The front page of the newspaper’s weekly guide to happenings in and around the city read, “ON THE HUNT for EASTER FUN. ” I scringed and sighed. It was Good Friday; the day Jesus was crucified on the cross for humanity’s sins and its salvation. The holiest day in the Christian calendar was once again being co-opted by the secular world. I’ve mulled since then over this propensity we have of blending our faith with our culture. Easter finds us proclaiming our faith traditions through observances of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Resurrection Sunday (Easter), even as we embrace the less reflective, less demanding, less self-sacrificing secular ones. I confess it’s still a mystery to me what the latter has to do with the former from a biblical perspective.
Now, less you think I’m being “holier than thou,” and have avoided the duality so commonly practiced, know that’s not the case. Though it’s understandable that nonbelievers are easy prey for the commercialism that underpins this sacred season with its bunnies, colored eggs, jellybeans, chocolate bunnies, egg hunts, Easter baskets, Easter bonnets, new shoes and outfits, we believers have not escaped these secular lures. As most of you, I’ve dyed my share of eggs and purchased Brach’s candies to fill the ubiquitous Easter baskets for children and grandchildren over the years. I’ve shopped for the “too cute” Easter dresses, patent leather Mary Janes, short-legged suits, dress shirts, bowties, knee high socks, and dress shoes. I’ve donned the church-lady hats and other finery to celebrate the day that marks the end of that awful week millennia ago. Scripture tells us we are to be “in the world, but not of the world.” I’ve understood that to mean that at some point, my lifestyle as a Christ follower ought not mirror the lifestyle of those who don’t profess Jesus as Lord, His teachings are to be the blueprint for the choices we make.
So here I am on yet another Holy Saturday, a day for somber reflection that represents the day Jesus lay dead in the tomb. The advancing years have taken away the need to make the choice of whether to celebrate Easter sans its secular fixings. It’s easy to immerse myself in the sanctity of the season. But being a Christ follower isn’t supposed to be easy. Following the Savior requires hard choices, sacrifices, self-denial, snubbing cultural norms, being the outcast. These days, I am convicted and reminded how much I am like those disciples of Jesus were before He died on the cross. Oh, had I in earlier years been more willing to defy the world and choose His ways. His grace and mercy. His grace and mercy alone.