Easter Day

For Christians, Easter Day marks the occasion that Jesus rose again from the tomb where he had been buried and in so doing, conquered death. According to scripture he was to rise again on the third day. It is essentially the most important day in the Church calendar.

The Gospels tell us that friends of Jesus, (a group of women), including Mary Magdalene, went to the tomb very early on Easter Sunday (the third day after his crucifixion), to find that the stone door to the tomb had been rolled away and that the tomb was empty. Some Gospels tell us that Jesus then appeared to the women and told them to go and tell the other disciples, who then came to the tomb themselves. 

The Gospels then tell us that Jesus continued to appear to his disciples over a period of forty days after his resurrection, continuing to teach them and to show how the Hebrew Bible foretold his dying and rising again. He then ascended into heaven, returning to his Father's throne, above and beyond all time and space. At the ascension, he told his disciples to return to Jerusalem and to wait in prayer for the coming of the Father's promised gift, the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Comforter, who would 'lead them into all truth'.