The Hidden Truth About Easter:
Christians Can Learn From
the Origins of Easter
Easter, the highlight of the religious calendar for most Christian
churches, is now upon us again. For the Jewish community, this is also
the Passover season. Most of us have probably noticed that Easter and
Passover fall during the same time of the year, often within a few
days of each other. It may come as a surprise to know that Easter is
an outgrowth of the Passover—especially since these days are celebrated
so differently.
The story behind the commonality and contrasts of today and how they
developed is a vital part of the legacy of contemporary Christianity.
The New Testament reveals that Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul and
the early Church kept the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, not
Easter. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica (Ninth Edition): "There
is no trace of the celebration of Easter as a Christian festival in
the New Testament or the writings of the apostolic fathers . . . .
The first Christians . . . continued to observe the Jewish
festivals . . . as commemorations of events of which these
had been the shadows. The Passover, ennobled by the thought of Christ
the Paschal Lamb, continued to be celebrated . . . ,
and became the Christian Easter."
The history of this transformation should be taught in all churches
as part of heritage of the Spring festival season.
The motivating force behind the changeover from Passover to Easter
was a fierce determination to distance Christianity from Judaism. The
Bible establishes the date of Passover as the 14th of Nisan (the first
month of the Hebrew calendar). Early Christians continued this observation
as a memorial of Christ's death.
Others (especially non-Jews) began celebrating the festival on Sunday
in honor of Christ's resurrection. The bitter controversy that erupted
led to a decision by the Roman Emperor Constantine requiring all Christians
to adopt the same day. Church historian Philip Schaff points out that "the
feast of the resurrection was thenceforth required to be celebrated
everywhere on a Sunday, and never on the day of the Jewish Passover
. . . . The leading motive for this regulation was
opposition to Judaism" (emphasis added).
The biblical name "Passover" was changed to "Easter," the name of
the Teutonic goddess of Spring. The Passover lamb was replaced with
Easter ham (biblically forbidden as "unclean" and not to be eaten).
Searching for and removing leavening from homes ceased, and Easter
egg hunts began. The evening Passover service gave way to an Easter
sunrise service.
Over the centuries Easter has become enshrined as an almost universally
observed Christian tradition. Time has also mellowed the anti-Semitic
attitudes that spawned the massive changes from Passover to Easter.
The replacement of biblical injunctions with customs from other religions
is seldom questioned today.
However, we would be well-advised to reconsider the biblical instructions
regarding Passover and other Holy Days God established. Paul tell us
that these festivals offer "a shadow of things to come" in God's plan
of redemption (Colossians 2:16 -17). Jesus even warned that it is possible
to worship God in vain by following humanly devised traditions rather
than the true forms of worship described in the Bible (Matthew 15:9;
Deuteronomy 12:29-32).
I do not want to rain on anyone's Easter parade. But shouldn't you
want to learn about the Holy Days of the Bible, the ones that Jesus
Christ, the apostles and the early Church observed? Shouldn't you want
to learn why they considered these days so important and how they teach
us about Jesus Christ and His role in God's plan? |
