Preparation:

• Item needed: A flannel board or carpet board, sticky-back hook Velcro, and scriptures for each child. Also print the Primary manual cutouts onto white cardstock.
• Cut out the pictures and stick a small piece of hook Velcro onto the back of each cutout. The Velcro will make the cutouts stick to the flannel board or carpet board.
• Place the cutouts face up on a table or tape them to the walls around the room.

Scripture Story

Read or tell the following story:

Jesus loved, served, and taught the Jewish people while he was on the earth, but there were some Jewish leaders who opposed him. They were upset that people were following Jesus instead of them, so they illegally had him tried and sentenced to death.

(Have the children read Luke 23:33 and then have a child pick the picture that matches the scripture and put it on the flannel board.)  Explain that to crucify means to nail or tie a person’s hands and feet to a cross and leaving that person to die.

Jesus was placed on the cross sometime before noon on Friday. At noon the sun was hidden from view, and darkness spread over the land for three hours. Those who were watching in the darkness heard Jesus cry out, “It is finished.”  His suffering had ended. He bowed his head and died.

After Jesus died on the cross what happened to his spirit? (Read Luke 23:46) When Jesus died, his spirit left his body and went to the spirit world (Read D&C 138: 11-12, 16, 18, 36)

How do you think his friends and disciples felt after Jesus was crucified?    After he died, Jesus’ friends and disciples carefully removed his body from the cross. They wrapped his body in fine linen cloth and with spices, as was the custom in those days. (Take off crucifixion cutout and have a child find and put up matching picture- the wrapping of Jesus’ body)

The Savior’s friends placed his body in a tomb. A tomb is a small room, often carved out of a large rock, in which people can be buried. The newly hewn tomb Jesus’ body was placed in belonged to a rich man named Joseph of Arimathaea. He was a follower of Jesus. (Take off cutout of wrapping the body and have a child find and put up the picture of the tomb.)

Jesus was placed in the tomb on Friday evening because Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath and burying people on that day was not allowed. A large stone was rolled over the mouth of the tomb doorway. (Have a child find and put the large stone cutout on tomb opening)

After Jesus’ body was placed in the tomb, the chief priests and Pharisees went to see Pilate. They remembered that Jesus had said that after three days he would rise again. They asked Pilate to have the sepulcher guarded against his disciples coming in the night and stealing the body away. They did not believe Jesus would be resurrected. They thought Jesus’ friends would hide his body and say he was alive again. The stone was sealed and guards were set to watch. (Have a child find the cutout of the guards and put it on the flannel board.)

The Sabbath was a long, sad day for his followers.  Early on the third day after his death, which was Sunday, an angel (the Joseph Smith translation says it was two angels) came down from heaven and rolled back the stone from the door of the tomb. (Have a child find the cutout of the angel and put it on the flannel board and then move the stone to one side.) The guards were afraid and shook and fell as dead men. (Lay down the soldier cutout)

Some women had wanted to put special ointments on Jesus body to prepare it for burial, but they didn’t have time before the Sabbath, so they came back as soon as the Sabbath was over to finish preparing his body. (Have a child find and put up cutout of women with ointments, off to one side, and take off the soldier cutout.)

As the women walked to the sepulcher they wondered how they would move the heavy stone from the tomb. (Put the cutout of the women close to the tomb) But when they arrived at the tomb they saw that the stone had been rolled away. The tomb was empty. Jesus’ body was gone. The women saw the angels, who told them not to be afraid. (Read Matthew 28:5-6) When the angel said, “He is risen,” he was telling the women that Jesus Christ had been resurrected.  (Hold up cutout of Jesus Resurrected)