A New Season.

Like many of you, I spent time with my family to celebrate Easter. I had so much fun seeing many of my nieces and nephews. Also, like many of you, my family and I shared a meal and prayed with grateful spirits for Our Redeemer’s supernatural resurrection from the dead. 

At one point, I walked into the living room, where my sister Stacy signaled me to play along with her in explaining to our fun-loving and kind niece Crissy that the tradition of the Easter egg hunt is because bunnies lay eggs. So, naturally, as any good brother and uncle would do in this scenario, I doubled down on Stacy’s claim with a compelling explanation that bunnies can indeed lay eggs. Chrissy’s face was priceless. She wanted to believe us, but she was having a hard time. Good for her; she’s not so gullible. 

Funny enough, symbolism like the customary Easter egg originated from German folklore. It’s quite fascinating how ancient oral legends still permeate our current celebrations. It was a Germanic goddess of the Dawn, Ēostre, who transformed a bird into an egg-laying bunny. Or so says the German professor and philologist Adolf Holtzmann. In the late 1800s, he wrote a book titled Deutsche Mythologie. Call me crazy, but in the early 1800s, Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm, a German linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist, also published Deutsche Mythologie and said it was Ostara who transformed a bird into an egg-laying bunny. Nevertheless, the Easter celebration of pagan origin pays tribute to the renewal of the Earth, the rebirth of life (symbolized by the egg), and the renaissance of oneself to become anew, better. 

Believers of The Way across the globe listened to their Preacher or their Pastor or their Pope express a shared belief celebrating the resurrection of a Jewish Rabbi and Prophet named Jesus Christ. On Easter, Christian faith leaders present the chief tenant that Jesus’s sacrifice is the faithful atonement in forgiving our sins and cleansing us all from the unrighteousness and wickedness we bear so that love prospers, and hope abounds. 

I felt that I was called to be a leader in the Christian faith at one point in my life. I loved to learn about religion and philosophy. I was constantly questioning and seeking more profound truth. I knew that the faith teachers would face a stricter judgment on our day of reckoning. I got to a point where I wasn’t questioning God, just those that chose to carry on His cross. I experienced leaders in the church blending personal political views and bending prophetic messages wholly inconsistent with what is Holy. 

I began to learn perspective. I saw how the “evangelicals” aimed to orient our Democracy into a Theocracy. I was disgusted by the over-reaching fusion of our Constitution and the Christian canon. I confusingly and uncomfortably noticed antisemitic sentiments within folks that said they believed in Jesus. The scriptures clarify that only those who provide comfort and grace to their neighbors and those among us that are tired, hungry, sick, or imprisoned “strangers” will ascend to heaven. It also informs us that those who deny aid to our neighbors and strangers face “eternal punishment.” The folks that “evangelicals” vote forget that scripture says, “those who want to get rich” fall into the trap of “ruin and destruction,” making for quite a doozy of a rebuke to many of the policies coming from “evangelicals.” But some folks figure it best to vote for a wall preventing the tired, hungry, and sick from freedom, resources, and hope.  

GOP elected officials, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, a confused “evangelical” who -get this- blamed Jews for using space lasers to start wildfires, and Paul Gosar, a friend of white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, openly endorsed the theory as well. That’s not exactly prioritizing Jesus’s values or principles, but it is the cornerstone of the QAnon movement, a serious and grim national security threat that came out in force on January 6th, and many supporters are now running for office. 

America’s current state of affairs and values as a society would very likely put Jesus in a bad way. I am genuinely dumbfounded when I see folks speak in political confidence of their virtuous support of the Holy tenants being represented by the folks they voted for that struggle with being principled in such. 

My sister Jessica has a hard time passing folks walking on the roadside because she wonders, “what if that could be Jesus?” Kind reminder: Jesus Christ was a brown-skinned, middle eastern Jewish refugee who advocated for lower-class citizens, sex workers, the diseased, tax collectors, and the untouchables. What if that was Jesus on the side of the road? What if he was wearing a keffiyeh or a yarmulke?

There was a time I wasn’t tracking Jesus was of Arab descent. Sunday school taught me that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptizer and was crucified by order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. What made Jesus so dangerous to them? Jesus spoke Aramaic’s Galilean dialect, the “street” language of the day – still spoken in places in the Middle East. Jesus read Hebrew, the “religious language” at the synagogues; he also was quite familiar with Greek. In Aramaic, Jesus’s last words on the cross were: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

I had to recognize that I had developed and harbored prejudice against Arab and Indian peoples. If I’m being honest, I remember my feelings of fear on a flight from Atlanta to Louisville one year in college. I was too ignorant to know the difference between Sikh and Islam, and at that time, it didn’t matter; I just knew that I felt like I needed to keep my guard up. 

Looking back now, it seems like it was providence that not long after that flight, I welcomed my new roommate from Saudi Arabia, Hassan. Who is awesome, I might add. Living with Hassan opened my eyes to a whole new world of understanding. Coincidentally, I was also in ROTC, and we met with a local Imam to learn more about the Islamic faith at the Mosque in Bowling Green, KY. 

I believe in the Absolute, who commands me to love my neighbors. What differences do Jehovah, the God of Judaism, Allah the God of Islam, and Yahweh of Christianity? I reckon they’re all related to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  

Jesus has a unique way of being a symbol for all people. I ask him for forgiveness for my prejudice this year and every year. I believe that Easter is a time for renewal, forgiveness, grace, and new beginnings. I remember the magical feeling of comfort and love I experienced when I was told and believed that Jesus died for my sins and transgressions. I believe that Jesus gives us an opportunity to reflect on ourselves and that we must remember to forgive ourselves. We must pledge to listen to each other if we’re going to celebrate any manner of a new season. Love your neighbor.