The True Meaning of Easter: A Reflection on Grace, Transformation, and Redemption
Yesterday was Easter. It was the day of the lord to arise from the dead and its the day of resurrection. It symbolizes the fulcrum of the christianity faith, where all the sins of the man were cleared by our savior, Jesus christ. For a while, as a non-christian, it seemed rather unfair that christians get to live a life without any worry since they accepted Jesus as their savior, whereas the rest of us ilk get to be judged for our actions. But, then it struck to me that the whole point of this is to realize that no matter how hard we try as humans, our efforts by themselves cannot be good enough to grant us heaven or redemption. Strike out the heaven part, because I do believe that good karma’s or actions can give us heaven, but the part about eternal salvation can only be obtained through the grace of god and not through our actions. This is a pretty universal claim from all religions, whether it be christian or muslim or elsewhere, that humans by their acts alone cannot attain salvation.
If we cannot attain salvation by our actions alone, why bother try? Why cannot all of us become christians and get it for free? This is where I think some twisting and turning of facts have happened over centuries to obfuscate the true message of Jesus, which was to shed our own egos and be trusting in God’s good grace and in also following good acts and thoughts to be worthy of his good grace. In other words, simply saying that I believe in Jesus is not alone enough, instead, it has to lead to inner transformation and changes. This is something that eastern religions, like budhism and hinduism espouse well, where grace of god is mandatory for salvation, but that has to be coupled with good behavior. An example given is that of a blind man. The sun shines across all beings but a blind person cannot see the light. Only when the blindness is gone, can they see that. Similarly, our behavior determines our ability to see the light, but our behavior alone cannot generate light, for that is only in the power of the lord.
The early christians must have been a devasted lot after Jesus was crucified. They have made enormous sacrifices to be with Jesus and then their messiah, whom they believed to be unconquerable was crucified in front of their own eyes and that too by pagans, whom they thought were inferior. And the son of god died like a mortal. They would have been shattered with that and they would have felt enormously helpless, for they had none to hang on and nothing to believe in. Some of them would have experienced regret, some of them would have experience fear of death and all of them would have probably experienced helplessness. So, to see him raise from his tomb and to console them would have been a phenomenal experience. And after that, they didn't just sit back and wait for heaven to bestow its blessings upon them. They went back and spread the word of the lord elsewhere and in due process had to face even more sufferings. Even apostles like St. Peter and St. John faced severe hardships and several of his disciples got executed.
So, while God’s grace alone can give us salvation, let us reflect on the journey of Jesus and his disciples to never rest back on the divine promise and instead try to work to spread his name and live a good life.
Amen!
