March 25 - The Calculation of Faith: How Dionysius Established Easter’s First Date

Divine Invitation Through Removed Barriers

This is the day the first Easter was observed, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus, in 31 AD.

In today's lesson, we will explore the profound purpose behind the stone being rolled away from Jesus' tomb. Was this miraculous event meant for His benefit or for ours? What spiritual principle might we discover about how God removes obstacles in our lives and why? This historical moment invites us to reconsider our perspective on divine interventions and what they reveal about God's desire for our faith.

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"On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus." - Luke 24:1-3 (NIV)

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This Date in History

As the sun rose over Jerusalem on that momentous Sunday morning, the followers of Jesus of Nazareth made their way to his tomb, carrying spices to anoint his body. Their grief turned to bewilderment when they discovered the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. What began as a sorrowful journey became the foundation for the most significant celebration in Christian history: the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

According to calculations by Dionysius Exiguus, a 6th-century monk and astronomical mathematician, this world-changing event occurred on March 25, AD 31. Dionysius, whose name means "Dennis the Little," would later gain fame for creating the Anno Domini (AD) calendar system that much of the world still uses today. His complex calculations of lunar cycles and Jewish Passover dates led him to identify this specific date for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The historical Jesus had been crucified on Friday during the Jewish festival of Passover, after a trial before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Roman authorities and Jewish religious leaders had viewed Jesus as a threat due to his growing following and controversial teachings that challenged established practices. His execution was meant to eliminate his influence, but according to Christian belief, it instead became the pivotal moment in God's plan of salvation.

Before his death, Jesus had gathered with his disciples for a Passover meal, now known as the Last Supper. During this meal, he established what would become the Christian sacrament of communion, instructing his followers to remember him through the breaking of bread and sharing of wine. In the Gospel accounts, Jesus explicitly identifies the Passover elements as symbols of the New Covenant in his blood.

When Mary Magdalene and other women discovered the empty tomb, they reported seeing angels who told them Jesus had risen from the dead. According to the Gospel accounts, Jesus then appeared to his disciples multiple times over the next forty days before his ascension. These encounters transformed his followers from a scattered, frightened group into bold proclaimers of his resurrection.

The earliest Christians, still identifying as Jews, didn't immediately celebrate Easter as a separate holiday. They continued to observe Passover with new significance, seeing Jesus as the ultimate Passover lamb sacrificed for them, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8. The resurrection itself aligned with the timing of the Jewish Wave Sheaf Offering during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which symbolized the first fruits of harvest, a connection Paul makes when he calls Christ "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20).

As Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire and gained more Gentile converts, practices began to diverge from Jewish observances. Some churches maintained closer ties to the Jewish calendar and festivals, while others developed distinct celebrations. By the second century, disagreements had emerged about when to commemorate the resurrection, with some maintaining the connection to Passover dating (called the Quartodeciman position) and others advocating for a Sunday celebration regardless of the date of Passover.

This controversy reached such importance that it was addressed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, which established that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. This decision formally separated the Christian commemoration of Christ's resurrection from the Jewish Passover calendar, though the timing remained connected to it.

Centuries after the events themselves, Dionysius Exiguus undertook his calculations as part of broader efforts to create a standardized Christian calendar. His work on establishing the date of Jesus's birth eventually led to our modern dating system, with his estimate of Christ's birth year becoming 1 AD (though modern scholars believe he miscalculated by several years). His identification of March 25, AD 31 as the resurrection date reflected the best astronomical and historical knowledge available to him in the 6th century.

Historical Context

The religious environment of first-century Judaism contained rich traditions and diverse interpretations of Scripture. Multiple Jewish sects including Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots competed for influence. The Pharisees emphasized strict adherence to Mosaic Law and oral traditions while believing in resurrection and angels. The Sadducees, primarily from aristocratic priestly families, rejected these beliefs and focused on Temple worship. The Festival of Passover commemorated God's deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, with the sacrificial lamb's blood symbolizing divine protection and deliverance.

