Easter Thoughts

by Jim Watkins
Published March 2, 2005

Ah, it’s spring! That fleeting moment in time between snow blowing and lawn mowing! And it’s the season when this columnist’s thoughts turn toward what do I write about this week?! Here are some things to think about as you’re celebrating the vernal equinox.

If you can never remember the date of Easter from year to year, simply remember this ruling from the A.D. 325 Council of Nicaea: “Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon which is always March 21, but not necessarily on the same date as the astronomical full moon.” See, now isn’t that easy.

The word Easter comes from “Eostre,” the Teutonic goddess of spring who was thought to bring fertility to the earth. “Eastre” was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit - thus, the Easter bunny. From the earliest times and cultures, the egg was a symbol of rebirth. So, the custom of exchanging eggs in the springtime was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians as the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Some Christian churches have started observing “Resurrection Sunday” rather than celebrating the name of a pagan goddess.

While I respect their views, I’m not sure what they would want us to call the English days of the week which are named after Saxon gods Tuesday (Tiw, the god of war), Wednesday (Woden, the god of wisdom and communication), Thursday (Thor, the god of sky and thunder), and Friday (Frigg, the goddess of beauty, love, marriage, and fertility). Sunday, Monday, and Saturday were named after the sun, the moon, and the planet Saturn.

Eliminating Tuesday thorugh Friday from the work week, might not be that bad an idea, though!

In Mexico, religious celebrations are always, well, let's just we say “enthusiastic.” On the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter, people fill the streets to beat, hang and burn images of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus. In many places, the Judas figure is a pinata filled with Easter candy.

Finally, during spring of 1986, four-year-old Paul took his World Wrestling Federation action figure and had fastened him to a wooden cross with rubber bands creating a National Endowment for the Arts version of a crucifix. My son’s "Jesus" had muscles on top of muscles, pecs the size of couch cushions; black, curly hair; and a Coppertone tan.

Now the BBC and The Discovery Channel have teamed up to create a high-tech, computer-generated Jesus - which looks surprising like Paul’s early work. Using the skull of a 2,000-year-old man unearthed in Israel, forensic scientists have recreated what they believe the typical Jewish male in his 30’s would look like. Apparently, Jesus looked more like a Middle East construction worker than the flannel-graph figures from Sunday school.

Of course, it’s only speculation, but the BBC’s Jesus is probably closer to reality than the blue-eyed Anglo-Saxon Jesus in Renaissance paintings. And definitely closer than the Hollywood "Jesus" who looks like he stepped off the cover of a romance best-seller--blow-dried auburn hair with blonde highlights, immaculately manicured nails, a pure white robe, and of course, heavenly good looks.

First, contrary to “white supremacist Christians” (now there’s an oxymoron) Jesus was Jewish--not white Anglo-Saxon. In fact, he was born in the Middle East, so he probably looked like a blend of all races - “red and yellow, black and white.”

Second, he was so average looking (no halo, no cherubs hovering around him) that when the mob came to arrest him, Judas had to identify him with a kiss. He was also probably a lot shorter than we picture him since, until the late 1800’s, the average man was only about 5 feet tall. And, according to Isaiah’s prophecy, he wouldn’t have won any beauty contests either: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”

That's why I decided to leave Paul’s “Jesus” with the black curly hair, dark complexion, and mountains of muscles on display the past fourteen Easters. It reminds me of the genuine Jesus rather than culture's counterfeit Christs.

Anyway, some things to think about. Have a joyous spring!

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