Sunday morning means one thing for Americans: the Easter bunny is going to bring huge amounts of chocolate, candy, plastic eggs, marshmallow Peeps and neon green synthetic grass enclosed in a pastel colored woven basket. Hallelujah, Christ has risen!
I first understood the suffering of Jesus the second I was forced to wear white nylon itchy tights and a toile skirted formal dress and was subjected to three minutes of continuous inhalation of aerosol hairspray at the tender age of four. The sheer torture then became clearer when I spent three hours at a Sunday morning service cringing at the painful details of the crucifixion only to return home to orange flavored Jell-O eggs. And worst of all, I truly believed rabbits bore eggs. Obviously, Easter was not my holiday.
As I’ve grown up, I’ve only learned to hate Easter more. Eggs at Kroger have jumped 50 cents in price. My lack of artistic ability is highlighted when I can’t decorate these overpriced eggs. My domestic abilities are judged for my incapacity to cook said hard-boiled eggs. And worst of all, we live in a culture where celebrating Easter means consuming goods.
This coming weekend marks the single most important celebration for Christians, but our culture denies its sacred meaning. Our secular society has done an excellent job masking Easter’s true meaning with chocolate bunnies, fancy dresses and egg shaped paraphernalia. When we no longer know what we are celebrating, we revert back to our default mode in hopes of giving the holiday some form of contemporary meaning: consumption.
Living in the secular world of Western civilization, no one wants to talk about the biblical and, yes, historic understanding of Easter. But I’ve got news for you: the right to religious freedom does not mean the absence of religion.
Easter is a holiday that serves as a remembrance for the work done on the cross. Do me a favor and try to wrap your secular mind around these facts: A man named Jesus lived. He performed miracles. People couldn’t explain them then, and they can’t explain them now.
He was arrested. He was beaten, ashamed, broken, hung on a cross by the help of three nails and pierced by a spear through the heart.
His body was then taken and placed in a tomb that was guarded by Roman officials. Nearly three days later this man was seen walking seven miles away from the tomb in a town called Ephesus. Shortly after, he disappeared. There is no record of where he went or how or if he died, and his body has never been found.
Hate it or love it, those are historical facts. Watch a secular Discovery Channel documentary, read a history book, check out Wikipedia, ask your history or religious studies professor about the life of this man. Do whatever you want, but I guarantee you, the results will be the same. He lived, he died, he was seen alive again and he was never found dead.
So this Easter, forget the baskets, the bunny and the bogus secular message. I beg you to do a little research. How are you going to reconcile with these historical facts? Further, what do these facts mean for you?
Logan Masters is a junior sociology major. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
