TODAY we celebrate Easter, although Christians believe that Jesus rose from the grave on the first day of the week – Sunday; which means that the real celebration of this occasion should have been yesterday.We in Guyana have come to accept that public holidays falling on Sunday are automatically celebrated on Monday. Easter, like so many other religious holidays, has become more of a Guyanese festival; and while those who are steeped in religion would embrace this occasion of Easter to remember the death, burial and Resurrection of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, many others who are not like-minded would just use the holiday to renew family and friendship bonds and to socialise.

It is here that we get a glimpse of how cohesive our society is, as the Easter festivity provides the unique opportunity for all citizens — regardless of religious persuasion — to meet on the sea walls, in the fun parks, and in other open spaces to fly their kites and mix and mingle with the crowd.

We should not lose sight of this cohesiveness, as we have seen in the just-concluded Phagwah celebrations that Guyanese are not afraid to embrace their culture and celebrate with their brothers and sisters of different faiths.

At a time when the seeds of racism and division are being subtly planted in our society, the message of Easter becomes even more relevant to us.

It was in a similar context that Jesus entered the scene at Jerusalem — his final visit there before he was crucified. Never before had the world seen such a triumphal procession as that which accompanied Him into Jerusalem. “Amid the crowd”, one writer puts it, “were the captives whom He had rescued from Satan’s power, praising God for their deliverance. The blind whom He had restored to sight were leading the way. The dumb whose tongues He had loosed shouted the loudest hosannas. The crippled whom He had healed bounded with joy, and were the most active in breaking the palm branches and waving them before their Saviour. Widows and orphans were exalting the name of Jesus for His works of mercy to them. The lepers whom He had cleansed spread their untainted garments in His path, and hailed Him as the King of Glory. Those whom His voice had awakened from the sleep of death were in that throng.”

And while all of this was going on, there were still many — the Bible referred to them as Pharisees — who witnessed the scene, and, burning with envy and malice, sought to disrupt the joyous feeling of the people. With all their authority, they tried to silence the people; but their appeals and threats only increased the enthusiasm.

In our society today, they are many modern-day Pharisees whose only aim is to disrupt every attempt at social cohesion and unity; and, just like the crowd that followed Jesus, we must resist them. The Easter message, much like many others is the triumph of good over evil, portrays a Christ, though reviled and hated by mankind, who went to the cross to lay down His life for them.

His body was entombed for three days, so has our society been weighed down for years by the scourge of division. Like Jesus rising from the grave on the third day, declaring: “I am the resurrection and the life”, Easter presents us with another opportunity as a country to soar above our differences.

Spiritually also, the application here is that despite our shortcomings, Christ was ready to die for the sins of the world. We must, in our own way, make sacrifices for our fellow men. At a societal level, the Resurrection of Christ also offers us the hope that there is opportunity for freedom, improvement, and second chances.

Easter will be of no value to us if we do not embrace the principles of Christ’s teachings to condemn the bad practices of earthly governments and man and work towards eliminating poverty, intolerance, inequity and injustice.