Palm Sunday was yesterday while Good Friday and Easter are soon on the horizon. These holidays are held in very high regard by most Christians, but yet maybe they’re held in too high of regard.
As I think about the meaning of Easter, the meaning of Good Friday, and even the meaning of other holidays, especially Christmas, I can’t help but think of how extremely overexalted they are. They are held in such high honor as if they are the most important days of the year. Christmas is a national holiday and the major companies, and all government run ones get the day off. Easter may be the same way, but since it’s always on a Sunday, it’s already a day off for those same companies.
They are days where Christians get together to celebrate the real reason for them. But is that really right? Are these days that important?
There’s no doubt the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are the most important events in human history. I don’t doubt that at all, in fact I believe they deserve a lot of respect. However, the problem I have is confining them to one day.
It’s true that it is biblical to have days of remembrance of these things, such as Passover was to the Jews, as well as the other festivals that they had, but the holidays we have no are a little different. For starters, Passover was on the exact date in which they left Egypt, while Christmas and Easter are dates that aren’t on the birth of Jesus or on his resurrection, but are actually more in connection with pagan holidays. Also, they are not dates that are divinely stated by God to be celebrated.
With that being said, I’m not opposed to the holidays. My problem is the way that the holidays are exalted. Not only are they exalted, but what is celebrated is confined to that day alone. How many people think of the birth of Jesus besides in December? Maybe if someone is reading the beginning of Luke or Matthew they might, but beyond that there isn’t much thought of Jesus’ birth.
How many people remember the resurrection and death of Christ besides late March to mid-April? This one is more commonly held in reverence, especially during communion. However, in a lot of churches communion isn’t taken very often (only 3-4, or maybe 6 times a year). There are some churches that will take communion weekly, thus remembering what Jesus has done on the cross a bit more often.
The problem still remains, without these instituted dates for celebration, the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ are merely faint thoughts in our heads. They are pushed to the back of our brains, replaced by “the more important” things in our lives. Our job, our families, our activities, and everything else that is a “pressing issue” is pushed to the front of our brains, only to allow the truly most important part of our lives to be pushed back and all but forgotten about.
This “holiday season,” I can’t help but stress how Jesus and all who He was and everything He did should be the thing that is in the front of our minds and in constant thought and remembrance. What good is Christ if we only remember Him a few days out of the year? How truly important does that show salvation (and Jesus Himself) to be?
If Christ is the center of our lives, He deserves to be remembered, in all that He did, every second of every day, not just a few hours, or so, a few days a year.
Stuck In Between 