Skip to main content

Holy Week


       Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead... The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! (John 12:1, 12-13)

        It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last (Luke 23:44-46) 

    In his book Celebrating Jesus In The Biblical Feasts[1], Dr. Richard Booker explores the parallels between the Jewish Passover feast and what we call Holy Week. The Jews were to select lambs without spot of blemish on the 10th day of the month. They were to watch the lambs for five days to make sure there was nothing wrong with them. On the fifth day, they were to kill the lambs, and catch the blood in a basin. Next, they sprinkled the blood on the entire entrance of their homes. This took place around 3 pm on the 14th day of the month in order to eat by 6 pm.
     Six days before the Passover would have been the 9th of Nisan. On the 10th, He entered Jerusalem in what we call the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday (Yesterday.) The religious leadership of Jerusalem spent the next five days questioning His authority (Matthew 21:23-27, Matthew 23.) Pilate and Herod both tried him during this time. None of them could find a flaw.
      It would have been on the 14th of Nisan that they crucified Him. About noon (6th hour) darkness came over the land until the 9th hour (3 pm) when Jesus breathed his last. According to Dr. Booker, He died at the time when the Jews would have been killing the lambs.

      He believes the Crucifixion took place on Wednesday, not Friday, so that Jesus was buried just before sunset on Wednesday. Thursday began with sunset and it was a special Sabbath. That would provide a literal 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb. While this is not the usual timeline presented, I hope your consideration of it will enrich your Holy Week. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On the Calendar:

Earth Day, Children's Poetry Day,

Birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach



[1] Booker, Dr. Richard, Celebrating Jesus in The Biblical Feasts, (Shippensburg, PA, Destiny Image Publishers, 2009), pp. 33-49

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...