Crucifixion Lesson Plan & Activities

Use this Crucifixion lesson plan or the activities below to teach about the passion and death of Jesus Christ. Save the lesson for Holy Week and Easter or teach it at any time throughout the year.

Crucifixion Lesson Objectives

Students will be able to (SWBAT) summarize the main events of Jesus crucifixion.
SWBAT explain why Jesus sacrificed himself on the Cross.
Students will feel grateful for Jesus’s sacrifice on the Cross.

Crucifixion Lesson Activities & Assessment

Hook: The Crucifix

Place a crucifix in the front of the room or point to the one that is always on the wall in the room. If possible, bring in multiple crucifixes from your home to give to the students to examine closely.

Ask the students either as a class or in groups to look closely, closer than they have ever looked at a crucifix before. Ask them to list everything they see—every detail.

Their lists will likely include the many wounds on Christ’s body including his hands, feet, side, and head crowned with thorns. They might also note some unique features of the crucifixes they have like the shape of Jesus’s hands (some have Jesus holding up three fingers to symbolize the Trinity). They will probably note the scroll at the top with the letters INRI. They might also note Jesus’s facial expression or eyes. Encourage them to be as detailed as possible.

When they finish, ask the students to share anything they noticed for the first time. Have them share what stood out to them the most while looking so closely at the crucifix.

Invite the students to join you in the following lesson to discover the origin of each of these aspects of the crucifix.

Present: The Story of the Crucifixion

Read one of the accounts of the Crucifixion in the Bible:

Matthew 27:27–54
Mark 15:16–41
Luke 23:26–49
John 19:17–37

As you read the story, ask the students to make connections between the crucifixes they examined and they story they hear in class. Where do the wounds come from? Or the sign above Jesus’s head?

Practice: Passion Play

Invite students to perform one more more scenes from this Passion Play Skit Script. Students will perform the key moments of Jesus’s passion and death.

Assign roles for the entire class or divide scenes up among groups of students to plan and perform in class.

(Download the Passion Play Script here.)

Meditate: The Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ

Give students the Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ Worksheet to read and reflect on the final words Jesus spoke before his death. The goal here isn’t so much to memorize and identify the words, but to meditate on them and the meaning they have for our students today.

Remind them to keep in mind as they read these words: Jesus carried your burdens on his heart while on the Cross.

Pray: Sign of the Cross

Give a quick lesson on the reason why we begin each prayer with the Sign of the Cross or share this video with your students:

Begin one of the following prayers with the Sign of the Cross . . .

Pray: Veneration of the Cross (Crucifix)

Now return to the crucifixes your students studied at the beginning of class. Explain what veneration of the cross is and isn’t. We don’t worship the image as an idol. We use the imagery to remind us of what Jesus did for us. In a veneration of the cross you can sit, kneel, or stand in silent prayer. You can whisper the words of thanksgiving or praise. You can also come up and touch or even kiss the cross as we do on Good Friday.

The point is to think about you and the crucified Lord. He did this for you. He died for you. He gave up his life so that you could live forever.

Pray: Stations of the Cross

If you have time either in class or in your church, lead your students in a Stations of the Cross. Stop at each image or show a picture to the class as a reminder of the fourteen events we recall during the Stations. They will pray and journey with you from the moment Jesus took up the Cross to his burial.

(Find additional Stations of the Cross activities and resources here.)

Lesson Assessment

On an index card or piece of paper, draw and label the crucifixion with the major events and people who were there. (Check to make sure the students successfully summarize the key events.)