A LIVING TRUTH

Jesus RisesMatthew 28:1–15

AD 33

OVERVIEWBIBLE TRUTHJesus rose from the dead.

BIBLE VERSEThe Lord has risen! Luke 24:34

LEARNER GOALI know Jesus came alive again on Easter and gives me life with Him forever.

LAW & GOSPELSin separated us from God, and we are filled with fear. Jesus died for us and rose again, conquering sin and death and giving us the joy of eternal life.

SCRIPTURE SNAPSHOTThe women who witness Christ’s burial are the first to witness His resurrection. With great joy, they run to tell His disciples that Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alle-luia!

LESSON PREPBASIC Read Mathew 28:1–15 in The Lutheran Study Bible along with study notes.

MORE T IME Read the parallel accounts of the resur-rection in Mark 16:1–13; Luke 24:1–12; and John 20:1–18.

IN DEPTH Read the article “Which Tomb?” in The Lutheran Study Bible, page 1651.

SUPPLY LISTFOR THIS LESSON

☐ Rice or cornmeal & items to hide

☐ Play dough, rolling pin, cookie cutters & figure

☐ 3 plastic eggs, wood piece, & stone

☐ Small paper plates & marker

☐ Hula hoops or large inflatable balls

☐ Heart sugar cookies or bagels, toppings, or cream cheese, sprinkles, stick pretzels, & plates; optional: crackers & pressurized cheese

☐ Coffee filters, washable markers, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, clothespins, magnets, wax paper, & water; optional: small plastic bags & candy

FOR EVERY LESSON

☐ Bible, songbook, & classroom supplies

☐ Copies of Discover Leaflet, stickers, & music downloads

☐ Supplies for bonus activities

EARLY CHILDHOOD

Unit 3LEADER GUIDE

Lesson 6

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LAUNCHBUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

RICE Hide objects in rice or cornmeal. Let children find them, then hide them again for their classmates to find. Say, We can’t see the things in the rice/cornmeal. Are they gone? Can you find them? Jesus was in the grave for three days. His friends couldn’t see Him. But on Easter, Jesus came alive and showed Himself to some friends.

PLAY DOUGH Set out play dough, people figures, cookie cutters (such as cross, tulip, egg, butterfly), and rolling pins. En-courage children to make a cross and hide the figure in a lump of play dough. Say, On Good Friday, Jesus died and was buried in a tomb. On Easter, He rose. Talk about how the signs of new life in spring (flowers, chicks) remind us Easter.

JESUS T IMESING “Jesus Is Alive” (digital resource center) or

“Jesus Came from Heaven” (Little Ones Sing Praise, p. 92)

SAY Jesus is risen! He’s risen indeed! Alleluia! Invite children to say, “He’s risen indeed” after you say “Jesus is risen.”

PRAY Dear Jesus,* You are alive!* You are stronger than death.* You are our mighty God!* Thank You for taking our sins away.* Thank You for making us Your children* so we can live with You forever someday!* Amen.* *Have children echo words.

LEARNINTRODUCE THE BIBLE STORYAhead of time, put a piece of wood in one plastic egg, put a stone in another one, and leave a third one empty. Show eggs. Say, Something in this egg reminds us that Jesus suffered to take away our sins. Let children shake egg with wood. What do you think it is? Open egg. What does wood remind you of? (The cross) On Good Friday, Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. Let a child shake the egg with a stone. What is inside this one? Open it and show the stone. What does the stone remind us of? Yes, after Jesus died, His friends put Jesus in a tomb and rolled a big stone over the opening. Shake last egg, which is silent. Open it to show children it is empty. This egg is the best one of all. It reminds us that Jesus’ grave was empty on Easter morning. Let’s listen to our Bible story about the first Easter.

TELL THE BIBLE STORYDraw a happy face on one side of a small paper plate. Put a sticker of the open tomb on the back. Draw a sad face on another plate. Draw a big cross on the back. Tell the story, using the Discover Leaflet as a guide. When you talk about the sad day of Good Friday, show the sad face and cross. When you talk about the glad day of Easter, show the happy face and open tomb. Review with the questions on the leaflet.

SAY THE BIBLE VERSERead the verse from Luke 24:34: “The Lord has risen!” Have children repeat it, then sing it to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell.” Add actions, if you wish.

SING The Lord has risen! Crouch low and jump or stand up. The Lord has risen! Crouch low and jump or stand up. Let’s sing and shout “Hooray,” Say “Hooray.” The Lord has risen! Crouch low and jump or stand up.

LEADER NOTEGreet children at eye level, and get them started in an activity that connects what they know to what they will learn.

BONUS ACTIVITYAct out some “Opposites” in preparation for today’s Bible story. Talk about the opposites in the story when you tell it.

LEADER NOTEShow your Bible, and tell the children that all the stories in God’s Word are true.

LEADER NOTEMusic is a great learning tool. It focuses children’s attention and helps them retain information (for example, the alphabet song helps children remember the letters of the alphabet). Using piggyback songs allows children to concentrate on learning the new words since they already know the tune.

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LIVEDISCOVER LESSON TRUTHSSeparate the Discover Leaflet into two pages. Send the first page home with each child, or put the page into a purchased binder. Hand out the second page, stickers, and crayons.

SIDE 1 Have children color the flowers and add a Jesus sticker.

SIDE 2 Have children draw lines to match the surprises and color the chick and butter-fly. Give them stickers of Jesus to add to Easter scene, a tulip to put by the other tulip, and a Jesus storybook to add to the girl’s hand. Review Jesus’ death on Good Friday and the happy surprise of His coming alive again on Easter. Discuss why the child could be sad (maybe he doesn’t have a friend, maybe he is thinking about Jesus dying on the cross). Match it to the picture of him sitting with the girl. Add the sticker of the Jesus storybook to her hand. Say, Jesus told the women to go and tell that He was alive. This little girl is telling her friend about Jesus. Whom can you tell?

ENGAGE IN ACTIVE LEARNINGTake time to reinforce the Learner Goal with active learning. Turn to “Active Learning” on the back page for instructions on the activities below.

☐ MOVERoll hula hoops or inflat-able balls as you pretend to roll away the stone at Jesus’ tomb.

☐ SNACKUse frosted heart cookies or bagels to make butter-flies.

☐ CREATEMake butterfly magnets using coffee filters, wash-able markers, pipe clean-ers, magnets, pom-poms, and clothespins.

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDINGTell children how a caterpillar spins a chrysalis. Inside it, the caterpillar rests and changes. At the right time, it breaks free and comes out of its shell as a beautiful butterfly. Ask children, What happened on Good Friday? (Jesus died and was buried in a tomb.) What happy news was there on Easter? (Jesus broke free of the tomb to new life. He came alive again.) Because Jesus rose on Easter, what does this mean for us? (His res-urrection means all those who believe in Him will have life with Him forever.) Have them say with you, Jesus came alive again on Easter. He gives us life with Him forever.

LEAVESING “Do You Know Who Died for Me?” (Little Ones Sing Praise, p. 93) or

“I Know That My Redeemer Lives” (digital resource center)

SAY Let’s act out this poem together. When Jesus died, Make a finger cross.

They buried Him Crouch down low. Inside an empty cave. Make motion outlining a cave. But Easter came—happy day— Jump up. My Jesus is alive! Extend arms above head.

PRAY Alleluia, Jesus! You are alive! Thank You for dying on the cross to pay for our sins. Thank You for promising to give us a home with You forever someday. Amen.

CHRIST CONNECTIONJesus rose from the dead to offer us, His baptized people, the promise of our resurrection from the dead at His glorious return.

BONUS ACTIVITYHave an “Easter Egg Hunt.”

BONUS ACTIVITYMake a “Mosaic Cross” as a reminder that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. The sun shining through the mosaic colors reminds us that on Easter Jesus came alive again.

L6-3-49Enduring Faith™. © 2019 Concordia Publishing House. Scripture: ESV®. Permission granted to purchaser to reproduce this page for use in educational settings. 433100.

