According to the Easter story, what is the significance of Easter Sunday?
Happy Easter! People across the UK will be enjoying a long, bank holiday weekend to celebrate the Easter holidays.
As we spend this weekend indulging in chocolate eggs and hunting for the Easter bunny, it can be easy to forget that the Easter holidays hold a deep significance to Christians.
From Good Friday still being the reason many choose to not eat meat on Fridays to one of the most important events in the Bible. let’s revisit the Easter story and why Easter Sunday is just so special.
What is the meaning of Easter Sunday?
Many Christians celebrate Easter Sunday as the day of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, as told in the New Testament of the Bible.
The story is referred to in both the Gospels of John and Matthew in the New Testament.
It famously tells of Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb where Jesus was buried and finding it empty.
In Matthew 28:5-6, the passage reads: ‘The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”‘
And one of the most famous passages relating to the Easter story is in John 11:25-26. It reads: ‘Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”‘
Easter Sunday is therefore sometimes known as Resurrection Sunday. The week preceding Easter Sunday is known as the Holy Week, and it contains Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
Jesus’s resurrection was on the third day after his crucifixion by the Romans, which took place on what we now call Good Friday.
This was discovered on the Sunday after his death, when Mary Magdalene visited his tomb and found that not only had the stone been moved, but that the body of Jesus had gone.
Jesus was seen later that day by Mary, and other disciples and for 40 days by many others.
The actual word ‘Easter’ does not appear in the Bible, and there aren’t any early church celebrations mentioned. It appears that Easter, like Christmas, developed later in church history.
In the UK, and other parts of the world, Easter Sunday is a national bank holiday, and most shops will be closed.
How is Easter celebrated?
Many Christians will go to church for a special Easter sermon.
For Catholics especially, they look forward to one of the Pope’s annual addresses, the Urbi et Orbi Easter speech.
Many Christians and non-Christians exchange Easter eggs, and a lamb roast is common on Easter Sunday, as lambs represent new life and the spring.
Why do we celebrate with Easter Eggs?
Many of us are familiar with the chocolate aspect of Easter.
Eggs symbolise new life, as Jesus began his new life after his resurrection on Easter Sunday, and cracked eggs are symbolic of an empty tomb.
Eating eggs was forbidden during the Holy Week. Instead, they were saved, decorated and gifted to children.
It wasn’t until the 19th century that the first chocolate eggs appeared in France and Germany, and this tradition has now carried on.
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