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 That’s right, they wanted to dump the Easter
bunny.
It seems that rabbits, originally brought to New Zealand for fur
trade had been multiplying like, well, like rabbits. A spokesman for
the group said the bunnies were “an environmental curse” destroying
sparse vegetation, which created perfect conditions for widespread
erosion. The group hopes that a new symbol for Easter will enable
people to change their thinking about rabbits by replacing words
like “cute” and “cuddly” with more fitting and descriptive words
such as, “damaging” and “disastrous.”
In years past, the group has proposed other alternative symbols like
the Easter Kiwi (the chicken sized bird, not the fruit). Somehow,
the idea of an Easter Kiwi hopping down the Kiwi trail didn’t catch
on.
I’m not surprised.
So what do you think would be a better symbol for Easter than a
bunny? Over the centuries brilliant artists of Christendom have come
up with a few. There’s the beautiful butterfly that breaks free of
its death-like cocoon. It goes through a transformation and fly’s
away. It’s easy to understand the use of a butterfly.
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Then, of course, there is the familiar symbol of the
chicken that comes out of its hard-shelled confinement. The
non-hardboiled egg manages to appropriately convey Easter’s concept
of life-out-of-death.
But here is the best symbol that represents Easter –
Jesus’ empty tomb! The empty grave is the first symbol that speaks
of the living Lord, the Defeater-of-death who comes to us with His
gift of peace.
The vacant tomb lets us know that Jesus Christ is the conqueror of
death. The stone was rolled away so we could look in and be reminded
that He is who He said He is: King, Lord, Savior, Life, and the only
way to the Father. He stands before us and assures us that because
“He lives, we also will live.” (John 14:19).
What’s the best sign or symbol for Easter? The one we already have –
the Savior’s borrowed and ever-empty tomb!
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