When Jesus returned to
Jerusalem for the Passover, He knew that his ministry on earth was coming
quickly to an end. He said to his
disciples, Ye know that after two days is the
feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. (matt. 26:2)
A quick review of those last couple of days: Jesus feasted with his disciples and instituted
the Sacrament. He went into the garden of Gethsemane and prayed to Heavenly
Father where he ultimately performed the atonement for ALL man. All the while the chief priests and scribes
were plotting how to take Jesus into their custody and put him to death. They payed Judas Iscariot, one of His apostles, 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus by kissing his
cheek. This signified that He was the “one”. Jesus was then taken before the high priests,
elders and scribes where he was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to
death. They took him before the Governor
of the land, Pilate, who did not want to participate in crucifying him, but
felt like he had to go along with the voices of the people. And even though “he
took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am
innocent of the blood of this just person:” (matt
27:24) He gave them permission to carry
out their plan. They whipped, ridiculed
and mocked Him before they cruelly nailed him to the cross and hung him between
two thieves.
Matthew 27:46 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus
cried with a loud voice, saying, (Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthani? that is to say,) My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
¶Jesus,
when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in
twain from the top to the bottom; and
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
54 Now when the centurion, and they
that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that
were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
At this time, a
disciple named Joseph came and pleaded with Pilate for Jesus’ body. Wanting to have the body placed in the tomb
before the sun set, he hastily, took His body, wrapped it in spices and clean linen
and laid it in an unused tomb before the Sabbath began. Fearing that the disciples would steal the
body and say that Jesus was resurrected, Pilate ordered a large rock to be
rolled in the opening of the tomb and 2 guards to stand outside the sepulcher.
The next day being the Sabbath, they took their rest. The following morning,
Mary Magdalene and other women, came to the tomb to further prepare the body
with oils and spices.
Matthew 28: 2...there was a
great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from
heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment
white as snow:
4 And for fear of him the keepers
did shake, and became as dead men.
John 20:11 ¶Mary stood
without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and
looked into the sepulchre,
12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, …..
13 And they say unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord,
and I know not where they have laid him.
Matthew 28:6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord
lay.
John 20: 14 And ….. Mary turned herself
back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it
was Jesus.
15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why
weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith
unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him,
and I will take him away.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She
turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say
unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God,
and your God.
18 Mary Magdalene came and told the
disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these
things unto her.
What a great and amazing
event! Here was a woman, Mary Magdalene,
who we read about throughout the ministry of Christ and who was obviously very
close to Him. When he was crucified she
was there. She wept as he hung on the
cross. She went to his grave sight
baring spices and ointments ready to further prepare his body for its proper
burial, only to find that His body is missing.
Think again of the grief she must have felt. She was already in mourning and now His body
is gone. She again weeps. This was real and these were real
emotions. She is devastated.
So she is at the grave sight. Jesus’ body is missing and then someone calls her name and she turns and
recognizes that it is Jesus Christ.
After all her sorrow and pain, there must have been exquisite joy! Put yourself in Mary’s shoes. Someone who you love dearly, has passed
away. They are no longer with you. And then you see them. They are resurrected and have new life. WHAT GREAT JOY!
To continue the
story: That evening all the disciples
were meeting together when the Savior joined them.
John 20: 19 ...and came
Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
20 And when he had so said, he
shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples
glad, when they saw the Lord.
If you’ve
ever worked in a presidency or a calling where you work very closely with
another member of the church, you find that you get very close to that person
and you learn to love them tremendously.
These apostles walked and talked with Jesus daily. They truly loved Him. Peter was heard to say more than once, “Yea,
Lord, thou knowest I love thee.” And
then to see Him, ALiVe! There must have been exquisite joy.
The Savior said: “Be of good cheer; I
have overcome the world.” (John 16:33.) Because of Christ, the grave had no permanent victory. Death was
overcome!
Many of you have lost loved
ones—a close friend, a cousin, an aunt or uncle, a grandparent, a sibling a
parent. Some of you will probably lose a child and possibly even a spouse.
You have felt and will feel
again, the grief that Mary and the apostles felt.
I have experienced the loss
of loved ones several times in my life.
Almost 4 years ago, I lost my
oldest sister, Joy, to cancer.
14 years ago my
mother-in-law, Cleo Harding Roper Berry, whom I loved almost as much as my own mother, passed away.
4 months before her death,
her husband, Shelby Berry, whom we all loved as well, also left this great life experience. Shelby was so scared of dying. He knew
his time was drawing near and he would ask us questions, What do you think will
happen? What is it going to be
like? He’d say, “I’ve never done this
before.” We didn’t have too many answers
for him, just that we knew it would all work out and he would be okay.
