Our culture does all it can to distract us from what really matters most. This became painfully true as I prepared for my Easter sermon. I decided to see what images are most associated with Easter so I did a Google search (with safe search turned on). I reviewed the top 100 images that popped up on Google and it was very informative! Here is what I found:
- The first twelve images were bunnies, flowers, and eggs…nothing about the cross or empty tomb.
- At image thirteen a cross appeared for the first time.
- I had to go seventy-four pictures before I found my first image of Jesus (and he was framed in an egg shaped oval).
- Of the top 100 Google images, only seven had anything to do with the Christian faith (six crosses and one picture of Jesus).
- Not one of the top 100 images showed an empty tomb or the risen Christ.
- There were only four people portrayed in these hundred images. Each showed up one time. They were: Elvis, the actor who played a vampire in the Twilight movies (I can’t make this stuff up), President Obama, and Jesus.
Easter Sunday might be over, but every day is a celebration of the resurrection for those who know and love Jesus. Beware the cute, frilly, pretty distractions that come your way. Easter is about an empty cross and an empty tomb, not bunnies and eggs. If the enemy can keep our culture focused on seemingly harmless distractions, people will miss the true meaning of the cross and the tomb and might just miss Jesus altogether…and I think this is his intention. Let’s stay on our toes!