You know I’m a big fan of hanging up Scripture in your house. I loved Truth in the Tinsel because our house was covered with decorations that showed the story of Christmas straight from the Bible. For this series, we will be making (or doing) things that will help us remember an aspect of the Easter story. Each of the activities will have to do with one of our 5 senses (2 each, 10 activities in all) hence the name, A Sense of the Resurrection! I pray our kids will use their senses to experience the greatest story every told!
Today we’re going to start at the beginning of the Easter story–when Mary anoints Jesus for burial. We sat down on the couch and read the story from both John 12 and Matthew 26 (some say its the same story in Luke 7). Jesus is at Simon the Leper’s house when Mary enters with an expensive jar of perfume which she breaks and pours over Jesus’ feet. Judas and many others are disgruntled at Mary’s waste when there are poor people to be fed. Jesus stands up for Mary and says that she is anointing him for burial.
As we read, I told the kids to listen to something you could smell, touch, taste, see or feel. Lydia started sniffing loudly when she heard the word perfume! That same part is what stuck out to me (and led me to this whole 5 senses idea). John 12:3 says, “And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” How cool to have a reminder of Jesus’ burial as a scent filling your house! So, we made our own reed diffusers to spread a beautiful perfume through our house.
All you need is some bamboo skewers (or actual reeds, of course), some small mouthed jars (mine were from a spice rack I found at the thrift store for $2) and some liquid potpurri (or make your own scent from essential oils, etc.). I found liquid potpurri at the dollar store and at Wal-Mart for $3. It’s not Scentsy, but it gets the job done!
As I cut the bamboo skewers to be a more manageable size, the kids decorated our jars. We grabbed some scrapbook paper, ribbon and cross stickers. They wrapped, tied and decorated all different designs until the jars looked beautiful enough to give as a gift!
As we wrapped (and actually, as we rode to the store to buy our “perfume”) we talked about the story. I asked them if they remembered another story of someone being anointed. “David!”, Lydia shouted. We discussed how David and Jesus were both kings and kings were anointed with oil. But why would Jesus be anointed on his feet and not his head?
Well, I don’t know if this is actually Biblical, or arguing from silence (a big no-no from my Bible College days), I think Mary anointed Jesus’ feet to give us a picture of our Servant King. Jesus was anointed as King and anointed for burial at the same time. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. In the next chapter of John, we actually see Jesus bending down to wash his own disciples feet. How appropriate for our King to have his feet anointed with oil. He is our servant King. The only King willing to die for His people.
When our perfume bottles were finished (filled with about an inch or two of the liquid potpurri & about 4 bamboo skewers), we put one in every room of our house. Now, hen we walk into a room and smell the beautiful scent, we will remember Jesus being anointed as our Servant King…as the one who would soon die for us!
The kids absolutely loved this and were so excited and appropriately serious when we talked about Mary, Jesus and anointing. That night we crawled into Asa’s bed and I was looking through our Beginning Reader’s Bible to see if this story was in there. Lydia said, “It’s in our Jesus book.” I said, “I don’t think so, Lydia. I would remember that.” Well, I guess my memory is slipping! Sure enough, she opened it up and found it!
Reading this story from the Jesus Storybook Bible was the perfect ending to our day. It was an emotional read…Mary taking Jesus’ feet in her hands, crying over them, wiping them with her hair and anointing Him for death. I’m excited that our perfume will be in the house for the next few weeks, so just as Mary prepared Jesus for burial, the scent of this perfume will help prepare our hearts for Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday!
Thank you, Jesus for being our Servant King! For dying for us, your people!
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Love it! Can’t wait to get the supplies to do it with the boys! Thanks! 🙂
Did this with my 4 older children this afternoon! LOVE it. The discussion was great. They turned out so sweet and now my house smells great! Thanks! Looking forward to the next activities…
Yay, Missy! That made my day!!
a
I’m so looking forward to doing this! I won’t be able to get the supplies today, but if you are only doing 10 days, that means that we could wait to do this for the 10 days directly before Easter, right?
