“There they crucified him, and with him two others — one on each side and Jesus in the middle.” – John 19:18 NIV
Jesus lived approximately 1,700 weeks (33 years) between his birth in Bethlehem and his resurrection from the dead. That’s a lot of weeks to write about. Yet the gospel writers spend 1/3 of their books writing about just one week of Jesus’ life – Holy Week. This week includes: the triumphal palm processional into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Last Supper and Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane on Maundy Thursday; the crucifixion and burial on Good Friday, and Jesus’s resurrection on Easter. You can know everything about Jesus’ life those other 1700 weeks, but if you don’t know what he did that one week, you don’t know Jesus. His death and resurrection are pivotal, not only in his life but in all of history.
That’s why the church makes such a big deal about Holy Week. During Holy Week worship, we walk with Jesus yet again through his great sacrifice and even greater victory. On Sunday, we put ourselves in the crowd waving palms. On Thursday, we sit at a table set for 12 guests, and we eat the bread and drink the cup of that final meal. On Friday, we extinguish one candle after another and watch the darkness descend as Jesus dies on the cross. And, finally, on Easter we celebrate with the women that the tomb is empty and Jesus is risen, just as he promised.
I hope you can join us for these special services. It’s only one week, but it’s one week that changed the world. And it still does.
Pastor Mark