Should This Matter?

Growing up, I enjoyed the Easter holiday filled with egg hunts, large meals, the Easter bunny, Easter baskets, pretty dresses, early morning church, and beautiful spring weather. Even still today, the memory of those times brings a smile to my face. But, like the traditions of Christmas, the traditions of Easter overshadowed the true purpose.

I was fortunate to grow up in a family that, while celebrating these fun elements of Easter, still focused on the true purpose of Easter celebrations: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even with that solid Christian background, as a child, I was more intrigued and drawn in by the candy and fun that was promised Easter Sunday than by any religious significance. The materialism and spring traditions took over the reason for the season.

Now, as an adult, I have decided to eliminate the distractions of Easter in order to focus on the true event of that day which is Christ’s resurrection. Our Christian faith hinges on this event! It is certainly a day worth celebrating, but why do we replace it with things that take our attention away from Christ? And, not only do we distract ourselves, but we actually use symbolism that honors things opposite of God – things God HATES and things He spent significant time in His Word denouncing!

Many have tried to merge the Easter fertility symbols with Christianity coming up with stories about the egg signifying some Christian truth, for example. But, that doesn’t change the symbolism in God’s eyes. The fact is, whether we as Christians want to admit it or not, we adopted worldly traditions, and we don’t want to let them go.

It is tough to let go of what you were taught to believe was synonymous with the resurrection of Christ. Over time, these traditions became part of just ‘what you do’ on Easter. These traditions become synonymous with joy, and we don’t want to take that away. However, I contend that it is time we take the day of Christ’s resurrection, what I call Resurrection Sunday, back! We don’t need those worldly traditions. All we need is CHRIST! But, first we need to release what we think makes us happy and what feels comfortable. We have to reject how the world tells us to celebrate. I fully admit that this is hard to do.

There are several reasons why I believe we need to trim the fat off of our Easter celebrations to get back to what really matters. However, the first of business is to determine what really matters and why.

The Timing of Christ’s Resurrection and the Passover

Just as important as removing the impurities from the day of celebrating Christ’s resurrection is the importance of understanding the true purpose and significance of the day for a Christian. If we are going to celebrate this event on that day, we should understand what the event is all about!

Traditionally, the Easter weekend takes place at the time of the Jewish Passover week. Why does this matter to Christians? The resurrection of Jesus Christ is unmistakably tied to the Jewish Passover feast. The timing is clearly purposeful providing beautiful symbolism of what Christ’s resurrection really is.

What is the Jewish Passover?

Many of us have heard of the 10 plagues of Egypt. The plagues culminated in the final and most devastating plague: the killing of the firstborn. It is the events surrounding this plague that forms the basis of the Passover tradition. Egypt held the Hebrew people as slaves for over 400 years! When God commanded Pharaoh to let His people go, Pharaoh refused. This refusal resulted in the 10 plagues, and it wasn’t until the final plague that Pharaoh finally relented and let Israel go.

Four days before the final plague (on the 10th day of the month), each Jewish family were commanded to separate an unblemished male lamb of the first year. On the 14th day, Israel would gather to kill their lambs, take the blood, and smear it across two side posts and the upper post of the door to their homes. That night, they were to eat the flesh of the lamb as a feast. This is the day of Passover. The lamb had specific requirements: it was to be roasted with fire and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Any uneaten remnants were to be burned in the morning. They were to eat this meal quickly with their cloaks and shoes on and the staff in their hand. That night, God passed through Egypt and killed the firstborn of each household that did not have the blood of the lamb brushed on their door posts.

As you can imagine, Egypt and Pharaoh were devastated by this final plague. Pharaoh and the people of Egypt told the Hebrews to leave and to do so quickly. The Hebrews left so quickly that they had to take their dough unleavened. The Egyptians even gave their gold and silver to them and anything that the people needed. So, 430 years to the day after entering Egypt, the Hebrews traveled out of Egypt all the while baking unleavened bread because they left so quickly that they were unable to leaven their bread.

