Note: A talk I helped Cris-Style write.
I love the Springtime, and how the Earth is renewed. How perfect it is that Easter takes place during the Spring.
In the fall, plants die and trees lose their leaves for the winter. And it was the Fall of Adam and Eve, that introduced death into our world. Their fall introduced two things to this world that man alone was not strong enough to overcome—sin and death.
Because man could not overcome these two things, our Heavenly Father offered us a Savior. This Savior, Jesus Christ, was sent to overcome these two things. In celebrating Christmas, we celebrate Christ accepting His role as our Savior. In celebrating Easter, we celebrate that He completed His mission.
In the Spring, everything becomes green again. Everything begins to live again. Plants resurrect. Leaves reappear on trees. Blossoms emerge on the trees, and, soon, fruit will begin to form.
And it was in one of Earth’s Springtimes that the Savior gave mankind its Spring. Christ gave His life for us. And then three days later, He took it up again. The Empty Tomb became a great symbol to each of us. In defeating death, Christ gave each of us the promise that we too would be resurrected. Job once asked: “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14). Christ answered the question when He said: “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). Because of Christ, the death introduced by the Fall of Adam, has lost its sting. Or, as Paul put it, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ, shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).
So, because of Christ’s victory over the grave, we can all say, as Neal A. Maxwell once did: “Death is but a mere comma, not an exclamation point.” Without knowledge of Christ’s resurrection, we can easily treat a loved one’s death as an exclamation point, and, at those times, lose all hope and think that we will never see that person again. Similarly, we could, with such an attitude, reach the end of our lives, very scared that we will soon no longer exist.
But because we know Christ was resurrected, such events are met more with hope than with dread. Because we know that the end of this life is just the beginning of eternity. Indeed, we know death is just a comma.
But Easter and the Empty Garden Tomb represent more than just the promise that our life will be renewed beyond this Earth. Easter and the Tomb also represent the chance Christ gave each of us to be spiritually resurrected.
Just days before the First Easter, Christ suffered, bled and died for mankind’s sins. In doing this, Christ made it that none of us, if we follow Him, will die spiritually. In this way, Christ overcame sin and provided us a chance at spiritual resurrection.
In giving us a way to escape our sins, Christ gave us a way to kill our sinful selves and to be reborn as Creatures of Christ. This is why the Egg is such a great symbol of Easter—because it represents the chance at a new life.
At baptism, we buried our old selves, and came forth as a follower of Christ. Each Sunday, when we take the Sacrament, we again do the same thing. So each Sunday is really an Easter Sunday—because it’s a chance to for us to wipe the slate clean and start anew.
The gift of resurrection is given to us because, in the pre-existence, we chose to follow the Father’s plan, accept Christ as Our Savior and come to Earth. But the gift of Eternal Life with God is given to us only if we choose to follow the Father and Christ here on Earth.
I know Jesus Christ died for me. I know because He did that I can return to live with my Heavenly Father, if I follow Christ’s path. I know because He lives, I will live beyond this mortal life. And I know Christ and the Father appeared to Joseph Smith and restored Their Church through him, and I know They continue to lead this church today through the Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley. And this I say in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
