Who Needs Easter Anyway?

Easter, my favorite holiday, is only a few days away, and I've been thinking a lot about it. It means so much to me because it still focuses so much on the holy, joyous resurrection day it really is. It even has a whole week leading up to it called "Holy Week" where many people turn their thoughts to the great suffering and sacrifice of Christ. Not many religious holidays, including Christmas, have managed to hold on to that spiritual focus as well as Easter has. Sure, it has gone commercial to a certain extent with the bunnies and candy and all. But I think the religious-ness of it still trumps the commercialism. I've got to wonder why that is. I mean, who needs Easter, really? Why does it mean so much?

This is my first year to enjoy being on Facebook. I get to see so many people's different viewpoints and lifepoints at random. It's like looking through a window at people's lives, some who I don't even know. Sometimes I feel like a Peeping Tom. Other times I feel like a close friend who is invited to share in someone's suffering. Here's a glance at some of the reasons we need Easter, as seen through my Facebook window just yesterday.

A young wife lost her husband unexpectedly. She desperately needs hope of the resurrection, not just Jesus', but her husband's resurrection when Christ returns.

A grandma welcomes a new grandchild into the world. Praise God! New life at its best!

A fellow writer ministers to teen moms, offering them hope for their life now and hope of the age to come.

A close friend narrowly escaped being sexually assaulted last week can know that those who love her are offering prayers on her behalf. Why would anyone pray to a dead Jesus? Praise God He lives!

These are just a few examples that came into my window's view yesterday. One day. Imagine all the days combined and all the windows (yours and mine) added together. So who needs Easter? Or maybe the better question would be who doesn't need it? We all do. Even non-believers. They need to know there's a group of believers who will pray for them in times of crisis. People who have a hope that wells up in them in the darkest times, like resurrection in the face of death. We all need hope. We all need the new life that Christ's resurrection offers. It's that hope that grows into a strong, real faith.