To children, especially small children, Easter Sunday, or as many Christians are now calling it, “Resurrection Sunday” is more about colored eggs and candy, than it is about the saving work that Jesus did on the cross. It’s a holiday for kids; but we have to understand that a child’s understanding of holidays is much different than our own. To them, holidays are all about having fun, just like many adults; but they don’t usually see or even care about the reason behind the holiday.
Yet there is no day more important in the life of a Christian than Resurrection Sunday, which should be seen as even more important than Christmas. While Christmas speaks of the birth of Christ, that birth wouldn’t have meant any more than the birth of any other baby, except for the work of the cross. It is through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection that we are saved, not through His birth.
This is a message that everyone needs to know and understand, even our children. Just knowing a Bible story or two about Jesus isn’t enough. Hearing Bible stories, without an explanation of the message they contain, doesn’t really teach anyone much of anything. Yet this is most of what we teach our children.
It All Starts with Sin
Our understanding of the cross and the need for the cross begins with an understanding of sin. Without sin, there is no reason for the redemptive work of the cross. Fortunately, it’s easy to explain sin to children, as we all sin, even children.
On a child’s level, sin is nothing more than doing bad things, something that all children are capable of doing. They must be taught to behave, because their nature is to do what they want, much of which is wrong. As one person put it, “Children are savages and must be taught so they can become civilized.”
It is easy to talk to most children about doing wrong, because they have experience with it. From there it is only one step away, to talking about sin, s sin is doing wrong as defined by rules that God has made, rather than rules that mommy and daddy have made. As a bridge, many of the rules that mommy and daddy apply can be shown as coming from God.
If disobeying mommy and daddy is bad, then disobeying God has to be worse, as He is bigger than mommy and daddy. Mommy and daddy have to obey God’s rules, just like their children have to obey their rules.
Sin Brings Punishment
Although it’s not politically correct to speak in these terms today, disobedience and sin still bring punishment into our lives. This is something our children should already know, having experienced it themselves for their own misdeeds. If not, the parents are doing something wrong and perhaps need punishment themselves.
I realize that in today’s politically correct world, it can be dangerous to punish children for their wrongdoings. Teachers are required by law to report any signs of abuse to child protection services and many of them think that spanking a child is wrong. Nevertheless, the Bible still teaches spanking as being the way to correct a child. So, the question becomes, do we obey the misguided laws that some states have put into effect or do we obey God?
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it from him. – Proverbs 22:15
Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. – Proverbs 23:13
It should be noted that it is possible to beat a charge of child abuse, on the grounds of religious liberty. However, in order to do this, it is necessary to use restraint in spanking your child, avoiding hitting them anywhere but on their bottom and avoiding doing anything to harm them in the process. Anything more than a stinging from the spanking, which fades in a matter of minutes, could be considered abuse.
Getting back to God, it’s not a very big step taking a child’s experience with receiving correction for their wrongdoings and using that as an example of how we must all receive correction for our wrongdoings. We can even go so far as to say that the punishment for breaking God’s rules is death, as long as we add that God doesn’t want anyone to perish.
For the wages of is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. – 2 Peter 3:9
So, while God has said that those who sin must die for their sins, he is not in any hurry to kill anyone. He would much rather see those who have done wrong repent for their sins, than to have to see them die for their sins.
Who Receives the Punishment for Sin?
Here is where we can start teaching the message of the cross. Assuming our children have experienced punishment for their wrongdoings, they already understand the idea of consequences for their actions, even if they can’t articulate that as a principle. Even so, their experiential knowledge can be used as the basis of asking the question, “Who should be punished when someone does something wrong?” You can experiment with this a bit, asking who should be punished if various different people do something wrong, like a sibling, the child who always causes problems at school, the child who is always good and of course, themselves.
From there, the next great leap, and it is a great leap, is to talk about one person taking the punishment for another. Isn’t that what the cross is all about? Start by talking about that on personal terms, such as a sibling offering to take the punishment for something they did wrong. Depending on their reaction to that idea, it may be necessary to walk them through the idea that such an action would be a really big deal and would show that the person who took the punishment for someone else really must love them.
It may seem that this was a long way around to get to this point, but here is where the idea that Jesus died for their sins can be introduced. With the foundation that has been laid, they will understand that someone had to pay the price for everyone’s wrongdoing. As the Son of God, Jesus chose to do that for us, so that we would not have to do it for ourselves. The important point was that it was His choice, because of His love for us.
But Why the Cross?
Talking about the details of crucifixion with a child can be difficult. On one hand, we want them to understand that it hurt for Jesus to die on the cross, even though it hurt a lot. But on the other hand, we want to protect them from the grisly details of death on the cross. There’s really no reason why they need to understand just how horrific a death it was,
The use of a cross can be explained as being the way that the Romans killed criminals who did bad things. They killed those people both because they needed to punish them for their wrongdoings, and to keep them from doing it again. People who died for breaking the law weren’t going to be able to break the law again.
