Encounter Christianity: In Words lesson plan 8

Lesson eight - pages 16/17 The Crucifixion

AIM for the book

To bring to life the story of Jesus by exploring the way we use our senses.

Learning objectives

To know that Jesus was crucified, and that Christians believe he died and came back to life.
To be able to understand that Jesus was put to death because many people didn't like what he said.
To understand that Christians believe Jesus died to save mankind from death so that when we die we will have eternal life.

Background

Jesus is often portrayed as a gentle, thoughtful person. He was, however, put to death by his enemies because he was, in their eyes, a troublemaker. Jesus challenged the religious authorities and traditional religious values of the day. This was not new; the prophets of Israel had been doing much the same for hundreds of years. Jesus appeared to make claims that some of his contemporaries believed to be blasphemous, for example, claiming he was God. Jesus became unpopular with high-ranking authorities and paid for this with his life.

Bible reference

Luke 23.44-7

Ways of using the picture

Explore how feelings of fear and hatred can make people do terrible things.
Dealing with Jesus' death and the events of the crucifixion is not pleasant and it is important to acknowledge this. Explain to the children that crucifixion was the horrific form of punishment used for criminals in Jesus' time.
Explore together the artist's depiction of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Look at the way the colours, light and shadows, shapes and lines in the picture are used to describe the event.

Key words

Jesus
Crucified
Resurrection
Life
Death
Heaven

Activity one - what did Jesus say?

You will need
Art materials.

Start
Discuss with the children what happens when they say something that other people don't like.
What do they do when someone says something they don't like?
Discuss what are good things to say and what are bad things to say.

Develop
What did Jesus say?
Ask the children to tell you their ideas of what Jesus talked about when he was teaching and speaking to the crowds, prompt them with reminders from the stories you have told them in previous lessons.
Discuss with the children what Jesus said.
Jesus said, for example, that we must love God, and that God is our Father who loves us. He said that we must love our neighbours and our enemies. We must forgive, share, care, help, and so on. We must pray.
Jesus said the 'I am...' sayings.
Jesus said, 'Follow me.'
Jesus said, 'Those who believe in me shall not die but have eternal life.'
Did Jesus say anything bad? What do the children think?

End
Explain that the rulers and the leaders in the temples and synagogues didn't like Jesus. They didn't like the way that people were listening to him and not to them. They thought he was breaking holy laws.
Ask the children to illustrate some of the things that Jesus said. These pictures could be made into posters.

Activity two - death and resurrection

You will need
The picture in the book In Words.
Two cross-shaped pieces of card for each child.
Paints, felt pens or coloured pencils.

Start
Look at the picture in the book.
What do the children think the artist is trying to tell us?
Why is half of the picture dark and the other half bright and colourful?
Read to the children the stories of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Develop
Look again at the picture in the book. Do the children think that the picture reflects the Easter story well?
Which part of the picture reminds us of Good Friday?
Which part of the picture is showing us that the artist believes that Jesus is alive (the Resurrection)?
Discuss with the children why death is dark and Resurrection colourful.
The Resurrection of Christ is what Christians celebrate at Easter.

End
Give the children two cross-shaped pieces of card each. Ask them to colour one in dark 'death' colours and the other in bright joyful 'Resurrection' colours.
Display the crosses, putting the dark ones together with the words 'On Good Friday, Jesus died on the Cross'. Then put the colourful ones together with the words 'Christians believe that Jesus came back to life on Easter Sunday'.

Assessment opportunities
Ask the children to draw what they think are the important things that happened in the Easter story.

Activity three - why did Jesus die?

You will need
Writing materials.
Art materials.

Start
This is a difficult question for young children but they can be told that Christians believe that:
Jesus died so that people can be friends with God.
Jesus died so that, when people ask, God will forgive them for all the bad things they do.
Christians believe that we must try our best to live our lives the way that Jesus taught us.
They believe that we will all die, but if we believe and trust in God and Jesus, then when we die we will go to heaven.

Develop
What do the children think heaven is like?
Jesus now lives in heaven; what is it like in heaven?
Nobody really knows but we can imagine.

End
Ask the children to write poems starting 'Heaven is ...'. They could think about colours, size, noises, smells, scenery, food, and so on. Give them the freedom to imagine.
Or the children could paint pictures of heaven with short explanations of what they have painted.

Activity checklist

Activity one - what did Jesus say?

Art materials.

Activity two - death and resurrection

The picture in the book In Words.
Two cross-shaped pieces of card for each child.
Paints, felt pens or coloured pencils.

Activity three - why did Jesus die?

Writing materials.
Art materials.

Web site links

http://www.geocities.com/~dolorosa/index2.html
This site includes an interactive retelling of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. The user takes the part of a bystander to the Passion story. Each scene ends by offering the user a selection of links.

http://198.62.75.1/www1/jsc/TVCmain.html
This pictorial tour of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem includes photos of the Stations of the Cross, marking the passage of Jesus from his trial, to his crucifixion, to his eventual burial and resurrection.