Easter is literally around the corner and in many homes there is a frantic rush to prepare for an epic Easter egg hunt. Interestingly, there seems to be a debate amongst some people if Christians should participate in Easter egg hunts. Some of the rationale stems from the following arguments:
Why NOT to do an Easter egg hunt:
- It puts more emphasis on getting candy in eggs than the real reason to celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ.
- The focus becomes a bunny and not Christ. Some even say this is a form of idolatry.
There is definitely a concern that the focus of Easter can easily be directed towards candy, eggs, and bunnies and not the atoning work of Christ. However, I would argue that the issue here is not the activity of an Easter egg hunt but the intentionality of parents. The responsibility to place the focus on Christ lays solely in the hands of parents. Further, something as simple as an Easter egg hunt can become an incredible way to share the Gospel.
Why we should do an Easter egg hunt:
Engage a cultural norm:
Something as simple as an Easter egg hunt is a cultural norm. This is one of the few holidays that religious background is super imposed by a fun activity. So why is that important? As a kid I remember my Hindu and Sikh friends coming over to do easter egg hunts at my house or at the church. These friends would never come for a church service or even for youth group, but something like an Easter egg hunt was not even a question, of course they would come to find candy in these colored eggs. What an incredible opportunity to engage an activity that our culture has embraced to connect people to the Gospel. I agree with Tim Keller as he unpacks the importance of active contextualization in a balanced approach.
“To contextualize with balance and successfully reach people in a culture, we must both enter the culture sympathetically and respectfully (similar to drilling) and confront the culture where it contradicts biblical truth (similar to blasting). ” – Tim Keller
Opportunity toproclaim the Gospel:
Just because we leverage an Easter egg hunt to engage our culture does not mean we do not boldly proclaim the Gospel. In fact, in our bold proclamation some may be offended. I am thankful that it is our responsibility to clearly and boldly proclaim the Gospel and that the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts of sin and does the work or regeneration and sanctification. In fact, proper contextualization and gospel proclamation produces a scandal.
I believe most of us fall short in this area of Gospel proclamation. Therefore we begin to say the issue is the Easter egg hunt, when the issue is our inability to boldly proclaim that while the act of finding eggs is fun, the hero is not a bunny but Jesus Christ who conquered sin and death and made it possible for us to live in right relationship with God who created us.
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