Stories of Jesus for Children 9 - Happy Easter Day!

Hello and Happy Easter! The first Easter Day started very strangely for Jesus' friends. They went to check his cave tomb, to see if everything was OK at that sad place, and the huge stone had been rolled away! Some of them just found the empty cave, and wondered what on earth had happened to Jesus' poor body.Some of them came back and told the others that they'd met angels, who had given them good news about Jesus being risen to new life - he had been dead, but now he was alive again! But that was confusing news, too.The first person who really began to understand was Jesus' friend Mary (not his mum - there were lots of Maries in those days!). Mary was crying near the empty tomb because it was all so confusing. She looked up and saw a man, but her eyes were all blurred from the tears and she couldn't see who he was. She guessed he might be the gardener, so she asked him where on earth he had put the body of Jesus.

But it was actually Jesus himself! He said to her: 'Mary...', and when she heard him say her name, she knew it was true - Jesus had been dead, but now he was alive! Can you imagine how happy she was? She told everyone about it, and soon Jesus had gone to see his other friends too, and they were all telling each other the good news.

God is so powerful that death cannot hold him back, and Jesus had been telling the truth all this time - he was God, and death could not hold him!

Why did he die? He did it because he loved you and me, and all the people (ordinary and important), and he didn't want to see us punished for the things we do wrong. He decided he would rather take the punishment, instead of give it to us. So he was doing what he'd taught - being the servant, who helps his people, instead of the bossy king. On Easter Day we can say THANK YOU, JESUS!

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And we can celebrate with eggs (which roll like the huge stone, and are hollow like the empty tomb, and are about new life), and chocolate (which is sweet and lovely, like the good news). But let's not forget Jesus - not today, and not for the rest of the year. He gave his life for us and we can talk to him any time, which is all that praying is. If you want to know more about Jesus, my blog friend Angela did a very good letter to children about him - click here.

Action: Take the stone away from the cave tomb in your Easter Garden - the cave is empty, because Jesus is alive! Put some flowers in the garden, to make it beautiful and full of new life.

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Question for younger children: Did you know that Jesus was going to come back to life, or was it a real surprise?

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Question for older children: What do you think Mary felt like, when she heard Jesus saying her name?

Stories of Jesus for Children 8 - Stopping and thinking

Today is the one day where there isn't a story of Jesus for me to tell you, because poor Jesus was lying dead in his tomb.

Have you put a stone in front of the cave in your Easter Garden? It needs to stay there today. But tomorrow, something amazing is going to happen!

Soldiers stood outside Jesus' tomb, to stop anyone from stealing the body, and sometimes we put some soldiers in front of the stone...

Do you recognise these soldiers?
So, poor Jesus was dead, and his friends and family were very, very sad, and very, very scared, in case the important people came after them next. They hid and cried.

But we have today to try to work out the puzzle: Why did Jesus decide to die? He didn't have to go to Jerusalem. He didn't have to annoy the important people. He could have run away when the soldiers came or told everyone that the important people were lying about him. But he didn't! Why did he let them kill him?

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Now, grown-ups find this hard to understand, and have different ideas about exactly why, so don't worry if you don't understand all of it! But think about Jesus washing his friends' feet. He said that the most important person must be like a servant to the others.

Then remember that Jesus told his friends that the bread was like his body, broken for them. Did we see his poor body broken yesterday? We did.

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He told his friends that the wine was like his blood, given for everyone. Did he bleed on the cross? Yes, sadly he did.

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So there are the clues. Jesus wanted to be like a servant for us. He wanted to give his body and his blood for us, even though it would hurt him and finally kill him. He didn't die because of a horrible mistake, or even because the important people wanted him to die, but he died because he loved us. He died because it would be good for us.

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We'll find out more tomorrow, the BIG DAY!

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Activity: Put some soldiers in front of the tomb.

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Questions: I have been asking the children questions all week, so now it's the children's turn! Ask your grown-ups anything you like about the stories. Leave a comment for me and ask me questions too, if you like! Remember what I said - even grown-ups don't completely understand this - God is a lot cleverer than the best grown up and it's impossible to know everything about him. So maybe you'll ask a question we can't answer!

