A short Good Friday/Easter Sunday post.
I won’t deny that Easter’s date likely has a pagan origin. However, I hold the opinion that the once-pagan holiday has been reclaimed for Jesus.
‘Reclaiming for Jesus’ is quite the in-thing in the arts… We reclaim the much maligned roch music as now-wildyly-popular Christian rock. We reclaim
Similarly, no matter what pagan origins the dates of modern Easter and Christmas celebrations, they have been reclaimed for Jesus – and thus made holy.
For an apt comparison, take the symbol of the cross – today a holy symbol synonymous with Christianity, prominently displayed in many churches and around the necks of many Christians, representative of the Christian faith, the object by which Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for all our sins.
The cross was once the most feared, inhumane, degrading and cruel form of punishment possible in all the pagan Roman Empire. Its torture was such that the word excruciate, used for intensely unbearable pain, literally means ‘out of the cross’.
A more horrifying and depraved symbol of sinful humanity’s fallen state, one can scarcely imagine. Yet this same symbol, this instrument of shameful torture unto death, was what God chose for Christ to die on for our sins… Planned even as far back as Old Testament times.
By Jesus’ blood, we are cleansed of our sins and made holy. By this same blood, the unholy pagan cross has been made a holy Christian symbol.
And thus it is with Easter Sunday.
Tags: cross, Easter, Easter pagan, reclaim for Jesus
March 22, 08 at 11:24 pm
Agree that the meaning of symbols change over time. As you said, to be crucified in Roman times was the ultimate shame and humiliation yet it’s a symbol of the power of Jesus Christ.
God bless.
June 2, 08 at 11:30 am
Didn’t Jesus say that he would be in the ground for 3 days and 3 nights, just like Jonah in the belly of the fish?
How do you get 3 days and 3 nights out of Friday afternoon 3PM (last temple sacrifice of the day) to Sunday before the sun came up??? We don’t even get 48 hours out of that??
3 days and 3 nights is what was and is required before someone is officially considered dead. That’s why Jesus gave that time frame.
I curious to your position…
June 9, 08 at 9:22 am
Well, there are various lines of different interpretation among scholars.
One line argues that Jesus didn’t mean a literal 72 hours, nor an actual 3 days + 3 nights, but just 3 separate days. The Jewish system of days counts a new day as starting from dusk, not midnight. Therefore, from Friday’s pre-sunset to Saturday post-sunset counts as three different days.
Another line argues that Jesus’ focus was on the death and rebirth aspect of Jonah’s example, rather than the total time.
Another line argues that during that particular year, the Passover fell on Thursday. Therefore, the ‘Sabbath’ mentioned actually meant Thursday’s Pasover day of rest, not Saturday. This would make it Thursday pre-sunset to Saturday post-sunset, a total of 3 days and 3 nights according to Jewish reckoning.