God and Jesus
What is Easter really about?
Easter is the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the most important festival in the Christian year, because the whole faith rests on those events.
What happened
The events of the first Easter took place over about a week in Jerusalem, and churches still mark them day by day in what is called Holy Week.
- Palm Sunday: Jesus rides into Jerusalem and crowds welcome him, waving palm branches.
- Maundy Thursday: Jesus shares a last supper with his disciples, washes their feet and is arrested that night.
- Good Friday: Jesus is tried, crucified and buried.
- Easter Sunday: his tomb is found empty and he appears alive to his followers.
The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying.”
Why is it called Good Friday?
It seems an odd name for the day of an execution. Christians call it good because of what Jesus’ death achieved. They believe he died in our place, taking the consequences of our sin so that we could be forgiven.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
Why the resurrection matters
If Jesus had stayed dead, he would be remembered, if at all, as a teacher whose movement failed. His rising showed that he is who he claimed to be, that his death really did deal with sin, and that death is not the end for those who trust him.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
Why does the date change?
Jesus died at the Jewish festival of Passover, which follows the moon. Western churches therefore keep Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March, which puts it between 22 March and 25 April. Orthodox churches calculate it with a different calendar, so their Easter often falls later.
Lent, pancakes and eggs
Lent is the period of about six weeks before Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday. Christians have long used it for prayer, self-examination and going without something. Shrove Tuesday, the day before it starts, became Pancake Day because households used up their eggs and fat before the fast.
Eggs have been an Easter symbol of new life for centuries, and some see in them a picture of the sealed tomb breaking open. The chocolate and the bunnies came much later.
Going to church at Easter
Easter is one of the best times to visit a church. Almost every church in the UK holds services on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, visitors are expected and welcome, and the whole Christian message is on show.