Opus 2017-117: A Moving Easter; A Stable Resurrection

One of the questions I got in school this week was whether Jesus was born in December.  I am guessing that a Jehovah’s Witness had been at work trying to undermine the beliefs of children who had any Christian background.  They start with Christmas which is an arbitrary date picked by the church and segue into Easter which is rooted in historical facts.

Point of fact:  We do not have any historical reason to pick December 25 to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  The Bible does not say.  All it says is that He was born.  In an effort to educate the masses and make sure that everything was covered, the church picked a day to celebrate the mass of Christ, i.e. Christmas.  They also picked a day to remember the trinity, Pentecost, the coming of the wise men and other points of Christian doctrine and history.  It was all part of the curriculum.

Easter, on the other hand, is rooted in historical context.  It is tied to the Jewish Passover.  The Last Supper was the Passover Seder.  Jesus went from there to the crucifixion.  The confusion comes because the Passover date is determined on the lunar calendar.  Lunar months do not line up consistently with the solar year thus the beginning date of each month moves around.  Since Passover moves, Easter moves.

Dishonest or ignorant people try to take the arbitrary nature of Christmas and transfer it to Easter and thus try to make the resurrection arbitrary.

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  It is the central point of Christian belief.  We are not making a day sacred but emphasizing an event that changed history.

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

homo unius libri