Keeping Easter Simple And True

Can God really work without our gimmicks?

There’s a funny statement in John’s account of Jesus’ resurrection. After he and Peter discover the empty tomb, John simply writes, “Then the disciples went back to their homes.” I can’t help but wonder how today’s church growth experts might grapple with such a simplistic statement.

“Wait! What about the pyrotechnics and the ridiculously large Easter egg hunt?”

There were no smoke machines when Jesus rose from the dead. No helicopters flew overhead to drop out thousands of pieces of candy for the largest egg hunt in recorded human history. There was just an empty tomb and a few disciples who would be changed forever while being used to change the world.

Nothing against smoke machines and gigantic egg hunts but there are some times when the story is enough and our attempts to add to it only get in the way.

If you pastor or attend a church that doesn’t have the budget to ship in an authentic 4 ton stone from Israel for this year’s Easter stage production, take heart. You don’t need it. If you’re not witty enough to come up with any funny weed jokes about Easter falling on 4/20 this year, good. That’s a gimmick no one needs.

Here’s what we do need. We need godly people who faithfully worship and proclaim the risen Christ. That’s it. That’s all they had 2,000 years ago and it was enough to change the world. I’m afraid that we’ve grown so witty, consumeristic, and production-driven that we’ve lost something about what Easter means. The miracle of resurrection and salvation of sinners is taken care of by Jesus. We don’t have to help the Holy Spirit come up with a better marketing campaign. The day really just sells itself. Our job is just to faithfully proclaim the gospel and not get in the way.

Last week a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on my door. I love when this happens because it’s a great opportunity to share the gospel with people who God literally brings to my house. Imagine if I let this couple go through their presentation and then responded by pulling out a smoke machine. Imagine if after they told me about Jesus being nothing more than an angel, I threw thousands of eggs into my yard and bragged about having a hunt for families that was the biggest you could find anywhere else. Imagine if, after waiting for them to finish telling me about how there’s no Trinity, I came back with, “Hey, Easter is on 4/20 this year and weed love to have you join us in lifting His name on high.”

This Sunday, there will likely be a lot of people in church who aren’t usually there. There will be people who, like those Jehovah’s Witnesses, God will literally bring to your church’s door. Many of them will come with pain and some misconceptions about Jesus. They don’t need to be met with fancy productions and jokes about weed.

They need the Truth.

Just like Peter and John did two thousand years ago, those visitors will go “back to their homes.” Let’s pray that, just like Peter and John did two thousand years ago, they go back changed. If they do, it won’t be because of our marijuana jokes but the simple but true story of a God whose tomb is empty and has gone to great lengths to ensure that the tombs of His people will also be empty one day.