A cracking way to share truth of Jesus
It’s easy to get upset when Easter traditions replace Christ but no one asks angry people for good news, writes Phil Worthington.
Looking ahead to Easter you might be wondering how to share the gospel when truth and tradition are increasingly confused.
One recent cartoon showed the Easter story in a future museum ‒ displaying an Easter egg on the cross! So, how do we ensure that the really good news of Easter isn’t replaced with magical bunnies dropping chocolate eggs? The New Testament shows Jesus as the fulfilment of beloved traditions. After all, if Jesus really “is before all things, and in him all things hold together,” (Colossians 1:17) then we can point to him using any of God’s creation.
So, in Acts 17:23 Paul uses the Athenians’ altar “to an unknown god” to talk about the real God.
The early church took the pagan festival celebrating ‘Eostre’ ‒ goddess of love, resurrection, new life and rebirth ‒ and showed people Jesus.
‘Easter’ itself, as well as eggs and rabbits are not hijacked Christian traditions, they are worldly things we use to show Christ.
It’s easy to get upset when people replace Jesus with a magic rabbit, but no one asks angry people for good news.
In 1 Peter 3:15 we read: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who ASKS you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
The key is to be so filled with his hope that people ask us why, then we can joyfully and creatively use worldly traditions to point to Jesus.
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