Month: April 2025

Today, when Karen returned to our car after shopping, she said, “I got you a present!” Then, she handed me her gift: a small package of marshmallow Peeps®*. I smiled gluttonously and replied joyously, “Now I can celebrate Easter!”

Of course, as soon as I said that, I realized my error, for Peeps have nothing to do with the meaning of Easter, nor with anyone’s ability to celebrate it. Nor do many of the other things that have crept into the holiday. Just as many Winter traditions have accreted to the holiday of Christmas, often obscuring its true meaning, so the celebration of Spring has become attached to Easter.

Think of our Spring/Easter customs:

1. 1. Easter eggs? A sign of Spring and new life being hatched. (Also indirectly a sign of Jesus coming out of the tomb – with new life).
   2. Bunny rabbits? Also a sign of Spring with “prolific” new births. (Also, a sign of many new lives in Christ.)
   3. Butterflies? Also Spring, when cocoons open and beautiful butterflies come out. (And Jesus emerging from the tomb with a new, glorified body.)
   4. Chocolate candy? It just tastes good.

The original Easter event took place in Spring, because that was when the Jewish celebration of Passover took place, and Christ’s sacrifice of himself was tied directly to the ritual sacrifice of the unblemished lamb at Passover, and to his institution of Holy Communion in the Passover feast. That is why the annual date for Easter is determined by a formula: the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox (the start of Spring).

But though intimately tied to Spring, Easter is not a celebration of Spring. It is not a pagan holiday marking the return of Spring and the new emergence of life as plants bud and new bunnies are born. It is instead the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to eternal life. It marks the victory of God’s Anointed over death, and with it proof that Christ’s sacrifice was accepted as payment for the sins of the world. Because of Easter, all people will also experience their own resurrection – “those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment”  (John 5:29). And, since all people have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23) those who believe in Christ and throw themselves on his mercy, will receive forgiveness and be counted among the righteous (Romans 3:24).

The actual significance of Easter is so overwhelming as to make any other event in history fade away in comparison. It provides meaning to life here and now, it answers the question of life after death, it proves the existence of God and gives proof of his love for us: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Without it, there is no Christianity; without it there is no hope. Without it, as Paul wrote, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinth-ians 15:17-19).

So, if chocolate eggs, plush bunnies, and marshmallow Peeps are hardly appropriate ways to celebrate such an important and awesome event as the resurrection of the King of kings and the Lord of lords, then how should we honor it?

1. Honor Christ’s Resurrection in your heart. Before you try to outwardly show honor, make sure you manifest your honor inwardly. By this I mean that you make sure you understand what God did in the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. Then once you understand, believe it, and trust that your eternal life depends on it – for it does. Then feel the assurance that he gives, knowing that he has made you his child through faith (John 1:12). Remember that God sees the heart: “but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

2. Honor Christ’s Resurrection by reading what God’s word says about it. When was the last time you read all the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection? Set aside time to read Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20. And read what Paul said about Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.

3. Honor Christ’s Resurrection by worshiping God in church. Your worship is a direct glorifying of God for what he has accomplished through his Son. It is a way to receive his blessing through his Word and Sacrament. It is a testimony to others that you believe, and an encouragement to them to believe and hold fast to their faith. And, it is an act of obedience to God’s word which tells us to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25). Remember that in church, every Sunday is a miniature Easter, so you honor God every Sunday you attend!

4. Honor Christ’s Resurrection by telling people about it. Don’t assume that everyone knows the story of Christ’s death and resurrection nor what it all means. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us, “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” What greater reason is there for our hope than Christ’s resurrection? Remember that faith in the resurrection of Christ is more than just believing it happened as an historical event; it also requires spiritual acceptance of what Christ did for us. Only by the work of the Holy Spirit will a person truly believe and become a follower of Christ, be forgiven, and inherit eternal life. “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” (Romans 10:13-14).

5. Honor Christ’s Resurrection by eating Peeps. Okay, scratch this one . . . 

Even as we honor Christ’s resurrection with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, we receive the benefit and blessing of the Easter event. For if we believe in the resurrection, God’s word teaches us that we receive the promises it brings: “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

You may have your own special traditions for celebrating Easter, and that is fine. Dinners, family gatherings, special clothes, and baskets to gather hidden eggs around the house can be fun ways to make the holiday special and memorable. Just include activities which honor the “reason for the season,” the resurrection on our Lord, Jesus Christ!

