Do you know the true meaning of Easter?

By Rev Dr Martin Olando

Easter is the oldest Christian holiday and the probably the most important day of the church year. All the Christian movable feasts and the entire liturgical year of worship are arranged around Easter.

Easter, Pascha  in  Latin, Paskha in Greek, is a Christian festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion as described in the New Testament. The name Easter is derived from the Hebrew word pesach for 'he passed over'.

The New Testament teaches that the resurrection of Jesus, which Easter celebrates, is a foundation of the Christian faith. The resurrection established Jesus as the powerful Son of God and is cited as proof that God will judge the world in righteousness.

Initially, in the early days, Easter did not always symbolise Christ’s resurrection from the dead and the meaning of Easter was quite different from what Christians celebrate today. The feast day of Easter was originally a pagan celebration of renewal and rebirth. Celebrated in the early spring, it honored the pagan Saxon goddess Eastre.

When the early missionaries converted the Saxons to Christianity, the holiday, since it fell around the same time as the traditional memorial of Christ's resurrection from the dead, was merged with the pagan celebration, and became known as Easter. The meaning of Easter was also changed to reflect its new Christian orientation.

The precise date of Easter has at times been a matter for contention. By the later 2nd century, it was accepted that the celebration of the holiday was a practice of the disciples and an undisputed tradition.

The Quartodeciman  controversy, the first of several Easter controversies (The Quartodeciman controversy arose because Christians in the Roman province of Asia (Western Anatolia) celebrated Passover on the 14th of the first month (Aviv), while the churches in and around Rome observed the practice of celebrating Easter on the following Sunday calling it “the day of the resurrection of our Savior.”

The specific day on which the resurrection should be celebrated became a major point of contention within the church.
Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar.

The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the March equinox. Ecclesiastically, the equinox is reckoned to be on 21 March. The date of Easter therefore varies from 22 March to 25 April inclusive. 

Western Christianity, using the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April inclusive, whereas Eastern   Christianity bases its calculations on the Julian calendar, whose 21 March corresponds, during the 21st century, to 3 April in the Gregorian calendar, and in which therefore the celebration of Easter varies between 4 April and 8 May.  

For the first three centuries, the Church celebrated the real meaning of Easter in connection with the Jewish Passover. The Passover began on the evening of the full moon in the Jewish month of Nisan, which coincided with the Spring Equinox. Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar.

Some customs associated with Easter across the Christian world include decorating the church with Easter eggs a symbol of the empty tomb, Easter bunny and Easter  parades.       

The meaning of Easter is Jesus Christ's victory over death. His resurrection symbolises the eternal life that is granted to all who believe in Him. The resurrection of Jesus is the Christian belief that Jesus Christ miraculously returned to life on the Sunday following the Friday on which he was executed by crucifixion. It is the central tenet of Christian faith and theology and part of the Nicene Creed:

"On the third day he rose again in accordance with the   Scriptures. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of the Christian faith, according to the Apostle Paul, who even says that if Jesus Christ has not been resurrected then the Christian faith is worthless and futile (1 Cor. 15:14-17).

Therefore, without Easter there is no Christianity.

However, some Skeptical New Testament Scholars and Biblical scholars such E P Sanders,   have questioned the historicity of the resurrection story for centuries. They dismissed resurrection narratives as legendary accounts derived from the experiences of Jesus' followers and of Apostle Paul.

Despite the Skepticism, the resurrection story as recorded in  all four Gospels conclude with an extended narrative of the Jesus' arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial, and his resurrection.

Therefore there are  all reasons to believe that Jesus Christ resurrection which is celebrated on Easter Sunday is not a myth but a reality which  has survived the last the last 2000 years.

Rev Dr Martin Olando is the Principal of Bishop Hannington Institute of Theology, Mombasa.