* LESSON
* HANDOUT
* CRUCIFIXION PLAY
Bible Memory Verse:
"…The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected…" Luke 9:22
"But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation." Luke 15:6
“For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in his shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
When Jesus was coming into Jerusalem the people were shouting, “Blessed is the king who come in the name of the Lord! Luke 19:38 A few days later they would be shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Luke 23:21 They wanted a king who would rule over them on earth. They weren’t concerned about eternity. They didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God; most of those in Jerusalem did not know who He is.
Judas had betrayed Jesus, Jesus had eaten his last supper on earth, the Passover supper with His disciples, He had prayed and been arrested in the garden of Gethsemane and had been brought to trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin, before the Roman ruler Herod and before the Roman governor Pilate. Pilate didn’t want to have Him crucified because he could find nothing that He had done wrong.
However, wanting to satisfy the crowd (Mark 15:15), Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. (John 19:1-16)
The soldiers stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. Matthew 27:28- 31
Jesus was made to carry His own cross, but He was beaten so badly that He did not have the strength to carry it, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26)
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out withhim to be executed. When they came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull), there they crucified him, along with the criminals–one on his right, the other on his left.
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34 And the divided up his clothes by casting lots (drawing for it).
The people stood watching and the ruler even sneered at him, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
The soldiers also came up and mocked him and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him, “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43
Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother Mary and other women who mourned and cried for Him. When Jesus saw the disciple John, who calls himself the disciple Jesus loved, standing near-by, He said, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to John, “Here is your mother.” John 19:26. From that time on John took Mary into his home. Jesus cared for His mother, even when He was suffering on the cross.
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour (12 noon till 3), darkness came over the land, for the sun stopped shining. About the ninth hour, Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46
The curtain of the temple was torn in two. It was a very heavy curtain that could only be torn by a miracle from God. Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Luke 23:45 When He had said this, he breathed his last.
The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely, this was a righteous man.” Luke 23:47 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew Him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Now there was a man named Joseph, from the town of Arimathea, who was a good and upright man. He was a member of the Council who had wanted Jesus’ death, but he had not approved. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut out in a rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.
The women who had been with Jesus followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. They went home and prepared spices and perfumes to put on the body. But they rested on the Sabbath day in obedience to the commandment.
The Chief Priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sire,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, the disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
“Take a guard,” Pilate answered, "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” Matthew 27:65 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
The day after Jesus was crucified was the Sabbath. That meant that no one could do any work on that day or go to the tomb to anoint His body with oil as was the custom in those days. Nothing is said in the Bible about that day. However, the day after that exciting events would happen.
QUESTIONS:
1. Who carried Jesus’ cross?
2. How did the soldiers treat Jesus?
3. Who was crucified with Jesus?
4. Did the two that were crucified with Jesus believe in Him?
5. What happened from the sixth hour until the ninth hour when Jesus was dying?
6. What happened to the curtain of the temple when Jesus died?
7. Where was Jesus buried?
8. Why did Pilate put guards at the tomb?
CRUCIFIXION
Bible Memory Verse:
"…The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected…" Luke 9:22
Words to choose from: KING, CROSS, TOMB, SOLDIERS, JOHN, BELIEVED, REJECTED, THIEVES, TEMPLE, FORGIVE
1. The __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ beat Jesus and treated Him cruelly.
2. Simon carried Jesus’ __ __ __ __ __.
3. On Jesus’ cross was a written notice that said, “The __ __ __ __ of the Jews”.
4. His mother Mary and the disciple __ __ __ __ stood near Jesus’ cross.
5. Two __ __ __ __ __ __ __ were crucified with Jesus.
6. One thief __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ Jesus.
7. One thief __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ Jesus.
8. Jesus said, “Father, __ __ __ __ __ __ __ them because they do not know what they are doing.”
9. The curtain of the __ __ __ __ __ __ was torn in two.
10. Jesus was buried in a __ __ __ __.
Bible Memory Verse:
"…The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected…" Luke 9:22
CHARACTERS: Jolly the Giraffe, Polly the Polar Bear, Leo the Lion
JOLLY & POLLY & LEO: (enter) Hi. Kids!
JOLLY: Wasn’t that a terrible, yet wonderful thing that happened to Jesus.
POLLY: What do you mean—that it was terrible, yet wonderful?
JOLLY: That’s why the Friday before Easter is called Good Friday. It seems so bad, yet it accomplished more good than just about anything else.
POLLY: What good did it accomplish? I think I know, but I just want to make sure.
JOLLY: If Jesus hadn’t died on the cross, our sins would not have been paid for, and we couldn’t go to heaven.
POLLY: And we couldn’t have Jesus as a friend NOW.
JOLLY: Jesus sure had a lot of faith and wisdom to obey the Father.
POLLY: That’s true. Talking about wisdom, where is Leo? He was going to ask God help him make decisions about that to do after school. Leo! Leo!
(Leo enters but doesn’t say anything)
POLLY: Leo! Leo! (Polly bumps into Leo) Leo! How long have you been here!
LEO: I just came. Why are you so desperate to find me?
POLLY: I’m not desperate—I just wanted to ask if God gave you wisdom in deciding what you should do after school.
LEO: He sure did. And He made it all possible so I could do almost everything I wanted to do.
JOLLY: How did that happen?
LEO: I can do everything I wanted except play baseball—and I just wanted to do that because my friend Larry the Lion is playing. I’m not really that good at baseball.
POLLY: What DID you decide to do.
LEO: I’ve decided I will play soccer after school. That will give me lots of exercise and fun with my friends. I can also still work for the school newspaper because the main meeting is in the evening and because several of the other people that work on the paper also play soccer, other meetings won’t conflict with soccer. I can also earn a little money by having a paper route where I just sell papers for a few hours on Saturday. I can almost do everything I wanted!
POLLY: That took wisdom to figure all that out!
JOLLY: And God helped to have it all arranged. The Bible says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 God loves to do good things for us.
LEO: Jesus died so we could do get to do fun things. Sometimes we have to suffer, too, but not like He did.
JOLLY: I know. He chose to leave His beautiful home in heaven and become a man because He loved us so much. He knows all the bad things about us, but He loves us anyway.
POLLY: That’s why it is called GOOD Friday when He died. It sure turned out to be good. Next week we’ll learn more about how and why to turned out to be good, won’t we, Jolly?
JOLLY: Yes, we will. So I hope to see you all at Kid’s Club! Good-bye for now.
POLLY & LEO: Good-bye Kids!
(Puppets exit)