It’s Not About the Bunny
By Martha Matthews
1 Peter 1:3-4 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you..."
My son and I were at the drugstore when he noticed a bunch of big Easter baskets perched high on a shelf. The store manager had placed them there while the employees where moving out the Valentine’s merchandise.
With great excitement he exclaimed, “I want one of those, Mommy, pleeeese!” The colorful baskets wrapped in shiny cellophane and filled with chocolate eggs, a fluffy white bunny and assorted toys was very enticing to my four year old. Then he said something that stopped me dead in my tracks. “Mommy, Easter is when the Easter Bunny comes.” “What did you just say?” I asked him. “Easter is when the Easter Bunny comes,” he repeated. Oh no, I thought. This is NOT good. I didn’t want him to think that an overgrown bunny bringing baskets of candy and eggs is what Easter is about. It was time for him to learn that Easter isn’t about the Bunny, it’s about the Lamb.
Setting the Record Straight
Many people are not aware that Easter has its roots in pagan religions. Hundreds of years before Christ appeared, Easter was celebrated as a festival honoring pagan fertility gods and the coming of spring. In fact the word “Easter” is the English translation of “Eostre” which is the name of an ancient Saxon fertility goddess. According to church historians, it wasn't until the second century that the rituals of these pagan festivals were altered and incorporated into a celebration of Christ’s resurrection.
Today, when many Christians celebrate “Easter” their intention is that it be a celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Yet with the growing trend toward secularizing Easter, many Christians are finding it difficult to keep their children from being influenced. This was the case with our son. One of the things we have done to combat this pressure is to start referring to Easter as Resurrection Sunday. We feel that by calling it by a Biblical name that it will help us keep a spiritual focus.
To read more, go here >> By Martha Matthews
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