A few days ago a friend and I were having a conversation about Easter.  We were comparing it to Christmas and taking note that while Easter is technically the highest of Christian Holy Days, it tends to lack the sense of excitement and anticipation that comes so naturally to our birthday parties for Jesus.

While there are likely a lot of factors that contribute to this attitude in our churches and in our culture - (that’s assuming you agree that Easter gets treated like the ugly second-cousin to Christmas) - my guess is that it stems from a general ignorance as to ”why” Easter is such a big deal.  In other words, other than Jesus pulling the greatest party trick of all time by showing up alive, people have very little grasp of the historical, theological, and personal impact of Easter.

Christmas however is different.  Even a die-hard pagan can tell you that Christmas has something to with Jesus being born to save the world.  But Easter?  Not so much.  Ask your buddy at work why Easter matters and chances are he’ll stare at you like you’re Britney Spears fresh out of rehab.

So, feeling the need to do my part in getting Easter the respect it deserves I thought I’d offer up few brief - and no way exhaustive - reasons for why Easter matters:

The resurrection proves Jesus right.  That is, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead proves that everything he ever said, every claim he ever made has to be trusted and must be true.  Think about it:  there have been a lot of great people in this world and yet the one thing none of them have ever been able to do is go through death and then come back - no one.  So, when Jesus says crazy things like, “I’m the Son of God” or “No one comes to Father except through me” we better believe Him.

The resurrection proves Jesus’ power.  Again, having come back from death, Jesus shows us that he has power over the one thing that no one else has power over.  Which means that if we’re on Jesus’ team then we have power over death too.  Likewise, if Jesus has power over death than he has power of all of the other things that plague us: sickness, evil, country music, etc.

The resurrection gives us a ‘living hope’.  This needs some explaining.  In every other religion the leader and founder, the one whose message gave hope to those who follow it, is dead…and so is their message.  Buddha is dead.  Muhammed is dead.  Joseph Smith is dead.  L. Ron Hubbard is dead.  And yet Jesus is alive.  He rose from the dead and lives and rules - in flesh and blood - to this day, as the right hand of God the Father in Heaven.  He is our Hope, He is alive, and He is still working in this world.

The resurrection is a promise.  Resurrection from the dead to a flesh and blood eternal life is not just something that happened to Jesus but something that will happen to all those who have faith in Jesus.  This is the biggest and most important promise that Christianity offfers.  Death is not the end.  While Christ’s death on the cross was the act that forgave our sin, one day He will return in power and wipe out all of the effects of sin: struggle, evil, and death.  On that day all those who have died in faith, as his baptized brothers and sisters, will rise - in flesh and blood - to an eternal life in an eternal world.  This means that what has happened to Jesus on Good Friday and Easter will happen to us as well.  We may die, but we too will rise.

I could go on.  But for real, if those don’t give you a good reason to buy a new dress for Easter, then nothing will.  Happy Easter.  Pass the chocolate rabbits.