To many people in America, Easter is a time to buy some new clothes and head to church for one of their two annual visits. Or it may be a time to buy baskets and candy for an egg hunt. Growing up, Easter was always a time of newness and niceties. The winter was ending and Spring was beginning, so the beauty of nature was just beginning. We would get new clothes and wear those new clothes to church on Easter Sunday morning. My Dad loved to go to Easter Sunrise services and I made the mistake of voluntarily joining him one year - Getting up while it was till dark outside and standing in the rain for an hour. Definitely not my fondest reminder of Easter. If we survived the sunrise service with my Dad or were able to sleep in, our family would get up, get dressed in our Easter best and head off to church. The church would be bright and colorful with everyone turning out in styling clothes and the church brightly decorated. We would sing hymns like "He Arose" and hear a wonderful message about the resurrection. Then it was off to a fine Easter meal and get out of those dress up clothes. It was a smorgasbord of colors and beauty. I have included a photo of me in my Easter suit. Before you laugh too hard, this was cutting edge and the height of cool. Anyone who was a teen in the 70's will have similar pics of themselves and at least my pants were up around my waist!!
As I have gotten older, the picture of Easter has changed a little for me. First of all, the name "Easter" actually comes from one of the titles of the Chaledean goddess, Astarte. So the name Easter actually refers to a pagan festival which the church tried to adapt to its own celebrations of Jesus' resurrection. The name Easter has now been taken over by our secular country and they have now adapted pagan culture to Resurrection Sunday. Easter in America is synonymous with a bunny, eggs, candy, sales, baskets and brunch. I much prefer to call what happens on April 8th of this year "Resurrection Sunday" and let the pagan world have Easter all to themselves to do with as they please.
Another aspect of this "holy-day" which has changed for me is the vivid colors and scenes of this day. We often forget the gruesome and cruel way in which Jesus was put to death. His was definitely not a "G" version of death, but a bloody and painful scene played out before hundreds of thousand who were in Jerusalem. Jesus was treated by Rome as a traitor or a revolutionary who sought to overthrow the rule of Rome in the Palestinian area. So He was treated by contempt, abuse and violence. If you have seen "The Passion of the Christ", you begin to have an understanding of how awful the death of Jesus was. Rome reserved this type of capital punishment for the most despicable of rebels to teach everyone a lesson - Never mess with Rome. Jesus was beaten within an inch of his life with a whip which was designed to rip the flesh and tear the tendons and muscles. He was beaten with a stick. He had a purple robe placed on Him, mocked as a king, then had the robe ripped off Him. He had a crown of inch long thorns jammed into his head. He was then forced to carry the cross beam of his instrument of death to the place of his execution. He was then laid on the ground while two huge spikes were nailed into His wrists and another large spike driven into His feet. Then the cross on which He was nailed was raised and then dropped several feet into the ground. He would suffer on that cross as He was mocked and abused, all while suffering for our sins. Then in one moment, all the sin of humanity was placed upon Him as He became the sacrificial lamb for humanity's sins. Others have been executed on the cross, but none have suffered like Jesus. He was then placed in a well-guarded grave and His rebellion came to a sudden and jarring halt. The color of Friday was red because His bleeding. It was also black and blue from the bruising and beatings He had taken. Not the prettiest sight.
So why do we dress so nice on Resurrection Sunday? Because we know that Jesus conquered the grave as He rose on the third day. His rebellion was never against Rome, but was against sin. His rebellion wasn't against the Jewish leaders but against religion which tried to earn a way to Heaven. He did what no other person could ever do - He defeated sin, death, Satan and Hell all on that first Resurrection Sunday. Amidst the doubts of His followers, He rose. Against the backdrop of a painful and excruciating execution, He walked out of the grave alive. We dress in bright and new clothes as a reminder that those of us who have received Jesus as our Savior have received that gift of victory. Death will no longer keep us from eternal life. Sin has been defeated and though we still sin, the penalty has been paid in full. We live a new life in Christ, because our old lives have been buried. We were baptized into a new life that we might walk in a way that please God. Resurrection Sunday is a time of celebration when the Church rejoices at what God has done. It is the ultimate day of victory. It is the day we declare we have won and Satan has lost.
So our culture can have Easter with the frills, ribbons, food, baskets, bunnies and eggs. I'll cling to my new-old school Resurrection Sunday because though it is not very pretty, it is a thing of beauty. The most cherished gift of all was given to humanity two thousand years ago. If you haven't received Jesus as your Savior, today is the day to let that happen. If you have made that step of faith, celebrate Sunday as if it were Resurrection Sunday...because it is!!
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