Don’t Let a Chocolate Bunny Distract You from JESUS
“Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:11-14, ESV)
“It’s not a holiday. It’s a day of chocolate bunnies and eggs.”
Those were the real-life words that came out of a coworkers mouth in my office this week. It was one of those things that pulled my mind straight out of what it was doing and into the world happening around me.
That’s when I realized that this person wasn’t ranting about just Easter Sunday, but Good Friday as well. And I won’t lie, I got more than a little mad, and I didn’t just let it go. Because sure, Christian holidays might be a little more mainstream than other religious holidays, but they are far deeper than our secular world makes them out to be. I know we all know this, but it obviously bears repeating.
Yes, when we’re kids, we’re excited about Easter because of baskets from the Bunny and egg hunts. And just like Christmas, Easter has a split-personality between the reason behind the day and what people distort it into to make it popular.
The truth is, behind the colorful eggs is a cross. Behind the jelly beans is an empty grave. Behind the Easter Bunny is a Savior that was intentioned since our sin created space between us and the God that lovingly made us. And all that frivolous nonsense is meant to distract the world from His face and what He did.
And here’s the kicker: We as Christians need to constantly reacquaint ourselves with this fact: that Jesus Christ, the physical embodiment of God, CHOSE to die in a painful, humiliating, and public way so that you could be invited back into the fullness of who He is. We need to remember. Because when we forget or become numb to that fact, the world will look to assert its agenda of distraction and deflection from who Jesus is. The second we let our guard down, is the moment that the world will challenge the depth of what you believe.
Think of it this way– Adam sinned, and from that very moment, God wasted no time in laying out a master plan so that you didn’t have to live with that separation. He planned His victory over generations of time. People lived and died and He constantly put His plan in motion and set the perfect stage for His Son to be born, die, and walk out of His grave. Because the world, as it was, wasn’t good enough. The law that God gave to Moses wasn’t strong enough to justify or redeem us.
The only way for us to enter into a relationship with the Lover of our soul was for our Lover to not only die for our sin but to BECOME our sin. If sin was the curse that humanity brought into the world, then Jesus had to become that curse in order to pay the price for it. He became the very thing that the Father hates. He became the poison so that we could have access to the antidote.
He was beaten and flogged and made unrecognizable. He was nailed to a cross. He slowly suffocated while He hung there. He wore a crown of thorns. He bled and died.
All for you.
He was wrapped and anointed and buried. He was sealed up in a tomb. He was laid in the dark. The world thought He was cold and defeated and gone.
All for you.
That’s why it’s so important to see past the pastel-colored veil we’ve tried to minimize this season into. The truth is, Easter isn’t fluffy and cute. Easter is bloody and violent. Easter is death and brutality. But it is also resurrection. It is also an empty grave and a rolled away stone. It is a day to remember the most awesome act of love this world has ever known and a story so incredible that people are still trying to explain it away.
All in the name of reconciling you back to God. All in the name of closing the space between Heaven and Earth. All in the name of filling the gap between man and Messiah.
So please, don’t let this weekend pass without giving Jesus time. Don’t allow yourself to get so caught up in the things that don’t matter, that you forget to remind yourself of what you’re celebrating. Because this world is quick to distract you from Jesus. It’s quick to fill His place with strange and outlandish rituals.
You need to remember, dear friend. There is a love so deep that it chose to die for you. There is a love so strong that not even death could silence it. There is a love that left the grave to come and find you.
His name is Jesus. His name is JESUS.
