“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”
Thinking it was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have taken it, tell me where you have put it and I will look for it.”
Jesus said to her: “Mary.”
She turned to him and shouted in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Master).” (John 20:15-16, NIV)
Indeed, Christ had risen and in celebration of that glorious day when the Lord defeated death, we remember him by celebrating Easter. But is it okay to celebrate by dyeing eggs and telling our kids that the Easter Bunny is real? Yeah! Just like when we celebrate Christmas by giving ourselves gifts and telling our children the story of how our Savior was born, as long as the true meaning of Easter is not lost, I say, rejoice in the Lord on Easter too.
Another thing I’d like to point out about the above verses: Notice how when Jesus called her name, she recognized His voice so well that she immediately recognized it. The same thing happens to us: when the Lord speaks to us, we know it is Him because we recognize her voice. In John 10:27, Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (RSV) We not only hear her voice, but we follow it. In verse 28, the Lord said of all who follow him: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, nor shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.”
So this Easter, we should not only celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ won the victory over death when He rose from the dead, but we can also rejoice in the fact that whatever happens, we are all in His hand.