Monday, April 2, 2012

You Can't Get More Easter.

The other day as I perusing the supermarket, I saw a sign that read "More Easter for Your Money." I kept on chugging along the aisles with my two boys in tow, trying to quickly get out of the store without having what has become an almost imminent implosion of some kind because we can't purchase every lollipop and baseball that the stores carry. I came home, unloaded my groceries, put away the toiletries and played with the boys.

That was 2 weeks ago.

Ever since that time, I kept thinking about More Easter for Your Money. Something about it has not sat well with me and I've pondered the slogan throughout the past two weeks. I think today I finally realized why I just haven't really come to peace with the words: the words themselves imply that somehow we can purchase more of Easter. That somehow, Easter is just marshmallow chicks in a box, candy in a bag and fake green grass that annoys the crap out of parents when it gets strung around the carpet (not that I would know anything about fake Easter grass being in carpet strands or anything). Oh my friends, my heart hurts for the people who believe that Easter is just about buying presents, candy and stuffed animals. It's not about those things at all. And even if we all lined up at the local supermarket and emptied our pockets out to purchase every single item of Easter paraphernalia, the amount of Easter we would get would be the same.

Easter doesn't come in a prepacked box. It never came covered in sugar or dyed in cute pastel colors with the latest and greatest super hero donning it's side. It came wrapped as the greatest gift of love a Father could bestow on His children. It came with a crown of thorns. With a side that was scourged. With hands and feet that were nailed to a tree. With a Man who was betrayed, beaten and killed. For me. For you. For US.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life. John 3:16
Easter is the biggest big because God is the biggest of bigs, and He came to the lowliest of lows so that we can have a relationship with Him.
  But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,And by His scourging we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
 Easter comes in an empty grave and a risen Lord.
...And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here"... Mark 16:6
 We celebrate not just in His death, but in His resurrection. Our God is ALIVE! A resurrection worth celebrating. Yes, we still give m&ms and jelly beans. But we're not doing so to represent what we've bought as Easter. There is nothing I could purchase that would even come close to what we have been given by Jesus Christ. We give gifts because the greatest gift, Jesus, gave His life for us. He rose on the third day, and we are awaiting His imminent return. That is a SWEET reason to celebrate. So no, you can't get more Easter for your money. Because Easter has never been ours to give or purchase. It was a gift that was freely given. To all of us.
 

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