HAPPY EASTER!

EASTER: FACTS, SIGNIFICANCE AND LESSONS

Well, well, well! Easter has come and gone, isn’t it? It isn’t! (This post is quite belated since there was no post last week because it was a holiday; so we continue.) Last week, Christians (and non-Christians even) all over the globe joined in the Easter celebration to celebrate the risen Christ, whose death and resurrection about 2000 years ago has brought inexplicable joy and meaning to the human race.

Wikipedia reveals that Easter is a Christian festival and holiday and is the culmination of the Passion of Christ (which as we know was the sufferings and pains the Christ himself went through) preceded by Lent, a 40-day period of fasting, prayer and penance, and which begins on Ash Wednesday. The last week of Lent is called Holy Week (as specifically recorded from Mark 11-15), beginning with Palm Sunday, including the Maundy Thursday (Last Supper) and Good Friday. The First Council of Nicaea (325AD) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (Paschal full moon), which follows the March equinox; as such, Easter is a moveable feast. Using the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April, inclusively. Next Easter holds on 20^th April of the Gregorian calendar. Christians of Jewish origin were the first to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, which they likely did so as a new facet of the Passover festival since the resurrection date was close to the timing of Passover.

I remember when I was younger, as an enthusiastic Anglican, when we used to go to church in the evenings of the Holy Week and Bible passages containing Jesus’ activities on those days were read. On Palm Sunday, we waved our palm fronds with eclectic expressions, and happiness. On Maundy Thursday, Holy Communion was eaten, and on Good Friday, a 3-hour service beginning at 9 A.M was held to mark Jesus’ 3 hours stay on the cross. As usual on Easter Sunday, enough rice and chicken was eaten, friends and family in the village visited and then “normal” activities resume after that –without really understanding the reasons why a man was crucified many years ago.

John Piper, in his book, The Passion of Jesus Christ gives 50 reasons why Jesus Christ came to die. (This article is written for all: Christian believers, disciples and non- alike, with the aim of calling back to our notice certain things) A few of them are relayed here. He suffered and died: (1) To absorb the wrath of God (Rom.1:18) –God is actually angry when men sin and is ever ready to punish sin, rather the reason for the season accepted to do what He did in order to save us sinners (Rom.3:23) from destruction (Rom.6:23). (2) To show the wealth of God’s love and grace for sinners (Jn.3:16, Rom.5:8). (3) To cancel the legal demands of the law against us (Rom.8:2, Col.2:13). (4) To abolish circumcision and all rituals as the basis of salvation (Gal.6:12). (5) To obtain for us all things that are good for us (Rom.8:32). (6) To free us from the futility of our ancestry (1 Pet.1:18-19). (7) To enable us to live for Him and not ourselves (2 Cor.5:15). (8) To create a people passionate for good works (Tit.2:14).

The message of Easter is the message of the Cross –shame, pain, suffering, sober reflection, sacrifice and love. But what do we see these days? Some of us Christians now reject the old rugged cross and rather, desire a brand new light one! (I wonder whether Christianity was originally meant for frivolity) Note that true Christianity is radically different from Western culture (language is an element of culture) and sadly, may not be found in many churches today (John Piper, 2004). Some preacher once said that the greatest moment of (church) service is when the congregation leaves the (church) door to become the church outside. But what then do we do? We go to church on Sundays and attend fellowships every other day, yet still remain our very “normal” selves. Time has come when we no longer become beings tele-guided/programmed by religious activities and festivities (I never said they are not relevant). It is time to reflect on the personality we are celebrating –Jesus Christ.

Imagine leaving your throne/riches in heaven to live as a poor, wretched fellow –that’s sacrifice! Imagine being mocked by the people you care about and spat upon by a dirty, smelly Pharisee –that’s shame! Imagine being betrayed by your best friend, being whipped 39 strokes of horse whip, being clipped by long nails on your hands and feet for 3 hours on a cross, wearing a crown of thorns, and being disowned by your own father –that’s pain! Imagine carrying your own (heavy) death bed, dragged over 650 metres of rugged, sloping land on an empty stomach by military men, and being given vinegar for water –that’s suffering! And finally, imagine accepting to die for someone else who is not related to you by blood/affiliation –that’s love! (Reflect on www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/barbet.html) Yet, we go on refusing to partake of his sufferings, shame, love and pain. Remember what St. Paul wrote in Phil. 3:10-11: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.  

Well, nevertheless, one man has died that others might live, and this is the joy of Easter –revival, restoration, resuscitation and renewal. Imagine the kind of power that resurrected Jesus Christ on 30 A.D and claim it to revive, restore, resuscitate and renew your lost, dead, faint, weak, forgotten potentials and possessions; I don’t know what you are still waiting for, unbeliever/backslider/confused to surrender your will and soul to Him. May God’s grace, peace and love be upon us all. God bless!

Skola: +2348138404469, skola.chidi@gmail.com.

(Next week, we shall be looking at “Globalization and Us”. Watch out! <www.skola93.blogspot.com>)