PATHWAYS TO FAITH: Easter Sunday or Resurrection Day?
By Rev. Willie Holley
Easter Sunday has long been recognized in the Western world as the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The celebration of Easter represents the central feast of the Christian Liturgical year and coincides with the Jewish celebration of the Passover. According to the gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion at Calvary. Most orthodox Christian churches celebrate His resurrection on the day recognized as Easter Sunday, also called Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday. Some congregations such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Quakers (Society of Friends) reject the idea of Easter because of its connection to Pagan worship and the commercialization of the day with such things as the Easter Bunny, baskets of candy, and eggs. See the following discussion from Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia,
“Some Christians (usually, but not always fundamentalists), however, continue to reject the celebration of Easter (and Christmas), because they believe them to be tainted with paganism and idolatry. Their rejection of these traditions is based partly on their interpretation of 2 Corinthians 6:14-16. Additionally, some Christians who do celebrate Easter prefer to call it “Resurrection Sunday” or “Resurrection Day” due to the pagan associations of the word “Easter”.
Most prefer to distinguish the religious celebration from the more secular or commercial aspects of the holiday. This is also the view of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who instead observe a yearly commemorative service of the Last Supper and the subsequent death of Christ on the evening of Nisan 14 ( A Jewish Month) based on the calculations derived from the lunar Hebrew Calendar. It is commonly referred to, in short, by many Jehovah Witnesses as simply “The Memorial”. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that verses such as Luke 22:19-20 and 1 Cor 11:26 constitute a commandment to remember the death of Christ (and not the resurrection, since only the remembrance of the death was observed by early Christians), and they do so on a yearly basis just as Passover is celebrated annually by the Jews. (SPECIAL NOTE re: Nisan or Nissan) is the first month of the ecclesiastical year and the seventh month (eighth, in leap year) of the civil year, on the Hebrew calendar. The name of the month is Babylonian; in the Torah, it is called the month of the Aviv, referring to the month in which barley was ripe. It is a spring month of 30 days. Nisan usually falls in the time frame of our March–April on the Gregorian calendar.) Members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) traditionally do not celebrate or observe Easter (or any other Church holidays). They believe instead that “every day is the Lord’s day”, and to elevate one day above others suggests that it is acceptable to do non-Christian acts on other days. Likewise, they believe that every day is holy and should be lived as such. This belief of Quakers is known as their testimony against times and seasons.” I hope this has shed some light and new insight on the controversy over Easter versus Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday.
Regardless, let us all remember that the central point of the celebration is for us to remember that Jesus Christ died on Calvary’s cross and rose from the grave on the third day, after which He ascended to the Father and is sitting at the Father’s right hand as our advocate, intercessor, Lord and Savior. HAPPY EASTER, HAPPY RESURRECTION SUNDAY
OR HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY. Just remember that because Christ died at Calvary and rose from the grave, you have access to eternal life through Him.
Dr. Holley is the Senior Pastor at Pathways Christian Fellowship in Bradenton, Florida. Contact Dr. Holley at Wholley777@aol.com. PathwaysCFC.org.
