Good Friday Kids

Hi Parents!
Here is a lesson to do with your kids at home this Good Friday!

Good Friday
Big Picture Point: Jesus Rescued the Whole World

Begin with a 2 minute chat:
Have you even been wrongly accused of something or punished for something you didn’t do?
(After everyone has had a chance to share – tell about a time you were accused of something you didn’t do. Or even better, when you had to bear the consequences of someone else’s wrongdoing)

Bible Story:
Jesus chose to take the punishment we deserved because He loves us!

Read: If you have the Jesus Storybook Bible please read Pg. 302-309. (If you don’t please contact me! We’d love to get you one!).
If you’d like to read from the Bible you can read Matthew 27:27-61
 
Watch: This video about Jesus’ Sacrifice.
The story of Good Friday goes until 3:57. You can choose to stop it there, or watch the entire video which will include Jesus’ resurrection.

 Or: https://youtu.be/HL8R158Ujp4

Understanding the Story Activity

Materials Needed:

1. Prepare a Cross puzzle out of cardboard/construction paper/regular paper (whatever you have!)
   • Write on it “Father, forgive them. They don’t understand what they’re doing.”
   • Cut it into at least the same amount of pieces as people in your home (ie. A family of 4 will have 4 pieces. You can do more if you wish.)
2. Tape
3. Enough paper hearts for at least 1 per person in your family (you want them to be small enough to be able to eventually stick on the cross)

Sit in a circle.
Hand each person in your family a piece of the cross puzzle you’ve created. Work together to form the cross in the center of your circle. When the puzzle has been completed, read the verse together. “Father, forgive them. They don’t understand what they are doing.”

 When Jesus was arrested and crucified he suffered in lots of different ways.
He was made fun of and disrespected.
He was beaten and spit on and had nails driven into his hands.
He was accused of something he didn’t do and was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.

 Discussion Questions:

1. What part do you think was the worst part of Jesus’ suffering? The physical pain, the injustice, the emotional abuse?
   (give everyone a chance to share.)
2. What did Jesus ask God to do to the people who had hurt him?
   (He asked God to forgive them.)

Jesus asked God to forgive those who had hurt him
because Jesus already had!

Hand at least 1 heart to each person in your family.

These hearts remind us of love.
The most amazing part of this story is that Jesus could’ve ended His suffering whenever He wanted to.
He is so powerful!
He can heal sick people and even raise people from the dead!
But Jesus chose to stay on the cross because of how much he loved the same people who were hurting him!

And that’s not all!
It says in the Bible that when Jesus was on the cross “He himself bore our sins” – yours and mine –  so that we could be forgiven and have a relationship with God.  (1 Peter 2:24)

That means that when Jesus asked God to forgive “them”,
He was talking about us too!!!!
It wasn’t the nails that kept Jesus on the cross.
It was His love for us.

 The heart that you’ve been given reminds you that even though each person sins, even Mom and Dad.
Even Grandma and Grandpa. Even you.
Jesus’ love covers all those sins.

Share and Pray

Ask each person to think of something that they have done or something about themselves that was on the cross with Jesus that Good Friday.
They don’t have to share out loud.
Ask them to write it on one side of the heart.

Then invite each person to attach their hearts to the cross, with the sin covered.
You should only see the “clean” side of the heart.  

All of these red hearts remind us that Jesus took our sins with Him to the cross.
When God sees us, He does not see our sin.
He sees Jesus and His children whom He loves.

This is a wonderful opportunity to ask your kids if they would like to follow Jesus, and accept the love He has for them.

If they would like to say thank you to Jesus for taking their sins on the cross and say yes to following Him you can lead them in this prayer by asking them to repeat after you:

Dear Jesus,
Thank you for choosing to stay on the cross when it would have been easier to leave.
Thank you for taking all the things I do wrong, and all the things that are broken in me with you on the cross.
Thank you for making it so that I can have a relationship with God.
Please come and make my heart clean, so that I can know you and God better.
Please be with me everyday, so that I can be more like you.
And please help me to always remember how much you love me.
Amen.