Every year, Easter is a big event. It’s one of the few times a year where even non-Christians make the time to go to church. But for many Christians, we can forget the wonder and amazement of Jesus’ sacrifice.  Easter can become a ritual, attending a somber, quiet service on Good Friday and attending an Easter morning service, and the rest of the day is spent completely void of Christ: searching for  plastic, candy filled Easter eggs, painting hardboiled eggs, and sharing a meal  with family and friends. How can we keep the meaning of Easter central especially as we interact with children?

Throughout my years of teaching, I’ve taught the crucifixion and resurrection many times, mostly to 4-6 year-olds. What I learned from all those years is to try something new as often as you can. Like all of us, if you have the same, exact spiel about the crucifixion and resurrection each year, we get bored; we check out. Every year take time to prepare something special, something new. Keep the every-year-traditions to what you do after talking about what  Christ has done. Make the whole day Christ-centric. Think of the opportunity for non-Christian family members to hear a fresh the Good News of Christ death, burial, and resurrection. I hope some of the ideas are new and will help you share the Good News with your family and friends!

As we can consider how we can make the crucifixion real for children, we have to admit we can’t just turn on the Passion and let any age child watch. For small children, I use props to help make the crucifixion more real.  I take penny nails, huge nails, and I hold it up for all the kids to see. I highlight the nails that nailed Jesus to the cross were even bigger, and I point the tip of the nail at my hand to help them visualize how painful it would be. The reality of exactly how big the nails were helps kids understand the sacrifice Jesus paid. In an effort to not upset a child we neglect to tell the truth of the price Jesus paid for our sin, but honestly, we should all be upset at the details of the crucifixion. It was a horrible, tortuous way to die; so, don’t shy away from highlighting that to your child in an age-appropriate way. Another method I sometimes used is bringing in a board, nails, and a hammer, and nailing them into the wood in front of the kids, highlighting that the Romans nailed Jesus to the cross just like I just did to those nails. Make the crucifixion somber. By His sacrifice, we are made clean, and that sacrifice should never be glossed over. However, after making it somber and being sure the children understand exactly how bad it was, again age appropriately, I always asked: “But is that the end of the story?” This let me transition to remind the children, we call it Good Friday because we know the ending: even Death could not keep Jesus in the grave!

For the resurrection, I enjoy reading the different accounts and highlighting exactly how hilarious and crazy it must have seemed at the time. For example, Matthew has an especially hilarious description of what the guards of Jesus’ tomb did when they saw the angel: “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week (Sunday), Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.” (Matthew 28:1-4, ESV) I would explain a few things from this passage: Sunday was the first day of the week, and that’s why Christians to this day celebrate our rest on Sunday; when Jesus rose an earthquake happened which in and of itself was terrifying, and on top of that an angel with the appearance of lightning just moved the stone and sat on it. I laugh with the kids at the reaction of the guards: they became like dead men; they fainted. Each year try to talk about a different resurrection account, and talk about what is highlighted that is different, what each author thought was important for us to know. This is a good exercise because it can make each year’s discussion and topic different for your kids, making it more interesting for them, and it’s teaches them about the supposed “inconsistencies” that many people try to claim of the Bible so they can respond when someone challenges their faith.

Most of all, be sure your children see your passion and excitement for the Bible and Christ. Our children will mimic almost everything we do. If we seem like it doesn’t matter, there’s no way it will matter to them. While Easter in my house wasn’t always highlighted like this, my parents talked about Christ on all the other days of the year, and they still took time every Good Friday and Easter to talk, at least some, about why we do this, why it’s so important. If this truly is important to us as the adults and parents our children and the children of our church, then how could we not say anything? How could we not help them see our passion?

Next week I’ll talk about some “inconsistencies” especially in the New Testament, and how you can confidently teach your children this: Yes, the Bible accounts are not always a carbon copy of each other (i.e. what Matthew records of the resurrection does not match exactly what the other three Gospels record), but that makes it more likely to be true, and not less.

God bless, and Christ is risen! He is risen indeed.