RESURRECTION EGGS Purchase 12 coloured, plastic eggs, label the eggs from 1 to 12 and place the following contents inside the eggs: 1. Leaf 2. Bread or grapes 3. Coin 4. Rope 5. Small toy chicken or candy egg 6. Stem with a thorn (like a rose stem) 7. Cross 8. Sign that says THIS IS JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS 9. Rock 10. Gold dust or sparkles 11. White cloth 12. Some type of special treat that your children will love. It could be a small toy, favorite candy or a ticket to the zoo. NOTE TO PARENTS: Resurrection Eggs are designed to help your child(ren) learn more about Easter. There are 12 numbered eggs that your child will get to open. You can choose to begin on March 28 by reading and opening Egg #1, and then read/open the subsequent eggs each day until Easter. Or, you could choose to read/open all of the eggs on the same day. It is totally up to you! Make sure to read the following devotionals BEFORE your child(ren) opens the corresponding egg. Additional Bible reading material is also including with some of the eggs should you choose to do it. Please send an email to childrens@cschurch.ca and let us know how your Resurrection Egg Experience worked for your family! Hosanna He lives! Love, The Children s Team at Centre Street Church
EGG #1 As Jesus and His friends, the 12 Disciples, travelled towards the capitol city of Jerusalem, Jesus made a strange request. He asked 2 of the Disciples to run ahead to an outlying village and to find a donkey and her colt. Jesus told them to untie the donkeys and bring them to Him. He said, if anyone questions what you are doing, just tell them that the Lord needs to use the donkeys. Jesus did this to fulfill the message that God had sent to the people many, many years before Jesus was born: that Jesus would come very gently riding on a donkey. The Disciples put their cloaks on the donkey and Jesus sat on it. A crowd had begun to gather and they, too, took off their cloaks and cut large leaves off of the trees and placed them on the road. People began to sing loudly, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Some of the crowd asked, who is this amazing man? They answered, this is Jesus, the prophet of God. The leaders in the City were very angry at how popular Jesus was! Matthew 21:1-11 EGG #2 As the time for the Jewish tradition of Passover approached, the Disciples asked Jesus what He wanted to do for the Feast. Jesus, again, gave them a strange request. He told them to go find a certain man and tell Him, Guess what! We are going to come celebrate the Passover at your house! They did what Jesus said and the man gave them his upper room to use for their Passover feast. While they were eating Jesus began giving them hints about what would happen next. He told them that 1 of the 12 of them would end up betraying Him. Jesus also took the special flat bread and said to them, this bread is kind of like my body which will soon be broken and this cup is kind of like my blood that will soon bleed in order to pay for your sins. Read Matthew 26:36-46 to hear about the sleepy Disciples. Matthew 26:17-30 EGG #3 Judas was 1 of the 12 Disciples who were the best friends of Jesus. Judas job was to keep track of money. It was no secret that the city leaders were very angry about Jesus. They were plotting to get rid of Him. Judas went to the city leaders and asked them how much money they would give him if he were to trick Jesus so that He would be arrested. They counted out 30 silver coins, which was a large amount of money. Judas told them, the man that I greet with a kiss on the creek will be Jesus who you want to get rid of. After the Passover meal, Jesus went to pray in the Garden. Judas approached Him along with a large crowd of people with weapons. Judas kissed Jesus on the cheek. Immediately Jesus asked him,
why are you trying to trick me because Jesus knew what was happening. Judas felt terrible about betraying and trying to trick Jesus. He ran away. Matthew 26:47-50 Read Matthew 26:51-56 to hear about how Jesus healed one of the people who were arresting Him. EGG #4 After Jesus was arrested they had a very unfair, fake trial. They tried to trick Jesus into saying something bad but it didn t work. They asked Him, are You the person that people call the King of the Jews? Jesus told them that He was the King of the Jews. The leaders of the city decided that Jesus should be sentenced to die. The soldiers took away Jesus clothes and put a purple robe on Him to make fun of the fact that people called Him a King. They also whipped Jesus and were very mean to him. Even though the people did and said terrible things to Jesus, He still loved them very much. Read Matthew 27:11-26 to hear more about the trial. Matthew 27:27-28 EGG #5 Jesus friend Peter was sitting outside the building where Jesus was being kept. A girl came up to him and said, hey, you were with that Jesus guy. Peter denied that he knew Jesus. Another person walked up to Peter and asked if Jesus was his friend and again Peter denied that he knew Jesus. A third person approached him and, again, Peter loudly exclaimed, I do not know that man! Immediately afterwards a rooster crowed. Peter remembered that during the Passover feast Jesus had told him that Peter would deny that he knew Jesus three whole times before the rooster crowed. Peter was very sad. But Jesus had warned him this would happen. He had prayed for Peter to not give up following Him. But don t worry Peter did continue to follow Jesus even after this happened. Matthew 26:69-75, Luke 22:31-34 You can look further ahead in your Bible and see how Peter ended up spreading the Good News about Jesus across the land! EGG #6 The soldiers kept mocking Jesus. They took a vine with sharp thorns and made a crown to put on his head. It hurt a lot. They also said mean things and spat on Jesus. You may wonder why Jesus didn t just ask God to punish them or to put a stop to it. Jesus knew that what he was doing was very important.
