Easter Sunday is one of the most recognized and celebrated holidays the world over. Today many children are eager to receive their Easter baskets to see what the Easter Bunny has brought, and left behind. Most likely it will be filled with plastic (so called) “grass“, chocolate, eggs, marshmallow Peeps, and maybe even a stuffed bunny or some other springtime animal. I have to admit, I too, am eager this time of year. New life is budding in the trees and gardens all around us. Oh, and you can’t forget the Reese‘s Eggs with their higher ratio of peanut butter to chocolate. They are most definitely better than year round Reese’s Cups. Additionally, there are new clothes to purchase, egg hunts to attend, family meals to prepare for, and we can’t forget church. Yet, dear reader, have you stopped to ponder what this day truly celebrates?
The name Easter can be deceiving because it doesn’t always remind us of the true reason for the season, if you will. At its core, Easter is the highest liturgical feast day celebrated within Christianity’s liturgical calendar. More accurately the celebration. Is called the Feast of the Resurrection. But the resurrection of who, you may ask? First and foremost, it commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Did you catch that? Easter celebrates the day that the Son of God himself conquered death by rising from the dead. The grave could not hold him, and death has no claim over him. Yet Jesus conquered, not only death, but also hell and Satan.
Easter also looks forward to the resurrection on the last day. More specifically, as the Creed reminds us, “we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” Stop reading for just a moment and let that last sentence sink in. By implication of the historical truth of Jesus’ resurrection, all of those who are in Christ, everyone who has placed their faith and trust in him as their Messiah, wait patiently for their own resurrection on the last day.
What a celebration! The truth of Jesus‘s resurrection makes bunnies, eggs, clothing, and yes even Reese’s Eggs, pale in comparison. This is why the apostle Paul said that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, “we of all people are most to be pitied” (see first Corinthians 15). Yet we all too often distract ourselves with things that do not matter, and we make them the focus of our celebration. I’m not saying that candy and chocolate are bad, just that they are not ultimate. Jesus is ultimate and Easter is all about him! As we celebrate this day with our church, family, and friends may all that we do point us to the reality of our risen Savior.
From all of us here at RFTG, may you have a blessed and Happy Easter!
Collect (Prayer) of the Day
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may, by your life-giving Spirit, be delivered from sin and raised from death; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (taken from the Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
Bible Reading
1 Corinthians 15:16-22 (ESV)
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Photo Credit Unsplash.com
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