Easter

  The Easter bunny, Easter eggs, and Easter baskets lack religious associations but are popular symbols of Easter. The Easter bunny made its first appearance in Germany and came to the United States with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the 1700s. Eggs, a common symbol of fertility, are associated with many spring festivals. The basket provides a nest for decorated eggs and for candies and other items given as gifts at Easter.                                                             

This painting by 15th-century Italian painter Piero della Francesca portrays Jesus Christ rising from the grave three days after his crucifixion. On Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the miracle of the resurrection of Christ and his victory over death. Piero’s The Resurrection of Christ (1463) is in the Museo Civico in Borgo San Sepolcro, Italy.

                                         A BOLT FROM THE BLUE

I read where the Orthodox Christians used to gather in the church the Saturday before Easter to tell jokes. This was to celebrate the great joke God pulled on Satan by resurrecting Jesus. I was shocked at first by the whole idea. It seemed a little silly to me, strange, and maybe even irreverent.

  Some time later I read where the great TV comedian Steve Allen had made an observation about humer that pretty much stuck in my mind, and convinced me that maybe the Orthodox practice wasn't such a bad idea after all. Allen had thought long and hard about the structure of humor, and he observed that humor is "L-shaped".

In other words, what seems to be traveling on an expected path suddenly veers in a different, unanticipated direction. That veering, that "L" turn, is where surprise occurs and laughter begins. In this sense, humor comes as a "bolt from the blue". 

   Christ's death took an L-shaped turn that no one on earth anticipated. His resurrection was the bolt from the blue--the greatest unexpected event in history. If it were not so serious, it would be hilarious. Maybe it is both!