“THANKS EASTER BUNNY”

By Greg Quinn

April 17th, 2025 

I remember an old Cadbury commercial where a cute little boy receives a chocolate egg from the Easter Bunny and says, “Thanks Easter Bunny”.  Cute commercial.

I remember as a kid the Easter services we had back then, everyone would get all dressed up and go to the church.  I remember getting up early and Mom helping us get dressed in our new clothes and shoes.  I remember going to church early where the older cousins and aunts and uncles would be hiding the eggs for the “Easter Egg Hunt” which happened after the services.  I remember the ladies with the big hats and people dressed up.  Uncle Dalton with his overalls and button up shirt and tie.  Kids squirming in their uncomfortable new Easter outfits.  Dad would preach an Easter service about the resurrection of Jesus.  Everyone would sing songs.  Aunt Betty and Aunt Rita we could hear over top of everyone on old hymns like “I’ll Fly Away” and “He Arose”.  Uncle Clay B would be banging on the piano.  I could look around the old country church and see much of the Quinn and Kent family tree.  The kids would be restless, waiting to go outside for the Easter Egg Hunt. I remember all the kids would try to find the “Golden Egg”, the ticket to the big Easter Basket.  I remember us discarding the colored boiled eggs and eating the candy eggs.  Easter Sunday lunch was one of the best meals of the year, which took place after the Egg Hunt at the church.  All the food.  Big ham.  All the extras.  Aunts competing over who would provide the best dish.  Aunt Mary’s German chocolate cake.  Aunt Betty’s famous chocolate pies.  Aunt Rita’s red velvet cake.  Aunt Chris’ coconut cake (Dad’s favorite, but he couldn’t tell anyone). Everyone would eat and have a great time of fellowship.  After the meal we liked hanging around outside playing games and listening to Uncle Hambone tell stories, which were always entertaining.  Cousin Dwayne would tell us kids jokes that our parents didn’t want us to hear, and we would get a whooping for if repeated.  Eating a lot.  Laughing a lot.  Seeing all our Aunts and Uncles and Cousins and church friends.  Easter Sunday was one of the most special days of the year.

The memories are all great.  The Easter Sunday at church was great.  The Egg Hunt was great.  The food was great.  Nothing wrong with any of this.

Even the Cadbury “Thanks Easter Bunny” commercial is fine.

Unless, our Easter is only about Egg Hunts, chocolate bunnies, family, and food.

Easter is much more than this.  As good as these times were and are today if still celebrated, this is not what Easter is about.

Now I’m 67, not 7.  60 years later, all my Uncles are gone, all my Aunts except two are gone (and they are in their 90s), Mom and Dad are gone, Mama Kent is gone, Mama Quinn is gone, and my brother Jeff is gone. I thank God that my family before me is in Heaven.  I don’t know what kind of celebration they have in Heaven for Easter Sunday, but I’ll bet it is much better than anything we can celebrate here on earth.  I figure Dad is still preaching, Jeff is cutting up with Dwayne and Gene, all my Aunts and Uncles and Grandmothers and Grandfathers and Cousins are having a grand celebration with Jesus, the One Easter is all about. 

So if Easter Egg Hunts and big meals and singing and games and family and friends and Cadbury commercials are OK, then what makes Easter otherwise so special?

The real meaning of Easter has nothing to do with what most people think about Easter.  Nothing to do with the Easter ham.  Nothing to do with the nice clothes.  Nothing to do with good food and great desserts.  Nothing to do with an Egg Hunt, or Cadbury chocolate eggs. Or dinner with family. 

Easter is the ultimate representation of our faith for Christians.  The thing that sets Christianity apart from all other religions of the world.  The exclamation point on the birth and life of Jesus.  What defines our relationship with the one true God, the Creator of the universe.  More important than any other holiday.  The most significant day of our lives each year.  The point that gives us hope in life eternal.  The One thing.  The main thing.

Christmas, celebration of the birth of Jesus our Savior, means little without the resurrection on Easter.  Jesus lived a perfect life, but this model doesn’t prove that He is the Son of God without his raising from the dead on that first Easter Sunday morning.  The crucifixion of Jesus to take upon His body the sins of all the world mean little without His resurrection from the dead that Sunday.  The resurrection of Jesus proved everything He claimed.  It proved He was the Son of God.  The resurrection proved He was God and had power over death.  It proved He was able to die for our sins and take the punishment for the sins of the world upon Himself in our place.  The resurrection proved if Jesus arose from the dead, then His promises to us of eternal life were also true. We also would rise from the dead.  Death, as the Apostle Paul wrote, has “no sting”.

