Hosanna to the Son of David!

The most important week on the church calendar is upon us, Holy Week, marking the final days of Christ’s life on earth before He was crucified on Good Friday. I was calling this time period “Passion Week” until recently when I realized that the week preceding the final week of Lent has been given that title.

I’m not very formal in these matters, but I am grateful to God for what the week represents: redemption followed by resurrection.

As a Catholic youngster I remember going to mass and being given palm fronds to mark Palm Sunday. We used to bring them home and decorate the mantle or place them where we could see them for the next week. I don’t remember the fronds being around when Easter Sunday arrived, but I’m sure that we had them on hand on Good Friday. My mother, who was a non-practicing Quaker, probably threw them away as soon as they dried out.

In any case, when I grew up and came to personally know Jesus, I thought it was odd to have palm fronds to signify honoring God. Weren’t these the same people who later turned on Jesus days later by calling for Him to be crucified? How fickle.

Yes, that sounds harsh but I was a young believer with my head on Jesus’ bosom and quite drunk with the new wine. Later, and I’m not sure how much later, I realized how fickle I was. That probably had something to do with me serving God with not the purest motives or having some other thoughts that were not befitting a follower of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we need a good dressing down from the Holy Spirit to realize that we’re not “all that and a bag of chips” ourselves.

There are many different ways for the disciple to remember what Jesus did for them this week. Personally, I am comparing gospel accounts of the final week starting with Jesus asking for the disciples to bring Him a colt that had never been ridden upon.

In Matthew 21, two donkeys were mentioned while in the other gospels just the colt was mentioned. Skeptics love to pick “apparent” discrepancies apart, but I am satisfied that there were two donkeys present even though not every gospel writer shared that information.

If you enjoy apologetics (defending the faith), Apologetics Press is a good place to go for an explanation about these and other discrepancies. Personally, my faith isn’t shaken even if I’m not able to offer an explanation with confidence.

Beyond a comparative study of the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and later resurrection, I plan to take in a Good Friday service and, of course, Resurrection Sunday. Some believers hold Passover remembrances, others reenact the Last Supper with food fellowship and foot washings, while still others will fast and pray at some point during the week.

In whatever way you plan to mark the week, do so as unto the Lord. One year, our church showed “The Passion of the Christ” movie at a Wednesday evening service, while in other years I have viewed the “Jesus” film.

Consider bringing someone with you to a church event or service who does not know the Lord; some people won’t set their feet in church at any other time of the year, but they’ll do so at Easter and Christmas.

Happy Holy Week to you and yours!

Photo Credit: Daniel Cubillas

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