If one were to take a panoramic view of the Global North during Easter, one would conclude that it’s all about the Easter bunnies, eating hot cross buns, eating chocolate eggs, playing Easter egg hunt games and painting eggs. However, there is more to Easter than bunnies, hot buns, chocolate, eggs and painting.
Contrary to popular opinion, Easter (Resurrection Sunday) is the most important event in the Christian calendar. It is a historical event that involves betrayal, denial, rejection, violence, salvation, reconciliation and redemption. The events leading to Easter begin with Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry to Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday, followed by Jesus’s crucifixion on a cross on Good Friday, and his Resurrection on Easter Sunday. The gory scene of Good Friday morphs into the glorious setting of Easter.
Throughout history to the present, everyone has a three-dimensional pattern of life:
We come
We see
We depart
In Jesus’s case, he added a fourth dimension:
He came
He saw
He died
He rose
In rising from the dead on Easter, Jesus fulfilled the mandate he was sent on earth to do. Through this singular act, he changed the course of history by giving us the gift of salvation. Because of Jesus’s Crucifixion and Resurrection, I know I have an anchor in times of trouble, no matter what curveball life throws. Because of Jesus’s Crucifixion and Resurrection, even though I may not know what the future holds for me, I know that He holds my future. Because of Jesus’s Crucifixion and Resurrection, I know that the cessation of breath is not the end of life but the beginning of eternal life. Because of Jesus’s Crucifixion and Resurrection, I know that no matter how long it takes, good will eventually prevail over evil. Because of Jesus’s Crucifixion and Resurrection, I know my sins are forgiven. Because of Jesus’s Crucifixion and Resurrection, I know I am redeemed.
Easter is the most incredible love story ever told, in which God provides a pathway for reconciliation through his son, Jesus Christ.
The Easter story may sound complicated, but the message is simple, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16
The Tomb is empty. He is alive.
Happy Easter.
Selah.
Ahmed Olayinka Sule, CFA
09 April 2023
