I think every Christian should know by now that Easter is the pagan description and celebration of the Biblical event of Jesus Christ’s resurrection which is described in the New Testament book of Matthew 27:50-53, Matthew 28:1-10, John 11:25-26, Romans 1:4-5, and Philippians 3:10-12. Every year – on Summers back home in the Philippines and middle Spring here in Ireland we look forward to this day or week as it we usually have a long weekend break. But do we really know what’s the true meaning of Jesus’s resurrection to our lives? We know of its pagan origins and during our younger years we celebrated it with bounty of food much like Christmas without the gifts and decorations. Our parents even calls it “Pasko ng Pagkabuhay”. Its like celebrating a “Christmas” in April but instead of shopping malls filling up with lanterns, santa claus and frosty the snowman, we see bunny rabbit statues and easter eggs. Children are especially excited to join easter egg hunts and going to fairs and attending family picnics. My godmother even sponsored an easter egg painting and hunt in our compound (when i was maybe 8 years old) and I found the most eggs and won a toy! Its indeed a family event that we all look forward too.
As an adult Christian, I know there is more to it than just all those things. I recall that during the Holy Week commemorations back home in the Philippines which concludes on the Easter Sunday, we hold a big family reunion. We have our sisters and their families and extended families come visit our house in Quezon City and we enjoy each others company. We have a program that we go do for the whole day! But we never really trully appreciated the fact that it is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is what makes Easter what it is. Jesus triumphed over sin and satan! We know that Jesus resurrected after He died from the Cross to save all of mankind from sin and to be with His Father in heaven for all eternity. He is now spiritually present with us while we are here on earth and not just in physical body during his ministry in earth.
As Christians should we celebrate Easter? From the Bible’s point of view, what is the meaning of Easter? Should we celebrate it? From the biblical perspective “Easter” has no meaning. In other words, the particular celebration on a set day of the year of the resurrection of Jesus is not mentioned or even hinted at in the Bible. Having said that, there is evidence very early in church history for the church celebrating what we now call Easter.
The celebration is not “biblical” in the strict sense, but like when we celebrate Christmas It is hard to think of anything wrong with celebrating and remembering the resurrection of Jesus, as long as the remembrance can retain its spiritual meaning and not simply become a meaningless ritual. Of course, in the world, there is a lot of pagan methods and practices to the celebration of Easter – The hiding and finding of eggs, the wearing of pretty dresses, talk about the Easter bunny and so forth are all tied to ideas about fertility which clearly derive from pagan sources.
Obviously, we do not attach religious significance to such things. Perhaps we will choose to completely reject involving Easter egg hunts as part of our celebrations of the resurrection of Jesus, and I think that is right. It seems that these things tend to take away from any real spiritual significance of Easter. Over and above the celebrations, Easter can be a powerful reminder to us of one of the most significant events in the history of humanity–the resurrection of our Lord and Savior from the dead, which is the first fruits of the harvest of souls for eternity.
Now, as matured Christian do we celebrate Easter? Actually we do celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ everyday of our lives as we continue to obey his commandments and help propagate His Word with everyone we meet. We should celebrate Easter in our hearts and spirit everyday!
Please share with us your way of commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ that is Easter.
Happy Easter to all!
