Why Celebrate Easter?

As a young child, Easter was a time to celebrate the coming of spring, green grass, daffodils, and tulips.  A time of leaving winter cold and snow behind, and embracing the increasing warmth as the sun rises higher in the sky.

Easter was always a time of dressing up, coloring eggs, attending special services with our church family on Good Friday and Easter Morning. And in the afternoon, we would enjoy a hearty meal with my grandparents. The highlight of the day was three-fold: waking up to find my 4’ giant blowup bunny staring at me in my room, finding hidden eggs and discovering a basket filled with surprises sitting at my place at the table. I loved it. It was Easter.

I knew Easter was really about Jesus rising from the dead. I understood that fact. I believed that fact. But the bunny, the eggs and the basket of gifts made it fun! 

There is, however, one thing that was rarely talked about: Jesus being the Bread of Life. 

Yes, I partook of Communion as I got older, understanding that Jesus gave His body to die for my sin, and that His blood was shed, so I could be forgiven and the wrath of God be satisfied. All I needed to do was believe and receive Him as Lord and Savior.  It was understood that to be forgiven I also needed to repent: say I’m sorry to God. He is right and I was wrong. But, Jesus being the Bread of Life?  I heard about it. Never really focused on it. Until a few years ago.

Bread is a very simple, basic staple of life. Most if not all of us have some bread in our homes somewhere; the freezer, the cupboard, or the refrigerator. But if I don’t eat it, it serves no purpose. For bread to be advantageous, I must eat it, digest it, internalize it. It must become a part of me.

Same with the Bible. 

If I read the Bible and simple admire the teaching, yet don’t do what it says, what good is my reading of it?  For it to be advantageous to me, I must read it and do what it says: Place my faith in Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior and follow Him daily.

Bread, like most any other food, is beneficial, when eaten. It gives us the strength and energy that we need to live.   

Same with Jesus.

He gives us what we need to live eternally. He is our sustainer. We “feed” from Jesus.
Eating food, whether bread or something else, is something that is personal.  You cannot eat for me, and I cannot eat for you.  Each of us must eat to nourish our body. If I don’t eat, I will starve to death.  

Same with Jesus.

If I want to be saved from my sin, and spend eternity in Heaven with God, then I must choose to believe in the name of Jesus as LORD and Savior of my life. One cannot be saved on the coattails of another. I must choose. You must choose. Everyone must choose. If I do not place my faith in Him as Lord and Savior, I will starve in terms of eternal life, and die a death of eternal separation from God. An eternity spent in Hell.

This is some of what Jesus meant when He said He was the Bread of Life (See Matt 26:28; Acts 5:30-31; 10:43; Eph. 4:32; John 14:6; 1 Peter 3:18 and John 3:15-16, 36; 5:24; 17:2; 1 John 5:11-12 for more insight).

The Resurrection on that Sun morning, proved that what Jesus taught was true. He is the Bread of Life that came from Heaven and he/she who eats of this bread will live and not die. 

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