Easter Story

Farmer John was a kindly farmer. He had a bunch of farm animals out in the country. There was Hazel the cow, Jill and Belle, the goats, Lilly the sheep, and a bunch of chickens. All of the animals got along just fine, and spent their days eating the sweet green grass in the big pasture. All of the animals except for the red rooster, Flyer. While all the other chickens quietly ate their corn, Flyer would shove the hens around, and scold Farmer John. When the hens wandered off to lay eggs, Flyer would stomp the eggs, and break them. Farmer John would try to milk Hazel, and Flyer would pull her tail. When it was bedtime, and the hens went to bed, Flyer would shove them off the roost.

Everyone was getting tired of Flyer's antics. One day, Farmer John told the animals he was going to send Flyer away to live somewhere else. He was tired of the scolding, broken eggs, and sleepy hens. Everyone was so happy! "Send Flyer away, and we can all be happy again!" Said the goats, as Flyer ate the oats Farmer John had set out for them.

Then to everyone's surprise, the old rooster, Jack, came up and said, "What Flyer has done is wrong. No matter what I've told him, he won't listen. But don't send him away. I will take his punishment, and I will leave in his place."

"Why would you do this?" asked Lilly the sheep. "You have done nothing wrong. You didn't shove the hens, scold Farmer John, break eggs, or pull Hazel's tail. You don't steal food from the goats. We love having you around, you are such a gentle rooster."

Jack simply said, "It must be done."

Farmer John was very sad, because he loved Jack the rooster. He watched over all the hens, and was friends with everyone. Jack loved to sit in the green grass with the hens while they ate.

Then one of the hens came forward. She said, "I understand why Jack has to leave. I, too, am sad, but I understand. Let me explain. A long time ago, the world was in sin. Everyone acted like Flyer, they had turned away from the right way. The Father saw all that was going on, and felt very sad. He knew the punishment for sin was for us to die. But He wanted us to live. So the Father sent His only Son, Jesus, to teach us the right way to live. He wanted us to live the right way, to love Him above all else. He also wanted us to love each other, and not do mean things like Flyer does.

After Jesus taught us all this, he died on the cross for our sins. He took all our sins, and died on the cross as punishment for us! He loves us so much! After three days, He rose again! He took death away, so we can live in Heaven with Him forever! All you have to do is love Jesus with all your heart, all your soul, and all of your mind. After that, the rest comes easy. We celebrate the Resurrection on Easter. It's such a beautiful holiday, as if Jesus is saying, "don't worry, I still love you!"