Stories of Jesus for Children 7 - the saddest day

When Jesus let the important people arrest him, they took him into Jerusalem and started telling lies about things he had said and done. When people asked him if these lies were true he stayed quiet, and didn't complain. Then they ordered the soldiers to hurt Jesus, and after that they made him pick up a great big wooden cross and start to carry it through the streets so everyone could laugh at him.

Does that make you feel sad? It is a very sad and shocking thing to happen to anyone. It seems even worse that it happened to our kind and loving Jesus, who helped people and told them about God's love, doesn't it?You need to know about crosses - they were the way that the worst criminals were punished in those days. Criminals were put onto a cross for people to look at until they died. It's hard to imagine that because we know how wrong it is nowadays, but in those days it didn't seem so unusual - look, there are two other crosses for criminals, as well as for poor Jesus.

Can you see who has stayed with Jesus? It's his mother, Mary, and the other women who are his friends. The men have mostly run away, because someone might want to put them on a cross too. I'm very glad that some of his family and friends stayed with him, though. They stayed there until he died. Poor Jesus and Mary.

When he had died, a secret friend decided to be brave - he told the women that they could put the poor body in his own special cave. It was a cave for burials. This is what the cave in the Easter Garden is for. How sad the women were when they put Jesus' poor body in the cave.

Activity: Put a cross made of sticks, or a palm leaf one from church, into your Easter Garden, and find a big stone to put in front of the cave - the important people put a huge stone in front of Jesus' tomb, big and heavy so that no one could go and steal his body away.
Question for younger children: Do you like Hot Cross Buns? See if you can eat one today, because the cross can remind us of Jesus. Question for older children: Do you remember what Jesus said about the bread and the wine? He said they were his body and his blood. Does that make any sense when you think about Jesus dying on the cross? (You can eat a Hot Cross Bun too!)

Stories of Jesus for Children 6 - Jesus' Friends

When Jesus and his friends had finished their special meal together, I think they all felt very strange. They knew that big things were happening, and most of them didn't understand what it was all about. One of his friends, Judas, sneaked out of the room, and only Jesus seemed to know where he was going. Jesus asked the rest of his friends to come outside the city with him, to spend the night praying.Can you see Jesus in the picture, looking at Jerusalem and praying? He got very upset when he prayed - praying is talking to God, and Jesus cried and told God that he was feeling very scared about what would happen next. See - even Jesus can get scared.In this picture you can see Jesus kneeling down and praying, if you look very hard (it was dark, of course). Can you see his friends? They've fallen asleep! Jesus was sad and scared but his friends weren't there to help him.

But one friend had done something much worse. When Judas left their special meal he went to tell the important people where Jesus was going. The important people quickly called some soldiers and they all went together to arrest Jesus - to capture him like he was a criminal!

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The soldiers said: 'We don't know what Jesus looks like - how can we arrest him?' Judas told them: 'I'll go up and give him a friendly greeting - a hug and a kiss like we always do. Then you'll know that the one I kiss is the one to arrest.' Can you see Judas giving him a hug in the picture?

So Jesus was arrested, and he let the important people take him away and tell everyone what a bad man he was. It was a terrible night. Everything seemed to have gone wrong. But somehow, Jesus seemed to act like it was OK with him. Maybe he something that the others didn't...

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Question for younger children: Do you sometimed feel scared? Who do you talk to when you feel scared?

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Question for older children: Jesus' friends all let him down. Have you ever been let down by a friend? Have you ever let a friend down yourself?

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Activity: Judas got paid some silver coins by the important people when he gave Jesus to them. See if you can find a silvery coin and put it in your Easter garden, to remind you of this sad night.

