Easter

Cadbury crème eggs, PAAS Easter egg coloring kits, baskets, fake grass, a new Sunday suit or dress, Easter egg hunts, and of course those yellow marshmallow Peeps. Easter has taken on a life of its own. I specifically remember one Easter Sunday I awoke to a horrendous thunderstorm that would cancel any Easter egg hunt. However, my plans had not been ruined. My mother woke up early to hide the eggs all around the house. The true meaning of Easter to that young boy was having enough Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Eggs.

The religious world is quick to remind us why there is such a thing as Easter in the first place. Easter is the day, according to most, we are supposed to be remembering Jesus’ death on the cross, and His resurrection which gives us hope of eternal life. I would never criticize someone for taking time to remember the sacrifice of our Lord, but we’ve already been told when to remember His death.

Luke 22:19 records the words of our Lord at the Last Supper when he, “…took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me” (emph. added) Luke gives us further information in his second writing, the book of Acts. He writes in Acts 20:7, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow.” The Bible student can quickly point out that we are to be remembering the Lord’s death every first day of the week.

Certainly it behooves us to remember Christ’s sacrifice anytime. This is not to say we can partake of the Lord’s Supper whenever we want. We have been commanded in the New Testament to partake on each Sunday. So what about celebrating Easter?

The word Easter does not appear in our Bible text. Those who read from the KJV might notice Acts12:4. The word here is Passover, not Easter. It was translated incorrectly because of the influence of the culture in the 17th century. Notice what Willie Hamblen writes about Easter in his article, “Do You Believe in Easter”: “Several hundred years after the death of Jesus and the Apostles, men decided to pick one special day of the year and to call it “Easter”. Since the Jews had the Passover and the pagan world was celebrating spring in worshipping the goddess Estarte at this time of year, it was decided that it would be a good thing for the church also to have something special to celebrate, thus the choice. There were then great debates as to which day should be selected.  Agreement was never accomplished and today the Greek branch of Catholicism celebrates one day and the Roman church celebrates another. Culture dictated the selection of the Roman choice of dates, as it does in many church circles today.”

There is nothing wrong with all of the family times, good eating, and games that go along with Easter. I encourage such wonderful times of fellowship and recreation as they build strong ties in the family, as well as the family of God. But let us remember that Easter is not a religious holiday that we have been commanded to keep. Christ commanded that we come together as Christians to remember His death every week! Let us take the good this holiday has to offer and choose to remember the death, burial and resurrection every Sunday, not just every Easter. But let us also separate in our minds what is the death of the Christ, and what is Easter.