Chapter 4, Part 1: Did Jesus really die?
The empty tomb · Lesson 1 of 3 · About 27 minutes · Grades 1–5
The Evidence for Jesus · A lesson for grades 1–5The empty tomb
Big questionDid Jesus really die?
By the end, kids can
- Give reasons we know Jesus really died: Roman soldiers who did it for a living, a spear, and Pilate checking with the centurion.
- Explain why “he only fainted” doesn't fit the facts.
- Know that the first Christians put the cross first: “Christ died for our sins.”
- Start learning the memory verse: Matthew 28:6 (grades 3–4: John 11:25; grade 5+: 1 Corinthians 15:20).
You'll need
- This part's one-page worksheet for each child's level (grades 1–2, 3–4, or 5), handed out at the start
- Pencils
- A screen with sound and internet: the clips come from the video “Did Jesus Really Die on the Cross?”
Before you teach
This lesson plays one of the chapter's video lessons in clips. Its page makes the same case for teens and adults, with every source written out: watch it to prepare, or use it with older kids and youth groups. Click a part to go to its slide:
- Did Jesus really die on the cross? The cross and the swoon theory · In class: Friday, Outside the Bible, Test it, Good news
The lesson
- 2 min Warm-up: did he really die?
- 2 min Memory verse
- 7 min A real death: watch (1 minute), talk, and the worksheet
- 3 min Even his enemies say so: watch (under a minute), then talk
- 5 min “He only fainted”: watch (1 minute), then talk
- 1 min A quick check
- 4 min Good news: watch (1 minute), then he did it for you
- 3 min Memory verse again, talk, and pray
Worksheets
Print this lesson's one-page sheet for each child, at their level. They fill it in as you go: the ✎ Worksheet sticker on a slide says which part goes with it.
Send it home
After class, share the one-minute Short with families, to watch together and talk about this week:
Answer key
The worksheets don't print their answers. Here they all are, and on the slide before the credits.
Grades 1–2
- True or false? 1. F 2. T 3. T 4. F
Grades 3–4
- Friday, in order: 1. Jesus is crucified at nine in the morning. 2. Jesus cries out and breathes his last. 3. A soldier pierces Jesus's side with a spear. 4. Pilate checks with the centurion. 5. Joseph lays the body in a tomb.
Grade 5+
- Check the record: dead, centurion, two, Conqueror
Presenting
Each part opens with a ▶ Watch slide that plays a clip of the 6-minute video “Did Jesus Really Die on the Cross? The Evidence, and the Swoon Theory” right on the slide: read the two questions, then click (or press →, or use a clicker) to play the clip. The slides wait while it plays and stops by itself; click twice to stop it early. Then click to show the answers. The clips need an internet connection.
Click the slide, or press → or Space (a clicker works too), to show the next thing; ← goes back, even while a clip plays. F presents full screen (Esc leaves it). P opens the presenter view, a second window with your notes, the next slide, and a timer, that moves with the slides: put it on your laptop and the slides on the projector. N shows the notes under the slides.
Your script
The empty tomb
Say: Last chapter we saw that Jesus was a real man, and that he said he was God. If that's true, everything rides on one question: did he rise from the dead?
Say: We'll take it in three parts, one short video each. Today is Part 1. Before anyone can rise, he has to die. So: did Jesus really die?
Did he really die?
Ask: Why would it matter whether Jesus really died? (If he never died, he never rose from the dead.)
Say: Let's look at what happened on Friday, and who was there.
Clicks: 1. the line “If he never died, he never rose. So let's go back to Friday and look.”
Sources: Swoon hypothesis
Memory verse
Do: Read it together three times. Then add motions: “he is not here” (shake your head and point to the floor), “he has risen” (arms up high), “just as he said” (hand by your mouth, then a thumbs up).
Say: An angel said this to the women at the empty tomb. Jesus had told his friends he would rise, and he did. We'll say it in all three parts of this chapter.
Older kids: Grades 3–4 learn John 11:25 and grade 5+ learns 1 Corinthians 15:20. They're on their worksheets.
Friday · Watch: A real death
Do: Read the two questions out loud, then click to play the clip. It's about a minute and stops by itself.
Ask after: Why didn't they break his legs? Who told Pilate? Click once for each answer.
Prepare: Before class, watch the video lesson this clip comes from, with every source written out: “Did Jesus really die on the cross?”
Clicks: 1. play the clip (it stops by itself) · 2. the answer to 1: He was already dead. · 3. the answer to 2: The centurion, the officer who ran the execution.
Sources: Mark 15:15–37 · John 19:31–35 · Mark 15:42–45
He really died
Say: Mark says, “It was nine in the morning when they crucified him.” At three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out and breathed his last.
Say: Before the Sabbath, soldiers came to break the legs of the men on the crosses, so they would die before sunset. Jesus was already dead, so they didn't. A soldier pierced his side with a spear instead. And Pilate, surprised he was dead already, checked with the centurion before he let Joseph of Arimathea take the body.
Ask: Why would Pilate check? (He wanted to be sure. These men knew death when they saw it.)
Worksheet: Grades 1–2 circle T or F now. Grades 3–4 number Friday's events in order; the times are in their story.
