Why ham?

The day I call Resurrection Sunday is near. Everyone is busily preparing for that holiest of holy days by frantically scouring the mall for new shoes, bonnets, and dresses. There is no doubt Jesus would want us well dressed as we arrive at the crucifixion. The glorious symbol of perhaps the most horrifying and monumental act of all history is cheerfully plastered all over store windows, a furry little bunny carrying a basket laden with sugar goodies. And to cap it off, the most exquisite irony of all, the traditional meal to memorialize this leader of the Jews.....ham. For those of you who don't follow Kosher rules, Jewish people do not eat pork.

I don't want to throw a wet rag on everyone's happy celebration.... Easter is a happy day. Jesus rose again and we are saved from our sins if we believe in the atoning nature of that ultimate sacrifice. I just have never understood how this can be transmitted by a talking bunny hopping along with a basket of cavity causing goodies. Call me crazy, but I am not convinced this demonstrates the theological import of the event.

I am not a serious person. I have been accused many times of laughing too easily at too much. So sue me. But, for some reason, the whole Easter thing irks me. It just seems so flippant and thoughtless for what should be a day of deep self reflection and study.

Some people eat lamb for Easter, and that makes a certain amount of sense. The traditional passover meal was lamb, and quite likely, Jesus had lamb at His last passover celebration. The symbolism of a sacrificial lamb is appropriate to the season and to the event. But why ham? The reason is convenience. In the US, in the days before refrigeration, meat animals were slaughtered in the fall and either consumed or cured for the winter months. Curing was a lengthy process and pork was usually the first meat fully cured, right around Easter time.

Of course you probably don't need me to tell you that Easter is named after the goddess Astarte, the ancient Phoenician goddess of fertility and war. Now if that is not a symbolic conundrum, I don't know what is. Pop out those babies so you can shoot em down! But I digress.
Astarte was worshiped in pagan rituals that are a little racy for me to describe in a prime time blog. Both the egg and bunny symbols were associated with this fertility goddess. Why and how Christians appropriated these pagan symbols and then glued them to the holiest of holy
events is beyond the scope of this post.

I think we are being bamboozled... I think we sugar coat something that should be horrific. Jelly beans and Peeps just seem strange bedfellows with nails hammered into living flesh and the utter ugliness of sin and inestimable beauty of true sacrifice and atonement. Sometimes I think we settle for things that we should rage against, even if it is cuddly like a bunny.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.