Easter

Easter

When I was a little boy, I always thought Easter was quite a special holiday. We would look for these wonderfully sweet Easter eggs, delivered by the Easter bunny. I was too young to question the biological uniqueness of bunnies bringing eggs. Eventually, I grew up and understood that it was not a bunny but a hare, and that the eggs meant something more than just being a sweet treat. While all that changed, one thing didn’t: I still had this experience that Easter was a most wonderful of festivals. True, I must admit, it did not have the suspense of gift receiving at Christmas time, but it did have a much more wonderful quality, difficult to explain, that even Christmas did not have.
For most of us, Easter is a “relief.” Lent is over and the heaviness of that period is lifted in one instant. It is a time of family gatherings, good eating (to offset all the abstinence followed during Lent), and general good feelings. And yet, this greatest of Christian mysteries is also not so understood. It challenges modern society, with its tremendous faith in science and technology. How could some one rise from the dead? In a certain way, focusing on the events of Easter make us easily overlook the tremendous preparation that went into this event.
All we have to do is take a look back across the entire Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday, Jesus Christ was hailed as king. By mid-week, He is betrayed by one who is close to Him. By week’s end, the same people who hailed Him as king, screamed for His death and chose to free a well-known criminal instead. At face value, we believe that this was the path for Jesus to complete his task on earth. And yet, the story of the whole week sound quite familiar, something about it resonates from an earlier time in humanity’s existence. When else did we recognize an almighty Being as king? When else did we, as humanity, betray Him? When else did we put Him to death? Surely, humanity could not be so dense as to have totally missed the previous lesson. And yet, it appears that humanity did.
A long time ago, our ancestors embodied in all of humanity’s stories as the first man and woman, did live in the loving grace of an almighty Being. To them, this Being was king. After all, everything in the lives of the first man and woman was a gift from their Creator. For a long time, the first man and woman lived in harmony and without want. One day, an impulse moved them to betray their Creator. In the story of Adam and Eve, the serpent lured Eve to break a promise to God. This too is a form of betrayal. As a result of this, Adam and Eve were suddenly homeless. And, with this betrayal and subsequent homelessness, humanity set in motion the journey of the Christ to earth culminating in His death and resurrection. In many ways, Holy Week repeats this journey of mankind. On Palm Sunday, He is our king. By Thursday, He is not only betrayed but also eventually denied. By Friday, we kill Him. Is it possible that Holy Week, as a preparation for Easter, is a reminder of our cosmic history and a reminder to us of why Christ came?
Easter then must stand for something quite significant. If Holy Week is a condensed replay of humanity life story in relation to Christ’s mission on earth, then Black Saturday and Easter Sunday would have to be a continuation of this story. On Easter Sunday, the resurrected Christ is once again king; but He is now king in a different sense. He is a new king for a new condition for humanity. Something great must occur on Black Saturday to allow this transformation to come about. Looking again at the Easter events, it is possible to see the initial steps to redemption. The first people who actually encounter the risen Christ are women. This is important from a redemption point of view. Looking back at the story of Adam and Eve, one may argue that Eve, the female quality of humanity, started the downfall of man. If this point of view is true, then the “redemption” of this deed would have to start with the female quality of humanity: the women who first seek and meet the risen Christ. Whatever transformative force was at work on Black Saturday, its outcome is first experienced by humanity’s female qualities. And what about the male quality? Well, that took a little more time but revolved around recognizing their master. This too liberated Adam’s deed of eating the forbidden fruit at Eve’s suggestion.
Easter then is also about choice. Choice as to who is king; choice as to who do we follow; choice as to learning from the mistakes of humanity. Two thousand years ago, the people in Jerusalem chose to deny God and His Son; the Romans chose to vacillate and be weak; the disciples chose to be cowards, to deny, to betray, to hide; and most important of all, Jesus Christ chose to accept His destiny on earth.
Modern life is also about choices. But choose is not as clear as we would like it to be. Is one product better than another; is one ruler better than another; is one religion better than another. We like to think that there is a best choice; but is the best choice at the expense of another’s opportunity to choose? Tough questions, undoubtedly. The answers? Who knows. But perhaps, in understanding the transformative qualities and powers of the Christ on Black Saturday, and how this weaves into the entire fabric of humanity, we can take our first steps towards understanding the greatest of Christian festivals, and, more importantly, understanding the mission of humanity as the disciple of Christ.