Children’s Sermon

Mark 15:1-39

Where it All Comes Together

By Lois Parker Edstrom

Object suggested: A cross

Today’s lesson is difficult to talk about because it is concerns the story of when Jesus died. Why and how Jesus died is hard to understand and the story may make us feel sad, but we must remember that there is a remarkable ending to this story.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus died on a cross. The cross is a symbol of God’s love for the world––for each one of us. Christians wear crosses as a way of honoring Jesus and we also see crosses on church steeples and within churches as well.

Let’s talk about this simple cross. What do you see? Yes, this cross is made from two pieces of wood. You may have noticed crosses made from other materials, but always the cross has two pieces joined together like this. One piece points up and the other piece points out. We can think about the part that points up as pointing to God and the part that points out as pointing to the people of the world. (Use crosses that appear in your church as examples.)
See how these two pieces come together in the middle. We can think of this place on the cross as the place Jesus died to bring God and the people of the world together. Jesus is at the center of the cross and at the center of what we believe as Christians.

The cross may cause us to feel sad when we remember it as the place that Jesus died, but the cross also reminds us to be grateful for his love and for the Good News that he brought to all people. He overcame death and His Spirit of Love lives in our hearts––the remarkable ending to this story.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2009, Richard Niell Donovan