Easter Riddles

by Peter van Gorder

Riddles have an interesting history. Some say they began in early monasteries where it was one of their main forms of entertainment. One monastery would send the riddle to another and they would try to guess the object. Everyone loves discovering a mystery and riddles are like a treasure hunt. Even if you don’t understand every word in a riddle you can understand what it is from the context.  All the riddles are written in the first person. As it is Easter, you could have the theme of the riddles be an object that pertains to Easter like: the crown of thorns, the rolled stone, the grave clothes etc.  Below are a few I tried.

You can make a game of it. Make two teams. Each line is revealed – line by line. Of course, it gets easier the more lines are revealed. Give 5 seconds pause before reading the next line. The first team or person to get it wins.

…. is Goodness

We are patience personified

After 40 years of basking in forest’s Eden

We were plucked to serve you.

Sucking from our earth mother’s breast

We were nurtured for this moment

We are ready for you to use us

We are eager to become a tool – a chair – a table – a frame,

For then we live.

 

We await your pleasure

Do with us, as you will

We are earth transformed

Almost, yet not quite, flesh.

Sap instead of blood transverses our veiny grain

As milk is not blood but more noble than water

So are we –

We ….. are good for you

We ….. wait for you

Master, shape us

Caress us with your plane

Shape and cut us as you will.

Let us feel your firm fingers

Form and fit us carefully to your will

Polish us with your oilcloth

Till we shine

 

Well have you chosen your profession –

A carpenter of Galilee

Someday we will lift you up

And like a magnet draw all men to you

We will hold the nails that will support you

Even as you die for the men who kill you.

 

Answer: wood

 

 

 

…..   Stuff

What are the stuff we are made of?

Sometimes we are but a limpid pool

Reflecting thoughts.

A wafting genie

Awaiting commands.

Shadows

Cast from a million mundane moments

A magic beanstalk

Growing skyward as breathing slows.

An enchanted carpet

To transport you to mysterious lands

You know not of

But shall – if you will

We shall teach you

Of death and roses

Of flying and loving

And so much more

We are the messengers –

Harbingers of doom or good fortune

An ill or good omen

We have changed men

We will change you – if you will

 

We warned the wise men

To avoid the king’s poison

We can warn you – if you will

We persuaded Joseph to love Mary

We can persuade you to love– if you will.

 

Answer: dream (this is not an object of course so it might be harder)

 

 

 

 

Two

We are a great contradiction

We open and close doors

|We satisfy your hunger

Yet, leave you starving

On our faces are the faces

Of the world’s heroes-

The images and superscriptions

Of the greedy great.

Whose greatness is soon forgotten

 

Rubbed and handled and pawned off

From person to person

From generation to generation

Until we are too old to be traded – only to be admired

Or we fall in a crack to await discovery

 

We are age – time frozen in a metal die.

Yet men give their every waking moment for us.

As an empire falls so we are debased

But in our prime

We are value exemplified

But beware –

Love us and you suck a bitter root

Adore us and we will destroy you

Men measure their worth in us

Thinking they are rich

Yet know not their spirits are

Wretched,

Miserable,

Poor,

Blind,

Naked,

And in need of love.

 

 

Answer: coin

 

A few other possible objects you could try:

Bread

Water

Wine

Sheep

Fish

Clothes

Hand

Bed

Saliva

Ear/tongue

Eyes

 

Here is an impossible one to guess from the Bible Believers:

If you attend the first,
you SHOULD attend the second,
you WILL be at the third,
and you WON’T be at the fourth.
If you don’t attend the first,
you COULD be at the second,
you WON’T BE AT THE THIRD,
and you COULD be at the fourth.

Answer:
1st
Supper of Salvation
Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: (Luke 14:16)
2nd
Lord’s Supper
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. (I Corinthians 11:23-25)
3rd
Marriage Supper
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. (Revelation 19:6-9)
4th
Supper of the Fowls
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great….. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. (Revelation 19:17-18, 21)

or here are a few in a different style from belief.net

Name something Jesus did that sounds similar to what a little boy might have done to his eggs this week.
#### HE DIED / HE DYED
Name something Jesus did a few days later that sounds like the name of a currently popular NBC series.
#### HE ROSE / HEROES