Today is Easter Sunday, a time we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ and one of the few times a year people come to church. This may be miraculous in itself. One has to wonder how they would even know what Sunday to come to church since the date of Easter changes from year to year.
Why is that?
To be honest, no one knows the exact date of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, but scriptures tell us it was at the time of the Jewish Passover. Therefore Easter used to be a local custom celebrated around that time of year. As with all things pertaining to Christ, this became controversial because Christians were not all celebrating on the same day. Therefore in 325 AD the Council of Nicaea decided a specific day should be set aside for this observance. Eventually it was decided Easter would be on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. It all sounds so simple, doesn’t it?
Further complications abound today. For example, the East and the West observe Easter on separate dates because one uses the Julian calendar and the other uses the Gregorian calendar. I won’t get into the differences between the two because it would take too long, but suffice it to say it involves Julius Caesar, Pope Gregory the Thirteenth, 10 – 12 skipped days here and there when their calendars were instituted, yada, yada, yada.
Oh yes, and let’s not forget that both the Julian and Gregorian calendars follow the cycle of the sun and seasons, but Easter is calculated by following cycles of the moon (lunar). Occasionally the West and East dates actually fall on the same day and for a brief moment the Christian world is at one. Probably the only time they are at one on anything.
Some have discussed making it a fixed date like Christmas. We all know that Jesus was not born on December 25 but that is the time the world has set aside to celebrate his birth. The UK proposed the Easter Act of 1928 to fix the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. Hmm? Even when the world tries to simplify something it sounds complicated. Anyway, it was passed but never implemented because it requires all relevant churches to agree. Fat chance on that happening! (No pun intended for Fat Tuesday!)
Then the name itself is unusual when you think about it. The word “Easter” really has nothing to do with Christ’s resurrection no matter how hard we try to make it say that it does. Add to this an Easter bunny who brings candy and parents who hide decorated hard boiled eggs – well, it’s a miracle we can focus on what the day is supposed to commemorate.
But somehow we do and that is one of the miracles of Easter. In spite of all these distractions, the message of Christ being crucified, raised from the dead, and living will not be muddled. Pulpits across the world will proclaim this good news and many who only come to church this one day a year will hear it.
