Enjoying the Easter holiday – and the ideas that led to it

Easter was fairly early this year, and so many are enjoying a full fortnight’s break following the celebration, as well as having been off for Good Friday. For some it is a much needed chance for rest (fuelled by chocolate eggs!) before they gear up for A Level exams in a few weeks’ time.

Down-time 

The whole concept of holidays has been shaped in the West by an idea which runs right through the Bible - that God knows humanity is frail and needs to have down-time.

Launched this week, a new article in the series Big ideas from the Bible explains how regular rest periods are important, whether it is for travellers who need to stop, for exhausted soil, or for the anxious who need relief. Physical rest is put in place by God’s laws in the Bible and by civic authorities today, who decide how the working year should be shaped. UK academic terms are framed by time off for Christian celebrations – Christmas, Easter, Whitsun and summer harvest.

Where human agency may have limited success, the idea of perfect rest is promised for believers once they get to heaven – but a measure of that can be accessed in the here and now. Why not take a break from your current task and explore the idea here?

Highs and lows

Everyone can become emotionally and physically ‘low’ if they are exhausted, whilst an exciting event can energise us and send us out on a ‘high’. Another Big idea about Ascent and descent launched this week explains how the ideas behind these idioms came via the Bible to influence our culture.

Easter itself is the premier example:

• The followers of Jesus went from being desperately low, as they despaired over the death of their leader, to ecstatically excited once they saw Christ alive again.
• Jesus’ final days were a series of physical ascents and descents:
  • He went up the Mount of Olives to pray, and came down it to be arrested
  • He was suspended high on a cross, then lowered to be interred in a rock hewn tomb
  • According to Christian belief he descended to the realm of the dead, then rose back
  • He appeared to his followers in an ‘upper room’ before finally rising up to heaven, up to life from the grave then sent down his Holy Spirit to dwell amongst believers on earth.

So next time you are ‘in the pits’ or ‘on a high’ (perhaps after the exams!), think about how the Christianised Western worldview put you there!