Resurrection Buns

Next to my salvation, my wife is my greatest gift from God.

She is an extraordinary wife; loving, beautiful, funny, creative, humble, sassy. A true Proverbs 31 woman of God, she industriously cares for our home and family, while discipling other women with grace, honesty, transparency and humility. She is also an amazing mom and grandma. She is incredibly talented in the kitchen; I am in the "rookie" stage there, but learning as I move toward retirement! And she is a creative and gifted Primary teacher, currently managing a class of 16 junior kindergarten munchkins through some form of distance education, as we muddle our way through COVID-19 and a new "normal" here in Ontario. She loves each of those little ones like they were her own, and they are never truly far from her thoughts.

Easter being near, she decided that, if they were in the classroom, she would have made Resurrection Buns (see the story and recipe here) together with them but, since that was impossible, she would make them herself, record a video to teach her students about them, and then deliver a gift bag to each family on Sunday morning. While this may not seem particularly extraordinary, you have to understand that my generous wife never gives "just one"; you have to have something to share! And her families live all over our Durham Region. But that's just the phenomenal woman to whom I have the privilege of being married.

Resurrection Buns can have a number of variations in the recipe, but the basics are essentially the same, as they provide object lessons to tell the story. We begin with a white marshmallow; the intense whiteness of the marshmallow speaks of the purity of Jesus, who qualified as the sacrifice for our sins because of His perfect obedience and sinlessness. 


We then dip the marshmallow in melted butter and roll in some cinnamon and sugar; the spices speak of the spices used in the embalming process on His dead body. Then we wrap the marshmallow tightly in a pastry dough, pinching closed all the seams, so that the marshmallow can't leak out. Some use Pillsbury crescent roll dough; my wife uses regular dinner roll dough. The dough speaks of the tomb in which His body was laid; it was sealed completely shut with a massive stone, and a Roman guard was posted, so that no mere man could get in or get out on their own.


The final step is to bake it in the oven, which is a great opportunity to speak of Jesus suffering the punishment for our sins under the hands of a holy and righteous God, and to highlight that Jesus spent time in the grave. He died. (He did not swoon and then recover from His ordeal; people don't survive crucifixion. It was a torture device that had been perfected over many years to exact the most pain and suffering possible, before taking the life of the victim. In fact, most criminals who were scourged first, like Jesus was, didn't even survive the scourging. How much of this detail you include would be determined by the age of your children.)

Once they've been baked and cooled, they can be cut open. The marshmallow inside will have melted away, leaving a hollow in the bun, which is a beautiful picture of the empty tomb! The tomb did not have to be opened to let Jesus out; the tomb was opened to show that Jesus was already gone!

In education, we often talk about activities that are "low floor, high ceiling"; that is, they are simple to understand at the basic level, but there's lots of room to "plumb the depths" of the concept. Resurrection buns fit the bill; little children can understand the simple object lessons that relay the story of the Resurrection, but grown-ups like you and I can spend our lifetimes plumbing the depths of what it meant for holy God to wrap Himself in  a limited, human body and then allow the creatures He had made to nail Him to a cross. What it meant for the sinless Son of God to "become sin for us", as it says in 2 Cor. 5:21. What kind of ridiculous, outrageous, extravagant love God must have for mankind, that He would go through all this in order to make a way possible for us to be forgiven, redeemed and restored. What an insult it must be to God when we try to get right with Him on our own merits and efforts.

And, as I look at that simple Resurrection bun, I realize that I can never unsee the beauty, the majesty, the complexity, the depth of love, that is Easter. My heart overflows in gratefulness and worship.

You can contact the author at mikeysingsbass@gmail.com.