Welcome to the Easter long weekend.
Here is what the Oxford English Dictionary says about the word “Easter” in (for the OED) quite a long definition:
“The most important and oldest of the festivals of the Christian Church, commemorating the resurrection of Christ and observed annually on the Sunday which follows the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Also (more generally): Easter week or the weekend from Good Friday to Easter Monday, also called Eastertide.”
As that definition says, Easter begins with “Good Friday”—and one reader has written to ask why it’s called “good” since it is the annual commemoration of the day that Jesus Christ was crucified—nailed to a rough wooden cross by Roman soldiers.
“How can that be good?” he asked.
The Oxford records this usage from at least the year 1300—and the “good” label comes about because of what the death of Jesus achieves.
The Bible explains it like this: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)
This death is called “substitutionary”—Jesus dying in the place of, as a substitute for, his people.
To put this personally—I am not perfect.
(Hey! That surprised you, didn’t it?)
But God is.
So, I deserve to be punished for my imperfections (my failings and failures—all of which come from ignoring God).
But if Jesus is my substitute I don’t need to be punished—so that at death God can say “Welcome home!” not “You don’t belong here!”
And, of course, (as the Oxford definition above says) it ended triumphantly with the conquest of death (what the Bible calls “the last enemy”) by Jesus.
That’s why all the traditional Easter symbols are symbols of life—eggs from which new life comes, and rabbits because rabbits breed like… well, like rabbits.
Which makes the Australian creation of the chocolate “Easter bilby” a bit silly, since the bilby is an endangered species (threatened with extinction).
Nice to save the bilbies, of course, but they represent death—not life.
Happy Easter!
The newest edition of the podcast 'Words with Kel Richards' is now available (with the dateline 17th April). You can find it by scrolling further down this page, or from wherever you usually get your podcasts.
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BY THE WAY...
The March-April issue of Australian Geographic is out now (with the curlew on the cover) -- inside are my two small columns on 'Placenames' and 'Ozwords'.
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
I have just taken part in Jenny Wheeler's podcast "The Joys of Binge Reading." You can listen to the conversation here:
https://thejoysofbingereading.com/kel-richards-country-house-mysteries/
I have signed the anti-Semitism pledge, and I encourage you to do the same. You can sign the letter here: www.saynotoantisemitism.org
The liveliest part of this website is usually the Q and A page -- be sure to check it out from time to time.
BOOKS:
* My latest book is -- "Defending the Gospel" (second, fully revised, edition). You can find it here: Defending the Gospel – matthiasmedia.com.au
* If you're looking for my recent book "Flash Jim" you'll find it here -- Flash Jim, The astonis
hing story of the convict fraudster who wrote Australia's first dictionary by Kel Richards | 9781460759769 | Booktopia
* You can find all Kel's books currently in print here -- Booktopia Search Results for 'kel richards'. We sell books, hardback, paperback, audio, CDs.
* And also here -- Amazon.com.au : Kel Richards
* And you'll find more here -- Search: 4 results found for "Kel Richards" – matthiasmedia.com.au
* Many of Kel's out of print books can be found at ABE Books -- Kel Richards - AbeBooks explaining words explain the term
