Easter and spring certainly go hand in hand. We are all well aware that many of our Easter traditions were borrowed or just outright taken from pagan rituals, the eggs and bunnies. But the connection isn’t just a matter of theft. Both seasons deal with life, the renewal of life. It is only right that after a long winter people would celebrate as life seemed to flow once again through the world around them. Even here where the winter may be mild, we get tired of the grayness of winter. We are renewed as we see the trees bud out and blooms appear in our yards. There is a sense of life returning.
All of this is simply a reflection of the spiritual. Man was in a perpetual winter of sin before Christ. Certainly the Jewish people had their sacrifices, but these didn’t really forgive. The writer of Hebrews says they were only a reminder of sin, because the blood of bulls and goats can’t forgive sin (Hebrews 10:3, 4). In Christ we find the final payment for sin. It has been paid in full and there is no longer any need for sacrifice to be made. Yet not only is the debt paid, but the reign of sin ended. We now have access to life, to a new spring from the winter of sin.
Easter begins with the remembrance of a death, Christ’s death for us on the cross. But it reaches its climax on Easter morning as the victorious Christ rises from the tomb and conquers death. Christmas is a wonderful story, Easter is a triumphant story of life over death, and every spring we are reminded of this.
Don
All of this is simply a reflection of the spiritual. Man was in a perpetual winter of sin before Christ. Certainly the Jewish people had their sacrifices, but these didn’t really forgive. The writer of Hebrews says they were only a reminder of sin, because the blood of bulls and goats can’t forgive sin (Hebrews 10:3, 4). In Christ we find the final payment for sin. It has been paid in full and there is no longer any need for sacrifice to be made. Yet not only is the debt paid, but the reign of sin ended. We now have access to life, to a new spring from the winter of sin.
Easter begins with the remembrance of a death, Christ’s death for us on the cross. But it reaches its climax on Easter morning as the victorious Christ rises from the tomb and conquers death. Christmas is a wonderful story, Easter is a triumphant story of life over death, and every spring we are reminded of this.
Don
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