Easter Symbols

With about two weeks to go, Easter is getting closer and working in a gift store selling Easter products I've been thinking about symbols:

some happy and unhappy eggs courtesy of
 Wil and Cres 

It seems the main thing we get excited about over Easter is eggs (especially if they are made of chocolate). We are playing a game in store where you have to find the hidden four eggs, and it is indeed great fun searching for eggs and eating every last one until we feel thoroughly sick on Easter Sunday. Eggs have been used to describe God because an egg is one thing yet three: yolk, white and shell; just as God is one yet Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It's also a good Easter symbol because eggs hopefully hatch into the other famous Easter symbol: cute little chicks - there are also cute little rabbits (perhaps because they are good at  Genesis 1:28 - "...be fruitful and increase in number...") . Now as well as being fluffy nice critters that Lindt turn into fantastic chocolates we can gnaw the ears off of, they are also symbols of new life. Just as the chick or little rabbit  (kitten or kit) is a new life into the world, at Easter we celebrate Jesus not just dying on a cross, but coming back to life in a new way and sending the Holy Spirit.

my dinner tonight
- heart casserol

Now to get a bit more into Symbols and talk about the symbols of Easter and indeed of Christianity itself. It might be apparent from the series I started on love and 1 Corinthians 13 (which I hope to continue with soon) that love is perhaps the central message of the Bible. Jesus said that the entire law (that is about 600 commands from the Old Testament) can be summarised by simply loving each other and God (Matthew 22:36-40; Galatians 5:14), we are encouraged that loving one another is the mark of Christianity (John 13:34-5) and God Himself is called Love (1 John 4:16) which binds everything together (Collosians 3:14). Love is a powerful thing indeed, so why isn't that the symbol of Christianity and they symbol of Easter - Jesus loving dying for His disciples? Another big theme is the faithfulness of God, and the biggest representation we have for that is the wedding ring so maybe that could be the symbol? Easter marks Jesus' victory over death and so perhaps we could have empty tombs as our symbol for Easter or rejoicing hands? This however is not our symbol for Easter, and what we remember. The symbol for Easter is, and have a guess, here is a clue:

Mel Gibson.(2004). The Passion of the Christ 

'What's the Word' (www.heyzap.com)

No, it's not the Zebra. The symbol for the whole of Christianity, and the reason we remember Easter is because of the cross. It's true that He rose again after death, but remember it and hold it close to us (ironically Good Friday is the day we remember the actual crucifixion which has always puzzled me why it is called good?). The cross has quickly become a nice fashion accessory that we look at without really thinking or remembering. To remember what the cross is really about I tend to watch Mel Gibson's film annually (you can watch the whole thing by clicking the link underneath the puzzle above. I warn you though, it's an 18 because it's the most violent film I have ever seen). It spares no detail in showing that that little metal thing I might hang around my neck represents a death penalty so brutal that the Romans abolished it. The cross and the wounds inflicted on Christ before, as well as the emotional and spiritual turmoil of being deserted by all His disciples and at the hour of death even the Father, make Jesus's death the worst example of suffering. Jesus was without sin, He did not deserve to die like that, yet He died a death that the culture considered cursed (just like a Muslim would hate to be die and be buried with a pig) by dying on a tree (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13) knowing that His perfection being sacrificed in that way would be enough to make up for all our imperfections, and through Christ's death all could be forgiven. 

We keep the symbol of the faith as the cross because the cross shows that God suffers with us. The biggest question for non-believers is usually about suffering. There is indeed suffering, and this world is not perfect; but we have a God who sees that, becomes human (Godhood to manhood is already infinite in the suffering spectrum) and even gives up manhood by suffering the worst total pain that anyone could or has ever had. God doesn't just let suffering happen, but He comes and takes part in it, He bares it all and is victorious. Now I myself am suffering at the moment (as I am sure are most of you in some way as you read this) as my family care for my Nan suffering dementia and moving to a home, and my other Nan who is physically ill and also moving to a home. It's a hard time, as have there been in the past, and as will there be in the future, but I know that no matter how hard it gets: God is willing to suffer with me. He tells us we will suffer, and the journey was never meant to be fluffy rabbits, cute chicks and chocolate, but there is hardship. He tells us we will suffer, but he loves us enough to walk the suffering with us and to send to Holy Spirit of peace as our comfort so that even the hard times can work together for good. That is why we as Christians wear the cross close - because God loves us and is faithful, so much so that he suffers for our sake.

God guide,
happy Easter
xSx 

Update:

Since starting this blog I became a Counsellor. You can read more on blog on subjects like Therapy at:

 www.simonslistening.co.uk