7 Surprising Facts About Easter

7 Surprising Facts About Easter

Easter is just around the corner, so here are some fun facts you might like:

1. Easter is a Christian holiday, but it’s not a Christian word.

Easter is Pascua in Spanish; Pasqua in Italian, Paques in French, and Pascha in Greek. These all trace their roots to the Hebrew word Paschal, referring to the Jewish holiday of Passover.

English is the only western language that veers from this linguistic tradition.

Passover was the day the Angel of the Lord spared the Israelites by passing over their houses while judging their Egyptian overlords.

The earliest reference to “Easter” comes from a 7th-century English monk known as “the Venerable Bede.” Bede wrote about how to calculate the date of Easter, using the word, “Eostre,” which was the name of the old English fertility goddess.

Trace that name back far enough, and Eostre was called Aphrodite by the Greeks, Artemis by the Ephesians, Ishtar by the Egyptians, and Ashtoreth by the Canaanites. How this name came to be associated with the resurrection of Jesus, no one really knows.

2. Easter falls on a Jewish Holiday, but not on Passover.

Passover is the day the Jews avoided death at the hands of the angel by sacrificing a lamb to pay for their sins. Jesus died on Passover. He was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29).

Three days later, He rose on a different Jewish holiday. This one was called “The Festival of Firstfruits.” It’s described in Leviticus 23:16, where the Jews were told to celebrate their grain harvest by baking loaves of bread.

Not coincidentally, Jesus identified Himself as “the Bread of Life.” He promised such satisfaction that, “he who comes to me will never hunger.”

The Bible calls Jesus “the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” That’s why Easter is so exciting for Christians: Jesus’ resurrection promises there will be a resurrection of His followers one day, giving them eternal life.

3. More than 180,000,000 eggs are dyed for Easter.

We don’t know exactly how many eggs get dyed for Easter, but Paas, the largest seller of Easter Egg dye, estimates their dye will be used on 180 million eggs this year, so it’s a really big number.

4. Easter Eggs actually do have something to do with Easter.

In the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, Easter eggs are dyed red to represent the blood of Christ. In the west, churches use the hollow shell of an egg to demonstrate the kind of tomb Jesus emerged from. We crack hard-boiled eggs to symbolize His resurrection as the stone was rolled away from the entrance to the tomb and He came forth alive.

5. Easter is the most widely-celebrated holiday of the year, every year.

With approximately 3.2 billion Christ-followers in the world, Christianity is by far the largest organization in the world. You might think that Christmas is our biggest holiday, but it’s not.

Easter is the Super Bowl of Christianity. All the other wonderful events of the Judea-Christian calendar are a prelude to this one great event.

Christmas commemorates Jesus’ birth, which brought Him into the world. Easter commemorates His resurrection from the dead, after paying for the sins of the world on Good Friday/Passover. This resurrection made eternal life possible for all who believe, which is the whole point of His coming on Christmas.

6. Easter is the most historically-verifiable event of all time.

The Bible’s ancient records attest that Jesus was seen alive (and in some cases touched) by over 515 eyewitnesses post-resurrection.

The resurrection was written about by two eyewitnesses (Matthew and John), ratified by the apprentice of a third eyewitness (Mark, who recorded the account told to him by Peter), and confirmed by the careful research of a Greek medical doctor (Luke).

On Good Friday, Jesus’ Disciples believed Jesus was dead. They were cowering in a corner, hiding from the Romans, in fear for their lives.

Three days later, their whole demeanor changed. Having witnessed the resurrected Christ, all of them gave their lives to tell the story.

If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, these eyewitnesses knew it. Yet they traveled to foreign countries to tell His story, and allowed themselves to be stoned to death, burned at the stake, or crucified rather than recant.

Sometimes people will die for a lie because they’ve been deceived. Very few people will die for a lie that they know is actually a lie.

Mark wrote his account of the resurrection just 13 years after it happened. Matthew and Luke wrote within 25 years. John, the last living eyewitness, wrote his account 50 years later. All of these were within the time span of other living eyewitnesses. Yet no one, not even Jesus’ enemies, disputed their accounts.

One hundred years ago, the case for Christ’s resurrection was investigated by America’s top lawyer of the day – Frank Morrison. Morrison visited the Holy Land to refute the claims of Christ, and returned home to write a defense of the resurrection titled Who Moved The Stone? It’s still in circulation today.

7. This year, more people will celebrate Easter outdoors than at any time in history.

In developing countries, Christians regularly meet outdoors for worship. But not since 1918 has the world experience a pandemic all together. The world’s population was 1.9 billion then. It’s 7.9 billion now.

For safety sake, churches all over the world will be holding services outdoors on April 4 – Easter Sunday morning. Joining one of these will make you part of the largest outdoor worldwide celebration ever.

My church, New Song Community Church, is offering three outdoor Easter services this year. Two services are at 3985 Mission Avenue in Oceanside – one at 9 a.m., the other at 11 a.m. And the third service will be at 3780 Pio Pico Drive in Carlsbad, at 10 a.m. All services will offer age-graded, indoor Sunday school (with Easter Eggs and candy) for children. For more information, come to www.newsongchurch.com.