The Very First Easter (1972)

[music] [music] [music] What you got, Sniffy? Hey, that's an Easter bunny. You don't know what an Easter bunny is? He's the bunny that brings all the colored eggs and candy at Easter. You like that? That's nice. But mommy and daddy say Easter's a lot more important than just candy and eggs and rabbits and things. Would you like to hear about it? Well, you remember when the wise men and the shepherds and the people knelt down and said, "Thank you, God, for sending [music] your son." Well, when Jesus grew up to be a man, people found out he was God's son. How? He did lots of wonderful things for people. He made the sick well again. Crippled people walk. the blind people see. [music] And you know what? He even made dead people alive again. You know, Sniffy, Jesus did all these things to show people he was God's son. You think anyone as good as Jesus would be loved by everyone? Well, he wasn't. Would you like to hear about Easter? Well, in those days, the land where Jesus lived was ruled by a king who lived in a faroff country. The king lived so far away that most of the people thought he didn't know or even care about what was happening to him. [music] [music] Now, every year Jesus's people had a big celebration in Jerusalem. It was called the Passover. Everybody was happy. And they had a big feast. You know what a feast is? It's kind of like a party. Now Jesus knew it was God's plan for him to go to Jerusalem for this Passover. So he went with his friends. Do you know how Jesus rode to Jerusalem? On a humble donkey. That's how well by the time he got there, Jesus was loved by lots of people because of the wonderful things he did for them and because of the wonderful things he taught them. Boy, Sniffy, they were really happy to see Jesus. They waved palm branches at him and hollered, "Blessed be the king that comes in the name of the Lord." You know, some of the people hoped God has sent Jesus to help them get rid of their bad king. When Jesus told him that wasn't what he was there for, many of the people were sad and turned away from him. You know, Stiffy, they just didn't understand that God had sent Jesus to show them just how much he loved them, especially the rulers. They were afraid Jesus might become more powerful with the people than they were. Now, one day [music] Jesus went to the temple to talk about God, as he often did. In those days, they called a church a temple. But do you know what? He found people selling things there, just like in a store. This made Jesus sad and very mad. So, he drove them all out of the temple. Jesus felt the temple was God's house, a place to pray and understand truth and love, not a place to sell things. This made the leaders of the people pretty mad. Jesus knew all about this and he told his friends that these men would get the king who lived a long way off to have him killed. They figured that had put a stop to Jesus's teaching. And you know what? Jesus also said that 3 days after he was killed, he would come back to them alive. Well, Sniffy, this was hard for his friends to understand. And you know something even harder for them to understand? If Jesus knew they were going to kill him, why would he come to the city called Jerusalem? Well, he was here. Boy, Sniffy, Jesus was sure brave. Well, Jesus, knowing he was going to be killed, invited [music] his 12 special friends. He called these friends disciples. Disciples. They were kind of like students. Well, he invited them all to have a feast with him. And they should have been happy. But sniffy, they weren't. They were sad. They were afraid of what was going to happen to Jesus. But you know, Sniffy, Jesus did a wonderful thing. He washed the feet of all his disciples. He was trying to show them that no matter what happened to him, that they should love and treat people like he loved and treated them. Boy, Jesus sure knew what love was all about. After supper, Jesus went outside to pray. Jesus said to God, "God, couldn't there be any other way?" Jesus didn't want to die if he didn't have to. But he knew there wasn't any other way because God had a plan. Since Jesus was God's son, he was part of the plan. Well, anyway, the soldiers came and took Jesus away and they killed him. >> You know, in those days, the way they killed people was to put him on a cross. So, they put Jesus on a cross. After Jesus was dead, some of his friends came and took him off the cross and carried him to a cave cut out of rock. This was Jesus's grave. They put him inside and then they rolled a big stone in front of it and walked away real sad. They were all crying cuz Jesus was dead. Now, wait a minute. That isn't the end of God's Easter plan. If it was, we wouldn't know all the wonderful things God has done for us. You remember I told you God had a plan? You want to hear about it? >> Okay. >> Well, God wanted to show the people how much he loved them. And he wanted people to love him back. So this is why he sent his very own son Jesus tell the people, "God loves you." Now God knew he must show the people how powerful a king he was. If he brought Jesus back to life, then everybody would know that what Jesus said was true and that Jesus was really his son. And you know what? That's exactly what God did. 3 days after Jesus was killed, God made him alive again. Wow, Sniffy. Only God could do that. You know, this was the very, very first Easter. Well, anyway, when the people went back [music] to the cave, they found the stone had been rolled away and the cave was empty. You know, a lot of people were trying to figure out what had happened to Jesus. And one morning, there were some men on a boat fishing. Some of these men were Jesus's disciples. One's name [music] was Simon Peter. Well, Peter and the other men were pretty disgusted. They'd fished all night and they hadn't caught any fish at all. Then they saw a man on the beach and he hollered to them, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat." And boy, Sniffy, you know what happened? They caught so many fish they could hardly even put in the net. This was a kind of thing that happened when Jesus was with him. The man on the beach had to be Jesus. Peter was so happy to see him that he jumped in the water and he swam to shore. When he got there, he knelt down in front of Jesus. And Jesus said to him, "Peter, do you love me?" And Peter said, "Yes." Then Jesus said, "Do you understand that I have taught you the truth?" And Peter said, "I understand what you have taught me, but Jesus, you know that, for you know everything." Then Jesus said, "Do what I have taught you and go share it with all men." After a while, they didn't see Jesus anymore. But this wasn't the end. It was just the beginning of all the wonderful things Christ could do for all men. >> [music] [music] [music] [music]