Of all the major holidays, Easter treads the lightest. There is no Easter gift rush, no glut of Easter parties. The TV schedules are not crammed with Easter specials. The grocery stores see a mild uptick in sales of candy and hams, the long distance carriers a modest increase in business. But mostly, Easter simply rides in on the breath of Spring, lingers a few hours and rustles off into Summer.
And rightfully so. Easter is the most mystical of all Christian holidays; unlike its chief rival, Christmas, it is a celebration of an event that is embedded in true faith and theology. On Christmas, Jesus was born. No big deal; I was born too, and so were you. The Nativity story throws in its divine zinger – Mary was a virgin – but still, the essence of the holiday is a human birth, pure and simple. Not difficult to comprehend.
Easter, however, is the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. This event is not simply the return of a ghost, it is the claimed return of a dead man, body and soul. This fusion of divinity and humanity in the raised Corpus Christi exists nowhere else in the world’s major religions, and sets Christianity apart even from its closest cousins. Judaism and Islam, on the other hand, both claim great prophets, but prophets who are divinely inspired, not God Himself. And certainly not prophets that proclaim themselves to be conquerors of death.
This perhaps is the reason Easter has such weak roots in our secular culture, why it is not the economic and social beast that Christmas is. Easter is the embodiment of a phenomenon in Christianity sometimes referred to as the “trilemma” of C.S. Lewis (which I will paraphrase in a way that more suits my viewpoint than its original author's). Lewis argued that there are three elements to the Gospel story of Jesus. First, the Wise Jesus, who said many memorable things, things that even people with no faith can appreciate, such as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” or “When someone strikes you, turn the other cheek,” or “Those who live by the sword die by the sword.” Then there is the Sacred Jesus, who preached love of God and the Lord’s Prayer. Sacred Jesus preached a reformed religion of love and intimacy with God. Sacred Jesus appeals to anyone with some faith in God.
The final element is the Divine Jesus. This is the Jesus who performed miracles, who flatly stated that he is God, and who died and rose from the dead. The Divine Jesus, according to the Trilemma, is the Jesus that only Christians can follow. Anyone can appreciate the philosophy of wise Jesus. Many with a small faith or a general belief in Monotheism can appreciate the Sacred Jesus, but the Divine Jesus, the Christ, is only for people who completely accept Christianity.
Since Easter is all about the Divine Jesus, there is simply no room for a secular Easter. Yes, it is true that we have the Easter Bunny, but the Easter Bunny is vague compared to the extensive mythology of Santa Claus. The Santa story is so specific, so palpable the we know the name of his reindeer, know where he lives, his body mass index, and specifics about his clothing. Is the Easter Bunny so well drawn? And why are there so many Christmas carols, secular and non-secular, compared with the barest trace of Easter songs? It is because a birth story is easily translated into terms a secular society can understand, while a resurrection story is so ephemeral and rooted in theology that it escapes any attempt to crystallize it.
A good thing, too. Not everything in life needs to be commercialized.
All those who are Christians know what to do with Easter. But I would like to throw a pearl to those who feel they are standing on the outside. If you have problems getting your mind around the Resurrection story, consider that all religion, and even atheism, is an attempt to come to terms with the good and evil that coexists in the world. As there are many, many different people in the world, so it is likely that there would be many different ways to cope with life. I should be surprised if a single faith could ever hold the entire world for long. That would require that we all be alike! So on Easter, just as we consider the divisions with which we approach Jesus himself, we can pause to consider and honor all the ways people engage life. In biology, we call that diversity. We usually think of diversity as good.
I can’t imagine how hollow the world would be if we all found meaning in it the same way. I am thinking primarily of a world full of atheists, but it would also apply if everyone thought of the world the way I do, too.
The Resurrection is undoubtedly the most difficult concept to accept in the Christian faith. There are many who even profess themselves Christian who do not really completely accept it.
Today, accept your “coping belief” as it is. Do not worry if you accept the Sacred Jesus and cannot go further. Or if you had the Divine Jesus as your own and have lost him partly or completely. Or even if your coping belief is pure rationalism and rejects all faith.
