By: Samantha Szentmartoni
As my children grew to be old enough to understand the story of Easter, they also became old enough to expect an Easter basket. I struggled to make the Sunday morning Easter basket more rooted in the celebration of what Jesus did for us, instead of what cool things they might get. A moment of inspiration led to a new family tradition to help tie the two together.
Saturday night, after another reading of our Easter picture book of age appropriate images of crucifixion, burial and resurrection, I pulled out their empty baskets. We talked about the sins in our life that separated us from God, like ugly words or hitting our sister or not obeying Mama’s directions. We wrote the sins down on slips of paper and placed them in the empty baskets, burying them in the grass. I reminded them that Jesus took our sins to the cross and buried them in the tomb. When we came back in the morning, the tomb would be emptied of the sin in our life and instead filled with good things, like sweetness of Jesus living in our hearts. After bedtime, I made the switch.
They excitedly ran out the next morning to discover the dead things gone- and replaced with sweet things. I talked about the BIG switch Jesus made in my own heart. We prayed to thank Jesus for taking away the dead things at the cross and giving our hearts life.
After doing this, my four year started referring to ugly words as “Tomb words.” I’m thankful for the reminder about not only what our sin did, but also where Jesus left it. It allows for continual grace-centered sin discussions throughout the year, and not just at Easter.
The tomb is empty. He is risen. My sin is gone.