What is Holy Week?

The Gospel accounts spend a significant amount of time on the events from Palm Sunday to Easter, which covers several major events in Jesus’ ministry, life, and work.  The days of this week include:

We pray the video and article below are helpful to your understanding of this important week in the life and work of Jesus.

HOLY WEEK: WHAT IS IT?

Holy Week is a special time for Christians.  It occurs every year and stretches from the Sunday before Easter (Palm Sunday) to Easter Day.  It is a time where Christians reflect on and rejoice in the week when Jesus suffered, died, and rose again.  That it is such an important week in the lives of Christians is clearly reflected in the four Gospel accounts—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  While some space in these gospels is devoted to the Christmas account, which relates how the God of the whole universe took on human flesh to walk and live with mankind as a man, the majority of the gospels are focused on the two to three years of Jesus Christ’s ministry among His people.  Of this time of about 33 years on earth where God humbled Himself and did not exercise His full powers as God to the extent that His enemies could claim that He was nothing more than a man, the Gospels focus on the last two to three years of Jesus’ life on earth.  But more than that, each of these Gospel accounts devotes a significant amount of space to this one week of Jesus’ life, which we call Holy Week—from 1/5 (Luke) to almost half (John).  This is because the Gospel writers consider this one week of Jesus’ life to be of the utmost importance and central to knowing who Jesus is.

Thus, Christians all around the world and across the ages have and still take the time to remember Christ’s work during this week.  The week begins with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem amidst shouts of praise.  It is known as Palm Sunday because “they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him” (John 12:13 ESV).  He rides on a donkey recalling King Solomon’s entry into Jerusalem on his father’s mule to be crowned king of Israel (1 Kings 1:33-48).

Evident at the beginning of the week is opposition against Jesus from the religious leaders in Jerusalem (Luke 19:39; John 12:19).  As the week continues this opposition grows while Jesus teaches publicly and boldly (Matthew 21:23-23:39; 26:3-5, 14-16; Mark 11:27-12:40; 14:1-2, 10-11; Luke 19:47-20:47; 22:1-6; John 12:23-43).  On Thursday of Holy Week, Jesus celebrates the Passover with His disciples.  It is during that night that He institutes a meal, the Lord’s Supper (also known as communion, the sacrament of the altar, and the Eucharist, which means thanksgiving).  Because of the command given at this meal to “love one another” (see John 13:34), this day is called Maundy Thursday—this name originates from the Latin word, mandatum, which means commandment.

It is also that same night that Jesus goes to the garden of Gethsemane with His disciples (Matthew 26:36; Mark 14:32; Luke 22:39; John 18:1) where one of them, Judas Iscariot, betrays Him (Matthew 26:47-50; Mark 14:43-45; Luke 22:47-48; John 18:2-5) while the rest of His disciples desert Him out of fear for their own lives (Matthew 26:55-56; Mark 14:50-52).  Jesus is then put on trial before some of the Sanhedrin, the council of religious leaders, during the night (Matthew 26:57-67; Mark 14:53-65; John 18:19-24).

In the morning, they reconvene to make the decision final and then hand Him over to the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, to be executed (Matthew 27:1-2; Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66-23:2; John 18:28-32).  Despite Pilate’s attempts to release Jesus through appeasing the crowd by having Jesus beaten and mocked, Pilate in the end consents to have Jesus crucified (Matthew 27:15-31; Mark 15:6-20; Luke 23:13-25; John 18:38-19:16).  Jesus is taken to Golgotha to be crucified amidst criminals, although he committed no crime (Matthew 27:33-44; Mark 15:22-27; Luke 23:32-33; John 19:17-18; Isaiah 53:12).  Jesus suffers the agony of the cross as well as God’s forsaking of Him (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34; Psalm 22:1).  After at least three hours on the cross, Jesus declares “It is finished” before dying on the cross (Matthew 27:45, 50; Mark 15:33, 37; Luke 23:44, 46; John 19:30).  Christians refer to this horrible event as Good Friday because even though people put God to death on the cross, it is through this death that people’s rebellion against God is atoned for, or paid for.  Here is where we see just how evil we really are—that only God’s death in our place can save us.  Thus, it is a good day because through the cross, people are forgiven of their crimes against God and against others.  Jesus’ cry means that the work necessary to bring people into God’s kingdom was fully completed by Him and that nothing needed to be added (Romans 3:27-28; Mark 10:45; Galatians 2:15-16; 3:1-5:6; Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 3:3-8)

Holy Week then ends in the joy of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.  The joy of this is not just that Jesus is not dead, but it is confirmation that Christ has removed the punishment for people and given them eternal life with God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—forever (Matthew 28:1-10; Luke 24:1-49; John 20:1-23).  It is the resurrection that confirms Christ’s death as good and shows that God does indeed forgive all our sins without us having to put forth any effort.  That is to say, that God, who demands perfection from His creation, actually gives that perfection to you without you having to do any kind of work for it (Romans 3:21-26; 4:1-25; Gal. 6:15; Ephesians 3:1-10; Philippians 3:9-11).

This article was originally published in the Davis County Clipper in Utah; it is printed here with permission of the authors, Rev. Jason Krause and Rev. Kurt Hering.  Rev Hering is currently serving at Holy Baptism Lutheran Church in Ogden, UT