Happy Easter! May this special holiday bring blessings to revive the spirit of every person and of the world. That’s right, a rabbi is wishing everyone a Happy Easter. Because we all need it now more than ever.
And I’m not talking about any part of the Easter holiday that involves rabbits, chocolate, or colored eggs. When I speak of Easter, I am referring to the religious holiday that traces the last days of the life of Jesus, his torture, his crucifixion, and his resurrection.
Let’s be clear: I am a traditional rabbi, I am not involved in any way with a Messianic church, and I don’t accept Jesus as my personal Savior. But while he is not the pathway for me to God, I accept unconditionally that he is the pathway for my Christian and Catholic friends. I recognize that my personal beliefs may be offensive to some, and I apologize if in any way my respect for the holiday integrated with my personal lack of belief in Jesus distresses anyone, as it is not meant to. I don’t need to believe in the actual resurrection of the man in order to appreciate this holiday and treasure its values and teachings.
Because the values of Jesus extend beyond the man. The teachings of Easter transcend cultures and beliefs, and the lessons of the Passion are valuable for every person on this planet, especially in the crazy world that we all live in today.
Whether you accept Jesus as God or not, many things are clear about the world he was born into. Jesus was born, lived, and died as a Jew in a time when Israel had been conquered by the Romans. While many people think of the Romans as observantly religious pagans, the reality is that by the time of Jesus, they were mostly secular hedonists who paid only lip service to their deities. The Jews of Israel two thousand years ago were ruled by a culture with values not that distant from what we see today: hedonism, narcissism, materialism, et al.
And much of the Jewish culture also bore distinct similarities to the secular Jewish culture of 21st century America. Many of the Jewish leaders of the time were more concerned with their own power, finances, and aggrandizement than they were with being spiritual leaders for their people. Ancient Israel had a trio of leaders: the king, a Great Assembly of scholars, and the priesthood (called Kohanim). Kohanim received their position from their father’s lineage, not based upon knowledge or spiritual depth. In the time of Jesus, the High Priest was either Annas or his son-in-law, Caiaphas. The Christian Scriptures detail both men (Caiaphas in the Synoptic Gospels, Annas in John) as desiring to remove Jesus as a threat to their power. Whether it was Annas or Caiaphas, scholars have established that both men were not appointed as High Priest because of qualifications, but because of their relationship with the Roman procurator, who appointed them.
Simply put, whether it was Annas or Caiaphas who sought to destroy Jesus, both men were identical in values and practices. They were corrupt sycophants to the Roman conquerors; committed to gathering their own personal power; and uncaring of the true spiritual needs of their people. They had abandoned their Jewish values in favor of establishing wealth and power.
If you don’t see parallels to some Jewish leaders today, I invite you to explore the biographies of Senators Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer as examples. Both men who came from homes of traditional Jewish values; both grew up educated in Judaism; and both have abandoned those values to gain personal power, financial wealth, and position.
The times were spiritually dark in the days of Jesus’ life, and he tried to bring back the authentic Jewish values that had been rejected by much of the Jewish leadership. The Temple, which was to be the ultimate House of Prayer, had additionally become a marketplace–a bazaar where anything could be bought or sold. It was a reflection of the commerce-minded Kohanim of the time. And Jesus exposed it for what it had become. He shined a light on the darkness that had overwhelmed the required spirituality of that holy place, and on the commerce-minded leaders who allowed it.
We all know the rest of the story. His capture, torture, and ultimate death by crucifixion. The light that he tried to shine in order to help Jerusalem regain its spirituality was snuffed out by men who were more concerned with their own well-being than the well-being of the people. Men who were more concerned with a pursuit of hedonism than a pursuit for a deeper and more conscious relationship with God.
But the story of Jesus does not end with his death, and this is why the teachings of Easter are so important for all of us today. For he rises from the dead. His light, the light of God, triumphs over all of the physical evils. All of the machinations of the secular Roman establishment, all of the corruption of the priestly leadership, all of the darkness of physical pain fall away with the light of the ultimate spiritual awakening.
This is why this holiday of Easter is so important, even for those who do not believe the story or accept Jesus as their Savior.
We live in a time of secularism fighting against religious values. A time of hedonistic narcissism that contradicts the most basic understandings of life, even to extent of many of our leaders wanting to try to change a child’s gender–a gender assigned to him at birth by God. A time when so many of our leaders are more committed to gaining power than to serving their constituents. A time so upside-down that there are people chanting “queers for palestine,” even though Sharia law would demand their own deaths. A time when evil Hamas terrorists, who tortured, raped, murdered, and kidnapped hundreds of civilians, are being cheered at award shows as “freedom fighters”; and when Israel, which has been the home of Jews for over 3000 years, is being called a “colonizer”.
We live in a time as dark as 2000 years ago, where all that is right and righteous is rejected by so many leaders; where common sense is uncommon; and where we see war in every venue physically and spiritually.
Easter reminds us of the truth that as dark as it may get, the light of God will always ultimately triumph. The holiday teaches us to have faith that the greatest evils and darkness are only temporary, and that the world will be redeemed from a despair that seems on the surface to be overwhelming. Easter is the holiday of resurrection, a powerful reminder that we need to fight for the righteous values taught by Jesus and in the sacred Jewish and Christian texts. And it is a reminder that we will win that fight.
I have often said that the Messiah will come; and that Jews will welcome him as coming for the first time while Christians will say “welcome back”… and all righteous people will accept him as the Messiah. May that time come speedily and in our lifetimes.
Until that time, may we all wish each other a Happy Easter. May we all be blessed with the glory of faith that darkness will be transformed to light; war will lead to a lasting peace; the lion will lay down with the lamb; and the hearts of parents will be reconciled with their children and the hearts of children with their parents.
Happy Easter!
