Easter and Holy Week are just around the corner. And our world has never needed to understand what Jesus accomplished through His death, burial, and resurrection more than it does now. But sadly, bunnies and Easter baskets often overshadow the immensity of what happened at the Cross two thousand plus years ago.
Helping the next generation understand the basics of the Christian faith, and gain an understanding of sin, redemption, the gospel, and salvation is so important. While I don’t want to make light of the importance of good children and youth ministries, in some cases, children’s church or Sunday school has been reduced to Bible stories, a craft, and a snack. Children make professions of faith without a genuine understanding of their own sinfulness and the power of the gospel to save them.
Then they, too often, graduate into a youth ministry that is more concerned with pizza and entertainment than with growing young people into the image of Christ and preparing them for schools, universities, and the world in general that are all designed to undermine any religious convictions they might have.
But studies have shown that the influence of parents can make a huge difference. So, we must find time to teach our children and help them develop their own faith and devotional habits. Why not take some time with your family to read about the events leading up to that first Easter Sunday? Perhaps today’s post can serve as a starting point.
Today’s Readings:
Numbers 35 & 36
Psalm 35.17-28
Proverbs 12.3
Mark 15.25-47
How to Teach Your Children the Real Meaning of Easter
Mark 15.25-47:
The Reason We Celebrate
Easter is one of the two holidays along with Christmas on which even non-churchgoers often attend services. Yet, most of the attention this time of year begins with Mardi Gras celebrations and ends with Easter baskets full of goodies, often with little thought to the real meaning of the holiday. It’s about tradition or some religious duty rather than worship.
While I don’t want to imply that it is sinful to allow your children to hunt for Easter eggs or enjoy chocolate bunnies, we need to be sure we don’t fail to emphasize the true meaning of Holy Week and the events that we celebrate.
Today’s reading in Mark along with the next two chapters might be good passages to share with your family between now and Easter. Most Bibles divide it up into a number of sections with appropriate headings. You might read two or three sections at a time and talk about them as a family.
Betrayed with a Kiss
The events of the first Easter weekend began to unfold when Judas showed up in the garden of Gethsemane with a huge crowd including religious leaders and Roman soldiers, some carrying clubs and swords to arrest Jesus (Mk. 14.43-49).
But Judas was able to betray Him with nothing more than a kiss, a sign of friendship. And speaking of friends, Jesus’ closest friends fell asleep a short time earlier while He agonized over what was about to happen (Mk. 14.32-42). When Jesus was arrested all the disciples fled in fear for their own lives (14.50) and before the night was over, just as Jesus predicted, Peter would betray Him three times.
Mock Trial
After His arrest, Jesus was taken to the courtyard of the High Priest and then before the Sanhedrin. At His mock trial, He endured false accusations, physical abuse, and finally, a trumped-up charge of blasphemy (Mk. 14.53-65). Eventually, He was accused of sedition against the Roman government. He was sentenced to death by the Roman Governor Pilate after Pilate’s hand was forced by the Jewish leaders.
Pilate retaliated by nailing the words “THE KING OF THE JEWS” to the cross (15.26) and by refusing to add the disclaimer the Jewish leaders demanded (Jn. 19.22).
Before He was crucified, He was scourged, mocked, and beaten by the Roman soldiers. He was so weakened by the beatings and loss of blood that a bystander was forced to carry His cross.
His Response
The mocking didn’t stop while He hung on the cross. Yet, He responded with concern for His mother’s care (Jn. 19.26-27), the salvation of one of the robbers (Lk. 23.42-43), and prayer for the mob who taunted Him, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Lk. 23.34).
But all the physical pain and hardship paled in comparison to what happened spiritually. Back to Mark 15:
33 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Pastor John MacArthur in His Study Bible says:
God the Father, using the principle of imputation, treated Christ as if he were a sinner though he was not, and had him die as a substitute to pay the penalty for the sins of those who believe in him (cf. Isa. 53: 4– 6; Gal. 3: 10– 13; 1 Pet. 2: 24). On the cross, he did not become a sinner (as some suggest), but remained as holy as ever. He was treated as if he were guilty of all the sins ever committed by all who would ever believe, though he committed none. The wrath of God was exhausted on him and the just requirement of God’s law met for those for whom he died.
No Longer a Veil Between Us and God
When Jesus died the veil separating the Holy Place in the Temple from the Holy of Holies was supernaturally torn in two (Mk. 15.38). This veil was probably about four inches thick. It was rent in two by the hand of God, declaring that we now have direct access to God. We can come to Him with our requests, our confessions, and anything else that is on our hearts.
