Lesson 27 - He is not here, He is Risen!

Purpose
To help class members feel gratitude for the Savior’s Resurrection and the blessings it brings us.


“Many years ago … a writer for a newspaper was asked an important question, ‘What would be the most important news the world could receive?’”

• How would you answer this question?

Elder Paramore continued: “[The writer] thought and thought about the question, he talked to many people, and read all he could in an effort to find an answer for himself. And finally, he printed his answer, ‘To know that Jesus Christ lives today would be the most important news the world could receive. In fact, if He lives today, then we too will live eternally as He said’” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1990, 80; or Ensign, Nov. 1990, 64).

We too can rejoice in the knowledge that Christ was resurrected.


Scripture Discussion and Application

Ponder how your knowledge of the Resurrection affects your daily lives. Rather than trying to determine the exact order of events surrounding the Resurrection (each Gospel writer gives a slightly different order), focus on the testimonies of the Resurrection given in each Gospel account.

1. Mary Magdalene and other women are witnesses of the resurrected Lord.

Discuss Matthew 28:1–15; Luke 24:1–12; and John 20:1–10. Read selected verses aloud.

After Jesus was crucified, his body was wrapped in clean linen cloths and placed in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, one of Jesus’ disciples (Matthew 27:57–60; Luke 23:50–53; John 19:38–42). This was done quickly because the Sabbath was about to begin. The morning after the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and other women returned to the tomb with spices and ointments to more thoroughly anoint and embalm Jesus’ body.

• What did Mary Magdalene and the other women find when they came to Jesus’ tomb? (See Matthew 28:1–4; Luke 24:1–4. Note that the Joseph Smith Translation of Matthew 28 states, as Luke does, that there were two angels. See Matthew 28:2, footnote 2a.) What did the angels tell the women? (See Matthew 28:5–7; Luke 24:5–8.)

• What did the angels mean when they said, “He is risen”? (Jesus had been resurrected.) What does it mean to be resurrected? (See Alma 11:42–45; see also Bible Dictionary, “Resurrection,” 761.) What blessings will we receive because of Jesus’ Resurrection? (See 1 Corinthians 15:22, 50–58; Alma 11:42–45. We will all be resurrected and be given immortal bodies.)

• President Howard W. Hunter said that the words “He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:6) “contain all the hope, assurance, and belief necessary to sustain us in our challenging and sometimes grief-filled lives” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1986, 18; or Ensign, May 1986, 15–16). How has your testimony of the Atonement and the Resurrection helped you through difficult times?

• What did the women do after the angels finished speaking? (See Matthew 28:8; Luke 24:8–9.) What can we learn from their example?

• Mary and the other women were the first of many people who saw Jesus Christ after he was resurrected (see also the second and third additional teaching ideas). Why do you think it was important that the resurrected Lord appear to earthly witnesses? (See 2 Corinthians 13:1.)

2. Two disciples on the road to Emmaus are witnesses of the resurrected Lord.
Discuss Luke 24:13–35. Summarize the scripture passage.

• Why were Cleopas and his companion sad as they walked along the road to Emmaus? (See Luke 24:13–24.) What did the resurrected Lord teach them as they walked? (See Luke 24:25–27)

• How did the two disciples feel as Jesus taught them? (See Luke 24:32.) What gave them this feeling? (The influence of the Holy Ghost.) Shareeexperiences when they have received a witness from the Spirit while studying the gospel or hearing someone teach it.

3. The Apostles are witnesses of the resurrected Lord. Read and discuss selected verses from Matthew 28:16–20; Luke 24:33–53; and John 20:19–31.

• What did the Apostles think they were seeing when the Savior appeared to them on the evening of the day he was resurrected? (See Luke 24:36–37.) How did Jesus reassure them that he was a resurrected being, not a spirit? (See Luke 24:38–43.)
• How did Thomas respond to the other Apostles’ testimonies that the Lord had been resurrected? (See John 20:24–25.) How did he come to believe that the Lord had been resurrected? (See John 20:26–29.) How do we sometimes show the same weakness as Thomas?

Elder Gordon B. Hinckley said:

“Have you not heard others speak as Thomas spoke? ‘Give us,’ they say, ‘the empirical evidence. Prove before our very eyes, and our ears, and our hands, else we will not believe.’ This is the language of the time in which we live. Thomas the Doubter has become the example of men in all ages who refuse to accept other than that which they can physically prove and explain—as if they could prove love, or faith, or even such physical phenomena as electricity. …

“To all within the sound of my voice who may have doubts, I repeat the words given Thomas as he felt the wounded hands of the Lord: ‘Be not faithless, but believing’” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1978, 90; or Ensign, May 1978, 59).

• How can we more fully follow the Lord’s admonition to “be not faithless, but believing”? (John 20:27).
4. Some of the Apostles see Jesus again at the Sea of Tiberias (Sea of Galilee).
Read and discuss selected verses from John 21.

• The resurrected Lord showed himself again to seven of his Apostles as they were fishing. How did they come to realize it was Jesus on the shore? (See John 21:4–7.) After they had eaten, what did Jesus ask Peter and the other Apostles to do? (See John 21:15–17.) How can we feed the Lord’s sheep?

• What was John’s reason for writing down some of the things that the resurrected Jesus said and did? (See John 20:30–31.) How have you benefited from studying the scriptural accounts of Jesus’ Resurrection?

Conclusion

We testify that Jesus Christ was resurrected and that because of him we will also be resurrected. Bear testimony of the strength and comfort that your knowledge of the Resurrection has brought you.