Easter

Posted by Troy Eckhardt on April 19, 2014 at 9:36 pm

I have very dear friends who do not “celebrate” Easter because of the pagan roots of many of the origins and common traditions surrounding the holiday. For example, the date each year is based on the spring equinox, the phase of the moon, and days of the week, all of which are celestial tools used by many pagans to order their holy days. The word “Easter” itself is derived from a pagan goddess’ name. Eggs, bunnies, etc. have been used for millennia to symbolize heathen fertility rites and celebrations.

I cannot fault these people for their convictions in the least. As long as they have called on the name of Jesus Christ and have asked Him to redeem them by his blood, they are my brothers and sisters in Christ and I love them, and their convictions are not without warrant. My own convictions regarding Easter are not quite as strict, though.

I do not like the name “Easter” for the reason I pointed out above, but I use it because it’s how we communicate in English. I prefer “Resurrection Sunday,” but the celebration of Christ’s resurrection is at the heart of EVERY Sunday, so that’s a misnomer as well. I wish I could say that I celebrate the resurrection of Jesus every day, and I do manage to do so often, although I also get caught up in the tasks of the day enough to fail frequently, too. There are a few reasons, though, that I do not neglect the day’s celebrations altogether.

The day is remarkable to me because Christians the world over are focused on celebrating Jesus’ resurrection at the same time. The congregation of such a huge group, most of whom belong to Jesus, is breathtaking to me. Christmas is different because it has been secularized and is marked by greed, but Easter is still largely pure. People are not getting up early and dressing well to get to an early service to worship the sun, or bunnies, or the fertility gods, or eggs. They are there for Jesus. They are lifting holy hands to the Sun of Righteousness, risen with healing in His wings, and they are millions strong across the world as the sun rises across the planet over that 24 hour period, and at all other times on that special day.

The celestial connection does not bother me because the Jewish calendar is based on the moon, and therefore the Passover and the other feast days are also set by a lunar calendar. God made those heavenly bodies specifically to track time. I think He did so perfectly, and that we lived within a huge, precise watch until the flood messed it all up. I have no more trouble timing important days and events by the solstices and equinoxes than I do with ordering my day by the sun’s position. That’s in part what those lights in the sky were created to do.

Finally, there are many pagan and heathen traditions that we practice every day without worrying about their origins. I don’t worship Saturn on Saturday, nor Thor on Thursday, nor Janus throughout January. I, along with many of my church-going brethern wear an Egyptian phallic symbol around my neck each Sunday morning specifically as a way of honoring God – I certainly don’t put it on to go buy diapers. I pay homage to my wife by wearing a superstitious pagan charm around the fourth digit of my left hand. Weddings and funerals (vows, best men, maids of honor, veils, flowers, embalming, cremation, caskets, honeymoons, wedding cakes, receptions, wakes, “life celebrations”) are of pagan origin. No one I know refuses to use the dollar bill despite the unbelievably ungodly markings all over it – in fact, we give them to God as worship.

My particular church does not officially recognize Christmas and Easter for these reasons, but there are conservative churches in the USA that forbid the wearing of wedding rings, yet we do not. At some point along the way, the Church in general has displayed time and time again the propensity to forbid what God has not forbidden, and none of us know where that line truly lies. Let me say here that the leadership of my church does not forbid anything. No one has ever threatened to toss me out because I celebrate Easter. There have been some overly verbose brethern from time to time, but they are usually young and overly zealous about things that don’t really matter. I’ve experienced the same at other churches regarding denim and certain hairstyles. Music is also often a touchy topic.

I take comfort in a few things. First is Romans 14:5, One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Does this not indicate that there are some rituals and traditions about which God is completely ambivalent? The other is the knowledge that no amount of law keeping amounts to so much as a filthy rag in God’s eyes. God called David a man after His own heart, although he was a filthy, lying, adulterous, murderous wretch, because God looks on the thoughts and intents of a man’s heart. I thank God for the same mercy and grace extended toward me.

So, with millions I will worship the risen savior tomorrow as I marvel at what He accomplished for me on that day two millennia ago, and I wish you the peace and joy of Christ as you do the same, whether or not you give the day a name, or eat too many hard boiled eggs.