Rev. Dr. Timothy Keller – a Christian speaker, pastor, and author – wrote a short book once called “Hidden Christmas”. In “Hidden Christmas” he argues that the true meaning of Christmas (Jesus’ incarnation and birth into the world for the sake of dying and rising for humanity) gets “hidden” by the commercial and sentimental secular celebration of Christmas. 

In “Hidden Christmas” he talks about how this is frustrating to both people of faith and people who would rather not engage with faith. It is frustrating to Christians because Christmas gets “hidden” under loads of wrapping paper, Santa, and ‘happy holidays’, but it is likewise frustrating to secular folks because you don’t have to scratch very far under the surface of the commercial Christmas to find religion at its core.

Just as Keller says that Christmas gets hidden under a veneer of cultural celebration, I think Easter gets the same treatment. The anguished and anxious Jesus of Maundy Thursday gets plastered over by peeps and Reese’s eggs. The bloodied Christ of Good Friday gets wallpapered over by preparations for extravagant Easter eggs hunts with “Golden Eggs” that have $100 bills and coupons for iPhones. The empty tomb and its “unfortunate association with the grave and death” are covered over by family get togethers replete with over-eating and domestic drama.

Of course, that sets up a dichotomy that might not actually be there. The truth is that it may not actually be as much “secular people” vs. “Christians” – but we all find ourselves a little (purposefully?) ignorant of the realities of Holy Week. Of course secular people would be uninterested in those, but self-professed Christians may not be all that different. Easter may be “hidden” for all of us – a sort of Easter egg left out in the yard even for the most committed of church-goers.

So this Holy Week, let’s engage in the hunt. Let’s look for the hidden realities of Easter and not let them remain hidden like the plastic easter egg with a tootsie roll in it that you find in the yard in June. Let us search out the Easter message that is there for us if we just look for it. And when we find this “hidden Easter” – let us celebrate it together saying “He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!”