Worksheet answers: Grades 1–2, True or false?: 1. F 2. T 3. T 4. F
Worksheet answers: Grades 3–4, Friday, in order: 1. Jesus is crucified at nine in the morning. 2. Jesus cries out and breathes his last. 3. A soldier pierces Jesus's side with a spear. 4. Pilate checks with the centurion. 5. Joseph lays the body in a tomb.
Clicks: 1. the line “Pilate checked with the centurion before he gave Joseph the body.”
Sources: Mark 15:25 · John 19:31–35 · Mark 15:42–45
Outside the Bible · Watch: Even his enemies say so
Say: It isn't only the Bible that says so. Listen for people who had no reason to agree.
Do: Read the two questions out loud, then click to play the clip. It's under a minute.
Ask after: Which Roman wrote about it? What did Crossan say? Click once for each answer.
Prepare: Before class, watch the video lesson this clip comes from, with every source written out: “Did Jesus really die on the cross?”
Clicks: 1. play the clip (it stops by itself) · 2. the answer to 1: Tacitus, who despised Christians. · 3. the answer to 2: “That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be.”
Sources: Tacitus, Annals 15.44 · Josephus, Antiquities 18.63–64 (Whiston) · Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (1994), p. 145, as quoted in Crucifixion of Jesus
Test it · Watch: “He only fainted”
Say: Still, some say he survived. Let's test it.
Do: Read the two questions out loud, then click to play the clip. It's about 1 minute.
Ask after: How many of Josephus's friends lived? Why couldn't a half-dead man explain it? Click once for each answer.
Prepare: Before class, watch the video lesson this clip comes from, with every source written out: “Did Jesus really die on the cross?”
Clicks: 1. play the clip (it stops by itself) · 2. the answer to 1: One. Two of the three still died. · 3. the answer to 2: He could never have made frightened men ready to die for “He is risen.”
Sources: Josephus, Life 75 · Strauss, A New Life of Jesus, vol. 1 (1879) · Swoon hypothesis
Friday was a real death
Say: Jesus was taken down only after the soldiers and the centurion said he was dead, and after a spear in his side. Then he was wrapped in linen and laid in a cold tomb, with no one tending him.
Say: David Strauss, a German scholar who didn't believe in the resurrection, saw the problem: a man who “crept about weak and ill, wanting medical treatment” could never have seemed “a Conqueror over death and the grave.” A half-dead man might win pity. He couldn't make anyone brave.
Ask: So did Jesus faint, or die? (He died. Whatever happened on Sunday, Friday was a real death.)
Worksheet: Grade 5+ fills in the record now; every answer is in their story.
Worksheet answers: Grade 5+, Check the record: dead, centurion, two, Conqueror
Clicks: 1. the line “Jesus had a spear in his side, and lay in a cold tomb with no one to tend him.”
Sources: Josephus, Life 75 · Strauss, A New Life of Jesus, vol. 1 (1879) · Mark 15:46
True or false?
Do: Read each one and have kids stand up for true and sit down for false. Click to stamp each answer.
Answers: 1. False. 2. False. 3. True. 4. True.
Clicks: 1. the answer to 1: False. Roman soldiers made sure he was dead. · 2. the answer to 2: False. He was already dead, so they didn't. · 3. the answer to 3: True. He asked the centurion. · 4. the answer to 4: True. Tacitus did.
Good news · Watch: Buried, for you
Say: Jesus was buried in a real tomb, by a real man. Watch who saw where, and why it all matters.
Do: Read the two questions out loud, then click to play the clip. It's about 1 minute.
Ask after: Who watched? Why did Jesus die? Click once for each answer.
Prepare: Before class, watch the video lesson this clip comes from, with every source written out: “Did Jesus really die on the cross?”
Clicks: 1. play the clip (it stops by itself) · 2. the answer to 1: Two women: Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph. · 3. the answer to 2: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”
Sources: Mark 15:43–47 · 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 · Isaiah 53:5
He did it for you
Say: The first Christians didn't hide the cross. They put it first: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day.”
Say: If he really died, then he went all the way down into death. Not a fainting spell, not a trick. And the Bible says he did it for you.
Say: Read Mark chapter 15 this week, slowly. When you reach the cross, talk to him.
Ask: What would you like to say to Jesus about the cross?
Clicks: 1. the line “Jesus went all the way down into death, for our sins. And everyone knew which tomb to check on Sunday.”
Sources: 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 · Isaiah 53:5 · Mark 15
Say it again
Do: Say the verse together with the motions, then try it with eyes closed.
Say: Friday wasn't the end. That's what this verse is about, and it's where we go next time.
Worksheet: Everyone reads their own memory verse on the sheet and colors a star each time they say it. Next time we'll fill in its missing words.
Talk and pray
Do: Talk about one or two of the questions, then pray together. Kids can repeat the prayer one line at a time.
Say: Next time, Part 2: Sunday morning. The women went back to the tomb. Was it really empty?
Do: Send the worksheets home, with this part's one-minute Short for families. The link is in your guide, under “Send it home.”
Clicks: 1. the prayer
Answer key
Do: Show this when kids check their work, or keep it on your laptop in the presenter view. The worksheets don't print their answers, so this is the key.
Pictures and Scripture
Every picture on these slides, with its credit, license, and a link to its source.