This Sunday we as Christians will celebrate the most important day in Christian history...the day our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, resurrected from the grave. Without the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus we would be a dying world with no hope of salvation. The resurrection is the foundation of everything we believe and it alone sets Christianity apart from any other beliefs and religions in all of history. If you go to the tombs of any of the prophets on whom these other religions were founded, you will find the decayed remains of those prophets. What would you find in the tomb of Jesus? Nothing! Because He left the tomb empty after three days. We serve a living Savior!
So, HOW do we celebrate? Undoubtedly, the majority of us will get up and go to church. Many will even brave the early morning hours of a sunrise service. After church...if you're like me...we'll get together with family, eat too much and then hide Easter eggs in the back yard for the kids. I think it's a great way to spend the day...well, all except the "hiding the eggs" part...my boys and two nieces expect the eggs to be hidden more than once...but I digress...
I've debated with myself about how much time to spend here talking about the origin of the Easter egg and the Easter Bunny. You probably know that in many cultures the egg represents fertility or new life. This metaphor fits well with Chrisianity. It could be symbolic of the resurrection or the new life that we have in Christ through the cross. The Easter Bunny - which also can represent new life due to the large number of offspring they produce - originated in Germany. The "Osterhase," or Easter Bunny, came at night and brought presents for children. There are many legends surrounding the merging of the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs, and even more about how both came to be associated with the celebration of the resurrection. I won't detail those. The bottom line is that the Easter Bunny and Easter baskets brimming with brightly-colored eggs have become synonymous with Easter.
I thought about what Easter looks like from the world's point of view. Time to get new outfits for the kids...Spring pictures for the kids and perhaps the whole family...Easter baskets...Easter Bunny...coloring Easter eggs...chocolate bunnies...Cadbury Creme Eggs...egg hunts...going to church with grandma...time together with family. It's all good. Right? Yes. All good.
Something very important is missing...Christ.
Yes. I mentioned church. There are many, many people who go to church on Easter Sunday because "it's what you're supposed to do." And, pastors who are sensitive to that do a great job in presenting a strong Gospel message Easter morning. These people - quite literally - may only hear the message of salvation once a year when they go to church on Easter Sunday. It should be our prayer that the Holy Spirit would prick hearts so that they will be open to hearing.
But, let's look a little closer at how many Christians celebrate Easter.
Time to get new outfits for the kids...Spring pictures for the kids and perhaps the whole family...Easter baskets...Easter Bunny...coloring Easter eggs...chocolate bunnies...Cadbury Creme Eggs...egg hunts...going to church with grandma...time together with family. And, yes, it's all good. But, many times we - myself included - get so caught up in all of the preparations...cleaning the house for company, cooking lunch, selecting the perfect basket and prizes for the kids...that we fail to take time to remember and focus on why we...Christians...are celebrating to begin with.
The Cross. The Resurrection.
The world has done an excellent job of distracting us. Honestly, we don't need much help. Our attention is easily redirected...at least I know that's how I am. And Satan knows that. He will use anything to get our attention off of the Truth. Has he used the Easter Bunny to distract us? Certainly. Easter eggs? Absolutely. Satan has used the trivial things we associate with Easter to desensitize us to Main Thing that Easter should be all about.
I don't think it's a coincidence that Hell has used something as "warm and fuzzy" as the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs to take our focus off of the cross. Satan wants people to think, "Oh, yes, Jesus died on the cross. It wasn't THAT bad, right?" And even we have trivialized the cross. We wear cross pendants around our necks, hanging from our ears, adorned to our Bibles, clothing, cars...I'm not saying that's a bad thing...not at all. But, I think when the average person - including the average Christian - thinks about the cross, he thinks about a picture he's seen hanging somewhere in a bookstore with Jesus in the middle of two thieves, and that's as far as it goes. The cross was brutal. If you've seen the movie "The Passion of the Christ" I don't have to paint the picture for you. The suffering and agony that Christ endured for our sin was savage and inhumane. What better way to get the focus off of this fact than with an innocent bunny and beautifully colored eggs.
Okay. Having said that...yes, I am trying to "select the perfect basket" for my boys. Luckily, I don't have to worry about cleaning my house for company because we are going to my parents' house for lunch Sunday. We will most certainly hide eggs in the back yard...several times, I'm sure. But, my prayer is that I can convey to my boys that the fun side of Easter is not what it's all about. I want them to know exactly what was involved in the payment of their sin. I want to ingrain it into their minds in such a way that...in many years to come...they are able to do the same for their children.
So, Sunday morning, as you sit in church and sing praises to God the Father, I pray that you will sing a little louder, pray a bit harder and thank Him for sending His Son to the Cross. When you are spending time with your family Sunday afternoon...after you've eaten too much and you're fussing over whose turn it is to hide the eggs...keep the Cross in the forefront of your mind. Because without our faith in it...without our faith in the Resurrected Savior...nothing else matters.
Happy Easter!
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