He is Risen

He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’

Luke 24: 6-7

One of my favorite traditions, or story passed down in generations of the church, regarding Easter is about the Easter egg. Below is a version of this tradition that I pulled from the website of the Holy Family Church of Lawton, OK.

Easter Eggs and the Apostle Mary Magdalene (click title for full source text)

According to tradition, after Jesus’ Ascension into heaven and the Pentecost, Mary Magdalen—a wealthy woman of some importance—became an evangelist. She preached the Gospel to anyone who would listen and she used her money to go on voyages to other places to share the message that Christ is risen. Tradition says she boldly presented herself to the Emperor Tiberius Caesar in Rome to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ, with an egg in hand to illustrate her message. She was using the egg to symbolize Christ rising from the tomb as a chick breaks out of its shell and is new life.

Holding the egg out to the Emperor, she exclaimed for the first time what is now the universal Paschal proclamation among Christians, “Christ is risen!”

The Emperor, mocking her, said that Jesus had no more risen than the egg in her hand was red. Immediately, the egg turned red as a sign from God to illustrate the truth of her message. The Emperor then heeded her complaints about Pilate condemning an innocent man to death, and had Pilate removed from Jerusalem under imperial displeasure.

Why did the egg turn red? 

Red in the ancient world was a sign of life; it is the color of blood which gives life. Dying an egg red is a sign that we believe Christ rose from the grave and by his blood he purchased for God people of every race and tongue, people of every nation. (cf. Rev. 5:9). His poured out blood is our life blood. When we receive the Holy Eucharist, we commune in his Precious Blood. His blood becomes one with our blood and gives us life and strength.

The Easter I woke up to a Red egg in my Wreath

Before Stephen and I got married, I went through the classes called Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults to enter the Catholic church and be able to take communion. This class started in the fall and ended with a special vigil the night before Easter Sunday.

In the last month of the class, we were told to pick a patron saint. Being raised Lutheran, there was not much about the saints that I knew other than there was a lot that I did not know.

After thinking about it for a few weeks, I picked Mary Magdalene knowing that she became one of his closest disciples after he rescued her from a dark place when he cast seven demons out of her. She was at the cross when he died and Mary was the first to witness the resurrection. Because of this she became the Apostle to the Apostles by telling them this good news.

Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
10 She went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
11 And they, when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved.

Mark 16: 9-11

The morning of our Easter vigil for RCIA, I found a little red egg in my nest on my door. The little red egg made me feel even more connected to this story.