On Holy and Great Thursday we celebrate the Last Supper of Christ with His Disciples and their time in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Here is the Gospel reading for your children. It is in two parts:
It was a special holiday in Jerusalem, called Passover, and the disciples wanted to know: would they have a party with special prayers? They asked Christ: “Where do you want us to prepare the holiday dinner?”
Christ said: “Go into the city. You will find a man carrying a big container of water. Follow him, he will have a house where we can have the party.”
Two of the disciples, John and Peter, went and found everything Christ had told them. Then Christ came with the rest of the disciples and they sat very close to each other around the table.
The disciples had spent the whole day walking around the city and their feet were VERY dirty. But, there was no servant to clean their feet. So Jesus filled up a container with water and took out a towel and started to wash the disciples feet.
When He finished, He said: “Do you know what I have done? Even though I am God, I have served you. You must go out into the world, and you must help and serve everyone.”
All twelve disciples have been with Christ during all the time He traveled, taught, and performed miracles. They were all very close to each other.
All of the disciples loved Christ, except one: Judas, who received thirty pieces of silver, yesterday, to betray Jesus.
Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him.
As the night went on, Christ said to His disciples: “One of you will betray Me.” None of the disciples understood what was happening, except Judas. Christ went on, “Go and do what you are going to do already.”
And Judas got up and left the party.
During the rest of the dinner, Jesus took some bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples and said: “Take, Eat, This Is My Body!” Then He took the cup on wine, said thank you, gave it to the disciples, and said: “Drink Of It All Of You; This Is My Blood.”
For the very first time: Holy Communion was given. Christ Himself gave the Holy Communion to His disciples. He also told us to do this in His memory.
Discussion
Have you ever been to a special holiday party? What was it like?
When you eat, do you like to be near your family and friends? (Like at school and home?)
What do you think of Christ washing the dirty feet of His disciples? Would you ever do this for someone you love?
Where else do we hear Take, Eat, This is My Body and Drink of it all of You; This is My Blood? (Everytime we go to Liturgy, we hear this phrase, said by the Hierarch or Priest, before Communion. Christ gave this bread and wine to His disciples and everytime we have this Holy Meal in Church, we remember Christ.)
Let us continue with the rest of the Gospel story.
After the special dinner was finished, Jesus and His disciples left the house. They went to a garden that was outside of the city. It was a place where Christ went when He wanted to pray. Christ asked His disciples to stay and watch with Him while He prayed.
Christ prayed to God for a long time, He was feeling very sad. When He came back to His disciples, He found that three of them had fallen asleep! They woke up and Christ went again to pray.
He came back again, and the disciples had fallen asleep again!
At last Christ said: “Get up, we have to go. The man who betrayed Me is coming.”
As he said the last word, Judas came with a big group of soldiers.
Before coming, Judas told the soldiers: “I will show you who you will arrest, I will kiss Him.”
So when Judas saw Christ in the Garden, he kissed Him on His cheek. And immediately the soldiers took Christ away. The disciples were so afraid, they ran away. Only Peter followed Christ for far away.
Discussion
When you pray to God, what do you pray for?
Why do you think the disciples fell asleep?
How did you feel when Judas kissed Christ and the soldiers took Him?
Tip: Tonight at the dinner table, I want you to have every person in your family share three things. 1. Something that they are thankful for. 2. Something that they love about another family member. 3. Something they struggled with today. Then during Evening Prayers, or before you go to bed, you can include everyone, and their struggles, in your prayers.
Craft
It is traditional on Holy Thursday to dye the eggs for Pascha.
Here is a short history on Pascha eggs and why we dye them red, although you can dye them any color you want!
Traditionally, Easter eggs are dyed throughout the Orthodox Christian world on Holy Thursday, and they are dyed red to represent the blood of Christ that was shed on the Cross, the white egg (before being dyed) represents the white tomb were Christ's body was laid after He was taken down from the Cross, and the hard shell of the egg symbolises the sealed tomb of Christ.
On Pascha Sunday, there is a tradition of tapping each others eggs symbolizing the 'cracking' of Christ's tomb and the bonds of death and His resurrection.
In the Orthodox faith, the red color of the eggs symbolizes several things. The Roman soldiers put a red cloak on Christ, as the King of the Jews, while mocking and torturing Him.
Also, two years after the Resurrection, Mary Magdalene was carrying a basket full of white eggs as she went to Jerusalem, and met up with Tiberius, the governor after Pontius Pilate, whom she welcomed to Jerusalem and wished him to be righteous to the people of Jerusalem, unlike his predecessor, who crucified the Son of God who was resurrected on the third day.
Tiberius replied that, if all she had told him of the resurrection and the miracles performed by Christ were true, the white eggs in her basket should turn red and then he would believe. And, the eggs turned red. Mary Magdalene gave one red egg to the governor Tiberius and took one herself, saying "Christ is Risen", to which he replied "Truly, he is risen".
In another account, a woman who did not believe in the Resurrection of Christ said "if the white eggs I am holding turn red, then I will believe", and the eggs miraculously turned red.
Still yet, the red color symbolizes the joy of the Resurrection.
On Holy Thursday, let us be close to those that we love, as Christ was with His disciples. Let us be attentive to them and pray for them. Let us remember how Christ prayed to God, and let us not be like the disciples that fell asleep. Let us be examples to our children of how to pray and listen to God. And remember to keep in your prayers all Orthodox Christians in our families, and throughout the world everywhere this Holy Week.
