Christ and the Apostles, by Del Parson

March 30–April 12

Easter

“He Shall Rise … with Healing in His Wings”

Easter Sunday is an excellent opportunity for your class members to strengthen their testimonies of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection—and to strengthen one another’s testimonies. Keep this in mind as you study the scriptures in preparation for this lesson. Seek spiritual guidance about what will touch the hearts of the people in your class.

Record Your Impressions

Invite Sharing

Members of your class may have had meaningful experiences over the past two weeks reading what the Book of Mormon teaches about the Resurrection and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Give them a few minutes to find a passage that impressed them, and then invite them to share what they found.

Teach the Doctrine

2 Nephi 9:7–15; Alma 11:41–45; 40:21–23

Resurrection is the permanent reuniting of the body and the spirit.

• Comparisons can be an effective way to teach principles of the gospel. Maybe you could invite class members to read 2 Nephi 9:7–15 and Alma 11:41–45 and identify words and phrases in these verses that teach about resurrection. What is death compared to? How is resurrection described? Why do we need a resurrected body? (see also Doctrine and Covenants 93:33–34). Class members could discuss how they might use these comparisons to teach someone about resurrection. As they share their ideas with the class, you could discuss with them why they value these truths about the Resurrection.

• Consider inviting class members to share times when they felt thankful for their knowledge about the Resurrection. How could that knowledge influence our lives more regularly? You could help your class members answer this question by inviting each of them to search 2 Nephi 9:7–15; Alma 11:41–45; or Alma 40:21–23 and list on the board truths they find about the Resurrection. Then you could write on the board the following two sentences and ask class members to ponder for a few minutes before sharing how they would complete them: If I did not know these things… and Because I know these things….

Gethsemane, by Michael T. Malm

Mosiah 3:5–7; 15:5–9; Alma 7:11–13

Jesus Christ took upon Himself our sins, pains, and infirmities.

• Pondering and discussing the Savior’s suffering on our behalf can invite the Spirit and inspire feelings of love and gratitude toward the Savior. To encourage such pondering and discussion, you could draw a chart on the board similar to the one suggested in this week’s outline in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families and invite class members to complete it using Mosiah 3:5–7; 15:5–9; and Alma 7:11–13 and their own experiences. As the Spirit directs, you could also invite class members to share their feelings about what Jesus Christ has done for them.

• Sacred music can invite the Spirit and reinforce the doctrine you are teaching. Perhaps class members could review Mosiah 3:5–7; 15:5–9; and Alma 7:11–13 and find and sing hymns that they feel match the messages in these verses (you could also invite someone to sing or play the hymns). The scripture index at the back of the hymnbook can help, and other hymns are suggested in “Additional Resources.” Encourage class members to share phrases from the hymns and the scriptures that help them appreciate the Savior’s sacrifice more deeply.

Enos 1:1–19; Mosiah 5:1–2; 27:8–28:4; Alma 24:7–19

The Atonement of Jesus Christ cleanses us and helps perfect us.

• One effective way to learn about the Savior’s power to change our lives is to study examples of how He has changed others’ lives as they repented and came unto Him. The Book of Mormon has many such examples. Perhaps you could assign each class member to read about one of these examples, such as Enos (see Enos 1:1–19), King Benjamin’s people (see Mosiah 5:1–2), Alma the Younger (see Mosiah 27:8–28:4), or the Anti-Nephi-Lehies (see Alma 24:7–19), or they could think of other examples from the scriptures. Then a few class members could summarize the experiences they read about. Perhaps your class would enjoy doing this by giving clues to help the rest of the class guess who they are describing. They could also discuss questions like these: How did the people in these examples change? What was the Savior’s role in their change? Perhaps a few class members could talk about how the Savior has worked “a mighty change … in [their] hearts” (Mosiah 5:2). To learn more about how the Savior changes us—and why that change is so important—you could share with the class the analogy given by President Dallin H. Oaks in “Additional Resources.”

Encourage Learning at Home

To inspire class members to read Mosiah 1–3, you might invite them to ponder a time when they felt a desire to rejoice after reading or hearing a gospel message. Invite them to look for truths they can rejoice in as they read Mosiah 1–3.

Additional Resources

Hymns about the Savior’s Atonement.

• “I Believe in Christ,” Hymns, no. 134

• “I Know That My Redeemer Lives,” Hymns, no. 136

• “Thy Will, O Lord, Be Done,” Hymns, no. 188

• “That Easter Morn,” Hymns, no. 198

Videos of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square singing some of these hymns can be found on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Analogy: We must be more than clean.

President Dallin H. Oaks shared an analogy to explain how the Savior prepares us to return to God’s presence:

“We tend to think of the results of repentance as simply cleansing us from sin, but that is an incomplete view. … A person who sins is like a tree that bends easily in the wind. On a windy and rainy day, the tree bends so deeply against the ground that the leaves become soiled with mud, like sin. If we focus only on cleaning the leaves, the weakness in the tree that allowed it to bend and soil its leaves may remain. Similarly, a person who is merely sorry to be soiled by sin will sin again in the next high wind. The susceptibility to repetition continues until the tree has been strengthened.

“When a person has gone through the process that results in what the scriptures call ‘a broken heart and a contrite spirit,’ the Savior does more than cleanse that person from sin. He gives him or her new strength. That strengthening is essential for us to realize the purpose of the cleansing, which is to return to our Heavenly Father. To be admitted to His presence, we must be more than clean. We must also be changed from a morally weak person who has sinned into a strong person with the spiritual stature to dwell in the presence of God” (“The Atonement and Faith,” Ensign, Apr. 2010, 33–34).

Improving Our Teaching

Live worthy of the Spirit’s guidance. When you live the gospel, you are worthy of the companionship of the Spirit, who is the real teacher. As you seek His guidance, the Holy Ghost will give you thoughts and impressions about how to meet the needs of those you teach. (See Teaching in the Savior’s Way, 5.)