The Easter celebration that oodles of Christians celebrate every year around this time, makes no sense.

Unless…

The disciples of Christ, His devout followers, make the claim that saw him alive and walking around after he was roughed up by the religious and secular leaders of the land several days before and were giddy, excited, in awe, unnerved, and even scared by this event.

Trembling and bewildered, the women said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. -Mark 16:8

You can’t possibly comprehend why this is so important.
Unless…

If you believe the Sunday after Palm Sunday is important, but the meaning behind it is some bland recognition of a great religious figure, just triumphing over adversity, your faith is in vain.

Unless…

Unless,

you understand that on the Friday before they claim to have seen him alive, alert and enthusiastic, that he was dead.

Not Alive.
Not breathing.
No blood running through his veins.
No brain activity.
Lifeless.
His human soul having left his body.

Dead as a doornail after nails dug into his hands and feet and were attached to a wooden beam in the shape of a cross that we see in all Catholic and some other churches. Not to mention the extreme loss of blood from other sharp instruments digging into his skin including scrogging and a wreath of thorns put upon and jammed upon his skull. All this added to him being dead.

His death was confirmed

as a roman centurion’s lance pierced him through his side. Water and Blood flowed from the open wound.

But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.  Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.  The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. -John 18: 33 -35

It was customary to make sure the man crucified was no longer alive. After he was taken down from the cross some of his disciples wrapped up his dead body and put him in a sealed tomb with a big rock that would not have been easy to move. Due to the weight and the guards put in front of the tomb to make sure nobody would remove the body. They weren’t afraid that he would leave himself.
Because he was dead, dead.

His scattered followers exhausted from grief and failure in their hearts and spirits sulked away in their homes ashamed and disheartened at the events that had transpired. Their leader who could heal the sick, walk on water, calm a storm, raise the dead, expel demons, multiply food and transform the elements of ordinary dull drinks to something spectacular worth chugging down was gone. 3 of his followers saw his whole body transform into something beyond this world. And now he was no longer in this world.

He was dead.

And then 3 days later

on Sunday Morning when everyone was feeling bummed out, some of the female disciples found the 11 main leaders of Jesus new church with this claim.

He’s Alive.

He’s not dead anymore.
He’s up and walking around after being dead for three days.

Do you understand?

He’s Alive.
He’s breathing.
His blood is running through his veins.
His brain activity is up and running.
He is lifeful.

He walked.
He Talked.
He gave a discourse and a masterclass on rising from the dead.
He broke bread with others.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”- Luke 24 -30 – 32

He conversed with his disciples with all his faculties intact.
He eat some food which included a piece of fish.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.  And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. -Luke 24: 40 -43

He showed his disciples his hands and feet where the nails had dug in.
He showed him the side where the lance had punctured.

He scared the crap out of the Roman Guards guarding his tomb.
Or to be accurate his angels did.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. -Matthew 28: 2 – 4.

The man had otherworldly beings telling and confirming he’s not dead.
Several dead people also were up and walking around according to scripture.

And the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. -Matthew 27:52

He ticked off the religious leaders once again.
They were upset at him and had him killed.
They were none to pleased to hear he still wasn’t dead.

If you don’t understand

that he was dead just recently the excitement of seeing him alive that
Mary Magdalene
Peter and John
the rest of the 12 including the doubting St. Thomas
experienced means nothing.

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.  Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.  (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) John 20: 4 -9

Unless, you understand

that this was the message of the early church,
that he died and rose again from the grave,
you miss the whole point of Christianity.

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. – 1 Corinthians 15: 14

Jesus was a good moral teacher.
He was a miracle worker.
But more importantly he was the incarnate son of God
who died a horrible terrible death but yet
conquered death and was Alive.

And now His church is alive

proclaiming this message continually since its foundation.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,  and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
-1 Corinthians 15: 3 – 8.

We know that we will all personally suffer the same fate as Jesus, namely death.
But if we put our faith and trust and our baptised into his passion and death we will merit the same reward.
Namely we too will rise from the dead.

But unless you understand that he was dead right before it was discovered He was alive again
You won’t know why Easter is important.
When you do know it can produce excitement and joy like the disciples who first saw him rise from the dead.

Jesus rising from the dead is why we celebrate Easter.