The significance of Easter celebration

BY SAMUEL KOKOETTE,EMEDIONG ANDREW & UTENGE-ABASI JONATHAN

Christians in the first  century celebrated Easter in consonance with the Jewish Passover. Before Christ’s era, Christians were instructed by our lord to celebrate the Passover to remember their liberation from Egypt’s enslavement. A night before his death, our Lord Jesus Christ instituted a new celebration which replaced the Passover and urged his disciples to keep doing it in remembrance of him. Hence; Christians from Christ era till now celebrate Passover as a special period all over the world in remembrance of Christ.

The Passover began on the evening of the full moon in the Jewish month of Nisan. Notably, the name Easter did not come to be and associated with the death and resurrection of Christ until the early second century. Likely, it emanated from the ancient Saxon Spring festival named “Ostern”. Some Easter customs and celebration is the offshoot of the spring festivals.

Easter is a period of commemoration and celebration for Christians. The Roman Catholic, Anglican Greek, Orthodox and the Lutheran churches celebrate the resurrection of Christ with the Easter mass, which includes prayers, litanies, psalms and hymns.

Today, Easter has witnessed the celebration of the resurrection of Christ rising to heaven which is the foundation of Christianity. Easter Sunday brings to the minds of Christians the heavenly calling and of the open door for a relationship with God through Jesus Christ his son. Just like every other season, Easter period is a season where people celebrate and mourn the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the season that the son of God laid his life for mankind.

Easter is celebrated every third or fourth month of the year, depending on the time it falls on the Jewish calendar. Christians use this month to mourn and celebrate Jesus’ death in remembrance of him. Churches in this period go out to preach about the love that Jesus had for humanity that made him lay down his life. Easter is preceded by the season of lent, a 40-day period of fasting and repentance culminating in holy week, and followed by a 50-day Easter season that stretches from Easter to Pentecost. Some churches also put into practice the birth of Jesus, his life time and also his death. All Christians, Catholics in particular do observe a Sunday before the Easter days as a palm Sunday, floating branches of palm trees all over places which reflect the acts of the first century Christians when they heard that Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem, they took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried unto him, “Hosanna: blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the lord”.

Talking about the Easter period, it is the period where Christians take out four days of the week to devote themselves, mourn and celebrate with the son of God in his death and resurrection. At first, we have the Maundy Thursday which was the Thursday that Jesus Christ washed the disciple’s feet and had the last supper with them where he mentioned that his betrayer is among those who shared with him. Still on the Thursday, he went up to the mount and prayed that if it pleases God, he should make the cup Passover him, and it is commonly regarded as Passover night.

Secondly, having being sold to the Jews by one of his disciples, Jesus Christ was arrested, tortured by the Jews and was taken to Pilate who gave biased judgment and decree that he should be nailed to the cross, he gave up his life that is why we have the good Friday as the day that Jesus died.

While in the grave, Jesus Christ was still mourned by the Jews and on the third day as he said, he resurrected and there was a huge celebration. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a special and important celebration in the Christendom. It is believed that Jesus Christ resurrected on the third day after the day of his crucifixion, thus: Easter is usually fixed on Sundays of every Easter month.

In every Christian home, Easter is being celebrated from the impression of the conception of the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to die in order to save mankind from their sins. There are hearsays about how God sent the disobedient angels to earth, who are now known as Satan, where after he realized that the earth will suffer in the hand of the Lucifer. He then asked the remaining angels who will go to the earth to redeem mankind and none of the angels said anything before Jesus Christ accepted to bail the cat. He came so that his blood might purify and redeem those who believe in him from their sins.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is recorded in the book of Mark 16. Churches who believe in Jesus Christ take Easter Sunday as a very significant and important day to them, such that they wake up early in the morning on Sunday to proclaim that Jesus has risen from dead. They preach how he accepted the injustice given to him by Jewish priest just to sit on the right hand side of his father to advocate for mankind.

Easter is also celebrated by Christians from the view that the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross was not in vain, that he has resurrected as he promised his disciples. In John 12 vs 24 Jesus said to his disciples in parables “verily, verily, I say unto you except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it dies it bringeth forth much fruits”. This means that He died to bring forth much fruits for Christians who believed in him and as such Christians keep celebrating this day because of its significance that Jesus died and resurrected to bring much fruits to them such as: redemption from sins, deliverance from bondage, His wound heals the sick, in His name every knee bows and every tongue confesses that He is Lord and above all He conquers Satan.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is what improves Christians’ faith,1Corinthians 15 vs 14 says “and if Christ be not risen then is our preaching in vain and your faith is also in vain”. As such, Christianity exists and sustains in Easter celebration.