I haven't known just what to write or had the time to write it, so tonight, I thought I'd make an effort. Easter has come and gone, and I remembered all I've learned about Easter in the last year. If I didn't remember it, I didn't learn it, right? So, that fact that 3 days means 3 days (it doesn't sound like a new concept, but keep with me) came back to me on the 8th as I was thinking about the cross and the suffering that happened before that. That happened on Wednesday--if you go backwards, it's the first day of the week when the resurrection occurred, so that's Saturday night/Sunday AM. SO, you've got 1)Friday night; 2) Thursday; 3)Wednesday. Tradition seems to have changed that a bit by not using the Jewish time: "there was evening and morning, the first day". We Gentiles just think a bit different in this century, but we can adjust.
So, there's Wed, as I work, thinking of Christ's suffering for me on the cross so that I don't have to pay for those things I do and don't do (when I should be not doing and doing). I know, even today, I messed that up, and that payment still is on my account. What an amazing thought. My light bill keeps coming every month, to my great disappointment, but yet the bill for my sin continues to be paid--from that day over 2000 years ago. Wow.
I've also learned about the feasts around this time. It makes sense once you hear it. The day Christ died was the preparation day for Passover. That was the day that the perfect lamb was sacrificed (hey, could that be the Lamb of God that just died at the same hour that we were to slit the throat of the Passover lamb?) Then, Passover was Wed night/Thurs day. The feast of Unleaven bread was next, as Jesus was in the tomb, broken for us, with stripes, and annointed, just as the Passover unleaven bread that is hidden before the meal in a sack.
Well, the amazing things don't stop then. The feast of first fruits is next, the early wheat harvest. By gum, Jesus was the first fruits of those who have died. Now, if I got any of this wrong, look in the comments as I bet there will be some corrections!
So that's my excitement about Easter and what I've learned. Sometimes, I wish I'd been closer to Jewish people to learn these festivals as I grew up, but since I'm still a kid at heart, I suppose it's not too late.
