It is a frequent complaint during the Easter season that no one really knows what Easter is about these days.
Children just think it’s about Easter eggs, chicks and bunnies. Adults think it’s about having a long weekend off work and very little else changes. This year, the late Easter is at risk of being subsumed completely in the run up to the Royal Wedding the following weekend.
Jesus in the supermarkets
The place in which many of us find ourselves shaking our heads and groaning deeply is the seasonal products aisle in our supermarkets, now packed to the brim with hollow chocolate mouldings, diverting everyone’s attention away from the real glory of Easter. Last year the UK saw 80 million chocolate eggs sold, none of them mentioning the resurrection.
It is into this aisle of despair that a newcomer dares to mention the name of Jesus Christ. This year, the ‘Meaningful Chocolate Company’, in collaboration with the Church of England, has produced a Fairtrade product called The Real Easter Egg, which features images of the cross, an empty tomb and a summary of the Easter story on its packaging.
Not all aisles will feature this product; only Waitrose, the Co-op, Morrisons and Booths will stock limited numbers and the main take-up has been by mail order from churches and schools; over 70,000 eggs have been sold so far. It is hoped that an overwhelming demand for them will ensure bigger sales and greater take-up from supermarkets next year.
I think it is important to ask what the Real Egg is for. There’s nothing in the Bible that says we can’t eat a bit of chocolate, nothing to say we can’t buy something fairly produced. Some of the profits will go to charities; also fine. What does the manufacturer think it is for? The wording on the box, the ‘explanation of the Christian message’ that is the unique selling point in this saturated market, is as follows:
‘Easter is all about cute bunnies, fluffy chicks and eating too much chocolate, right? Well, not quite. We happen to think it’s a bit more meaningful than that. That’s because billions of people all over the world believe that Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday, then rose again three days later … on Easter Sunday. Actually, many believe that chocolate eggs represent the boulder that sealed his tomb. And with eggs being widely thought of as a symbol of hope and new life, the custom grew where people exchanged gift of chocolate eggs at Easter. So now you know.’
What is the Real Easter Egg for? It seems that its purpose may be to explain the Christian message to the ignorant or the sceptical. If I buy this egg to give to someone, what will they think of this? Will they feel patronised? Will they genuinely realise something that they didn’t before? Will it make them more willing to accept the Christian message? It may well raise questions and begin conversation, which is great but doesn’t explain why Jesus had to die or why his resurrection means new life for us too.
A place to start
Perhaps it is a little cynical to ask so much from this well-meaning enterprise, but a post on the Richard Dawkins website worried me because it noticed the watered down message too, saying; ‘Right. So you’re not actually going to try to explain Easter, then? Good call’.
The Real Egg is being marketed to Christians to give to unbelievers but the giving of the product will not communicate the full extent of the meaning of Easter. It is a start, but it reminds us that there are no easy shortcuts where explaining our faith to others is concerned. When we give the Egg to someone, we are certainly saying, along with the wording on the box, ‘I believe that Easter is about hope because it’s about Jesus’. But we need to be ready and prepared to explain that hope that finds its full explanation in Jesus’s death and resurrection.
