Written by Jessica Kidwell
For many, the Easter holiday conjures up the idyllic images of the Easter Bunny, spring flowers, colored eggs in baskets, and Peeps ®. While these are accurate depictions of how our modern, Western world celebrates Easter Sunday, it doesn’t come close to scraping the surface of the true meaning of Easter: Christ’s resurrection. As Christians living in a commercialized world, we cannot let the clutter distract us from what, or more specifically, Who is truly important.
No matter your religious affiliation, Easter is the central tenet of the Christian faith. In the face of all evils, Christ died for the world’s sins and rose on the third day, according to the scriptures. We celebrate this confirmation of our faith; our God is alive and true, and our salvation, by His hands, is secure. With every nail He endured, He gives us hope and eternal life through this ultimate victory over sin. We can all rest in the hope Christ has given us to affirm and foster our strengths and courage to love God and love others as He would.
In our modern society, it can be easy to fall prey to the “God’s not real” whisperings. There are times when you might ask yourself, “What is this all for?” But no matter how far you stray, Jesus wants to save you, and He has! From 2 Corinthians: “For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” In God’s rich mercy and love for us, He saves and forgives us of the smallest to largest of our trespasses if we only forgive and love others in return and love Him.
Easter not only celebrates the fundamental basis of our Christian faith, but it serves as an opportunity for self-reflection. Personally, during Lent and Holy Week, I find it beneficial to deeply evaluate how God has blessed me. Every day, God fills our lives with glimpses of His Kingdom—a beautiful sunrise, a smile from a stranger, or a peaceful moment in nature or in the presence of friends and family. It is our choice to see these glimpses of God explicitly and be thankful for them.
Christ’s resurrection shows us how we can be better people as brothers and sisters in Christ through the recognition of how great His love is for us. As Christians, it is crucial to take advantage of this most beautiful transition from the Lenten season, the Holy Week, to Easter Sunday and to feel Jesus’ presence in our lives. Forgiveness is such a beautiful thing, and just as Jesus gave us eternal life and mercy, the least we can do as His children are to follow in His footsteps as closely as we can.
As Jesus pushed away the stone from His tomb to announce and fulfill His mission for mankind’s salvation, Easter marks a new beginning for us—out of the dark and into the light. We must strive to love like Him and do this humbly and with steadfastness. What is coming will be so much greater than anything we have ever known.
Jessie Kidwell, ’24, hails from St. Louis, MO, and studies politics. Outside of the classroom, she loves to workout, watch the St. Louis Cardinals, and be with her Pi Phi sisters!
Published in March 2023
