Every Easter, a New Understanding

In past posts I have shared with you how my family celebrated Easter. Of course, when I was very young it was all about egg hunts, Canterbury chocolate eggs and spending time at my grandparents homes eating traditional treats like Swedish pancakes, homemade cinnamon rolls. potato pancakes and hot cross buns. But that wasn’t all. My family spent a good deal of time going to church services culminating in a sunrise service on Easter morning. Our observation of Easter, much like Christmas, became routine, following the same traditions year after year. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact there is a lot of good about it. As each year passed, I grew out of the childish excitements of secular Easter and came to understand a little more about what Easter is really about.

Easter week began with the observation of “Maundy Thursday.” The word Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means command. It is referring to the instructions Jesus gave the disciples at the Last Supper. He set the example of humility for them through washing their feet. He also established the sharing of his body and blood through communion as a way to remind us of him and the hope found in him. Interestingly, not many protestant churches observe Maundy Thursday anymore. A friend of ours who is Catholic asked me about it a couple of days ago which brought me back to the time when the observation was as much a part of our Holy Week as Easter morning. For Catholics it is an important part of Holy Week.

I am guessing you were like me and didn’t really grasp the gravity of what was being observed during Holy Week until later in life. As I said, each year brought a little more understanding. Early on I couldn’t figure out why that specific Thursday was called “Monday” and Thursday. And then there was the contradiction of calling the next day “Good Friday.” How could it be good when this guy named Jesus was killed by a bunch of Romans? It was a lot more fun to worry about finding hidden eggs. But like so many other things in life, as we get older and begin to mature in our thinking, we start to question the reality of the Gospel message and everything that surrounds the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Sure, the secular parts of Easter are still fun, especially when you have your own children or grandchildren but much like Christmas, as we mature, the real reason for observing the holiday begins to gain focus. We must each then go through a process of making the decision to reject or accept the claim and promise of the resurrection of Christ. That decision is very personal in basis and cannot be dictated by anyone else.

Now as a grandfather I have the joy of watching as my granddaughters begin their own journey to understanding the promise and reality of the cross. They are fortunate that they have wonderful loving parents who can help guide them to the right conclusion. Even still, at some point they may decide the resurrection sounds ridiculous, unless they conclude it is true.

If you have not been able to get your arms around the staggering claim of the Easter message, consider this. Simon Greenleaf was a founder of Harvard Law School. He published his “Treatise on the Law of Evidence” in 1842. Greenleaf set out to dispute the resurrection of Christ and dispel the myths of Christianity. However, in the process Mr. Greenleaf became arrested by faith instead. In his summary Mr. Greenleaf said, “Either the men of Galilee (the disciples) were men of superlative wisdom and extensive knowledge and experience, and of deeper skill in the arts of deception than any and all others, before or after them, or they have truly stated the astonishing things which they saw and hear. Greenleafs bottom line: The Bible witnesses are reliable and the resurrection is a reality.

My prayer for you is that you have come to an understanding that the resurrection did happen. Jesus did come to reconnect you to God the Father through taking your sins up on that cross with him. As Pastor Charles R. Moore Jr of Green Hills Community Church in Nashville, Tennessee observes, “The resurrection is central to how we view the world – and in fact central to who we are.” No matter where you stand, it takes work to deny the overwhelming evidence the resurrection did happen and in one way or another has shaped each of our lives.

Happy Easter!