This was used at a holiday club, and adapted for different age group children. It is too long for an assembly, although could be adapted. It can also be used as an Easter all age talk.
[Props: you will need to create ‘a
tomb’ (possibly with two tables on their sides), and place in the tomb a white sheet
dropped onto the floor and a white folded pillowcase].
[invite child to be Mary Magdalene
and give them a blue head covering. Ask other children to be Peter, John, a
dead body and Jesus – as necessary as you tell the story.]
Mary Magdalene was sad because Jesus
had died.
[have a sad face competition]
Mary Magdalene was sad.
She was never going to see Jesus
again - hear his stories - listen to his teaching - talk to him, tell him what
she thought. When she was afraid or other people were bring horrible to her, or
she thought she had messed up badly, she wouldn't be able to come to him and
know his encouragement, touch when she was upset. With Jesus everything seemed
OK. He wasn't easy, he didn't do what you expected, but he always seemed to do
what was right for you and others. With him you felt you could take big risks
because everything was going to be OK.
But now he was gone, she wasn't going
to see him again, and she was desperately sad.
Have any of you been sad? Maybe a pet
has died? It is horrible if someone has died. It makes you feel all funny in
the tummy; it is all empty.
So you know a little bit of how sad Mary
felt.
She comes to the tomb. She wants to
see the body of Jesus for one last time. But when we she gets there she
discovers the stone has been moved and the tomb is empty. She is even more
upset. They not only killed Jesus. They have now taken his body.
So she runs to the friends of Jesus,
and tells them: ‘the tomb is empty and they've taken the body of Jesus away’.
Two of the disciples - Peter and John - run to the tomb. John gets there first
and looks in. Peter then rushes in. They see the place where Jesus was laid and
it is true. The body was not there.
They looked for the body of Jesus …
(possibly invite children to seek for
something you have hidden in the room)
... but they found nothing!
[Invite children to look over side of
table into the tomb.]
There was something strange. The
cloths they wrapped around his body and head were in different places and
the head cloth was folded up. It was strange because if someone had died …
[wrap up child in sheet and use a
pillow case for head covering. Show how if someone had taken the body they
would have taken the whole body with grave clothes. But the linen strips were
in one place and the head covering was folded up elsewhere. So what did happen?]
[have a puzzled face competition]
John and Peter go back. But as John goes back he starts to think.
Jesus said he would rise from the dead. Perhaps that is what has happened.
But Mary is there and she is still
sad: very sad. She is crying. And she sees two figures dressed in white - and
they ask her 'Why are you crying?' She then sees a third person. She is still
crying so she can't see clearly. She thinks he is the gardener. So she says to
him, 'Please tell me where you have put the body of Jesus'. And the person says
one word, 'Mary'.
And she realises that it is Jesus
come back from the dead.
How do you think Mary felt?
[have a happy face competition]
Good news is that Jesus was dead but
he is alive.
Really good thing is that because
Jesus is alive we can know Jesus. We can talk to him; we can
know his encouragement, and that everything will be OK, even though sad things
do happen.
Because Jesus is alive, NOTHING IS TOO BAD
FOR GOD. He can turn our sadness into joy
One day, when we die, we will see
him.
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