Easter is NOT about a Bunny!

    Monday when I picked Rylee up from school, she was telling me all about the Easter Bunny and how he's gonna give her presents and throw eggs on the grass for her to pick up and put in her basket. I just listened until she was done, and then I turned to her and asked her, "What's Easter really all about, Rylee?" When she answered, "The Easter Bunny!" I felt my heart sink. I knew they had been talking to her about Christ's sacrifice in Sunday School, she knows the real story. If you asked her what happened to Jesus on Easter she will tell you all about how he died on the cross and "woke up." But in our society today there is so much emphasis on the fictional characters made to represent our holidays, that most kids don't think twice about the true reason we are celebrating. 

      Friday, I passed out letters for my students to take home about the Easter Egg Hunt our wing is doing with our students next Thursday, and of course they were all excited about the upcoming event and began to talk about Easter. Then one little boy jumped up and said, "Easter is the Easter Bunny's birthday, and that's why we get to have a Easter Egg Hunt!" My heart sank to the floor when he continued with, "And Christmas is Santa Claus's birthday, and he is so nice because he brings all the kids new toys because our old toys are broken and just aren't fun anymore! And he teaches us that it's good to share because not every kid in the world has toys like I do." What made it even worse is no child corrected him, they all just listened and nodded in agreement like everything he was saying was true. I corrected him about the history of Easter very quickly, then it was time to go home.  It angers me and saddens me at the same time. So if my child tells your child that the Easter Bunny is just pretend, so sorry, but I have had enough of the lies this world tries to tell our children! God has entrusted my children to me until they make the decision to become His, and I will teach them about Him in the way that He guides me to do.

       What does a story about a man that was killed on a cross for our sins have to offer in comparison to a giant magical bunny that lays eggs filled with candy and sends you baskets full of goodies? What does the willingness of our God to become human and be born as a helpless baby in a manger have to compare to magical flying reindeer and a fat man who gives every child in the whole world anything they ask for?! In a small child's mind? Not much. Especially when everything they see on TV and everything they hear at daycare, preschool, or school is all about the fictional character and not about the amazing true story! Easter is a Christian holiday. If you do not believe Jesus was fully man and fully God and that he came to this Earth with one purpose: to live a perfect life and then die for our sins, then you do not need to celebrate this holiday. If you do believe, why do you need another reason to celebrate?! Why do you need the Easter Bunny?! Why do you need to take away from the amazing true story by telling your child lies?! Seriously, rabbits don't even lay eggs, people!!! The Easter bunny, chicks, eggs, all of it come from the Pagan holiday, Eoster, which celebrated Spring and fertility. This has NOTHING to do with our Savior! 

      We celebrate Easter in our house, too; we wear nice outfits, we hunt eggs and get Easter baskets filled with goodies, but that's not what I want my children to remember most about Easter. What I am struggling to teach my children is that these are just things we do to celebrate that our Savior died for us, and then he rose again to give us new life through him. There is no Easter Bunny! There is no need for one. We have Jesus to celebrate! He is more than enough! When I think about the priorities of our nation, I can just see in my mind Satan smirking saying, "Even when they say they are celebrating You, You are not enough for them. They have parties in Your name and don't even tell their children about You. They use You as an excuse to indulge even deeper in their sinful ways. It's not about You; it's about whose child has the best Easter outfit or who can give their kid the biggest basket filled with the most expensive gifts. They don't care about the gift You gave. They never will..." It's so easy to get caught up in the celebrations and forget WHY we are celebrating.

      Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Our sermon today was entitled "What Makes the Crucifixion Special?" The preacher's answer to that questions was this: "A special person did a special work to solve a special problem." He went on the explain that God had a special problem because He is a holy god who must punish all sins. In His holiness, He cannot ignore sin, He cannot let one single sin slide, He must punish all sins. Punishment for sin is eternal separation from God. We all sin. Every single one of us. We all deserve to go to Hell and be eternally separated from God. I strongly believe that you cannot be saved until you realize that you fully deserve to go to Hell. The preacher continued that explain that because God is not only a holy god, but also a god of grace, that he wanted to find a way to keep us from Hell. It would take a special work to save us. This is when Jesus spoke up and said, "I will go. I will take their punishment for them, so that they may be saved." Jesus came to this Earth as a helpless newborn and lived a perfect life only to die a death that we deserved to take our punishment for our sins. But how could one person's death atone all of our sins? Because Jesus was a special person. He is 100% unique, truly one of a kind. Because Jesus is fully God and fully man, he is an infinite person. We are finite people. "As an infinite person, Jesus could suffer in a finite amount of time, what finite people would suffer infinitely." This is why he cried out, "Father, why have You forsaken me?!" He was suffering OUR eternal separation from God. Because of his death, we no longer have to face separation from God for our sins. There is no way to earn this gift. You will NEVER deserve Heaven. You will always deserve Hell. You can simply accept this gift to receive Heaven, and in God's sight you will be blameless. If that does not give you a reason to celebrate, I don't know what will!