Good question. Yesterday morning, a lady at the checkout in the grocery store asked me if I was "ready for the holiday." I had to stop and think for a second.
I don't look at Easter as a "holiday," per se, unless you take the word as it seems to be derived from, "Holy Day." But I don't get any time off from work for Easter. I don't get Good Friday off. To me, a "holiday" is time off from work. So, Easter, then, is not a "holiday" for me.
And, odds are, it's not really the day Jesus rose from the grave, either, just like December 25 is not likely his real birthday. In fact, there's no way at all that "Easter" can be the actual day of the resurrection, is there? BECAUSE IT'S A DIFFERENT FREAKIN' DAY EVERY YEAR!!! Innit??
However, what the concept of Easter means to me is LIFE! It means new life, which is why we associate it with eggs. Eggs are a symbol of new life. Kind of like cocoons, but who wants to hunt "Easter cocoons??" Yuck.
Anyway, yeah. Easter means life. Because without the resurrection of Christ, we would be hopeless. Paul says so himself in Corinthians.
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most miserable.--1 Corinthians 15:12-19
We have life! But only because Christ was raised from the dead, never to die again.
That's what "Easter" means to me.
Just a side note...in my opinion, there is also no way Jesus was crucified on Friday. It just doesn't add up. If you know the Bible, you know that there are no actual days mentioned. But the math just doesn't work. If he is crucified on Friday, he is only in the grave, not even two full days and only two nights. He proclaimed that he would be in the grave three days and three nights. It's not that big a deal, Good Friday can still be the day we acknowledge his sacrifice, just as Easter is the day we acknowledge his victory over death. But he had to have been crucified on either Wednesday or Thursday.
Sing aloud to God our strength;;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
Raise a song; sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.--Psalm 81:1-2
That's it, then.
Grace and peace, friends!