And 30 years ago, I gave
birth to my third daughter, Meggie, who was stillborn and I never got to know the personality
of this little girl—who only needed to get her body and was allowed to move
on.
Because of Jesus Christ, it
makes it a little bit easier to let go of those we love and let them pass on
into their next existence.
I am so excited to see these
people again. Won’t that be a joyful
day! You can think of your loved ones
and be just as excited for the time when you will see them again.
This is a beautiful
gift that our Heavenly Father has planned and has given to ALL mankind. Not
just a select few or just the righteous.
It is a gift that everyone will experience! Jesus Christ gave His life—willingly
submitted—so that He would be resurrected and because of that, we will all be
resurrected also. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:22.)
Brigham Young spoke about
death and how we might view it as something mysterious and dark not really
knowing what happens to those who have died.
Quoting from him:
How dark this valley is! How
mysterious is this road, ….. I would like to say to you, my friends and
brethren, if we could see things as they are, and as we shall see and
understand them, this dark shadow and valley is so trifling that we shall turn
round and look about upon it and think, when we have crossed it, why this is the
greatest advantage of my whole existence, for I have passed from a state of
sorrow, grief, mourning, woe, misery, pain, anguish and disappointment into a
state of existence, where I can enjoy life to the fullest extent as far as that
can be done without a body. My spirit is set free, I thirst no more, I want to
sleep no more, I hunger no more, I tire no more, I run, I walk, I labor, I go,
I come, I do this, I do that, whatever is required of me, nothing like pain or
weariness, I am full of life, full of vigor, and I enjoy the presence of my
heavenly Father, by the power of his Spirit. I want to say to my friends, if
you will live your religion, live so as to be full of the faith of God, that
the light of eternity will shine upon you, you can see and understand these
things for yourselves” (DNSW, 28 July 1874, 1). http://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-brigham-young/chapter-37?lang=eng
As difficult as it is, we can be
happy for those that have passed on before us.
Gratefully we can and will be resurrected. We will be restored to our perfected bodies
and loved ones. And as members of the
church we know how important the temple
and the sealing power is that not only
will we be resurrected but we will be eternally with our families. Our family units continue on after this
life. Not sure that the resurrection
would be so great without that. It’s
good modivation to keep us on the right path so that we can live with our families
in the celestial kingdom. Sister Lund said,
“When I die I want to be with the good people which means I’ve got to be one of
the good people.” To which I add, "When I
die, I want to be with my family! So I’ve got to be good."
My daughters use to watch “Steel
Magnolias” when they were young. In this
story, M'Lynn’s daughter, Shelby, who is
in her 20s has died after going into a diabetic coma. Shelby was married and had a 1 year old son.
M'Lynn is understandably devastated. One of her friends who is about the same
age as Shelby tries to comfort M'Lynn and says to her, “It should make you feel
a lot better knowing that Shelby is with her king. We should all be rejoicing.”
M'lynn: “You go on
ahead. Sorry if I don’t feel like it, I
guess I’m a little selfish. I’d rather
have her here.”
Annelle: “I don’t mean to
make you angry or to make you feel bad, but I prayed very hard to make heads
and tails out of this…..Shelby went on to a place where she could be a guardian
angel. She will always be young and she will always be beautiful and I feel
much safer knowing she is up there on my side.
It may sound real simple and stupid but that’s how I get through things
like this.”
I know these are just words
from a fictitious movie…but the emotions are real. When we lose a loved one, we may want to be
selfish and we may rather have them here with us. When I suspected that my baby had died—I
hadn’t felt life for over 24 hours—and before we went to the hospital and had
that confirmed, I prayed earnestly that God would bring her back to life. I didn’t want to lose her and I didn’t think
I could go through that. I KNEW that He
had the power to make her live.
Unfortunately, we don’t always get what we want.
BUT we
are so blessed to know that we will all get to see those we love again. They will live again. We will live again after we pass through
death’s portals.
Quoting Pres. Thomas S. Monson: We can find comfort in the assurance that the
Savior lives and that through His Atonement, “he breaketh the bands of death,
that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be
swallowed up in the hopes of glory”. (Alma 22:14)
To all who accept Him as Savior and
Lord, His literal resurrection means that life does not end at death, for He
promised: “Because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:19.)
I
know this is true. I know that Jesus
Christ rose from the grave. "He is not
here, for He is risen." I look forward to the day when we will be
reunited with loved ones. I will meet again with my sister Joy; my mother-in-law, Cleo; my father-in-law, Ornal, whom I have never met and with my own daughter Meggie! There will be others there as well. It will be a beautiful day.