Stories of Jesus for Children 5 - A Very Special Meal

What's your favourite meal of the year? Do you like Christmas best? What do you eat - turkey and potatoes, or something else?Jesus and everyone in his country had a meal each year that was even more important than our Christmas dinner, when they ate special foods and taught each other about how God had saved their people. Here they are, sitting down together in an upstairs room in Jerusalem, celebrating their special meal together. This was what they had come to Jerusalem for.Jesus was the leader of their group of friends, so he was in charge of the meal and the teaching. He taught them the traditional things about how God had saved the people years ago, and then he taught them some new things, too.
Here he is, washing his friends' feet! Does that seem strange to you? It seemed strange to them, too, because it was the servant's job to wash everyone's dusty feet before a meal. The leader, the teacher, shouldn't do the servants' job! But Jesus wanted to teach them that really important people need to look after ordinary people, instead of bossing them about. He told them that they would never be really important unless they helped other people instead of helping themselves.
Then he took the bread and the wine, which were a big part of the special meal, and did something new with them. He broke the bread and told them: 'This is my body'. Then he showed them the cup of wine and said: 'This is my blood. I am giving them both for you all.' His friends didn't quite understand what he meant, but they remembered it all very carefully. Even if you don't understand what he meant either, just remember it, and we'll see if we can understand it later this week...

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Question for younger children: What do you like best about special meals with your family? Is it it the food, or the people, or maybe the fun you have together?

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Question for older children: Can you explain why Jesus washed his friends' feet? Why do you think some of his friends didn't like it at first? j

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Activity: You could put a little bit of bread and some red fruit juice in a cup next to your Easter Garden, to help you remember this special meal.

Stories of Jesus for Children 4 - Jesus tells us how to live

I told you yesterday that Jesus carried on teaching in the temple, even though the important people there wanted to get rid of him.He told the people a lot of difficult things - some were easy to understand but some were quite confusing, or hard to believe.
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But suddenly he saw something happening that helped him to explain part of what he wanted to say - he saw rich, important people, dropping loads of money into the temple collecting place, letting everyone know how rich and generous they were! Then he saw a poor woman drop in a tiny coin. 'What a rubbish gift for the temple!' thought the rich people. But Jesus knew differently.

Jesus said to his friends: 'This poor woman gave more than all the others. She only had one little coin, and she gave it all to God. They had thousands, and they gave just a little bit of their thousands to God.'
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Jesus said so many things that upset the important people that they were even more sure that they had to get rid of him. They plotted in secret, trying to find a way to get him killed when he was away from the crowds of ordinary people who protected him.

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Question for younger children: Do you like giving gifts? Who do you give them to?

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Question for older children: Why did Jesus say that the poor woman gave most, when she actually gave less money?

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Activity: Have you made an Easter Garden? If you have, could you show a photo of it? Let me know if you do, please! You could also put a tiny coin in your Easter garden to remind you of how we can give good things even if they are only little.

Stories of Jesus for Children 3 - what happened next, and an Easter Garden!

When Jesus got into Jerusalem on his donkey, everyone wondered what he was going to do next. I think he surprised them all - he went to look in the temple, the special place where they worshipped God, and he got really angry! He got so furious because he found people there who were selling, and even cheating, inside God's house. He was so angry that he pushed over the tables where they'd been selling their things.
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You can see who got really mad with him, though - it's the important people again, who wonder where on earth Jesus gets his ideas from. They want to stop him before he does anything else to change the way things work. They like things the way they are!

But Jesus kept on going back to the temple, and the ordinary people loved to listen to what he told them about God, and God's ways. The important people were too scared to stop him when he was in the temple, because there were so many ordinary people there to protect him. I'll tell you more about their sneaky plans tomorrow.

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Question for younger children: Was Jesus being naughty when he got angry?
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Question for older children: Is it always wrong to get angry? What things DO we do wrong when we get angry?

Activity: The best way I know to tell the stories of Jesus this week is to begin an Easter Garden. These are photos of my boys and their dog, making one last year. First, you'll need a container. We used a china serving dish, but you could use a plastic container too.

Put a layer of gravel or broken pot into the bottom of the container.

Then fill the container, most of the way to the top, with soil or potting compost.

Find some moss - that's easy in our garden! I hope you can find some, too, on rocks or under hedges, perhaps.

Press the moss down over the earth.

Use some rocks to make a little cave in one corner of the garden.

