This article written by William Michael, Director of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy - www.classicalliberalarts.com
Easter is the festa festorum or "feast of feasts" in the Catholic Church calendar. However, with Wal-Mart rolling out Christmas gear in early October and radio stations playing Nat, Bing and Perry (no last names needed!) in November, it would seem that Easter has been surpassed by Christmas. We can try to blame "American materialism" for the popularity of Christmas, but stores provide only what their customers demand. Seeing modernity's parallel obsession with "self-improvement", healthcare and insurance we will find the real root and source of the change. It was faith and spiritual-mindedness that originally gave Easter its deserved primacy. When we consider the historical and philosophical message of Easter and allow it to renew our minds today, the great feast will once again be considered "the most wonderful time of the year".
ENSLAVED THROUGH FEAR
"Who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life." (Heb 2:15)
From the beginning of time, man has been mindful of the mystery and terrors of death. All of the greatest poets sang of Tartarus, Elysium and the experiences of the "shades" beneath the earth. Philosophers examined the complex questions that proceeded from thoughts of death. World religions offered different answers for questions of death and the afterlife. We need to look no further than the Egyptian pyramids to find the symbols of reign of death in the ancient world. The question was no less perplexing in Israel. Although they received the Sacred Scriptures, the question of death and the afterlife remained hidden in mystery. Even Solomon, the wisest of ancients, wrestled with thoughts of the death of man:
Man goes to his lasting home, and mourners go about the streets; the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities...all things are vanity!
Despite the centuries of debate, there remained no solution. The Jews understood that all men must die and face judgment for their deeds, but the details remained unclear. By the second century the explicit mention of a "resurrection to life" was known (2 Ma. 7:14), but debated even in Jesus' time (Matt 22:23). The Epicureans, ancestors of today's naturalists, were persuaded that death and extinction were one and the same. Platonists maintained the eternity of the soul but knew that the soul must return to a body or exist to no purpose! Not seeing a reason for the soul to re-enter its original body, they embraced a form of reincarnation. Tertullian rightly said that they "knocked at the door of the truth, but entered not".
To the Jewish prophets it was revealed that a day was coming when this reign of death would no longer enslave mankind. Isaiah looked ahead and spoke: The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light; on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death...light has arisen! This light, we know, was the Son of God. Modern generations have twisted Christ's mission and message, seeking to understand it apart from its original philosophical context. Today, we see an emphasis on Christ's death because that is seen as the means by which He paid for our sins and saved us. This results, however, in the lazy "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." attitude that denies the fulness of the Christian message. After all, our Lord taught the contrary: "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect."
The climax of the mission of Christ was not His death, but His resurrection. The resurrection of Christ converted mankind's questions from the mysteries of death and to those of everlasting life. Once and for all, the fact of the resurrection of the body was established and furnished with many infallible proofs that would not only change human philosophy forever, but also human behavior.
SET FREE THROUGH HOPE
"Present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness." (Romans 6)
When we look at the life of Christ, we find endless work, complete self-denial, disregard for all honors, possessions and benefits of this life. We see courage in the face of threats, gentleness in the presence of enemies and simplicity of life--all of which He commands of us. St. Peter reminds us that Christ's life was no mere object for our observation, but "an example that you should follow in his footsteps." What we learn is that the motivation for this way of life is an abandonment of ourselves to our future resurrection. After all, if we are convinced that this life is a temporary trial through which we may win everlasting rewards including the restoration and perfection of that which we sacrifice now, what would we hold back? Would we value sleep so much, or food? Would we value vacations and comforts for the body? Would we save our own lives and preseve our own safety, or would we, like St. Paul, be persuaded at last that "to live is Christ, and to die is gain."?
Easter is, therefore, the annual celebration of our freedom, our spiritual Independence Day. By the resurrection of Christ we are free from the fear of death. We are free from concerns about our life, our health, our age and so on. We are free from the checklist of human achivements, the contest for human honors and the river of human customs that keep us from abandoning ourselves to the will of God and doing what God's Spirit urges in us. Therefore, let the world have its candy canes and jingle bells, its stockings and mistletoe. None of these compares with the freedom and hope of Easter, "the feast of feasts".
Written by William Michael
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