Like probably every other preacher in the English-speaking west, I am tickled by the humor of celebrating Easter on April Fools’ Day this year. It seems wonderfully fitting to remember on a day filled with pranks and tricks the event which from ancient times was perceived as God’s greatest trick, played on Satan. Augustine, in more than one sermon, famously portrayed the Cross of Christ as a muscipula diaboli, a mousetrap (or at least a trap) for the Devil. Satan is enticed into thinking Jesus is an ordinary mortal human being, tries to take His life by crucifixion, and is caught when Jesus is raised from the dead.
That notion of Jesus as God’s trap for the Devil captured the Christian imagination. The picture above from The Hours of Catherine of Cleves appears at the bottom of a page depicting Mary’s meeting with Elizabeth when both John the Baptist and Jesus are in utero. So the little “cartoon” at the bottom shows infant John the Baptist (on the right) ready to spring a trap baited with the infant Jesus.
More recently, the notion that the death and resurrection of Christ fools Satan is the basis for C. S. Lewis’ depiction of the death and resurrection of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. While many theologians have questioned the appropriateness and biblical warrant of this mousetrap theory of the Atonement, it nonetheless seems to be a harmless and playful way to celebrate what God has accomplished for us in Christ, overcoming sin, death, and yes, the devil.
So this Sunday I propose to play around with the notion that God had the last laugh on Easter Sunday and that the great grace of it all is that you and I get to join in the laughter. I’ll be using the beautiful text from Isaiah 25:6-9 and mixing together the images of a grand feast, the dispelling of clouds, and yes, the end of verse 7, “he will swallow up death forever,” presumably because death is caught in the jaws of the trap.
Mean pranks are certainly not appropriate for this Easter April Fools’ Day, but joking and laughter definitely are in order. May our celebration of new life in Christ brings smiles to our faces and laughter and joy to mouths.