Bunny Season

Changing the name of Resurrection Day to Easter is a subtle ploy of Satan to disguise biblical truth. The debate over where the word Easter comes from is intense. While linguists disagree whether it goes all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia, or that it stems from Old English, the modern associations prove its seductive nature. Unless you understand the word’s origins, you will be puzzled by the connection of bunnies and eggs with the celebration of Easter.

While Cadbury’s clucking Easter Bunny is hilarious, the subtle message is missed by most people. Whatever its derivation, Easter has links to sunrise and Spring. Sunrise signals a new day; Spring is a time of new growth. In ancient religions, the sun was worshipped as the harbinger of another day of life; the goddess of Spring (whatever her name) was worshipped for bringing fertility. Because rabbits are notoriously procreative, they are symbolic of fertility. Eggs are the repository of new life, so they came to symbolize fertility as well. Enter the Easter Bunny.

Before you start clucking your tongue and accuse me of being reactionary, I will say that there is nothing wrong with commemorating the women’s visit to the empty tomb at sunrise. Those who do that in the Christian context are not worshipping the sunrise; they are worshipping the Son who rose. The sacrifice of a pre-dawn awakening to gather with other believers and honor the risen Christ is laudable. Following that with a breakfast of hot cross buns can be a tasty reminder of the Cross of Calvary and the Bread of Life.

I have a bit more difficulty with churches that hold Easter egg hunts for children. I get it. Lure kids with candy and tell them about Jesus. There are probably children somewhere who came to a saving knowledge of Jesus after an Easter egg hunt. Probably. All things to all people that I might save some, Paul said. My concern is that we risk diluting the gospel message when we pair it with a pagan message. Syncretism has been the death of many sound doctrines over the centuries.

I worry that this observation by A. W. Tozer is still true today: “It is possible for a whole generation of professing Christians to be victims of poor teaching, low moral standards and unscriptural or extra-scriptural doctrines, resulting in stunted growth and retarded development. It is little less than stark tragedy that an individual Christian may pass from youth to old age in a state of suspended growth and all his life be unaware of it!” It is a biological fact that growth is an indication of life. No less is growth the best indication of spiritual life.

Believers are not always whisked into God’s presence when they come to Christ (like the thief on the cross) because there is still work to be done. The first work is the life-long labor of being conformed to the image of Christ. While it is true that we instantly become a new creation at the point of our baptism into Christ, we are not fully formed by any means. The Bible often refers to new Christians as babies. We must grow up. We have the responsibility and the joy of learning more of who God is and what He wants of us.

The second work God requires after He saves us is to spread the Word. We often think of this as evangelism – telling the unsaved about God’s saving grace. That is part of it. The other part is the building up of the Body of Christ. One of the reasons we are commanded not to abandon regular gatherings is that we need to be taught what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We can do that on our own with a Bible on our laps in our living room. But God put gifted people in the Body to help us grow in our faith. We can also experience growth by rubbing shoulders with more mature believers.

This is only possible if you have a church that is promoting growth. Tozer laments, “The fact is that we are no longer producing saints. We are making converts to an effete type of Christianity that bears little resemblance to that of the New Testament. The average so-called Bible Christian in our times is but a wretched parody on true sainthood!

“Clearly, we must begin to produce better Christians! We must insist on New Testament sainthood for our converts, nothing less; and we must lead them into a state of heart purity, fiery love, separation from the world and poured-out devotion to the Person of Christ. Only in this way can the low level of spirituality be raised again to where it should be in the light of the Scriptures and of eternal values!”

The Easter Bunny is a wretched parody of the Resurrected Christ. When the movie, The Passion of Christ, came out, it reminded millions of Christians that before the wonder of the Resurrection there was the horror of the Cross. You can’t have the former without the latter. When we celebrate the empty tomb, we must remember that above it was the shadow of the cross. There is a reason that the sun went dark for three hours before the light could shine from the tomb. The darkness of sin – my sin, your sin – was borne by Jesus on the cross. The empty tomb guarantees our eternal destiny. I don’t see any of that in the clucking Easter Bunny.

Related Posts: The Book of Hezekiah; 2020 COVID Easter