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Deborah Smith

*Easter traditionally is represented by bunny rabbits, palms, sunrise, and the resurrection of Christ, but to me, it goes so much deeper than traditional and secular symbols.

Let’s discuss the Easter Bunnypeople are quite surprised to find out its history. The history of the bunny goes back hundreds of years to Saxon times. In Saxon times people welcomed the beginning of spring with a huge festival that signified the Goddess of that time of year whose name was Eastre. She was highly regarded for being a symbol of fertility (new life), prosperity and growth. Around this same time Christians were also celebrating Christ’s Resurrection and over the years these two holidays merged into one another because more and more people were turning to Christianity. The Easter Bunny was a combination of the Goddess Eastre who like the rabbit was bothsymbols of fertility. Later the eggs were added symbolizing the hatching or the giving of birth physically and financially.

In Christianity Easter is a time to celebrate and reflect on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We celebrate because we obtained the right to eternal life by virtue of the shedding of Christ’s unblemished blood through his death. We reflect because Christ lived and went through every human emotion and temptation yet he maintained His sanctification. He then suffered an agonizing death for the remission of our sins so that we may have the right to unlimited repentance, which gives us access to eternal life.

Easter is a time to be grateful of a sacrifice that no one on this earth would make. Can any of us truly say that we would offer our own life or that of our child’s up to be whipped, spit on, beaten and then crucified to save another person we may or may not know?

Easter to me is so significant to humanitarianism and it makes me more sensitive to the lost, broken and down trodden. Although giving my life is not required to save or help people in need, Easter and the sacrifice of Jesus encourages me to ask myself, “What can I do to give new life or help someone who is less fortunate than I am?”

Easter symbolizes the Sacrifice of one’s own comfort and life for the salvation and or rescue of another’s, even a stranger. It’s more than Easter baskets, new clothes and Sun Rise services. Easter is the day we reflect on the ultimate sacrifice that is attached to an unmatched and everlasting victory. When Christrose from the grave our future rose with him and unrestrained victories for all of us rose with him. The victory was not so much in His death but rather His resurrection. Through His resurrection we can understand that after the hurt, ridicule, stripes and even dead situations there is always a greater promise and purpose after the pain.

source: eurweb.com