Gone is the Easter Bunny with all his eggs. He’s sheltering at home. Don’t plan on a community egg hunt this year for the kids because it’s not happening. If you purchased an Easter dress, you may want to exchange it for new pajamas to watch virtual church services on your television instead. News flash! The Covid 19 pandemic has stripped away all the normal trappings of the Easter holiday. What remains is Jesus-only Jesus.
We’re left with a story about an innocent man falsely accused of plotting rebellion against the government. Instead of time in jail, the leaders sentence him to a grueling death. After he’s beaten and whipped, his captors parade him through the streets carrying a wooden beam. Later soldiers nail his hands to this beam and secure it on a wooden post to form a cross. Then they nail his feet to the post and leave him to slowly die. Crowds gawk at the horrific spectacle while a few friends and his mother stand in the shadows watching helplessly.
With his dead body placed in a borrowed grave, those who plotted against him thought he was gone. But, God had another plan. When all appeared lost, his friends found his body missing from the grave. At first they didn’t understand. He predicted his death and then said he would live again. They didn’t know what he meant. Maybe they put it out of their minds as impossible. But now they witnessed Jesus alive for themselves and their sadness changed to overwhelming joy. This is the true story of Easter.
We tend to gloss over the gory details with baskets of sugar sweet candy and colorful eggs. We decorate the cross, an instrument of torture and death, with fragrant spring flowers. Don’t get me wrong. I love an Easter pageant as much as anyone else. However, I question whether we soften the hard reality of what really happened two thousand years ago.
On that first Easter, Jesus died then rose again to life. All these years later, we celebrate his resurrection as we should, but often downplay his crucifixion. We skip past Good Friday moving quickly to Easter morning. Jesus had to die so we could live. When this fact sinks in, it changes your whole perspective. A deep sense of unworthiness is followed by sincere gratitude. Then a personal revelation dawns.
Jesus died for me so I can live forever.
While we endure this time of isolation from a virus that grips the world in fear, remember this. Death has no hold on you. As Jesus left his grave, so can you. His death freed you forever. Perhaps stripping away the traditional Easter celebration opens one’s eyes to the real meaning of Easter. It’s about Jesus-only Jesus. The tomb is empty. He is alive.
