「上帝的故事：復活節」- God's Story: Easter

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God's story: Easter.
上帝的故事：復活節。

So part of God's story is about Easter, and it begins like this:
上帝的故事有一部分是有關復活節，它像這樣開始的：

You might know Easter as the Sunday a ginormous bunny hides chocolate inside plastic eggs. But Easter is really all about how much Jesus loves us, and how God sent Him to rescue us.
你也許知道復活節是有一隻巨大兔子將巧克力藏在塑膠蛋裡。但復活節其實全都是有關耶穌有多愛我們，以及上帝如何派祂來拯救我們。

Remember how the Jews—God's special family—were waiting for a King to come rescue them? Well, Jesus was the King, and this rescue was the whole reason He came to Earth. God had already rescued the Jews once before, but this time it was going to include everyone.
記得猶太人－－上帝的特殊家人－－是如何等待一名國王到來拯救他們的嗎？嗯，耶穌就是那名國王，而這次拯救就是祂來到地球的所有理由。上帝過去已經拯救猶太人一次了，但這次要包括所有人。

So one night, Jesus told His friends about the rescue. Exciting, right? But talking about this rescue was sad. That's because Jesus was going to rescue the world by dying.
所以一晚，耶穌告訴祂的朋友們有關那拯救的事。很興奮，對吧？但談及這次拯救是很傷心的。那是因為耶穌要藉由死亡來拯救世界。

Kids, every mean or bad thing we do deserves punishment. By dying, Jesus took our punishment. Lots of things in life have good parts and bad parts. And just like candy bars are mostly good, as long as you brush your teeth after you eat one, this story is a really good one.
孩子們，我們所做的卑劣、或是不好的事都應受處罰。透過死亡，耶穌承擔了我們的懲罰。人生中有許多事有好的部份也有壞的部份。就像糖果棒大部分會是很棒的一樣(只要你吃完後刷牙)，這個故事也是非常棒的。

Anyway, talking about the rescue made Jesus sad since He didn't really want to die. Thankfully, we can talk to God when we're sad, so Jesus took a few friends into a garden to pray. In the garden, a guy named Judas, who people thought was Jesus's friend, came with some people to help arrest Jesus.
總之，談論這次拯救讓耶穌很難過，因為祂其實不想死去。幸好，我們在難過時可以跟上帝說話，所以耶穌帶了幾個朋友到花園祈禱。在花園裡，一個名叫猶大的人，他是人們以為是耶穌朋友的人，帶了一些人來幫忙逮捕耶穌。

Peter, one of Jesus's true friends, was so mad he cut off a servant's ear with his sword. But Jesus didn't want His friends to hurt others, so Jesus healed the ear, and let them arrest Him.
彼得，耶穌真正的朋友之一，非常生氣，他用他的劍砍下了一名僕人的耳朵。但耶穌不想祂的朋友們傷害他人，所以耶穌治好了那耳朵，並讓他們逮捕祂。

Then Jesus was taken to trial. One of the most powerful men in the city, Pontius Pilate, wanted to let Jesus go. But many of the people wanted Jesus to die. They didn't believe He was the son of God, or any kind of King. Even after all the miracles Jesus did like healing sick people and making blind people see, they didn't believe in Him. The people were so mad they started yelling, "Kill him!" So Pontius Pilate let the soldiers take Jesus.
耶穌被帶去審判。城裡最有權力的男人之一，彼拉多，想要放了耶穌。但許多人想要耶穌死。他們不相信祂是上帝之子，或是任何類型的國王。即使在耶穌所做的所有奇蹟之後，像是治好病人，並讓盲人可以看見，他們還是不相信祂。人們太憤怒了，他們開始怒吼：「殺了他!」所以彼拉多讓士兵們帶走耶穌。

The soldiers made fun of the idea that Jesus was a King. They put a crown of thorns on His head and nailed Him to a cross. Many people watched, but not all of them wanted Jesus to die. His mother and close friends were there, too. Just imagine how they must have felt.
士兵們嘲笑耶穌是國王這個想法。他們把荊棘冠放到祂頭上，並把祂釘上十字架。許多人看著，但不是他們所有人都想要耶穌死。祂的母親及親近的朋友也在那裡。就想想看他們一定會有何等感受。

Once Jesus was up on the cross, the sun stopped shining for three whole hours in the middle of the day. But those soldiers kept right on making fun of Him. They said, "If you're really God's son, why don't you just call on some angels to save you?"
當耶穌被釘上十字架時，太陽在白天停止了照耀整整三個小時。但那些士兵就還是繼續嘲笑祂。他們說：「如果你真的是上帝的兒子，為什麼你不就召喚一些天使來救你呢？」

Jesus could have called on angels to save Him, but He loved us so much that He wanted to rescue us. So instead, He prayed to God, "Father, I place my life into Your hands." At that moment, Jesus died.
耶穌本來可以召喚天使來拯救祂，但祂太愛我們了，所以祂想要拯救我們。所以祂轉而向上帝祈禱：「天父，我將我的性命交付給您。」在那一刻，耶穌過世了。

And when He died, the soldiers who had just killed Him realized He really was the Son of God. Later, Jesus was put into a tomb and a big rock blocked the entrance. Jesus's friends thought that was the end, but three days later, God sent an angel to roll the stone away.
當祂死去時，剛剛殺了祂的士兵們才了解祂確實是上帝之子。後來，耶穌被放進一座墓裡，一塊大石頭擋住了入口。耶穌的朋友以為那就是結局了，但三天後，上帝派了一位天使來把石頭滾開。

"Don't worry! Jesus could get out on His own."
「別擔心!耶穌可以自己出來。」

The angel moved the rock so everybody else could see the tomb was empty. Jesus's friends were the first to stop by the tomb. The angel said, "He has risen!" which is another way of saying, "Jesus is alive!" Nobody could believe it.
那天使將石頭移開，好讓其他所有人可以看到墓裡是空的。耶穌的朋友是第一個造訪墓地的。那天使說：「祂已復活!」那是另一種說：「耶穌還活著!」的方式。沒有任何人相信。

Jesus took our punishment and then proved He really is the Son of God by coming back to life.
耶穌承擔我們的懲罰，接著藉由回到人世間證明祂確實是上帝之子。

Now, if we choose to follow Jesus, God forgives us for all the wrong things we do because Jesus already took our punishment.
現在，如果我們選擇要追隨耶穌，上帝寬恕所有我們做的壞事，因為耶穌已經承擔我們的懲罰了。

And that's the story of Easter. But that's not all there is. Here's a quick version of what happened after the angel told the good news.
那是復活節的故事。但那並不是全部。這裡是在天使告知那好消息之後發生的事情的簡短版本。

Jesus's friends got scared. Jesus appeared to them. They saw His scars. It was really Him! Now, they could share the good news, too. Jesus appeared to more than 500 people. He went back up to heaven. And the best part—He promised to come back someday for everybody who follows Him. And all that is a part of God's story.
耶穌的朋友嚇到了。耶穌出現在他們面前。他們看到祂的疤痕。那真的是祂!現在，他們也可以分享那好消息了。耶穌出現在超過五百人面前。祂回到天堂去。然後最棒的部份－－祂承諾某天要為了追隨祂的所有人回來。那全都是上帝故事的一部分。