Easter 2017: Bible Verses, Passages, & Readings

After Easter became established as a Christian holiday, the traditions and symbols of the pagans remained. Even the name of the holiday Easter is derived Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess associated with spring and fertility. The Easter bunny can also be traced to Germany. According to History.com, it comes from an ancient Germanic tradition where an egg-laying rabbit called “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws" would lay colorful eggs in nests made by children. The eggs represented new life and the rabbit was a symbol of fertility. For Christians, the symbols have been reworked within a biblical framework. Easter eggs are said to represent Jesus’ emergence from the tomb and resurrection. There are two facts about Jesus that aren't up for debate by historians: Jesus was baptized and crucified. For the crucifixion, there are historical references that aren't in the Bible. The Roman historian and senator Tacitus referred to Jesus, his sentencing to death by Pontius Pilate, and the existence of early Christians in Rome in one page of his final work, Annals (written ca. A.D. 116). The text reads: "[Roman Emperor] Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular."