Sunday, March 28, 2010

Easter ~ Encyclopedia

Easter
From: Encylopedia

Easter (Greek: Πάσχα, Pascha or Pasxa) is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. Christians believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead two days after his crucifixion, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Sunday, two days after Good Friday. The year of this resurrection is variously estimated between the years 26 and 36 AD (see also Chronology of Jesus). Many non-sectarian cultural elements, such as the Easter Bunny, have become part of the holiday's modern celebrations, and those aspects are often celebrated by many Christians and non-Christians alike.

Easter also refers to the season of the church year called Eastertide or the Easter Season. Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of prayer and penance.

Easter is termed a moveable feast because it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. Easter falls at some point between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity), following the cycle of the moon. After several centuries of disagreement, all churches accepted the computation of the Alexandrian Church (now the Coptic Church) that Easter is the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, which is the first moon whose 14th day (the ecclesiastic "full moon") is on or after March 21 (the ecclesiastic "vernal equinox").

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover not only for much of its symbolism but also for its position in the calendar. The Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples before his crucifixion is generally thought of as a Passover meal, based on the chronology in the Gospels. Some, however, interpreting "Passover" in as a single meal and not an eight-day festival, interpret the Gospel of John as differing from the Synoptic Gospels by placing Christ's death at the time of the slaughter of the Passover lamb, which would put the Last Supper slightly before Passover, on Nisan 14 of the Bible's Hebrew calendar. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "In fact, the Jewish feast was taken over into the Christian Easter celebration."

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Easter: The Verdict

by Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

In our Devotionals series, Pastor Rick Warren discusses the Bible passages that inspire him the most. Today's Devotional is based on this passage:
"'What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?' Pilate asked them" (Mark 15:12 NIV).

Two thousand years ago, in the Middle East, an event occurred that permanently changed the world. Because of that event, history was split. Every time you write a date, you're using the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the focal point.

What does this mean to us today? In one sense, Jesus Christ is still on trial. He's on trial in the heart and mind of every person who has not yet acknowledged Him as the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

Was Jesus a liar, a lunatic, or Lord?

Jesus claimed to be the Savior of the world. In John 12:47, He is recorded as saying: "I didn't come to judge the world. I came to save it." Some people say, "I believe Jesus was a good teacher." But, He couldn't be just a good teacher because a good teacher would not say, "I'm God, and I'm the only way to heaven." A good person would not say that unless it was the truth.

What's your verdict?

- Is Jesus who He says He is? Is He God? Or is He a lunatic or a liar?

- If He is who He says He is, when will you start following what He says to do with your life?

Today, you sit in judgment of Jesus Christ. Just as Pilate asked, "What shall I do then with Jesus who is called the Christ?" you also must decide whether He was who He said He was or not.

Easter: Jesus' Resurrection

by Rick Warren ~ ThePurpose Driven Life

In our Devotionals series, Pastor Rick Warren discusses the Bible passages that inspire him the most. Today's Devotional is based on this passage:

"The Good News is about His Son. In His earthly life He was born into King David's family line, and He was shown to be the Son of God when He was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:3-4 NLT).


Although we study the passion of Jesus, His death on the cross, Easter is a celebration of His resurrection: God brought Jesus back from the dead, proving He'd broken the power of sin and death.

After Jesus died, they took His body down and put Him in the tomb, and a giant millstone was set in front of the cave. The religious leaders, worried that Jesus' body might be stolen, asked for Roman guards to be posted in front of the tomb. They didn't want Him coming out!

But of course, He did.

You know the story. But it's important to remember that Easter is not some memorial to a nice, good religious teacher who lived 2,000 years ago. It's a celebration of the fact that He is alive today!

I'm living proof—and so are the approximately 1 billion Christians who celebrate Easter. Jesus "was shown to be the Son of God when He was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:4 NLT).

