adminOpinion by Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu
EASTER is one of the most important occasions of the Christian world as followers of Jesus Christ commemorate His trial by the Roman colonial official, Pontius Pilate, His extremely strenuous trip to his place of execution, Golgotha, the place of skulls.
He was carrying a heavy Roman-type of cross on which the Roman executors would nail Him. Baying for His life were a large group of Jews, whose accusation was that He was calling for the replacement of the Law of Moses, and was committing blasphemy by referring to Himself as “the Son of God”.
On the third day after His burial, Jesus rose from His tomb and later met His disciples minus, of course, Judas Iscariot who had betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver.
Christ’s resurrection is one of the miracles by which He stands head and shoulders above all the prophets who preceded as well as those who succeeded Him.
The bodily remains of every prominent religious leader can be accounted for. The only exception are those of Jesus Christ. His grave is empty. The graves of Sidhatta Gautama Buddha and other eminent religious leaders contain the mortal remains of those people, but not that of Jesus.
The word “Easter” was derived from “Eostre”, an old French name for a goddess associated with spring.
Much research and discussion were undertaken by the Roman Catholic Church in its early years to determine the dates for the Easter festival every year.
At one time, Roman Catholic Church scholars examined the Metonic cycle as part of research.
This cycle refers to a period of 19 years comprising 235 lunar months (as opposed to Julian or Gregorian calendar months) covering all the changes of the moon’s position relative to the earth and the sun.
It was during that research that the religious scholars came up with what they called the “golden number,” a reference to a number of a year in the Metonic lunar cycle, used to fix the Easter date.
Easter is associated with the sacrament of the Eucharist which commemorates Christ’s last supper with His disciples. In this holy Christian rite, bread and wine are consecrated and consumed as representing Christ’s body and blood.
The word “Eucharist” comes from the Greek word “eucharistia”, which means “thanksgiving”. However, it is probably more usual to refer to the sacrament as the “Holy Communion”, than “the Eucharist.”
Some denominations and or sects have sacrament only on Easter Sunday, some have it every month — end or on the first Sunday of every month.
The Easter season effectively begins on Ash Wednesday when priests mark foreheads of penitents with ash. This practice is done predominantly by the Roman Catholic Church, the first organised Christian church. Some protestant denominations follow more or less the same culture with variations here and there.
Ash Wednesday is the start of a 40-day long period of penitence and fasting which ends on Holy Saturday.
That is what is called the Lent period. It lasts for 40 weekdays during which Christians fast and carry out penitence acts in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness.
During that period (Lent), the fifth Sunday is called Passion Sunday, and the week between that Sunday and Palm Sunday is referred to as Passion Week.
That week is devoted to passionate prayers in memory of the extremely trying period Jesus went through before he was apprehended, tortured, grilled and taken before Pontius Pilate by fanatical Jewish upholders of Judaism as enunciated by the Torah or the Pentateuch, the first Mosaic five books of the Bible or God’s will as revealed in the law of Moses.
The word “Torah” is Hebrew for instruction. As far as the Jews were concerned, particularly the Pharisees, Jesus was an evil reformer whose teachings opposed many of God’s instructions as stated in the Pentateuch.
The Torah said “a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye”. But Jesus said if your enemy slaps you on one cheek, give him the other cheek. He taught and emphasised forgiveness or what we term “reconciliation” in Zimbabwean political parlance.
It was because of his deep belief in reconciliation that he prayed to God to forgive those who were about to nail him onto the cross for they did not know what they were doing.
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing,” he prayed.
If we compare the immeasurable love of Jesus with the murderous hatred of some religious extremists in various parts of the world today, we cannot fail to understand why God resurrected Him from the dead.
All other prophets, good and righteous as they were, did not show and give as much love and as deep mercy and human feeling as Jesus Christ did, the only Messenger of God whom
He raised from the grave, bone, hide and hair, and recalled to heaven. Easter is meant to commemorate that unforgettable event. It is a sacred period on the Christian Calendar.
Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayo-based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734328136 or through email. [email protected]
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