For Parents To Teach To Their Children
What a miracle! Jesus raises his friend, Lazarus, from the dead, as people–witnesses–watch as they look on. Jesus gives Lazarus a chance to live again. He’ll be able to be with his sisters, Mary and Martha, and be able to thank his beloved friend, Jesus, for this great gift. And, like all of us, Lazarus will die–again!–when his time comes. The witnesses who watched Jesus raise Lazarus, believed in him.
What an extraordinary story. Because the Gospel about “Lazarus” is long, I have included a simpler version for younger children. I drew simple pen and ink drawings to highlight the significant events of this story. I find drawings and photos to be very helpful in learning new material. Perhaps your child or children would like to illustrate one of the scenes from “The Raising of Lazarus.” The event of raising Lazarus immediately precedes Jesus’ arrival into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
“Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.”
Source: USCCB.org
Our Art Gallery
Jesus Raises Lazarus
Our Prayer
Our Readings
“The Raising of Lazarus”
Source: USCCB.org “John Chapter 11:1-44
Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany,
the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil
and dried his feet with her hair;
it was her brother Lazarus who was ill.
So the sisters sent word to him saying,
‘Master, the one you love is ill.’
hen Jesus heard this he said,
‘This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
‘Let us go back to Judea.’
The disciples said to him,
‘Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you,
and you want to go back there?’
Jesus answered,
‘Are there not twelve hours in a day?
If one walks during the day, he does not stumble,
because he sees the light of this world.
But if one walks at night, he stumbles,
because the light is not in him.’
He said this, and then told them,
‘Our friend Lazarus is asleep,
but I am going to awaken him.’
So the disciples said to him,
‘Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.’
But Jesus was talking about his death,
while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep.
So then Jesus said to them clearly,
‘Lazarus has died.
And I am glad for you that I was not there,
that you may believe.
Let us go to him.’
So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples,
‘Let us also go to die with him.’
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus
had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away.
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
‘Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.’
Jesus said to her,
‘Your brother will rise.’
Martha said to him,
‘I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.’
Jesus told her,
‘I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?’
She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.’
When she had said this,
she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying,
‘The teacher is here and is asking for you.’
As soon as she heard this,
she rose quickly and went to him.
For Jesus had not yet come into the village,
but was still where Martha had met him.
So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her
saw Mary get up quickly and go out,
they followed her,
presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him,
she fell at his feet and said to him,
‘Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.’
When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping,
he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said,
‘Where have you laid him?’
They said to him, ‘Sir, come and see.’
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him.’
But some of them said,
‘Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?’
So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him,
‘Lord, by now there will be a stench;
he has been dead for four days.’
Jesus said to her,
‘Did I not tell you that if you believe
you will see the glory of God?’
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus raised his eyes and said,
‘Father, I thank you for hearing me.
I know that you always hear me;
but because of the crowd here I have said this,
that they may believe that you sent me.’
And when he had said this,
He cried out in a loud voice,
‘Lazarus, come out!’
The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them,
‘Untie him and let him go.’
“Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.”
A Reading for Younger Children
An Excerpt from “The Catholic Bible for Children“ By Karine-Marie Amiot, Francoise Campagnac, and Christophe Raimbault, Pages 182-183, “The Raising of Lazarus”
“The Raising of Lazarus”
“Martha was in tears: ‘My brother Lazarus Lazarus has just died.
You could have saved him, Jesus, but you’ve arrived to0 late.’
Jesus wept over the death of his friend.
Jesus prayed to God before the tomb of Lazarus.
Then, he shouted, ‘Lazarus, come out!’
And Lazarus did come out.
Many who saw what Jesus did believed in him.”
Our Art Project–A Jerusalem Cross
To me, the stained glass window below looks like an opening to a cave or an ancient tomb. The cross inside the stained glass window is a Jerusalem Cross, and is a photo I took while visiting Jerusalem. The drawing next to the window is a copy of the Jerusalem Cross. Even though the Jerusalem Cross came many years after the death of Jesus, it now in a church in Jerusalem and is a symbol of Christ, the Son of the Father.
I used three gel crayons–black, yellow and red on white paper. Any type of art supplies will be fine, too. Please feel free to make a stained glass window using cut paper and glue on black paper. Both ideas will help your child think of Jesus and the city of Jerusalem.
Week Twenty-Nine–Suggested Homework Activities
Please read with your child the following from MagnifiKid! March 21, 2021:
The Kyrie
“Kyrie eleison” is Greek for ‘Lord, have mercy.’
It is a very old prayer that we use to say that we are sorry for our sins.
We ask the Lord to have mercy on us because we are weak.
God forgives us and helps us.
Then we are ready to listen to his Word and to receive his Body and Blood.”
Growing in God’s friendship
“This week, on your way to school each morning (or preparing to work at home)
say this little prayer to the Holy Spirit:
‘Holy Spirit, teach me to pray and help me to love…
Draw me closer to Jesus and make me a friend of God.”
Your prayer after Communion
“After receiving Holy Communion, you can say this prayer silently to yourself.
If you have not yet received your First Holy Communion, you can still say this prayer because of your desire to receive Jesus:”
“Father, through Jesus Christ, in union with the whole Church, I thank you for coming into my heart.
Thank you for drawing us here today and writing your law on our hearts.
May this Communion in the Body and Blood of your Son strengthen us, and make us bear fruit for your glory.”
