THE TRADITIONS OF EASTER

#599                                     THE TRADITIONS OF EASTER

Scripture  Acts 12:4, NIV                                                                                      Orig. 4/15/1973

                                                                                                                  Rewr. 4/1976, 3/24/1991

Passage: After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

Purpose: To share with my people some of the background enabling some of the Easter traditions to surface and to be sustained.

Keywords:                              Easter              Traditions

Timeline/Series:                     Easter

Introduction

            V4, And when he had apprehended him, he put him (Peter) in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.

            If you are following me in any version other than the conventional King James, then you probably are wondering about the reading of the word Easter.  And rightly so!

            Of all of the versions that I have checked, including the New King James, the translation is appropriately rendered “Passover.”  It was the Passover season.  Herod Agrippa was interested only in ingratiating himself to the Jews.  He was the grandson of Herod the Great who, by the way, killed his father, Aristobulus.  Agrippa was brought up in Rome in its imperial society.  He helped Caligula become emperor.  He was rewarded with the tetrarchy of Phillip, Galilee and Perea.  At Caligula’s death he helped Claudias to become emperor, and was further rewarded with Judea and Samaria.  His ancestry was Edomite as well as Jewish, but  his heart and soul were Roman.

            At the Passover season, he would scrupulously accommodate Jewish tradition to win the approval of the Hebrew leaders.  He has put James to death.  In discovering the pleasure this brings to the Jews, he takes Peter for the same purpose.  But it is Passover, and not Easter, in the context of these current events.

            In the mindset of a translator fifteen hundred years later, it was also Easter, and so called.

I.          A First Concern Ought to be for Developmental Religion.  The word “Easter” does not rightly appear in the New Testament.  As we have seen, this is a mistranslation.  But we well know that over time traditions surrounding Easter will develop.  Some of them are based on honoring Jesus.  Others are simply superstitions brought over from  other religions.

            We are quite secure with date of Easter.  Christmas is an illustration  of the problem.  During third century [Christmas] began to be celebrated.  [December 25th] was chosen because it was the day of the festival of Mithra, the sun god.  Jesus was “the light of the world.”  The date of Easter (resurrection) leaves us with little doubt.  Jewish believers chose 14 Nisan, Gentile Christians, a week later.  The Council of Nice in 325, settled the matter, eventually adopted.  The first Sunday after the full moon following vernal equinox; if full moon on Sunday—following.

            We are still inclined to get worked up over festivals.  We have our own.  Others have Watermelon, Peach, Possum, Turkey, etc., etc., ad nauseam.

II.         Our Next Concern is the Word “Easter.”  Check any dictionary.  It will refer you to the Old English ēastre —the goddess of Spring.  Some may refer to Germanic ostern.  We begin to muddle around in fertility cults: Assyrian/Ishtar; Hebrews/Ashtoreth; Chaldean/Astarte.  The Latins had their own: Aurora/the goddess of dawn.  Her son: Phosphor/bright morning star.  Thus the reference of Jesus in Revelation 22:16, I am the bright morning star.

            The Canaanite fertility cults created serious problems for Israel as they settled.  Joshua is a book of victory.  Judges shows Israel to be a people beset.  Judges 2:13, They forsook the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreth.  Judges 10:6, And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and served Baal, and Ashtoreth, etc.  I Samuel 7:4, So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.  Which, of course, explains the stringent measures pronounced against Canaan.  How many times through this period do we see capitulation and compromise?

            For the origin of Easter, we are indebted to the Venerable Bede.  Great scholar of early English churches.  Linked it to the Spring fertility celebrations.  April called Eostre.  For us, the celebration needs to be both appropriate and right.  Paul helps us here.  I Corinthians 8:1, “Now as touching things offered unto idols” reminds us that “neither if we eat are we the better, or if we eat not are we the worse.”  “Take heed less by any means liberty become a stumbling block to the weak.”

III.       Probably, the Most Significant Adaptation is the Egg.  The old Chaldean story involving Astarte.  A great egg fell from heaven into the Euphrates.  The goddess of Spring came from this egg.  Common to pagan myth, it was the story of the incarnation of what was otherwise unexplainable.  The best way to get gods and goddesses is to hatch them out of eggs.

            The easter egg became a symbol of reviving life.  Early color represented blood of Christ.  Over time colorfulness adapted its use to childish games.  Egg rolling came from Greenwich, England, introduced by President Madison on the White House lawn.  Egg hunts are alright, but Easter is about the love of God. 

            The egg brings us to the rabbit.  Also a fertility fetish.  I remember a story  of German origin of a poor woman during famine, who took the last egg before starvation, hid them to bring a last pleasure.  The children stirred up a rabbit that saved their lives.

IV.       One Final Concern has to be in Regard to Lent.  It is a forty day period  of mourning from Ash  Wednesday to Easter Sunday.  Historically, it was a period of fasting rigidly enforced.  Not of Christ, or scripture, but from the church.  (About 9th century).  Carnival, by the way, from Latin/Italian meaning “farewell to meat.”  Fat Tuesday.

            For most adherents it is meaningless.  Over time dispensations have excluded many.  Fasting for Lent may mean nothing more than giving up chocolate.  It does not behoove us to be critical.  Most never fast.  Yet, the scripture enjoins it.  Matthew 4:2, Jesus fasted forty days and nights.  6:16, When you fast, . . . don’t give the appearance of fasting.  Acts 9:9, Paul fasted 3 days and nights.  II Corinthians 6:5, Approving ourselves as ministers . . . in fasting.

            We must give evidence of our faith in the practice of every aspect of faith.  Statement by charismatic priest in New Orleans, “We must not let speaking in tongues keep us from being filled with the Holy Spirit.”  It is important that we know our doctrine, and that we give expression of it in the way we live.