Easter is for Kids!

As sure as there are clouds that block the Sun, there are spiritual prudes who pooh-pooh Easter bunnies and brightly colored eggs that children employ in celebrating the best news that ever, ever was. About these naysayers I say “Bah humbug!” and I’m not getting my seasons reversed. So, what do bunny rabbits and chicken eggs have to do with Easter? Absolutely nothing. But they have everything to do with happy, joyful kids for whom fireworks, appropriate for other celebrations, won’t work here. Where am I coming from?

I’m hooked on two foundational truths that God explicitly and unmistakably holds up to the world.

First this: If one word was chosen to embody the Christian Faith it would have to be Easter. St. Paul wrote: The rising of Christ from the dead is the very heart of our message…. If Christ did not rise your faith is futile (1 Cor. 15:17 J.B. Phillips). It’s not a stretch to say Easter =The Christian Faith and vice versa. The word Easter tells a story — a story that for anyone who has heard the word Easter (if they’ve been listening at all) will know its major tenets; that it tells of a man who came back to life after dying on a cross where he was condemned for claiming to be God in the flesh — ostensibly opening the way by his death for mortals to become immortal. Easter encompasses both the tragedy of the cross and God’s victory over death and Hell. And what a word! To receive Easter with heart, mind, and soul is to enter the Kingdom of God.

Second is this: One day the children swarmed Jesus. His disciples got upset and rebuked the parents. Jesus got upset and rebuked the disciples. He called a huddle and said: Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it (Luke 18:15). Did you catch the significance of these words? And it’s not the only time Jesus said it — i.e. that only children at heart will be admitted into the community of faith universally known as the Kingdom of God. And did you catch that word never. Never means forever!

What is it to be “like a child”? Or, what traits make a person eligible for the Kingdom of God?

Trust

Probably the most prominent characteristic of a child is unadorned trust. This precious fact is clearly recognized by God in his word and honored by him. Jesus said: If you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck (Mark 9:42). (What makes us the saddest, I think, in the ongoing desecration of Ukraine is to look into the faces of little children there.)

Enthusiasm

… is the second word that comes to me when I see in my mind’s eye the shining eyes of a child. A simple meaning for the word enthusiasm is to have a keen interest. It means you demonstrate an eagerness and a joy that fills you with energy (Catherine Pulsifer.) Nothing was ever achieved without enthusiasm (Ralph Waldo Emerson). If you’re not fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm (Vince Lumbardi). The real secret of success is enthusiasm. Yes, more than enthusiasm, I would say excitement. I like to see people get excited. When they get excited they make a success of their lives (Walter Chrysler). Note: Childish enthusiasm is the on-line definition of the word childish.

Persistence

The children wanted to see Jesus — not unlike Tiger Woods now. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not… Genius will not… Education will not. [It takes] persistence and determination (Calvin Coolidge). Jesus said: I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at God’s Kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again [like a child] will rank high in God’s kingdom (Matt 18:2 MSG).

On becoming a “Child”

Upon realizing Jesus was alive again, Mary Magdalene, filled with excitement, grabbed him. And John, when he heard the news, outran Peter to the empty tomb. “Their hearts burned within them” we’re told of Jesus’ friends when they realized he was alive again. Childlike wonder and excitement reigned in Jerusalem on that Easter morning and every day since in the lives of those who in simple trust have opened their hearts to Jesus. I was almost an adult when by God’s grace I returned to square one, becoming a “child” again — in persistent pursuit of God, and in placing my simple trust in Jesus Christ. In other words, I enthusiastically embraced Easter. I pray you are as I am. A kid if his. Have a wonder-filled and Happy Easter!