23 Apr What Does Easter Have To Do With Anything?
What does Easter have to do with anything?
As I write this, Easter was yesterday… the most sacred of all Christian holidays, celebrating the resurrection of Christ. But when you look at how Easter is celebrated, not only in the US, but also around the world, an outside observer might rightfully wonder, “What does Easter have to do with anything?”
In Verges, Spain, they dress in skeleton costumes and parade through the streets from midnight until early morning.
In Corfu, Greece, people throw pots and other earthenware out of their windows, smashing them on the streets.
In Norway, they read crime novels at Easter. They’re called “Easter thrillers.”
In Finland, children dress up like witches and go begging for chocolate eggs in the streets with made-up faces and scarves around their heads, carrying bunches of willow twigs decorated with feathers.
In Poland, there is an Easter tradition called Smigus-Dyngus, where boys try to drench other people with buckets of water.
In the United States, there is an Easter Parade in New York City, an informal and unorganized cultural event consisting of festive strolling down 5thAvenue in elaborate clothing and Easter hats.
If space travelers were to step off a spaceship from Mars and witness these various Easter traditions, they would surely wonder, “What in the world does Easter have to do with anything?”
The enemy creates diversions from the truth
Of course, the god of this world, the enemy of our souls, the one locked in mortal conflict with the Creator God… the devil, Satan… is a master at diversion.
He diverted a celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas into a celebration of Santa Clause and decorations and presents. And he has diverted a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus at Easter into a celebration of the Easter bunny and chocolates and parades down 5thAvenue… none of which have anything to do with the true meaning of Easter.
The enemy is happy to have us celebrate something, as long as that “something” is not the truth.
However, many people choke on the bone of the resurrection. They feel it is simply too preposterous to suggest that someone could be dead for three days and come back to life again.
How can the resurrection possibly be true?
Admittedly, it is unusual. In fact, it’s a miracle. But that’s the whole point. The purpose of the miracle was to validate the truth of what Jesus taught.
A symbolic gesture is not enough, a poetical picture is not sufficient, to validate Jesus’ teachings. A miracle on the level of someone coming back from the dead after three days is required to validate the astonishing things Jesus taught.
And why not? My question is, “what good is a God who cannot do a miracle? The whole point of divinity is supernaturalism.
There are people who say they believe in God who do not believe the resurrection. My question is, “why?” If I am going to believe in a God, he had better be able to do a miracle. Otherwise, he’s just one of us.
The resurrection is possible because God is God. And God can do miracles.
So, what does Easter have to do with anything?
The fact is, Easter has everything to do with everything!
It is the resurrection of Jesus that made possible the
- forgiveness of our sin,
- the restoration of our relationship with God, and
- the gift of eternal life in heaven.
No wonder we celebrate.
In Mark 8:36, Jesus asked the rhetorical question, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”
Answer? Nothing. No profit. Instead, incalculable loss. This life is a blip in time. Heaven is forever.
It is the resurrection that validated all of Jesus’s claims, including that He is “the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). The resurrection gives us heaven, forgiveness of sin, new spiritual birth and eternal fellowship with God.
No wonder Christians celebrate the true meaning of Easter.
Conclusion
C.S. Lewis once wrote:
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
And because Christianity rests on the balance point of the resurrection, the same is true of it. If the resurrection is false, it is of no importance. There’s nothing to celebrate. If it’s true it is of infinite importance. There’s everything to celebrate. The one thing the resurrection cannot be is moderately important.
As Timothy Keller said about the resurrection:
On the Day of the Lord—the day that God makes everything right, the day that everything sad becomes untrue—on that day the same thing will happen to your own hurts and sadness. You will find that the worst things that have ever happened to you will in the end only enhance your eternal delight. On that day, all of it will be turned inside out and you will know joy beyond the walls of the world. The joy of your glory will be that much greater for every scar you bear. So, live in the light of the resurrection and renewal of this world, and of yourself, in a glorious, never-ending, joyful dance of grace.
So, with everything to gain and nothing to lose, Christians who understand Scripture celebrate the true meaning of Easter: the resurrection of Jesus as the basis for our salvation. Good news, indeed!
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