The verse anchor
"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said."
Matthew 28:6 · King James Bible
The story
It was the week of the Passover in Jerusalem. Jesus had come into the city on a donkey, and the crowds had cheered and waved palm branches. "Hosanna!" they shouted.
But not everyone loved Jesus. The religious leaders were jealous of him. They wanted to be rid of him. One of Jesus's own disciples, Judas, agreed to betray him for thirty pieces of silver.
On Thursday evening, Jesus ate the Last Supper with his disciples. He took bread and broke it, and gave it to them. He said, "This is my body which is given for you." He took a cup of wine. He said, "This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
That night Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. Soldiers came with Judas. They arrested Jesus and took him away.
The next morning — Good Friday — they beat him and put a crown of thorns on his head. They mocked him. Then they nailed him to a wooden cross on a hill called Calvary. Above him they put a sign: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
The sky grew dark from noon until three o'clock. At three, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "It is finished." And he bowed his head, and gave up the spirit.
A rich man named Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus's body. He and Nicodemus wrapped him in linen and laid him in a new tomb cut out of the rock. A huge stone was rolled in front of the door. It was Friday evening. The Sabbath was starting.
Very early on Sunday morning — before the sun was up — some of the women who loved Jesus went to the tomb with spices to care for his body.
When they got there, they saw that the great stone had been rolled away. The tomb was open. The tomb was empty.
An angel of the Lord was there. His face was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. He said to the women: "Fear not ye… He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."
The women ran to tell the disciples. And Jesus met them on the way. He said, "All hail." They fell down and worshipped him.
Jesus was alive. Death could not hold him. He had risen from the dead — just as he had said.
One thing we learn
Jesus died on the cross to take away our sins. On the third day he rose from the dead. That is the good news of Easter. That is why the Church sings, and children hunt for eggs, and everything is new. He is risen — he is risen indeed.
Memory verse
"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said."
Matthew 28:6 · KJV
Say it three times before bed. In seven days you will know it forever.
A prayer
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying for me on the cross.
Thank you for rising again on Easter morning.
Because you live, I will live too.
Amen.
Beneath the story · for grown-ups
To walk further with the household: