Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
The Easter holidays have come again and it’s Good Friday today! We’re still living in difficult times because of the current pandemic – please keep safe – but I’m happy to be enjoying the Easter weekend for this year. It’s another opportunity to remember the superb news about Jesus saving us!
For my Good Friday post today, I’m sharing a quick review on a book that I’ve cherished since it was published in 1997. It’s a book about ‘The Easter Story’. The book is by Stephanie Jeffs and has illustrations by John Haysom. It’s a Tamarind Book and it tells the true story about Easter very well. 🙂
I remember my Dad reading this book to me and my Mum when we were spending Easter time one year. It must have been around the year 2000 when my Dad read the book to us. The first edition of ‘The Easter Story’ book came out in 1997 before it was reprinted in 2000. I’ve such happy memories.
I loved seeing the twelve wonderful illustrations by John Haysom each in turn in the book. They depicted the week that led to Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, which many Christians celebrate every year on Good Friday and Easter Sunday over the Easter weekend.
Let me share with you what each of the illustrations are and what story they tell. The book begins with an introduction sharing what the Easter story is about and who Jesus was when he was born in Bethlehem for the first Christmas day before he grew up and spread the news about knowing God. 🙂
The first illustration looks at ‘Jesus the King’ when he rode on a donkey into Jerusalem, marking what many of us know as Palm Sunday. This is taken from Chapter 21, verses 1 to 11 from Matthew’s Gospel. The picture depicts the glorious entry of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Next we have Jesus going to the temple where he became angry with people who were making profit and turning it into ‘a den of thieves’. Jesus was angry because the temple is meant to be God’s house – a house of prayer. 😐 This is taken from Chapter 21, verses 12 to 14 from Matthew’s Gospel.
We then have the illustration of a woman pouring a jar of perfume on Jesus’ head. This is taken from Matthew’s Gospel again in Chapter 26, verses 6 to 16. The disciples were outraged by the woman pouring an expensive jar of perfume on Jesus’ head. Jesus tells them she did something beautiful. 🙂
The fourth illustration looks into Jesus being ‘the servant king’ as he washes the feet of his disciples before the Passover meal. This is taken from John’s Gospel in Chapter 13, verses 1 to 20. The disciples didn’t understand why Jesus washed their feet. He told them he did it to make them clean.
Up next is ‘the Last Supper’ where Jesus broke bread for his disciples and he told them the bread is his body and they must eat it in memory of him. He also gave them wine to drink as it represented his blood. This is taken from John, Chapter 13, verses 21 to 30 and Luke, Chapter 22, verses 14 to 23.
We move to where Jesus was alone in the Garden of Gethsemane as he prayed whilst his disciple fell asleep. Jesus is soon captured by men armed with clubs and swords and he was betrayed by one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, with a kiss. 😐 This is taken Matthew’s Gospel in Chapters 26, verses 31-56.
The seventh illustration is about Jesus being a prisoner and his disciple Simon Peter was spotted by people outside Caiaphas’ house. Peter denied knowing Jesus three times, which was what Jesus had predicted before the cock crowed. 😦 This is taken from Luke’s Gospel in Chapters 22, verses 54 to 62.
The following illustration shows Jesus being mistreated by the chief priests and the Romans as he gets a crown of thorns put on his head. Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor soon gave the order for Jesus to be crucified when rejected by so many people. This is from John, Chapter 19, verses 1 to 17.
We then have the sad part of the story from Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 23, verses 32 to 43 and John’s Gospel, Chapter 19, verses 25 to 30 where Jesus, along with two others was put on a cross on a hillside. As some wept and mourned for Jesus, he soon breathed his last before he died on the cross.
The Easter story does conclude on a happy note as Mary Magdalene, three days later, sees the entrance to Jesus’ tomb rolled away and she soon sees Jesus appear before her. Jesus defied death after dying on the cross for us. This is taken from John’s Gospel in Chapter 20, verses 1 and 1 to 16. 🙂
The news soon spread to everyone who knew Jesus that he was alive and brought back from the dead. One of his disciples, Thomas, disbelieved the news, before he appeared to his disciples in one room, proving that he was still alive. This is taken from John’s Gospel, Chapter 20, verses 19 to 29. 🙂
‘The Easter Story’ book concludes with ‘Breakfast on the Beach’ as Jesus calls to Simon Peter and other disciples who went fishing to catch some fish on the other side of their boat. Peter soon dived into the water to reunite with Jesus and they with the other disciples had some fish for breakfast. 😀
That’s taken from John’s Gospel, Chapter 21, verses 1 to 14 and the Book of Acts, Chapter 1, verses 4 to 8. Jesus told his disciples to share the good news about God and his kingdom; about him and about the Holy Spirit that can enter people’s lives. Jesus’ disciples soon spread the good news of Jesus to everybody.
‘The Easter Story’ book is a wonderful book to celebrate Easter and its true meaning when Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. I still hold fond memories of the book and look forward to checking out it again with reading the texts and seeing the lovely illustrations that depict Jesus in the Easter story. 🙂
I still follow by my favourite Bible verse – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life!” John Chapter 3 verse 16.
Happy Easter everyone! 🙂
Before you go, here’s a gallery of ‘The Easter Story’ illustrations by John Haysom.
Enjoy!
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
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