What a week it has been as we have followed the Easter Story, so far we have heard about Jesus arriving in Jerusalem then having a meal with his friends and now Jesus has been betrayed by a friend and arrested.
We would like to thank www.whyeaster.com for the stories and materials we will be using.
Again today we will have a second activity later this afternoon.
The Crucifixion
It was the custom, at the time Passover, for the Roman governor to release one Jewish prisoner chosen by the ordinary people. At that time, they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. When Pilate asked the crowd who they wanted released. The Priests stirred up the crowd so they called for Barabbas. Pilate asked them, “What do you want me to do with Jesus, who is called King of the Jews?” They answered back, let by the Priests, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Pilate asked them, “Why? What crime has he committed?” But, they shouted even louder, “CRUCIFY HIM!! CRUCIFY HIM!!”
When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. (This is where we get the phrase ‘washing our hands of something’ when we want to show that we don’t want the blame if something goes wrong!) Then Pilate released Barabbas. Jesus was flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace and gathered around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him and then twisted together a crown of thorns and rammed it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” They spat on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.
After they had beaten him up, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. As the soldiers led him away, they grabbed a man named Simon, (who was from Cyrene and on his way in from the country) from the watching crowd and made him carry the cross because Jesus had been beaten so badly, he was too weak to do so. When they came to the place where they executed people, called Golgotha or ‘The Place of the Skull’, they offered Jesus cheap wine to drink to help stop the pain, but after he tasted it, he refused to drink it.
When they had nailed Jesus up on to the Cross, the Jewish rulers among the crowd sneered at Jesus, saying, “If you are so wonderful and the King of the Jews, save yourself.” An inscription, in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, was written on a bit of wood and put over Jesus’ head on the cross. It read, “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Jesus prayed to God, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”
Activity
First colouring in, nice and easy you can print this picture off it is part of our off file for Easter to make it easier to print, click the button bellow for the off file.
Our next activity is the final part of our drama from the Ministry to Children website
Scene 3 – In the Temple
Today we need some one to play each of these people
- Judas
- Priest 1
- Priest 2
- High Preist
(The priests are there. Judas runs in.)
Judas: You’re going to kill Jesus. I did wrong by selling Jesus out to you.
Priest 1: We are not going to worry about that. That’s your problem.
(Judas throws the money down.)
Judas: I can’t stand it. I’m going away.
(Judas runs out.)
Priest 2: He really has gone!
High Priest: Forget him. What will we do with his money? We can’t put it back in the
treasury because a man was killed for it.
Priest 1: We ought to do something worthwhile with it. Let’s buy the town dump and
use it to bury people who can’t afford a regular grave.
High Priest: That sounds good. Let’s do that.
Our next part for the Easter Story will be posted on Sunday morning
Now, we know you will want to share your pictures, drawings, crafts and even puzzles with us. If you do please take a photo of them and post them on the Raploch Connected Facebook Group.
