Trick or treat? On October 31st Halloween will once again be celebrated on many streets around the world. The source of this celebration (earlier Samhain—“celebration of the dead”) hails back to the Celts. They believed that a connection between the living and the dead is possible on this day. Christians later renamed the celebration on the day before All Saints Day Halloween (from “all hallows’ Eve”). This is how Halloween has come to mean different things at different times and in different cultures.
History has already shown that a holiday can either be celebrated or avoided based on different motives. While some strictly reject Halloween due to its occult, Celtic background, others view it as a harmless scary celebration from the USA. Still others boycott the celebration because of the excessive consumption and commercialism connected to it.
Regardless of how we view Halloween, we can be certain that we can celebrate the God of life on October 31st just as on all other days. Jesus took all the power of death away on the cross. The cross is the place from which life flows into the entire history of mankind, all the way to you. Jesus rose from the grave, and with this he gives us a perspective which goes beyond an earthly death, a perspective of eternal life.
This is how we can confidently place our trust in the God of life and call out: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
1 Corinthians 15:55
What impact does it have for you personally that Jesus conquered death?
Applicable Bible text: John 20:11-18
