Chocolate bunnies, pink and yellow marshmallow peeps, jelly beans, Reese's peanut butter eggs, stuffed bunnies, dyed eggs and Easter Brunch, are all well known man made symbols of this annual holiday that traditionally greets the arrival of Spring and the warmer days ahead. I remember as a child the early morning mad rush to our living room to see what the Easter bunny left us. It was sort of like Christmas with church, a big meal and the house full of grandparents, uncles and aunts and cousins. Only it lacked all the lights and decorations and wasn't nearly as cold. It also wasn't any fun getting all dressed up in our little suits and ties and my sisters in their Easter dresses, but we knew the payoff was golden! So off we went to church to sit in mass day dreaming of the candy orgy that was to be. When my parents station wagon hit the driveway we descended on our baskets like mongrel hordes of dogs. Hopped up, forgive the pun, on copious amounts of sugar, faces coated with chocolate and running around as if we had a lit firecracker taped to our pants, it was pure kiddie bliss! That is until we came down from our glucose induced high and crashed like an over filled wheel barrel whose wheel fell off. But it was worth it, every cavity and sugar coma too! Those were fun memories indeed and surely have their place in this wonderful celebratory day. However, it's in this revelry that the true meaning of this the holiest Christian celebration is often overlooked and is now, as Christmas is, being redefined. Going, going, and soon to be gone if we don't fight for it's preservation and message of hope in the greatest story ever told.
The story and life of the humble son of a carpenter from Nazareth who changed mankind forever by His love, life, ministry, unequaled and selfless act of sacrifice at Calvary, and subsequent triumphant resurrection is under siege as not relevant anymore and is trying to be phased out. No single person ever stood or lived for more nobler attributes than Jesus Christ. All His life He loved, healed, fed, taught and blessed without prejudice. He gave His life for you and me. In today's modern world on Good Friday in countless countries reenactments of the crucifixion of Christ take place. Christians around the world still celebrate this holy day in gleaming cathedrals and churches. The Jewish people celebrate Passover at around the same time. The Pope says mass in front of one million plus people in St. Peters Square at the Vatican. Yet with all this reverence we see so little of the fruit from the legacy of this mighty but humble King of Kings. It seems our fire is gone for loving thy neighbor and having compassion towards our fellow man. We have become cold, distant and angry. We spend whole lifetimes pursuing the perishable idols of our misguided passions that our families and relationships suffer. We are quick to judge and criticize but slow to forgive. Charitable giving often stems from the tax deductions it offers or pious posturing and not the heart. We as a people are in despair and have forgotten our blessings and decided our Savior is convenient only when we need Him and not for an intimate lifelong altering and affirming relationship that He so desires. We have become Sunday Christian's if that as church attendance is plummeting. We need to change this most serious affliction to our souls or the complacency will will continue to usher our lives and society into steep decline. Look around you and see the damage, it's everywhere. But we can change, even I did! It doesn't take an act of congress to change your heart. You just need to be willing. Willing to meet this Man of Peace or for most of you just get to know Him again. So, I urge you this Good Friday and Easter weekend to go to church. Read the Easter story to your children and your family. Give the first fruits of this weekend to Him and rededicate your life to getting to know and love Him. You will find yourselves enriched and satisfied beyond measure. If we all change just one heart at a time the world will change before us just as His life and impact is still changing people today. So celebrate this Sunday as God wants you to and glory in the joyous resurrection of the King of Kings! What better way to celebrate and what better gift to give your children. May God Bless you and your family this Easter richly!
Mark 16:6
And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.
