Easter Bunny Sitting in Your Church This Sunday

In Mark's Gospel, in chapter sixteen, we read in verses nine through thirteen, Now, when Jesus was risen, early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.

And after that, He appeared in another form unto two of them as they walked, and went to the country. And they went and told it unto the residue. Neither believed they them.

I will stop there, friends. The unbelief of Christ's disciples is staggering. Here were grown men who lived with Jesus during His earthly ministry, and to whom He had foretold of His death, burial, and resurrection.

But they wouldn't believe it unless they saw Him with their own eyes. One of them actually had to stick his finger in his wounds to believe it. And as Christian parents, we want our children to believe in a Jesus they can't see.

We give them a visual they can see, and we hand them wicker baskets, and set them loose on our church campus, so they can hunt for Easter eggs, because we told them about something else they can't see, and that's the Easter Bunny, who's make-believe. But we want our little darlings to believe in that Easter Bunny, and believe in a Jesus they can't see as well. Let me read you, friends, the pagan background of the Easter Bunny from the University of Florida.

According to the University of Florida Center for Children's Literature and Culture, the origin and celebration of the Easter Bunny can be traced back to 13th century pre-Christian Germany, when people worshipped several gods and goddesses. The Teutonic deity, Eostre, was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the vernal equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit, because of the animal's high reproduction rate.

Spring also symbolized new life and rebirth. Eggs were an ancient symbol of fertility. Easter eggs represent Jesus' resurrection, however.

This association came much later, when Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion in Germany in the 15th century, and merged with already ingrained pagan beliefs. The first Easter Bunny legend was documented in the 1500s, by 1680. The first story about a rabbit laying eggs and hiding them in a garden was published.

These legends were brought to the United States in the 1700s, when German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania, Dutch country, according to the Center for Children's Literature and Culture. When gospel truth is mixed with the error of pagan religion and brought into our churches, then we adults hold the wrong baskets as well, as we mix pagan idolatry with Jesus Christ, and we enable our once Christian nation to go to hell in a basket. Let me ask you, brother pastor, is the Easter Bunny sitting in your church this Sunday?