At the time that God gave the Passover directions to the people, God also commanded that the Passover feast and preparations were to be memorialized every year on the same days and in the same way. The people were commanded to separate out their lambs on the 10th, slay and eat them on the 14th, and eat no leavened bread for 7 days. God is very clear as to WHY the Jews were to obverse the Passover, in fact, He says it many times: to remember what God did for His people in Egypt.

“And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses.”

Exodus 12:24-27

“And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lords’s law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.”

Exodus 13:8-10

*See also Exodus 13:14-16

How is the Passover related to Christianity?

The symbolism of the Passover is not just for ancient Jews but is very important to the Christian faith. We see this when we analyze the actual timing of Christ’s death and resurrection with respect to the Passover celebration happening at the time. In fact, Jesus’ death and resurrection actually lines up so that He is the Passover sacrifice!

Remember that the Passover is a meal that is eaten at the beginning of the 7 day Feast of Unleavened Bread. As you can see in the chart below, the Bible tells us that Christ is killed on the day of Passover. Between the hours of 12:00 pm and 3:00pm there is darkness and the veil is torn. This correlated with the time that the priests would be slaughtering the Passover lambs. The next day, day 15, was a High Sabbath. A High Sabbath was separate from the weekly Sabbath in that it was one of the seven annual Sabbaths (major feasts commanded in the Bible) in this case the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Because the next day was a High Sabbath, the Jews could not allow a dead body to sit on the cross for that day. In fact, if Christ had not died on his own, the Romans were to break His legs to ensure His death so that His body could be removed. Interestingly, the Romans did not need to break His legs because he had already died (this actually fulfills prophecy). Later at even time, Joseph of Arimathea requests the body of Christ so that he can bury Him. So, Jesus’ body is removed and buried before High Sabbath. On the day of the High Sabbath, the priests and Pharisees convince Pilate, the Roman chief, to secure the tomb, and he complies. The next day (day 16) is a preparation day for the weekly Sabbath. It was at this time that the women prepared the spices for the tomb of Jesus. The women had to wait an additional day to visit the tomb because the weekly Sabbath was the next day and no work was allowed. Matthew 28:1 tells us that at the end of the Sabbath day (day 17), there was an earthquake and an angel rolls the stone away. And, on day 18, at daybreak, the women arrive at the tomb to find it empty!

Here we can see that indeed, as promised, Christ remained in the tomb 3 days. He was sacrificed on the Passover as the perfect lamb, and He rose again on the weekly Sabbath as the perfect rest! He was the unblemished lamb chosen by God when He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and get this: He removed the leaven when He cleared the temple of the money changers! Obviously, this much correlation cannot be coincidence. And the disciples clearly couldn’t have come up with this level of spiritual significance in such a short time as the death of Christ happened rapidly since the Jews were anxious to get him killed before the Feast.

We now know that not only were the Jews to remember what God did for them in general, but eventually, to recognize the perfect sacrifice that was to come. You see, the Passover was a symbol of the better sacrifice and the better freedom still to come. Sadly, many of the Jews not only missed it, they participated in killing the perfect sacrifice!

The Bible is clear that it is indeed Jesus Christ who is the perfect Passover lamb! Now, we too, memorialize the pass over of Egypt but with NEW significance – through the resurrection of Jesus. Our sacrifice is Christ and it is His blood that redeems us from the fate we deserved. We are released from our bondage of sin (like the Jews were released from the bondage of Egypt) free to follow God as we travel through the world (the wilderness) to our final destination: heaven (promised land). See the correlation?

So, the remembrance of the Passover is very important to the Christian faith. God’s command in Exodus to annually remember the Passover still applies to us! We are the true Israel and our Passover celebration involves remembering the perfect sacrifice. We no longer need to sacrifice a lamb because the sacrifice of Christ is forever.

I go through all of these details to emphasize that the celebration of Passover is still relevant to us as Christians. We do not need to participate in the feasts and sacrifice, because our Sacrifice has been made and it is was perfect. No other sacrifice is needed. We have no need to remove the leaven from our homes because Christ’s work removed sin from our lives! This is the true purpose of ‘Easter’ for a Christian. Notice that this has nothing to do with fertility or eggs.

