Many mornings, before the light of day hits the sky, I hit the pavement. Even though the sky is dark, recent seasons have shed light on my path. During December and January, Christmas lights and illuminated Nativity scenes lit the way. In February, red lights, lit hearts, and the snow brightened even the darkest of mornings. Now, with the snow melting and only a few lit shamrocks to guide me, my morning run seems dark, appropriate for the solemnity of the Lenten season.
Yet I’m unfortunately confident that the darkness I experience on a pre-dawn Good Friday will be repeated on a pre-dawn Easter Monday. Why is it that those same houses that displayed Christmas lights and Nativity scenes will be absent of Easter lights and lit crosses? Why don’t we celebrate Easter with the same fanfare that we celebrate Christmas?
Based on our behavior, a non-Christian would think that Christmas, rather than Easter, was the most important holiday of our faith. Yet Christmas means little to the Christian without Easter. Christmas isn’t important because Christ was born, Christmas is important because Christ was born to die. The main symbol of our faith is not a baby in a manager, but rather a man on a cross.
Truly, many of us treat Easter with less significance than even the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving (not that it’s bad to celebrate those with enthusiasm). Easter arrives – go to Mass, get it out of the way, eat some ham and chocolate bunnies, maybe do some activity with Easter eggs, and come Easter Monday, most of us are back at work or school, ho-hum, back to the same old routine.
We will never be worthy of the sacrifice made on the cross, but especially not if we fail to treat it with the significance it deserves. This Easter, maybe we should plan on truly celebrating and honoring what was accomplished on the cross. The day of resurrection was the most meaningful day in all of human history. The day of redemption. The most important day of your life.
I think on a very human level, people can relate more to Christmas than to Easter. Its easy to celebrate the birth of a baby. Easter on the other hand is a far more profound story that addresses issues of sin, forgiveness, faithfulness and immortality. But even on a popular level, the celebration of Easter has fallen on hard times.
Easter used to be a major shopping holiday second only to Christmas. The Irving Berlin song, “In Your Easter Bonnet” was not just a happy tune. Folks tried to purchase new fancy outfits for Easter Sunday. Special foods were prepared and often brought to Church for a blessing. I recall it being a special and joyous day.
All that seems to remain today are the pagan symbols adopted by Christianity centuries ago. Fertility symbols such as Easter bunnies and colored eggs rule the day.
But the wonder of our Christian story is that it begins with life on Christmas and ends with life on Easter. In between, we see not only the life of Jesus but our own life as well. In all due respect, Jesus was not born to die. All men die and thousands died on the cross or in even more horrific ways. I’d submit that Jesus was born to rise again.
Jesus was faithful unto death and because of that God the Father raised Christ Jesus from the dead. Through Jesus, we too will rise again. Our life like the life of Jesus begins and ends with life.
Each Sunday we affirm that we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come. Maybe in losing sight of that mystical reality of our faith, we also lose sight of the mystical reality of Easter.
Our brothers and sisters in the Greek Orthodox Tradition greet each other not with a “Happy Easter” on the Feast of the Resurrection but with the greeting ” Christos Anesti” which means “Christ is Risen”. The traditional response is “Alithos Anesti which means “He Is Risen Indeed”.
This greeting is statement of faith and the response is an assent to its truth.
Perhaps if we tried keeping this truth in our hearts throughout the year we can enjoy the chocolate and ham (I prefer lamb) without misgivings.
Christos Anesti!