The Rest of the Story

Ok, so it's Easter Sunday (Happy Easter!), and that means I better get on the ball and finish these Easter egg posts!! Had I realized that there were actual people out there wanting to do this with their kids, I would have tried much harder to post each day. Instead, I would log on with the intention of blogging and get caught up reading all yall's blogs instead. So, really, it's your fault. If your blogs weren't so interesting, mine might be. :)
At least everyone can copy and paste and keep these for next year...

Egg #5
Item inside: A piece of leather cord. The string of leather reminds us of the ropes and whips that Jesus was beaten with.
Message: Jesus was arrested and flogged, or beaten, even though he had not done what the people accused Him of.
Scripture to read: Mark 15:1-15
1Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2"Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate.
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
3The chief priests accused him of many things. 4So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of."
5But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
6Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9"Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, 10knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
12"What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them.
13"Crucify him!" they shouted.
14"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
15Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

What I can't get past in this passage is the reminder that Jesus was INNOCENT! And Barabbas was completely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, GUILTY! And yet, Jesus was the one sentenced to beating and death on a cross. And Barabbas was let go, scott-free. I can't help but think about how I am Barabbas. Completely guilty of so many thoughts and deeds that are just despicable. And yet, I am able to walk away without paying the penalty required (like Barabbas) because Jesus did on the cross.

Egg #6
Item inside: Thorns. The thorns remind us of the crown the soldiers made for Jesus to wear.
Message: The soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus' head and made fun of Him. They did not think that He was really a king like He said He was, so they thought it was funny to make Him wear the crown.
Scripture to read: Matthew 27:27-31
27Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. 30They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Both kids actually got poked in the fingers while handling the thorns. (it was a stick about 2 inches long from a really thorny bush, so just getting it out of the egg was a little tricky) I asked them to imagine thorns much longer and pokier being pushed into their head. It wasn't a pleasant thought. Each night the kids usually start with egg #1 all over again and recount the story up to the egg we are opening that night, but Elena never touched egg #6 again after this night.

Egg #7
Item inside: A cross. (you can buy little wooden ones at Hobby Lobby or Michaels or make one out of broken popsicle sticks) The cross reminds us of Jesus, beaten and bruised, carrying His own cross toward the place where He would be crucified.
Message: Jesus carried His own cross.
Scripture to read: John 19:17
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).

Something I would love to do when the kids are a little older is to actually research the size of the typical crucifixion-cross in Roman times. If I could build one or locate one of similar size and weight, it would be a cool experience to have us each try to shoulder it and walk. It would definitely give us all a clearer understanding of this part of the story.

Egg #8
Item inside: Dice. The dice reminds us of casting lots, which is what the soldiers did to decide who would get to keep which pieces of Jesus' clothing.
Message: The soldiers cast lots, or played a kind of game, to divide up Jesus' clothes among themselves.
Scripture to read: John 19:23-24
23When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24"Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,
"They divided my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing."[a] So this is what the soldiers did.

Again, this is another fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy. See Psalm 22:18 and show your kids that God knew all of this would happen long before Jesus came to earth.

Egg #9
Item inside: A nail. The nail reminds us of the nails they used to hang Jesus on the cross. They placed one nail through each of his hands and another through his two feet. Then they raised the cross up and He hung there to die.
Message: Jesus was nailed to a cross and pierced in His side.
Scripture to read: John 19:18 and John 19: 31-37
18Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

31Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"[a] 37and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."[b]

We got to do something neat at church on Good Friday. We were each given a piece of dirty fbris on which to write our names. This represented us and our righteousness, which is like filthy rags. Elias and I talked about how, without accepting God's forgiveness, no matter how good we try to be, it isn't good enough to get to heaven. It isn't perfect. It can't be. The only person who has ever lived on earth who achieved living without sin is Jesus, and that is because He is God! And we just aren't capable of that. So, no matter how "good" we think we are, the cloth representing our life is NOT white. It is dingy and dirty. Actually, it's filthy.
We were asked to write our name on the cloth and then nail it to a cross. The nails were pretty big. I laid my hand on the cross and put a nail up to it and Elias and I talked about what it would feel like if he hammered it through my flesh. It took some convincing to get him to put his hand up and let me hold the nail against it. It was a pretty good visual.
On that note, if your kids ever have the unfortunate experience of stepping on a nail (yes, I did this as a kid- actually I jumped down onto a piece of lumber with a nail sticking out about 2 inches. It was instantly attached to my foot until one of my parent pulled it off and took me to urgent care), you can use that situation to remind them what it must have felt like for Jesus to have nails hammered into his body. Not right then, maybe. But later. :)

Egg #10
Item inside: Spices. (we used whole cloves so the kids could actually touch them and not make a huge mess) The spices remind us of the way the Jews prepared Jesus' body for burial. They used spices and linen, a type of fabric, to wrap up Jesus' body before they placed it in the tomb.
Message: Jesus' body was wrapped in spices and linen and placed in a tomb.
Scripture to read: John 19: 38-42
38Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. 39He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[a] 40Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Elias loved the spices. He loves to smell them. And he thinks it is awesome to think of Jesus' body being wrapped up like a mummy. Hey, he's 6 and he's a boy. Not sure what else you expected from this one! :)

Egg #11
Item inside: A stone. The stone reminds us that the huge stone that sealed Jesus' tomb had been rolled away.
Message: Jesus' body was placed in a tomb which was sealed with a huge stone. But when Mary Magdalena and the other Mary went to the tomb on the 3rd day, the stone had been moved away and an angel was there.
Scripture to read: Matthew 28:1-5
1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

Elias went to "big church" with us today, and the whole sermon was about the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus. They had a big tomb built on the stage with a video camera inside. So when Tim went in and told us all about what was in there, you could still see him up on the screens. It was really, really cool. When he came out, he rolled the stone in front of the opening. A little later, the lights went out and loud, thundering earthquake noise came. It was loud enough to shake the floor a bit, so the feeling of an earthquake (at least for a 6 year old) was pretty real. When the lights came back on, the stone was rolled away and the body that was in there covered with cloth was gone. Elias looked at me and asked, "What just happened? How did they do that?"
If you want to see a video of it, you can search for Hill Country Bible Church Northwest and download it on itunes. There may also be sermon videos at www.hcbc.com.

Egg #12
Item inside: Nothing. The last egg is empty, just like the tomb.
Message: The tomb was empty. Jesus had risen from the dead and come back to life! This is what we call the Resurrection, and it is what we celebrate on Easter.
Scripture to read: Matthew 28: 6-9
6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.

He is Risen! HAPPY EASTER!