From a biblical perspective, there are two events in the annals of human history that have priority over all others. Both of them involve Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Savior of the World and Founder of Christianity. These events were His birth and Resurrection. In His birth, we have the incarnation, the time when undiminished deity was merged with perfect and sinless humanity. The Resurrection is the coming to life again or rising of the humanity of Jesus Christ after being dead and in the tomb for three and one half days. Though each of these essential events is indispensable to our salvation and faith, it was the reality of the Resurrection that sealed both His claim to be the Son of God and our salvation. I do not like to use the term Easter because its origin is pagan and goes back to the name of a goddess whose feast was celebrated in the spring; however, due to the culture and historical fact that this term has been identified with the drama of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ for hundreds of years. It will make my endeavor much easier to use this term with an understanding that the most celebrated holiday in America and the world at large, Easter has been taken hostage by the same forces and influences. There are basically three things that are being employed in the sinister scheme to distort and subvert the sacredness of Easter as, in my estimation, the most fundamental and essential event in both church and human history.
Firstly, the powers of darkness and deception are using the tool of commercialism. Easter has become perhaps the second most sacred event in Christianity to be commercialized – only Christmas generates more sales and business transactions.
It is reported by usa.com that America will spend a record and whopping eighteen point four billion dollars on Easter this year. This astronomical amount surpasses last year’s Easter spending by at least one billion dollars.
Regrettably, the majority of this frivolous and wasteful spending will be done by people and consumers who are church attendees and claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. Just imagine, if you can, if the bulk of that money that goes toward clothes, candy, cards, and flowers were instead directed toward missions, the poor, and other worthwhile causes that are indicative of why our Lord was born, crucified, and rose from the dead. The church would be greatly empowered economically to achieve its mandate and mission to evangelize the world. I do not mean to sound like a critic or killjoy, but each of us (believers) will give an account at the Judgment Seat of Christ of how we spent our money and used the resources He entrusted to our care and stewardship.
The next thing that the devil is doing in his attempt to distort and diminish the fundamental role that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ plays in the Christian faith is being achieved through secularism. By this, I mean that the devil has succeeded to a great degree to make Easter observance more secular than spiritual, more fictional than factual, and has thus replaced Jesus with the Easter bunny and eggs. All of this has been done over the years due to the indifference of Christians and in many cases, we have been guilty of being willing participants and supporters of Satan’s scheme to commercialize, secularize, and trivialize the sacredness and significance of Easter and the Resurrection.
How can you and I as followers of Jesus Christ help to restore the observance of Easter back to its sacred place in the church, as well as in the culture? I believe the answer is very simple and practical. The correct and sacred observance of this most significant event in history must start with us who profess to be Christians. We cannot ask or expect others to give it due benevolence when we are just as guilty as they are for not giving it honor and priority ourselves. Restoring the sacredness of the Easter observance must start with the preaching of the suffering, dying, burying, and Resurrection of Christ. This is the foundational doctrine of our faith as the following passage affirms:
“But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)
During the observance of this special season of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, let’s do all we can to restore its sacredness back to its rightful place in our hearts.
As Christians and followers of Christ, it is essential that we put forth a serious and diligent effort to restore this most venerable observance back to its place of sacredness.
For we are badly mistaken and delusional to believe that Easter and its true meaning and significance will be restored in a secularized and materialistic culture if we (believers) do not lead the struggle. At the end of the day, we cannot do it without true conviction and commitment. If we have truly become a part of Christ’s Resurrection, then we must prove it by our loyalty to Him and doing all we can to take back what we allowed the devil to distort and downplay. History will judge what we (The Church) do at this time.