Easter commemorates Jesus' resurrection from the dead and God's triumphant power over death. But today, the secular is pitted against the sacred in ongoing post-Easter culture wars.
More than 2,000 years ago, Jesus asked His disciples, "But who do you say that I am?"
It is a question that the Apostle Peter famously answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Peter's response, according to Jesus, was divine revelation.
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It was not because Peter had researched and consulted theological experts. He had been one of Jesus' 12 companions, witnessing the healings and other miracles for three years.
It's easy to think his response was because of that. But it wasn't. Because how else could Peter have denied Jesus three times after His arrest?
The rest of the human race — just as Peter did — lives daily with two warring forces in their souls.
One is what God created them to be. The other is what the fall from grace has caused them to become.
These two ways of being, by default, create an almost schizophrenic basis for life.
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God created us in His image, to reflect His glory, to worship the creator and live joyfully.
But the fall germinated a deadly seed within us that caused us to "naturally" distrust the One Being whose image we bear, and instead to trust in ourselves — even worship ourselves.
But through all of this — the din, the distraction, the disarray — Jesus continues to ask the same question of all of us each and every day: "But who do you say that I am?"
Easter commemorates Jesus' resurrection from the dead. It's God's triumphant power over death now present in the world and available to all who put their faith in a risen Savior.
But even here, the two warring forces are still battling it out — pitting the secular against the sacred.
For the White House's annual Easter Egg Roll on Monday, families were told that children's artwork "must not include any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes ..."
("The American Egg Board has been a supporter of the White House Easter Egg Roll for over 45 years and the guideline language referenced in recent news reports has consistently applied to the board since its founding, across administrations," Emily Metz, its president and CEO, said in a statement.)
Yet how is Easter only about eggs, bunnies and candy and not about Jesus' resurrection?
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How do you tell the story of Easter but deny the image of the cross?
Said the Catholic League's Bill Donohue, "Why the need to secularize an event grounded in religion?"
Again, Jesus asks the question: "But who do you say that I am?"
The new movie "Cabrini," released during Lent, manages to remove Mother Cabrini's devotion to Jesus. Mother Cabrini was a Catholic nun who fought the power structures of the Catholic Church and New York politics in the late 1800s to build orphanages, schools and hospitals.
Her ministry was called The Sacred Heart of Jesus.
But Mother Cabrini's character never mentions His name in the film.
The film has been promoted as the story of a woman who did great things and who just happened to be a nun.
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Jesus continues to ask, "But who do you say that I am?"
Some of the faithful are fighting back.
In his new book, "The Story of the First Easter Bunny," author Anthony DeStefano uses the secular symbol of Easter, the bunny, to tell children the story of the resurrection of Jesus.
Said DeStefano, "I was frankly tired of that silly secular rabbit hopping in and taking center stage ... on this most holy of Christian holidays."
But the more grave concern, said DeSefano in comments on the "Lighthouse Faith" podcast recently, is this: "Anyone serious about their faith would have to say that you have to use extreme caution when dealing with these kinds of secular symbols. Parents cannot be blind to the fact that there is an ongoing culture war in our society. Our deepest beliefs are under constant and relentless attack."
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The Apostle Peter was lucky in that after the resurrection, Jesus asked him, "Do you love me?" three times.
Each time Peter's response was "yes" — with each "yes" crushing his previous denials.
For those who have not answered the first question, "But who do you say that I am?" — the second question will not be asked.
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