The manual’s Easter lesson walks day by day through the Savior’s last week, while noting that we don’t know the exact day of every event. Sunday: crowds wave palm branches and shout “Hosanna” as He rides into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–11). Monday: He clears the moneychangers out of the temple, calling it a house of prayer (21:12–16). Tuesday: He teaches parables like the king’s wedding feast (22:1–14). Wednesday: He teaches that serving “the least of these” is serving Him (25:31–46). Thursday: the Last Supper, where He introduces the sacrament, and His suffering in Gethsemane (Matthew 26). Friday: the Crucifixion, where a Roman centurion says, “Truly this was the Son of God” (27:54). Saturday: while His body lies in the tomb, He ministers to the spirits of the dead (1 Peter 3:18–20; Doctrine and Covenants 138). Sunday: He is risen (Matthew 28).
Today’s drama is Easter morning from John 20:1–18, with the earthquake and angel from Matthew 28:2–4. Mary Magdalene finds the stone rolled away and runs to Peter and John. The two race to the tomb; John, who wrote the account, can’t resist mentioning that he outran Peter (John 20:4). They find the linen grave clothes lying there and the head cloth folded by itself. Mary stays behind, weeping. Two angels ask why she’s crying; then a man she takes for the gardener asks the same question. He says one word, her name, and she knows Him. She becomes the first to tell the Apostles that she has seen the Lord (John 20:18).
The manual invites us to study the witnesses of the Resurrection and ask what each one adds: Mary; the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, whose hearts burned as He opened the scriptures (Luke 24:13–35); Thomas, who wanted proof and heard, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29); Paul’s list of witnesses, including more than five hundred at once (1 Corinthians 15:3–8); the multitude in the Americas who came forward one by one to feel the prints of the nails (3 Nephi 11:14–15); and today’s Apostles in “The Living Christ.” For youth, the point is that they can become witnesses too, by the Holy Ghost.
For 11- to 14-year-olds, be honest about the Crucifixion without being graphic; they can handle the truth that He suffered and died because He loves them. Connect Thursday to Sunday for your deacons: the bread and water they pass every week began at that Last Supper. Two truths to leave with them: because He suffered for us, we can repent and be clean; because He rose, everyone will be resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:22). Some youth have lost grandparents, parents or friends. Paul’s question in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O grave, where is thy victory?”, is the manual’s title and the best news you can give them.