Easter

Easter

 

            It’s Easter once again, one of the most important holidays in the Christian community next to Christmas (they do go hand in hand). It is the day that Jesus rose from the grave after his death on the cross, washing away the sins of the world. Throughout the years of growing up in the church, I’ve heard different things about why this happened and what Easter represents. Now I’m older and can see the truth in all these statements, and the importance in not only focusing on one aspect as the entire reason for Easter. I’d like to talk about the aspects separately and how they work better together.

#1-Love

            If you’ve been a Christian or even been around one for more than five minutes, you have definitely heard of the Bible verse John 3:16, “For God so loves the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” We raise this scripture high as a general synopsis for Easter. God loves us, so much so that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for us to show us that love. Some go as far as to say that love is the entire message of the Gospel. Love God, love your neighbor, love the sinner etc. While love is a very important part of God’s message to us, it is not the only part of the message. Just championing love gets misconstrued in the way that we look at love in the world today. Love usually means we accept one another and tolerate whatever they do and how they choose to live their lives. This isn’t what love looks like as God loves us and it must come along with other things to be the most effective.

#2-Hope

            I grew up on VeggieTales (RIP). I remember when An Easter Carol first came out. The Christmas Carol parody characters aside, the most important character, and in turn the biggest theme, was Hope. The movie speaks a lot about the hope of Easter and what that means for those living in the world today. This hope gives a reason not to fear death, to sacrifice for others and to know we will see those who have passed away again someday. However, it is easy to lose hope when you put all your eggs in that basket (excuse the pun). It is important to know this hope is in God and what He can do and not just hope in hope itself or other people. People will fail us because we are not perfect. And just hoping without a foundation to place your hope in, will make you feel hopeless when things don’t work out the way that you expect them to. This hope comes from God, but it doesn’t come alone.

#3-Forgiveness

            Of course, we can’t think about Easter without thinking about forgiveness. We as human beings sin, time and time again and that separates us from God in His perfect goodness. That is why Jesus came. Whenever He healed someone he spoke of forgiving their sins along with healing them. When Jesus died, He took away the sins of all mankind. He made up for it in His perfect sacrifice and we are able to be in a relationship with the Father. We need to be mindful of this forgiveness though, it’s not a pass. It doesn’t mean we can live however we want then run to the cross, ask for forgiveness and then live fast and loose again. This forgiveness is for all past present and future mistakes, but it does come with next steps we need to remember when honoring Jesus’s death and resurrection.

            All three of these themes of Easter are important and go hand in hand. Because of God’s love for us, He sent Jesus down to earth to live a perfect life and die a sinner’s death. His death was a sacrifice for our sins and gives us forgiveness for our mistakes, forgiveness born from love. To give a hope for our future and true forgiveness of our sins, Jesus rose from the dead and completed the sacrifice that gives us access to a loving relationship with God. Those three themes are important continuous things in our lives as Christians. We have this love of God in our hearts and we should spread it by sharing the hope and forgiveness that comes for Jesus’s death and resurrection. We should lead others to God so He can give them His love when they come seeking forgiveness. We should all hold on to the hope that comes with God’s love. That we will be with him forever one day, along with all those who find forgiveness at the cross. Let this day be a reminder of what the cross really means. Happy Easter!