Early church fathers in the first few centuries debated when Easter should be celebrated, the debate centered on correctly fixing the date of the Jewish Passover. The early church questioned that the Jews did not follow scripture precisely in fixing the date of Passover. Great effort was spent by some to properly calculate the date. There was not a debate on which, if any, pagan holiday had influence on this new Christian celebration.
There was even debate if fixing the proper date was important. A version of the Apostolic Constitutions is quoted as saying: “Do not do your own computations, but instead observe Passover when your brethren from the circumcision do. If they err [in the computation], it is no matter to you”.
The early church also debated if Christians should honor Christ’s death with a Passover meal, or if his resurrection was the proper thing to honor. There was no debate as to Christ’s connection with what has become known as Easter only which was more holy, the day of His sacrifice or the day of His resurrection.
Yes over the years; bunnies, eggs, fine dresses, and plastic grass have crept into this festive time. These things are nothing more than adornments, things that camouflage the real holiday. Some may enhance the holiday and add beauty, others, specifically the plastic eggs, are just tacky… like dark blue hair on an 80 year old grandma.
Easter Eggs or none the fact is that Easter is forever connected with the Lords Passover of the Old Testament and Christ’s resurrection, nothing else. And if like the early Church you are still trying to decide if it’s the day of crucifixion or resurrection that should hold the highest honor among holy days I really like what Paul said…
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
While you are debating I’ll eat the second ear off that bunny and thank God for the sweetness of Easter.
