Last March I expressed my confusion on why Easter couldn't be a normal holiday where you pick a day (December 25) or an easy formula (second Monday in October).
This year I ask another question: if Good Friday marks the day Jesus Christ was crucified, and Easter Sunday marks the day Jesus Christ was ressurected, why aren't they three days apart? After all, it was three days after His death when He rose again and walked amoungst the people. So if He was killed Good Friday, shouldn't Easter Monday mark the day of His return?
It turns out that I'm not the first person to think of this. In fact the Wikipedia page for Good Friday addresses this issue:
Some Baptist, Pentecostal, many Sabbatarian and non-denominational churches oppose the observance of Good Friday, instead observing the Crucifixion on Wednesday to coincide with the Jewish sacrifice of the Passover Lamb (which Christians believe is an Old Testament pointer to Jesus Christ). A Wednesday Crucifixion of Jesus Christ allows for Christ to be in the tomb ("heart of the earth") for three days and three nights as he told the Pharisees he would be (Matthew 12:40), rather than two nights and a day if he had died on a Friday.You can also turn to the page on Maundy Thursday (which sounds like some sort of nickname for the Disney Channel lineup) but it still means that Jesus died on Friday, and that just doesn't work.
Incidentally, every holiday at work head office sends us this little fact-sheet to post in front of the public cubicle to explain what it is: Laylat ul Bara'ah is the "Night of Freedom from Fire", etc. etc. Does anybody know why it refered to Easter as a "Christian" holiday? (ie, why the quotations) Isn't it a Christan holiday? Perhaps the most Christian of holidays? Do the evil forces of multiculturalism make it impossible to even call something Christian without implying that obviously Sikhs and Jews get the day off too?
