Sunday, March 31, 2024
The most important feast in the Christian year, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Easter Sunday is the cornerstone of the Christian faith and the oldest annual celebration of the Church. On this day, Christians proclaim that Jesus Christ rose bodily from the tomb on the third day after his crucifixion, vindicating his identity as the Son of God and inaugurating new creation. The Apostle Paul wrote that if Christ has not been raised, the faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15:14) — making Easter not one Christian holiday among many, but the event without which Christianity collapses entirely. Historically, the Church has marked Easter since the apostolic era; the date was fixed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. The English name 'Easter' likely derives from an Old English term for the dawn or the eastern direction, fitting the gospel accounts of women arriving at the tomb at sunrise. Easter is preceded by 40 days of Lent (a season of repentance) and Holy Week (commemorating Christ's passion), and is followed by the 50-day Easter season that culminates in Pentecost. The Paschal mystery — Christ's death, burial, and resurrection — is the lens through which Christians interpret all of Scripture and history.
Easter Sunday observance varies across traditions but typically includes: sunrise services (recalling the women at the empty tomb), Easter Vigil (Saturday night service ending after midnight with the lighting of the Paschal candle and proclamation of the Resurrection), festive Sunday liturgy with the Gloria and Alleluia restored after Lent's silence, white vestments and lilies, baptisms of new believers (in many traditions), and family meals featuring lamb (recalling Christ as the Passover Lamb).
The traditional Bible readings for Easter Sunday include:
Easter is a movable feast tied to the lunar calendar. Following the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox (March 21). This means Easter can occur anywhere from March 22 to April 25 in the Western Christian calendar. The date is linked to Passover because Christ's death and resurrection happened during Passover week.
Easter celebrates Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. For Christians, this is the central event of history — proof that Jesus is the Son of God, that sins can be forgiven, and that death itself has been defeated. The resurrection is the foundation of Christian hope: those who trust in Christ share in his risen life now and will be raised bodily at his return.
The Gospel readings come from one of the four resurrection accounts: Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, or John 20. Common epistle readings include 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (Paul's account of the resurrection witnesses), Colossians 3:1-4 (raised with Christ), or Acts 10:34-43 (Peter's testimony). The Old Testament reading is often from Exodus 14 (the crossing of the Red Sea) or Isaiah 25 (the feast on God's mountain).
Jesus was crucified during Passover week — the Jewish feast commemorating Israel's deliverance from Egypt through the blood of the lamb. The New Testament identifies Christ as 'our Passover Lamb' (1 Corinthians 5:7), whose death covers sin just as the original Passover lamb's blood protected Israel. Easter therefore inherits Passover's themes of deliverance, sacrifice, and the formation of a new people of God.