Easter Revisited

               Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 4/3/21

No, the word Easter, though mentioned in the New Testament, is not really a Christian term. Like the Christmas tree, Easter eggs are of no Christian origin or significance. The ancient Druids of the British Isles worshiped trees, a practice that was a far cry from what the babe in the Bethlehem manger would eventually teach. Even so many Christians adorn trees at Christmas and marvel at their beauty.

 Tales of the origins of the word Easter are numerous though most lexicographers follow the account of the Anglo-Saxons whose deity, Eastre, was the goddess of spring and fertility. Whether our word Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon “Eastre” or the Greek work “Pascha” (meaning Passover) is still debated. But no reason for despair. Although Christianity has chiefly been cradled and given to the world by Europe and North America, those two continents have also never contested the pagan names of the days of the week. For just a few examples, Sunday and Monday were named for the sun and the moon; Tuesday for the one-handed god Tiu; Wednesday for Woden; Thursday for the god of war Thor; and Friday for the pagan goddess Fria. Even Saturday has its origins in the mythological god Saturn and the licenscious festival, Saturnalia, that honored him. No respectable Christian, Jew, or Muslim would have been found at a Saturnalia festival. 

Suffice it to say that our words, customs, and even the names of celebrations we hold dear are often mixed with monotheistic, polytheistic, and pagan terms and narratives. Such is the nature of language. Life is stubborn, even the life of words. Life wants to continue, hence the life of pagan words that have spilled over into various religions, sometimes causing confusion or leading people to question their faith.

That confusion or questioning need not be fatal. When it comes to the Christian celebration of Easter, let us just say that Easter morphed its way into Christianity and does not constitute a grafting. Think of Santa Claus. Most Westerners love the old guy but many Christians do regret that because of the way we extol him, Santa has taken a great deal attention off of the One whose birth is being celebrated.

Easter is quite different from Christmas, though Biblically they both center on miracles. One miracle was that a virgin bore a child; the other miracle regarded what happened to this child and why.

The great faith that came from this child is today the world’s largest religion with over 2 billion adherents. Those 2 billion are divided into Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox which obviously leads to the conclusion that Christians do a lot of disagreeing with each other. Most of that disagreeing is not over essentials of the faith. Those essentials all regard the person of Christ. They are His virgin birth, sinless life, atoning death, and literal resurrection.

All of my life I’ve heard that whenever you get two Baptists together, you’ll have three opinions. How not, what with American Baptists, National Baptists, Southern Baptists, Regular Baptists, and several others? Consider United Methodists, Wesleyan Methodists, etc. Lutherans are divided into almost as many groups as Baptists. The same is true of Pentecostals.  Even the Orthodox have their divisions as well. Not so the Catholics who are immensely hierarchical.

What does unite Christians is the deeply consoling fact of Jesus’ resurrection. An Apostle and a converted journalist have best argued the truth of the resurrection event. The Apostle put it this way: “If Christ be not raised then is our preaching in vain and our faith is also vain and you are yet in your sins.”

The journalist put it this way, referring to the Apostle: “Nobody knowingly and willingly dies for a lie. Apart from the resurrection there’s no good reason why skeptics such as Paul would have been converted and died for their faith.”

The Apostle Paul had been a terrorist who oversaw the persecution and murder of Christians. The journalist was the Yale-educated Chicago Tribune legal editor and atheist Lee Strobel. Strobel was sent to Kentucky to learn about those “hillbillies” who were arguing that creationism should be taught in their kids’ school. Instead of finding crazy, close-minded Christians, Strobel found kind Christian people who were even willing to hear him out when he ask for time to give his views. Both the “hillbillies” and the joyful spirit of his Christian wife led Strobel to study Scripture and denounce his atheism, believe in Christ, and write several books on Christian faith.

It was his deep study of the resurrection that brought him conclusively to Christian faith. Strobel says, “The resurrection truly changes everything.”

Easter, then, cries out that old Death is not the end. Give Paul or the many books of Strobel a reading.

 

Roger Hines

3/31/21