Sermon Central
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Easter, Mary Magdalene And Red Eggs
Contributed by Ernie Arnold on Mar 29, 2022 (message contributor)
Summary: This is a sermon dedicated on centering our message on Jesus. At the same time it shows how some symbols that have attached themselves to Easter have in fact an important message to share with us - the Easter Egg.
The Color Red was used for some obvious reasons:
+Red would point to the blood of Jesus that was shed on the Cross of Calvary. The Early Church wanted to make sure that people knew that it was the blood of Jesus that possessed the power to save us from our sins.
+Red was the color of life.
+Red was an ancient color of Victory.
Oftentimes, ancient armies would hold high banners colored red as they returned home to let everyone know that they had been victorious.
Early Christians picked up on this symbolic color to state the fact that in the Resurrection Jesus proved that He was victorious over sin, death, Hell and the grave.
So, a Red Egg - not only could be used as a tool to teach about Jesus coming victoriously out of the tomb, it could also be used as a symbol of Jesus' blood, new life and spiritual victory.
Now, those reasons alone are reason enough for a modern day church to not only have an egg hunt but to make sure that plenty of the eggs are colored bright red.
Coupled with all of this tradition was another tradition that surrounded the color of a Red Egg.
It all centers on John's story of the Resurrection that we read this morning. It centers on this amazing woman named Mary Magdalene.
Some historians say that the reason the Early Church adopted red as the color of the Resurrection Egg had to do with Mary Magdalene and her sharing the story of Jesus' Resurrection.
According to ancient traditions, following Jesus' Resurrection, Mary Magdalene went out like many of the other disciples and shared the Good News of Salvation and Holiness.
We know that many of Jesus' disciples spread out all over the known world to share the message of the Good News of Salvation.
+ Bartholomew went to India
+Andrew went off towards Greece
+Matthew shared the Gospel with those in Iran
+Philip went to area of modern day Turkey.
According to tradition, Mary Magdalene made her way to the city of Rome.
There she began to share the message of Jesus using an egg. She would use an egg as a prop in telling the story of New Life made possible through Jesus. The story goes that it was while she was telling the story of Jesus to Caesar himself that the miracle of the Red Egg occurred.
The story goes somewhat like this:
One day, Caesar graciously gave Mary Magdalene the time she needed to share the message of Jesus. He listened as she shared that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the long awaited Messiah and the Only Son of the True God.
He listened as she told the story of Jesus’ death on the cross. He listened as she shared that three days after his death, Jesus was raised from the dead.
He listened as she shared that after 40 days Jesus ascended into heaven where He sits on the right hand of God the Father and that through Jesus all men can be saved from their sins and experience everlasting life.
The story goes that Caesar greatly doubted Mary's story concerning Jesus being the only Son of God and His Resurrection. According to Roman theology, he (Caesar) was both the Son of God and High Priest of Roman Religion.
