If I'm honest, the thing about Easter that I look forward to the most is not church. Nope, I'm not that spiritual. It's not family either. It's not Easter baskets, or egg hunts, or fancy clothes, or technicolor hen fruit. Nope. It's the ham! We only have ham twice a year and one of those times is Easter. And, as I've said before, ham is kryptonite for fatties. We can't resist its allure! So when Sunday rolls around, I will be eagerly awaiting the sweet, sweet smell of deliciousness glazing in the oven.
Although I am going to throughly enjoy my ham dinner, I can't help but consider the irony that most of us will be celebrating Easter by eating pork. The first Easter occured during Passover, one of the most important holidays in the Jewish faith. Christianity itself is an extension of Judaism. Yet we celebrate by eating the most un-kosher food possible! That's hilarious and hurtful at the same time! Hey, we co-opted your faith and we're gonna rename your holiday, here, have some pig! It's like giving the finger to an entire culture. No wonder we're winning so many popularity contests! We couldn't be more offensive if we tried.
Offense is a pretty weird thing, mostly because the offender isn't always aware of their guilt. I think most folk who are digging into Easter dinner won't have a clue about our little piggy problem. And don't get me wrong, I'm not missing out on Easter ham. But it's a great example of the possibility of being extremely offensive without knowing it. As a follower of Jesus, we can't just shrug off how we influence people. The Scripture commands us to make offensives right when applicable. When we discover that we have tripped someone up by our actions, we are commanded to do our best to restore relationship.
This can be hard, and at times, unfair! Sometimes we are completely within our rights to think, do, or say what has caused offense. But let me encourage you, there are times when you can alter your behavior for the sake of love. That doesn't mean you cannot enjoy the freedoms Christ has given to you, or that you have to spend your life tip-toeing around or that you have to be politically correct. It means valuing other people and valuing your representative position of Jesus Christ, more than you value yourself.
So I fully intend to tear into some porky goodness come Sunday. I just won't plop down a platter of pig when I have Jewish friends over for dinner. During this season when we remember just how far God was willing to go to correct our offences, maybe we should be challenged to do the same.
My family likes to make turkey too, so for me its not all about the ham. Its like a 2nd thanksgiving. And hey im a master at being offensive without thinking about it. My dad tells me its a Vandrei thing
Posted by: Doug | April 20, 2011 at 03:29 PM