Family Holy Week DevotionalSample

READ TOGETHER

Take a moment and imagine that you are one of Jesus’ disciples, two thousand years ago on this Saturday. Yesterday, the man who said he was God’s Son, was killed. You were with Jesus almost every day for the past three years. He taught you things you never knew before and helped you understand the Kingdom of God! He healed people who were sick and performed miracles and did amazing things, but now…he’s gone. How would you be feeling? Probably confused and sad. Maybe even scared. Jesus told you before he died that he would rise again, but you’re not sure if you believe him. It’s never happened before. And you don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Jesus’ disciples weren’t sure what to do once Jesus died. They also weren’t allowed to “do” much of anything on this day because Saturday was the Sabbath for the Jewish people. The Sabbath was a special day set aside to rest, which meant they didn’t do any sort of work. There were many strict rules around what was allowed to be done on that day. The women who helped care for Jesus weren’t even allowed to walk to the tomb and prepare his body to be buried properly. Saturday was just a day of waiting and of great sadness.

Sometimes it can feel like this in our lives, too. Bad things happen that we don’t understand. Maybe someone you know is sick, or someone you love died. It can be hard to understand why we have to feel so sad or worried. The good news is that we know what will happen tomorrow (Shhh! Whisper it: Easter is coming!). So it’s okay to feel lonely or scared or disappointed when something hard happens. But because we know what the disciples didn’t, that Jesus WILL rise again, we can trust God in the waiting. We can know that He is good. Even when life is hard.

TALK TOGETHER

1 - When was a time that you were sad or scared or worried about something? Tell why you felt that way.

2 - What can we do as a family to trust that God is good? When have we seen God’s goodness even in hard times?

PRAY TOGETHER 

Dear God, it can be hard to understand why bad things happen. Thank you for still loving us even when we feel sad, scared, or worried. We believe that you are good! Help us to choose to trust you, even in the hard parts of life. We love you! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.