Ellie’s Easter Sacrament Meeting Talk

I can only imagine how the Savior’s disciples must have felt as his body
was taken from the cross and laid in the tomb. There must have been a
terrible sense of hopelessness and sadness as they thought of their Lord
taken from them in death.

But that was NOT the end! On the morning of the third day, Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary returned to the tomb. To their genuine
surprise, the stone was rolled away and the tomb was open. Two beings in
white sat at either end of the burial site. An angel appeared to them and
said, “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not there, but he is
risen! Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galalee?
Saying the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and
be crucified, and the third day rise again.”

These simple words – “He is not there, but He is Risen” are some of the
most profound words ever spoken. Only the son of God could do what He
did. Jesus the Christ broke the bonds of death. He too had to die, but on the
third day, following his burial, He rose from the grave, “the first fruits of
them that slept” (1 Cor 15:20), and in so doing brought the blessing of the
Resurrection to every one of us.

Thinking about this amazing thing, Paul declared: “O death, where is

thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?” (1 Cor 15:15)

This past weekend by family gathered around my Great Grandmother

as she drew her last breaths of this mortal life. We mourn because we love
her and will miss her gentle, loving ways. But because of Christ, his
atonement and resurrection, we can rejoice in the knowledge that this is not
the end, Great Grandma has returned to Great Grandpa and our Father in
Heaven and one day we will all be reunited again.

I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.