I have never been able to understand some aspects of Easter. How did a giant rabbit become associated with Easter? Where does this Easter bunny get the eggs? My family raised rabbits for several years when I was young. We had quite a few rabbits but never one that laid eggs or even one that was interested in eggs. I have never seen a rabbit raid the chicken coop for eggs.
Perhaps my inability to understand this tradition is rooted in the fact that I am a former pastor. My understanding of Holy Week and Easter itself comes from the events spoken of in the scriptures. For me, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ overshadow all the contemporary manifestations of the celebration of the day.
One day when I was about nine years old, excitement filled the air. It was Easter morning. We were released to begin hunting for our Easter baskets. Our parents hid the Easter baskets the evening before. Searching through the house, I found my basket of chocolate and other sugary treats on the mantle in the great room. My youngest sister soon found hers sitting on top of a lamp. My middle sister continued to search. Using a few clues from our parents, she eventually found her basket sitting on the floor behind an end table. She excitedly began going through the contents. Suddenly she stopped. “Mommy, there’s ants.” She said. My mother looked and discovered that the ants had indeed found the goodies. My sister’s basket was full of ants. The ants had bored tunnels all through the candy and scurried around on the surface of each piece. Chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs now looked like chocolate ant farms.
This year is different from any I have experienced because most of the country is under stay-at-home orders. Due to the situation, many will be downsizing or eliminating their celebrations. We must remember that the holiday is not about new clothes, chocolates or even a special meal. There is nothing wrong with having and enjoying any of those items. We must remember that they should be things we use to express our excitement about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Our understanding of Easter falls short if we end the story with the placement of Jesus’ body in the tomb. Easter without the resurrection of Jesus Christ is about as meaningful and useful as a gift of ant-infested candy.
Easter usually found my sisters and mother in new dresses and me in a suit and tie, even when I was still rather small. Somewhere along the line, I learned that the way we dressed had to do with Easter, or maybe it was Christianity. As I have aged, I have come to understand that Easter is not about clothes, or candy, or bunnies or chicks. I found out it is a celebration of life. The accounts of the events of Holy Week and Easter morning in scripture tell of the death of Jesus Christ during the day on what we now call “Good Friday.” It was on Easter morning that He arose from the grave. It seems that later that day, Mary encountered Jesus in the garden. He invited her to look beyond her grief and to grasp the hope of new life. It is this new life we are celebrating, not death.
New life is what Easter is all about. We have an opportunity to make a fresh start. Easter offers us the possibility of a new beginning. In the death of Jesus, we received the offer of forgiveness of sins. His resurrection gave us the chance to start over. Think of the Apostle Peter. All four Gospels record the fact that he disowned Jesus when things got hard. (Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:54-62, John 18:15-27) Yet it was after the resurrection of Jesus that reconciliation between Jesus and Peter took place. He received a fresh start. A new beginning is available to anyone who wants one today. The resurrection of Jesus opened the opportunity to have a fresh start to every person from then on.
Scripture tells us that provision of reconciliation between Almighty God and humans was the reason Jesus Christ died. (Romans 5:8-11) His death provided payment for our sins. I realize that this brings up some questions. Who will God forgive? How often will He forgive them?
Throughout my early years and even into my teens, I was a saver. I saved money. I stockpiled my candy. I stashed things that were important to me. (Yes, I still have a few stories I wrote back then stored away somewhere.) When I was young, my family was on the lower end of the economic scale, and candy was a luxury. The fact that I saved my candy did not go unnoticed by my family. My sisters would usually have any candy they received eaten within a week. I kept mine and slowly doled it out. I would frequently finish my Easter candy shortly before Halloween. Some of my Halloween candy would, of course, still be around at Christmas. If everything worked out properly, my Christmas candy would last until Easter. I tried to proportion my consumption of candy to the amount of time anticipated until I could replenish my candy supply.
Good news! God does not limit access to new life like I used to limit my consumption of candy. Due to the events of Holy Week and Easter, as recorded in scripture, we have grace freely available to us. The invitation is extended to everyone to find reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. God is not worried about running out of grace. He knows that no one’s life is so bad that it is unforgivable. Everyone qualifies to receive a fresh start through Jesus Christ.
This Easter is different for most of us due to the stay-at-home orders; perhaps it is time to think about the true meaning of the day. Consider the opportunities made available to you through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is in this present time that God invites you to live this new life in His Shadow.