What is the significance of Holy Week?
Whether Easter is a season of faith and adoration for you, or a time to relax and connect with others (and maybe eat some chocolate) Easter is a special time for many. For a great number of Christians around the globe – well over two billion in total – the days leading up to Easter Sunday are sometimes known as Holy Week.
(Holy Week this year runs from 2 to 8 April 2023.)
What are the events of Holy Week and what is The Holy Week story?
Holy Week commemorates Jesus’ last days and crucifixion (a form of cruel capital punishment where a person is nailed to a cross). Holy Week leads up to the celebration of Easter Sunday – the day Christians celebrate Jesus rising from the dead.
Palm Sunday
What is the meaning of Palm Sunday?
Palm Sunday recalls the time Jesus last entered Jerusalem before his crucifixion.
The day is called Palm Sunday, as it commemorates Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, as the crowds waved palm branches, threw cloaks on the path in front of him and shouted praises. They thought Jesus was coming as a king to overthrow Roman imperialism and had not yet understood that God’s plan was to establish an eternal kingdom to save all people.
At the time of Jesus’ last days and death, Jerusalem was full of pilgrims, celebrating the Jewish festival of the Passover. It was also a time of political turmoil and unrest, with Jerusalem and Judea under the control of the Roman Empire.
Jerusalem would have been buzzing with stories of Jesus that year – the preacher and teacher who taught with authority, cared for people who were marginalised and outcast, healed miraculously, challenged the hypocrisy of some religious teachers, claimed he was fulfilling prophecies and that he was the Son of God.
Jesus’ follower (disciple), John, writes about that time in John 12:12-19.
Holy Wednesday
Holy Wednesday, also known as Spy Wednesday, marks the plot by Judas, who was one of Jesus’ 12 close followers, to betray Jesus to the religious authorities (the Jewish chief priests and elders). Many of the religious leaders of the time were threatened by Jesus’ popularity and had been challenged by Jesus about their hypocrisy.
Holy Thursday
Holy Thursday is also sometimes known as the Last Supper or Maundy Thursday. It commemorates the final meal Jesus ate with his closest disciples. It was a special Jewish meal and ceremony called the Passover.
Prior to the meal, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet – a job the lowliest servant would usually do. He was teaching them that leadership consists of humility and love. After the Passover meal, Judas betrayed Jesus to the religious leaders, for the price of 30 pieces of silver. Jesus was then handed to the Roman authorities to be killed.
Read more about this event in John 13.
Good Friday
Good Friday commemorates a sad and dark day, full of hardship and hopelessness.
The events leading up to Jesus’ death on Good Friday were filled with darkness and sorrow. Jesus experienced fear and anxiety about what lay before him, but he knew that his mission was to suffer and experience all of God’s wrath as a substitute for what humankind deserves. God is loving, but also a God of justice.
The Bible says Jesus was “sorrowful and troubled” (Matthew 26:37).
But in this moment of suffering and struggle, Jesus prayed to God, his Heavenly Father, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Instead of stopping Jesus’ suffering, God gave Jesus the strength to endure the path to the cross. This was part of God’s greater plan of redemption for the people of the world who he loved so much.
Holy Saturday
This final day of Holy Week is also known as the Great Sabbath, Easter Eve, Joyous Saturday and more. It marks a day of anticipation, meditation and reflection, and for some, preparations for Easter Sunday celebrations. It also marks the end of Lent (fasting) that many undertake in the leadup to Easter.
Easter Sunday
Happily, the Easter story doesn’t finish with Holy Week.
The day after Holy Week, on Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate Jesus rising to life again.
Through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, Christians believe he brings light, hope and the chance for salvation and eternal life to the world.
On this day, Christians in many cultures happily greet each other with phrases such as “Christ is risen”, with the response, “He is risen indeed”. It is a day of hope, thankfulness and joy – and a day that billions around the world celebrate.
Jesus, who identified himself as the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep promises an abundant, meaningful life to those who surrender their lives to him and follow him.
“I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows],” (John 10:10, AMP)
Explore the events of Holy Week and what they mean for your life in our five-day Bible reading and reflection guide.