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord life up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.

*Peeps are a product and trademark of Just Born, a candy manufacturer founded in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by an immigrant from Russia (in what is now Ukraine), named Sam Born (1891–1959). They were first sold in 1953, originally for Easter, now for many holidays.

A couple weeks ago, I had several days that brought home to me that I am, in fact, a mere mortal. Which is a bit unsettling, considering that for the past 73 years I have pretty much considered myself to be immortal and invincible. However, as I was getting ready to leave the hospital after five days following a minor stroke (TIA), implantation of a leadless pacemaker, and every medical test known to modern science, (and a few medieval ones, excepting leeches and maggots), I told Karen that I never felt so mortal in my life. When I said that, she immediately thought of the hymn, “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise.”*

The Bible affirms God’s unique immortality in many passages. Some important ones are these:

• • In 1 Timothy 6:15-16, the Apostle Paul writes, “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”
  • In Exodus 3:14,, God reveals Himself to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM,” indicating His eternal and self-sustaining nature. God is the source of His own life and because he is not dependent on anything else, he always is.
  • 1 Timothy 1:17 says, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
  • And because Jesus is God, Hebrews 13:8 can proclaim, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Karen bringing up God’s immortality was a good contrast to my mortality. Before, whenever I had any medical issues, they were minor, such as a bruise or scrape, or peripheral, such as feet or ankles, or fixable, such as teeth or cataracts or near-sightedness. They were things an “immortal” could live with. Even when I lost a couple toes a few years ago, they were my “little toes” and I expected to be normal once my feet healed up. And when I had to begin dialysis (due to kidney failure), I still didn’t think of my mortality because I was undergoing treatment and I felt fine. Forget the warning that without that artificial procedure I would learn how mortal I am very quickly! (I also noted how when I told people I was in dialysis, everyone told me they used to have a relative who was in dialysis.)

But this time, my brain and my heart had problems. Even my last morning in the hospital, they ran me through a stress test because an early morning (read, 2:30 am) CT scan had revealed deposits in my cardiac arteries that could need angioplasty to improve the blood flow. Fortunately I passed the test, so for now they left the arteries alone. As I said, I left the hospital feeling all too mortal.

Of course, if humans are to function in this world, and carry out the many activities life requires, we pretty much have to think we will be around in the future. We have faith we will be able to work, play, love, travel, and fight, and come out alive at the end of those activities. We set aside money for retirement planning to be alive to need it. Even if we buy life insurance, we don’t intend to really need it. . .

But if we take the Scriptures seriously, we have to take our mortality seriously, too. The very first death sentence was pronounced against the first humans, Adam and Eve, when they sinned and broke God’s one prohibition. In Genesis 2:17, God warned Adam, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^[d] of it you shall surely die.” Then, in Genesis 3, God gave his judgment: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

The reality of God’s judgment is echoed throughout all mankind through all the ages. The Psalms declare it: “You turn man back into dust and say, ‘Return, O children of men.”’ (Psalm 90:3);  “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:10); and “What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?” (Psalm 89:48).

There are many other passages that speak of death and the shortness of life. For example, Isaiah 40:7 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.”

The New Testament also emphasizes the shortness of human life. 1 Peter 1:24  says, “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls.” Hebrews 9:27 adds, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” James 1:10 says, “and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.” James 4:14 is even more direct: “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

Romans 5:12 declares the reason for our mortality: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

Fortunately, our story does not end there, for even though this life is limited for all humanity, our immortal God provides us with the chance of new life, of resurrection to eternal life – in a renewed body that will be raised immortal. Listen to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:53-55 “For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

The final book of the Bible ends with the promise of eternal life and joy for those who die in Christ. There, the voice from the throne of God proclaims: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-5).

In fact, the whole Bible tells the story of an immortal God creating humans to be immortal like him, only for them to lose their immortality due to sin, then for the immortal Son of God to give up his immortality to become mortal like us and to give his life for our sake that we may regain our immortality through him.

So, in light of God’s word, I don’t have to worry about feeling mortal, because in this life I have always been mortal even if I didn’t recognize that fact. The point, and it is a most reassuring point, is that thanks to Christ, I am also destined to be immortal!

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give your peace. Amen.

Read:   Job 38                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          *Hymn by Walter C. Smith, 1867. Listen below: