The Very First Easter

[Music] um [Music] 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 see easter is 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 knocked down and said thank you god for sending 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 [Music] the blind people see 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 king who lived in a far off 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] 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 and 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 hope 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 stevie they just didn't understand that god has sent jesus to show them just how much you love them especially the rulers they were afraid jesus might become more powerful with the people than they were now one day jesus went to the temple to talk about god as he often did in those days they called 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 filled the temple with god's house a place to pray and understand truth and love not a place to sell things [Applause] 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 i'd put a stop to jesus's teaching and you know what jesus also said that three days after he was killed he'll come back to him 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 his 12 special friends he called these friends disciples disciples they were kinda 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 [Music] but you know sniffy jesus did a wonderful thing he watched the fate of all his disciples he was trying to show them that no matter what happened to him they should love and treat people like he loved and treated [Music] 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 [Music] they were all crying because jesus was dead now wait a minute that is 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 three 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 to the cave they found the stone have 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 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 [Music] then they saw a man on the beach and he hollered to him 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 on the net this was the 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] you