ACTIVE LEARNING ☐ MOVE

Say, It took several strong men to roll the stone in front of Jesus’ tomb on Good Friday. It took just one of God’s angels to roll it away on Easter. Let children pretend to roll the stone away, using hula hoops. Have them form pairs and stand eight to ten feet apart. Practice rolling hoop, then have first child say, “On Good Friday, Jesus died for us,” as she rolls hoop. Second child rolls hoop and says, “On Easter, Jesus came alive again.” In-crease distance as they get better. Option: Use large balls.

☐ SNACKMake a sample: use two heart cookies, or cut a bagel in half. Put points of hearts together or rounded edges of bagel back-to-back to look like wings. Spread with frosting or cream cheese. Use a stick pretzel for a body and half a pretzel for each antenna. Decorate outside edges with sprinkles. Give children the ingredients they will need on a paper plate to make their own in class. Option: Use cheese in a pressurized can to make smiley faces on round crack-ers. Talk about how we are happy Jesus is alive.

☐ CREATEGlue four small colorful pompoms to a pinch-type clothes-pin to make a butterfly body. Glue a strip magnet to the back. Bend a 3-inch piece of pipe cleaners and glue to top of clothespin for antennae. Draw patterns on white coffee filters using washable markers. Place the coffee filters on a separate sheets of wax paper. Spray with some water to make the colors spread. When dry, gather wings togeth-er in the middle and hold in place with the clothespin. Option: Make wings using a small plastic sandwich bag. Fill it with colorful pompoms, candy, or cereal. Pinch shut and hold in place with clothespin body.

BONUS ACTIVITIESOPPOSITES 10 minutes

Say, Today’s Bible story has oppo-sites in it. What is an opposite? Let’s see what opposites you know. Do an action and have children do the opposite. Examples: Sit—stand (act out) Up—down (point) Hot—cold (act out) Loud—soft (use voice) Happy—sad (show on face) What happened on Good Friday? Jesus died on the cross for us. On Easter, Jesus did the opposite. He came alive again!

EASTER EGG HUNT 15 minutes

Fill enough plastic Easter eggs so each child will get a few to take home. Put these colors of jelly beans in each one: purple or other dark color, red, white, and blue. Hide the eggs around the room, and give children a lunch sack to collect them. Have them empty their sacks into larger baskets. Open an egg and talk about the colors: purple/dark = our sin; red = Jesus died to pay for our sins; white = Jesus rose on Easter; blue = Jesus gives us a home in heaven. Divide eggs to take home.

MOSAIC CROSS 20 minutes

Put colored tissue paper squares on a sheet of wax paper. Paint over this with liquid starch. Cover with a second piece of wax paper. Dry. Cut a large cross outline out of two 9 × 12-inch pieces of construction paper. Put the wax stained glass design between the construction paper sheets. Trim to fit and glue in place. The mosaic tissue paper will shine through the cross outline. Add a yarn hanger, and hang at home in the sun as a reminder that Jesus died and rose again for us.

CONNECTING IDENTITY & CALLINGIDENTITY: WHO AM I?God raised Jesus from the dead; in Christ, I will be raised from the dead on the Last Day.

CALLING: WHY AM I HERE?I am called to rejoice in the eternal life that I have and to tell others of Jesus, who rescues from sin, death, and hell.

GROWING IN FAITH FOR L IFESee how this lesson builds on previous learning for each age.

ADULTI can consider what the specific events of the resur-rection mean for God’s people both in the narrative and today. YOUTHI can confess the truth that Jesus died and rose from the dead, conquering sin and death to give me and all believers eternal life.ELEMENTARYI understand that Jesus conquered death and rose from the dead, giving me eternal life in Him.EARLY CHILDHOODI know Jesus came alive again on Easter and gives me life with Him forever.

Enduring Faith™. © 2019 Concordia Publishing House. Scripture: ESV®. Permission granted to purchaser to reproduce this page for use in educational settings. 433100.L6-4-50