Easter

Well, the Easter celebrations, which are important to lots of people, for many reasons, have come and gone. What did Easter mean to you? 

There is no denying that the public holidays are a great time to gather family and friends together, with the majority of people having some sort of break from work. There’s even the fun of having Easter eggs hunts with the kids, eating lots of chocolate and hot cross buns. In my childhood these buns were only available on Good Friday, with the bakers up all night to produce thousands of the lovely spiced morsels. Now, in Australia, they are available in supermarkets as soon as January hits, and to me, they have lost some of their special appeal. But what have rabbits, eggs and buns got to do with Jesus’ death and resurrection – the short answer is nothing.

Then there are those who regard Easter as a religious holiday celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus and attending special church services. Some questions occur to me. If it is celebrating the day of his death and the day of his resurrection, why then does the dates for Easter change every year? Is Easter ever celebrated in the Bible? The short answer to both questions is no, but we ARE told to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 records (my underlining for emphasis) - ‘The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’ (NIV)

After Jesus’ death, the apostles began the custom of ‘Breaking of Bread’ on the first day of the week in remembrance of the sacrifice Jesus had made. All the converts to Christianity adopted this custom, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God ...” (Acts 2:46-47 NIV)

All this, and so much more, we can get from simply reading God’s Bible anytime and anywhere.