Happy Easter ALL!
I hope you have sweet plans this week to reflect on Jesus’ death and resurrection.
But I wanted to let you know something about me today, and I hope it gets you thinking a little more about the holidays we celebrate as Christians.
I enjoy alternate reality stories.
I am fascinated by the ripple effect of decisions. But mostly love asking what if, so my what if for
today is….
What if there was no Easter?
This could be exhaustive, but I want to focus on three things that would be different in our world. Let’s start small.
#1- there would be no Christmas.
I know right! The reason Christmas exists is because of what happened at Easter. If Jesus didn’t die and come back to life then he wasn’t the son of God and was merely a good teacher or revolutionary. So why would we celebrate the day of his birth?
There are many teachers and wise men/women that have a parade or celebration on their birthday, but not many that we celebrate both their birthday and death.
#2- There would be no Thanksgiving
I do not doubt that without Easter America would have been colonized, but the Pilgrims were Christians who sought out the Americas for a place to have religious freedom. But let’s take it back a little further and focus on the person Squanto. Squanto, who helped the pilgrims, had been captured by slave traders and taken to Europe as a young man. Upon arriving in Europe he was bought, as a means of rescue, by Christian Monks. These monks both educated and evangelized to Squanto, before helping him find a way back to the Americas. As a part of the monk’s efforts, Squanto was sent to England, where he learned English and eventually earned passage on a boat returning to the Americas.
If there had been no Easter, there would have been no monks to teach and aid Squanto in returning to New England. Without Squanto’s ability to communicate with the Pilgrims the power of God’s provision could have been lost.
#3- There would be no Democracy
Stick with me here this is a little more conceptual. Historically speaking democracies were attempted by the Mesopotamians and the Greeks, but each was overthrown by a more war-like non-democratic nation. Even Rome was struggling as a Republic around the time that Constantine instituted Christianity as the national religion. But even more so when the Black Death ravaged the known world in 1346-1353. After this era, it was the church that re-established society with a community focus rather than individualistic survival. Be sure to hear me that the “Church” didn’t do everything perfectly and made a lot of mistakes, hence why the reformation happened. But I digress. Without a Judeo-Christian shift in caring for the less fortunate the idea of democracy and freedom would have a shorter half-life.
These are a few interesting examples of how the world would be different without Easter.
The global impact of Easter is mind-blowing. But more importantly, is the eternal impact.
It is the greatest love story. If it is true, the most loving thing to do is to share it.
How will you share Easter?