What
are your immediate thoughts when you think of Easter? Rabbits and tulips? Eggs and candy? The Crucifixion? The Resurrection? I cannot answer the question for you, I’m
sure, but personally, I have thoughts of some combination thereof- and then
some. Here is what I think of when I
think of Easter.
I
think of Good Friday services, and the anticipation it typically started for a
young child awaiting candy and the Easter Bunny. I think of all of the treats- Reese’s Eggs
(which I can no longer enjoy- peanuts are a migraine trigger), Robin’s Eggs, jelly
beans, cupcakes, carrot cake, and lemon-blueberry pound cake. I think of dyeing Easter eggs all manners of
bright hues and fun patterns the night before.
I remember watching a cartoon version of the Easter story every year
between the ages of probably 3 and 8 or 9.
I remember waking up with eager anticipation to see what the Easter
bunny had done. Usually, there was a
large, brightly colored basket containing candy and stuffed animals and
coloring books. The eggs we had dyed the
night before were hidden all over the house.
Usually, my grandparents would be there.
Often, they would go to church with us, an event that was preceded by
dressing up for what would often be the only time in any given year for me in
those days. Generally, the other set of
grandparents would arrive in the afternoon with a load of plastic eggs that
were loaded with more treats, which we would search the back yard for. We would have ham, potato salad, deviled
eggs, and one of the previously mentioned desserts almost every year. We generally watched “Ben-Hur” or “The
Greatest Story Ever Told” as a family. I
loved it all- the bright pastels, the sweets, dressing up for church, the Easter
story- all of it. And to me, they were
all parts of the same whole.
Easter
is my favorite holiday, and I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why it
isn’t as big a deal as Christmas. Two
gospels have the birth narrative. All
four feature the Crucifixion, after all.
Christ came to die for our sins, and to defeat death by coming back to
life. His purpose is the reason to
celebrate Easter. Now, that being said,
there are many reading this that probably question me when I suggest that I
want Easter to be as big a deal as Christmas.
Why would I want the consumerism and media circus that surrounds
Christmas every year? Well, I don’t,
necessarily, but I suppose that just comes from a broken world struggling to
process something it doesn’t understand.
As
a physical therapy student, I have learned that TBI (traumatic brain injury)
patients, in one of the early stages of their injury, are generally violent and
agitated. They are then confused and
often inappropriate. It often takes a
great deal of time before their responses are appropriate to their
circumstances, and even when their responses are “appropriate” to the
circumstance, it may still not be correct.
The reason for this is merely that they cannot process the information
in their surroundings. They can’t
process the information; they know that something is wrong with them, but they
don’t know what. They can’t figure that
out; they’re in unfamiliar surroundings; they can’t attend to multiple problems
at once. Therefore, it is nearly
impossible for them to figure out both what is wrong with them and what is
going on in their environment. It is
easy to understand, then, why one might become angry or violent, especially
when the part of the brain that serves as a “filter” is often one of the most
affected by TBI.
So,
using this illustration, I would say that society’s response to Christmas and
Easter are akin to a TBI patient. C.S.
Lewis is quoted as saying “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in
this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for
another world.” We are told in scripture
that “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are
spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14, ESV). So, we are surrounded by people that do not
understand the world they live in. They
know something isn’t quite right, but they aren’t quite sure what it is. Some respond with anger, violence, and a host
of other wrongs and coping mechanisms.
Others respond with a response that seems appropriate (religiously or societally),
but isn’t necessarily right. To me, this
is the reason that we have such hubbub surrounding Christmas, and to a lesser
extent, Easter. People recognize the
importance of such events, but they don’t understand them, or the world they
live in, so they respond inappropriately or incorrectly.