The Non-Biblical History Of Easter

The word ‘Easter’ likely derives from ‘Eostre,’ the Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility. It may also come from the word ‘dawn’ as well. Ancient people celebrated days that correlated with season changes. Easter was a celebration of the coming of spring and it was represented by Eostre, a goddess. Symbols such as easter eggs and rabbits are representations of fertility and rebirth and were common symbols used by pagan traditions long before Christianity, especially in Germanic areas. It was around the 17th century when German immigrants brought the tradition to America of egg decorating, as well as the tradition of having a rabbit deliver eggs to good children.

The timing of the vernal equinox (March 20th) happens to almost coincide with the Jewish passover. Because of this happenstance, over centuries many Christians began to incorporate the simultaneous pagan traditions into their celebrations. Jewish Passover, however, actually falls on the 14th of Nisan (our March or April), and the tomb was believed to be found empty on the next Sunday (the day after the Jewish weekly Sabbath – Saturday). Early Christians struggled with the convergence of the two opposing celebrations, Eostre and Christ’s Resurrection. Therefore, in order to resolve difficulty on when to celebrate Christ’s resurrection, the Council of Nicaea opted to set the date Christians would celebrate to the first Sunday after the first full moon of the vernal equinox.

How Should a Christian Celebrate ‘Easter’?

As for Christianity, one thing is clear. The Bible tells us to remember the Passover and explain its significance to our children. Since Christ has come to fulfill the perfect sacrifice of the Passover, we can now celebrate this momentous occasion with a new hope and significance! We no longer need to slay a lamb and eat it, but we can enjoy the saving work of Christ. So, what we SHOULD do is enjoy the day as a day of victory through Jesus Christ! We should talk to our children about why we celebrate! We should remember the event every year (every day!).

What we SHOULD NOT do is anything that muddles the truth or that celebrates anything that isn’t Christ. Eggs and rabbits are fertility symbols representing the goddess Eostre. Christians of the past incorporated them because they wanted to participate in the ways of the world around them. We still have that same tendency today. The world’s traditions are fun, but not always Christ honoring.

Are Eggs and Rabbits Evil? No! Eggs themselves and rabbits are not evil. God made them and they belong to God. Satan often takes what God created and twists it. Satan doesn’t own eggs or rabbits, but he can tempt us to use them to honor something other than God. While we know that eggs, for example, do not belong to Satan and by themselves mean nothing, we do know that people long ago and even some still today use these symbols to honor an idol. This fact should give any Christian pause. I don’t think it is completely evil to use eggs to show some Christian truth at ‘Easter’ time, however, I do think we should be careful.

Paul addresses this same issue with the early church who were wondering whether or not they were allowed to eat meat that had been offered to idols. Paul answered by saying that meat offered to idols were actually offered to demons. The demons didn’t created the meat and couldn’t really do anything to it, so the meat itself wasn’t an issue. However, the people who were watching the Christians eat the meat may come away thinking that in so doing the Christians were honoring the idol. So, for testimony sake, he encouraged Christians to refrain, saying, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not” (1 Corinthians 10:23). He also warns, “But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died?” (1 Corinthians 8:9-11). Why should be tempt or confuse the world watching us?

Some, likely well-meaning or ignorant Christians, have devised ways to incorporate eggs, bunnies and spring into the story of the resurrection. For example, dying an egg red represents the blood of Christ, or eggs represent new birth like Christ’s resurrection. Is it evil to celebrate with eggs or rabbits? That is for each of us to decide. I, for one, know the real history of these symbols and therefore do not feel comfortable celebrating them on the day that I can be celebrating Christ’s resurrection. Why would I celebrate Christ’s resurrection using symbols of idolatry? Why do I even need those symbols to enjoy what Christ did for me? Isn’t His saving work enough?

History.com Editors. “History 2021.” April 9, 2020. History.com. Https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/history-of-easter.

Marrow, Katie. “Why Easter is called Easter, and other little-known facts about the holiday.” April 10, 2020. The Conversation. Https://theconversation.com/why-easter-is-called-easter-and-other-little-known-facts-about-the-holiday-75025.