The Most Important Holiday · 4 April 2026
I think my favorite holiday is Christmas. The decorations. The family gathering. And of course, the presents. And the best present is just the presence of family. But the greatest present of all is Jesus. The reason for the season. God come down to the earth in the flesh to dwell with us. Oh, what a great holiday!
But Christmas is just the beginning of the story. Okay. The middle of the story. (Which is another story.) And it cannot be the most important holiday. The most important holiday is Easter.
If you think about holidays that celebrate important people, you must think of what those people did. After all, without their lives meaning something, their birthdays or their holidays are meaningless. Think about it. We do not celebrate Abraham Lincoln just because he was president. We celebrate his life and how he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Oh sure, he did other things, but historically speaking, the proclamation that the enslaved people shall be free was arguably his most important deed. Martin Luther King, Junior is likewise celebrated for his leadership of the Civil Rights Movement. Not just because he was born. And so it is with all those whose lives we commemorate. We celebrate their accomplishments in life.
Which brings me back to the most important holiday of all. Easter.
Now, I know that some people will say that Easter was a coopting of various pagan religions to promote Jesus. And other people will say that Easter is merely a way to sell candy and greeting cards. But the historical event that Easter commemorates is the most important event in all of human history.
Now, nobody except a crackpot here and there will deny that Jesus of Nazareth lived. Historians and academics know that the evidence is too great to deny that Jesus lived. It is not even argued that He died at the hand of the Romans. Or even that He was placed in an empty tomb. Sure, there are skeptics who argue against one or more of the details of these events, but the events themselves are well attested. They are historical bedrock.
Now, Easter celebrates the historical day of Jesus rising from the grave. The tomb is empty. Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed!
But the celebration is not a celebration of the beginning of a new religion. No. It is the celebration of the historical event. It is a celebration of the fact that nobody could bring evidence to the contrary. It is a celebration that the tomb is still empty. And always will be. Jesus is risen!
The simple truth is that the first century Jewish and Roman authorities could have stopped the rise of Christianity on that first day. On that first Easter. All they had to do was to produce the dead body of Jesus. They could have just gone to the tomb and showed the people that he was still in the grave. They could have unwrapped his dead body and showed everybody the marks in his arms, legs, and side. “Look! Jesus is still dead. He is not risen.” Had they been able to do that and say those words, game over. And today, we would only have those pagan religions. And nobody would be celebrating a new faith. Nobody would be promoting Jesus as Savior of the world. Nobody would be saying that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. In fact, we would not even know about Jesus, much less his Apostles and other disciples. They would all be a footnote in history if Jesus did not rise from the grave. Actually, they would not even be a footnote. And we would still be denoting the years by the years of the reigns of kings and queens.
That is why Easter is the most important holiday of all. It, like all holidays, celebrates a significant moment in history. In this case, the most important moment in all of history. Without Easter, we would not celebrate Christmas. Without Easter, we would not celebrate Good Friday or Lent. Even the debauchery of Fat Tuesday (not a holiday, mind you) would mean nothing without Easter, for it would just be like any other day.
I do love Christmas. It is probably my favorite holiday of the year. But Easter is the most important day of every year. For on Easter, we remember that Jesus rose from the grave. The historical Jesus lived, died at the hands of the Romans, and rose again on the third day. These historical events are well attested and have stood the test of time. And that is why Easter is the greatest holiday and most important holiday of all.
Happy Easter.
Jesus is risen!
He is risen, indeed!
© 2026 Michael T. Miyoshi
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