Behold the Lamb (Day 4)

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Today is the hardest of all Bible stories- the crucifixion ("The Sun Stops Shining" in the Jesus Storybook Bible).  As a parent, it would have been easy to justify skipping this story, glazing over the yucky parts and pushing toward the happiness of Easter morning.  However, "without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22)" and I want my kids to understand that.  The Bible doesn't leave out the story, so I shouldn't either.

The Jesus Storybook Bible begins at the trial and tastefully leads us to the cross.  It spends a lot of time emphasizing the innocence of Jesus and how everything that had happened was part of God's plan.  We're reminded that "the full force of God's fierce anger at sin was coming down.  On His own Son.  Instead of His people.  It was the only way God could destroy sin, and not destroy His children whose hearts were filled with sin (JSB, pg 306)."




After we finished the story, I removed the white cloth from around the cross, and wrapped it around my hand to show the kids how Jesus' body was wrapped for burial.  I placed the cloth in a clay tomb that I had made earlier this week and put a "stone" over it's entrance. Then, we, like the disciples, walked away.