Exactly! There are 20 days till Easter so I’ll finish in 10 and you’ll have 10 days left. Or you can pick up in a few days and be a couple days behind me! 🙂
a
beautiful thanks.
Amanda- You are so creative. I can’t wait to see this series. I’m going to put it in my treasure box to try next year! Thanks for sharing!
This is such a cute idea!!! I want to know what exactly is essential oil AND where can you get it? Bcuz i found something i wanted to make and it calls for essential oil. And i just may pick up a few extras of oils to make a couple of these as well 😉
Essential oils? I’m no expert but you can usually get them in health food stores/sections. I always see Tea Tree at the grocery store. If you want more, you’d have to hit a health food store. I don’t personally own any. Maybe someone else can help more! 😉
a
Do you still need help with essential oils, best investment for my familys healthcare and so much more.
I am sitting here in my favorite chair, with laptop on lap (obviously), and my mouth gaping open and smiling at the same time ( is that possible?). I am praising God for the gift of your creativity! Beyond blessed by this post! Thank you!
You are too sweet! You know what? As I was thinking about this craft, I remembered making a craft as a little girl to go along with this story–it was a little plastic container (like the one you get out of a gumball machine) and potpurri. We put the potpurri inside and broke it open to smell it. That has stuck w/me all those years and influenced me in this craft! See what a small activity can do for a kid?!
a
Amanda thank you so much for this beautiful blog and your inspired ideas. Last night for our family scripture study we read the account of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet. I told the children to see if they could find things that you could see taste hear smell and feel. It was amazing how this affected our study! My six-year-old had some great insight when focusing on the senses. He said he could taste the supper, hear the words Jesus spoke, smell the oil Mary used to anoint His feet, and feel Mary’s sadness and happiness. I can’t wait for your upcoming posts. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Wendy–you totally bless me w/your comment! I love hearing about families trying stuff from the blog (and it actually working for them!).
Isn’t it cool that even at a young age kids GET the Bible more than we think?
Thank you!
a
I think this is a great idea. I love object lessons the help biblical principles stick. I just want to clarify one point from your post. You asked the question “Why would Jesus be anointed on his feet and not his head?” Well, actually both happened. If you read the account from Mark 14, more of the story is told. Verse 3 says that Mary broke the jar and poured the oil on his head. The other accounts focused on the aspect of his feet being anointed. This doesn’t contradict your interpretation of Jesus being portrayed as the Servant King, but it completes the picture. Love how the Bible fits together so perfectly. God is good!
Thanks for clarifying that! Yes, each gospel fleshes out the story even more.
a
Thank you so much for the idea! I used it for my children’s church class this week, but we used candles instead of the oil because we were afraid the younger ones would try to drink it. lol
LOL! I actually thought about candles but *I* was afraid I’d burn something down! 😉
Honored you used it with your class!
a
Your blog is wonderful! Thank you for helping Moms lead their kids down the narrow path! I LOVE this idea of the senses, and we are starting the 10 tonight! May God receive all the glory! Thank you again!
Daisy, thank you so much! Can’t wait to hear how it goes for your family! If you take any pics, feel free to post them on our Facebook page so we can all learn from you! 🙂
a
This is a gret idea iam making a list of what i need for the rest of the days. Thanks your a blessing, ihave been thinking how to lead up to easter and this is perfect.
Not sure what the bamboo sticks are for. I have heard of diffusing, but not familiar in practice with it.
Would you mind going into detail on what the sticks are for?
Do they have to be bamboo and where would you get them?
The bamboo skewers work as the diffusers. I got them at the grocery store. You can also buy actual reeds probably from Michaels or something like that. If your sticks don’t suck up the potpurri, you can just flip them over and it will still have the same affect! 🙂
So i wanted to start this on time but no car meant change of ideas. We walked down the street to look for the oil, they did not have any so i looked for some type of lavendar oil and decided to telk them the story and i rubbed it on my girls feet and as i described Jesus getting his feet rubbed with the oil. Still forgot to buy the bread for tomarrow:-)