Preparing for Holy Week / Passion Week

Last updated April 14, 2019

Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday. It ends with Easter Sunday.

Daily Scripture readings

Consider using the week as an opportunity to review days of the last week of Jesus’ pre-resurrection life. The following readings are arranged in The Final Days of Jesus:

Sunday

  • Jesus enters Jerusalem – Matt. 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-44; John 12:12-19.
  • Jesus predicts his death – John 12:20-36.
  • Jesus visits the temple – Matt. 21:14-17; Mark 11:11.

Monday

  • Jesus curses a fig tree – Matt. 21:18-29; Mark 11:12-14.
  • Jesus cleanses the temple – Matt. 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-48.

Tuesday

  • The lesson from the fig tree – Matt. 21:20-22; Mark 11:20-26.
  • Jesus teaches and engages in controversies in the temple – Matt. 21:23-23:39; Mark 11:27-12:44; Luke 20:1-21:4.
  • Jesus predicts the future – Matt. 24-25; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-36.

Wednesday

  • Jesus continues his daily teaching in the temple complex – Luke 21:37-38.
  • The Sanhedrin plots to kill Jesus – Matt. 26:3-5; Mark 14:1-2; Luke 22:1-2.

Thursday

  • Jesus instructs his disciples Peter and John to secure a large upper room in a house in Jerusalem and to prepare for the Passover meal – Matt. 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-13.
  • In the evening Jesus eats the Passover meal with the Twelve, tells them of the coming betrayal, and institutes the Lord’s Supper – Matt. 26:20-29; Mark 14:17-23; Luke 22:14-30.
  • During supper Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, interacts with them, and delivers the Upper Room Discourse (Farewell Discourse) – John 13:1-17:26.
  • Jesus and the disciples sing a hymn together, then depart to the Mount of Olives – Matt. 26:30; Mark 14:26; Luke 22:39.
  • Jesus predicts Peter’s denials – Matt. 26:21-35; Mark 14:27-31; Luke 22:31-34.
  • Jesus issues final practical commands about supplies and provisions – Luke 22:35-38.
  • Jesus and the disciples go to Gethesmane, where he struggles in prayer and they struggle to stay awake late into the night – Matt. 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:40-46.

Friday

  • Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested by the authorities (perhaps after midnight, early Friday morning) – Matt. 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:2-12.
  • Jesus has an informal hearing before Annas (former hight priest and Caiaphas’s father-in-law) – Matt. 26:57, 59-68; Mark 14:53, 55-65; Luke 22:63-71.
  • As predicted Peter denies Jesus and the rooster crows – Matt. 26:58, 69-75; Mark 14:54, 66-72; Luke 22:54b-62; John 18:15-18, 25-27.
  • After sunrise on Friday the final consultation of the full Sanhedrin condemns Jesus to death and sends him to Pontius Pilate – Matt. 27:1-2; Mark 15:1.
  • Judas changes his mind, returns the silver, and hangs himself – Matt. 27:3-10.
  • Pilate questions Jesus and send him to Herod Antipas – Matt.27:11-14; Mark 15:2-5; Luke 23:1-7; John 18:28-38.
  • Herod questions Jesus and send him back to Pilate – Luke 23:8-12.
  • Jesus appears before Pilate a second time and is condemned to die – Matt. 27:15-26; Mark 15:6-15; Luke 23:13=25; John 18:38b-19:16.
  • Jesus is mocked and marched to Golgotha – Matt. 27:27-34; Mark 15:16-23; Luke 23:26-49; John 19:17.
  • Jesus is crucified between two thieves – Matt. 27:35-44; Mark 15:24-32; Luke 23:33-43; John 19:18-27.
  • Jesus breathes his last – Matt. 27:45-56; Mark 15:33-41; Luke 23:44-49; John 19:28-37.
  • Joseph of Arimathea buries Jesus in a new tomb – Matt. 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42.

Saturday

  • The chief priests and Pharisees place guards at the tomb with Pilate’s permission – Matt. 27:62-66.

Sunday

  • Some women discover the empty tom and are instructed by angels – Matt. 28:1-7; Mark 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-7; John 20:1
  • The women, fearful and joyful, leave the garden and tell the disciples – Matt. 28:8-10; Luke 24:8-11; John 20:2.
  • Peter and John rush to the tomb based upon Mary Magdalene’s report and discover it empty – Luke 24:12; John 20:3-10.
  • Mary returns to the tomb and encounters Jesus – John 20:11-18.
  • Jesus appears to Cleopas and a friend on the road to Emmaus, later Jesus appears to Peter – Luke 24:13-35.
  • That evening Jesus appears to the Ten (minus Thomas) in a house (with locked doors) in Jerusalem – Luke 24:36-43.

