Is Easter Too Violent for Kids?

— Monday, April 2nd, 2012 —

Every year, around this time, parents and churches ponder how to communicate the Easter story to children, as something more than dyed eggs. The problem is, of course, that it’s impossible to talk about the resurrection of Jesus without talking about death. And, in the case of Jesus, it’s really hard to talk about death without talking about crucifixion.

Some churches resolve this tension by deeming the cross too violent for kids. They talk instead about Easter meaning that Jesus is our “forever friend.” They say that Jesus “went away for a little while, and his friends were sad,” but that he soon “came back to see them.”

Most Christian churches, thankfully, still speak on Easter of the cross and the resurrection, but in many places this is, well, precisely because it’s Easter. The story seems particularly strange to the children in such places because “Jesus is my forever friend” is the standard fare the rest of the year.

We need to understand that this temptation isn’t just related to children, although we see it perhaps most explicitly there.The temptation that comes to all of us, in every era of the church, is to have Jesus, without seeing ourselves in the gore of his bloody cross and the glory of his empty grave. In the way that we speak of Him to our children, or to skeptics, or to seekers, we sometimes believe we’ll gain more of a hearing if we present Him as teacher but not as a former corpse. It is too disturbing, we think to ourselves, too weird.

Peter thought that way too. Not the bold preacher of Pentecost, mind you, but the Peter of just a short time before that, the Peter of Caesarea Philippi. Peter certainly knew Jesus as friend, and he had just confessed that He was Messiah and Son of the living God. But when Jesus began to teach that He must “suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised,” Peter was outraged (Matt 16:21).

Peter was no preschooler, but he was disturbed. Matthew tells us that he began to rebuke Jesus. His cognitive development was not yet to the point where he could understand such things. This will never happen, Peter said. He loved Jesus. He wanted to be with Jesus. He wanted to stand with Jesus. He just didn’t want the Jesus of the cross or the empty tomb. Jesus didn’t call this shallow theology. He didn’t call it inadequate teaching. He called it Satan (Matt 16:23).

Our children need to hear the Gospel. They need to see Jesus. That means they need to see both sides of skull place. That’s graphic, sure. It’s confusing, of course. And not just for kids. But it is the only message that saves. It’s the only message that prepares one for salvation. It is, as Paul says, that which is “of first importance,” the message he received from Jesus Himself (1 Cor 15:3-4).

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is the Gospel. That’s the first word. If we cannot speak of that, we would be better off not speaking of Jesus at all, rather than presenting another Christ, one who meditates but does not mediate, who counsels but is not crucified, who is accessible but not triumphant over sin and death.

The apostle Paul told us the word of the cross would be folly to those who are perishing (1 Cor 1:18). He didn’t warn us that it would sometimes also be folly to those who are publishing. No matter. It is still the power of God

This Easter, preach the Gospel… to the senior citizens, to the middle-aged, to the young adults, to the teenagers, to the seekers, to the hardened unbelievers, to the whole world. And, yes, preach the Gospel to the preschoolers.

(Image Credit)

This was originally posted on April 21, 2011.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 2nd, 2012 at 11:41 am and is filedunder Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

22 Responses to “Is Easter Too Violent for Kids?”

Bruce H. April 2nd, 2012 at 11:57 am
I agree that the full message needs to be taught from preschoolers on up. Graphics are not necessary since we have a mind that has experiential graphics to recall that would be used to identify the shedding of blood, death, burial and resurrection on a child’s level.

Our church has “Upward Soccer”. Upward.org is a sport activity for churches that has the games and presents the gospel, too. I gave a short devotion during half-time about playing to win. I said there has to be a loser and we have to know how to lose the right way, too. After the game the kids were told there were no winners or losers. It seems we try to protect the little hearts in everything we do now days, even church.

Kids really need lessons in reality and where else to start but the cross.
Mike Hall April 2nd, 2012 at 3:53 pm
This is exactly what I have been saying for several years. It is really unbiblical to claim to be teaching children the gospel when you omit the crucifixion. I hear what pastors and church leaders heavily influenced by secular psychologists say when they claim it is harmful to children. You must, however, choose which is more harmful, being truthful with children about Christ’s death or placing their eternal souls in jeopardy by omission. Thanks for reminding us to be faithful to the cross in a culture that would just as soon focus on Jesus as “my homeboy”.
Luke Johnson April 2nd, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Thanks so much! I pray for more biblical teaching at all age levels, especially a clear presentation of the gospel. It’s the power of God for salvation to all ages.
God's Man April 3rd, 2012 at 10:00 am
I agree that in order to preach the gospel we have to go from His life to His Death and then to His Resurrection.

