This weekend is Easter. Easter is about a celebration of death and life. The sacrificial death of Jesus Christ and a celebration of His resurrection. Years ago I came to the realization that Easter is not about chocolates and bunnies. Easter is actually summed up in John 3: 16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
I’m not here in this blog to tell you how to celebrate Easter. You can celebrate it any way you wish. I just wanted to share with you the way I celebrate Easter and to let some of you know why we have Easter to begin with. You can read about the life and death and resurrection of Jesus in the Bible. I highly recommend the Book of John, especially if you have never read the Bible before. This book is easy to understand and it gives a great description about Jesus.
The story of Jesus’s death and resurrection begins a week before Easter. On what we call Palm Sunday. This is the time in which Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey, which fulfills Old Testament prophesy. This begins in John, Chapter 12 in the King James version). You can then fast forward to chapter 18 in John if you wish (although I would read the rest of the chapters in between to learn the teachings and more back story of why Jesus said he would be condemned and die on the cross) The betrayal and arrest of Jesus begins here . His own disciple Judas gave Jesus up to the authorities of the day, for a lousy 30 pieces of silver. Can you imagine your friend selling you out for so little, especially when you have not even committed a crime!! Judas even had the audacity to kiss him first! (on the cheek) that’s what friends did then, it is like you giving your friend a hug today. Europeans kiss both cheeks today. Anyway I digress.
So Jesus is hauled off to the Jewish authorities, where they judge Jesus guilty of “religious” crimes and heresy. This is done all in the middle of the night in a “court” . They even brought in “false” witnesses. The religious authorities became the judges, jury and would-be executioners all at the same time. So because the nation was celebrating Passover (you can read about Passover in the book of Exodus) they could not execute Jesus in the city, so they took Jesus to the Roman authority Pilate. Pilate then interviews Jesus to appease the Jewish authorities, then tells them essentially, ’This “dude” (I’m paraphrasing) has done nothing wrong’. Well, that did not go over well with the Jewish leaders. So they tell Pilate that Jesus claimed to be the “King of the Jews”. He decides to have Jesus whipped as punishment, but this still does not satisfy the Jewish leaders and people. Traditionally, as gesture to the Jewish nation at Passover, the Romans would pardon criminals and release them from their sentences. So Pilate thought he would present Jesus, and a murderer named Barabas to the crowds to have them decide who would go free. Well, the crowd decided that the murderer Barabas would go free. So Pilate “washed” his hands and had Jesus sentenced to death.
Why would they do this? I can hear you asking.
In old testament time and up to the same time Jesus was crucified, the Jewish people scarified lambs once a year. The lamb was to be “pure” (no marks )and was to be a substitute which was put to death in order that the Jewish people may have their sins forgiven. The High Priest of the Jews would enter a sacred room where no one but the high priest was allowed to enter. The area was called the ‘Holy of Holies’. This area in the temple was covered by a very thick red curtain. This is where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. The High Priest would talk to God, and ask God to forgive the people of all their sins. The priest would then sprinkle the blood of the sacrificial lamb, over the ark to “hide” or “cover” the sins of the people. Jesus said to his disciples that he would lay his life down (as a sacrifice) and then take it up again. He went to the cross as the ultimate pure sacrifice, so that mankind could be forgiven its sins, once and for all.
So when Jesus was on the cross, Jesus took our sins onto himself. Meaning he took all the blame for our sins with his shed blood, “covered” our sin. God required the blood (or the element critical to life) to be shed in animal sacrifice to atone for sin. Jesus shed his pure blood for mankind so that God could then see us as “pure” with no sin. Making us forgiven and pure in the eyes of God. Why did Jesus do this? So you and I could again have access to a spiritual relationship with God. The moment he died on the cross, the veil of the temple (the heavy curtain mentioned above) was ripped in two from top to bottom! Allowing direct access to God for anyone seeking the relationship.
On Easter Morning three days later, a couple of female followers of Jesus went to the tomb to finish preparing His body to complete his burial. It was customary to wait because it was Passover, and they were not permitted to work with bodies during that period of time. Mary who was first on the scene, found the rock covering the doorway (which weighed in at over a ton) to the enterance of the tomb, rolled away. She panicked and was rightly quite upset. Mary ran and got two of Jesus’s disciples, Peter and John. When they came to the tomb and found it empty, they were all dumbfounded and did not know what to make of it either. After the disciples left, Mary sat weeping at the tomb and a man who she thought was the gardener, walked up to her and asked her what was wrong. She told him someone had stolen her Lord. Jesus revealed himself to Mary as her risen Lord. He rose physically from death to prove that physical death had no power over Him. This is also great news for us. Our spirits will live on in Heaven for eternity and that physical death has no hold over anyone who believes in the life, death and resurection of Jesus Christ.
To have a full and complete explanation of Easter I encourage you to go to the source, The Holy Bible.
Have a blessed Easter.
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