In the heart of the Garden of Gethsemane a flock of birds nestled in the trees. They were hidden from view. They were constantly ease dropping on those walking about below. They heard every conversation and felt each attitude.
One evening they saw a small group of men enter the garden. They knew one of them for He was known as the Son of God. They then saw others coming into the garden. They were soldiers. What were they doing here? The soldiers walked up to Jesus and took him away. “Where were they taking Jesus?”
The birds decided to follow at a distance. They sat around for a long time and then they saw Jesus, their creator, being beat unmercifully. “How could he take such a beating? Why didn’t he call out to the angels who were all around that garden? Why did He hold his tongue? Couldn’t people see the angels who were hovering so close? Where they blind or what?”
The birds followed as Jesus carried the cross to Golgotha. They shuddered as the soldiers took nails and hammered them into their Jesus’ hands and feet. “Where they fools? This was God’s son. Did they not know who God was?”
The birds watched and then a grave darkness fell on the land. The birds looked and saw Jesus was covered with the sins of the world as if he were encased with them like a butterfly encased in a cocoon. They heard Jesus cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” They knew Jesus could not see His Father. This was the first time in Jesus’ life that He could not see His Father. Jesus then gave a loud cry and breathed his last breath.
The birds couldn’t believe it. Jesus, Son of God, dead. “What, what was happening here? This was impossible. It couldn’t be.”
The birds were speechless. They followed as they took Jesus to a tomb and laid him inside. They watched and waited.
On the third day of their wait there was a lot of commotion. They saw an angel roll away the stone from the tomb. Oh my, there was Jesus. He was alive. He was holding the Keyes of Life. He told the angels who been standing at his head and feet during the whole time and those encamped around the tomb, “ I have taken the Keyes of Life from Satan and I have shed my blood as a living sacrifice, and now God’s people can live in heaven for eternity if only they believe in me.” The angels gave a loud cry and the trumpets and banners were seen all around Jesus. The cry of victory went up and up and up into the heavenlies.
The world didn’t seem to hear though. The birds joined in with the angels of heaven and made a jubilant, rejoicing, triumphant noise. This noise startled Mary who was on her way to check out the tomb. The tomb like the shell of their babies, after their new life, was empty. How wonderful. Jesus conquered Satan and death and arose from the tomb.
The birds decided that there must be some way they could tell the story of Jesus. They thought and thought. “What can we do? What do we have to give? We are just birds you know?”
You know an elder bird said, “The tomb is like our egg shells. Once a new life burst forth it has no use of the shell again. So it is with Jesus. When we walk with Jesus we don’t need the shell, which represents our sins. Jesus enable us to fly free without encumbrances , because he became the sacrifice for our sins. WE ARE FREE IN JESUS! IF WE FOLLOW IN HIS STEPS. SO KICK THAT SHELL ASIDE AND FLY, FLY, FLY HIGH WITH JESUS?”
Thus the egg became a symbol of Easter around the world. Empty due to our new life in Jesus.
If you have not received the Lord Jesus as your savior and would like to after reading this story, please repeat after me.
I ________ would like Jesus to come into my life so that I may break forth out of certain death and become a child of God. I know that Jesus died on that cross for my sins. Jesus, I want you in my life, please come, help me everyday of my life, and stay close by me. Amen
Please seek a pastor or fellow Christian to help you in you walk. Rena K. Oynes © April, 2000
thedailylily.com 
Rena, these stories are great illustrators of the Gospel for children. I like the way you use animals and nature & I can see how children (and adults, too) can relate to the series of events in the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ “from a bird’s eye view.”
There is a scripture that says “what is said in the confines of a closet will be carried abroad by a little bird. Here you have the little bird living and telling the story of Easter.
May we be as bold as that little bird(s) in Rena’s story to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ this Easter Season. We will have the opportunity, tomorrow especially, on the day that comemmorates the greatest LOVE story ever told. Jesus Christ died for one reason and one reason only, LOVE so great that He wants us to be with Him forever, wherever He is. That is the Easter story. I pray many will respond to Rena’s inviation at the end of her story and that they will make Jesus Christ the Redeemer their Lord, Savior, Brother, Friend and Healer. All of those blessings come with the Salvation that Jesus purchased for us by His suffering, death and resurrection from the dead.
To me, the birds in Rena’s story illustrate this truth Jesus is teaching on found in John 8:31-36:
…”I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
What a wonderful children’s story. It is so amazing to me that even the bird’s knew who’s God’s son, but man was blinded by sin and Satan. Man beat God’s Son and hung Him on a wood cross. Man whom God created in His own imagine put God’s only Son on the cross while the bird’s watched, knowing the truth. Thanks for sharing this story.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the story. May many come to know Jesus through it.
One year while telling the story to a wide eyed, enthusiastic group of children a bird kept pecking at the window until everyone noticed it. I guess he wanted to hear as well.
Ha Ha ,Rena. You know that birds are very territorial. And they may have thought you were infringing on their territory of bringing the Gospel to children, (as in your story). Perhaps their pecking at the window was their protest that you were taking over their mission.