If in our minds we imagine a circle only a few blocks in diameter around us, we will find a plethora of mortal challenges sufficient to wrench the heart of any compassionate observer. At this moment I can think of a dear brother a few doors to the south who is valiantly battling the debilitating effects of cancer, and another man a block to the west who not long ago found himself beset with the same fate. There is a sister in the block just to the east who refused to give up her spirit of hope and faith despite the ravaging effects of a chronic malady, and another elderly sister next door to her who recently had to rise triumphant over a severe and unexpected cardiac problem. A few doors to the north is a fine neighbor battling the early effects of Alzheimer’s Disease. Not a half-block beyond that is an institution where dozens of young people with severe disabilities have to eke out their daily lives under the constant care of watchful service attendants. Many of my neighbors in recent years—not all of them old by any means—have had to suffer through joint-replacement surgery in hopes of better mobility. All around us nearby are the signs and signatures of mortality.
Is it any wonder that the doctrine of the Resurrection captures the imagination of mortals and infuses the soul with the hope of a better life free from the pains and sorrows of this one? One of my own sons entered this world through the gateway of complex physical and mental challenges. From time to time (without really knowing whether he can fully understand my words) I will speak to him about the next life with Heavenly Father where things will be better, where he will be able to talk with ease, and where there will be no more pains and no problems to bother him. For him and for us all the doctrine of the Resurrection is a gift of God that lifts our spirits to the dawning of a better, loftier, and more glorious plane of existence.
In this context I often think about the language the Prophet Joseph Smith used in describing the relationships that would emerge as friends and relatives experienced the marvel of the Resurrection. On Sunday, April 16, 1843, during the Easter season of the year, the Prophet spoke at the Temple in Nauvoo for about two hours concerning the death of Lorenzo D. Barnes, the first missionary to die while serving on foreign soil. Brother Barnes, as a Seventy, had accompanied the Twelve on their mission to Europe. He had passed away from the effects of a fever. Willard Richards and Wilford Woodruff captured some of the Prophet’s important observations during his eulogy:
Those who have died in Jesus Christ may expect to enter into all that fruition of joy when they come forth, which they possessed or anticipated here.
So plain was the vision, that I actually saw men, before they had ascended from the tomb, as though they were getting up slowly. They took each other by the hand and said to each other, “My father, my son, my mother, my daughter, my brother, my sister.” And when the voice calls for the dead to arise, suppose I am laid by the side of my father, what would be the first joy of my heart? To meet my father, my mother, my brother, my sister, and when they are by my side, I embrace them and they me… . All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful. By the vision of the Almighty I have seen it… . The expectation of seeing my friends in the morning of the resurrection cheers my soul and makes me bear up against the evils of life. It is like their taking a long journey, and on their return we meet them with increased joy. (HC 5:361–362)
As Alma made clear to his son Corianton, the Resurrection will bring about a state where “all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame … And then shall the righteous shine forth in the kingdom of God” (Alma 40:23, 25). Truly we can look forward with hope to a more glorious life and to an eternal reunion with loved ones through the grace and mercy of the Lord: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3–4). (Richard J. Allen)