United for Kids: Good Friday Class (2014)
Last week we talked about how God made all the earth and all the people and all the creatures, and all the mountains and lakes and all the plants and flowers, and how God loved all that God had made and said that it was very good.
Then we talked about Jesus of Nazareth, a very special and holy man, who came from God to teach us how to live as God’s children – according to God’s way of Love.
We heard about how some people didn’t like it that Jesus was so popular, and the people listened to him and wanted to be like him. Those people liked things the way they were – because they were the ones people were supposed to listen to – they were the rulers.
We learned that Jesus went into Jerusalem – the capital city of Israel where all the rulers were gathered for a special feast called the Passover (a meal to celebrate a time when God had saved the people from slavery in Egypt). Jesus knew he was in danger there, because the rulers wanted to kill him.
We’re going to talk about when this happened, and we call it “Good Friday”. Do you know anything about what happened on “Good Friday”? It wasn’t very good, was it….
It started with something we call “the Last Supper”. Let me read you a bit about that. (p. 246 in Ralph Milton’s book: The Family Story Bible)
So two important things happened at this “last supper”. First, Jesus gave us all a way to remember him and his teachings. Every time we eat a meal together we should give thanks to God for what we have to eat, and for the life and teachings of Jesus. Secondly, we found out how Jesus would be betrayed by one of his own followers, Judas.
Judas left the supper, and went to the rulers and told them where they could find Jesus to arrest him. He did it for money some say, but some say he did it because he thought Jesus could save himself, and that would prove he was a Son of God. We don’t really know why he did it – we just know that he did, and that somehow, Jesus knew he would.
So Jesus went to a quiet garden with his friends to pray to God. He was scared. He knew what was going to happen and he knew it was going to be very bad. He prayed a lot. He asked God to find another way. He cried and prayed some more. Then he said, it’s OK God – if this is what needs to happen, then I am willing.
The soldiers came to get him. Judas was with them and he kissed Jesus so they would know it was him. They tied his hands and took him away, even tho he had done nothing wrong. They beat him and they made fun of him and they spit on him. He was taken before the rulers, who could not find anything really wrong with what he had done, except that the people liked him more than they liked them. So they said he was guilty, and he should be crucified.
Being crucified was a way of executing people who were very bad in those days. Jesus was not very bad at all, but the rulers wanted the people to think he must be bad, so they demanded that he be crucified.
Let me read you a bit about how Jesus was killed (Ralph Milton, p.256).
This is the bad news about “Good Friday” – Jesus died that afternoon and was taken down and put in a burial tomb. Three days later was Easter Sunday – the day that the tomb was empty! We’ll talk about that next week – about how something good can come out of something so bad. Let’s go sing!
Last week we talked about how God made all the earth and all the people and all the creatures, and all the mountains and lakes and all the plants and flowers, and how God loved all that God had made and said that it was very good.
Then we talked about Jesus of Nazareth, a very special and holy man, who came from God to teach us how to live as God’s children – according to God’s way of Love.
We heard about how some people didn’t like it that Jesus was so popular, and the people listened to him and wanted to be like him. Those people liked things the way they were – because they were the ones people were supposed to listen to – they were the rulers.
We learned that Jesus went into Jerusalem – the capital city of Israel where all the rulers were gathered for a special feast called the Passover (a meal to celebrate a time when God had saved the people from slavery in Egypt). Jesus knew he was in danger there, because the rulers wanted to kill him.
We’re going to talk about when this happened, and we call it “Good Friday”. Do you know anything about what happened on “Good Friday”? It wasn’t very good, was it….
It started with something we call “the Last Supper”. Let me read you a bit about that. (p. 246 in Ralph Milton’s book: The Family Story Bible)
So two important things happened at this “last supper”. First, Jesus gave us all a way to remember him and his teachings. Every time we eat a meal together we should give thanks to God for what we have to eat, and for the life and teachings of Jesus. Secondly, we found out how Jesus would be betrayed by one of his own followers, Judas.
Judas left the supper, and went to the rulers and told them where they could find Jesus to arrest him. He did it for money some say, but some say he did it because he thought Jesus could save himself, and that would prove he was a Son of God. We don’t really know why he did it – we just know that he did, and that somehow, Jesus knew he would.
So Jesus went to a quiet garden with his friends to pray to God. He was scared. He knew what was going to happen and he knew it was going to be very bad. He prayed a lot. He asked God to find another way. He cried and prayed some more. Then he said, it’s OK God – if this is what needs to happen, then I am willing.
The soldiers came to get him. Judas was with them and he kissed Jesus so they would know it was him. They tied his hands and took him away, even tho he had done nothing wrong. They beat him and they made fun of him and they spit on him. He was taken before the rulers, who could not find anything really wrong with what he had done, except that the people liked him more than they liked them. So they said he was guilty, and he should be crucified.
Being crucified was a way of executing people who were very bad in those days. Jesus was not very bad at all, but the rulers wanted the people to think he must be bad, so they demanded that he be crucified.
Let me read you a bit about how Jesus was killed (Ralph Milton, p.256).
This is the bad news about “Good Friday” – Jesus died that afternoon and was taken down and put in a burial tomb. Three days later was Easter Sunday – the day that the tomb was empty! We’ll talk about that next week – about how something good can come out of something so bad. Let’s go sing!
