Luke 24:1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb taking the spices they prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, but they didn’t find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.

The women were terrified and they bowed their faces to the ground. The men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He’s not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, crucified, and on the third day, rise again. Then they remembered these words and, returning to Jerusalem, told all of this to the eleven and all the rest.

Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles but these words seemed to them and idle tale and they didn’t believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking inside, he saw the linen cloths and went away, amazed at what had happened.

Apparently, The Velveteen Rabbit turned 100 this year. Did you know that? Do you remember the story at all? My youngest son, Max, was in the car with me when I heard this little human-interest story on the radio and I’m certain it’s a sign of bad parenting that he’d never even heard of The Velveteen Rabbit. Anyway, I sort of remembered, and the little report about the anniversary on the radio last week reminded me some, and it got me thinking about Easter.

There’s the rabbit-factor, of course. But the point of that story, really, is full of Gospel kind of good news, too.

For those of you who don’t remember, it’s the story of a boy who has a favorite stuffed bunny that he plays with and sleeps with and loves more than any of his other toys, even though the bunny isn’t the coolest toy in the toy box. The boy loves the rabbit so much that the bunny wants really badly to be Real (with a capital R) – Real in the eyes of the other toys in the nursery, Real in the eyes of the boy, and Real, even, in the eyes of the actual bunnies hopping around out there in the world, too. (It has a very Toy Story vibe to it, come to think of it!)

Anyway, eventually, the boy gets sick and the toy Velveteen Rabbit gets taken away from him. I think it was a scarlet fever thing they were worried about 100 years ago.

Ultimately, somehow, the Velveteen Rabbit becomes real and learns that something the Skin Horse, one of the other toys in the nursery, had told him once is actually true – that being loved is what makes someone real. And that, according to the Skin Horse, “once you become Real [with a capital R], you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.”

And what’s sweet and good and nice in the realm of children’s stories resonates with us in the real world, too, because there is a whole lot of Truth (with a capital T) to that fairy tale’s message.

What makes us real… what makes us tick… what makes us matter in the world and matter for ourselves is that we are loved for real by the God who made us. The Skin Horse in the story also told the Velveteen Rabbit that “Real isn’t how you’re made – [whether you’re the coolest toy in the toy box or not] – it’s a thing that happens to you.” And he said, when you’re loved “for a long, long time, then you become real.”

For the Velveteen Rabbit, the evidence that he was loved – for real – was how worn his ears and velvety fur had become from all the time his little boy spent with him. In other words, he could look at his body for evidence that he had been loved well and for real and for good.

For us, on Easter, we look to Jesus – at God, in the flesh – for evidence of how deeply we are and have been loved. There are pierced hands and wounded sides. There are scars and scabs on this Easter morning that remind us of God’s grace for all creation and of God’s deep and abiding love for each of us, too.

And this love is real, with a capital R. It lives beyond the Scarlet Fever, COVID-19 and Cancer. This love is greater than the war that worries us. This love is more real and everlasting, even than the death that will befall us all.

Because, just like the old and wise Skin Horse promised the Velveteen Rabbit, the same is true for you and me: “Once you become Real … once you have been loved by God, in Jesus Christ … once this death has been conquered, once this grace has been declared, once this love has been offered … you can’t become unreal or unloved, ever again. It lasts for always.

Amen. Happy Easter.

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”