March 28, 2005

Happy Judas Day?

I did not put up a special Easter post yesterday, but today there was an e-mail awaiting me from the Leonards which I found quite interesting. It has to do with Easter traditions in the part of Brazil where we will be ministering.

While we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior on this special Sunday, the people of Crato, our city in Brazil, are celebrating what they call "Domingo do Judas" (Judas' Sunday). The religious holiday for them was on Friday, as they remembered the death of Jesus. Judas' Sunday is more of a festive revelry where each community makes up a dummy to represent Judas Iscariot and parades him through the streets of the city. Then Judas will be tortured for his betrayal of Jesus: the children will beat him with sticks while the adults, mostly men dressed as women, dance. Then he will be hung up by a rope around the neck and what remains will be burned after dark.

"Judas Iscariot" being paraded through the streets of Crato

Interestingly, their is no celebration of the resurrected Savior. Though their church believes in the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection means nothing to a people who are still dead in their sins. The best they can do is reflect on the suffering and death of Jesus. To them He is still the dead body represented by the crucifix hanging around their neck and on every living room wall. And typical of the Brazilian culture, they always look for an opportunity to party. What could be more fun than to gain revenge on a man so cruel as Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus with a kiss?

Of course not everybody in Crato celebrated today in this way. On this Easter Sunday you could visit either First Baptist, Grace Baptist, Maranatha Baptist, Calvary Baptist, or Ebenezer Baptist. In each of these Regular Baptist Churches the ressurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ was proclaimed in a meaningful way. Interestingly, when our Bible College moved to Crato ten years ago the only one in town was the First Baptist Church. God is using the professors and students from the Cariri Baptist Seminary to shine the light of the Gospel in this spiritually dark setting.

Posted by Andrew on March 28, 2005 1:55 PM.