So, Let’s Talk About the Easter Bunny…

Many parents tell their children about the Easter bunny–but does this bunny compromise our witness for Christ?

Easter should be a time when we as Christians are focused on the most important message in the universe; namely, that Christ lived, died, and rose again for God’s glory and our salvation. But more often than not, it’s the time that we tell our kids one of the biggest lies they’ll ever hear from us–that every Easter, a cute fluffy rabbit (who somehow has an inexhaustible supply of chicken eggs) comes into our houses at night (without permission) and leaves funny colored eggs and chocolate candy in a basket.

I know a lot of people who really like telling kids about the Easter bunny–but when you think about it that way, it’s kind of weird, isn’t it?

Now, before anyone jumps on me about it, let me make it abundantly clear: I LOVE holidays. Really, I do. And I LOVE Easter (or, as I prefer to call it, Resurrection Sunday). I mean, if you’re a Christian, Easter should be the most celebrated day of the year! (Right up there with Christmas.) The day we celebrate Christ rising from the grave should be a cause for an infinite amount of rejoicing![1] Christians should be able to proclaim with joy, like the angel at the empty tomb, “He is risen!” (Mark 16:6) I don’t think there’s any orthodox Christian who would disagree with me on that point.

So, with that said, I must submit a question for your consideration: If we celebrate Easter because of what Christ did, and if we’re supposed to take this day to focus on what Christ did, why on earth would we would try to throw in a bunny with colored eggs?

I know I’m kind of taking shots at a sacred cow, but we as Christians really need to rethink how our theology and our practices mesh when it comes to Easter–or if they even mesh at all. Yes, we can say with our mouths that we believe that Christ rose from the dead, but when we try to add to or even replace this triumphant victory with a rabbit and chocolate, aren’t we contradicting ourselves–in a very bad, very obvious way? By giving place to something other than Christ on a day that’s supposed to be spent celebrating that Christ alone is Savior, aren’t we basically telling the world that Christ is not enough? That we need a little flop-eared varmint to supplement His resurrection?

If Easter (or Resurrection Sunday) is all about Christ, why do we try to throw in a bunny and colored eggs?

And please, please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to make fun of people who tell their kids about the Easter bunny, and I’m not saying that you’re a heretic if you have told your kids that (or your younger siblings, cousins, nieces or nephews, etc.). We’re all human, and we’re all going to be wrong on something at least once in our lives (or, more realistically, on a lot of things, a lot of the time). I get it. I know a lot of well-meaning, Christian parents tell their kids about the Easter bunny because it’s a popular tradition and they think of it as just a fun story. And if the Easter bunny story stopped there, as just a story, there wouldn’t be a single problem with it.

But the problem is that it doesn’t stop there. We might mean for it to, but it doesn’t. (Funny how that seems to work with everything.)

While we may mean for the whole Easter bunny thing to be “just for fun”, it isn’t. Though we may mean for Mr. Peter Cottontail to leave without a trace as soon as the kids get into third or fourth grade, he often doesn’t. Instead, he becomes a catalyst for doubt. As my mother told my grandparents, when they couldn’t understand why my youngest sister didn’t believe in the Easter bunny, “Why would I tell my child to believe something that I know isn’t true? How will that affect their trust in me when I do tell them the truth–especially the truth of the gospel?”

My parents told my sisters and me that the Easter bunny and leprechauns aren’t real, but not so they could somehow deprive us; they told us the truth so that we wouldn’t have cause to doubt them when they told us about Christ.

We as Christians have to think this through. If we tell our kids a lie when we know it’s a lie, and then defend that lie when others say something against it (as many parents do when someone tells their child that the roly-poly Santa Claus or the Easter bunny isn’t real), we’re showing them that we will fight for a lie just like it’s the truth. So what will that do to our reliability as witnesses of Jesus Christ? By safeguarding lies in the name of imagination, we compromise our defense of the only truth that can save souls from an eternity in hell.

Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it.

SDG <><

[1] We should celebrate Christ’s resurrection every day, in our hearts and minds, but Easter (or Resurrection Sunday) is the day the church designates to really focus on this wonderful event. We often celebrate Easter through sunrise services, Resurrection sermons, and Resurrection hymns. But this doesn’t mean that we don’t celebrate Easter every single day of our Christian lives. (It’s kind of like my parents’ wedding anniversary–yes, they enjoy the fact that they’re married every day, but their anniversary is the day that they’ve set aside as a special time to show it to each another, through flowers, cards, etc.)