Mary and the Red Egg

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In preparation for my sermon on Easter Day I have done some research into Easter eggs. Probably every one else has already done this, but me, I never have....so I was curious and thought that talking about Easter eggs would make for a good illustration in the Easter sermon. In the process I stumbled upon, well actually it was mentioned in Wikipedia, a story about Mary Magdalene. It goes like this:


Following the Ascension of Christ Mary Magdalene went to Rome to meet with the Emperor Tiberius. In this meeting she told him all about the resurrection of Jesus. In her hand she held an egg, which for Romans would have been a clear symbol of new life contained within the shell, waiting to be released. His response was something like this, "The possibility that Jesus was resurrected is about as likely as that egg you are holding turning red." At which point the egg in her hand promptly turned red.


Christians have adopted the egg as our symbol of Jesus confined to the tomb (egg shell) and then released in the resurrection (cracking open the egg and releasing the new life inside)...red eggs represent the blood of Christ spilled on Calvary. Multi colored eggs symbolize other aspects of Spring and new life: sky and water, grass and flowers.


So, I think I can build an Easter sermon around these thoughts and connect it to our lives....

Comments

RevErikaG said…
What an interesting story and a gorgeous icon! Sure a better answer than what Eddie Izzard gives in his standup routine from Dressed to Kill!
4/04/2007 1:43 PM
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