This month, many people celebrate Easter Sunday and Resurrection Sunday. To the world, Easter Sunday is a time for people to purchase beautiful and colorful spring clothes. People will create baskets filled with candies and chocolate in the shape of bunnies, baby chicks, and eggs. Families will come together to color eggs for the baskets, and on Easter Sunday, they will have fun participating in Easter egg hunts.
“Easter’s origins are a blend of pagan spring festivals and the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The word “Easter” itself may derive from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, associated with spring and renewal. Christian traditions merged with these pagan practices, making Easter a time of renewal and rebirth.” Google
To the Christian community, it began with Palm Sunday, the day Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey with palm branches laid in front of Him, and the crowd shouting “Hosanna in the Highest.” Following that event, we began what is considered Holy Week, a week that describes all of Jesus’ actions leading up to His crucifixion and resurrection.
These days, many Christians reflect on the spiritual, life-changing, and transformational impact of Jesus’ actions on people. Many churches celebrate Good Friday, which represents the day Jesus was crucified and spoke His last words. Then, on the Sunday following Good Friday, the Christian church celebrates Resurrection Sunday, because “He Is Risen.”
Luke 24:1-12 “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? …”
I Corinthians 15:3-5 says “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. …”
Easter Sunday represents superficial events that fade in people’s hearts once that day ends. But Resurrection Sunday has no end. Jesus’ finished work on the cross provides an opportunity for all people, from generation to generation, to experience a transformed life through faith in Christ Jesus. Reflect on the events of both celebrations, do you want the temporary one or the one that will transform you with no ending?