For those of you who find spiritual value, solace or inspiration in the Christian Holy Week story, the stories of this week (or the history of this week, depending on your perspective) can be very meaningful and very orienting.
A few short days ago on Holy Sunday (also known as Palm Sunday) Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of young donkey, cared for by his followers and cheered by a large crowd. This action is seen as fulfilling an ancient prophecy of the prophet Zechariah.
On Holy Monday, he did what probably was the “final straw” for his adversaries, the priests of the Sanhedrin; he demonstrably and conspicuously disrupted commerce in the holy temple, declaring it a “den of thieves”.
On Holy Tuesday, he doubled down on his condemnation of the priests by going back to the temple along with his followers specifically to scold those same priests. While he was there, the priests tried to capture him, but he was able to evade arrest. He and his followers returned to the countryside where he preached to them about the end times (or possibly his own personal end times). While he was doing that, one of his followers snuck away and made a deal with the priests to sell Jesus out to them.
On Holy Wednesday, nothing is written about what they did, but we can only imagine they were tired and probably laying low after all the events of Monday and Tuesday.
Holy Thursday that year was the Jewish celebration of Passover, which celebrates the Jewish liberation from slavery in (probably) Egypt. This liberation from slavery is remembered each year with a meal, at which, Jews even today remember their history as a people and retell the stories of their ancestors, they give thanks and praise to God for his actions on behalf of his people and they also re-commit themselves once again to God’s covenant with his people.
This Passover meal is generally considered to be Jesus’ last meal and is referred to as the “Last Supper” because later that night, the deal that one of his followers had made with the priests to sell Jesus out went down and Jesus was arrested and brought to a judge’s home to await trial the next day.
In the morning of Holy Friday (also known as Good Friday) Jesus endured the shame of false accusations, condemnation, mockery, beatings, and abandonment. The priests quickly convicted him of usurping their authority in a trial that would be considered a mockery by today’s standards, but they had no authority to execute him. Only the Roman governor could order that, so the priests brought him to the Roman governor who, despite his best efforts to make the whole ordeal just go away, eventually reluctantly convicted Jesus of sedition against Rome and sentenced him to death by crucifixion, one of the most horrible and disgraceful methods of capital punishment known at the time.
Between his conviction and his actual execution, he was tormented and mocked repeatedly and made to carry his own cross to the place of his execution. He was crucified and the mockery continued until his death died later that afternoon. His mother and several of his followers were there to witness his final breath.
A few hours after his death, a wealthy and influential gentleman in the community received permission to take Jesus’ corpse down because the next day was Saturday, the Jewish sabbath which was (and still is) a day on which no work could be done. If Jesus’ corpse was not buried quickly, it would not be buried until Sunday, by which time his body would have been desecrated by animals and Jewish burial laws would have gone unfulfilled. Jesus’ corpse was buried in a tomb borrowed from this wealthy follower.
At the time of his death, Jesus is believed to have descended into hell for roughly three days to liberate souls who had been held imprisoned there.
Holy Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, so nothing happened until sundown when several followers of Jesus went to his tomb to make sure his corpse was properly anointed according to Jewish law and tradition.
Resurrection Sunday (later and currently called Easter when merged with local pagan celebrations) is a most holy day for Christians and a day some call the beginning of Christianity as a religion distinct from Judaism. This is the day that Jesus followers found his tomb unguarded and empty. That day, Jesus appeared as many as five times to various followers. Some are said to have recognized him and some did not.
Jesus is said to have remained in the presence of his followers, preaching to believers and non-believers for forty days after his resurrection finally ascending into heaven in the presence of some of his followers ten days before the Jewish holiday of Pentecost. It is on Pentecost that Christians believe that the Holy Spirit, sent by Jesus to inform the world, descended to earth to take his place.
And that, my friends it the story of Holy Week. There are more details and like any story of such importance, there are discrepancies amongst accounts, but I have attempted here to tell the story in honor of those of you who hold it important and for the benefit of you who might read it and gain some awareness from the reading.
Be well, my friends. See you on Sunday.
Sincerely,
