Rebirth International

Giving the Bunny the Pink Slip

Posted on March 21st, 2008 by Mo Leverett.
Categories: ministry updates.

If I’ve heard the saying once, I’ve heard it a thousand times…humans use less than 4% of their brain’s capacity. That fact, if it is true, (and how could we possibly know?), is always cited in a manipulative way by some high-chinned educator to pressure interest from a gullible student in a subject which is by nature less than interesting.

But if it’s true that we under-utilize our brains, then it is infinitely more true that we under-utilize the limitless benefit and power afforded to us in the event of Easter. Easter is the most underrated holiday on the Christian calendar. And we are the weaker for it.

Christmas has all the cool songs, all the cool traditions and such. Christmas season – the exchange of gifts, the singing of carols, the decorating of the tree, the reading from Luke. Easter by comparison feels like the less meaningful, tag-a-long and second-class holiday. Yes, we all know that it’s a grand day in the history of redemption, but somehow that significance escapes our mutual sense of cultural celebration. That ought to change.

The holiday’s proximity to the blossoming of Spring, the turning away from Winter’s cold toward the warmth and rebirth of all nature…this all helps, but still, the lack of clamor around this holiday is unfortunate if not conspicuous.

The Easter Bunny is much to blame. He is no match for Santa Claus. The concept of Santa is at least rooted in the sainthood and generosity of a real Christian man – but I have no idea what unimaginative soul thought up the frivolous and inconsequential Easter Bunny. Mr. Cottontail is hardly a cultural motif worthy of the real holiday’s significance.

Maybe the Easter Bunny should be given the pink slip, along with his less than masculine pink outfit. Perhaps we need a new and more relevant cultural metaphor for the holiday. Any number of historical figures who through the resurrection power of Christ were made to be different, better and purer, would suffice.

But more to the real point, we should sharpen our focus on the real Hero of Easter – a resurrected Jesus!

The glories and the benefits of the incarnation of Christ on our behalf cannot be understated, but Easter y’all is even cooler. Easter finishes what Christmas began. It inaugurates the end of death, the end of sin, the end of shame, the end of darkness and the rebirth of life, holiness, and hope for the downtrodden. Those in the darkness of their own shame are enlightened by the incomparable radiance of the Easter story.

No matter where you come from, the resurrection brings hope. If a pauper in this life, the resurrection assures for you that you will be so no more! You will be crowned and robed as royalty as an adopted son of the King who rejoices over you with singing!

Easter has serious import and real profit to those who are rich as well. Not only are the benefits of Easter afforded to you, but now you have something real and lasting to invest in. A portfolio with permanence!

Easter makes the possibility of change available to all who believe in its power. The bum and prostitute prosper from Easter or even those bums who prostitute themselves for the powers and prestige of this inferior and fallen world.

If you are bleeding in the streets from oppression or inwardly hemorrhaging from abuse or neglect, Easter is for you! If you have never received the affirmation and love your soul craves then Easter is for you! If you have stumbled or faltered in all of the many ways in which all of us have, then Easter is for you!

If we are united with Christ in his death, we are also united with Him in His resurrection, and are eternally exalted!

Can you envision a severely impoverished neighborhood transformed and enriched? If so, you’ve likely experienced Easter.

Can you imagine a dysfunctional community healed and rebirthed? Then I suspect you’ve been touched by the resurrection.

Can you see a city like New Orleans, storm ravaged and ruined by generations of poverty, reborn through the word and work of the gospel?  Then you must have some inkling of the power of Christ to endure and to overcome all things.

I’ve played many sports in many leagues throughout my life. But I’ve never been on a championship team. But in Christ, one fine day, because of Easter, you and I will lift the cup, will be thrown onto the shoulders of our Savior and carried off the field with much rejoicing. Easter is a foretaste of what is to come. And it provides the assurance and proof that the fuller Easter Day is coming!

Happy Easter to you all and many resurrection blessings to you and yours!

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