A Theology Of The Christian Year

The resurrection of the crucified Christ is the point on which the weekly and annual cycles of the Christian calendar turn. In fact, it supplies the clue to the whole history of salvation and indeed the cosmos. Every Sunday and every Easter day is a commemoration and celebration of the resurrection of Jesus and an anticipation of the day when the same Lord will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and finally establish God's universal kingdom. Sunday Let us begin by looking at Sunday. It was "on the first day of the week" that the tomb of Jesus was found empty (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1) and the risen Lord interpreted the Scriptures to the two on the road to Emmaus and revealed himself to them, and later to his other disciples, at table (Luke 24:13-32, 3349). In Paul's time, the Christians at Ephesus gathered on "the first day of the week" to hear the apostle preach and to break bread (Acts 20:7-11). A century later, Justin Martyr reports that Chris…