Hebrews 4.16 says:
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
God’s Plan
The religious leaders thought they had solved a problem. Pilate thought he was the one calling the shots. The disciples were confused, afraid, and hopeless.
Yet, all of this had been planned by God from eternity past.
Jesus Himself had repeatedly told His disciples of His impending death (Matt. 16.21; Mk. 10.33-34). And Old Testament passages like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 are full of prophetic details.
The Danger
The danger is that we’ve heard this story so often that we fail to understand its significance.
And as I said in the introduction, when it comes to our children, we often rely on Sunday school workers to teach concepts that are essential to their understanding of sin, redemption, the gospel, and salvation. Some may be doing an excellent job, but we cannot neglect our responsibility in this. Their eternity hangs in the balance.
We must prepare them for life in the world at large. We can’t send them off to school and the workplace where their faith and understanding of the Bible will be challenged at every turn without giving them every opportunity to develop their own faith. That must be based on the best foundation we can give them if it’s going to stand up to Satan’s attempts to undermine everything God says.
And studies have shown that the influence of parents can make a huge difference and it’s not as hard as it may seem.
Making Time
So, we must find time to teach our children and help them develop their own faith and devotional habits.
Having regular family devotions can be an important part of that process. As I mentioned at the beginning, that can be as simple as taking a passage of Scripture, reading through it as a family, and discussing what it means.
Take some time with your family to read about the events leading up to that first Easter Sunday. Perhaps today’s post can serve as a starting point. Read through Mark 14-16 or the parallel passages in one of the other gospels. Or try reading thoughtfully through Isaiah 53? A good study Bible can help answer questions. If you’d like additional ideas for spending time together as a family studying God’s Word, Donald Whitney has an excellent book on the subject called Family Worship.
But if we’re going to make a real difference, we must make sharing Bible truths with the next generation a regular part of our life as a family. Even those of us who are not married, who don’t have children, or whose children are grown can do our part to influence the young people in our lives or help their parents be more prepared to do so.
Today’s Other Readings:
Numbers 35 & 36:
Crime & Punishment
Numbers 35.9-34 lays down laws about murder, manslaughter, and other civil matters. You can see the basis for our criminal justice system in these passages and others in the Bible.
The cities of refuge were a kind of protective custody (Num. 35.11-15) and the manslaughter law recognized that even though the person may not have intended to do harm, there had to be consequences for being irresponsible (Num. 35.22-28).
Capital punishment (Num. 35.16-21, 30-31) was an important part of the law and God said they were not to “pollute the land” (Num. 35.33-34) by not dealing with these serious crimes.
Not only can you see the basis of our criminal justice system, but if you look at the condition of our nation and the lack of respect for authority, you have to wonder if we have “polluted our land” by not dealing with serious crimes and not carrying out justice in a reasonable amount of time. Instead, we have excused, justified, and minimized sin.
Capital punishment, if it’s carried out at all, takes years. We certainly need to have fair and just laws, but it often seems that our courts have lost all common sense.
Ecclesiastes 8.11 says:
Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
You’ll also find the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” (Num. 35.15, 24) and a provision for a criminal to pay his debt and then be freed to return to his life (Num. 35.28).
Psalm 35.17-28:
Based on His Righteousness Alone
Vindicate me, O LORD my God, according to Your righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me (v. 24).
Paul Tripp says we can’t boast in our righteousness because we don’t have any! And as this verse reminds us, we can’t be vindicated because of it either. We must come to God based on His righteousness and that’s where we’ll find mercy and grace to help in our time of trouble (Heb. 4.16).
Proverbs 12.3:
Rooted in God’s Truth
A man is not established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous cannot be moved.
This verse reminds me of Psalm 1.1-3 which says those who refuse to follow the counsel of the wicked, but, instead, meditate in God’s Word day and night are like trees planted by streams of water, whose leaves do not wither and all they do prospers.
Let’s seek God’s grace to be trees whose roots go down so deep into the truths of God so that we won’t be moved and we can experience true biblical prosperity.
Coming Up:
In the coming days, we’ll talk about the Resurrection as we continue the Easter story, about blame shifting and how it hurts us, and about a kind of rottenness that can infect our hearts. We’ll also look at parenting God’s way.
I hope you’ll sign up so you don’t miss them.
This year I’ve added a couple of new features. First, check out the “Free Resources” tab at the top. You’ll find a downloadable, printable PDF with “Going Deeper Study Questions” for each day’s readings and a list of all the Bible readings so you can check them off as you go. You’ll also find the readings for each day on YouTube. The daily emails now have a link to both these Soul Survival posts and the YouTube videos. If you’re not already signed up, you can do it here.
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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