Killing people for breaking the law is pretty serious punishment and we don’t do so today, except in the most extreme cases, such as murderers. But through much of world history, it was common to kill criminals for their crimes. Knowing that you could be killed for your crimes was a pretty good incentive to be good and not be a criminal.
But Jesus didn’t do anything wrong, even though people wanted Him killed, as if He had done something wrong. Pontius Pilate even asked the crowd what Jesus had done that was worthy of crucifixion. They didn’t give him any evidence of Jesus doing wrong, just cried out “Let Him be crucified!”
Pilate said to them (the crowd) “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!” – Matthew 27:22
It’s important that Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong. When the priests tried to accuse Him of wrongdoing, He didn’t even bother to answer (Matthew 27:12), their accusations were so wild. Pilate recognized this and essentially declared Him as innocent. This is important; because if Jesus had committed even one sin, He couldn’t receive the punishment for ours. But because He was innocent and accepted that punishment, we don’t have to be punished for our own sins.
Crucifixion is one of the worst punishments that mankind has ever invented. We must understand that it is the invention of sinful men, not good men. They wanted to kill people in the worst way they could imagine, so as to scare others into obeying the law. In doing so, they made Jesus die the most painful death possible, in payment for our sins. It can be said that He died such a horrific death, so that His death would cover the worst sins that anyone could commit. Satan couldn’t go to God and say that it was “Unfair to forgive someone, because the full price for their sins had not been paid.”
The Story Doesn’t End There
The story of the crucifixion doesn’t end with Jesus dying on the cross. Yes, he died, and afterwards was buried in a tomb. But on the third day, Jesus arose from the dead. He walked upon the earth for 50 days, appearing to over 500 different people. Those people gave testimony to His resurrection. At the end of that time, Jesus ascended into heaven, sending His Holy Spirit to minister to us. As the angels told women who went to Jesus’ tomb:
He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” – Luke 24:6-7
If we stop with the crucifixion, we only tell part of the story; what can be considered the sad part. The story doesn’t end in victory. But the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, after paying the price for our sins, brings victory into the story.
But Chrit’s resurrection does more than bring victory, it brings hope; hope of a new life. We are not bound by the limits of our earthly bodies and our sinful natures; we are given the promise of a life to come, after our death, in which we will be with Him forever in Heaven. That’s the true message of the cross and one we must tell our children.
What the Crucifixion Does for Us
Talking about Jesus dying on the cross, without giving the reason for His death, does no good whatsoever. Our children need to understand that the crucifixion is all about God trying to reestablish a relationship with us, after we broke that relationship through our sins. He loves us so much that He was willing to allow Jesus to die on the cross, just to bring us back to him.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. – John 3:16
God arranged all this, because He didn’t want us to have to pay the price for our sins. Since He and Jesus are one, He came Himself, in the form of Jesus Christ, to die in our place, receiving the punishment for our sins. The crucifixion is all about God paying that price for us, because He loves us. He put the punishment for all our sins on Jesus, saving us from having to pay that price ourselves.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord (God)2 has laid on Him (Jesus)2 the iniquity of us all. – Isaiah 53:6
Our Part
There is no sense explaining the crucifixion to a child, without talking about our part in responding to His redemptive work on the cross. Jesus’ death on the cross doesn’t do any good, if we don’t accept that He died for our sins. That first must mean that we accept that we are sinners who do wrong and that we need a Savior, because we can’t save ourselves. Then we need to accept that Jesus went to the cross for us, paying the price for our sins.
A child is never too young to hear the gospel message and to make a decision to accept what Jesus has done for them. While they may not fully understand, they can accept the understanding that they have. Later, as they grow and learn more, the subject can be revisited and their commitment to the Lord can be reaffirmed. Never stop a child from making a declaration for the Lord, just because they seem too young; their declaration reaffirms their love for the Lord, building a relationship which will be important as they continue to grow.
A Final Precaution
It can be easy to overload children with information, when we are answering their questions. Any parent has to constantly relearn just how much they can say to their own child. The language we use must be appropriate, so that they will understand; but the message as well. Some concepts are too hard for them to understand, even though they ask. We must strive to tailor our answer to their understanding.
At the same time, we must not forget these conversations and what we “left out,” as we will need to return to them someday, filling in those blanks. We don’t want our children to grow up without a full understanding, especially of things pertaining to God. Don’t depend on Children’s Church to answer those questions, as you don’t know what they will be teaching. As long as your children are in your home, you are their primary spiritual teacher.