Who was Peter?
Peter was a fisherman (he used to be called Simon, but when he met Jesus he was given a new name!) He was one of Jesus’ best friends, and he loved spending time with Jesus. He was very excitable and sometimes said or did silly things without thinking!
Peter told Jesus he would always stay loyal to him, and would even die for him! But Jesus said “No you won’t. You will deny that you even know me… tonight! You will lie about our friendship three times, before a cockerel crows.” (Jesus knew he was about to be arrested and killed, and he knew that Peter would be too scared to admit being his friend when it was all happening.)
What happened when Jesus was arrested?
When Jesus was arrested, Peter took his sword and cut off one of the soldier’s ears! (See? That was a silly thing to do!) But Jesus told Peter off and healed the soldier.
After the soldiers took Jesus away to be killed, Peter was sat by a fire. A girl recognised him and one said, ‘Hey! Aren’t you one of Jesus’ friends?’
He replied, “I don’t even know him.” (Lie #1)
Later, someone else saw him and said, “You are one of his friends!”
He said, “No, I am not.” (Lie #2)
An hour later, another said, “You are one of Jesus’ friends!”
He answered, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” (Lie #3)
Cock-a-doodle-doo! Immediately, a cockerel crowed. Peter remembered that Jesus said he would deny him three times before the cockerel crowed. He felt awful, and ran away crying. He had been scared that he would be arrested and killed too, so he lied about even knowing Jesus.
What happened after?
When Jesus came back to life, he wanted to see his friend Peter! Peter was out fishing with some of his friends, and Jesus stood on the beach and called out to him. Peter was so excited he jumped into the water and came to the shore.
Jesus asked him three times, “Peter, do you love me?” And three times, Peter said, “Yes, I love you.” Jesus had given Peter the opportunity to tell the truth about their friendship and he forgave Peter for denying him. Jesus then gave him the special job of looking after more of Jesus’ friends (what we call ‘church’ today.)
(You can read the whole Easter story in the Bible here.)
Easter Egg Trail Map
Well done for finding this egg! Have you found the others? (There are 9 in total.) Here is the map! To help you out, the roads are Brooksby Rd, Overdown Rd, Cotswold Way (x2), Fairford Rd, Fulbrook Cres, Norcot Rd, Skilton Rd, Ullswater Drive. But we won’t tell you the house numbers… that would be too easy!
