The week of Holy Week is an important time in the Church. It is when we reflect on Jesus’ last days on Earth. If you grew up in the Church, you might be familiar with the events happening throughout Holy Week. The days can feel routine if we do not reflect on their significance. I pray that this Holy Week you find new ways to reflect on what Jesus’ love and sacrifice mean to you.
Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week. It falls a week before Easter. Palm Sunday marks the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem and was treated like a king (Matthew 21: 1-11). The people in Jerusalem laid the palms on Jesus’ route into the city and praised Him. At church on this day, we receive palms and hear the story of the people who praised Jesus, then days later condemned Him. Next year, these palms will be burned for Ash Wednesday. We enter Holy Week in celebration, but with a mix of emotions knowing what is to come.
Ideas for remembering Palm Sunday:
Take your palms home from church and make them into a cross. Hang the cross in your home as you wait for the celebration of Easter.
Prepare your home for Jesus’ coming by cleaning or donating what you no longer need.
Reflect on what might be keeping you from focusing on Jesus this week. Find some ways to make Jesus your focus this week.
The next day in Holy Week that is widely celebrated is Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday. On this day we remember when Jesus washed His disciples’ feet and commanded us to live in His example (John 13: 1-17). Jesus is the ultimate example for how we should treat one another. By washing His disciples’ feet, Jesus shows us the importance of serving one another in love and humility. Just as Jesus cared for us, so must we care for one another as a way to honor Him.
On Maundy Thursday, we also celebrate the Last Supper and the creation of the sacrament of Holy Communion. On the night before His death, Jesus ate with his disciples, famously known as the Last Supper. This foreshadowed His death as He spoke to his disciples about eating bread and drinking wine as a reminder of His constant presence in their lives (Luke 22: 7-38).
After the dinner, Jesus was deeply troubled because He knew His time had come where He would be arrested and sentenced to death. Jesus brought His disciples with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray (Matthew 26:36-46). The disciples fell asleep, despite His hope that they would stay up with Him, adding to the pain and betrayal Jesus would face over the next 24 hours. Many churches hold worship services or eucharistic adoration on Maundy Thursday, sometimes throughout the night, to symbolically stay awake with Jesus.
Ideas for Maundy Thursday:
Go to a foot washing church service.
Stay up a little later than usual and use that time to pray.
If you’re feeling ambitious, stay up late with a group of friends or family for a night of worship, prayer and fellowship.
Celebrate the gift Jesus gave us at the Last Supper by sharing a meal with friends or family.
The following day is Good Friday, the darkest day in the Church. On Good Friday we remember the day Jesus was crucified and died (Matthew 27: 45-54). This is a solemn day because we remember how much Jesus suffered to show us His love. Jesus’ death falls around the Jewish feast Passover. Christians see Jesus as the passover lamb, the ultimate sacrifice, because we are saved through Jesus.
Imagine being one of Jesus’ friend on the day of His crucifixion. The day must have been absolutely hopeless. Jesus, the son of God, had died. They didn’t know, as we do now, that Jesus would rise on what would become Easter. We remember that through Jesus, we always have hope even in the darkest times.
Ideas for remembering Good Friday:
Pray the stations of the cross on your own or at a church service.
Pray or read from the Bible from 12-3 (the time Jesus is said to have hung on the cross before dying).
Fast on this day as a way to draw closer to God.
Spend some time in prayer thanking Jesus for His act of love and faithfulness.
The next major day of Holy Week is Easter Sunday, a day of rejoicing! We celebrate that “neither life nor death...nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). The Lord has kept His promises and shown His great love for us! Easter is a great day to go to church and reflect on God’s love. We can rejoice because we know our God is with us always. I hope you can relish how good God is on this Easter Sunday, whether that is with family and friends over dinner, in church, or through individual prayers of thanksgiving.
I hope that you find meaning in the beautiful days of Holy Week this week. This is a time to celebrate all that the Lord has done for us and how deep His love is for us.
How do you remember Holy Week? Did you learn anything new about the days of Holy Week?
Peace and blessings,
Shaina
