What Is Easter? A Simple Answer for the Curious

Growing up, I loved Easter for so many reasons! In school it meant lots of Easter egg arts and crafts. At Sunday school, more Easter crafts, and we got Easter baskets in preparation for…the big Easter egg hunt after church!

And of course, more Easter chocolate when we got home. Then we usually had a big Easter feast for dinner.

What’s not to love about all these Easter childhood activities? So much fun!

Yet for the longest time, I couldn't have told you what I was really celebrating.

I knew it had something to do with Jesus rising. It wasn’t until years later (many, many years later) as an adult, did I truly understand the significance of Easter.

And I haven't seen Easter the same way since.

If you've ever found yourself wondering what Easter Sunday is all about, beyond the baskets, the pretty dresses, and the brunch reservations, I’m sharing what I've learned.

Here's something I found interesting and didn’t know. The word “Easter” actually has pagan roots. It likely comes from "Eostre," an old spring festival that existed long before Christianity arrived in England. And the name just kind of stuck.

But the word and the meaning are two very different things.

Easter Sunday, sometimes called Resurrection Sunday, is the day Christians all over celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It’s also the one Sunday of the year to head to church really early to get a parking spot because it’s going to be packed inside! You’ve been warned…

Easter Sunday is also considered to be one of the most significant days on the entire Christian calendar, and it makes total sense.

To quickly recap, there’s the season of Lent, there’s Holy Week, and then there’s Easter Sunday.

After Jesus suffered on the cross and was buried, He rose from the dead on the third day. That's what Easter is!

Many Christians greet each other on Easter with “He is risen!” and the response is “He is risen, indeed!” It's one of my favorite things about Easter Sunday. It's such a simple, joyful exchange. Like we're all reminding each other of the best news we've ever heard.

No chocolate bunnies here. We need to dig into Scripture for the real story.

Early that morning, a few of Jesus' followers went to the tomb where He had been buried. And when they got there, they found the stone rolled away but He wasn't there.

The tomb was the end of the story…until it wasn't.

Three days is all it took to rewrite everything humanity thought it knew about death, hope, and what's possible. The women showed up expecting to grieve. They left with news too big to fully process.

The resurrection was the fulfillment of a promise Jesus made himself, many times, while he was still alive. That's what makes it so significant, it was announced before it unfolded.

The phrase, "according to the Scriptures," means that God had a plan. It was written down, spoken through prophets, woven through every page of Scripture, and Jesus’ resurrection was always the destination. From the very beginning, everything pointed toward this event.

His resurrection on Easter Sunday is our salvation story.

As a modern-day consumer, I’m all too familiar with the concept of a “new life.” I’ve seen it in reference to clothing, weight loss products, a new home, cosmetics, or something that can be purchased. Even better if you can get a discount.

But the biblical concept of a “new life” is nothing that can be bought, applied or consumed. This is a new life in Christ, free from suffering, pain, and death.

Easter is how the promise of a new life is made available to everyone. Not only those who have everything figured out (wouldn’t that be nice?). Not only those who grew up going to church. It’s made available to everyone.

I think of my own childhood and how I would lose my mind Easter morning over candy and eggs. And it’s the same for kids today.

I love that for them, I really do! We tend to keep all the fun traditions.

But the memory of a good Easter basket isn’t what we should carry into adulthood. Instead, it’s that living hope is real. Living hope is an Easter tradition worth carrying forever.

It’s so true. If Jesus had not risen after the crucifixion, our faith would be meaningless. We would all still be in our sins forever.

The whole foundation rests on whether Jesus rose.

And He did! We are redeemed.

If you'd like to dig into the full resurrection story for yourself, I invite you to read Matthew 28, Mark 16, or Luke 24.

Just know that the story of Easter is for all of us. It's a story of hope for those of us who are weary, purpose for those of us who are searching, and something solid to stand on for those of us who've been looking for a foundation that will last for all eternity.