The Boy, the Coin, and the Risen King
By JK Stenger
The boy found it on Easter Sunday.
Half-hidden in the mud at the side of the road. The sun glinted off the object, making it seem beautiful and valuable.
A silver tanner.
He wiped it on his pants, his heart pounding. This was his lucky day. His buddies would be green with jealousy and, even better, this was worth something. But he wouldn’t sell it. No, he’d keep it. It would be his lucky charm.
He threw it up in the air while his heart sang for joy.
Ice cream would make his day perfect.
As the tanner landed back in his hand, he heard the jingle of the ice cream car. It just turned around the corner and stopped before him. The driver, Mister Jack, a good-natured fellow with an enormous moustache grinned, leaned over and said, “Something tells me you want ice cream.”
The boy had no money. Only his new found tanner, but not even an ice cream could tempt him to give that up. But Mister Jack was in a good mood and without waiting for an answer turned, opened the lid of the cooler, and a second later held up a delicious cone overflowing with joy. “Today is my birthday,” he sang, “No pay.”
With a trembling hand, the boy took the ice-cream and thanked Mister Jack.
When the car was gone, he seemed lost in thought. This coin was special. It gave him his wishes.
The creamy vanilla was about to touch his tongue when Tod showed up. Tod, the bully of the neighbourhood; feared and unwanted. The boy wanted to turn and run, but he was too late. “An ice cream?” Tod yelled from a distance. “Just what I wanted.”
Seeing Tod approach with long strides, fear washed over him.
But wait! He had his lucky coin. That would stop the evil. With a desperate move, he threw the coin up, while whispering, “Coin, stop Tod!”
An amazing spectacle unfolded. Tod slipped on the sidewalk and landed in a mud puddle where he burst out crying. The boy smiled and ran off while his heart soared. The tanner had done it again.
As he walked on, he passed by the church. The caretaker stood in the door and invited him in. “Come in, boy. It’s Easter.”
He hadn’t been to church since Grandma died. He had been mad at God for taking her, even though Mom said Grandma was 97 and her time had come. Still, it had not been fair. What if he used his lucky charm? Yes, he would go in and secretly throw up his coin while wishing for Grandma to come back.
He smiled at the caretaker and stepped inside. Everything shone with an ethereal light. Candles, sparkling beauty and sacred music, since the choir was singing. What a wonderful place to use his coin.
There, in the back, he tossed his tanner in the air while whispering: “Grandma, come back.”
Just then, the church choir reached a glorious crescendo.
Christ is risen; Christ is risen!
And has opened heaven’s gate.
We are free from evil’s prison,
Risen to a holier state.
The music was so overwhelming that the boy missed catching the coin and it fell on the stone floor of the church. Oh, horror of horrors. The coin broke in two. It hadn’t been a real tanner after all, but just looked like one. It wasn’t even real metal, but a cheap, flimsy, brittle imitation. And Grandma had not come back. It was all a mistake.
Death is conquered; we are free;
Christ has won the victory.
As the boy listened to the hymn an unusual warmth spread through him, chasing away the shadows. Grandma wasn’t dead at all. She was free in heaven. She had always told him she was preparing for heaven. “We don’t wish, my boy,” she often told him. “Rather, we pray and put our lives in the hands of God. Because of Easter, we never have to be afraid. Do you believe it?”
Back then, it had made no sense but now it did. Grandma was alive because Christ conquered death. A smile played on his lips as he kicked his worthless coin under the pew, close to a large woman sitting at the back. She turned, a gentle expression on her face. “Come, sit,” she gestured. “Come, and hear the story of the resurrection. It’s so beautiful.”