Celebrating Easter

 

With the war in the Middle East, it’s unlikely that anyone celebrated Easter at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem this year.* In fact, its website says the tomb is closed until further notice “due to the current situation.”

Nobody knows exactly where Jesus’ body was laid after His death, and the Garden Tomb is only one of several possible sites. Still, I celebrated Easter there in 1958 and, as a seven-year-old, I thought it was an awesome experience. I’m sure it would be even more moving as an adult. So it’s too bad that nobody is celebrating there this year.

Still, it is the event, not the place, that matters.

The important thing is that Christ died for our sins and then rose again. To paraphrase Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, if He hadn’t risen, we would still be dead in our sins. Or, to put it in the words of the chorus of the hymn “This Joyful Eastertide” by George Woodward (also taken from 1 Corinthians 15):

Had Christ, who once was slain,

Not burst his three-day prison,

Our faith had been in vain;

But now has Christ arisen, arisen, arisen;

But now has Christ arisen!

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Alleluia!

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* My father took the photo at the top of this post on Easter Sunday, 1958, as we attended service at the Garden Tomb.