You see, all of us do, say and think things that are wrong. This is called SIN. The punishment for sin is being separated from God forever. Jesus chose to have all these horrible things done to Him because He wanted to take the punishment for sin away from us. That s how much He loves us! Matthew 27:29-31 EGG #7 The soldiers took Jesus to a hill called The Place of the Skull. There they put Him on a cross. The land grew very dark even though it was daytime. Then Jesus died. Miraculously the curtain in the Holy Temple tore into pieces, there was a huge earthquake and the rocks broke apart. One of the soldiers said, Wow this proves that Jesus was God s Son! Read much more about this in Matthew 27:32-56 if you would like more details. EGG #8 On Jesus cross they had placed a sign that said This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. People were so confused about who Jesus was. Some people thought He was a Prophet or Messenger from God. Some thought that He was a King that would kick out the Roman people who had forcefully taken over their country. Some realized that He was God s Son. Many years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah said that a very special Child would be born and that people would have many different names for that Child. He would be called Wonderful Counselor or Advisor, Mighty God, a Prince who would bring Peace and Father who lives Forever. He also said that He would rule over us and that things would change forever! Read Isaiah 9:6-7 to hear the prophesy. EGG #9 Jesus had just died and evening time came. A man named Joseph who was a close friend of Jesus asked if he could take Jesus body and bury him. Joseph took Jesus body, wrapped it in clean white cloth and placed it in his own tomb that he had just cut into the rocky hillside. He rolled an enormous rock in front of the tomb opening. The leaders of the city were worried that someone would steal Jesus body and claim that He had come back to life so they placed soldiers to guard the tomb. They placed a special seal on the tomb entrance so that no person could open it.
Matthew 27:57-66 EGG #10 As the sun rose on the morning after the Sabbath, Jesus mother Mary and His friend Mary Magdalene went to look at the tomb together. There was a huge earthquake and an angel from heaven rolled back the huge rock that was in front of the tomb and sat on it. His face shone like lightening and his clothes were white as snow. The soldiers who were guarding the tomb were so afraid that they shook and passed out. The angel said to the women, I know you are looking for Jesus but He is not here! He has come back to life, raised out of this tomb and He is alive! Matthew 28:1-6 EGG #11 The angel had moved the huge rock that was in front of Jesus tomb and had just told the women that Jesus was alive! He then told the women that they should look in the tomb for themselves to see that Jesus body was not there anymore. In those days, dead bodies were wrapped in clean white cloth after they died. When Jesus had come back to life He left behind the cloth that He had been buried in. That cloth was the only thing inside the empty tomb. The angel told the women that Jesus was already heading for Galilee and that they should go see Him. The women were so excited and filled with joy! Matthew 28:6-8 EGG #12 While the women were on the road, Jesus came up to them and greeted them. They were so excited that they fell on the ground and worshipped Him. Jesus told them that they should tell everyone that they could that He is alive! The 11 Disciples (Judas was no longer with them) gathered in Galilee with Jesus afterwards. Everyone was so happy that Jesus was alive. Jesus said to them, My Father God has given me power over heaven and earth. I want you to go into every land and tell the Good News about me to all the people. Teach them to obey what I have taught and remember that I am always with you, even if you cannot see me. The Good News is that Jesus took the punishment of death for our sins so we wouldn't have to. We can now ask Him to forgive our sins and to be our very best friend forever. We can be sure that He will always stay with us, even though we cannot see Him. And after our lives on earth are done, we will live forever in heaven with Him. Hosanna! Matthew 28:16-20