(Source)

The main characters

Holy Week Flashcards on Quizlet. Simplified quiz.

The Twelve Disciples quiz

A map of events

Like this one by Logos Bible.

Get “real-time” notifications on your phone

Easter Now (iOS)

Live with Christ – Easter App (Android)

Friday chart

Jesus’ Hours on the Cross (PDF)

Family activities that correspond to daily readings

Kid-friendly craft example.

Devotional videos

From the Gospel Coalition:

Devotional readings

A book on the last week of Jesus’ life

I love The Final Days of Jesus. It is accessible. It helped me enjoy Holy Week. Oh, the drama! “[Jesus] is about to force the ultimate confrontation…”

This year I am reading D.A. Carson’s The Farewell Discourse and Final Prayer of Jesus.

The Lumo Project

They are awesome. Their videos cover the entire Four Gospels.

I hope these will make Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday all the sweeter!

Other resources

Aesthetic complementarity

Light and darkness,
night and day meeting at sunrise and sunset,
mountains with snow up top and Spring life renewing at the bottom,
grandfathers holding babies in their arms,
strong men showing meekness,
frail women showing strength,
flowers blooming on the side of Mount St. Helens,
the hard rocks of the coastlands kissing the liquid sea,
scholars singing lullabies,
children learning grammatical particularities,
Spring flowers in the window on a snow day,
seasonal changes.

(Written, if I remember correctly, when seeing my mother’s garden.)

Irresistible grace

Grace that
Bursts your blindness
Penetrates your petty doubts
Overcomes your obstinance
Awakens your hunger

You can’t unsee it
You can’t unhear it
You can’t not remember it
You can’t see it as ugly
You can’t not see it as beautiful

So you spit out the poison in your mouth

You (innnnhale) breathe

You gladly put down the windows and turn up the volume

You take off the burial cloths and exit the tomb and see the one who called your name.

“AARON, COME OUT OF OUR GRAVE.”

The punishment for superficially dealing with Jesus

The punishment for superficially dealing with Jesus and God’s word is to suffer irony:

  • If you claim you can see, Jesus won’t restore your sight (John 9:39).
  • If you think you’re healthy, you won’t get a call from the physician. (Mark 2:17)
  • If as high priest you say to Jesus, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God”, you will literally get an answer from God in the flesh (Matthew 26:63).
  • If you reject Jesus for being born in Galilee, you won’t know where he comes from. “But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” (John 7:27)
  • If you think being born again is about water, your greatest rebirth will be that of a ritual bath. The wind will not blow in your direction (John 3:1-8).
  • If you think Jesus is talking about eating his literal flesh and drinking his literal blood, you have no life in you (John 6:53).
  • The very words of Jesus you reject will become your indictment. “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” (John 12:48)
  • If you tell Jesus, “I’m not married”, he agrees with you and points out that you’re sleeping with someone who you’re not married to. (John 4:17-18)
  • If you insist that true worship is done in a temple on yet another mountain, “You worship what you do not know.” (John 4:22)
  • If you complain that Jesus doesn’t have the authority to forgive a paralytic, he will tell the paralytic to leave (Matthew 9:1-8).
  • If you complain that Christians are violating “Do not judge lest you be judged” (Matthew 7:1) simply by engaging in criticism, you will be judged.
  • If you want to be like the gods of Psalm 82, you will become like the gods of Psalm 82 (John 10:34).
  • If you reject Jesus for working on the Sabbath, you are rejecting the one who has the authority to work on the Sabbath (John 5:16).
  • If you condemn Christians for taking care of their own, and refuse to be hospitable to Christians, Jesus will say to you, “I was hungry and you gave me no food” (Matthew 25:42).
  • If you reject Jesus, or only superficially accept him, he will make a fool out of you. Your punishment will be ironic.

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (John 7:24)

Seeking the glory of another

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John 3:30

If John the Baptist had thrived on attention, popularity, crowds, praise, compliments, greetings, marketing, renown, likes, and followers, then he would have become dependent on it.

He would have been like a drug addict that needs more and more to satisfy. Who feels like death when suffering from withdrawal. Who needs the approval of others. Who keeps inventing new ways to wow a crowd or get everyone’s attention or impress others with his unique contributions. Who feels threatened when another rises.

John had not gorged himself on the approval of man. He had stayed on mission and pointed others to something — someone — outside of himself.

He felt at peace when Jesus rose in popularity. As though his mission had succeeded.

Even Jesus lives this way:

“The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.” (John 7:18)

How to tell if someone is telling the truth: If they share the message of the person who sent them, to the glory of another, even at great cost.

God will never withdraw his breath from his word

trees with wind photo

Scripture is the active voicing, breathing, saying, and speaking of God. God’s words have a unique quality:

They continue to speak.

photo of milk bottle lot
God’s word isn’t like milk.
It doesn’t have a shelf life.

They don’t pass away, and they don’t fade.

They are not evanescent. They aren’t like milk on the shelf.

Hebrews feels completely comfortable using active, personal terms for it:

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

Because it is God’s personal word, we can’t divide it from him to say:

“I trust you, but I don’t trust your word. I submit to you, but I won’t submit to your word. You change me, but your word doesn’t change me.”

No.

Today his word is alive and active and penetrating and dividing and judging. Now and today, not just back when it was originally written.

This is why we shouldn’t relegate the Bible to a dead book, or a mere past voice, or a mere historical incident. We go back to the original context to understand the authorial intent. It’s a dual-authored book (God and man). And we aim to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). But God’s voice doesn’t expire or fade. It continues to speak, and his breath hasn’t been withdrawn from it.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

Compare God’s breathing of life into man:

All subsequent conception of children is still attributed to God’s creative act, his breathing. And all continued existence of man is attributed to God maintaining his “breath” in us. While God may withdraw his breath from us, and thus we die, he will never withdraw his breath from his word.

For his word to “pass away”, his breath would have to be withdrawn from it. But it continues to be “God-breathed.”

Listening, praying, and singing: mutual, communal, congregational, and shared

When listening to a sermon together, there is a congregational shared presence — we know and are aware of each other’s presence. We are “listening” to each other listen to the sermon. We are all listening together in community, and being preached to as one flock.

Even when only one person is praying a congregational prayer, we are all present and listening to the same prayer. We are joining in with the prayer to God. We are both its audience and its co-participants, even when silent.

How so? I think part of that comes from shared presence and awareness that we are involved in the activity together.

Similarly, Sunday-morning singing is normatively (it ought to be) mutual and communal and congregational and shared. We are aware of others singing with us — through hearing them, occasionally seeing them, in addition to just being simply aware that they are there in the room with us. We are singing together.

When whatever is happening on stage or with the volume/speakers inhibits being aware of our sharing in the activity together — when we can’t tell that others are singing, or perceive that others are joining in with us, or when we reasonably doubt that others are singing, the singing becomes less communal or congregational. And we’re missing out on mutual encouragement.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16)

“Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” (Ephesians 5:19)

Addendum (Oct 29, 2021). This is why I am partial to congregational singing, subtle instruments, minimized amplifiers, and worship bands “backing off” to let the congregation take over.

Three Ways “Same-Sex Marriage” and Polygamy Dishonor Women

  • “Same-sex marriage” communicates that a woman is a half-woman. That in marriage a woman’s own womanhood is incomplete. “You’re not enough to represent whole womanhood in this marriage.”
  • Or worse, instead of honoring the essential role women have in marriage—an essentially gender-diverse institution—”same-sex marriage” communicates that women are expendable, superfluous, and undesirable to some marriages.
  • Similarly, polygamy treats women as less than whole women. It is like saying to a woman, “You’re not enough to complement a man or represent the unique contribution of woman in this marriage. You’re a half-woman, or a third of a woman. So I need more than you.”

Polygamy also makes a mockery of marital love’s exclusivity: “I exclusively bind myself to you, and I exclusively bind myself to you, and I exclusively bind myself to you…”

It’s like saying to three women, “You’re my favorite, and your my favorite, and your my favorite.”

The philosophy used to support same-sex marriage often says that womanhood isn’t real: That it is just a social construct. That it is nothing specific; it’s anything we want it to be. That is has no morally significant purpose, design, or essence, or ontology. That some children should be “liberated” from the supposedly inherently awful state of being born as a woman.

Survival is underrated

Stacie and I are grieved every month over yet someone else from our youth or young-adult life abandoning the faith. Old small group members, youth group friends, school friends, roommates, leaders, close friends, best friends, fellow evangelists(!), and those of our own family or relatives. Not to mention professing Christian authors, singers, celebrities. “They are dropping like flies.” There isn’t any automatic guarantee that those who seem to start the race will finish it.

I think I will spend the rest of my life grieving over those that “went out from us, but they were not of us” (1 John 2:19), and rejoicing over brothers that endure, over the “proven genuineness of [their] faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire” (1 Peter 1:7). Survival is underrated and enduring to the end is miraculous gift from God. “The one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)

Brothers that start the race and endure, and actually finish, are so much more encouraging than I ever imagined. Like strong, old, familiar, trustworthy trees still there on a playground from your childhood. Still giving shade and support.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

“He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.” (Colossians 1:22-23)