A week ago was Easter, and our thoughts
were focused again on the atoning
sacrifice and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This past year I have been thinking and pondering
about the Resurrection more than normal.
Nearly one year ago, our daughter Alisa died.
She had struggled with cancer for almost eight years,
with several surgeries, many different treatments,
exciting miracles, and deep disappointments.
We watched her physical condition
deteriorate as she came to the close of her mortal life.
It was excruciating to see that happen to our precious
daughter--that bright-eyed little baby who had grown up
to be a talented, wonderful woman, wife, and mother.
I thought my heart would break.
Last Easter, a little over a month before she passed away,
Alisa wrote: "Easter is a reminder of all
that I hope for myself.
That someday I will be healed, and someday I will be whole.
Someday I won't have any metal or plastic inside of me.
Someday my heart will be free of fear
and my mind free of anxieties.
I am not praying that this happens soon,
but I am so glad I truly believe in a beautiful afterlife."
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ ensures the very things
Alisa hoped for and instills in each of us "a reason [for]
the hope that is in [us]."
President Gordon B. Hinckley referred to the Resurrection
as "the greatest of all events in the history of mankind."
The Resurrection is brought to pass
by the Atonement of Jesus Christ and is
pivotal to the great plan of salvation.
We are spirit children of heavenly parents.
When we come to this earth life, our spirit
is united with our body.
We experience all the joys and challenges
associated with mortal life.
When a person dies, their spirit is separated from their body.
Resurrection makes it possible for a person's spirit and body
to be united again, only this time that body will be immortal
and perfect--not subject to pain, disease,
or other problems.
After resurrection, the spirit will never again
be separated from the body because the Savior's
Resurrection brought total victory over death.
In order to obtain our eternal destiny,
we need to have this immortal soul--a spirit and body--united
forever.
With spirit and immortal body inseparably connected,
we can "receive a fulness of joy."
In fact, without the Resurrection,
we could never receive a fulness of joy
but would be miserable forever.
Even faithful, righteous people view the separation
of their bodies from their spirits as captivity.
We are released from this captivity
through the Resurrection, which is redemption from the bands
or chains of death.
There is no salvation without both our spirit and our body.
Each of us has physical, mental, and emotional limitations
and weaknesses.
These challenges, some of which seem so intractable now,
will eventually be resolved.
None of these problems will plague us
after we are resurrected.
Alisa researched survival rates for persons
with the type of cancer she had, and the numbers
were not encouraging.
She wrote: "But there is a cure, so I'm not scared.
Jesus has already cured my cancer, and yours."
We can replace the word cancer with any
of the other physical, mental, or emotional ailments
we may face.
Because of the Resurrection, they
have already been cured too.
The miracle of resurrection, the ultimate cure,
is beyond the power of modern medicine.
But it is not beyond the power of God.
We know it can be done because the Savior is
resurrected and will bring to pass the resurrection of each
of us too.
The Resurrection of the Savior proves
that He is the Son of God and that what He taught is real.
"He is risen, as he said."
There could be no stronger proof of His divinity
than Him coming forth from the grave with an immortal body.
We know of witnesses to the Resurrection
in New Testament times.
In addition to the women and men we read about in the Gospels,
the New Testament assures us that hundreds actually
saw the resurrected Lord.
And the Book of Mormon tells of many hundreds more:
"The multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his
side, ...
and [they] did see with their eyes
and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety
and did bear record, that it was he,
of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come."
To those ancient witnesses are added witnesses
in the latter days.
In fact, in the opening scene of this dispensation,
Joseph Smith saw the resurrected Savior with the Father.
Living prophets and apostles have
testified of the reality of the resurrected, living Christ.
So we may say, "We also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses."
And each of us can be part of a cloud of witnesses who knows
through the power of the Holy Ghost that what we celebrate
on Easter actually happened--that the Resurrection
is real.
The reality of the Resurrection of the Savior overwhelms
our heartbreak with hope because with it comes the assurance
that all of the other promises of the gospel are just
as real--promises that are no less miraculous than
the Resurrection.
We know He has the power to cleanse us from all our sins.
We know He has taken upon Himself all our infirmities,
pains, and the injustices we have suffered.
We know that he has "rise"rise[n] from the dead,
with healing in his wings."
We know that He can make us whole no matter
what is broken in us.
We know that He "shall wipe away all tears from [our] eyes;
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain."
We know that we can be "made perfect through Jesus ... ,
who wrought out this perfect atonement,"
if we will just have faith and follow Him.
Toward the end of the inspiring oratorio Messiah,
Handel put to beautiful music the Apostle Paul's words that
rejoice over the Resurrection.
"Behold, I [tell] you a mystery; We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed,
"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
at the last [trumpet]: ...
the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
"For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality.
"...
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory.
"O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?
...
"But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
I am grateful for the blessings that
are ours because of the Atonement and Resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For all who have laid a child in a grave
or wept over the casket of a spouse
or grieved over the death of a parent or someone they loved,
the Resurrection is a source of great hope.
What a powerful experience it will
be to see them again, not just as spirits
but with resurrected bodies.
I long to see my mother again and feel her gentle touch
and look into her loving eyes.
I want to see my father's smile and hear his laugh
and see him as a resurrected, perfect being.
With an eye of faith, I picture Alisa completely beyond
the reach of any earthly troubles or any sting
of death--a resurrected, perfected Alisa,
victorious and with a fulness of joy.
A few Easters ago, she wrote simply: "Life through His name.
So much hope.
Always.
Through everything.
I love Easter to remind me."
I testify of the reality of the Resurrection.
Jesus Christ lives, and because of Him, we will all live again.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.