Easter Thoughts

The Octave of Easter.

With Easter long gone – well, really only 14 days gone, you may be forgiven for thinking that I had forgotten all about it… But never! Like the grocery stores, still selling their Easter eggs and hot cross bun leftovers, just near the checkout aisles so you don’t miss them, my ponderings on Easter and what it means, stay with me long after Good Friday and Easter Sunday have passed. These days are known as the Octave of Easter, a festive eight-day period. The entire fifty-day period from Easter to Pentecost is called Eastertide and is a time of reflection, joy and celebration on the resurrection’s power. It is a season to move from the penance of Lent, which is before the Easter weekend, to actively dwell on the hope, new life and presence of the Holy Spirit. There is so much taught and said about Lent, which is a contemplative and meaningful time, but I don’t want anyone to think Easter is all over, so what is next on the calendar?

Being the most important and significant time on the Christian calendar, Easter really is worth staying in our hearts and thoughts every day. Its meaning and significance are my whole life for many reasons, but I’ll share just two… because of my faith and because of ‘me!’ Has the latter made you want to read further? I hope so. You see, the joyful and long-awaited day a bonny bouncy Catherine Grace came into the world was on an Easter Sunday.

As we all know, Easter is a movable feast that falls somewhere between late March and late April. This firstly originated from the Jewish calendar and is used by Christians, coming from the lunisolar calendar and is called the calculation method (thank you Google for your help here!) It was an Easter Sunday… the morning I was born. As a little girl, I loved that my birthday was the day that Christians celebrated Jesus, risen from the grave. There was always so much cheerful celebration in churches with singing, storytelling, dramas and a feeling of victory. When my dear Mum was on the Flower Roster for our church, she would visit some friends who always had the most beautiful Dahlia garden. These large blooms were in the most glorious colours, and Mum certainly had the gift of displaying them so creatively. It really did make me feel important! Sharing the day with the Risen Jesus, who was alive, was a big deal for this young, impressionable heart.

Another reason Easter Sunday was very special was that my dear Mum used to tell me the Easter Bunny had brought me. That’s a tad cute, isn’t it? My beautiful Mum was never into the fantasy, mythical side of life. She loved nature, flowers, gardens, animals, and all things beautiful. She was often off with her own thoughts too, but truth and reality were how it was with her, so to be told the Easter bunny had hopped along to their house with me gooing and garring in his basket, surrounded with all the Easter eggs for the children in our home and street, was such a delight to me.  When I was old enough to have one of those eggs, it was always the pastel-coloured sugar candy ones, with pretty little sugar flowers on the front. Do you remember those? They are hard to find these days. I was never allowed chocolate eggs as it caused health issues for me… but enough of all that.

The reason Easter stays with me every day is because of Jesus. Yes, His willing sacrifice on the cross, when He died for me and His perfect love cannot be matched by any other. There is not a day goes by that I do not rely on that love, His teachings, His wisdom and His forgiveness of all my sins. I’m still brought to my knees when I think of what He went through when He was wrongly accused by the jealous Pharisees and the crowds crying out “crucify him, crucify him!”✝ Pilot had not found any fault with him, yet the Pharisees, Sadducees, High priests, scribes and elders hated him. Have you ever wondered why that was? The Jewish people were longing and believing for a Messiah, yet here He was, and they rejected him!

According to the Gospels, the Pharisees and religious rulers were deeply jealous of Jesus. This envy was primarily driven by Jesus’s popularity among all the people of that day. He was making sense of their teachings, bringing them freedom, loving and accepting the unlovable, not judging, performing miracles – yes, He WAS the Messiah. This threatened the religious ruler’s authority, influence and reputation as they were the spiritual leadership over Israel. Their envy was so deep and evil that it took Jesus all the way to the cross! Praise Father God for His perfect plan and intervention in giving to us all, His only Son to save us from all the evil of the world and to give us eternal life, if we will only believe. I am absolutely in awe of the fact that Father God always brings good out of evil, and this ‘good’ was like no other. It was the most powerful event the world has ever seen. It saves us all, and we can live forever with Him.

Does jealousy scare you? It does me! It is not something I have struggled with in my own life – thankfully (don’t worry, I have struggled with many other sins in my life), but it is something that has come against me at times. Jealousy is known as the mental cancer and poisonous potion that disables you from being able to be grateful for what you do have. You are always living life on what you don’t have. What a sad state of affairs that is, and what a disaster it was for the Jewish leaders of Jesus’s day. God did give them their Messiah, yet because of jealousy and envy, they killed him instead! I definitely believe jealousy and envy are the most dangerous evils in the world today. It started way back in early biblical days. Remember Cain killing his brother Abel; Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers; King Saul being jealous of David’s popularity and skill in battle; Rachel, who envied her sister’s cycle of bearing children; the older brother of the Prodigal son. Nothing has changed, has it? We have Wars, World President Conflicts, murders, violence, family disputes and divisions, bullying, bitterness, an ungrateful heart, self-harm and an inability to love, which can all be put down to envy and jealousy. As we read further on, in the Bible, it says in James 3:16:-

“For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,

There will be disorder and every

vile practice.”

Isn’t it time we rid this debilitating disease out of our minds, lives and the world?

Goodness, that was deeper than I initially intended, but as I pray and tap away, the thoughts just come. I do believe these reflections can be helpful to not only myself, but to others who may read them. I hope so🙏  

In these Eastertide days after we have been to the cross, then celebrated our risen Lord, my prayer and hope, just like Mary Magdalene, is that you will experience His deep love, saving grace and compassion. Mary was the first in the garden to see Jesus when the stone was miraculously rolled away, and Jesus was risen from the grave. At first, she was weeping so much she didn’t recognise Him and thought He was the gardener. Then she heard Him whisper her name... she knew at once, replying Rabboni, meaning Teacher. I pray with all my heart that you will hear Him whisper your name, too – Oh what a radiant and breathtaking moment that will be. How will you answer?

Blessings,

Cathy x

p.s. I have remembered a song I wrote way back in 1983. I have shared the words as a poem over on the ‘Poems’ page, which you can find on the navigation bar. I hope it brings blessings to you and can help show what the true meaning of Easter really is.