It’s true. The Christmas message, when it’s unwrapped, gives you Easter. The birth of Jesus is barrelling headlong towards his death. In fact that’s the point of the gospel story. It’s even hinted at – more than hinted at – in the immediate post-birth narrative of Luke’s Gospel.

There’s been a great set of photos doing the rounds the past few years around Christmas showing up just how cheapskate some chocolate companies are during the festive season.

There you have it. Sprung!  A chocolate Santa just in time for Christmas. But no!  Peel back the Santa Claus aluminium foil and what do we have? A chocolate Easter Bunny grinning out as in his his leery manner,  that’s what!

I mean, it’s like they don’t even bother any more! Which they don’t. Who do these chocolate companies think they are? At one level it’s simply another proof of the soulless global conglomerates that offer us products pretending that they care, but they really don’t.

But there’s another way of looking at it for us this Christmas too. Because, as usual, lost in the whole glitzy foil wrapper of what has become modern day Christmas in the West is this truth:

Peel back Christmas and you get Easter

It’s true. The Christmas message, when it’s unwrapped, gives you Easter. The birth of Jesus is barrelling headlong towards his death. In fact that’s the point of the gospel story. It’s even hinted at – more than hinted at – in the immediate post-birth narrative of Luke’s Gospel.

Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple to fulfil the Law’s command to present the first newborn male to God, and to offer the purification sacrifice for Mary following Jesus’ birth.

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