If you don't want to use rocks, you could use an old flower pot to make the cave, but you'll need to cover that with moss too. Don't forget to keep the moss nice and damp when you get it indoors - we spray ours with water every day.
Your Easter Garden is ready for now - we'll add different things to it as the week goes on. If you like, you could put a little donkey into it today, to remember how Jesus came into Jerusalem.

Stories of Jesus for Children 2 - Palm Sunday

Do you remember how the ordinary people loved Jesus? Can you remember why? And can you remember that the important people hoped Jesus would get into big trouble?Jesus and his friends had been keeping away from the big city of Jerusalem, because that’s where the important people lived. If he kept away from them, he should stay out of trouble.
But suddenly one day, Jesus decided to go right into Jerusalem to celebrate the big festival of Passover. His friends thought he was mad! ‘You’re going to get into big trouble!’ they said, but Jesus knew it was time to go, and he got ready.He sent some friends to borrow a donkey, and he rode right into the city on the cute little animal. The ordinary people came out to meet him and were so happy to see him!They treated him as if he was a king, but a king on a cute little donkey instead of on a big, white war horse! They gave him a king’s welcome, waving branches of palm trees like flags, and putting down their coats in the road for the donkey to walk over.
Don't do this with your coat, please!

The ordinary people were happy to see King Jesus. But the important people were angrier than ever. Jesus had put himself in danger by coming into the city.

Activity idea: find something to wave ( leaves, flags, your coat?) and shout 'Hosanna', which is what the children shouted when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. It means 'Save us', because they were sure Jesus was a king who would save them from their enemies. If you have a toy donkey, get it out and let it ride over leaves and coats!

jQuestion for younger children: The children in Jerusalem waved tree branches. What would you wave if Jesus was coming into your town?

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Question for older children: Would you be pleased to see Jesus coming into your town? Why, or why not?
Question for anyone still paying attention: Why on a donkey, not a horse?

Stories of Jesus for Children - A series written for the children in your life...

Easter is coming! But before we celebrate the fun of Easter, there are lots of stories about what happened to Jesus before Easter Day. All next week I’ll be telling the stories of what happened to Jesus as he got ready for the first Easter Day. Some of the stories might surprise you. Some of them might make you laugh. Some might make you feel sad. But they can all help you to get ready for the best Easter ever! You probably know all about baby Jesus at Christmas, and this is about what happened when Jesus grew up.
For a long time Jesus lived quietly and did his job. People liked him but he didn’t seem special. Then suddenly, when he was about 30, God told him to leave his work and start a new job – the job of showing people God’s love.

Jesus was the very best person for this job. When people were sick he made them better.

When people were sad and sorry he forgave them.

When people were confused he told them great stories to help them understand.

When children were told to ‘go away and be quiet’ he told everyone how important children were.

Most people thought Jesus was great, and they started to know how much God loved them because Jesus showed them love.

But there were some people who thought Jesus was scary – these were the important people in charge! Can you see how angry they are in the picture? Ordinary people liked Jesus more than they liked the important people. Ordinary people listened to Jesus more than they did to the important people! And Jesus said things that made the important people very angry. He kept calling himself ‘I Am…’ when he talked about himself, and that was God’s name!
The important people hoped he wasn’t really God, so they decided he was just a big liar who was going to get into big trouble one of these days. But the ordinary people wondered, perhaps he really IS God? Everyone kept on listening to Jesus, to find out what he was going to do next…
Notes for adults: Adapt this as you like! I will tell the stories of Holy Week, and include an activity and/or the development of an Easter Garden each day. There will also be some open-ended questions for younger and older readers – it’s important to let the children answer any way they like, as there are no right or wrong answers, just a chance to let children think about what the stories mean to them. Have fun!

You might like to get these props and craft materials ready as the week goes by:
Sunday - a toy donkey (ours comes from our farm set), some leaves or a coat!
Monday - a container and some soil, stones and moss to make a little garden
Tuesday -
Wednesday - a cup, plate and some bread and red juice
Thursday -
Friday - some small sticks and string
Saturday -

Easter Sunday - fresh flowers