If the message of Easter were reduced to just one word, that word might be hope. Easter declares, as almost nothing else can, that even in the most desperate situations there is hope. The worst storms eventually subside. The deepest emptiness can be filled. The darkest night soon gives way to the light of dawn.
Not long ago, a man was battling years of homelessness, drug abuse, and despair. Hope seemed out of reach. But then a series of events—he would call it divine intervention—put him on the road to recovery and literally saved his life. He came to know that he had, in his words, a “place in the grand scheme of things.” Now he works to help the homeless and the addicted, the very people among whom he once lived. “I still have my issues,” he says, “but I try… to find the next right thing and do it.” The lesson he learned is relevant for every one of us: “There’s hope… no matter what, there’s hope.”
That is the message of Easter. Can a broken life be mended? Yes. Can a relationship be healed? Yes. In the words of Job of old, “If a man die, shall he live again?” Easter boldly answers, “Yes!” Even death itself gives way to hope. When death steals a loved one away, when we feel anguish of soul, when all seems hopeless, we can remember the One who declared, “I am the resurrection, and the life.”
Some two thousand years ago, on that first Easter morning, “it was yet dark” when Mary went to the garden tomb. Soon the sun would rise, as it always does. And soon the Light of the World would appear to illuminate her soul, as He always does. But first, Mary had to take a few steps in the darkness.
What she found was a miracle, an empty tomb—and the greatest promise ever proclaimed: “He is not here: for he is risen.” Mary came looking for her Lord and found hope. Because of Him, there’s hope—no matter what, there’s always hope.
-Lloyd D. Newell
In Lee Benson, “How a One-Time Utah Con Man Was Born Again in All the Right Ways,” Deseret News, Feb. 11, 2018, deseretnews.com/article/900010001/how-a-one-time-utah-con-man-was-born-again-in-all-the-right-ways.html.
Job 14:14.
John 11:25
John 20:1.
Matthew 28:6.
________________________________________________
April 1, 2018
Broadcast Number 4,620
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Easter Miracles
Conductor
Mack Wilberg
Organist
Clay Christiansen
Host
Lloyd Newell
Hallelujah Chorus, from Christ on the Mount of Olives
Ludwig van Beethoven
Jesus Has Risen
Thelma Johnson Ryer; arr. Ryan Murphy
Morning Mood, from Peer Gynt Suite
Edvard Grieg; transcribed by Clay Christiansen
Since by Man Came Death, from Messiah
George Frideric Handel
Consider the Lilies of the Field
Roger Hoffman; arr. A. Laurence Lyon
Hail the Day That Sees Him Rise
Robert Williams; arr. Mack Wilberg