Easter 2023 is getting close and we can see the store sales as we approach the holiday. We will also have a Sunrise Service at the beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheater to open our Sunday morning.
Easter Sunday represents the day of resurrection of the living Christ who died on the cross to separate himself from his life as a human and return to the Father as the Son that established a new standard of worship and faith for what was to become a Christian world. Jesus’ death on the cross is a most important moment because it decided the character of a belief system.
It is on the cross that Christ modeled the notion of “being born again.” This time however, instead of dying to human sin and being born to Godliness as he had preached to Nicodemus, Jesus symbolically died to his life on earth to come to life again as the Heavenly Being in the Christmas story.
The cross is the central symbol of Christianity. One can see it everywhere from the living steeples of churches to the commentaries with their endless crosses to the dead.
Just as important is the fact that the cross in the life and death of Jesus Christ provides a division point between the Jewish promise land and people to which he was born and to whom he came to deliver, and Rome that administered his execution and yet, after the death and resurrection of the Savior, took his teachings back to transform a European continent. Jesus before his execu- tion was the Jewish expected Messiah that changed after his time on the cross to become the foundation of a new Christian religion.
So, when Christ carried the cross with faltering steps under whiplash, he was symbolically ending his ministry and time on earth in favor of the burden on his bleeding back: the cross. The cross, a Roman instrument of execution, became a powerful symbol of Christianity first in Europe and then the rest of the world.
The cross also separated the Middle Eastern region of Asia and Africa from Europe. This was confirm by the great division in how Christ was perceived by these two regions.
The Middle East saw Jesus as an important extension of a long line of prophets in the Old Testament tradition. Europe saw Christ as God on earth.
It is this disagreement that led the First Ecumenical Council meeting in Nicaea in 325 CE where the Holy Trinity depicting God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit as one being was established. The notion of seeing Christ as a prophet in the old tradition was abolished and condemned.
This fact is important and relevant to the demonstrated practice of anti-Jewish bias especially on the part of Christian communities that enter into their ethnic and racial preferences with a negative prejudice about Jews. They do not see any contradiction in hating Jews and loving Christ.
When you go to service to celebrate Easter this Sunday, take a closer look at the cross on the steeple of your church or the cross at the back of the altar or the other walls of the building and think of how a Roman artifact of death could become a symbol of Christian faith and life.
Above all, celebrate the opportunity for spiritual renewal offered by the first Easter in Jerusalem and thank the sacrifice on the cross for that opportunity. Wishing you a very Happy Easter.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of la Voz bilingüe. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
