According to those who track public thought and opinion, the majority of people don’t realize that Easter is a religious holiday—or at least a holiday with a religious origin. Given this, we must reclaim Easter for what it means.
The commercialization of Easter is strange. To start, we have Easter bunnies and Easter eggs, with the implication that the rabbits produced the eggs. How illogical is that?
Then there are colored eggs (both the real and plastic varieties), Easter baskets with a requisite bed of faux grass, pastel colored candies, and my favorite, the marshmallow peeps.
We send our children on Easter egg hunts and pile them with sugary candy. We do all this with nary a mention of Jesus.
Jesus is our savior who died in our place for all our sins (the mistakes we make throughout our lives). Then he proved his mastery over death by rising from the grave.
Celebrate Easter
If there is any connection between all this and Jesus’s history-changing victory over death, it certainly escapes me.
Where is the empty cross, the open tomb, and the risen savior? (Though it would seem a bit sacrilegious to chomp into a chocolate Jesus.)
In light of this disconnect between the origin and present reality of this day, my goal is that with each dip into commercialized Easter, I will have a conscious reconnection to historical Easter.
As I nibble on my peeps, I will meditate on Jesus and all that he did for us through his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead.
Let’s all strive to reclaim Easter.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
4 replies on “Let’s Reclaim Easter Before It Loses All Meaning”
Hi Peter. I guess a good place to start to reclaim Easter would be for preachers to remind those who are listening that every Sunday is a
miniature celebration of the Resurrection, which is the true meaning of Easter. Then contemporary Western Christians should be made aware that many of our current church practices are not Biblically based, but were introduced post Constantine, at which time certain Pagan practices were introduced in order to facilitate the surge of new believers due to Christianity now becoming legal and eventually the official State religion. I can’t say for sure, but I doubt that the commercialization of the Resurrection is a big problem in places were Christians are persecuted for their faith.
Robert, you’re the second person this week to mention that every Sunday should celebrate the resurrection. That’s a good reminder.
If you’ve not already read it, check out the inciteful book Pagan Christianity? https://www.peterdehaan.com/reviews/pagan-christianity/
Hi Peter, I have in fact read Pagan Christianity and found it quiet enlightening.
Robert, Pagan Christianity! is my all-time favorite book!.