What Happened on Easter?

Revelation 1:18 (New International Version)

I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

A Sunday School teacher asked her class on the Sunday before Easter if they knew what happened on Easter and why it was so important. One little girl spoke up saying: "Easter is when the whole family gets together, and you eat turkey and sing about the pilgrims and all that." "No, that’s not it," said the teacher.

"I know what Easter is," a second student responded. "Easter is when you get a tree and decorate it and give gifts to everybody and sing lots of songs." "Nope, that’s not it either," replied the teacher.

Finally a third student spoke up, "Easter is when Jesus was killed, and put in a tomb and left for three days."

"Ah, thank goodness somebody knows" the teacher thought to herself. But then the student went on: "Then everybody gathers at the tomb and waits to see if Jesus comes out, and if he sees his shadow he has to go back inside and we have six more weeks of winter."

Some of us have some weird ideas about Easter. What does the Bible have to say about it? What does Easter mean to you? What really happened? Why is it important for Christians, and what implications does Easter have for the world? Let’s take the time today to meditate on what Easter means to us, and take the time to share with those around us the greatest gift ever given.

Dear Lord we thank You for what Easter means to each of us. We thank You for dying on the cross, being buried and raising from the dead to give each one of us that blessed hope. In Jesus’ name, Amen.