Christians today celebrate their holiest day, Easter Sunday, which commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

Easter has long been a mix of the secular and the sacred, of candy, flowers and bunnies, symbols of spring and of church and family tradition.

Across Alabama, Easter celebrates family, renewal and redemption. Many will share baskets of seasonal candy, then attend church.

For devout Christians, there is a message to proclaim that supersedes Easter eggs.

Christians across Alabama and all over the world on Sunday will proclaim, “He is risen!” and celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus.

The Christian celebration of Easter itself supplanted a history of pagan celebrations. The name Easter comes from the Nordic goddess of spring, Ostara.

Attendance will run much higher today in Easter worship services than on other Sundays during the year. People who rarely go to church will help fill the pews.

There are about 2.38 billion Christians, making Christianity the largest religion in the world, out of about 8 billion people.

Christianity’s humble beginnings trace to a moment when Jesus of Nazareth was crucified in Jerusalem, then part of the Roman Empire, about 33 A.D.

Those who followed the itinerant preacher believed he rose from the dead and appeared to them, proving he was the Son of God.

The Resurrection startled even Jesus’ own followers, according to the Gospels. The disciples were skeptical, as is evident in Matthew 28:16-17. That the most ardent followers couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the risen Jesus gives an indication how difficult the central doctrine of the Christian faith can be for modern believers.

Early in Christian history, the Gnostics argued that the resurrection was purely spiritual, not physical. Shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus argued with his own critics about the reality of resurrection. In Luke Chapter 20, Jesus discusses bodily resurrection of the dead with the Sadducees, who did not believe in it. The Sadducees were the rationalists of the Hellenistic world – they didn’t believe in angels, devils or resurrection. Jesus tells the Sadducees that those who are worthy of resurrection from the dead are equal to angels and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

The New Testament promise of resurrection for Christians is not just the immortality of the soul but a glorified bodily resurrection like that experienced by Christ. Immortality of the soul is an ancient Greek idea, but the expectation of bodily resurrection comes directly from the New Testament.

‘‘If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain,‘’ the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15.

One argument made for the reality of the Resurrection is the astonishing growth of Christianity from a few followers who scattered, frightened, when Jesus was crucified. At the time the Apostle Paul wrote his letters, about 54 A.D., he said that more than 500 witnesses who had seen Jesus resurrected were still alive.

Though Christianity started with a small community of believers, it multiplied quickly, and within 100 years after Jesus’ death there were a million Christians. By the time Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire about 300 years after the death of Jesus, there were about 30 million Christians, according to the World Christian Encyclopedia.

For Christians, the empty tomb and the resurrection of Jesus explain that rapid growth.