“Is it any wonder the world doesn’t take much notice if Easter is celebrated as simply the one-day happy ending tacked on to forty days of fasting and gloom?”
–N.T. Wright

He is risen! Alleluia!

We have just come through the forty-day fast of Lent and begun the season of the Easter feast. What do you imagine when you think of a feast? I tend to picture some kind of medieval banquet. I see a huge, long table covered with platters of roasted meats and ripe fruits and sweet breads, bowls of sauces and vegetables, and, of course, tankards of ale and jugs of wine. While there might be some similarities, a biblical feast is different.

Feasts in the Bible are not about indulgence, show of status, or gluttony. They are about celebrating God’s faithfulness and goodness together. In the case of Easter, the whole fifty-day season is considered one continuous “Great Sunday” of celebration. And what a truth we have to celebrate! Our Savior—Jesus, the Lover of our souls—was dead but is now alive!

We’ve heard these words so many times that we might have become deaf to their absolutely jaw-dropping implications. Hear this anew again today: Because Jesus lives, we, too, live, as Frederick Buechner says, “…not just in the sense of resurrection to life after death but in the sense of life so precious even this side of death that to live it is to stand with one foot already in eternity.” Does thinking about living with one foot already in eternity—with your life already firmly planted in the already-but-not-yet kingdom of love and peace and joy and freedom—shift your perspective on how your life can look here and now? Does it stir an excitement that makes you want to celebrate? I hope so!

As noted above, theologian N.T. Wright thinks the world will pay more attention to Christianity if we joyfully engage in the Easter feast, especially the first week of the season: “Easter is about the wild delight of God’s creative power…. Every step back from [exuberant celebration] is a step toward an ethereal or esoteric Easter experience, and the thing about Easter is that it is neither ethereal nor esoteric. It’s about the real Jesus coming out of the real tomb and getting God’s real new creation under way.”

Feasting is theological. When done with intention, it is an act of worship, because it points to the incredible freedom and joy Christ won through his death and resurrection. Practicing feasting this way glorifies God. This Easter season, let’s walk together in keeping the feast!