Easter
I love Easter. It is one of my favourite times of the year. It is autumn. It is starting to cool down. The leaves are turning. The firepit comes out again. It is a significant time. In fact, Easter is even more significant than Christmas. Why?
But symbols do not just tell facts or represent something. They are there to help us understand why the thing they represent is important.
Let me explain through the two key treats that are synonymous with Easter in our culture: hot cross buns and Easter eggs.
Have you ever wondered why there is a cross on a hot cross bun? In our minds, a cross is just a symbol of Christianity. But in the first century, it was a symbol of fear. Criminals would have nails driven through their hands and feet and hung on the cross to die. It was a horrific way to die. It was one of the ways the Roman empire enforced ‘peace’.
Jesus of Nazareth was an innocent man. Yet he was condemned to suffer that fate because he claimed to be the Son of God. The cross that you see on your hot cross bun is there to remind us of his death.
What about the Easter egg?
We know that from an egg, a new chick is hatched. From an egg comes new life. The heart of the message of Easter is that Jesus of Nazareth did not stay dead, but he rose to life. After three days buried in a tomb Jesus walked out of it, very much alive.
The egg is a symbol of new life, and its hollowness is a symbol of the empty tomb of Jesus. But symbols do not just tell facts or represent something. They are there to help us understand why the thing they represent is important.
And this is where we get to why I love Easter.
It is because of why Jesus died and rose again. He did it so that humanity could be restored to God. We do not have to look very far to see that humanity is fundamentally broken. Not just on a global scale, but in our own individual lives too. Death is the consequence of our rejection of God’s love. Yet God himself made a way for humanity to restored to him.
Jesus came, lived, died, and rose again so that you could have life by trusting in what he did for you. It is the cross and resurrection of Jesus that it all hangs upon. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 it summarises the Christian message like this:
‘Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.’
It is a simple, yet profound message that offers so much to the one who takes hold of it for themselves. It is this message that we celebrate at Easter time.
So, as I enjoy a good homemade hot cross bun, I remember that Jesus died on a cross for me.
Then as I enjoy a chocolate egg or eight on Easter Sunday, I remember that Jesus rose to life so that I too can have life forever by believing in him.
That is the message of Easter.
More Reflections.
Often, we build something up so much in our minds, that the experience we want becomes almost unattainable. We romanticise what we think it will be like and we think “If I can just do this one thing or tick this one experience off my bucket list, then I will be able to feel a sense of fulfilment that I wouldn’t necessarily have had otherwise”.