Easter is the good news about God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who came as a human baby, born into King David's royal family line. Four historical records say that after His resurrection He showed Himself to 500 people at one gathering.

Can you imagine witnessing His death and then seeing Him walking around Jerusalem three days later? What an amazing thing!

When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the skeptics and critics mocked Him and said, "If You're the Son of God, why don't You just pull yourself down from that cross? Why don't You just come down and show that You're really God?"

Jesus had something more spectacular planned. He said, "I'm going to let you bury Me for three days, then I'll come back to life to prove that I am who I say I am."

Easter: Jesus' Death

by Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

In our Devotionals series, Pastor Rick Warren discusses the Bible passages that inspire him the most. Today's Devotional is based on this passage:
"That's what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18 MSG).

Easter celebrates an event that proved Jesus was who He claimed to be. He was God in the flesh, and He came to earth to save us. And that meant He had to die for us.

After a night of beatings and mocking, after being crowned with painful thorns, Jesus was crucified. Crucifixion is probably the most brutal and torturous death penalty ever devised by men. His hands were stretched out wide against the cross and nailed through the two bones in each wrist. As the nails went through this part of the flesh, they would strike the nerve that travels up the arm and cause excruciating pain.

If you hang this way for any period of time, the muscles around your chest cavity become paralyzed. You can breathe in but you can't breathe out. Death on a cross is really a simple matter of suffocation, except the Romans didn't want to make it that easy. They'd take a person's knees and bend them a little bit and nail the feet to the cross.

So a man would hang there in absolute agony until the pain in his chest was about to explode, and then he would lift himself up on his nailed feet to grab a breath. When the pain in his feet grew unbearable, he'd let himself back down again until the pain in his lungs became unbearable. It was an incredibly torturous event.

Eventually, the soldiers would break the legs of the criminal to hasten death by suffocation.

In the case of Jesus, they didn't have to break His legs, because He had already died. But just to make sure, they stuck a spear in His side. Water and blood came out of the chest cavity, which, doctors say, only happens if the heart rips. You can call it what you want, but Jesus died of a broken heart.

Why did Jesus have to die? Because He alone was able to pay for your sins. You deserved punishment, but Jesus paid the penalty for you: "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3:18 NIV).

Easter: Jesus' Trial

by Rick Warren ~ The Purpose Driven Life

In our Devotionals series, Pastor Rick Warren discusses the Bible passages that inspire him the most. Today's Devotional is based on this passage:
"But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked Him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" (Mark 14:61 NIV)

What's so important about Easter? It's important because it proved that Jesus was who He claimed to be. He was God in the flesh, and He came to earth to save us.

Three events occurred in dramatic succession on that Easter weekend: the trial of Jesus, then the death of Jesus, and finally the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus actually went through six trials. In that one night, he was brought before Annas (the father-in-law of Caiaphas), Caiaphas (the high priest), the Sanhedrin (the religious Supreme Court), Pilate (the governor of Jerusalem), Herod (the governor of Galilee), and then back to Pilate.

At the end of those six trials, what did they find to accuse Him of? Nothing. He had done nothing wrong. They brought in people to make up phony charges, but those didn't stick. Finally they convicted him on one count: claiming to be the Son of God. That's the sole reason Jesus went to the cross.

Everyone who has ever been presented with Jesus has already made some kind of decision about who He is. You either believe He's a liar, or you believe He's a lunatic, or you believe He's the Lord. It can't just be "I believe He was a good teacher." He couldn't be just a good teacher, because a good teacher would not say, "I'm God, and I'm the only way to heaven." A good person would not say that unless it was the truth.

Jesus claimed to be the Savior of the world. In John 12:47, He is recorded as saying: "I did not come to judge the world, but to save it" (NIV). He allowed Himself to be put on trial so there would be no doubt about who He was. He could have stopped the trial at any moment; he knew He would be proven guilty and put on the cross—but He allowed it to happen. It was all part of the plan.