Easter is not far off, and as I look around today, it saddens me to think that these days, it’s hardly celebrated. It’s limited to a shopping aisle of chocolate eggs, and primary school crafts… In fact it seems that nobody really pays much attention to the whole festival – why is it so important? Trends are changing, right? Wrong.
Okay, so we don’t really need Easter eggs, or pretty, pastel, fluffy chicks perched on nest cakes – that was just a bit of a plug to draw you in… However, we do need Easter. In fact, the reason that we celebrate Easter is the reason that we live. Easter is about life, freedom, happiness, and new promises…
Throughout March, we are going to be looking at what Easter is, and what it means today. Easter brings new beginnings and so where better to begin, than to start by looking into why we need to celebrate Easter. Why are we taking this journey to know more about it? Why does it even exist? Why..?
We don’t need Easter eggs, but we do need Jesus. Forget religious arguments for a minute and look at facts – this whole world is full of bad things. It’s full of pain, illness, crime, you name it – this world is far from perfect! If it doesn’t make you think, “how can this world even have purpose?” then you are in the minority. It’s true. The world is completely corrupt – and there’s no way that it could ever improve. The world does not look like the beautiful place that God made it to be. Yes, there are beautiful places within it, along with some beautiful people, but bad taints this view. There’s a divide between perfect beauty, and harsh reality. There is a divide between our hearts, and between God. Or at least there was…
The truth is that we are helpless. We are unable to be perfect. The world is bad – and it’s out of our control. Free will has become a climb-the-ladder-race between rich and poor, male and female, you name it. Division is everywhere and it doesn’t seem like it will ever be plastered up.
Easter doesn’t ignore this. Its recognises it. You see God knew that the divide could only ever be mended, if He sent His son, as a man (so that we could understand him, and He, us) to suffer crucifixion. To die a brutal death and himself, as God, be separated from Godly power, by experiencing death. By giving up His spirit, He died in our place. But He didn’t just die – He rose again, and brought about life. Christ bridged the gap between us and God, as well as overcoming death and breaking the chains of mortality…
As I write, I myself know that I’m causing a division – my knowledge is not great enough to explain Easter as fully as it needs to be explained for some. Human strength is limited. But essentially, we need Easter because we need goodness. We thrive on laughter, not pain. We dream of long life – not early death. We were created to live in a perfect world – it’s in our instincts. Yet because of free will, we clash with others, and are hindered from being wholly good… Because of pain we are left confused, and lost.
We need saving. God did exactly that – Easter marks Christ’s death but more importantly (often the thing forgotten) His resurrection. God isn’t dead! He rose again – He died our death so that we can live eternally. We will look at what this means in more detail throughout the month.
Our hearts need light. Injustice needs justifying. Contrasts call for compliments. Whether religious or not, people require a mediator. That’s what Easter is – a reminder that we can’t fix this world. But that Christ has done it – in a world of contradiction, we can find mercy (more to come on this too), and when it seems we are just empty space, we know that we have life to the full, in Christ. A new promise, and a new purpose…
Easter brings so many things, and over the next 3 weeks we will be taking a look at Mercy and how it heals, what actually happened on the cross as well as how it applies to today’s generation, and finally the meaning of resurrection & eternal life. I hope that you come along on this journey, whether you’re of faith or not. May this be a New Beginning – for a new mindset, understanding or simply, a fresh outlook on your life.
You need Easter – will you take it?
Eleanor ♥
Find the series here on the faith section every Friday in March.
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