Those of us who have been around for a while get used to certain un-ending trends. Athlete’s salaries always get more ridiculous. Televisions always get bigger. Politicians always get sleazier. Some things just seem to have no limit.
Another seemingly endless trend is the crass commercialization and cheapening of the most exalted and meaningful symbols. I’m not talking here about t-shirts made to look like the American flag, as hideous as those are. No, what really set me off this week was the realization that the local Walmart (the arbiter of all things main-stream) is now selling chocolate crosses as part of their Easter candies. That’s right, the ghastly symbol if Roman power and cruelty, transformed by Christ into the ultimate symbol of Divine love bearing and forgiving human sin, has now become…a child’s candy treat.
See it so lovely and inviting, surrounded by flowers (which is surely how the Roman soldiers adorned the cross). See it nestled on the plastic grass, with Peeps and Reese’s eggs to accompany it. See the good American child, happy for a moment as he consumes it sugary goodness, then wipes his mouth. Did I mention it is a CROSS we are speaking of? An instrument of torture and death? Next year will they sell marshmallow gallows? Perhaps a hanging noose made out of licorice? A candy electric chair? Have we so domesticated the spiritual that we don’t realize how a chocolate cross is just as obscene? Nay, a hundred times more so!
Tomorrow is Easter. I will go to church, remember the meaning of the crucifixion, and celebrate the empty tomb. And I will try very, very hard to forget about chocolate crosses.
Stephanie Ivy
04/07/2012 at 1:31 pm
That’s…alarming. But I seem to recall that those were around when I was a kid too. It didn’t wig me at the time, but now having thought more about what crucifixion actually entailed…yeah. No.
Daniel
04/07/2012 at 6:49 pm
Yeah, it probably wouldn’t have annoyed me as much when I was younger. But the cross becomes precious to me as time goes by.
Chris
04/07/2012 at 3:06 pm
“Have we so domesticated the spiritual that we don’t realize how a chocolate cross is just as obscene? ”
Yes. I present you the Testamints gum and mints. Then we have the cross-covered pencils and neckties. I’m really not surprised by the chocolate cross. I mean why did it take so long to come up with that!
Tom Waits covered it best in his song, Chocolate Jesus…
Well I don’t go to church on Sunday
Don’t get on my knees to pray
Don’t memorize the books of the Bible
I got my own special way
I know Jesus loves me
Maybe just a little bit more
I fall down on my knees every Sunday
At Zerelda Lee’s candy store
Well it’s got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied
Well I don’t want no Anna Zabba
Don’t want no Almond Joy
There ain’t nothing better
Suitable for this boy
Well it’s the only thing
That can pick me up
Better than a cup of gold
See only a chocolate Jesus
Can satisfy my soul
When the weather gets rough
And it’s whiskey in the shade
It’s best to wrap your savior
Up in cellophane
He flows like the big muddy
But that’s ok
Pour him over ice cream
For a nice parfait
Well it’s got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me
Well it’s got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel so good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied
Daniel
04/07/2012 at 6:48 pm
Wow, that song is perfect for this post. I had not heard it before. Thanks for sharing it.
chris
04/09/2012 at 3:17 pm
I wonder if I can get these on the cheap as part of an After Easter sale? I was thinking of melting them all into a chocolate calf. Of course, I’ll wrap it in gold foil.
Daniel
04/10/2012 at 12:26 pm
That’s hilarious. At least if God makes you drink it (Exodus 32:20) it won’t be so bad.
random visitor...
04/26/2012 at 8:12 pm
Intelligent, yet very religious! Something’s got to give!