EASTER TALK

The reason why we celebrate Easter
Alessandro DINI CIACCI

Today is a special day for all Christians around the world, it is Easter. Going to church, spending time with family, taking trips with friends, reading the scriptures, and many others are the activities people usually engage in on this day.

A common symbol of this holiday is the egg. Even with small variations, almost each culture uses the egg as a symbol of this celebration. There are many different theories as to why the egg took this place in the celebration. One of them, as reported in a History Channel documentary about Mary Magdalene, holds that after the Ascension of Christ, Mary supposedly went to the Emperor of Rome and greeted him with “Christ is risen,” whereupon he pointed to an egg on his table and stated, “Christ has not risen no more than that egg is red.” After making this statement it is said the egg immediately turned blood red.

Although this story seems very far from being factual, it is worth mentioning for it talks of three important things: the egg, the color red, and Jesus Christ. The egg is a symbol of the Resurrection; life renewing itself by breaking out of the hard walls of the grave. The color red which is symbolic of the price in blood paid to make up for our sins. And then Jesus Christ Who made our salvation possible.

Despite all the symbols and many different celebrations, all the Christians know this is the most important day to remember in the history of the whole world for this is the day when the promises of a carpenter’s son were fulfilled and proved Him to be the Son of God indeed. But to understand what this really means, we should take a step back and consider the things that led to the events we celebrate on this day and the things that will come to pass because of them.

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being… For we are also his offspring.”1 Such are the words of the scriptures that in many places teach us that we are truly the children, daughters and sons, of our Heavenly Father who gave us life before we came to this earth in this tabernacle of flesh.

We lived with Him and were happy, but just as children living at home with their parents can only progress to a certain degree, we too could – as children of our Heavenly Father – progress only to a certain limited degree while living in His presence. And so, while children here start going to school to advance, progress, make new learning experiences, and grow, we were sent to the school called Life to advance, progress, make new learning experiences, and grow.

A plan was presented and we accepted to come to this earth taking upon us the hardships of living in a natural state and the lot of death. In order for us to leave our Heavenly Father’s presence, our very nature had to be changed and we became mortal but this state will need to be changed again in due time into an immortal state in order for us to return back to our Father in heaven. None of us, however good and smart, could have ever achieved this on our own. No man or woman despite whatever efforts he or she may have put into this, could have ever overcome his or her natural state of fallen being and change his or her mortal state into an immortal one. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.”2 No one but Jesus the Christ could have ever overcome death. What enabled Him to be the only One Who could do this is the fact that He was truly the Son of God in a physical sense. While His mother was mortal, He was born in this world from God, Who – thru the medium of the Holy Ghost – passed on to Him all the characteristics He possessed. Thus Jesus had the power to lay down His life and die at any time He wished to do so. But because of Him being the literal Son of God, He could take that life again whenever He wanted. And this He did when, after laying in the tomb for three days, He resurrected. “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see…”3 And then a marvellous promise for us all: what He had just done and achieved would be for our benefit: “…Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves…”4

But before He laid down His life, Jesus did something less spectacular but just as powerful. “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane… And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy… Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death… And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”5 “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”6 “Herein is love… that he loved us, and he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”7 In a way that our limited human mind cannot comprehend, Jesus Christ, in that moment of agony, took upon Himself to pay the price for all our mistakes and sins, that we “should not perish, but have everlasting life.”8

So today we celebrate with respect and awe the great gift of the Atonement of Christ. This gift comes to all in the form of eternal salvation and happiness. But salvation is not automatic and will only come to us based on our faith in it and trust in Him. We need to have faith, believe, that the price paid by someone else can extinguish the debt we incur in and that grows every time we make a mistake. And then at the same time we need to have trust in Jesus Christ, in His words, in His promises that thru obedience to the laws and commandments He gave us from the Father we can be saved and go back to live with our Heavenly Father.

Faith in Him is not an abstract concept for faith is shown in the acting. “And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him… if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”9 In the end, it all comes down to our obedience to the laws and commandments of the Gospel. In obedience to Jesus’s words and only in it there is safety and an assurance of being happy in this life and after.

Jesus is real! We lived with Him and our Heavenly Family before coming to this earth. There was a Creation and a Fall with its accompanying physical death and spiritual separation from God, as described in the Scriptures. He did come to make it possible for us to be restored to life and to be free from the debt of sin. The proof of this all and of His divinity lies in the empty tomb and the witnesses given of that event and of His dealings from that time and on to our present day by His prophets both of old and modern. “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we [Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon] give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father– That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God… And this is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us– That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; That through him all might be saved… and this is the testimony of the gospel of Christ concerning them who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just– They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given– That by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and selaed unto this power; And who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true… These shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever… These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood.”10

I add to that testimony my conviction that Jesus is all He said He is and that happiness in this life and salvation in the one to come, can only be secured thru our faith in Him which is shown thru obedience to His words. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

NOTES
1 Acts 17:28
2 1 John 4:9
3 Matthew 28:6
4 Ezekiel 37:12
5 Matthew 26:36-39
6 Luke 22:44-45
7 1 John 4:10
8 John 3:15
9 Matthew 19:16-17
10 D&C 76:22-24, 40-42, 50-53, 62, 69

Wedding

We got married in a beautiful forest North East of Rome. The place was just gorgeous. The tall tree offered shade from the sun. The birds provided the music and Sebach (a private company) delivered the bathroom... yes, we had to rent a bathroom because there was nothing in the forest.

Engagement picture

Alessandro proposed in the beautiful gardens of the Caserta Royal Palace near a pond with statues and rare plants. It was January 2006... a day never to be forgotten!

Christmas 2007

And here is our Christmas picture. It took us forever to get it done, and it still isn't quite what we wanted, but at least there's all of us in it.