When the Pope visited Colorado, he was anxious to get to an important meeting. The car assigned to pick him up arrived on time, and off they went. The driver knew that it was the Holy Father riding in the car, so he didn’t dare go over the speed limit. However, the Pope, anxious to get to the meeting on time, told the driver to pull over and get in the back seat and let him drive. The Holy Father put the pedal to the metal and traveled 85 mph on the Colorado interstate.
Almost immediately, a state trooper hiding off the side of the road turned on his siren and lights. Catching the speeding car, he ordered the driver to step out. He couldn’t believe what he saw and immediately called his captain. He said, “I really got a big one today.” The captain said, “You mean the district attorney?” “No sir, much bigger than that.” “You have a senator?” came the puzzled reply. “No sir, you don’t understand. This is the top of the line.” “Who do you have? The President?” “No sir, please understand me; this is something really big.” “For heaven’s sake, who have you pulled over?” “Well, Captain, I’m not sure, but the Pope is his chauffeur.”
That’s like Easter. Most people think it’s really big, but they just don’t know why. I can understand how they could be confused. Did you ever think that the customs surrounding Easter are truly bizarre? First, there is the Easter Bunny, a big male rabbit that carries a nest of eggs. Yes, rabbits are extremely good at carrying out the mandate “be fruitful and multiply,” and eggs are perfect, encapsulated symbols of new life to come — but rabbits don’t lay eggs or make nests, especially male rabbits. It’s enough to confuse adults. No wonder kids have a hard time understanding it.
One little boy said he knew that Jesus died when He went to hang the power lines. The teacher said, “What do you mean?”
He handed her a picture. The teacher looked at the picture of Jesus carrying a cross, and it looked just like the utility poles in the little boy’s yard. He assumed Jesus worked for the electric company. He’d combined the ideas, thinking Jesus died when He was hanging power lines. That’s not bad theology, because when He died and came back, He gave us resurrection power. He died hanging a power line from God to you.
I heard about one preacher who was trying to establish a good rapport with an inmate about to be executed by the electric chair. The pastor was anxious to say just the right words. He thought “Goodbye” seemed trite and “See you later” seemed inappropriate. As the inmate started to leave, the pastor said, not thinking, “More power to you.” Easter is when God gave the power to us — the power to answer the grave question of life.
A man who wanted to be buried with a trusty old pickup. The undertaker said, “Why would you want that?” The man said, “I’ve never seen a hole that this pickup couldn’t get me out of.” Well, there’s one hole your pickup won’t get you out of. It’s called the grave. You need more power than a pickup to have a good ending to the grave question. (Pardon the pun.)
When I started speaking, my dad gave me some good advice. He said, “Charles, work on your beginning, because it gets people’s attention. Don’t work too hard on the middle, because people will forget anyway. And, don’t ever forget this: Make sure you always have a good ending, because that’s what people will remember when they leave.” That’s Easter. It’s the power to have a good ending.
A little girl told her mother she had written a letter to God. “Dear God, instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t you keep the ones that you have now? Love, Alice.” She didn’t know that God had answered her letter. Easter is when God decided to keep us for eternity. So, more power to you.
— Charles Lowery is president and CEO of Lowery Institute for Excellence, Inc., a non-profit training and consulting organization. This article was adapted from his book, “Comic Belief.”