This morning the grandchildren and Blossom came by to celebrate Resurrection Sunday with us.
We read the story of Christ's last days beginning with the Passover meal, then to the betrayal by Judas, the Crucifixion of our precious Lord, and finally - the glorious Resurrection.
This year I used a hollow chocolate egg to illustrate the dark, sealed tomb which held Jesus' body after Joseph of Arimathea took it down from the cross and wrapped it in clean linen.
Though the girls are just 4 and 5, they grasped it all...Rafaella especially took in the painting of Jesus on the cross in her children's bible, and looked at it long and hard before she would allow me to turn the page to the story of the tomb.
They heard once more of how Jesus had told his disciples that He would be raised to life after three days, and then I unwrapped the chocolate egg and held it before them.
The egg became a tomb, solid and impenetrable. I asked Who was inside this tomb. They answered together, "Jesus!"
"Well", I said, "let's open the tomb and look inside."
So I cracked the chocolate egg and a piece fell away. They looked inside and shouted, "It's empty!"
I responded, "Yes, because Jesus always tells the truth, and He said He would be raised from the dead, so today we celebrate the empty tomb and our Risen Saviour."
There was lots of cheering from the girls and little Charlie joined in too. Blossom and hubby sat nearby, and soon we were all breaking open empty chocolate tombs together.
We don't use the word Easter anymore in our family as it's simply not related to the truth of what we know about Passover, the Crucifixion and Resurrection Sunday...we name the days for what they are, and by doing that we tell a story, a true story of God's Son who came to earth to die for all, so that we could all be reconciled to the Father should we choose to. Jesus paid it all. He gave what we could not.
A perfect sacrifice that was truly horrible - but which ended in the most glorious day of His Resurrection.
As I prayed over what to share on the blog about these profoundly life-altering days, the Lord reminded me of this older pattern which I'd shared before, so I decided to stitch it again.
As I looked at it, there was a jump in my heart as I read the words with fresh understanding, an understanding for this very season we are in, for this very Resurrection Day.
...The WORD of God...
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:1
The WORD of God is Jesus.
So let's look at Hebrews 4:12 anew this day.
"JESUS is living and powerful"
Yes, our Lord is LIVING.
He is alive and He is powerful...He is Jesus the Christ, Son of the living God, our Redeemer and Saviour. He died but was raised to life triumphant over death and hell. He defeated the enemy, He won the battle, He paved the way to God for you and I with His own blood.
Use the link below to download the pattern.
Friends, hold fast to what is true. Do not be swayed into following the traditions of the world, but study the truth and embrace it with a whole heart giving all glory to God.
It's hard to avoid the easter egg bombardment at this time of year, I know, but we can use it as a tool to share about the empty tomb withy children and adults alike. When the children were saying goodbye today, I sent them home with another small hollow chocolate egg each and my heart was overjoyed to hear them call it "an empty tomb".
Children really do catch on to truth when we share it with them.
hugs
