Holy Week between Palm Sunday and Easter is the most sacred time of year. It’s remembering Jesus’ triumph, suffering and resurrection. Ultimately it’s about ours. From our Baptism liturgy- "We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit." Every Sunday is an Easter.
“Philosopher Charles Taylor has written that in sacred times chronology seems to disappear. That is true about Holy Week. The days become linked together and when we live through this period, we’re actually experiencing as it happened. We actually enter into the story, enter into the narrative in a more real way than we enter into any other day of the year” – Rev. Philip Jackson, Trinity Wall Street.
From early times, Christians have observed the week before Easter as a time of special prayer and devotion. As the pilgrim Egeria recorded in the late fourth century, numerous pilgrims to the holy city of Jerusalem followed the path of Jesus in his last days. They formed processions, worshipped where Christ suffered and died, and venerated sacred sites and relics. From this beginning evolved the practices we observe today on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.
"Struggle" – From the Brothers of St. John the Evangelist
“Make no mistake about it. The events of Holy Week and Easter are not merely annual reenactments of the tragic events of the life of an important historical personage. This is spiritual mystery on its deepest and most cosmic scale. These are mysteries we, too, struggle with daily all our lives and which remain beyond our comprehension.”
– Br. Eldridge Pendleton
“Holy Week is a time to think about risk, because that’s what the whole Passion narrative represents. We watch those around Jesus- his disciples, his friends, his companions who has been with him since those early days of the ministry in Galilee. These are the companions who have watched him heal the sick, feed the multitudes and proclaim the good news. Yet we see them now, in that fateful last week, betraying him, denying him, running away fro him. These are stories not only of Judas and Peter, of John and James, they are our stories as well. Who stands firm and who runs? What happens when you run ? And what can we do, now that we have failed ourselves and others to find that “at-one-ment” agains.”
– Amy-Jill Levine, Entering the Passion of Jesus: A Beginner’s Guide to Holy Week
Walk with Jesus in his suffering and share in his resurrection during Holy Week.
We begin that walk with Palm Sunday with the Litany of the Palms and continue this week, stopping for services on Wednesday (Tenebrae), Maundy Thursday and Good Friday leading up to Easter next Sunday. We also link to National Cathedral for the Easter Vigil, the first service of Easter on Saturday before Easter. It takes this many services to tell the story and to bring the participants into it. It is never the same because we bring different emotions into it and take something new back.
As we celebrate the mystery of Jesus’ passing, we actually celebrate the same passing over in our own lives. Jesus’ self-sacrifice opened the way for us to share in new life. We must pass over our lives into God’s hands and imitate the self-giving of God’s Son.
The Biblical verses below will lead you along Jesus’ path during Holy Week. After each day there is a link from "Progression of Faith" that includes a summary based on The LastWeek (Borg/ Crossan) as well as other commentaries.
There are a series of focus links to examine other topics, such as art and music. The music of Holy Week is explored by examining Bach’s Passion works, St. Matthew and St. John’s Passion.