Easter

The central theme of the New Testament concerns the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospels describe how Jesus observed the Passover meal with His disciples and the next day was crucified. On the third day, He arose from the dead. By the time of the second century, the Easter festival was in full force for Christians to celebrate the Lord’s resurrection.

But from the beginning there were serious differences over when to celebrate Easter. Christians of Jewish origin celebrated the resurrection immediately after Passover since that is when Jesus died and arose according to the gospel accounts. The Jews used a lunar (moon) calendar to set the date on the evening of the full moon after the 14th day of Nisan (our March-April) and thus Easter would fall on different days of the week. Christians of Gentile origin felt that Easter should be celebrated on Sunday since that is the actual day Jesus arose, but they used a solar (sun) calendar. Over the years, the controversy grew and Easter was celebrated on different days by different churches.

In 325 AD, the council of Nicaea attempted to reconcile all the groups. They decided that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox (when Spring begins). Thus they made use of the lunar and solar calendars. This has been the basis for dating Easter ever since but it took centuries for them to figure out the differences between the old calendar systems and the true astronomical year so there were still differences. In 1582, the Gregorian calendar was adopted and things began to settle down. Interestingly, this year is the earliest Easter any one alive today will ever see. The next tie it will be this early is 220 years from now.

What’s the point? Simply this - look at all the controversy over a date. If folks had just read their New Testaments, all of this could have been avoided. Jesus instituted His memorial feast for Christians to remember His death and they did on the first day of every week (Acts 20:7.) But the Lord’s supper also is a celebration of the His resurrection (1 Cor. 11:26 - “till He comes.”) As long at saints observe the Lord’s supper, they are saying that He is alive and coming back. The Lord’s supper is a somber and joyous celebration observed every Sunday. No need to worry about which one.