Today we celebrate Easter Sunday and our risen Lord!
The whole Easter story is covered very well in the children's bible that we use in our Sunday school. We use the My Own Keepsake Bible. The more I use it to prepare our Sunday school lessons the more I love it! If your child enjoys coloring or art, they will love this bible!
Our Sunday school lesson today will be focusing on the stories from the night of The Passover ( which was on Thursday), Good Friday, and today - Resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday.
If you have the My Keepsake Bible you will find the stories covered here:
The Beginning Of The End on page 328.
Crown Of Thorns on page 332.
The Darkest Day In History page 336.
The Brightest Day In All History page 340.
If you don't have this bible, read the stories of The Passover or The Last Supper, The Betray In Gethsemane, The Trial With Pontius Pilate, Going To The Cross, and finally Resurrection Sunday in any children's bible. You can also read these stories in the book of Mark, chapters 14-16. You can read these passages of scripture in any translation at www.biblegateway.com.
But don't worry because I have prepared the Easter Story in a summary format with pictures for your children to color in. You will find it in the Kid's Zone.
Here is our story in the color form:
It was time to celebrate the feast of the Passover which reminded the Jews of when God freed them from being slaves in Egypt. Jesus sent the disciples to Jerusalem to find a room and to prepare the supper. The disciples found a room and prepared the meal. During the meal, Jesus was very sad and He told the disciples that one of them would betray Him and that He would be killed. The disciples were horrified! Judas then slips out the door to betray Jesus.
Jesus takes a loaf of bread and asks God to bless it. He then passes the pieces to the disciples and tells them 'eat this bread, this is my body, and remember me. Then Jesus picks up the cup of wine and asks God to bless it. He passes it around the disciples and told them 'this is my blood which I give for many people, drink it and remember me.
Jesus and the disciples walk to The Mount Of Olives, to the garden called Gethsemane. Jesus took Peter, James, and John to a quiet place to pray. Jesus prayed and asked God to keep Him from the terrible suffering that was coming but He also asked that the Father's will be done and not His. When He finished praying, He found the disciples fast asleep!
Then Judas arrived and kissed Jesus cheek and said 'This is the man you want, arrest Him!' He had agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Then Judas arrived at Gethsemane with a crowd of men. He kissed the cheek of Jesus and said 'This is the man you want, arrest him'. The crowd brought Jesus to the High Priest. They began a trial. Many people told lies about Jesus. They found Jesus guilty of a crime against God. Jesus was sentenced to death.
Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor had to give the order for his execution. He asked the crowd what should he do with Jesus and they shouted 'crucify him!'
Jesus was released to the soldiers to be crucified.
They mocked Him, beat Him, and spat at Him. They laughed and jeered. They called Him 'King Of The Jews'. The soldiers made Jesus carry a huge wooden cross through the streets of Jerusalem. Jesus fell and a man called Simon carried the cross for Jesus. They led Jesus outside the city to a place called Golgotha
When they reached Golgotha, Jesus, along with two thieves was nailed to the cross. Jesus looked down at the soldiers watching. He cried out 'Father forgive them, they do not know what they do. At noon it got strangely dark for about three hours. At three o'clock, Jesus looked up and cried, 'My God, why have you forgotten me?' and then He bowed His head and said, 'It is finished.' At that moment, the ground shook and the curtain in the Temple ripped from the top to the bottom. Many of the people and the soldiers were frightened. One of the soldiers looked up at Jesus and said, 'This man really was the Son of God'.
Joseph and Nicodemus prepared Jesus' body for burial. They placed Him in a tomb made from rock. Then they rolled a heavy stone in front of it, like a door to close it.
The Jewish leaders asked Pontius Pilate to put a guard on the tomb. They were afraid that someone might try to steal the body and claim that Jesus had come alive again.
Very early on Sunday morning, 3 days after Jesus had died on the cross, Mary Magdalene and two women friends went to the tomb where Jesus lay. When the women reached the tomb, they were surprised to find the stone had been rolled away.
A man in shining white robes told the women not to be sad that 'Jesus is not here, He is alive!'
The women were scared and they ran to tell the disciples, Peter and John that Jesus was gone. Peter and John ran to the tomb that was empty. Peter found the cloths that Jesus had been wrapped in. The disciples didn't know if the body of Jesus had been stolen or if He had come alive again!
Later on, Mary Magdalene returned to the tomb on her own and she began to cry. While she was crying, Jesus came and stood beside her. He asked, 'why are you crying?'. Mary thought it must be the gardener. Mary replied, 'I'm crying because they have taken my Lord away. Please tell me where He is,' she begged.
Then Mary looked up and saw it was Jesus!
The above picture shows a sneak peek of all the coloring pages available in this free download. You will find them in the Kid's Zone.
Easter Questions: Ask your children some questions to reinforce the story of Easter.
What was the name of the supper that Jesus had with His disciples in Jerusalem? ( The Last Supper).
Where did Jesus go to pray with His disciples? (Gethsemane)
What was the name of the disciple that betrayed Jesus? ( Judas).
Who decided that Jesus should die? (The High Priest and Pontius Pilate).
What did the crowd keep shouting to Pontius Pilate? ( Crucify him).
Where was Jesus buried? ( In the garden tomb).
Other Resources available:
There are some fabulous ideas that you can use over Easter that my friend Sarah has on her blog. You can read them HERE:https://faithfunfamily.com/
Here are 30 Christ-Centered Easter Activities that you might enjoy ( including a science experiment).
If you would like to read the timeline of Jesus last week (for adults) you will love this post and it comes with a free printable timeline chart for Holy Week and a prayer journal/workbook. Find it HERE
I hope this lesson is a blessing to you and your family. If you use the printables, I would love to see your children's work! You could email me any photos to karen@scripturalgrace.com or you could post a photo on our Facebook page HERE.
Happy Easter,
xx Karen.