During Holy Week, we experience two contrasting feelings: guilt for our sins and joy because of the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life we receive with Christ’s death and resurrection. This season, consider these four accounts for teaching the Easter story to the kids in your Sunday School, at home, or in the classroom.
Jesus Enters Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–11)
In the Old Testament, we read of how the Israelites faced many hardships while waiting for the promised Messiah to come. (If you haven’t discussed why we celebrate the birth of Jesus, consider the Christmas Lessons – Enduring Faith® Bible Curriculum for a review.)
Once the Messiah, Jesus, had finally been born, grown up, and started His ministry, many people acknowledged that He was the Son of God—but they also had their own preconceptions of what that would mean. The account of Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday demonstrates the expectations people had.
Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on an unexpected animal—a lowly animal—a donkey! This was an example of Christ’s humbleness. He wasn’t here to overthrow the current rulers or declare Himself as an earthly king. He was here to pay a very big price for us: to die for our sins.
The Easter Lessons - Enduring Faith® Bible Curriculum kit has a number of useful tools to teach this story, such as a lesson video, activity pages, Arch® Book, and Bible Story poster.
Have your youth help with the retelling of this story by acting out Matthew 21:1-11. Or follow the Bible narrative on the back of the Bible story poster.
The Week That Led to Easter (Matthew 21:1–11; 26:20–29, 36–46; 27:11–26, 45–56; John 14:1–7)
The Gospels of Matthew and John provide helpful context for this narrative and share about the week leading up to what we now call Easter. The Israelites were gathering together for one of their biggest celebrations of the year, the Feast of the Passover. During this celebration, they would remember how when their ancestors were slaves in Egypt, God had sent an angel of death to pass over them. Any homes that followed God’s instructions by having the blood of a spotless lamb painted on their doorposts were spared from God’s judgement.
These details are important for understanding why it was so important that Jesus died on the cross for us. He is the new Passover lamb, whose blood was shed for our sins in order to spare us God’s judgment.
The details of this lesson may seem challenging to share with younger kids. The Bible story poster in the Easter Lessons - Enduring Faith® Bible Curriculum kit has a lesson narrative for younger children on the back. You can also use the Arch Book The Week That Led to Easter as a way to share the narrative, and also use the accompanying coloring sheet.
The Easter Surprise (John 20:1–20; Matthew 27:45, 54, 65; 28:2–4; Mark 15:39; Luke 24:3–4, 36–37)
One of the most exciting Bible lessons to share is how Jesus rose from the dead! To emphasize how important this account is, mention to children and youth that this is included in all four of the Gospels—the Gospel writers wanted to make sure everyone knew that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.
Consider an object lesson to accompany this story. A supply list is included with the teacher page with details of what is needed. If you have some older children with you, invite them to teach the younger ones what we say to one another when we celebrate Easter: “Christ is risen!” “He has risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Pick a few hymns that you can learn and sing together as part of your celebration that Jesus is alive.
The Easter Stranger (Luke 24:1–35)
Christ is risen! What exciting news this is to share with everyone we know. This account is an example of how some of the people who followed Jesus were confused about all the things that had happened in the previous days. They had heard from their friends that Jesus was alive but had not yet seen Him themselves.
While on a journey, Jesus appears to two men, but they do not recognize Him! They share with Him all the things that had happened and how they were confused. Then Jesus explained to them how all the things that had taken place where part of God’s plan that had already been shared in the Bible. It wasn’t until they were all sitting together to eat and Jesus broke the bread to give to them that they realized it was Jesus all along! As soon as they realized it was Jesus, they jumped up and ran back home to their friends and told everyone what they had learned and seen.
Share with children that this is the joy we have in Christ Jesus too! While the Easter season of the Church Year is brief, we get to celebrate Easter every day because it’s really about how Jesus died for our sins, was raised from the dead, ascended to heaven, and will come again.
Share these four accounts in your own Sunday School classroom with this seasonal kit from Enduring Faith®.
