The Story of Easter

Christians across the world celebrate Easter, to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion, on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs upon or next after the Spring Equinox. (In the Eastern Orthodox Church a slightly different calculation is followed, so their Easter may or may not coincide with that of the Western church).

The celebration of Easter is preceded by the forty days of Lent, a period of prayer and self-denial for Christians. The period of Lent includes Holy Week, the week immediately preceding Easter Sunday.

Now read the story that lies behind the festival.

More than two thousand years ago, in a stable in Bethlehem, was born Jesus, the son of Joseph the carpenter and his wife Mary. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, and became a carpenter like his father.

When Jesus was a young man, he saw the suffering of the people of Palestine under the oppressive rule of Herod's sons, and the Roman procurators. Together with twelve disciples, Jesus wandered the countryside, preaching religious reform and the love of God for His people. He was concerned with the welfare of the poor and the oppressed and spoke against the hypocrisy of the privileged and the rich. The Pharisees, Jewish scholars, strongly opposed his teachings, and resented his growing influence. But Jesus was welcomed and loved by the common people who looked upon him as the long-awaited Messiah. As the number of his followers and his influence with the people grew, the Jewish and Roman authorities began to suspect Jesus of being a revolutionary and a troublemaker.

Jesus faithfully observed the religious customs and festivals of his community, including the festival of Passover, which marked the end of slavery in Egypt for his people. So it happened that one year Jesus decided to go to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

As he entered Jerusalem, the people welcomed him with songs of praise. They covered his path with flowers, and waved green palm fronds in the air, and formed a great procession to lead him into Jerusalem. The Pharisees were afraid and angry when they saw the welcome he received from the people of Jerusalem. Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem, where he drove out the moneylenders. This annoyed the priests further. They decided that the time had come to rid themselves of this carpenter's son from Nazareth, who wielded such tremendous power over the hearts of the people. The Pharisees, the priests and the Romans plotted to arrest and execute Jesus.

A few days later, Jesus celebrated the Feast of the Passover with his twelve disciples. While they were eating, the disciples began to argue among themselves as to who was better than the others. Jesus listened in silence, and then taking a basin of water, began washing the feet of his disciples. When he came to his disciple Peter, Peter protested. But Jesus explained why he did what he did - to tell them that no one was better than the other, that if he, whom they called Lord and Master, could wash their feet, then they too could wash each other's feet.

Jesus then told his disciples, that before the night was out, one of them would betray him, and give him up to those who would kill him. The disciples were horrified, and asked Jesus to tell them who it was who would turn traitor. But Jesus only said that it was one of the twelve who ate with him that night.

The disciple John, who was sitting next to Jesus, whispered so that no one else could hear, 'Lord, who is it?' Jesus whispered back so only John could hear, 'It is the one to whom I shall give a piece of bread after I have dipped it in the dish.' Then Jesus reached across the table and gave the bread to his disciple Judas Iscariot.

Judas left the table at once, and as he went, Jesus said to him, 'Do quickly what you have to do.'

Before the meal was over that night, Jesus took some of the unleavened bread of the feast and broke it into pieces. He gave a piece each to the eleven remaining disciples, saying 'Take and eat this, for this is my body which is given for you.' He then passed a cup of watered wine to them and said, 'Drink, for this is my blood which is shed for thee.' Then Jesus commanded, 'Do this as often as you would remember me.'

Jesus spent the rest of the night praying in a grove of olive trees, called the garden of Gethsemane. He knew that when morning came, Judas Iscariot would betray him.

Judas had hurried to the High Priest of the Temple as soon as he left Jesus and the other disciples. Judas had agreed to betray Jesus for the sum of thirty pieces of silver. When it was almost dawn, he led the High Priest and the Pharisees and the Roman soldiers to the grove where Jesus waited with his remaining disciples. So that the Roman soldiers would arrest the right person, Judas ran up to Jesus and embraced him.

Jesus was taken to the home of the High Priest where the priests demanded that he be killed. But the land was ruled by the Romans, and no one could be executed without their sanction. So Jesus was led to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate questioned Jesus, and then declared he could not sentence him for he saw no evil in him. But the priests and the Pharisees insisted that Jesus was a troublemaker, and should be put to death. So Pilate sent Jesus to King Herod, who ruled Galilee from where Jesus came. But Herod too could find no evil in Jesus, and sent him back to Pilate.

Once again Pilate said to the enemies of Jesus that he saw no reason to execute him, and that he should be set free. But Jesus' enemies demanded that he be crucified. At length, Pilate gave in to their demands, and ruled that Jesus be put to death on the cross.

Jesus was crucified as a political rebel the very same day on a hill called Golgotha. When at length he died, his friends asked Pilate if they might take down his body, to give it proper burial. Pilate agreed. So Jesus' followers took him down from the cross, and wrapped him in a shroud, and buried him in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea near Golgotha.

That Jesus was a real person, of that there is no doubt. But very little is known of his life, apart from what his followers told and wrote. It is therefore difficult to separate facts from belief while telling the story of Jesus.

Jesus' story, according to the Christians, does not end with his death and burial. Three days after his death, some women went to Jesus' tomb with fragrant herbs to place in the linen wrappings around his body. But they found that the tomb lay open, and two Angels sat where the body of Jesus had been lying. The Angels told the women not to be afraid, for said they, Jesus had risen from the dead.

Christians the world over believe in Jesus' Resurrection, and celebrate Easter to mark the event. Belief in the Resurrection is central to the Christian faith, and Easter is the most important celebration in the calendar of the Christian Church.

Easter occurs on only one particular Sunday. But Christians remember the events of the last few days in the life of Christ in their observance of Lent and of Holy Week.

Lent is the period of forty days (not counting Sundays) immediately preceding Easter Sunday. The forty days of Lent are symbolic of the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert, fasting and praying, and preparing himself to take the message of God to the people.

The first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday. In Rome this was the beginning of a period of public penance - penitents would be sprinkled with ashes and dressed in sackcloth, and would remain apart from the Christian community till Maundy Thursday, the Thursday immediately before Easter Sunday. Today, in the Roman Catholic Church, a worshipper receives a cross on the forehead of ashes obtained from burning palm leaves. Lent concludes with Holy Saturday, the day before Easter.

The period of Lent includes Holy Week, the week immediately before Easter Sunday. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

Maundy Thursday is the day that Jesus celebrated the feast of the Passover with his twelve disciples, his Last Supper, and when Judas left to betray him. It is observed in commemoration of Jesus Christ's institution of the Eucharist, his sharing of the bread and wine among his disciples. The name 'Maundy Thursday' derives from an anthem sung in Roman Catholic Churches on that day: 'Mandatum novum do vobis' - 'a new Commandment I give you'.

Good Friday is commemorates the passion and death of Jesus.

Holy Saturday ends the Lenten season. On this day Jesus was buried. The evening service on Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil, begins in darkness. Lights are brought into the Church only after the Easter candle is lit. The lighting of candles symbolizes the passing of Jesus from death into life. Church bells are rung to signify the end of Lent.

Easter Sunday celebrates Jesus' Resurrection.