The Greatest Easter Story Ever Told
By Elder Gary E. Stevenson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Lesa and I have discussed ways that our family can do better during the Easter season. Perhaps the question we have asked ourselves is one we could all contemplate: How do we model the teaching and celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Easter story, with the same balance, fulness, and rich religious tradition of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Christmas story?...
As Lesa and I continued to ponder and seek ways to expand our family Easter celebration to be more Christ-centered, we discussed what scripture reading tradition we might introduce to our family—the Luke 2 equivalent for Easter, if you will.
And then we had this heavenly epiphany: In addition to the important verses about Easter in the New Testament, we as Latter-day Saints are endowed with a most remarkable Easter gift! A gift of unique witness, another testament of the Easter miracle that contains perhaps the most magnificent Easter scriptures in all of Christianity. I am referring of course to the Book of Mormon and, more specifically, to the account of Jesus Christ appearing to inhabitants in the New World in His resurrected glory.
The Prophet Joseph Smith described the Book of Mormon as “the most correct of any book,”5 and beginning with 3 Nephi 11, it tells the magnificent story of the resurrected Christ’s visit to the Nephites, the Savior’s Easter ministry. These Easter scriptures bear record of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ....
This Easter, our family is going to focus on the first 17 verses of 3 Nephi 11, with which you are familiar....
Imagine: the Nephites at the temple actually touched the hands of the risen Lord! We hope to make these chapters in 3 Nephi as much a part of our Easter tradition as Luke 2 is of our Christmas tradition. In reality, the Book of Mormon shares the greatest Easter story ever told. Let it not be the greatest Easter story never told.
I invite you to look at the Book of Mormon in a new light and consider the profound witness it bears of the reality of the risen Christ as well as the richness and depth of the doctrine of Christ....
We cannot stand as witnesses of Jesus Christ until we can bear witness of Him. The Book of Mormon is another witness of Jesus Christ because throughout its sacred pages, one prophet after another testifies not only that Christ would come but that He did come.
I am holding in my hand a copy of the first edition of the Book of Mormon. Doing so always moves me. For much of my adult life, I have been fascinated, enthralled, and riveted with what young Joseph Smith did to get this sacred book of scripture translated and published. The miracles that had to occur are staggering to contemplate.
But that is not why this book moves me. It is because this book, more than any other ever published on this earth, bears witness of the life, the ministry, the teachings, the Atonement, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. My dear brothers and sisters, studying regularly from this book about Jesus Christ will change your life. It will open your eyes to new possibilities. It will increase your hope and fill you with charity. Most of all, it will build and strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ and bless you with a sure knowledge that He and our Father know you, love you, and want you to find your way back home, with a capital H....
No book does more to show that:
Because of Jesus Christ, everything changed.
Because of Him, everything is better.
Because of Him, life is manageable—especially the painful moments.
Because of Him, everything is possible.
