Family Easter

                Easter. Mention this holiday and most of us think of Easter Eggs, Chocolate Bunnies, and Peeps. One of the many memories that flicker past on the silver-screen of my mind finds its origin in Fort Worth, Texas; about 1966 or 67. I was in either first or second grade. Brian, my brother, would have been around four or five. We’d moved to Fort Worth while my father attended TCU, finishing up his PhD. Those two years provide a store of pleasant memories. This is a simple one. We gathered around the kitchen table color eggs; nothing profound, deeply meaningful or revealing; just the four of us enjoying dyeing eggs a variety of pastels. My mother showed me how to put two colors on one egg. After a few tries, resulting in rather muddy colors, I got a nice blue and green one. I remember the pleasure mastery of such a simple skill generated. I wish I could attach some deep meaningful insight to this event. But, no, it’s just one of many happy memories from my life. It just happened to occur on, or near Easter. Today, Easter means much more to me.

                Yesterday we gathered as a family for supper. Saturday was the day we could all get together. Brian came over early in the morning and we started smoking the brisket. All day long he and I chased the shade across my backyard as pungent smoke drifted past, intermingling with the unstructured ebb and flow of conversation. About two-thirty or so my father showed up to elevate the discussion and then the rest of the clan trickled in. Sometime around five-thirty-ish we crowded into my kitchen, joined hands in prayer, and then fell to. As is usual, the food was excellent. Tiffany cranked out some outstanding baked beans, my mother baked like a fiend and produced delectable pecan-pies and blackberry tarts, Brian and I managed to smoke up some passable Brisket and pork-shoulder. The walls fairly shook with laughter. Later, after we were all sated, the younger generations repaired to the back porch for several hours of “spoons.” Eventually they all headed home and quiet reigned once again. Today we attended the early service at Turning Point Community Church. So what does all this have to do with Easter?

                In John 10:10, Jesus reminds that he came so that we might have life and that more abundantly. In our modern North American Christian context we often skew this passage into material abundance, disregarding the rich abundance of the relational life Jesus brings. From the simple coloring of eggs to the boisterous happy gathering round the table, Jesus’ resurrection inhabits our days. When Jesus shouldered our sin and shame, He enabled rich and meaningful relationships. Unencumbered by guilt we embrace each other with freedom and joy. Sadness, mistrust, and guilt have no place at the table in the love of Jesus. The empty grave reminds me that He took all of that away. When the angel rolled the stone away, he also rolled away all the things that hinder personal relationships. All those things, the pain, the hurt, the betrayal, the anger, bitterness, and resentment, that stand between family members He took away. During the last supper, Jesus speaks clearly about his impending betrayal to the apostles. They insist they would stand fast until the bitter end. Peter boldly declares that he would remain steadfast to death. We all know how this unfolds. Peter fails his Lord and himself and flees shedding tears of wretched personal bankruptcy. Three days pass.

               Among the first messages Jesus passes to His beloved, is one for Peter. It lets him know that what was broken is now mended. The wounded have been healed. His presence is cherished. Relationship is restored. The joyful family gatherings that have so marked my life came as a result of the empty tomb. Easter enables right relationships. We do not have to limp along pretending that all is well when it is actually frightfully wrong. Easter brings the exciting hope and reality of renewal. Our pleasant evenings full of laughter come not because we’re paragons of familial bonhomie. They are the result of the new life that spreads out in ever-widening ripples from the empty tomb. Easter mends things, even those fragile and so easily damaged family relationships. After Easter, laughter rings off the walls.