Ask your average youngster what Easter is all about and he'll tell you about the Easter bunny, and finding Easter baskets filled with that annoying grass that seems to stick to household furnishings long after Easter is past. And those pastel foil-covered, football things that are a sorry excuse for real chocolate. And, of course, there are Easter eggs to dye and jelly beans -- you've got to have jelly beans. Black beans are best.
"And mommy, that's what Easter is." "Oh, Jason, how cute."
How sad! Most children today don't know beans about what Easter really means.
Why don't you tell the story of Jesus to your children or grandchildren this Easter? Tell them about the man who is God's Son, who came to show people the love God has for them. Tell them how evil people murdered him by nailing him to a cross. Tell them how Jesus was buried in a rock-hewn tomb. Let them hear how the Roman soldiers were powerless the morning of that third day when the stone rolled away and Jesus walked forth alive.
Tell your children that because of Jesus, even though people may die, they will not stay dead. That they can live forever with Jesus, and even their bodies will be raised from the dead just like Jesus' body was.
Now I'm sure that Jesus loves bunnies -- he made them. And probably chocolate, too. But don't you think he gets a little impatient with parents and grandparents who exalt a rabbit over the Savior? And on his own special Day, too?
How about it? Will you tell them the real story this year? Maybe even take them to church where they'll hear the story told by experienced Sunday school teachers? Sure, buy some jelly beans and a wad of that clingy grass for their baskets. But don't suppress the real, fascinating truth of Jesus' triumph over death.
After all, those same children are trying day by day to make sense of the death and life they see around them. They have real hopes and real fears and a destiny unfolding. They deserve a real "Jesus Easter" this year.
There's no story in the Bible about a long-eared, cotton-tailed creature known as the Easter Bunny . Neither is there a passage about young children painting eggs or hunting for baskets overflowing with scrumptious Easter goodies.
And real rabbits certainly don't lay eggs.
So why are these traditions so ingrained in Easter Sunday? And what do they have to do with the resurrection of Jesus?
Well, nothing.
Bunnies, eggs, Easter gifts and fluffy, yellow chicks in gardening hats all stem from pagan roots. They were incorporated into the celebration of Easter separately from the Christian tradition of honoring the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
The Easter bunny — can be traced back to 13th century, pre-Christian Germany, when people worshiped several gods and goddesses. The Teutonic deity Eostra was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit because of the animal’s high reproduction rate.
Spring also symbolized new life and rebirth; eggs were an ancient symbol of fertility. According to History.com, Easter eggs represent Jesus' resurrection. However, this association came much later when Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion in Germany in the 15th century and merged with already ingrained pagan beliefs.
The first Easter bunny legends were documented in the 1500s. By 1680, the first story about a rabbit laying eggs and hiding them in a garden was published. These legends were brought to the United States in the 1700s when German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania Dutch country, according to the University of Florida's Center for Children.
The tradition of making nests for the rabbit to lay its eggs soon followed. Eventually, nests became decorated baskets and colorful eggs were swapped for candy, treats and other small gifts.
So while you're scarfing down chocolate bunnies while watching your kids hunt easter eggs, think " Is this (LEGEND-FALSEHOOD) something Jesus would promote "?
