful Saints.
He will come as King of kings and Lord of lords,
as the Prince of Peace, the promised Messiah, the Savior
and Redeemer, to judge the living and the dead.
I love Him with all my heart, and I
plead that we may serve with joy and dedication
and that we may remain faithful to Him until the end.
In His name, Jesus Christ, amen.