If you’ve attended a church service on Easter, you might have heard the pastor say that Christians are an “Easter People”. What exactly does that mean?
First, did you know that Sundays are NOT technically the Sabbath? Nope! Christians gather to worship on Sunday because it’s the Day of Resurrection – AKA the day of the week Jesus was raised from the dead. The Sabbath, according to Jewish tradition, is Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel a whole lot better about sleeping in on Saturdays and doing a whole bunch of nothing.
Second, did you know that Easter isn’t a one-day celebration? It’s actually a 50-day church season that starts on Easter Sunday and ends on Pentecost.
Easter isn’t just a one-time celebration or feast day. It’s ongoing. Every Sunday is, at its core, a mini-Easter, and there’s a good chunk of the year that we should be celebrating as Easter. Whether we do or not is a different story.
As Easter People, we are supposed to be celebrating. Living the most alive, flourishing, vivacious, liveliest, vital, (insert your favorite synonyms for alive here) life of anyone on this planet. We have the opportunity to live a resurrection lifestyle. A lifestyle Jesus embodied throughout his life and ministry. Case in point:
The disciples got to witness this resurrection lifestyle firsthand when Jesus was living with them. I love this cool scene from when Jesus’ friend Lazarus dies and he chats with Laz’s sister Martha (John 11: 17-27):
17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles[d] down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[e] Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.”
Can you see this scene playing out? I have to laugh because it’s just so ironic. Martha is one of those people who can’t read subtext well. We all know a person like this. She’s the one at the party who doesn’t get the punchline of the joke. Here, the joke is on her. Jesus reveals the truth to her in such a dramatic way… I imagine him saying to her, “don’t you get it? I AM the resurrection! Resurrection is here, NOW!” Jesus and Martha both must have face palmed in the biggest “DUH” moment in recorded history.
Let’s live like resurrection day is everyday, because IT IS! Let’s live like Easter People.
What do you think it means to be an “Easter People”? I’d love to hear your thoughts – leave a comment below and let’s chat!
Coming up:
Wednesday: How to Make a Herb Spiral
Next Sunday: Why so much garden imagery in the Bible?
Haha! I love that YOLO meme; I’ve never seen that one before!