Here is a situation that I am trying to navigate right now. What do you think about about showing clips from the Passion of Christ during your Easter services? That is a debate that we are having right now. I lean on the side of not showing it. My argument has been largely on the fact that showing this might be too much for the younger children in the sanctuary.

What do you folks think?

Deitra Brunner in reply April 3rd, 2012 at 11:31 am
@God’s Man, Were there any children who walked through the Red Sea and turned and saw the overthrow of the Egyptian army? Were there any children in the wilderness when the earth opened up and swallowed a whole family? Were there any children during any of the plagues in the wilderness? Were there any children who saw their playmates being killed by the sword during satan’s attempt to kill Jesus after His birth?
God said for us to teach our children and what is it that we are supposed to teach our children? The truth. If we don’t teach the truth, you can best believe satan has no problem teaching them the lie…and he has been quite successful. It is time for us to stop sitting around waiting; waiting for that better time, waiting for our children to get older, waiting…Being disobedient is the reason the children had to wander in the wilderness in the first place. I don’t know about you, but I’m no longer waiting on “man’s” permission to teach the truth, God already commanded it.

Bex in reply April 3rd, 2012 at 12:57 pm
@God’s Man,
There is a need for discernment between being gory and denying the cross. I believe what Dr. Moore is speaking against is the dumbing down of the gospel into a veggie-tale. There is a way of explaining the crucifixion without inducing nightmares and making people lose their lunch. Personally, I found the Passion too gory…

Sabine Leppanen in reply April 4th, 2012 at 4:08 am
@God’s Man, if my church were showing clips from the movie, *I* wouldn’t attend on Easter Sunday! I certainly wouldn’t want my grandchildren (who know about the crucifixion) to be there! I haven’t seen the movie and will never go and see it. I know it would be too much for me from what I’ve heard and read. I think it would be more appropriate for a Good Friday service, with clear warning that clips were to be shown so that people could leave their children at home. On Easter Sunday I want to be joyful about the Resurrection of the Christ!

More on topic: I do agree that children need to know about the crucifixion but *not* with a lot of detail. It was horrible enough to me as a child to know that Jesus was nailed to a cross (when the thought of just a nail going through my hand was almost too much to bear) and the horror of it grew as I got older and learned more details.

Darrel Denham in reply April 6th, 2012 at 10:29 pm
@God’s Man, I too am against showing the Mel Gibson catholic oriented film, but for quite different reasons. Isaiah 52:14 says: “So His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men”. Even with the most active imagination of man and the 3-D graphics of hollywood’s best, no one can portray the suffering that the Lord Jesus went through on the cross (His suffering was not just physical). Whatever man can produce will always be inadequate. Two: why would you tell a pre-teen a watered down version of the Gospel (leaving out Christ’s true sufferings is NOT the Gospel) and leave yourself with the problem of later “correcting” your previous statements concerning Jesus’ death? Your credibility is shot! Which version is this young person to believe? Best just to speak the plain truth and all of it at that-which one of us is editor-in-chief of the Gospel? The Holy Spirit is fully capable of using the Word of God to save sinners.
Tiffany Casey April 4th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Whether we like it or not, kids are being exposed to adult content and they always have been, just in different forms. Today’s forms are in the media. Glee was not appropriate for kids. Adult inuedo is appearing in more and more of they’re cartoons. My 7-year-old cousin has seen the Mummy movies, all of the Harry Potter movies, probably some of Twilight, and can sing songs by Rhianna. A 4-year-old once asked me if we could sing Lady Gaga during worship time. Kids are already seeing violence and evil in the world. We don’t need to sugar coat what Jesus did for them. I do think we need to be conscientious and appropriate in our approach. Some images are still too much for them to handle. I’m not going to show my kids The Passion of the Christ, but I have no problem telling them that Christ was beaten, made fun of, pierced, and bleeding - that He took the pain for them. They cannot understand how the good guy wins until they see the evil he has to overcome.

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