Hi all!

Today we begin our Easter stories. Today’s story can be found in Matthew 21.

Jesus was coming to Jerusalem for Passover (the biggest holiday of the year where the Israelites remembered how God led them out of Egypt away from the bad Pharaoh.)

Jesus sent two of His disciples into the city to find a donkey for Him to ride into town. Jesus had told the people He would be their king, so the Israelites expected Jesus to come on a big horse with a crown. They thought He would get rid of the rulers in Israel and He would be their king. But Jesus came to be King of our HEARTS. He came to serve us and to love us, so instead of coming on a big fancy horse, He rode into town on a little donkey.

Lots of people came to see Jesus! They put their coats on the ground so Jesus and His donkey wouldn’t get all dirty and dusty. They waved branches from the palm trees and shouted “Hosanna!” Which is a way to praise God. “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Many people were very excited to see Jesus, but the leaders were not. They thought Jesus was coming to take their place. “WE are supposed to be the most important people around here!” they whined. “We MUST get rid of Him!” And so they started to make a plan to kill Jesus.

That was exactly what God was planning. God knew Jesus had to die in order to take our sins (bad choices against God) away from us. The people didn’t know that yet, but Jesus knew. He was coming to Jerusalem to save ALL our hearts.

For our craft today we made palm branches. We cut out palm branch shapes from green construction paper and then practiced fringing with scissors. Then we wrote the word “Hosanna” (the kids spelled it how they wanted).

Thanks for joining us today! Love to you all!