Easter for leporiphobics

Wikipedia and some dubiously authoritative websites, courtesy of Google, tell me that fear of rabbits is a “thing”.

I highly doubt it, unless the person with such fear may actually be a Romulan (if you know Star Trek lore, Romulans fear Tribbles, which resemble cuddly bunnies without ears, legs, tail or head). While many people may not attend worship services on any given Sunday, in the United States at least, the sale of candy around the Easter season suggests that children do not generally fear the link between rabbits and a Christian tenet of faith. I generally like rabbits but have no interest in one as a pet. Nor do I have any reason to traipse after hidden candy eggs. Until I became a disciple of Jesus twenty -something years ago, I knew about Jesus, and even though I had attended church sporadically, had no understanding and never applied any Biblical principles to my life.

In my youth, I knew enough to not attribute the fairy tales, Easter bunnies, commercialism, or the TV-angelists soaking poor people for millions of dollars, with “Christianity”. Twenty-five years ago, I was looking for answers. Jesus, so to speak, found me. But is trinity of God, Spirit, and the Son, only a nice lifestyle story that does not jibe with the way “things really are in the World”?

Perhaps that is why many who do not live the life Jesus taught us to live see the evil deeds and hypocrisy of so-called “church people” – as “Christianity”. People, are at our core subject to emotions, and our genetics. But I truly believe there are some who are manipulated by evil – the absence of Spirit (love) – to harm people, particularly others who are trying to follow Jesus. On the weekend that much of the Christian world identifies with the Resurrection of Jesus (my faith celebrates this daily), evil-doers attacked worshippers at churches in Sri Lanka, killing hundreds and wounding hundreds more.

The Bible teaches that all people are weak, flawed, and imperfect. Love for God and for each other, is the fundamental tenet of Christianity. When you see God’s Word being lived out, finding a mission and a passion for people, faith is less about people and more about the Divine -working in oneself. As our minister preached today, this is not some tale – in the First Century, enemies of Jesus witnessed ( Roman Flavius Josephus, et al) that “christianized” people who were arrested, tortured, and killed, refused to deny the Risen Jesus. Hundreds of people who saw Jesus executed saw that He was with them again. Like the Sanhedrin leaders are reported to have said about Jesus before his crucifixion, if he is not from God, the people and movement will peter out. But if he is from God, no man can oppose the Divine.

This Easter, or on any given Sunday, if you are searching for Truth, Meaning, Hope, or to fill that empty hole in your heart, seek out Jesus and someone to help you with the self-help primer, the Bible. It’s what I sought. And you do not have to suffer leporophobia, or any emotional illness to seek out Christ.