Breakfast with the Easter Bunny
A youth play for four readers intended for the beginning of an Easter sunrise service. It begins with Reader 1 speaking from the lectern. The rest are sitting to the side.
1 – Welcome. Let me begin with an announcement. After our sunrise service, you are invited to stay for our annual Easter breakfast. This year we have a very special surprise guest joining us for this meal. He’s been hard at work all night getting ready. I hope you can stay and meet the Easter Bunny…
2 – WHAT?!! (jumps up and walks over to #1)
1 – I said, I hop, I mean I hope you can stay and meet the Easter Bunny.
2 – Are you serious?!
1 – About what? Staying for breakfast?
2 – No, about the Easter bunny.
1 – Well, of course. It is Easter, you know. After breakfast the children will hunt for Easter eggs.
2 – Yeah, I got that. One of my favorite things about Easter as a kid.
1 – Well, how do you think those eggs are spread around for children to find?
2 – (Sigh) I don’t believe this.
1 – If it weren’t for the Easter Bunny, there would be no Easter eggs.
2 – And so we have a rodent for breakfast.
1 – Excuse me. First, rabbits are not rodents. They’re mammals. Second, we are not eating bunny for breakfast. He is our special guest.
(#3 enters from the side, not trying to draw attention)
2 – (stares at 1 in disbelief) You are serious about this, aren’t you?
1 – Of course.
3 – Umm, guys – the service has started. Don’t you think it would be better to talk about this at another time?
1 – No it hasn’t. This is technically still time for announcements. Worship hasn’t officially begun.
3 – But they (pointing to congregation) are listening.
2 – Good! Because this doesn’t make any sense to me.
1 – What doesn’t make sense?
2 – The Easter Bunny.
1 – Don’t you believe in the Easter Bunny any more?
2 – No. But that’s not the point. This is Easter, when we celebrate something bigger than Peter Cottontail and some eggs that appear out of nowhere.
3 – I agree, but don’t you think we’d better get on with the service?
2 – Not until we get this straight.
1 – Get what straight?
2 – Why we are here!
1 – Because it’s Easter.
2 – So what does a rabbit have to do with Easter?
1 – Do I need to explain to you about springtime and baskets full of candy?
2 – No, I understand and enjoy those things, but they are not why I got up early this morning to be here, and I don’t think everyone out there came here today because of a cute little bunny.
1 – He’s not very little.
2 – That’s not the point.
3 – I think what she is saying is that Easter is about Jesus rising from the grave.
1 – Of course it is. But can’t we enjoy Easter eggs, too?
2 – Absolutely! Only sometimes we pay more attention to the chocolate…
3 – Chocolate is good!
1 – Amen, sister!
2 – Agreed! But in our love for candy and bunnies, we lose track of Jesus. Isn’t he supposed to be the special guest at our Easter breakfast?
(#4 enters from the side, not trying to draw attention)
1 – Did we invite him?
3 – I’m sure we did.
2 – He is the reason we are here, isn’t he?
4 – (interrupting) I don’t mean to be rude, but don’t you think we should get started?
1 – (ignoring #4) You know, now that I think about it, where does an Easter bunny fit into all this?
2 – My question, precisely.
3 – Do you think it’s because what leads up to Easter is so gruesome? Jesus died, you know.
2 – He didn’t just die. He was nailed to a cross and hung there for hours.
4 – “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.”1
1 – Whoa! Big words!
4 – It’s what I was supposed to read from the prophet Isaiah, whenever we get this service started.
3 – That’s pretty heavy. No wonder we want Easter bunnies and candy.
2 – Yeah. How do you explain all that to children?
1 – Maybe it’s easier to talk about a rabbit…
2 – …who lays eggs and scatters them around for children to find. Do you want to explain that one to me?
1 – Well, what about Jesus rising from the dead three days later?
4 – It wasn’t “three days later.” It was “on the third day.”
2 – What’s the difference?
4 – It’s not three days from Friday to Sunday.
3 – Unless, of course, you think of Friday as day one, Saturday as day two, and Sunday as the third day.
1 – Okay, I stand corrected. Still, Jesus rising from the dead “on the third day” is difficult to grasp. Do you want to explain that one to me?
2 – I can’t.
4 – But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is 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, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”2
1 – Whoa! More big words. Let me guess, you were supposed to read that later, too.
4 – Yup. It’s from Luke’s gospel.
3 – Good job!
2 – I like the word “perplexed” in there. It describes how those women felt. When it comes to explaining Easter, “perplexed” is still a pretty good word. But it’s perplexed in a good way. How did it happen? I don’t know. But God did it. We get up early on this day to be surprised by it all once more. Well, that and to be with good friends.
3 – and to enjoy breakfast.
2 – But not with the Easter Bunny.
1 – You really do have something against that rabbit, don’t you?
2 – Okay, okay. The Easter Bunny can come to breakfast, too, but…
4 – But our real, very special, surprise guest is Jesus. He is alive!
3 – Yes, He is alive!
2 – He is alive!
1 – He is alive!
©2012, Peter L. Haynes
(permission granted for non-profit use)