| A Walk Through Holy Week
From Christ's Entrance Into Jerusalem to His Final Victory Over The Grave | | For many, Easter evokes the image of new life: trees are budding, flowers are blooming—there is new growth everywhere. Creation itself testifies to new life. However, lingering at the forefront of many minds this year is the one-year anniversary of lockdown due to COVID-19. While we may reflect on the loneliness, job loss, sickness, and all other difficulties many have faced this past year, we invite you today to journey with us in this meditation on Jesus Christ's last week leading up to Resurrection Sunday. Though we live in a world riddled with sin and suffering, we have hope that new life has been secured for us through Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead.
Let's focus our minds and hearts on the life-changing, awe-inspiring Gospel message together as we walk through Holy Week. | | Palm Sunday (John 12:13; Zechariah 9:9b)
On Palm Sunday, we celebrate when Jesus mounted on a donkey and rode into Jerusalem. This was the first time Jesus showed his face in the city of Jerusalem after raising Lazarus from the dead. Crowds gathered, and the people cried out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!"
The crowds laid palm branches at Jesus's feet. In ancient times, palm branches symbolized victory. In fact, Solomon even had palm branches carved into the walls of the temple (see 1 Kings 6:29). The crowds confessed by laying palms before Him that Jesus, the King, had arrived in the holy city. By appearing in Jerusalem for his final week in this way, Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy: "Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." |  | | Holy Monday and Holy Tuesday (Mark 11:27–33; John 12:20–36; Matthew 21)
After arriving in Jerusalem, Jesus demonstrated his authority in the temple. He cursed a fig tree so that it withered in front of the eyes of the disciples. Then, He cleansed the temple, driving out those who were profiting off of selling items inside. There was nothing soft and tender on display when Jesus, in Jeremiah-like fashion, pronounced a resounding judgment on Israel.
Turning the temple into a place of profit was not the only issue that Jesus was addressing. The area of the temple overrun by opportunists was designed for foreigners to congregate—for the nations to seek the Lord. All this left no room for the Gentiles and outcasts to come to God. Turning heads with his claim of authority, Jesus quoted Old Testament Scriptures to those who defiled His temple:
"Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? [Isaiah 56:7–8] But you have made it a den of robbers [Jeremiah 7:11]."
The chief priests, scribes, and elders demanded to know who gave Jesus the right to behave as He had in their temple, saying: "By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you the authority to do them?" Contrary to their expectations, Jesus asks them a question, "Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?" Being unable to answer, they admitted that they did not know. Jesus explained, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."
In the course of these two days, Jesus also gave explicit instructions to the disciples, and insight about His immanent death and resurrection and what it would accomplish for His people. But the true meaning of these words were not understood by the disciples until many days later. |  | | Holy Wednesday (Mark 14:3–9; John 12:1–8)
On Holy Wednesday Jesus stayed out of the public eye and dined in the house of Simon the leper in Bethany. There, Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, poured out her perfume on Jesus, anointing Him with her oil of great value. Anointing with oil is a common theme in Scripture when people are set apart for God's special purposes. Mary is immediately criticized by the disciples because the oil could have been sold, and the money given to the poor. In fact, the ointment of pure nard could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii. A denarii would have been about a day's wages, so this flask was worth almost an entire year's worth of money! But Jesus says,
"She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you will always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."
We also remember on Holy Wednesday that Judas betrayed Jesus. Some traditions refer to Holy Wednesday as "Spy Wednesday" because Judas, a spy among the disciples, betrayed Jesus, and that led to the following events of Holy Week. | | Maundy Thursday (Mark 14:12–25; John 13, 17, 18; Psalm 118)
Maundy Thursday, the day before Jesus's crucifixion, fills many pages of Scripture. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples—an incredible testimony of His work here on earth. Jesus came to serve, not to be served.
The disciples shared the Passover meal together, often referred to as the Last Supper. Teaching His followers the true meaning of the Passover bread and cup—the fulfillment of all that God was trying to show Israel in delivering them from death with the blood of the Lamb in Egypt. Jesus is the true Passover lamb, the One who whose blood would cover all of His people for all eternity. The bread is His Body. The cup is His blood. Jesus led them in singing Psalm 118: "Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever."
Jesus brought his disciples out to the Mount of Olives, where He prayed and blood poured forth in his sweat as He readied Himself for what was about to unfold. Crying out to God the Father, Jesus prayed "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you." He was arrested, betrayed with a kiss from one of his own disciples, and abandoned by the others. Even Peter, the one who had boldly confessed Jesus as the Christ days earlier, denied His Lord three times for fear for his life. | | Good Friday (John 19; Mark 15; Matthew 27)
The Chief Priests and the Sanhedrin called for secret trials in the dead of night, and the verdict was handed down that Jesus would be crucified. This was an official order the Roman Prefect would have to give. And reluctantly, on Friday morning, Pontius Pilate agreed to allow Jesus to be crucified. After a severe beating, Jesus struggled under the weight of his own cross, ascended the mountain in a place called Golgotha ("The Place of a Skull"), and was nailed to a cross. He remained there for six hours.
He was crucified between two thieves. As He hung there, weak, bloody, and exposed, people from the crowd taunted and mocked Him. The thieves alongside Him watched as Jesus gave His grieving mother to His friend and watched Him receive His death with grace. And He taught us about salvation, even in those moments, as He showed mercy to a sinner that hung with Him on the cross. Those that loved Him so dearly watched as their Savior died at the hands of Rome.
After Jesus died, "The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split." Creation itself testified to the death of the Son of God.
Joseph, a disciple of Jesus, went to Pilate and took the body of Jesus. He wrapped Jesus's body in clean linen and placed it in a tomb. | | | Note: Scholars debate the exact day of Jesus crucifixion. While many believe it was Friday, others make a case for a Wednesday or Thursday crucifixion. The most important thing to know is that Jesus was crucified on a cross, physically died, and rose again. | | | Holy Saturday (Mark 15:41–47; John 19:38–42; Matthew 27:57–66)
On the day following Jesus crucifixion, fearing that the disciples would steal Jesus's body and tell people that He had been raised from the dead, the Pharisees asked Pilate to secure the tomb. So, Pilate ordered for the stone to be sealed and the tomb to be guarded.
Holy Saturday is the day between Jesus's death and His resurrection. The only full day in history where the body of the crucified Son of God lay dead and buried in a grave. On Holy Saturday, we remember how the disciples mourned, not knowing what would happen now that their Savior was gone. | | Easter Sunday (John 20; Mark 16; Matthew 28)
He is risen! Early on Sunday morning, the women that had witnessed every part of Jesus's suffering, death, and burial went to His grave to anoint their teacher's body. Mary Magdalene and the others were greeted by "a man dressed in lightening" who told them Jesus was not there. The angel said,
"Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly to the disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him."
The point of the cross was not to die, but to defeat death itself, making the restoration of our relationship with God possible. The rolling away of the boulder at the tomb was the opening of the door for the renewal of all things. | | As we reflect on the somber events of Holy Week, and on the state of our world and the sin that still holds the people of earth captive, we must remember that Sunday is coming. We may mourn and lament in the midst of suffering, but the truth of the resurrection changes everything.
He is risen indeed!
| |  As you prepare for Easter celebrations, gather with your friends and family to watch The Life of Jesus in our FREE online movie event, and see the incredible story of Jesus, as told by his disciple John son of Zebedee, come to life. | | | Please feel free to share this online movie event with your friends, family, and even your entire church.  | | | | |
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