Easter: A Holiday that Doesn't Get the Respect it Should

The older I get in Jesus, I realize that, while I like Christmas, I LOVE Easter! It grieves my heart when Easter and its associated holidays get no respect whatsoever. Many Americans treat it like a regular day--a Sunday to get dressed up, show your fancy outfits, and walk around looking like Master G's and Glamazons, and plan egghunts for the kidlets. While all of the above are well and good, too often the real meaning of this special day is lost.

We are celebrating the death, burial, and resurrection of the most wonderful, most loving, most giving Person who ever graced this earth. One who did something He didn't have to do, and He did it totally out of love for His Father, and His love of mankind: In John 3: 16 it says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son." Wow! God so loved that He gave. An awesome thought in and of itself. I mean think about it: For 33 long, lonely years He willingly gave up the companionship of the one Person who mattered most to Him. I wonder if I would be so willing as to do that. Would I be willing to give Mrs. Koolbreeze up for a weekend for the good of humanity? Maybe, but no more time than that. Last Sunday Mrs. Koolbreeze proved that she can't even give me up for 2 hours, let alone three whole decades!

The problem was that God was Holy. Man--through Adam and Eve, had sinned. Sin is disobedience against God. Because of His Holy nature, the penalty of death had to be exacted for sin. One problem: Our God had fallen too much in love with the people He had created to just let them fall into death, screaming in fiery eternal darkness forever, out of fellowship with Him. So a sacrifice had to be made. A perfect Lamb had to be born, live a sinless life, and then die, and shed His Blood. Then He had to conquer death by rising again from the dead. And because He conquered death, so shall we! Easter is beautiful because it is a holiday full of hope. Hope for our future, hope for eternity.

But before the miracle of Easter had to come the tragedy of Good Friday. Our Saviour had to hang on a cross for three hours and suffer the most horrific pain ever known to man, a pain that Mel Gibson's "The Passion" does not even begin to portray accurately enough. He had to suffer for all our sins, and obtain stripes for the healing of our bodies. He had to go to a burning Hell and get a taste of that awful place.

Yet we don't celebrate or recognise Good Friday nearly enough. Yes it is a somber, bloody holiday, one filled with grief and sadness. But unless we are willing to celebrate it, refrain from holding school, opening our banks, receiving mail, and, in short, conducting business as usual--let's not celebrate Christmas ever again. It is hypocritical to give honour to the one and not the other--the more important of the two. The sadness of Good Friday and the miracle of Easter is what is going to get us into Heaven if we are willing to receive it in our own lives.

All we have to do is believe in what took place that weekend. We need to believe it to the point of knowing it. We need to then resolve to live lives that are Holy, lives that show appreciation for all that He has done. We need to be His slaves, His servants, ones totally sold out and ready to move when He says move. We should serve Him without the slightest reservation. It is not enough to just observe the holiday. Every holiday we celebrate is merely another day unless we are willing to embrace the values that special day represents--I don't care if it's Christmas, King Day, Valentine's Day, Good Friday, or Easter.

So when we go to church on Sunday, March 23, let's celebrate this Easter as Resurrection Sunday. Let's celebrate our Saviour's rising again to life, and the promise of life He gives to us--with Him--forever.