Last
year Spring, I went to Canada to see my sweetheart and to meet her family for
the first time. Her teenage daughter
Chelsea decided she’d play a practical joke on me with a Kinder Surprise egg.[i] These are chocolate eggs that are hollow on
the inside and contain a prize of some kind.
She carefully split the egg along the seam, removing the toy and
replacing it with a cracked egg. Then
she carefully resealed the chocolate shell.
I didn’t know about any of this when she first met me and gave me the
treat as a welcome gift. You see, she
knew we don’t have Kinder Eggs in the States, so I wouldn’t know what to
expect. “You just take a big bite of
it,” she said, imagining the yolk and white squirting or oozing all over me
when I bit into it. But something told
me to be suspicious, and I happened to be holding it at such an angle that the
slimy insides collected on the back end.
I bit into the front end of the egg, and nothing happened. Chelsea laughed and said that I’d ruined her
plans, explaining that there was a raw egg inside. “Hmmm...” I said, “What should I do with
this?” I chased her around the house
with it. Just when I caught up to her
and could have dumped it on her, I stopped, tipped the candy to my mouth, and
slurped down the raw egg. It just about
made her sick. She wanted to say, “The
yolk’s on you,” but the joke was on her!
Something tells me that April Fool’s Day is going to be big in that
family.
According
to Time, April Fool’s Day has several
ancient roots. One traditions says it
comes from the “Greco-Roman festival called Hilaria, which was celebrated on
March 25. The festival honored Cybele, an ancient Greek Mother of Gods, and its
celebrations included parades, masquerades and jokes to celebrate the first day
after the vernal equinox.”[ii] This was traditionally considered New Year’s
Day. But “In the 16th century, the
Christian world switched from the Julian calendar, which was introduced by
Julius Caesar, to the Gregorian calendar named for Pope Gregory XIII. The
change moved the New Year up to January 1. Some historians find another origin
for April Fools in that switch, as those still using the Julian calendar were
fooled by the new date.” Alongside these
traditions comes the idea that God Himself is a pretty good practical joker. In his blog, “Go”, Glen Schaeffer writes:
Rev.
Weiser observes in The Easter Book that, “In the early days of Christianity,
all of Easter Week was one continuous feast… a week of intense happiness and
spiritual joy.” Easter Monday is known as the “Day of Joy and Laughter,”
“Bright Monday,” “White Monday,” and “Emmaus Day.”) The Joyful Noiseletter notes, “The custom
was rooted in the musings of early church theologians (like Augustine, Gregory
of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom) that God played a practical joke on the devil by
raising Jesus from the dead. “Risus paschalis – the Easter laugh,” the early
theologians called it.” More specifically, some theologians suggest the
festival was inspired by the famous Easter midnight sermon of John Chrysostom
(344-407 A.D.), who described a vision of Christ confronting the devil and
laughing at him. Quoted on The Joyful
Noiseletter website, one pastor noted, “God has a sense of humor. God has the
last laugh and the last word. That word is Resurrection in Jesus Christ! He is
Risen!”[iii]
Psalm 68:18[iv] says, “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led
captivity captive.” Ephesians 4:8
quotes this, saying that he ascended up
on high, he led captivity captive.” The
idea is that the first “captivity” was Satan, who had us bound up in sin and
death. Then, when Jesus rose from the
grave, He pulled a switch on the devil, tying him up in his own chains and
leading captivity captive. In his blog
post, “Mouse Trap,” Richard Beck writes:
St.
Augustine once compared the cross of Jesus to a mousetrap--crux muscipula
diaboli. "The cross is the
devil's mousetrap." … The idea goes like
this as unpacked by various church fathers. From the beginning of Jesus's
ministry Satan tries to thwart Jesus. But failing to get Jesus to fall into sin
Satan ultimately decides to kill Jesus, to just get rid of the guy. (Recall
that Satan enters Judas's heart suggesting that the death of Jesus is Satan's
idea and plan.) Satan, we know, eventually succeeds and Jesus is killed. Thus,
Satan, who possesses the keys to Death and Hades, now "owns" Jesus
and has him locked up in Hades.
Satan
has taken the cheese.
The
mouse trap snaps.
Because
what Satan doesn't know is that Jesus isn't just another human being. Jesus is
God Incarnate. In this Jesus is sort of like a Trojan Horse. So when Satan
takes Jesus to Hades--Surprise!--he finds that the enemy has entered the gates.
There in hell Jesus takes the keys of Death and Hades from Satan, binds him,
and then releases the captives. In Christian theology this is called the
Harrowing of Hell.
…The
mousetrap story suggests that evil, in its exercise of power, will overreach.
God, by contrast, by allowing evil to overreach, saves us non-violently, with
powerlessness. God is passive, allowing Satan to kill, allowing Satan to use
power and violence to accomplish the purposes of evil. On the surface, God
becomes the mouse, the dead thing caught in the trap, the one hanging on the
cross. God absorbs violence and overcomes it with love. What looks like a dead
mouse to the eyes of the world--Jesus hanging on the cross--is actually the
power and Kingdom of God.[v]
I
wonder—are there situations in your life right now where you feel like you’re
on the cross? Have you felt defeated,
manipulated, tricked—like the joke’s on you?
The resurrection reminds us that God turns the tables on the devil. God gets the last laugh. God shows that weakness is strength, and
tragedy turns to triumph. It’s been said,
“Sometimes you have to play the fool to fool the fool that thinks they’re
fooling you.” This is what God did—and
he beat the devil at his own game. Just
as God resurrected Jesus, God can raise you up and lead captivity captive for
you. And you can trust this—no foolin’.
[ii] Ross,
Ashley. “No Kidding: We Have No Idea How
April Fools' Day Started.” March 31,
2016. http://time.com/4276140/april-fools-day-history/. February 15, 2018.
April 21, 2014. http://goandmake.ca/the-easter-laugh-risus-paschalis-observe-holy-humour-sunday/. February 15, 2018.
[iv]
Scripture quotations taken from the KJV.
[v] Beck,
Richard. “Mousetrap.” Blog: “Experimental Theology.” May 14, 2002.
http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2012/05/mousetrap.html. February 15, 2018.
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