Every other religious leader in the world, in all of history, lived and died and were buried.  Period.  Nothing after that.  Every other religious leader throughout history died and remains dead.  Only Jesus, the Son of God, lived and died and was buried, and then AROSE from the dead.  So when Jesus said he was “the only way to salvation” that is a true statement. 

Jesus’ resurrection was witnessed by a great many people.  No witness among these hundreds, even with threat of death, ever recanted their testimony.  After more than two thousand years the facts cannot be refuted.  The resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate on Easter Sunday, signifying Jesus’ rising from the dead, gives all of us the ultimate hope of humanity, eternal life with the God who made us and a blessed hope of life beyond the grave.

“Thanks Easter Bunny” is fine, as long as “Thank you Jesus” is most important.

The entire Bible is the story of God, of man, of Jesus our Savior, His death on the cross for our sins, and of His rising from the dead.

Mark 16:6 “Don’t be alarmed”, he (the angel) said.  “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He has risen!  See the place where they laid him.”

The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”  If Christ is still dead, then how can He be our Savior, for He could not be the Son of God if He died just like all men.

The entire plan for the future of mankind rests in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Unless Christ was raised from the dead, there can be no Kingdom and no returning King.  When the disciples stood at the place where Jesus ascended into Heaven after being raised from the dead that first Easter Sunday morning, they were given assurance by angels that the Christ of the resurrection would be the Christ of return in glory.  Acts 1:11, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into Heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into Heaven.”

The fact of Easter brings significance to our beliefs and importance to our lives.  Easter gives us peace and hope.  Easter provides the basis for prayers.  Easter gives hope to those who are sick, to those who are dying, and to those who are dying in their sins.  Easter gives value to our lives.  Easter affirms a life after death with God, and Jesus our Savior, in Heaven.  Easter gives reality to Heaven, a place of no sickness or pain or death.  Without Easter there is no eternal life.  Easter affirms the only hope for mankind is salvation from their sins and this can only be accomplished through believing in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died in our place to bring us back to a loving God, and who rose victorious over death to prove we too will live forever.

“Thank you, Jesus!”

Because of Jesus and His defeat of death, when I draw my last breath on earth, I draw my first one in Heaven.  Because of Jesus and His resurrection, I am eternally saved.  Because of Jesus, I am reconciled with God the Creator.  Because Jesus didn’t stay dead, I can celebrate Easter in Heaven one day, joined by all my family and friends who went before me.  Because of Jesus, I can see Dad, Mom, Mama Kent, Mama Quinn, my brother Jeff, my Aunts and Uncles, my Cousins, my friends, again, never more to depart from one another. 

This year, among all the commercialism of this most holy of days, reflect upon the true meaning of Easter.  Jesus Christ the Son of God came to earth, lived a perfect life, died in our place taking upon himself the penalty of sin and death, and rose from death victorious so that we also can live forever with God in Heaven. 

Enjoy your church service.  Enjoy your Easter Egg Hunt.  Enjoy time with your family.  Enjoy the meal, cakes, and pies.  Enjoy the Cadbury egg.  Enjoy the day, the special day, Easter Sunday.

But make Easter more than “Thanks Easter Bunny”.

How can Easter mean more to you this year?  Simply believe.  That’s it.  Believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins and rose that first Easter Sunday so that we too can live forever.  Accept Jesus as your personal Savior.  Pray something like this:

“Jesus, I now believe that you are the Son of God.  I believe that you came to earth, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and died in my place on a cruel cross.  I believe that through your shed blood my sins are forgiven, that through your stripes on your body that I can receive healing in my body, and by your resurrection from the dead I too can live forever.  I accept you today as my Savior and my Lord.  Thank you for saving me, Jesus.”

If you prayed this for the first time, then the significance of Easter is yours today.  If you prayed this many years ago, reflecting upon what Jesus did for us all can bring a refreshing significance once again to you about Easter Sunday.

“Thanks Easter Bunny” is replaced with “Thank you, Jesus!”

God bless you and your family on this great Easter holiday.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!

-         Greg Quinn