When your kids think of Easter what are their first thoughts? Maybe you should ask them. So much of Easter is focused on new clothes, the Easter bunny, plenty of candy, hunting eggs, great meals with family, and making room at church for all those people who only come at Easter and Christmas. The last one listed is the only one that holds any spiritual value, and even that is questionable if we aren’t bathing those visitors with a prayer that God would change their hearts so we would see them more often.
Someone asked me recently what a bunny or eggs have to do with Easter. My first response was “I don’t know.” So, I began to research. The origin of the Easter bunny goes back to pre-Christian, Anglo-Saxon history. The holiday was originally a pagan celebration that worshipped the goddess Eastre. She was the goddess of fertility and springtime and her earthly symbol was the rabbit. The rabbit has many babies each year and it was said the rabbit would make a nest and leave eggs as a gift at this time of year. How this idea was fostered is beyond me. We all know bunnies don’t lay eggs. We know chickens lay eggs and now they are a symbol of new life at Easter. Many began to worship the rabbit believing it to be Eastre’s earthly incarnation. In Acts 12:4 where the word Easter is used was the word Passover in the original language. Now the word Easter denotes a time when Christian churches celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
Now that the question of what it has to do with Easter is answered, ask yourself what it means to you. Where is your focus this week as you prepare for Easter Sunday?
Which character of the Easter narrative do you identify with? In Luke 24:10, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women had been to the tomb early in the morning and the Angel spoke to them and told them to go tell the disciples Jesus had risen from the dead. They immediately went to tell the disciples. They did not understand everything about the situation, but it did not keep them from obeying. Who have you told about the resurrection lately?
Luke 24:10-12 “It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulcher; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.”
What about Peter and John, upon hearing word that Jesus’ body was gone they ran to the tomb. They wanted to see Jesus, they sought Him. They were looking for Him.
John 20:2-4 “Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter, therefore, went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher. So, they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher.”
Their goal was to experience what the women had experienced and they were in a hurry to do it. Finding Jesus was their goal. When was the last time you diligently sought Him? Matthew tells us to seek Him. These verses were not written to the unbelievers it was written to Christians. It was to remind us that Jesus knows everything. He knows what we need and what we desire. He will always do what is best for us, but He wants communion with us. Note, what God allows in our lives may not be what we want but we must trust He knows what is best. He knows the past, present, and future and we must trust his design for our lives.
Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”
What about the two men in Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus? Jesus was with them; they were talking about Him, but they did not recognize Him. Scholars tell us there is no evidence to believe that there was a supernatural blinding of their eyes so He would not be recognized. Many believe they didn’t know him because they were not expecting Him, and there was unbelief in their hearts that He truly had risen.
Luke 24:13-16 “And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.”
Do you truly believe Jesus rose from the dead and this resurrected Jesus will return one day for those who know Him? If so, are you living in a way that shows you believe this to the core of your being?
These are just a few of the reactions to the resurrected Lord. We need to examine our own hearts and see where we fit. Are we anxious to share the word like the women who went and obeyed the angel? They didn’t know the response they would get but they obeyed by telling others. They could have feared the disciples would laugh at them, brush them off, or ridicule them, but they obeyed anyway. Do you follow their desire to obey in witnessing?
Do you seek Him like Peter and John? Are you running to find Him, anxious to be with Him, and allowing nothing or no one to get in your way to know all you can about this risen Lord? Matthew teaches us to seek Him with everything in us, to seek Him first above everything else.
Maybe you’re like the men on the road to Emmaus. He is speaking to you but you are so disconnected you don’t even hear or recognize His voice.
Where will your thoughts be this Easter will you spend more time and thought getting ready for all the festivities, dying eggs, buying candy for the kiddos, shopping for new outfits, and preparing a special meal, or will you prepare your heart and obey His word? All the things mentioned above that we do are not wrong in themselves, but when we allow them to become our primary focus, we make them wrong. Take time this Easter to focus on our risen Lord. Tell others who He is, spend some time seeking Him, and listen as He speaks to you through His word and by the Holy Spirit.
What you do at Easter and how you answer these questions will answer the question, “What Do You Think About Easter?” Your actions do say more than your words.
