Throughout orthodox Christendom observance of Easter as an annual festival is inseparably associated with the resurrection of Christ Jesus. It is, accordingly, a time when Christians ponder the "deep things of God." The inception of Easter antedates the beginning of Christianity; and although during the twenty centuries of the Christian era it has taken on a character wholly derived from its association with the resurrection and ascension of Christ Jesus, it had its foundation far back, even farther back than the Jewish celebration of the Passover, its immediate predecessor, in the pagan festival Eostre, which marked the coming of spring.
The Passover, as at first observed by the Jews, bore no relation whatever to the resurrection, which later became the central idea of the Christian Easter. As a Jewish observance, the Passover commemorated the passing over of the children of Israel by the Lord, who, as they believed, visited the unrighteous with deserved punishment. An interesting commentary on the concept of God then held by the Jews is found in the custom which prevailed of sprinkling the lintel and doorpost of each house with the blood of the paschal lamb, in order to make sure that, in passing, the Lord might readily recognize the home of the true followers, thus insuring the infliction of punishment only upon the unworthy. With the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ Jesus, the Passover was still celebrated; but very soon among the Christian Jews its central thought came to be of Jesus' resurrection, regarding him as the paschal lamb, the "firstborn from the dead."
With the resurrection of Christ Jesus as its chief theme, the Passover developed into the Christian Easter, the season which commonly brings to the devout follower of the Nazarene everywhere a renewed sense of life, of joy, and of purity. Christian Scientists, constantly seeking to gain clearer visions of the Christ, thereby enlarging their spiritual understanding, are perpetually experiencing resurrection, the renewal of the mind which Paul enjoined upon the faithful. To those who recognize that that unfoldment of the Christ, Truth, in consciousness is confined to no season or period, to no time or place, the Easter festival is a continuous spiritual experience.
