The Easter Man

By David Myers

Southwest Kansas Register

“That’s the Easter Man,” the little girl said, pointing at the large, marble crucifix. “He died at Easter so we’d ’member his name and everything he did for us.”

“What is his name?” the old man asked.

“You don’t know?” she replied, staring disbelievingly up into the old man’s eyes. “His name is Jesus! See, when God was a little boy, he dreamed of going down to Earth so he could be with people.”

“He did? Why did he want to be around people?”

The little girl thought for a moment and replied, “He was lonely up in heaven. He wanted to have friends! And he really, really loved us. He wanted us to be up there with him! So, later on when God had a son, he sent him down to live on Earth.”

“Why didn’t God come, himself? Why did he send his son?”

Exasperated with the old man’s ignorance, the little girl took a deep breath and replied, “Becaaaause, he couldn’t. Only his son could come to earth, because he was a real person.”

“Jesus was a real per --” the old man started to ask.

“Wait, no, only sort of,” the little girl interrupted, her small hands grasping a bow on her dress. “He only looked like a person. See, God’s really, really tall and he has a long white beard and a shiny halo, like this!” she said, using her fingers to form a circle over her head. “He’d be recognized everywhere and wouldn’t get anything done. Nobody recognized Jesus ’cause he looks just like us!”

“Nobody at all recognized him?”

The little girl reached down to pick up something shiny, which turned out to be a piece of a foil gum wrapper. “Well, the three wise men recognized him, but nobody who wasn’t wise did.”

“Do you think we would recognize Jesus if he came here today?” the old man asked.

“Yes! Because we already know what he looks like. My mommy has a picture of him next to the microwave. If he came now, I’d take him to the park where he could push me on the swing and bless the little animals.”

“When Jesus came to Earth, how did he convince people who he was?”

“Um ... He told people all about his dad, and about heaven, and then a lot of people knew Jesus’s dad was God.”

“Did everyone believe him then?”

“Huh, uh. There were still some people who didn’t believe him, so he had these ... um ... superpowers that he showed them, and then they believed him!”

“Superpowers? Was he like Superman?”

“Kind of. ’Cept he didn’t wear a cape or anything. But he could walk on water, and make sick people better, and he even brought his friend who died back to life again! The guy got up and said, ‘What’s going on?’ And Jesus said, ‘You’re alive now!’ And the man said, ‘That’s great!’”

“Then what happened?” the old man asked.

“Then,” the little girl said, “Jesus told everyone, ‘You be good or you won’t go to heaven. And heaven is really neat, so you don’t want to miss it.’ And he told them that they needed to believe that his dad was God, but that part was easy because all he had to do was walk on water or heal a sick person, and they’d say, ‘Oh, wow!’”

“Why was it important to Jesus that people believe he was the son of God?”

“Don’t you know anything?” she asked. “Because he’s … he’s the one who … um … . You know those big yellow gates up at heaven? Well, he has the keys!”

“There’s one thing I don’t understand,” the old man said. “If Jesus was God’s son, why did he die on the cross?”

“Why did he die on the cross?” she replied, looking into the marble face of Christ. “I think it was because some president during Bible times thought Jesus was trying to take over. Jesus said, ‘No, I’m just trying to teach to people about being nice and going to heaven.’ But the man didn’t believe him. He was mean.”

“Are there any other reasons that Jesus died on the cross?” the old man asked.

A puzzled look formed on the little girl’s face, but it was quickly replaced with one of excitement. “Oh, yeah! He died for our sins! And that was really important! Because, see, that’s why we get to go to heaven!”

“Don’t you think God would have felt better if his son had lived a long life on Earth, living beside the people he loved so very much?”

“Silly! God didn’t send Jesus down here just so he could live with people, God sent Jesus so he could ... so he could lead the people back up to Heaven to live with God!”

“Oh, I see,” replied the old man. “Why do you call him the ‘Easter Man’?”

“’Cause Easter is at Springtime; that’s when Mommy picks new flowers and they smell sooo good. That’s when the trees and grass and flowers and things all start to grow again after the snow’s gone. Daddy says that in the winter, the grass looks dead, but it’s only fooling. In the spring it all starts growing again!

“Jesus is only fooling, too,” the little girl said, peering back up at the cross. “He looks like he’s dead up there, but he’s not. He’s really alive! He’s the ‘Easter Man’!”