Rome's occupation of Judea created significant tensions. Emperor Tiberius ruled from Rome while Pontius Pilate governed as prefect of Judea from 26-36 AD, which aligns with Dionysius Exiguus' calculation of AD 31 for the resurrection. However, modern scholars believe Dionysius miscalculated Jesus' birth year, placing it several years earlier than his designation of 1 AD. The Romans allowed Jews certain religious freedoms but maintained strict military control and demanded tribute. Jewish groups held different attitudes toward Roman rule, ranging from accommodation to active resistance. Messianic expectations ran high during this period, with many Jews awaiting a deliverer who would overthrow foreign oppression and establish God's kingdom. These social and political pressures formed the backdrop against which Jesus's ministry, death, and reported resurrection took place.

Dionysius Exiguus

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Did You Know?

• The Jewish calendar in the first century was lunar-based, requiring periodic adjustments to maintain seasonal alignment. Priests were responsible for declaring the beginning of months based on lunar observations, which affected the timing of religious festivals including Passover.

• First-century Jewish burial customs typically involved washing the body, anointing it with spices and oils, wrapping it in linen cloths, and placing it in a rock-hewn tomb. The body would remain there for about a year until the flesh decomposed, after which the bones would be collected and placed in an ossuary (bone box).

• Women were considered invalid witnesses in Jewish legal proceedings during this period, making the Gospel accounts' identification of women as the first witnesses to the empty tomb an unusual detail that historians view as enhancing the credibility of the narrative.

• The Roman historian Tacitus, writing around 115 AD, confirmed the execution of Jesus under Pontius Pilate, providing one of the earliest non-Christian references to the historical Jesus and the origins of Christianity.

• Early Christian worship initially centered around Jewish homes and synagogues rather than dedicated buildings. The first known purpose-built Christian worship space dates to the 3rd century, nearly 200 years after the events described in the Gospels.

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Today’s Reflection

When the women approached the tomb on that first resurrection morning, their hearts were heavy, their hands full of burial spices, and their minds still shaped by grief. But what they found disrupted every expectation: the stone had been rolled away, and the tomb was empty.

"They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus." Luke 24:1–3

That detail about the rolled-away stone might seem minor in the grand sweep of the resurrection story. But in it lies a powerful truth that often goes unnoticed.

Jesus did not need that stone moved in order to rise. After His resurrection, we see Him appear in locked rooms without opening doors. If He could bypass walls, He could certainly exit a tomb without assistance. So why was the stone rolled away?

It was not for His benefit, but for ours.

The stone was moved so that His followers could step in, see the evidence, and come to believe what had just taken place. God opened the tomb not to let Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in.

And this tells us something remarkable about God's heart.

He does not work in hidden isolation, requiring blind faith from a distance. God invites participation. He does not merely ask us to accept truth. We are invited to come close, to examine, to enter into what He has done, and to let what we encounter change us.

The resurrection was not just an announcement to be accepted. It was a reality to be explored.

This is a pattern woven throughout Scripture. At the Red Sea, God could have delivered His people instantly by teleporting them to the other side. But instead, He split the waters, inviting them to walk through His power. When Jesus healed the blind, He could have spoken a single word. But instead, He touched their eyes, engaged their senses, and let them experience the healing firsthand.

God doesn't just work for us. He works with us, drawing us in so that faith is not merely a conclusion we accept, but a transformation we encounter.

So when we see the stone rolled away, we are being called to more than acknowledgment. We are being called to engagement. The empty tomb is not just a message to be proclaimed. It's an invitation to step inside and see what God has already accomplished.

That changes how we think about the obstacles we face in our lives.

So often, we pray for God to remove stones, barriers, blockades, impossibilities so we can move forward more easily. But what if some stones are rolled away not to clear your path, but to open your eyes? What if God removes something not to help you escape difficulty, but to invite you deeper into understanding what He's already done?

Sometimes we stand beside what God has opened and miss the invitation to step in. Sometimes we settle for hearing about the resurrection when we're being invited to witness it firsthand in the places where death once ruled in us.

