Category: Holy Week 2022

The Sabbath finally ended. At dawn on Sunday, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary made their way to Jesus’ tomb, having prepared the proper burial spices to anoint his body. Normally, the full Jewish burial rites occurred right after death, but Jesus had died shortly before the Sabbath began and there hadn’t been time. Finally,…

The disciples didn’t know they were supposed to wait. Roman soldiers were stationed outside the tomb, waiting for a grave robbery. The women were waiting for the Sabbath to end so they could anoint Jesus’ body with spices and give him a proper burial. But the disciples weren’t waiting for anything. They didn’t know they…

He is praying in a garden while his friends sleep. He wishes they could stay awake and keep him company. He knows what is coming, and even though it is the moment his life has been leading to, he asks his Father if there is any other way. But he knows the answer. When the…

In Jerusalem, the crowded streets were lined with the tents of people celebrating the Passover, and the disciples, Peter and John, were on a mission. Jesus had told them to go into the city and look for a man carrying a jug of water. “Tell him,” Jesus said: “My time has come and I will…

With his disciples, Jesus traveled the short distance from Jerusalem to Bethany for a dinner in his honor. Lazarus, whom Jesus had recently raised from the dead, was celebrating with them, along with his sisters, Mary and Martha. A musky, floral scent of expensive perfume filled the house, as Mary, Lazarus’ sister, poured the oil…

The following day, large crowds again gathered at the temple to listen intently to Jesus’s words, but the chief priests and the teachers of the law were still looking for a reason to arrest Jesus. They asked his opinion on paying taxes and about the resurrection, certain that his answers would anger either the crowd…

The next morning, Jesus returned to the city with his disciples after spending the night in nearby Bethany on the slope of the Mount of Olives. Hungry and seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, Jesus looked for figs among the leaves, but found none. “May no fruit ever come from you…

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey colt, it was the equivalent of him shouting he was  the Messiah. Jesus was intentionally fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah and letting everyone know it at a very specific time and place. It was the Passover festival when all Jewish men over the age of 12 were required…