No Easter. . .No Holidays

(A repeat from 2013)

There is a sweet lady who lives at the retirement facility where we do services who shared with us last week "If there was no Easter, there would be no Christmas."

 (Photo credit: WillowGardeners)

This statement is indeed true.  As miraculous and wonderful as the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ was, if it had not been followed by His life of sinless perfection, His death on the cross in accordance with prophecy and the resultant Resurrection on that first Easter Sunday, we would not have anything to celebrate as "Christmas."

Today I began thinking about Mrs. Marie's statement and realized if there was no Easter, we also would not have Thanksgiving.  Many of those Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation were Christians who had fled to the New World seeking religious freedom.  If there had been no Easter, they would not have been Christians in need of a new place to worship in freedom.

If there had been no Easter it is likely there might not have been an Independence Day, a Veteran's Day nor a Memorial Day.  Our country may not have been founded in the same way, on the same principles, with the same Constitution.  We certainly wouldn't have President's Day.

If there had been no Easter and our country had not been founded by the same men and built on the same Constitution with the same value for the citizens and their hard work and effort, there might not be a Labor Day.  We might not value mothers or fathers and celebrate their days either.

Since even our years are marked by the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, using BC and AD, perhaps even our calendars and timing mechanisms would be different if there had been no Easter, and we would not have a New Year's Day.

Considering how monumental to the whole human race that one day, that one moment was in the history of mankind, isn't it amazing how quiet, how solitary it was?  No camera crews, no crowds, even the guard assigned to the tomb "trembled and became as dead men."  

As we look toward tomorrow, which our society has enshrouded with bunnies and eggs and chocolate (although I like the chocolate), let us remember that this day was perhaps the most important day in the history of the entire human race.

Matthew 28:5-7

"But the angel said to the women, 
'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  
He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. 
Come, see the place where He lay.   
Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead' "