Why Celebrate Easter?

Here comes Peter Cottontail hoppin down the bunny trail.....

I suppose that celebrating Eater can come in a lot of different forms. I was recently suprised when I had a hit on one of my recent blog entries about Easter. At first, when I read the comment, I believed it might be a like-minded person wishing our church well as we prepared for our Easter services.

Actually, not so. The commenter asked me to visit his blog and make a comment. When I clicked, I was taken to an online store where I could purchase toy bunnies, Easter candies, and everything I thought Easter was when I was a kid.

I suppose I could have been offended, but I guess I realized that Easter is different for lot of different folks: Egg hunts, baskests, bonnetts, sunrise services, ham brunches, picnics, new pastel dresses, crowded Sunday services, musical productions.........

There are just as many ways that people celebrate Easter as there are ways that people celebrate Christmas. So which way is right?????

Well, as with many holidays in our culture, there is a Biblical heritage. However many ways Easter is thought of today, there is indeed only one true origin that eventually led to the manifold expressions that number in the hundreds if not thousands.

In a word: Jesus. It was Jesus who created a reason for our celebration of Easter in the first place. Even though we may say it was what He accomplished on the cross of Calvary that lead to Easter, in reality it was what took place three days later.

He defeated death and the grave - no victory - no sting. In other words, after He was killed on the cross, He was buried in a sealed tomb and left to rot. But three days later, He came back to life. He walked right out of that tomb. He walked around, talked to people, ate with people, and got around quite nicely for a person that was dead for three whole days.

If we leave it there, we could celebrate Easter as a day in history in which a really incredible miracle took place. But I believe the real reason to celebrate Easter is more than that.

I celebrate a risen Jesus who is MY LORD. He is MY SAVIOR. He is MY GOD. He died AND rose again for ME. When He was on the cross AND when He rose up from the grave and walked out of the tomb, He had ME on His mind.

Not the Easter Bunny. Not the Sunday-all-you-can-eat-ham and eggs-brunch-buffet. Not the sunrise services, or musical productions that take months to rehearse, or anything else, but YOU and ME.

Now then, the reason I can celebrate is because I have accepted the accomplishment of Easter as a gift for myself. And the only reason Jesus did what He did was because it was the only way I could get to Heaven. It had to be done. And He was the only one who could do it and He did it for me.

Now that's why I celebrate Easter!

Blessings,
John