A Day of Remembrance?

A Misplaced Focus

The world has focused upon one particular Sunday as a day of remembrance of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The world entitled this day Easter, although this was not something which God or Christ asked for. Jesus did ask His followers to remember Him, but not in this manner. During the Last Supper, Jesus instituted a memorial which He asked Christians to do “in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19, NASU).

An Importance Difference

This memorial was and should still be the focus, not a day created by the world. There is an important difference between the two.

An event vs. its purpose

Easter is more a focus upon a historical event than a focus upon what the event stood for. By focusing upon a specific day, it makes the event more a curiosity than a reality. The great irony is that on Easter the last days of Jesus’ physical earthly life become more a legendary story than a story of redemption.

An unecessary focus

Easter creates a specific focus where none should exist. This is not to lessen the value of remembrance, but instead the exact opposite. By focusing upon a singular day tied to man’s calendar, the unintended consequence is a lack of focus throughout the rest of the year. Does God really wish for His children to remember His Son only once a year? The truth is that the date and time of the event is not as important as the event itself. It has value any day of the year.

Never commanded

Most importantly, this was not something commanded by God. As stated earlier, Jesus commanded that His sacrifice by remembered when the brethren gathered together. We see example of such an example on the first day of the week (cf. Acts 20:7). Rather than focus upon a particular day, Christians remember such a cost every first day. To create something more is neither necessary nor allowed.

An Empty Argument

It could be argued that at least the world chooses to remember Jesus’ sacrifice one day a year. However, how much better a place would the world be if they remembered it as often as the body of Christ is commanded to? The story remembered by the world of Easter applies to all men in every state of life. Not only that Jesus died, but that He died because of our sin. That is a message that is worth remembering all the time. That is probably why He asked us to remember Him each and every Sunday we worship together.