“Tell the Easter Story,” Friend, April 2025, 24–25.

Tell the Easter Story

By Lucy Stevenson Ewell

Put on this Easter program with your family! Choose readers for each part. Then gather these or similar items to hold up for each part of the story.

The week before Jesus Christ died, He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people waved palm branches and shouted “Hosanna!” (See Mark 11:8–9.) The word hosanna means “save us now.”
A few days later, the Savior gave His Apostles the sacrament. He took bread and blessed it and broke it in pieces. He also passed around a cup for them to drink from. He said, “This do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19).
Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane. He suffered for all our sins, pains, and sorrows. He prayed, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).
Soldiers came to take Jesus away. They “put on him a scarlet robe” and “a crown of thorns” (Matthew 27:28, 29). They mocked Him and hurt Him.
They put nails in the Lord’s hands and feet. On the cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
After Jesus Christ died, His followers laid His body in a tomb and rolled a large stone in front of the door (see Mark 15:46). Guards watched the tomb to make sure no one moved the stone.
After three days, women brought spices to take care of Jesus’s body. They saw that the stone had been moved from the tomb. An angel told them, “Fear not” (Matthew 28:5).
He lives! The tomb was empty because Jesus Christ was resurrected. The angel said, “He is not here: for he is risen” (Matthew 28:6). Because of the Savior, we will all live again after we die.