Today is the day we celebrate the risen Savior!
Jesus died for our sin, the sin that is such a big deal. But He didn’t stay dead, or it would have been meaningless. He conquered death, and rose again on the third day! Now if we believe in Jesus, we will also rise again one day!
I can’t help but wonder what that first Easter morning looked like, though. I don’t really mean the weather. I mean what did it look like when Jesus just came back to life! I mean, really! Just – boom! – alive and not in that tomb!
I was teaching the 2s and 3s this morning about the real Easter. I told them about how Jesus had to die to pay for our sins, since we can’t pay for them ourselves. I told about how Jesus was arrested and then crucified, even though He did nothing wrong. One of the little girls opened her eyes and mouth wide and gasped. “But Jesus didn’t do anything!”
I continued the story, telling them how sad Jesus’ friends were. Another little girl was starting to respond as well. The children looked sad when I told them that Jesus was put in a tomb.
But He didn’t stay there! He came back to life! He walked out of that tomb, and wasn’t dead!
Everyone got all excited!
I told the kids how Jesus met with His disciples and showed them that He was alive. Then I told them about Jesus going back to Heaven.
But He said He’s going to come back. We don’t know when, though. It’s a surprise!
By this time, all the kids were not sitting down, but were right up in front of me to look at the picture in the book I was holding. They were excited about the surprise.
Jesus died and rose again to give us the offer of forgiveness. Jesus is coming back to take the ones who have accepted the offer to Heaven some day. But He’s going to surprise us!