The manual’s Easter lesson walks day by day through the Savior’s last week. On Sunday He rode into Jerusalem while crowds waved branches and shouted “Hosanna” (Matthew 21:1–11). On Monday He cleansed the temple so it would be a house of prayer (21:12–16). The manual pairs Tuesday with the parable of the wedding feast (22:1–14) and Wednesday with His teaching that serving “the least of these” is serving Him (25:31–46). On Thursday He gave the sacrament at the Last Supper and suffered in Gethsemane, praying, “not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). On Friday He was crucified. Keep Friday brief and gentle for children: He chose to give His life because He loves us and His Father.
Saturday is easy to skip, but don’t. While His body lay in the tomb, the Savior’s spirit went to the spirit world and organized the preaching of the gospel to those who had died (1 Peter 3:18–20; Doctrine and Covenants 138). That’s why temples do baptisms for the dead (1 Corinthians 15:29 mentions the practice). Beginning in January of the year they turn 12, youth can receive a limited-use temple recommend and be baptized for their ancestors. Your oldest Valiant kids are less than a year away from helping finish the work the Savior started that Saturday.
On Sunday morning, women came to the tomb with spices and found the stone rolled away. Matthew tells of an earthquake and an angel whose face was like lightning; the guards shook and fell like dead men. The angel said, “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6); Luke records the question “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5). Peter and John raced to the tomb; John got there first, but Peter went in first, and they saw the linen grave clothes lying there with the head napkin folded by itself (John 20:3–8). Mary Magdalene stayed, weeping, until the man she thought was the gardener said her name. She turned and said, “Rabboni,” and ran to tell the disciples that she had seen the Lord (John 20:18).
Nine- to eleven-year-olds can think like investigators. Paul listed witnesses of the risen Christ: Peter, the Twelve, more than five hundred people at once, James, and Paul himself (1 Corinthians 15:5–8). The Gospels add the women, the two on the road to Emmaus and Thomas, and the Book of Mormon adds a multitude at the temple in Bountiful who felt the prints of the nails (3 Nephi 11:1–17). Two truths to leave with them: because He suffered for us, we can repent and be clean, and because He rose, “in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Some children have lost a grandparent or a pet; this is the most hopeful news you can give them.
