5 Things You Might Not Know About Easter
Last Sunday we started a mini-series looking at the Easter story. Easter is a time that prompts us to think about all sorts of things. We think about what we might give up for lent, and what we can learn about ourselves through the sacrifice. Or we reflect on the resurrection and think about how might turn over a new leaf. When John writes about it he asks us to think it might mean even more. Actually he says; the life and death of Jesus is the defining moment in human history, the event that makes sense of everything! Over the next 3 weeks we’ll be looking at the story and asking ourselves this question. Does the coming of Jesus and the events around the cross make more sense out of life? We think it does and that it’s worth thinking about.
As we are now ‘Live at 5’ on Sundays, here are 5 things you might not know about Easter to whet your appetite.
The men run away. The women stay.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man… The man came. His followers though, were very reluctant; ‘they all left him and fled’. But not all; the women stayed. Increasingly as the story of Jesus (and I would say human history) reaches its climax, the men depart the scene and the women stand up! It’s a woman who honours Jesus by soaking his feet with Nard, leaving him smelling like a King. It was the women who stayed with him through the trial. It was women who watched the bloodbath at the cross. Then when the Jews were so scary that the followers of Jesus hid in a room or legged it, the women stepped out to find the body, to be the first witnesses.
It was Passover.
Everyone had eaten their fill and were probably partied out. I’ve always taken a dim view on the disciples falling asleep in Gethsemane. Especially given what Jesus was about to go through. How could they sleep at such a time? Passover is the biggest feast in the Jewish calendar… and they ate very well. Meals could last for hours and would include at least a mandatory four glasses of wine! Add onto this the fact that most of Jews had pilgrimaged to Jerusalem to join in. Even the nearby towns would be a few hours walk. Some would have been walking for days. How are you after a day out walking and a big meal? I’m asleep. At the time of Jesus’ arrest, in the middle of the night, it’s likely much of Jerusalem was sound asleep (Luke and the people of God, Jacob Jervel).
It was the feast of Firstfruits.
The fields around Calvary were ripe and would be harvested the next day. This festival can occur at different times in the year, but in the year of Jesus’ crucifixion it coincided exactly with his resurrection (Spangler, Sitting at the feet of the Rabbi Jesus). At this festival the community would wait to harvest their crops together. No one would harvest until the first of the crops were ceremonially cut and offered back to God. It was a mark of their trust in Him to continue to provide into the future. The same morning that Jesus rose from the dead, Jerusalem awoke to fields ripe for harvest, looking to see what God would provide. Does this mean anything? Maybe. Concerning Jesus, Paul wrote these words:
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man… Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)
Quite a picture. Here is hope of a greater harvest to come.
It’s about remembering your salvation.
God often prefixed his instructions to his people with a reminder that it was him that had saved them from slavery in Israel. All through Deuteronomy God repeats “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt” so… don’t do this, or make sure you do that! Remember to treat the foreigners well… because you were once foreigners yourselves. In other words, remember what it was like where you were, and that it was me (God) who saved you, so be compassionate to others. When Jesus took bread and wine and gave it out to his disciples (the same bread and wine we partake of at communion), He asks us to remember him. “Do this in remembrance of me”. In other words; remember you were once slaves like the Hebrews in Egypt. Captives to sin. And it was me who saved you. Dwell on this that you may live well.
It’s about new life.
He didn’t stay in the grave. Maybe you know this already! But it feels like sometimes we could use a reminder. In a world where death is the ultimate enemy, in times when its power feels strong; the grave didn’t hold him, death was conquered, love won through. Jesus walked away from the tomb and went back to his disciples. Nothing would ever be the same again. His new life can be ours.
Ash Gibson, Pastor, Christchurch Xscape
