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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. 

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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

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