Easter

So, what’s so great about Easter?

For Christians Easter celebrates the ultimate expression of love through the most powerful gift ever given; the ability to directly connect with God.

Under the laws of Moses a person had to follow rules in order to be in good standing with God. They range from proper conduct, eating habits, to even the proper sacrifices to atone for violations of the rules.

The rules set up a pretty incredible government; the only problem is that no one is capable of living a life without messing up at least once. And the sacrifices only covered the flaws. If you messed up again you had to sacrifice again.

But why isn’t that good enough?

It’s not good enough because of the concept with God that we are working with here. God is a perfect, all powerful being. Given that God is all powerful, what happens when something that is imperfect comes into contact with something that is perfect?

Perfect wins, imperfect loses.

This is why a rope was tied to the leg of the high priest when he entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. If he entered God’s presence and had not properly prepared the sacrifices he’d drop dead immediately. I imagine the first time going something like this.

High Priest: (Exhale) Ok… I’m going in.

Not So High Priests: ok cool. Good luck.

*THUD*

Not So High Priest #1: Ummm… so… what now?

Not So High Priest #2: You should go get him.

Not So High Priest #1: Yeah right! You go get him! I ain’t going out like that!

Not So High Priest #3: Drats… we’ll have to bring a rope next time.

Super rough game

In the creation story Adam and Eve were able to chill in the garden and hang out with God. But then they ate the fruit and it was game over for all of that. With that choice they became flawed. God made them clothing of animal skins to cover them and then they were expelled from the garden.

Those skins represent the first sacrifice. And since then a sacrifice was required to cover our mistakes.

But Jesus represents the ultimate sacrifice. The idea of Jesus is essentially this. God comes to the world in human form, lives perfectly by the law and allows himself to become the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Whereas an animal without blemish would only cover a person’s imperfection, Jesus’ sacrifice covered every single blemish for every single person from the beginning of time to the end.

Pretty powerful dude.

For Christians who believe this, this fundamentally changes the way that people interact with God. The way to God ceased to be through one’s actions. Faith became the way to God.

And it is this faith in who Jesus was and what He did that works inside the believer to transform them into the best person they can be.

So Easter is not only a celebration of Jesus rising on the third day. For Christians it is a day to celebrate the fact that through faith in Jesus they can connect directly to God.

Perfection is no longer required, only faith.