Something special happened this year that has only happened 5 times in the last 106 years and it will not happen again for another 141 years! The special event I am referring to connects this year's Good Friday (March 25) and Easter Sunday (March 27) all the way back to the teaching of the Early Church. And possibly even to the actual dates and days of the week that Jesus died and rose again!

You see, many of the Church Fathers believed Jesus died on the very same day the virgin Mary "became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 1:18). Then exactly 9 months later, she would give birth to Jesus on Christmas morning (December 25). Although there has been much disagreement and dispute over the actual dates of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, it is always interesting to look back at what our forefathers in the faith believed to be true.

Even though Bible scholars may not agree on the actual DATES, almost everyone agrees on the actual DAYS of the week. The Gospel of Mark clearly tells us that Jesus died and was buried on a Friday (Mark 15:42-47), that His body would be in the tomb three days (Mark 8:31)—from Friday until Sunday, and that He rose on "the first day of the week" (Mark 16:2-6). But don't just take Mark's word for it, all of the Gospels agree that Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday (Matthew 28:1-3; Luke 24:1-7; John 20:1-9).

Then in the Acts of the Apostles we see the first Christians gathering together "on the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7). And later the Apostle Paul instructed that "on the first day of the week" (1 Corinthians 16:2) when they gathered together, that a collection should be taken to provide for the spread of the Gospel. By the time the first book of church order was written in the 1st Century, Sunday was already being called the "Lord's Day" after the day Jesus rose from the grave (Didache 14:1).

So why do we meet on Sunday morning? As "Gospel People" we join with our brothers and sisters around the world and across the ages to gather on the same day that Jesus rose, to remember His life, death, and resurrection.