An open letter to TimesLedger Newspapers columnist Alex Berger:
I read your March 25-31 article “Passover and Easter share a number of similarities” in the Jamaica Times. It was refreshing for someone to show the connection that has existed between Christians and Jews. And what a positive connection it was and still is.
While Passover marks the Jews’ ending 400 years of slavery in Egypt, Easter does not mark the beginning of a new life for Jesus Christ. It is, in my understanding, the process of the ending of his life and the beginning of his eventual return to his father in heaven.
The resurrection of Jesus is the epitome of the essence of Christianity in that if Christ had not risen from the dead, as he said he would, we would not have that truth in which to believe in him. He told his disciples many times that he would give his life at the appointed time and be resurrected on the third day after his death. And he did.
With that divine resurrection, if solidified out of belief in the truths of his life during the three years of his earthly ministry, Easter — the resurrection — is that which makes Christianity what it is.
We understand the implication of the hard-boiled egg at the Passover feast, indicating that, to me, the more you are tested in life by the fire of difficulties, the harder you stand for what is right.
Those colored eggs and the bunny at Easter are similar to Santa Claus at Christmas. I have not found any scriptural reference for them yet they play an important part in our lives today.
We, as Christians, put an enormous amount of emphasis on the birth of Jesus at Christmas.
But if he had not died, as he said he would, and if he had not been resurrected, as he said he would, the essence of our faith would have been damaged beyond repair and Christianity would have been a dangling participle.
Rev. Dr. Charles L. Norris
Pastor Emeritus
Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church
Jamaica
