Remember the sacrifice of the holiday
When I was a child, my family would go to my grandparents’ home to celebrate Easter each year.
The Saturday before the holiday to celebrate Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, we would color hard-boiled eggs.
The stuff used to color the eggs was bought at the local “dime store.” It had to be mixed with vinegar to work.
Even though more than half a century has passed since I colored an egg with this smelly mixture. I still clearly remember the horrid smell of egg dye.
On Easter Sunday — after church — the adults would hide these colorful eggs and we children would joyfully search for them.
Usually, we had more than one hideand-search for the eggs. At the end of the final egg hunt, we got to eat the hardboiled eggs. It seemed like a wonderful treat.
No matter how hard we searched for the colorful eggs, most years we would miss locating one or two. My poor grandfather would find the missing eggs with his lawn mower later in the spring.
Eggs start to rot after a little time passed and the smell of a long-lost egg was unmistakable when the mower hit it.
However, a much more pleasant memory was waking up Easter morning and finding the Easter Bunny had left us children candy in our Easter baskets.
The hollow chocolate rabbits were always my favorite. I will even admit to eating such a candy every year since then — including the one I plan to eat today.
There was never any doubt as to the reason for the holiday. It celebrated the most important moment in Christian history.
Jesus was crucified on the cross. His body was placed in a borrowed tomb. After three days, He was resurrected. After defeating death, Jesus spent 40 days with his followers.
This is the most important time in human history. The real reason for Easter is Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross paid for our sins.
As a child, it never occurred to me to question why a bunny was part of the Easter celebration. Now that I am older, I’ve read the Biblical accounts and there is never any mention of a rabbit involved in the story of Jesus.
The earliest reference to an egg-toting Easter Bunny first appeared in writing back in 1572 in Germany.
Do not worry if the Easter Bunny escapes you; should we miss his eggs, we will cook the nest,” the strange German text reads.
The use of an “Easter Hare” in the German legend dated back to a pagan rite involving fertility and spring. Rabbits are known for prolific breeding.
Somehow, this pagan bunny got mixed in with German Christian beliefs.
The Easter Bunny pops up again a century later in another German text.
This one says the Easter Bunny is an
“old fable.” Many traditions were handed down by word of month for generations before being written down.
German immigrants who came to this country in the 18th century brought the story of the Easter Bunny with them.
Like the commercialization of Christmas, many saw a way to expand the Easter Bunny myth to make money. The selling of pre-packaged Easter baskets, candy and toys has grown as people found ways to profit from this religious holiday.
Today, colorful hard-boiled eggs have been replaced with plastic ones.
Christmas is now a double holiday. We celebrate the birth of Christ. We also involve buying a lot of expensive gifts for friends and family.
The make-a-buck-on-a-christian-holiday crowd has turned Christmas into the busiest shopping holiday of the year. This same group of sellers has done something similar to Easter.
What would Jesus think of this? There is a story of Jesus entering the Temple in Jerusalem and getting angry at the money changers there making a profit while desecrating the holy place.
His answer was to knock over tables and take a whip to drive out those only interested in making a buck – or at least a shekel.
So today while our children and grandchildren hunt eggs and make themselves sick eating more candy than is good for them, we need to look beyond the commercialized part of the holiday.
We need to remember Jesus and his sacrifice to pay for our sins is the real reason for the season.