I've just popped to Sainsbury's and spotted that they already have hot cross buns in the bakery. It seems that the moment Christmas ends, Easter - at least in the retail world - begins. I even remember my brother buying a Creme Egg one year on Boxing Day.
This rushing to the next big event usually bothers me: why can't we just enjoy the moment?
But this evening, it got me thinking.
This weekend, we have celebrated Epiphany and have remembered the visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus.
They brought gifts for Jesus which were symbols of great importance: gold, to reflect and acknowledge His Kingship; frankincense to show His purity and holiness and to reflect His role as a Priest, interceding on our behalf; and myrrh, an oil used to anoint dead bodies and a sign of what would happen to Jesus.
I always wonder how Mary and Joseph reacted to these gifts, especially to the myrrh. They must have known what it was usually used for.
They knew that their Son was the Son of God and that He had come to fulfil what had been foretold about bringing peace and restoration to mankind. But did they know that the way that this peace and restoration would be achieved was through the death of their child?
And if they did, would they really want to think of it, so soon after His birth?
Whether or not they thought about it, it is the reason that Jesus was born: to reconcile man to God, through His own death on the cross.
"Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
[...] he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed."
[Isaiah 53:4-5 NIV]
I am fully aware that Easter eggs and hot cross buns are appearing in supermarkets for financial reasons. But perhaps, rather than complaining about them, we should use them to remind us what Christmas was all about.
Perhaps it's not wrong to turn our attention to Easter so soon after Christmas. After all, there is no Easter without Christmas.
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