Why Easter brings Sun worshipers and Son worshipers together
This is the third part in my Easter 'thecology' series: reflections on ecology and theology.
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| Pambula, sunset |
Easter as a time of "new life" didn't make a lot of sense to me until I lived in America. In the 1990s my wife and I lived just south of Boston, Mass, a place that – unlike Sydney – has four distinct seasons. Come winter, the world went monochrome – all the green of the leaves and grass was replaced by bare black and grey sticks, and white snow and ice. It was stark, but still beautiful in its own way.
Then one morning, almost bang on Easter, we woke up and the trees were green. There was new life everywhere. Seemingly overnight, rabbits and other creatures were running around, the birds returned and the brightly coloured vegetation cropped up all over the place.
It's no real surprise then that in the Northern Hemisphere this time of year has been revered for thousands of years as a special spiritual time – a time when the Earth itself seems to be renewed, and touched by the divine. Ancient peoples had a festival to celebrate this time of fruitfulness and life – they called it Ishtar. Heavenly beings were worshiped, including the Sun and the Moon, as part of the celebration of new life that occurs around the equinox.
As the death of Jesus occurred at this time of year, early Northern Hemisphere Christians found it quite easy to steal this festival and its ideas, turning it into the celebration of the risen Son of God that we know in much of the world today.
Although this is simplified, I love how this works in English:
Ishtar was a festival celebrating the Sun bringing new life
Easter is a festival celebrating the Son bringing new life
Of course there is also a Jewish festival at this time that Jesus of Nazareth celebrated with his mates on his last night on Earth. It is, in a way, a celebration of life saved through sacrifice. Called the Passover, it celebrates the final night of the Jewish nation being kept as Egypt's slaves. To preserve his chosen people, God warned them to sacrifice a lamb and to sprinkle its blood over the door frames of their houses. When a "spirit of death" ripped through the night, it would pass by any house that had the blood on the doorframe. In this way, the lamb's death "saved" the people inside.
Again, it became very easy for early Jewish Christians, such as Paul, to relate this festival and its meaning directly to Jesus. Paul declares that it is Jesus's blood that saves those who believe in him.
Passover was a festival celebrating the sacrifice of a lamb to save people
Easter is a festival celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus (often called the "lamb of God") to save people
So how does this relate to ecology?
I think it is harder in many ways to grasp the fullness of the Easter message living in the Southern Hemisphere. Often our theology about the cross, and the meaning of a Saviour who could not be tied down by death itself, is simplified as a Homo sapiens "ticket to heaven". We miss the whole of creation renewal that this time is about. When Jesus said in John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full," I believe he wasn't just talking about something that happens when humans die, but a way of living, of celebrating, of dancing through life where we cherish each and every moment, each and every drop of fresh water, each and every flower, leaf, wave, Leadbeater's possum and fungi. That as we become aware of the power of life itself, we too become nurturers and lovers of all of creation. That includes the unlovely – our "enemies" as Jesus called them – as well as the downtrodden, the poor, the mentally unstable in our own species, and in others.
I believe that as we become part of the "new life" available through the risen Christ, that our priorities change, and that instead of ignoring our part in the destruction of this gorgeous planet, that we seek to become healers of it too. As we try to give up the greed and the selfishness within us, we seek to heal the brokenness of our own relationships with other people, and with the Earth that sustains us. So many indigenous communities across the world seem to have grasped this better.
I do not believe that something as powerful as a God who would become a human, and allow itself to be killed by its own creation, can be limited to a simple "so now we can go to heaven" line, although that may well be a glorious bonus. The ancient texts make it clear that creation itself responded violently as the Son of God was killed – the Earth shook, the Sun disappeared (see Matthew's account, in which these cosmic events led a guard standing by to declare "truly this was the Son of God"). I think someone who allows this immense power of the risen Jesus to work inside them will be one who exudes their love for all of creation – people, animals, plants, natural forces – as well as the Creator behind it all.
Happy Easter to all. May you find both disturbance and peace within the narrative of the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and may you seek to be changed from within by the incredible power of "new life".
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Next blog: I promise to go back to some outdoor stuff again!
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