𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗖𝗧

Ask everyone in the family: Think of a task you need to do this week. It may be a chore, a school project, homework, practice sports, errand or others. Now, look for one family member who is willing to switch tasks with you. After a specified time, whether everyone was able to find someone to switch tasks with or not, discuss the following among yourselves:

Was it easy or difficult to find someone willing to switch tasks with you?

What made you agree to switch your task with someone? (because it was easy to do, because I love the person who asked me, etc)

It may or may not be easy to find someone willing to switch tasks with us. But do you know that many, many years ago, someone already made a switch with you?

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗

Although the Jews welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem with open arms, the Pharisees or the religious leaders thought otherwise. They were angry with Jesus because Jesus had become so popular with the crowds. They had Him arrested and they made up false stories and accusations against him. In the end, he was sentenced to die by crucifixion. Crucifixion is a very painful and humiliating way to die. The person would be hanged and nailed to a cross and be left to die in front of everyone. Let us read from Matthew 27:

35 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑏𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑠. 36 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑘𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 37 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑, “𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑠.” 38 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡.

39 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑤𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑠 …

41 𝑆𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚, …

50 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡.

When Jesus was crucified, he was punished like other criminals. In fact, two thieves were crucified right next to him. Jesus had no sin and certainly did not deserve to be crucified. But because of His love for us, he took our place on the cross and received the punishment that was really intended for sinners like you and me. Jesus must really love us to do that! But it does not end there. Let’s continue reading Matthew 28:

1 𝑁𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑎𝑡ℎ, 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑤𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑑𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑏. 2 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. 3 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑛𝑜𝑤. 4 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑛. 5 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑙 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛, “𝐷𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑. 6 𝐻𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑛, 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑. 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑒, 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑦. 7 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑔𝑜 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑, ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝐺𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑒; 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝑆𝑒𝑒, 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢.”

This was the greatest news his disciples received. THE TOMB WAS EMPTY! “He is not here…” the angel said. Jesus’ body was not there. He has risen and very much alive! Because He had no sin, He had the power to overcome death.

Jesus loves us so much that he willingly endured the pain and humiliation of the cross and switched places with us in order to save us. Everyone who believes in Him will be saved from sin (forgiveness) and death:

“ … so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Pray as a family that the kids will understand Jesus’ sacrifice for them and accept and believe in Him as their Savior.

𝗛𝗨𝗗𝗗𝗟𝗘

Parent to Kid

2-6 years old

Do you love your parents? How can you show your parents that you love them?

Do you love Jesus? How can you show Jesus that you love Him?

7-12 years old

Would you be willing to take your friend’s place and be punished for something that he did? Why or why not?

Kid to Parent

Did Jesus also die for my sins? How can I be sure?

Jesus suffered and died on the cross in our place, taking our sins upon himself. He did it because He loves us so much. It says in John 3:15 “that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” But Jesus did not remain in the tomb. He rose from the dead, proving that He is God and now, if we believe in Him, our sins will be forgiven and we can have eternal life.

Do you believe in what Jesus did for you? Do you want to have eternal life? Pray with your child if he wants to receive forgiveness and receive God’s gift of eternal life.

‭‭

𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗬

Lord Jesus, I thank you for your love for me. Thank you for what You have done for me on the cross so I can be forgiven of my sins. Please help me to understand this truth. Fill me with the same love that You showed on the cross. In Jesus' name, amen.

𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥

Today, many still question the reality of the Resurrection. There are consistent doubts if Jesus did really rise from the dead. But here are 2 questions that have baffled even atheists:

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, where is his body? Up to this day, no physical body has ever been produced or presented to disprove his resurrection.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, how come his followers were willing to leave their families and their livelihoods, be separated from the Jewish community, and suffer various consequences (including violent deaths) if they were not absolutely sure that Jesus is risen?

Many of the followers met tragic deaths for the sake of sharing the good news about Jesus: Paul was beheaded; Peter was crucified upside down; Andrew and Matthew were crucified; Thomas was pierced in India; James was clubbed to death.

Apart from these 2 popular questions, there are in fact many more things that prove Jesus’ resurrection is true! The Resurrection of Jesus is indeed good news for us! Do you truly believe in it?

Source: https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1-300/whatever-happened-to-the-twelve-apostles-11629558.html

https://churchpop.com/2016/03/26/historical-facts-resurrection-skeptics/