“What is Good Friday?” “Why is Good Friday called good?” “What does Good Friday have to do with Easter?” “Why do we celebrate Easter?” You might have been asked these questions, anticipate being asked them soon by your kids, or have asked them yourself. I am anticipating some of these questions from our 2-year-old and 4-year-old. They have heard the Good Friday and Easter story before, but I have a feeling as it gets closer, they both will want to understand more than they did last year.
Easter is a pivotal part of our faith, but only in the context of what also happened on Good Friday. Without Good Friday, Easter morning would lose its meaning. This is why it’s important to help our kids understand the truths of Good Friday and Easter.
A good place to start is reading with them from a Bible that is age-appropriate to help them understand sin. Depending on their age, a good way to put it is; every single person has gone against God except Jesus. Our sins separate us from God. We can’t live without making bad some bad choices, but Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. Even though we sin and make mistakes God loves us so much that He sent Jesus. On Good Friday, Jesus took on our sins, was beaten, and died the death we should have.
The day being called Good Friday can be confusing because the story doesn’t feel “good”. If the story ended with Jesus dying it wouldn’t be good but because Jesus rose from the grave and defeated death once and for all, it is good!
Though the end of the story is wonderful it still isn’t easy to talk to our kids about everything leading up to it. Specifically talking about death can be challenging even though it is a part of life. It’s important to help minimize any fear they might associate with death, but we shouldn’t shy away from telling them the truth about what happened to Jesus. We can have everlasting life because of what Jesus did.
The Good Friday and Easter story also helps us talk about what forgiveness, hope and unconditional love all mean. God gave our sins to Jesus so that we could be forgiven, even for the sins we haven’t committed yet. God forgave us and because of that we can forgive others. Good Friday feels sad but there’s hope because Jesus didn’t stay dead. When we face hard times in life and feel sad we can trust and have hope that God is powerful and always in control. He will bring us comfort and we can trust that suffering won’t last forever. God giving up His son for us was because of His unconditional love for us. He loves us no matter what. We can show our neighbors, friends, family, that same kind of love.
Understanding the depth of Good Friday and Easter is a journey that we will all experience for our lifetime. It’s not just knowing the story but internalizing the intense and wonderful implications it has for our lives. Good Friday teaches us about sacrifice, redemption, and the extent of God’s love. It’s a day of reflection and gratitude for the immense price paid for our relationship with God.
When we share with our kids each year and throughout the year we are helping them build their foundation of faith. We can help them see that even in the darkness of that day, there is hope—a hope that builds up to Jesus coming back to life on Easter morning.
As a parent, you know your kids and what details they will be able to handle. Using simple age-appropriate words with the balance of helping them understand the weight of what Jesus did for us. Invite them to retell the story to you in their own words and see what parts of the story they grasped and if there are any parts of it you can help them with. As we share with our kids, prayerfully consider the impact it will have on them and ask God to help you know what is best for them to hear. Simplifying it for our kids when they are younger isn’t keeping the truth from them, but we are choosing to reveal more details in a planned and purposeful way. As our kids get older, we can share more and more of the story. The beauty of doing this is that God will not only use these conversations to help our kids grow, but He will use them to help us grow and depend on Him.