A Children’s Sermon on Luke 24:1-12 — Easter!

Preface for Pastors and Parents

For Easter I bring you a children’s sermon on Luke 24:1-12. That’s one of the two Gospel readings on the lectionary for Easter in year C. I wrote a children’s sermon for the other choice, John 20:1-18, a while back. (You can find it here.)

One of the fascinating things about the way the Gospels tell the Easter story is that each one tells it differently. There is a lot of variety in the details of who saw what, and who met Jesus, and where, and when. 

Luke’s Easter morning narrative is fascinating both for what it emphasizes, and for what it leaves out. Let’s see how it works in a children’s sermon on Luke 24:1-12.

A Children’s Sermon on Luke 24:1-12

Good morning kids! Happy Easter! I’m so glad to see you here in worship this morning.

Today is an very special day. Easter is the most important celebration in the entire church year! In fact, Easter is so important that a lot of churches have a special way of saying “Hello” just for Easter. Should we give it a try?

I’ll say “Christ is risen!” And then you say “He is risen indeed!”

Here we go! Christ is risen! Now all together: “He is risen indeed!” 

It might be fun to say that Easter greeting really loud. Like we’re really excited about it. Want to give it a try?

Christ is risen! 

One two three: “He is risen indeed!”

That was great! 

Now you are probably wondering what that greeting means. Well, let me tell you the story.

Jesus’ Women Friends

On the first day, back on Friday afternoon, back when Jesus died, one group of his friends knew they had a job to do. That group was the women disciples. It would be the women’s job to get Jesus’ body ready for the burial ceremony.

• There was Mary Magdalene. 
• There was James’s mom, who was also named Mary. 
• There was a woman named Joanna.
• And there were some other women too, whose names we don’t know.

When some men took Jesus’ body off the cross, the women followed them. They saw the tomb where Jesus’ body would be kept until Sunday, when the Sabbath was over. Then, they went to their homes to gather all the spices and things they would need to prepare Jesus’ body.

From Friday evening through the second day, Saturday, the women rested, because that’s what God said to do in the Ten Commandments.

Sunday Morning

Early, early on the third day, on Sunday morning, before the sun came up, the women found each other. Joanna knocked on Mary Magdalene’s door. (Knock, knock, knock.) James’s mom knocked on the other women’s doors. (Knock, knock, knock.) They all gathered at James’s mom’s house where they had left all their spices.

As the first light was showing, in the shadowy time before you see the sun, they carried all their spices out to the tomb where they had seen Jesus’ body go. 

The First Surprise

As they walked toward the tomb, something surprising happened. Mary Magdalene said “Hey look! the tomb is open!”

Joanna said, “Wow! I wonder who rolled the stone door away. Well, I guess we won’t have to wrestle with it.”

James’s mom said “Let’s go and get started. Standing here staring at the tomb just makes me said.”

The Second surprise

In they went. It was pretty dark in there so it took a minute for their eyes to adjust. But then, when they could see, there was another surprise.

“Where is he?” said Joanna. 

“Who?” asked Mary Magdalene. 

“Jesus!” said Joanna. “Look! He’s gone!”

“Oh no!” said James’s mom. “Who could have taken him?”

The Third Surprise

They didn’t have much time to think about that because right away they had a third surprise.

Mary Magdalene made a little sound like a scream she didn’t want to let out, and she slapped her hand over her mouth to keep it inside. Her eyes were huge and she was shaking.

“What’s wrong?” said Joanna and the others.

But Mary Magdalene could only point to the dark back of the tomb. They all looked. Then they all made little screams and slapped their own hands over their own mouths.

There were two men inside the tomb with them. 

Maybe they had been there all along. Their clothes were bright and sparkling, but the women were too scared to ask how they got that way. 

The Fourth Surprise

They were surprised a fourth time when the men spoke. The first said, “We know why you’re here, but you’re in the wrong place!”

The second one said “This is a place for dead people. Why are you looking here for someone who is alive?”

“But Jesus is dead,” said Mary Magdalene. Saying it out loud made her eyes fill up with tears. “We saw him die. We saw them lay his body right in here.”

“Surprise!” said the first man. “Jesus isn’t here, because he’s ALIVE AGAIN!”

“What?” said the women. “That’s impossible!”

Then second man spoke up. “Don’t you remember what Jesus said back in Galilee? He told you he would be arrested, and killed on a cross. And he told you that on the third day he would be alive again!”

Back to the Others

Well, that was all pretty freaky, so the women rushed out of the tomb. They didn’t even say goodbye to the men. Then, while they were rushing back to find the other disciples, they remembered Jesus really had told them that he would die on a cross and be alive again on the third day.

So when they found the other disciples they told them. “The tomb was empty! These strange men told us Jesus is alive again!” 

But the men didn’t believe them. In fact they were kind of mean about it. They rolled their eyes and said, “Can you believe the crazy stuff women come up with? Alive again! Good grief!”

But Peter was curious. He ran to the tomb and went inside. Jesus really was gone. All he found were the pieces of cloth that had been wrapped around his body, folded up in a little pile.

Wondering 

I wonder what it felt like when the women found the tomb was empty? 

I wonder what it felt like when most of the men wouldn’t believe them? 

I wonder what they thought about from then until they actually saw Jesus alive again?