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by Dr. James Emery White
Holy Week...So What?
This weekend is known as Palm Sunday weekend.
So what?
It's a fair question. In our culture, the significance of sacred days and times
has long been forgotten. We live our lives on the surface of frenetic activity,
seldom adding depth to any given moment. We surf and skim over a body of
information, but rarely dive into the depths of knowledge, much less wisdom.
There are no "thin times", as the ancient Celts would have noted; times when the
separation between the eternal and the temporal was thin enough to walk the soul
between both worlds.
But without that sensibility, we are lesser people.
So here's the "so what."
Palm Sunday is the traditional beginning of what has been known throughout
Christian history as Holy Week, a week designed to focus our attention on the
"passion," or suffering, of Christ.
The story of Christ (a title meaning "messiah") is the story of God Himself
coming to earth in the form of a human being, a man named Jesus, living the
perfect, sinless life and then willingly going to the cross in order to die for
the sins of the world.
The tradition of Holy Week began when Christians making pilgrimages to Jerusalem
had a natural desire to re-enact the last scenes of the life of Christ in
dramas.
There is an ancient text called The Pilgrimage of Egeria which describes a
fourth century visit to Jerusalem. It was noted that people were already
observing Holy Week by that point in history, so it dates back many, many
centuries.
There are five days in this week that are set apart:
It begins this weekend with Palm Sunday, and then includes Maundy Thursday, Good
Friday, Holy Saturday, and then Easter Sunday.
Maundy Thursday denotes when Jesus washed the disciples' feet during what is
known as the Last Supper on the night He was betrayed.
The word "Maundy" is built off of the Latin word for "command"; when Jesus
washed their feet, He said, "A new commandment I give you – love one another as
I have loved you." It's why some churches actually have a foot-washing ceremony
or service on Maundy Thursday.
Good Friday is the day we mark the anniversary of when Jesus was crucified. I
know, the word "good" is a misnomer.
Or is it?
Sin is not good. Suffering is not good. But what Jesus did for us, what His
death accomplished on our behalf – that was good. Good because He took on our
sins, and then hung in our place, paying the price for our sins so that we could
be forgiven.
Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday, marks the time of Jesus in the
tomb. To be honest, little is associated with this day, though it is named.
Perhaps because few know what to do with the obscure verses Peter offers
surrounding Jesus' descending into the depths of hell. The medievalists called
it the "harrowing of hell", and that is perhaps its fullest sense.
What is certain is that it was a victory lap.
And then, of course, comes Easter Sunday when we celebrate the resurrection of
Jesus. A day that so altered human history that we are still talking of it, and
marking it, over 2,000 years later.
Each day rich with meaning, significance, and spiritual admonishment.
But it all begins this weekend, with Palm Sunday, the day of the triumphal entry
of Jesus into Jerusalem.
From the gospel of Mark:
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of
Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village
ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which
no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are
you doing this?' tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here
shortly.'"They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they
untied it, some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that
colt?" They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When
they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it.
Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they
had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
"Hosanna!""Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!""Hosanna in the highest!"
This was a fervor that eclipsed Tebow's press conference in New York, or any
iPad or iPhone introduction Apple ever construed.
Palm Sunday is the celebration of Jesus that Jesus deserves.
Yes, "Hosanna" quickly turned into "crucify him!" It was one of the most tragic
turn of events, perhaps second only to the fall, where humans turned from
worship to rejection.
But that's what Palm Sunday calls us to remember. After Jesus entered to
acclaim, He moved to clear the temple. Not willing to succumb to a celebrity
culture, He made it clear what the demands of following Him would entail.
That's what changed "Hosanna" into "Crucify." People were confronted with the
weight and consequence of God. They had to choose: a tame God, or a real One.
And now it plays out again; not in human history, but in our lives.
Every day.
Welcome to Holy Week.
Sources
On Holy Week, and the individual days, see The Oxford Dictionary of the
Christian Church; the New Catholic Encyclopedia, Second Edition; and the
Encyclopedia of Christianity.
(Mark 11:1-10, NIV).
Editor's Note
James Emery White is the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and
culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as their
fourth president. His latest book, 'The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and
Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated,' is now available on Amazon. Visit the Church and Culture blog, visit www.churchandculture.org.
From: Holy Week...So What? - Church & Culture Blog; Vol. 10, No. 29
See Also:
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