Bringing Our Kids into Passion Week
The evangelical pulpit offers lackluster teaching on the cross of Christ. Sadly, what comes from the pulpit impacts the pew. Thus, in many homes, there is a general boredom and lack of astonishment regarding the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Easter is a ho-hum, "Yea, let's dress up for church" day.
So the challenge for us parents is engaging our children with the illustrious beauties of Christ, His sacrifice, and eternity-shaping resurrection. The reality is that the cross is not just at the top of our priority list. In fact, it IS our priority list, the centerpiece of life, encompassing every facet of faith and practice. And if we lose the diamond-like significance of the cross, all other radiance fades with it.
So in this brief post, we'll provide a few theological basics about the cross and then list creative means to put Passion Week front and center in the home. (1)
1: The Theological Basics of the Cross
Assuming our readers know gospel basics, agreeing Jesus is the Son of God, and not a Muslim "prophet-Jesus," Jehovah Witness "first-created-Jesus," or progressive "teacher-guru-Jesus," we can move on to sincere questions such as:
What REALLY happened on the cross?
Was the death of Jesus a human tragedy or unfair murder? An example of heroic sacrifice? TKO over the Devil? OR was there a larger storyline? A ransom? A supernatural payment?
How we answer those questions is based on how we view the Bible. IF the Bible is just a history book (as humanists tell us!), then Jesus' death is merely a neat story of self-sacrifice. Or suppose the Bible is just narrative without propositional truth (as the progressives tell us!). In that case, Jesus' death is meaningful but makes no demand on my life. But suppose we interpret Jesus' death like the apostles did. In that case, we're forced to admit the cross was a supernaturally cosmic event and drama of theological redemption unlike anything else in history. Consequently, everything rises and falls on the cross.
The "ten-dollar" word for what happened at the cross is Penal Substitutionary Atonement, which means that it took divine forgiveness to satisfy divine justice, or in vernacular, God’s perfect judgment demanded a perfect payment. If you’re tempted to ask, “What difference does this make?” the simple answer is, “Every difference!” Rejecting the biblical explanation of Christ’s sacrifice is rejecting His sacrifice, and rejecting Jesus’ sacrifice, is denying Him. Anyone turning from Christ will perish in sin, so salvation is at stake here.
John Murray writes:
“Viewing the cross through the (lens) of sacrifice views the payment from the perspective of guilt, propitiation from the perspective of wrath, reconciliation from the perspective of alienation, and the work of Christ not simply as deliverance from life bondage but in terms of eternal ransom.”
More “ten-dollar” words, but a simple summary of Murray’s description could be: Jesus had to die for my guilt, He had to take the wrath for my sin, He had to heal the relationship I had broken, and His payment didn’t just cover a short term illness, but my eternal slavery to sin.
And on the first Easter Sunday morning, the payment for sin was completed forever. Jesus had lived a sinless life so that we (believers) could be credited with it, He had died a sinner’s death so we could be purchased by it, and He had resurrected from the dead as Champion so we could forever live through it. That’s what makes Passion Week the pivot-point of history. If there were no Passion Week, Jesus was just a 1st-century myth – a liar or lunatic, everyone who dies stays dead in their sin, every biblical author was a fraud, and the whole Christian life is a cultish mockery.
2: Sharing Passion Week with our Kids
Therein lies the importance of sharing the actual Passion Week with our children. Each of us (including the cute little kiddos) are grave sinners in need of a greater Savior, and that Savior is Christ! So below are a few creative ways we’ve researched (and sometimes used) to put the awe-inspiring truths of Passion Week before kids:
On Palm Sunday, try having the kids cut palm branches from green construction paper and make a little path in the hallway. Then read John 12 for dinner and discuss how Jesus was praised entering Jerusalem.
For holy Monday, you could have the kids join you in baking bread. Then, around dinner, discuss the implications of Jesus calling Himself “The Bread of Life” in John 8.
On Tuesday, you could simply make an Easter Picture Tree by putting a branch in a ceramic flower pot. Have the children look at magazines to cut out images reminding them of Jesus, e.g., light, a path, and water. Then hang them on the tree.
For Wednesday, consider sending the children on an Easter Scavenger Hunt. Have them find items that symbolize different parts of the Easter story, e.g., a rock, two sticks, something black for evil, or white for new life.
On Thursday, you could try a family foot-washing ceremony. After all the giggles subside, ask the children to reflect on Jesus’ words in John 13. Other families may want to visit a park in the evening, reflecting on Jesus’ last night in the Garden of Gethsemane.
On Good Friday (go to church!), the children could make a cross out of wood scraps, being careful of splinters, and then have each family member write out a sinful word, attitude, or deed they know makes God unhappy…then fold it, and pin it to the cross.
For Saturday, walk around the neighborhood, and see how many signs of "new life" everyone can locate. Write them down and return to the house for lunch, discussing 1 Corinthians 15 and how Jesus makes everything new.
For Easter, try having the kids collect eggs, but instead of candy, have the eggs filled with sections of the Easter story, asking the children put them all in order. And my (Tony) personal favorite is having one of the kids rolled up in toilet paper, allowing them to "break free," discussing the joy each disciple must have felt when Jesus appeared alive.
There are a host of other creative ways to help our children reflect on Passion Week (3), but the most important thing is that they ARE reflecting on what Jesus accomplished; A holy God, sinful men, and a sacrificial Savior, who came and took God’s wrath, paying the price for all who repent and believe. Ultimately, creative means are only as valuable as the doctrinal basis from which they originate.
For more from Anthony & Bre Wood on bringing your children into Passion Week, listen to Date Night with the Woods podcast episode 33: “How to Prepare Your Kids for Passion Week”.
Author’s Notes
Before skipping over the doctrinal section, remember that giving your children false spiritual information is worse than giving them no spiritual information. If there's one thing we must get right as parents, it's the Gospel.
If you’d like a great book on the atonement, read John Murray’s Redemption Accomplished and Applied.
For a kids' Passion Week Pack from Focus on the Family, click here