Now,
for many people, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and elves and eggs and
stockings and sweets may be one of those inappropriate responses. Well, perhaps. But there is another angle I would want to approach
these things. C.S. Lewis, in his
Reflections on the Psalms, talks about a stage in the life of a child in which
he is naively unable to distinguish the festive portions of these holidays from
the religious. In his mind, to whatever
degree is possible, is yet uncorrupted by the confusion around him. To the child, the festive portion is a direct
result of the religious. They are
inseparable. Without Christ dying on the
cross, there would be no reason for the festivities. There is no celebration without the
sacrifice. The eggs, candy, pastels,
rabbits, and fake grass stuff that gets everywhere are all the inappropriate
response of well-meaning people trying to celebrate an event that they cannot
fully understand. But just because it
isn’t fully fitting doesn’t make it any less sincere. It is all done in honor of the sacrifice. I see no problem with this, or with the
festivities around Christmas, despite the complaints of many. The true problem, as Lewis also touches on,
is when the celebration becomes the celebrated.
In essence, the gift-giving, the decorations, and the symbolism become
the object of our worship rather than a mechanism for doing so. The fact that this happens has led many to
shun the festive side of these holidays, citing their detraction from the
purpose of the holiday. But as Timothy
Keller says, in a sermon which I am struggling to dig up at present, if the
only way you can gain freedom from idolatry is to separate yourself from the
source of that idolatry, you have no freedom at all.
So,
to me, like the child Lewis writes about, composing poetry about “chocolate
eggs and Jesus risen,” we cannot separate the celebration from the
purpose. To me, every aspect of Easter
points back to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Rabbits and eggs and baby chicks represent
new life. We have new life in
Christ. Spring itself represents new
life. Meals are a way that families
connect. Our faith is not meant to
ignore our culture, and as a culture, we bond over meals. Meals, in this case, that feature ham, potato
salad, asparagus, carrots, deviled eggs, baked beans, carrot cake, and whatever
else would be reasonable to consume at an Easter meal. Which takes place in spring, I might add,
meaning that traditionally, only things available in spring would be consumed. And potatoes, carrots, and preserved meats
(like ham) would have probably been reasonable spring fare. But why the pastels and candy? Well, as the color goes, possibly because
they just seem to mirror nature. I don’t
think it is any accident that Easter falls during spring (unless you’re in the
southern hemisphere, but I think it is fair to say that Christ was not
crucified in the southern hemisphere- besides, autumn is equally beautiful, in
my opinion). Nature seems to celebrate
with the bright colors of new plant growth, blossoms, and blue skies that break
through the winter darkness. Nature
worships its Creator more purely than any sentient being ever could- it simply
exists for His glorification. The candy
can be explained simply in that children love candy. Why not give them some during an event at
which celebration is in order?
To
sum up my stance, when I think of Easter, I think of the “commercial” or
“secular” aspects. I think of the
strictly religious aspects. I think of
time spent with my family. I think of
spring. Why separate them? They are all parts of the same whole. I wouldn’t eat all of the candy that I do in
March or April every year if not for Easter.
My family wouldn’t have a big family meal without Easter. I wouldn’t dye Easter eggs, wouldn’t hide
them, wouldn’t develop an inexplicable fondness for bunny rabbits every spring
if not for Easter. Above all, I wouldn’t
be forgiven or free without Easter. I
wouldn’t delve as deeply into the Gospels without the reorientation offered by
the conscious reminder that it is Holy Week. I wouldn’t stand out in the
inevitable spring chill singing the praises of my Savior before the rising sun
if the Savior had not risen. This time
of year would mean nothing without Christ, so how can it be said that the
festivities detract from the holiday? I
celebrate life as a result of his death and resurrection. To me, there should be more at Easter. No celebration could be enough. Would you sooner let the day pass with no
societal recognition? Could it be that
the media circus surrounding the holidays is being used by God to at least
raise awareness that there were events that occurred on these days that a
hurting world might take interest in? I
doubt many non-Christians would have ever heard the Gospel or set foot in a
church if not for Christmas and Easter getting so much “secular”
attention. God uses events that may not
appear particularly holy to bring about His purposes all of the time (Romans
8:28). He even used the sinful pride of
the Pharisees to bring about the sacrifice that would save all humanity. Imagine how He can use a celebration, a
joyful event!
So,
I hope you’ll join me in celebrating this week.
Join me for some carrot cake cookies and malt eggs. Let’s watch “The Greatest Story Ever Told”
together. Let’s go to Easter service
together. Maybe I can pull some strings
and have some dyed eggs hidden around the yard.
Let us celebrate together, for the Savior of the World is risen.
