holy week

the road to Calvary ... and the empty tomb

Apr 11, 2025

The Last Supper, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, Northern Ireland. Source: Wikimedia Commons

After 34 days of Lent, we come to the final week before Easter: Holy Week. Each day of the week is used to remember a day or event in the final week of Jesus’ life before his crucifixion.

Even in many Christian traditions that don’t observe Lent or follow the church calendar more broadly, Holy Week is more commonly celebrated. At the very least, Palm Sunday and Good Friday are observed in many churches, both traditional and non-traditional.

Let’s take a look at each of the days in Holy Week and see what they represent and how they can prepare us for Easter Sunday. The Gospel of Mark has the clearest timeline of the week, so we’ll follow that.

palm sunday

Most believers are familiar with the events of Palm Sunday: just five days before his crucifixion, he enters Jerusalem in what is often called a triumphal procession.1 Jesus rides into the city on a young donkey, also called a colt. His disciples (not just the twelve but a crowd of them) spread their cloaks and palm branches on the road before Jesus, and they shouted things like “Hosanna,” which means “Save, we pray,” and “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

A triumphal entry was a well-known event in the ancient world. A king, emperor, or general who had achieved a great victory of some kind rode into the city in a parade, celebrating his achievement. Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem was a kingly event.

It also fulfilled prophecy. Zechariah the prophet says “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”2 And as Jesus entered, the crowd shouted a verse from Psalm 118: “Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.”3

Even in less traditional churches Palm Sunday is often celebrated, with congregants (often children in particular) waving palm branches and singing praises. We should remember, though, that some of the same people who shouted “Hosanna” on Sunday would be shouting something very different on Friday morning. In the same way, we can look at those palm branches and remember that in traditional churches, they would be used as ash for next year’s Ash Wednesday service. This can be a warning to us to be sincere in our worship and devotion to Christ, or our worship, too, will be nothing more than dust.

holy monday

The next day, Jesus returns to the city and cleanses the temple. The issue here was not that people were changing money or selling pigeons, because those who were coming to worship needed those things. The issue was that some were using this as an opportunity to take advantage of people and make a profit. That is why Jesus calls them robbers.4

Why were there money changers in the temple, by the way? Because the standard currency at that time would be Roman coins, which would have Caesar’s face on it (as we see Jesus himself point out in Mark 12:13-17). But bringing a coin with the emperor’s image on it — especially since the emperor was considered a god — into the temple was a no-go! So, they had to change their Roman coins for special temple coins. Unsurprisingly, someone saw this as an opportunity to charge a little extra.

On Monday, Matthew5 and Mark6 also both tell of Jesus cursing a fig tree that bears no fruit. Neither of these gospels draws a message from the curse itself. Instead, when the disciples are amazed that the tree has withered, Jesus takes the opportunity to teach a lesson on faith.

Many, though, have read another message into the curse, related to passages such as Jeremiah 24, which compares the good and bad people of Judah to good and bad figs. In this reading, the tree perhaps represents Jerusalem, which is found lacking fruit. In turn, of course, it can represent us as well, leading us to ask if we are bearing fruit for Christ and his kingdom.

holy tuesday

On Tuesday, Jesus returned to the Temple and taught there. In each Gospel except John, this passage covers multiple chapters, as Jesus teaches, is challenged by religious leaders, and challenges them back with parables and his own questions.

There are many stories and challenges that are worth covering in this section, but my personal favorite is the Parable of the Wicked Tenants.7 In Matthew’s telling, it is sandwiched between two other parables, and all three are very much pointed at the religious leaders opposing him, accusing them of opposing God. As someone who has grown up in the church and whose life has been deeply rooted in the church and the Christian faith, I have always seen these parables as a warning to myself: my great danger is not falling away from the faith, but trying to make the faith serve me and my desires. That’s exactly why these religious leaders opposed Jesus.

spy wednesday

None of the gospels has any specific events taking place on Wednesday of Holy Week, so some think it was a day of rest for Jesus. However, Luke tells us that “every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet.”8

It was perhaps Wednesday evening, while Jesus and his disciples were having dinner at the house of Simon the Leper in Bethany (just beyond the Mount of Olives), that a woman anointed Jesus with expensive perfume from an alabaster flask. When some of the disciples objected he said that it was preparation for his burial, and that her gift would be remembered “wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world.”9 Her gift was an incredible sacrifice, and it reminds us that we, too, should be willing to make great sacrifices for Jesus.

But the day is called Spy Wednesday because it is likely the day that Judas went to the chief priests and made a deal to betray Jesus to them.10 Matthew, Mark, and Luke all note this event, but only Matthew records the price that Judas was offered for the betrayal: thirty pieces of silver.11 Commentators disagree on how much this would be in modern currency, but it would have been a very meager sum for so great a betrayal.

maundy thursday

On Thursday, Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples, where he instituted the Lord’s Supper. Traditional churches hold this institution in high regard, as we discussed in our second post on Holy Communion. In many traditions, it is the central event of the worship service, and in almost all Christian churches, it is held as something Jesus commanded his followers to do in remembrance of him.

But what’s with that weird name? Another statement Christ made at the Last Supper was: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”12 In Latin, the word for “commandment” is mandatum, which came down through the centuries through Old French and Middle English, and eventually became “maundy.”13 If you want to translate it into modern English, you could call it “Mandate Thursday,” or “Commandment Thursday.”

good friday

Friday brings possibly the most solemn day of the Christian year, the day of Christ’s crucifixion. Many traditional churches hold quiet and reflective services on this day, remembering Christ’s sacrifice and the grief (not to mention terror and confusion) his disciples would have experienced on that dark day.

I wondered when I was a kid why it was called “Good” when it’s the day that our savior died. That doesn’t sound very good. But I eventually learned that it was good because when he died, he took our sins with him.

And as dark a day as it may be, we know that Sunday is not far away. Jesus’ disciples didn’t know what that day would bring, but we do.

conclusion

It’s hard to say how old the observation of Holy Week really is, but the events we remember each day go straight back to scripture. The week, then, is a great opportunity to spend more time reflectively reading the Word, specifically the events of Jesus’ last week before his crucifixion. You can follow the daily readings in Mark as we’ve outlined them above, or find a reading plan that will take you through one or all of the gospel accounts.

Good Friday is also a great opportunity to visit a church if yours doesn’t have a service that day. Try a more traditional service if you haven’t before, and see how other believers worship the same Christ.