A year ago today, I was getting ready to move home from my college town. Before I made the official move, I came down to spend Easter with my family and home church that I missed so much. At the time, I was busy with my own life and wasn't involved in the church like I am now. I remember hearing the familiar things about Jesus rising from the dead and everything, but also things about "no Easter egg hunts" and whatnot. I was kind of confused because that seemed like a fun activity we could do to get the kids involved, but Northside had a rule I wasn't aware of; no Easter egg hunts. Ever. I supposed it made sense because, I mean, what do colored eggs have to do with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ anyway? It's something I've always wondered, but I accepted it regardless. Well, this year, I got the answer. Now I know why we have that rule and I totally understand completely! It's so exciting to learn new things about things I thought I've always known! I'm itching to share it with you!
Before we get into Easter, we have to know a bit about Jewish history. When the Israelites (Decendents of Abraham and God's chosen people) were being brought out slavery in Egypt, there were the ten plagues on Egypt, right? The final one was the death of every first born child and livestock animal in Egypt. To protect the Israelites from this plague, God told them to sacrifice a lamb and spread its blood on the doorposts. That way, the angel of death would pass over their houses and spare their first borns. This was the first Passover. A year after this happened, God told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover every year during the month of Abib (which was in early spring. March or April, depending on the phases of the moon. That's why Easter isn't the same date each year. (Exodus 13:4). So, jump ahead to the time of Jesus during the month of Abib. The Jews at the time would be preparing for the Passover feast. But this Jesus fellow was causing a scene and riding into town on a donkey. The people of Jerusalem were happy because they thought they were getting a king to deliver them from the Romans. This was Palm Sunday. Also known as Lamb Selection Day to the Jews. They had to select a perfect lamb with no defects. (Notice a connection there? Not yet? Keep reading.) Now, the gentiles (non Jews) at this time were worshipping many pagan or false gods. Know of Appollo? Zeus? Aphrodite? Those are pagan gods. How about Eastre? Know about her? Eastre (one of the many different ways of spelling her name) was the goddess of fertility. Funny how it looks like Easter....Well, the pagans celebrated the Spring Equinox at the same time as the Jews were celebrating the Passover. So, for their goddess, Eastre, they would make sacrifices and they had many symbols for fertility; rabbits and eggs were symbols of life and fertility, and easter lillys were a phallic symbol for fertility. Dyed eggs were hung in Egyptian temples for their goddess. So, both of these celebrations were happening at the same time, and in an attempt to not offend anyone (over years of time), the celebrations were combined to create our familiar Easter holiday. Do you think that the word "Easter" is in the Bible? If you said, "yes", then you're right. If you said, "no", then you're also right. Easter is mentioned ONLY one time in ONLY the King James Version. In every other translation, the word is "Passover". Why would KJV be different? Because when it was written, they didn't want to offend people! Have I offended you? If I did, sorry, that's the way it is. But honestly, I don't believe that people today celebrate Easter with eggs and bunnies because they want to honor Eastre, the fertility goddess. It is enlightening to know where all of the nonsense comes from though, right? All of the uncertainty with colored eggs and Jesus can be subsided now that you know the truth. Speaking of the truth, remember what I said about Lamb Selection Day being the same day that Jesus rode into town? That was symbolic for Jesus being THE selected Lamb. Then, on Friday, when the Jews would sacrifice their lambs in rememberance of the Passover, Jesus was sacrificed as the pure and blameless Lamb for all of our sins. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:7, "Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us." Now, the difference between the lambs sacrificed by the Jews and our perfect, blameless Lamb named Jesus is that on Sunday, Jesus did something that no other lamb had ever done: He rose from the dead! If that isn't an act of God, I don't know what is. The 20th chapter of the gospel of John tells exactly what happened here. I'll let you read that on your own, so you can make your own discoveries about a story you thought you've always known. This is the reason Christians exist. The miraculous event of Christ rising from the dead proves that He was and is the Son of God. That He died to take all of our sins away so that we can have everlasting life with Him when we die (John 3:16). That is the Good News of the Gospel. Happy Resurrection Sunday!
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