Where did the word Easter come from, anyway? Well, the venerable Bede, an English scholar of the 8th century, proposed that the name came from a Teutonic Goddess named “Eastre”. Eastre’s given month was commensurate with our April and she was celebrated with such things as rabbits and also eggs to emphasize her role in fertility.
Does that make pagan idolaters of those who eat chocolate rabbits and hide eggs for the kiddos? Hardly. Especially if reading this is the first time you’ve heard of this goddess.
Romans 14 teaches us:
“One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.” Romans 14:5
God Himself, however, has made springtime special.
Winter is over. The long, dark, gray days of the cooler months are giving way to longer, brighter, sunshiny days. God made it so.
Along with the warm sunshine, the earth surges with new life. Grass is greening, trees are budding, flowers are blooming. Songbirds are everywhere, and animals that mated in the fall are now giving birth to their young. God has also put these things in order.
Remember that 3500 years ago it was God who instructed the Israelites to kill the first Passover Lambs in the spring of their deliverance (Exodus 12). The blood of those lambs saved Israel from suffering the last and worst judgment of death against Egypt.
Of course God’s plan was that those innocent lambs of thousands of years ago would foreshadow the coming of God’s own lamb, sent for our deliverance from sin.
“Easter” comes once a year and is a holiday of human origin. What truly brings life and renewal, however, is celebrated at the feast Jesus began that is kept every week by those saved though his sacrifice.
“While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom’”
Matthew 26:26-29
He invites you to come!