Today is Easter Sunday; a day set aside by Christian faithfuls around the world to remember the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God and Saviour of the World.
According to the Bible, Jesus suffered, was crucified on the cross, buried and rose from death on the third day. This historic event is proof of His Holy Divinity. Christians all over the world are in festive and celebration mood to mark this historic event.
It begins with Good Friday- two days back and culminates in Easter Monday, tomorrow – to span the three days that make the feast.
The belief that Jesus Christ was crucified and came back to life is the premise of the Christian Faith. In Christian theology, Easter is considered more important than any other holy day.
The New Testament teaches that Jesus sacrificed his own life to absolve humanity of its sins – thereby destroying the shackles death holds over life.
This gives devout Christians the assurance that they too can escape the mortal bounds of life and live forever in the afterlife with God.
Easter signifies Jesus Christ’s victory over death. It equally marks the victory of good over evil. His resurrection symbolizes the eternal life that is granted to all who believe in Him. Easter also symbolizes the complete verification of all that Jesus preached and taught during His three-year ministry on earth.
If he had not risen from death, if he had merely died and not been resurrected, he would have been considered just another teacher or Rabbi. However, his resurrection changed all that and gave final and irrefutable proof that He was really the Son of God and that He had conquered death once and for all.
By willingly going to the cross and then rising from death, Jesus of Nazareth, somehow tweaked the constants of the spiritual universe, so that sin and death are, by this action, in a fundamental way, destroyed.
If the crucifixion of Jesus was about everything that is bad about the world, Easter is about how we can be free from everything bad. For Christians, Easter commemorates the fact that, supernaturally, the resurrection of Jesus Christ changed something fundamental about the world and about humanity.
The resurrection of Jesus is a magnificent event that shows the realization of our Christian Faith. In 1 Corinthians 15:17, Saint Paul wrote “Unless Christ rose from death, our faith is in vain”. By sacrificing himself, Jesus Christ saved humanity from the shackles of sin.
His eventual resurrection is the premise of a new life. It shows us that our faith in him is alive and powerful. This event is also a powerful reminder to us all that trusting in God will pull us up even from the depths of despair.
Christ’s resurrection forms the basis of the Christian faith as it demonstrates Jesus to be the Son of God, and symbolizes his conquest of death. These events fulfil the prophecy that ‘The Son of Man must be handed over to sinful men, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.’ (Luke 24.7).
Easter and Passover have a special relationship for many reasons. Passover is the time that Jews remembered their freedom and exodus from Egypt. The celebration of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection from dead is crucial for believers in Jesus Christ. Without this doctrine, there is no Christianity and no Christian Easter.
Jesus became the “lamb without blemish” as he sacrificed his life for the sins of all who believe in him – to bring them into the right relationship with the Father. Just as the Israelites celebrate freedom from their slavery to the Egyptians as they celebrate Passover, Christians celebrate the victory over sin and death signified in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus said the new covenant between God and his people was “an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.” It was no coincidence that Jesus gave up his life for all at the time of Passover. It was the appointed time, chosen by the Father.
The first definite record of the celebration of Christian Easter is in connection with the visit of Polycarp (the Bishop of Smyrna) to Anicetus (the Bishop of Rome) in 154 or 155 AD in order to come to an agreement about the time of the observance of Easter.
Unlike Christmas and other Christian Feast Days which all fall on fixed dates in the calendar, Easter can fall anytime between March 22 and April 25. The date is decided by a complex set of calculations based on observations of the moon. Because the precise timing of observing the full moon can vary in each time zone, the Church instead calculates the date from ecclesiastical calendar.
Generally, this day is being hailed as the day when the resurrection of Jesus took place, three days after his burial. Hence this day is also referred to as Resurrection Sunday. Even though Easter has a different connotation as this day is also linked to the resurrection of Tammuz and Ishatar, today it is mostly celebrated as Jesus’ Resurrection Day by the Christians.
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According to the New Testament, the foundation of Christian faith begins or comes to light with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and this very day is celebrated on Easter. Resurrection is actually a proof of the belief that Jesus is the Son of God and that he will judge the world in virtue.
During the Last Supper, he prepared himself for his death and declared the same to his disciples. He held a glass of wine and identified the wine as his blood and a loaf of bread as his body which were soon to be sacrificed. This meal is termed as the “Last Supper” and the resurrection that followed his crucifixion marked the Easter Season.
As Christians around the world celebrate Easter today, they and indeed all mankind are reminded of the victory that the resurrection brings to them. To this end, humanity should not despair. They should rather reflect on the victory that the resurrection of Jesus secures for mankind.
Easter typified gift and sacrifice. As Jesus sacrifices himself willingly to secure a better life for mankind, leaders at all levels are urged to emulate him at all times.
We as Christians should follow this lifestyle in their daily activities and relationship with one another. Our political leaders should come out with policies and programmes born out of love and sacrifice to cater for the needs and aspirations of the people.
This way Easter will translate to sacrifice that can transform the world into a state of harmony and tranquillity where suffering, sorrow, agony, death and other forms of human miseries and woes are forever conquered.
Matthias Omu Eba Writes from the Department of Mass Communication Federal Polytechnic,Bauchi, Bauchi state
He can reached on mail via [email protected]
