Easter

Matthew 26:26–28:10


Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew was a disciple of Jesus. That means Jesus was his teacher. And the word gospel means “good news!”

Do you know why we celebrate Easter? The true story of Easter begins with this. Do you know what this is? It’s a heart! Because Easter begins with God’s love for us. God loved us so much that He gave us His Son, Jesus, to be our friend forever.


One night when Jesus was having dinner with His good friends, the disciples, He told them He would have to go away, but He promised He would come back. 


After dinner, Jesus went to pray in a garden when some angry people came. They were so angry that they took Jesus away. 


They hurt Jesus, and . . . He died. It was very sad. All of Jesus’ friends were so sad.


They put Jesus’ body in a tomb with a big stone in front of it. Three sad days went by. Can you count them with me? One . . . two . . . three.


On the third day, when some of Jesus’ friends went to the tomb.


They saw that the stone had been rolled away . . .


. . . and Jesus was not there. JESUS came back, just like He said He would! Jesus is alive! Say it, again! On the count of three say, “Jesus is alive!” One, two, three! “Jesus is ALIVE!”





God loved us so much that He gave us His Son, Jesus, and Jesus came to be our friend forever. That’s what we celebrate on Easter! 


Jesus is alive and He wants to be our friend forever!


So, when someone asks you, who wants to be your friend forever?” You can say, “Jesus wants to be my friend forever!”






Bible Paraphrase: “I have called you friends.” —John 15:15, NIV

Text Truth: Jesus is alive!



Family Devotional

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
—Matthew 28:5-7

In our Bible Story, something very sad happened and then something very happy happened. What sad thing happened? Jesus died. And what happy thing happened? Jesus came back, just like He said He would! Jesus is alive, and He wants to be our friend forever! Who wants to be your friend forever? Jesus wants to be your friend forever!

“I have called you friends.” —John 15:15, NIV

With your family, take a piece of paper and make a list of people you can tell the good news that Jesus is alive AND He wants to be their friend forever! Have each family member write the name of someone they can tell that Jesus is alive AND wants to be their friend forever. And make sure each family member writes their name next to the name of the person they can tell about Jesus.

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, say, “Dear God, we want everyone to hear the good news that Jesus is alive and He wants to be their friend forever. Please help [family member’s name] tell (person they listed) and [family member’s name] tell (person they listed) and . . . (continue with each family member and the person they listed). Thank You for giving us Jesus. We love You, God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

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Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported licence.
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