Faith grows when we not only believe that the tomb is empty, but when we are willing to go inside, willing to let God show us what He's already done in our situations, our hearts, our stories.

And let's not forget the disciples and the women had to make a choice. They could have stayed outside the tomb, talked about the mystery, speculated about the miracle, and left unchanged. But instead, they entered. They investigated. They listened. And because they did, they didn't just hear about resurrection. They became witnesses of it.

The same invitation is extended to us today.

God still rolls stones away, not always so we can walk past them, but so we can walk into a deeper encounter with Him. He's not just clearing paths. He's revealing glory.

So let me ask: What has God opened in your life that you've been too afraid or too distracted to step into? What tombs has He invited you to enter, not to find death, but to see that death has been defeated?

Don't just acknowledge the resurrection from a distance. Step in. Look around. Let what God has revealed change the way you live.

Practical Application

Identify one area in your life where God may have "rolled away a stone" - creating an opening that you haven't fully explored yet. This could be an opportunity, a revelation, or even a challenge that invites deeper engagement. Take 15 minutes of quiet reflection to consider this space not as something to simply acknowledge, but as an invitation to step in and witness what God has already accomplished there. In your journal, write about what might change if you viewed this situation not just as a cleared obstacle but as an open tomb—a place to enter, explore, and encounter God's work firsthand rather than from a distance.

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Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we stand amazed at Your wisdom in rolling away the stone not just as a demonstration of power but as an invitation to see and believe. Thank You for making Your mighty works accessible to our limited understanding, always meeting us in our doubt with evidence of Your faithfulness.

Lord Jesus, as You transformed the grave into a gateway of revelation, transform our perspective on the obstacles we face. Give us courage to step through the openings You create, not merely to walk past them. Help us see that You remove barriers not just to make our way easier but to draw us deeper into relationship with You. May we discover, like those first witnesses, that what appeared to be an ending was actually a beginning of greater understanding and faith. In Your name we pray, Amen.

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Final Thoughts

The stone rolled away from Jesus' tomb reminds us that God's miracles aren't just displays of power but invitations to discovery. Just as the empty tomb created space for the disciples to investigate resurrection firsthand, our challenges often contain divine invitations to witness God's work from the inside out. Perhaps the greatest miracle isn't that stones are moved away, but that we're invited to step through the openings they create and encounter the living God who waits on the other side.

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Author’s Notes

This year, we celebrate Easter on Sunday, April 20. I've had people ask me why we celebrate Easter since the Bible doesn't explicitly instruct us to, especially when there are other biblical traditions like Passover or the Wave Sheaf Offering. It's a good question. The Bible doesn’t explicitly instruct us to celebrate Easter. It doesn’t give us rules about a special annual celebration focused specifically on the resurrection. However, Easter is significant because it helps us pause and reflect on what is truly the most transformative event of our faith: the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 15:14, Paul emphasizes that the resurrection is foundational to everything we believe. He says, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." Early Christians understood that the resurrection wasn’t just another historical event. It was the turning point of history. So, even though the New Testament doesn’t command an annual Easter celebration, believers started marking this moment each year as a way to remember and celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death. It became an opportunity to remind ourselves and each other of the hope we have because Jesus is alive.

Historically, Easter grew out of Passover traditions. Early Christians saw Christ’s death and resurrection as fulfilling what the Passover symbolized: deliverance and redemption. Passover pointed forward toward Jesus, and the resurrection fulfilled that promise. Celebrating Easter today isn’t about neglecting those important biblical festivals, but it’s about recognizing their completion in Christ. The resurrection gives deeper meaning to Passover and the Wave Sheaf Offering, demonstrating clearly that Christ is the firstfruits, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:20, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."

Ultimately, the value of Easter isn't in tradition itself. It’s about taking intentional time to reflect deeply on Jesus’s resurrection and what that means practically for our daily lives. Easter asks each of us: Are we truly living in the power and victory Christ won? Does our faith reflect the reality that death is defeated and hope is alive?

While Easter isn’t commanded in Scripture, celebrating it can strengthen our faith, remind us of God's power, and encourage us to live more fully for Him every day.

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