Year A
Second Sunday of Easter
Theme
The Easter Story
Points to note
This
Sunday’s story continues on from that of Palm Sunday. As such, it is recommended that you refer to
the leaflet for Palm Sunday. Where the
Passion story ends with Jesus being placed in the tomb, the Easter story picks
up from early morning two days later.
What happens in the intervening period remains in the realms of the
mysteries of faith.
The
setting of the story changes. The
Passion story was one of a long continuous heavy drama. The Easter story is one many short episodes
pieced together. The Passion story was
threaded into one flowing narrative. The
Easter story seems more chaotic, with few connections between the
episodes. Perhaps, the Passion story is
more reflective of God’s organised plan, while the Easter story is our story,
of the disorganised mortals who were our ancestors in faith.
The
mood of the story also changes. The
Passion story propels itself forward with by the force of its gripping
drama. If told well, the children should
be tensed but riveted at the end of it.
The Easter story moves quicksilver-like from one episode to
another. On the one hand, the shortness
of the episodes is more in line with the children’s attention span. With one story after the other, the constant
shifting in the story line may prove detrimental. The storyteller must be prepared to lengthen
the more exciting episodes or drop the less exciting ones.
The
end to the story is also crucial. The
Passion story ended on a sombre note, perhaps even a defeatist note. Even for those of us who know of the
resurrection round the corner, we can’t but help feel downcast when we hear of
Jesus entombed. The Easter story,
however, must end very positively. The
first bishops of our Church stand poised on the tidal wave of evangelising
fervour that will one day engulf much of the world. The end of the Easter story must paint a
picture of the apostles bravely facing the unknown future, a hostile world, but
also a great adventure about to begin.
Liturgy
As
with Palm Sunday, the liturgy should be kept simple.
Story
As
with Palm Sunday, I will not set the exact wording of the story but will
outline the various episodes and indicate the parts that must be told in regular print.
Optional parts are in italics.
The
Easter story is basically contained in the last chapter in each Gospel (the
last two in Jn). You should read them
for yourself if you are not too familiar.
Note however that the sequence of stories in each of the Gospels is a
little different and you may have to work out the sequence into a unified
story. I have also included a few
apocryphal stories about the apostles I have found interesting. The only problem is when children ask where
you got the apocryphal stories. Well,
you find your own answers to that one.
Easter
morning: the empty tomb
Early
Sunday morning when it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. This is not Mary the mother of Jesus. She
found the stone at the door to the tomb rolled away, and looking inside, she
saw that it was empty. She ran off to
tell the apostles.
Peter
and John went to the tomb. John ran
ahead of Peter and got there first but he let Peter enter before him. They saw the tomb empty and remembered
that Jesus had told them that he would rise again.
Mary
Magdalene and Jesus
Mary
stood outside, weeping. When she looked
in, she saw two angels who asked why she was crying. She replied that someone had taken her Lord
away and she doesn’t know where they have put him.
When
she went outside, she met Jesus but did not recognise him. Thinking that he was the gardener, she asked
where he had put Jesus. Jesus called her
by her name and she recognised Jesus. Quote
Jesus: My sheep know me. Jesus will always call us by our name, as God
did with Abraham, Samuel and the others.
But Jesus told her not to cling to him but to tell the others the good
news. Discuss that if anyone had good
news, wouldn’t they want to tell the other people?
Mary
ran off to tell the apostles the good news, but nobody believed her!! Well, would you? If someone were to tell you that the chap who
died last week was seen around, would you believe him?
Easter
afternoon: the road to Emmaus
Two
disciples went off on a journey to a nearby town, Emmaus. Jesus came up to them but they didn’t
recognise him. Link this with Mary in
the earlier story. Jesus asked what
they were discussing and they told him about the crucifixion and the reports
that he had been seen but they were unsure about the reports. Jesus explained to them the passages in the
Bible about himself. When they arrived
at Emmaus, the two disciples invited Jesus to stay with them for supper. When he broke the bread, they recognised
him. Link this with the words during
the institutional narrative at mass, “Do this in memory of me”. But he disappeared from their sight.
Easter
evening: Jesus and Thomas
That
evening, the apostles were all gathered in a locked room because they were
afraid. Jesus walked through the door and had supper with them. His first words to them were “Peace be with
you”, the same words we use at mass.
Thomas
was not there that evening. When they
told him about
it,
he refused to believe “Unless I put my finger into the holes in his hands and
my hand into the hole in his side, I refuse to believe”. The next Sunday, they were gathered likewise
and Jesus walked through the door again.
Thomas fell at the feet of Jesus and proclaimed him “My Lord and my
God”. He was the first person to have
called Jesus God.
Stories
of the Apostles
Jesus
stayed with the apostles for forty days before ascending to heaven. Ten days later, he sent the Holy Spirit on
them on Pentecost day. Greatly
strengthened, the apostles went out to the world and told them about Jesus.
The
following stories are not biblical:
The
apostles drew lots to see where they would go.
Peter went to Rome and became the first bishop of Rome. Once, when he was running away to escape from
soldiers, he saw Jesus walking the other direction. When he asked Jesus where he was going, Jesus
replied that he was going to Rome to be crucified again. Peter was so ashamed of himself that he ran
ahead of Jesus and was arrested. He told
the soldiers that he should be crucified upside-down as he was not worthy to be
crucified like Jesus.
Thomas
was chosen to go to India. He didn’t
want to because it was so far away.
Jesus visited him in a dream, but still he told Jesus, “Anywhere Lord
but India”. The next morning, Jesus was
at the harbour and asked the captain of a ship if he needed a slave, pointing
out to him Thomas. The captain called
Thomas over and asked him if Jesus was his master. When Thomas said yes, the captain said he had
bought him and Thomas was going to India.
Thomas went and made many Christians there.
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