The True Meaning of Easter

Easter is an interesting time, usually a time when people, whether Christian or not, go to church. It is for that reason, that many church leaders talk about salvation.

The other day was Easter and as most Easters go, or at least the ones that I have been to, there was talk of salvation in the sense of going to heaven or judgment in the sense of going to hell, yet there is usually no talk of resurrection. There is usually a drama about a Christian who is knocking at people's doors and trying to get them to accept Jesus into their heart and go to heaven forever. Is that really what is important? Populating heaven so that we will have enough people to play in the heavenly football game, with subs and fans.

I find it interesting that when we think about resurrection we think about heaven and eternal life, yet that is not how the first century Jews and for that matter the first century Christians would have thought. Resurrection would have been heard not in terms of life after death but rather "life after life after death", however that is a topic for another time, but I can recommend some good books on the topic of "life after life after death." The main point is that they were not focused on saving souls from eternal torment, yet this is the main concept heard during the wide array of Easter services each year.

Perhaps we should re frame what the Easter holiday really stands for. If life after death and saving souls from torment was not that important in the life of the first century, why is it so important for us today? Maybe it should not be our focus, but rather bringing God's justice to the world today, working with God to make the world the way it was intended to be, having us be the stewards of this creation, and fulfilling our destiny.