Easter Story

As told by Marita Schugk

1 What is the true meaning of Easter?

2 Jesus was a child, just like you. He had a body with arms and legs.

3 Like you, He grew up too. The Bible says that He “grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom” (Luke 2:40).

4 Jesus loves you. He has always loved little children.

5 The Bible says that He “took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them” (Mark 10:16).

6 One day Jesus told His friends that He was going away. He told them to remember Him and to love everyone.

7 He said, “Yet a little while I am with you. … I say to you … love one another; as I have loved you.” (John 13:33–34.)

8 We take the sacrament bread and water to help us remember Him.

9 Jesus took the sacrament with His disciples to show us that it is important. He said, “This do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19).

10 Jesus knew what was going to happen to Him.

11 He told His disciples (people who believed in Him) that on the third day after wicked men had Him killed, He would live again and never die anymore.

12 He said, “All things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man [Jesus] shall be accomplished. … They shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.” (Luke 18:31, 33. See also John 19:2.)

13 In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus suffered and bled for the sins of all people. Those who repent and who believe in Him shall have eternal life.

14 The Bible says, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).

15 Later, wicked men had Jesus whipped and ordered Him to be nailed to a wooden cross.

16 In the Bible, it says, “And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called … Golgotha: Where they crucified him” (John 19:17–18).

17 Jesus hung on the cross a long time. And even though it wasn’t night yet, it became very dark.

18 The Bible says, “There was a darkness over all the earth. … And the sun was darkened.” (Luke 23:44–45.)

19 Jesus died. His spirit left His body.

20 The Bible tells us that Jesus said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

21 Joseph, one of Jesus’ friends, had His body taken from the cross and wrapped in fine cloth.

22 Then His body was put into a tomb, and the entrance to the tomb was closed with a big rock.

23 The Bible says, “And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door” (Matt. 27:59–60).

24 On Sunday morning, an angel rolled the big stone away from the door.

25 When Mary and Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that it was empty, they were afraid.

26 The angel told them, “Fear not. … For he is risen, as he said.” (Matt. 28:5, 6.)

27 Jesus was resurrected. He was alive. His spirit and His body were together again.

28 But Mary Magdalene did not yet understand this. She went back to the tomb later and cried.

29 The Bible says that “as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the [tomb]” and that “she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.” (John 20:11, 14.)

30 Jesus called her by her name. He talked to her. She recognized His voice and knew then that He really had risen from the dead.

31 Jesus showed Himself to others. They saw and touched His resurrected body.

32 The Bible tells us that He told them: “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:39).

33 Because of Jesus’ suffering for us, and because He was resurrected, after we die, we will be resurrected too.

34 The Apostle Paul says, “For as … all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).

35 This is the true meaning of Easter and why we celebrate it. Jesus lives, and because of His sacrifice, we will all live again and can be forgiven of our sins if we repent and believe in Him.

Illustrated by Virginia Sargeant