The Significance of Easter

This is the week of Easter variously referred to as the Holy Week, or the Passion Week. Indeed some days ago, I came across a beautiful literature which called it, “8 Days that Changed the World Forever”. Whatever it is called, it is Easter, rather than the more popular Christmas that defines the Christian Faith, for faith in Christ rests on the events that characterised those critical eight days-The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem; the teachings at the Temple in Jerusalem, the Last Supper, his travails in the Garden of Gethsemane and the denial by Peter; and the climax-his crucifixion and resurrection for which Good Friday and Easter Sunday are today celebrated all over the world.

As a little child, I never could understand why they called the day Christ was so brutally killed on the cross a ‘good’ Friday, and I believe I tormented many adults with persistent questions in that regard. If Jesus was such a good man, who came to the world to save us from sin, and to heal and preach, how can it be a good day the day he was murdered? I don’t think any one quite persuaded me with the answers they attempted to give, and in the end, I guess I just gave up, and concluded that the world did not understand the difference between good and bad! Well today, knowing that but for that death, there could not have been a resurrection; knowing that but for the manner of his death, the scriptures would not have been fulfilled; and but for his resurrection, the Christian faith would have been basically pointless, I now fully understand.

The story of those marvellous eight days is well known, but still remains an epic of courage and sacrifice. The story which is included in the four gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John is of a Christ who knew and indeed predicted several times his imminent betrayal and delivery to the Gentiles, his scourging and mocking and his eventual crucifixion and yet walked steadfastly towards the cross, in order that he may do the will of God, and thereby fulfil his mission of creating a permanent plan of salvation for man. As he drew near to Jerusalem, at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, he instructed them to fetch a donkey upon which he rode into Jerusalem. His disciples put their clothes on the donkey, and many laid their garments on the floor, while others cut tree branches and all proclaimed, “Hosanna…, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”

He went into the Temple and chased out the commercial people who had taken over the House of God (perhaps if he came into some of the Temples of the world today, he would have to repeat this purification rite) and healed the blind and the lame; he cursed the unproductive fig tree (oh that we may be productive with the talents he has deposited in us); he preached about faith, told them several parables and taught them; as usual he criticised the Scribes and Pharisees, the religious men of the day, and condemned them as hypocrites who “shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in”-in Jesus’ view they merely prevented many from worshipping God, while not worshipping him themselves (how many of us would Jesus condemn as Pharisees if he came into the Church today?).

In a sense, Jesus was a revolutionary, a non-conformist who challenged the powerful people of his time, and these can be vengeful, unforgiving and violent people, as they indeed turned out to be! It is not usual in today’s theology to stress this attribute of Christ-the disdain with which he related to the Pharisees and Scribes, his total lack of sycophancy and double-speak, his firm renunciation of those who had turned the house of prayer into a den of thieves, his often undiplomatic but truthful assertions of his kingship and his courage and boldness at his subsequent trial. Today, Jesus would have been accused of a lack of wisdom!

In those last days, he instituted the Holy Communion, the breaking of bread, and drinking of wine in commemoration of his new testament, a rite which remains a cornerstone of the Christian faith till this day. He foretold of Peter’s denial and then the end game (as his persecutors imagined) began in the Garden of Gethsemane. Christ was heavy and sorrowful even as the moment of his death approached. He declared to his disciples, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death…” and prayed asking the Father to “…if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” but yet submitted to the will of God, “…nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” It was while this ordeal lasted in the Garden that Judas one of the twelve disciples who betrayed him for money led in the soldiers, chief priests and elders who seized him and led him to the cross.

The rest of the story is of course well known-his trial before the High Priest and before Pontius Pilate, the governor. In one of the most amazing turns, the people were so hateful of Christ that they preferred the release of a notorious prisoner, Barabbas who had robbed, raped and killed to Jesus Christ who had not killed anyone, who had only healed the sick and even raised up the dead to life. The extent of that self-destructive hatred illustrates how far the world can go in spiteful wickedness even till this day, and was a classic case of cutting the nose to spite the face. They insisted that Jesus must be crucified, while Barabbas be released. And he was led to Golgotha, bearing his own cross, with a crown of thorns on his head, and they spit upon him, mocked him, and crucified him, with the inscription, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS”-a prophetic statement which they thought they were making in jest. But then, the scriptures had to be fulfilled. Jesus had to die, in order that he would rise again, and give the millions, indeed billions who are called by his name a hope of salvation and of eternal life.

Those events gave rise to the Christian faith subscribed to today, by a large proportion of the citizens of the world, and a major social and spiritual influence even on those that are non-adherents of the Christian faith. Can you imagine what may have happened if Jesus had chickened out of his divine mission and had turned away from Jerusalem or recanted before the High Priest? What if Judas had not betrayed Christ? Could the story had evolved differently-perhaps the High Priest or Pilate could have ruled in favour of Jesus, or perhaps the people realising the terrible crimes that Barabbas had committed, had asked for Jesus’ release instead of the vagabond. But then, if all those had happened, a great world faith would not have been birthed. Jesus would have ended up a great prophet like Moses, Isaiah, Elisha, or Jeremiah. Any concept of eternal life, salvation by the blood of Jesus, divine healing or resurrection will be non-existent or simply fanciful. There would not be Good Friday or Easter Sunday.