Editorial: What is Easter all about anyway?

This weekend, in churches throughout New Zealand, a familiar story will be told, exactly as it has been told for nearly 2000 years. It is about a leader, a man who said his kingdom was not of this world yet who posed such a problem to the government of a province of the Roman Empire that he was executed.

It is a gripping story, commemorated graphically day by day in some churches during the past week. Yet from Palm Sunday, marking Jerusalem's welcome to Jesus of Nazareth, to Thursday, when he held a last supper with his 12 closest followers, the story is scant. How and why did the cheers at his arrival in the city turn to jeers and calls for his crucifixion when the Roman governor put his fate to a popular vote?

The written accounts of his life and death, compiled well after the event, leave more questions than answers and, in a way, that enhances their credibility. It would have been easy to fill the gaps in the narrative with some creative licence. The Gospels were written by and for those who believed Jesus to be the Christ, the Messiah. The pretext for his execution was of less interest to them than the belief that it was divinely determined.

It was the sacrifice he had to make to fulfill his worldly mission and redeem humankind. That, too, raises questions of why and how that only faith can answer. The faith that has endured for nigh on 2000 years arose crucially from events after his death. A few days later his tomb was found empty. Over the next few weeks various followers reported sightings of him. Their several accounts are sufficiently different to defy easy explanation. Whatever happened, the Easter event was the defining moment of the religion that underpins the moral culture and social values of countries such as ours.

Many of us may not be active Christians, or even believers, but Easter is a time to acknowledge the religious roots that, whether we know it or not, nourish us all. All religions offer explanations for some of the eternal mysteries of existence. Why are we here? Is there an order and purpose to the universe and a guiding force behind it? Is there anything after death? All societies in all ages have answered those questions by reference to omnipotent beings, portrayed in more or less human form and communicating through humans who are themselves venerated.

The portrayal of the deities differs much more than their message. The virtues derived from most religions bear a striking resemblance. When wars have been fought in the name of religion, heretics persecuted, women subjugated and homosexuality declared sinful, it has been less the fault of religion than of men who have interpreted it, sometimes for the sake of their own power.

Embarking on the third Christian millennium, the Pope last month prayed for his Church to be forgiven for "divisions among Christians, violence in the service of the truth, for diffidence and hostility sometimes towards followers of other religions."

And he acknowledged mistreatment of Jews through the ages. It was a powerful gesture that ought to be followed by many more as the patriarchy that has ruled most of the world's religions from time immemorial succumbs to the social demands of today.

Easter, with its eggs and bunnies of the northern spring, represents redemption, renewal. It is the most sacred of Christian feasts.

Celebrate it.