Good Friday and Easter - explained by a 4 year old

I once listened to a four-year-old tell the entire Easter story in about five minutes. She had been given an egg carton at Sunday School filled with 12 plastic eggs. Each egg popped apart and held small things that the teacher had inserted. This precious little girl opened them one by one for me and explained the objects inside such as a blade of grass that signified the palm branches and a tiny felt cut-out of a coat, both objects thrown down as Jesus entered Jerusalem. There was a plastic donkey like the one he rode in on, a piece of bread from the last supper, a thorn from his crown, a nail that they used to "pin" him to the cross. She continued on explaining in simple pre-school English ten of the eggs. I listened to the perfect story from a child who doesn’t even read and write yet. 

When she got to the eleventh egg she showed me a stone and told me of the rock that was rolled away from the tomb. I had already guessed that the last egg would be empty, as the tomb was. She opened it slowly and with great expectation. The animation on her face showed hope and mystery and awe as she revealed the empty egg. She whispered the grand finale with more skill than a practiced actor: "Jesus died for US, so we can go to Heaven, too."

Easter Thoughts - by a 4 year old

Last weekend I listened to a four-year-old tell the entire Easter story. She had an egg carton with 12 plastic eggs. She opened them one by one and explained the objects inside: a blade of grass that signified the palm branches, a tiny felt cut-out of a coat, both objects thrown down as Jesus entered Jerusalem. There was a plastic donkey like the one he rode in on, a piece of bread from the last supper, a thorn from his crown, a nail that they used to "pin" him to the cross. I listened to the perfect story from a child who doesn’t even read and write yet.

When she got to the eleventh egg she showed me a stone and told me of the rock that was rolled away from the tomb. I guessed that the last egg would be empty, as the tomb was. She opened it slowly and with great expectation. The animation on her face showed hope and mystery and awe even though she knew she was going to tell me that Jesus had risen from the dead. She whispered the finale: Jesus died for US, so we can go to Heaven, too.

***
Yes, Jesus was crucified, but NOBODY killed him – He GAVE His life. He could have called on countless angels to escort Him away, but He didn’t.

I’m so glad that He chose to take MY place and shed HIS blood in payment for MY sins. He paid for YOU, too.

The Plot to Kill

The book was opened to a new chapter that started half-way down the page, but my eye was drawn to the phrases I had underlined years ago. Blue, black, red, and green ink markings litter most pages of the giant print Bible I’ve had since the last century (not really as long ago as it sounds). I read: “He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.”

I had underlined ‘he prophesied’. Apparently that had caught my attention before, but at this reading I was drawn to read the preceding paragraphs for clarification. The section was conveniently subtitled by the translators as ‘The Plot to Kill Jesus’. I learned that the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting and complained that this Jesus was performing miracles (no dispute there) and that if they let him continue all the people would believe in him and then the Romans would come and take away their temple. Interesting. Here they have the fulfillment of scripture right in front of them and they’re worried about the Romans’ reaction. It’s at this point that one of them, Caiaphas, speaks up and says, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

Was that not profound? Yet, I don’t think Caiaphas knew what he was saying. From his perspective he was thinking of saving the old (traditional) ways of the people and not the people themselves. From our perspective we can see something quite different, can’t we?

Next Caiaphas goes on to prophesy that Jesus would die for the nation. Again, did he really know what he was saying? It’s so much deeper than he realized.

And so much more personal. The Easter plot thickens.