Resurrection Sunday; not the e word

My lovely wife asked me to guest blog for her today and to let everyone know about the one man crusade I am on. I do not use the e word when I am referring to Resurrection Sunday. God commanded the Israelites to celebrate the Passover beginning on the 10th day of Abib, the Hebrew calendar from the time matches Abib with March-April. It was the beginning of the year.

Passover is a symbolism of Christ's death burial and resurrection. God's first born was killed as a sacrifice for our sins. The blood on the door sill represents the blood on the cross. The Lamb of God is as the sacrificial lamb slain at passover. The event serves as a beautiful illustration of the redemption Christ accomplished at Calvary. The offering was to be without blemish. The lamb had to be killed. The blood had to be applied. You can read up on this in Exodus 12 and Deut 16.

Christ was taken to the cross during the week of Passover. In John you can read about the happenings of the week. It started with the triumphant ride into Jerusalem on palm Sunday. The cleaning out of the temple; the last supper; the garden; the trial; the crucifixion. The Hebrew leaders and the devil all thought they had won. But Christ overcame death and rose on the 3rd day, Sunday. Resurrection Sunday.

Spring forward 40 or 50 years. The church is growing at a tremendous rate. The desciples are all dead, but there are still some folks around who knew someone who actually knew Jesus in the flesh. There are still first hand accounts of what He did. The church is growing into the gentile community, reaching all sorts of people.

Some of those new converts were heathens; Greeks that had been worshiping the Greek gods for years. One of their celebrations was for the goddess Esther. She was the daughter of zeus. Pluto, the god of the underworld kidnapped her. Each spring he has to let her go back to the upper world for 6 months. So we get a routine of seasons. She is the goddess of fertility. Her main fertile symbol is a bunny. The hidden eggs symbolize new birth. Yada yada yada.

As the church community grew, they took in this heathen custom. In this case, the name of the heathen celebration came over with the bunnies and hidden eggs. "Let's just blend all the happy bunnies and eggs with the celebration of the resurrection." NOT!!!!

I don't use the e-word. I don't care for the hidden eggs and running about. I don't like the fact that Resurrection Sunday is the only time our churches are filled to overflowing.

So, as we prepare for celebration of our Savior's saving sanctification of our souls, please keep the important part of the passover. The Lamb of God slain for our redemption and salvation.

And if you do get a chocolate bunny in your Resurrection Sunday basket, eat the ears first.