If Jesus teaches us anything, it is that none of us are any better than anyone else. It is one thing to believe, and another to think ourselves better than others because they believe differently. We are all struggling. What foolishness makes anyone think he has broken ahead of the pack?
And rightfully so. Easter is the most mystical of all Christian holidays; unlike its chief rival, Christmas, it is a celebration of an event that is embedded in true faith and theology. On Christmas, Jesus was born. No big deal; I was born too, and so were you. The Nativity story throws in its divine zinger – Mary was a virgin – but still, the essence of the holiday is a human birth, pure and simple. Not difficult to comprehend.
Easter, however, is the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. This event is not simply the return of a ghost, it is the claimed return of a dead man, body and soul. This fusion of divinity and humanity in the raised Corpus Christi exists nowhere else in the world’s major religions, and sets Christianity apart even from its closest cousins. Judaism and Islam, on the other hand, both claim great prophets, but prophets who are divinely inspired, not God Himself. And certainly not prophets that proclaim themselves to be conquerors of death.
This perhaps is the reason Easter has such weak roots in our secular culture, why it is not the economic and social beast that Christmas is. Easter is the embodiment of a phenomenon in Christianity sometimes referred to as the “trilemma” of C.S. Lewis (which I will paraphrase in a way that more suits my viewpoint than its original author's). Lewis argued that there are three elements to the Gospel story of Jesus. First, the Wise Jesus, who said many memorable things, things that even people with no faith can appreciate, such as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” or “When someone strikes you, turn the other cheek,” or “Those who live by the sword die by the sword.” Then there is the Sacred Jesus, who preached love of God and the Lord’s Prayer. Sacred Jesus preached a reformed religion of love and intimacy with God. Sacred Jesus appeals to anyone with some faith in God.
The final element is the Divine Jesus. This is the Jesus who performed miracles, who flatly stated that he is God, and who died and rose from the dead. The Divine Jesus, according to the Trilemma, is the Jesus that only Christians can follow. Anyone can appreciate the philosophy of wise Jesus. Many with a small faith or a general belief in Monotheism can appreciate the Sacred Jesus, but the Divine Jesus, the Christ, is only for people who completely accept Christianity.
Since Easter is all about the Divine Jesus, there is simply no room for a secular Easter. Yes, it is true that we have the Easter Bunny, but the Easter Bunny is vague compared to the extensive mythology of Santa Claus. The Santa story is so specific, so palpable the we know the name of his reindeer, know where he lives, his body mass index, and specifics about his clothing. Is the Easter Bunny so well drawn? And why are there so many Christmas carols, secular and non-secular, compared with the barest trace of Easter songs? It is because a birth story is easily translated into terms a secular society can understand, while a resurrection story is so ephemeral and rooted in theology that it escapes any attempt to crystallize it.
A good thing, too. Not everything in life needs to be commercialized.
All those who are Christians know what to do with Easter. But I would like to throw a pearl to those who feel they are standing on the outside. If you have problems getting your mind around the Resurrection story, consider that all religion, and even atheism, is an attempt to come to terms with the good and evil that coexists in the world. As there are many, many different people in the world, so it is likely that there would be many different ways to cope with life. I should be surprised if a single faith could ever hold the entire world for long. That would require that we all be alike! So on Easter, just as we consider the divisions with which we approach Jesus himself, we can pause to consider and honor all the ways people engage life. In biology, we call that diversity. We usually think of diversity as good.
I can’t imagine how hollow the world would be if we all found meaning in it the same way. I am thinking primarily of a world full of atheists, but it would also apply if everyone thought of the world the way I do, too.
The Resurrection is undoubtedly the most difficult concept to accept in the Christian faith. There are many who even profess themselves Christian who do not really completely accept it.
Today, accept your “coping belief” as it is. Do not worry if you accept the Sacred Jesus and cannot go further. Or if you had the Divine Jesus as your own and have lost him partly or completely. Or even if your coping belief is pure rationalism and rejects all faith.
If Jesus teaches us anything, it is that none of us are any better than anyone else. It is one thing to believe, and another to think ourselves better than others because they believe differently. We are all struggling. What foolishness makes anyone think he has broken ahead of the pack?