Christians around the world celebrate Easter as the holiest day of the Christian calendar, and this year it falls on April 20. Many “mainline” Christian churches also celebrate the week before Easter as Holy Week. On the Sunday before Easter, we celebrate Palm Sunday in which we remember Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem for the final week of his earthly life. Authors of the New Testament describe that when Jesus entered Jerusalem crowds of people cheered for him and waved palm branches. Palm leaves are often handed out to people on that Sunday.
The next major day of Holy Week comes on Thursday, called Maundy Thursday. The word “maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning commandment, because on that night Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another. Christians also remember the last Passover supper that Jesus shared with his disciples. During that supper Jesus instituted the practice of Communion which many Christian churches celebrate on a weekly or monthly basis. We also remember how Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples after the supper, and it was there that he was arrested by Roman soldiers. Later that night he was sentenced to death by the authorities who were afraid that he was beginning an insurrection.
The Friday of Holy Week is called Good Friday, which is a confusing name, because it is the day when we remember the death of Jesus on a cross. However, the “good” in this sense actually means holy. Good Friday and Holy Saturday are days of solemn reflection on the death of Jesus and the sacrifice that Jesus made in dying on the cross.
Finally, Holy Week culminates in the joyful celebration of Easter. Christians believe that on that Sunday morning more than 2,000 years ago the tomb of Jesus was found empty. Jesus was raised from the dead and appeared to his followers for 40 days before ascending to heaven to be with God the Creator. For Christians the Resurrection of Jesus which we celebrate on Easter is an essential part of our faith. We believe that we are called to follow the Risen Jesus who is one with God, and that we should follow his teachings of love, justice and mercy.
Rev. Rebecca L. T. Cho is pastor of Community United Methodist Church of Cochituate Village in Wayland.
Worship services are on Sunday mornings at 10:00AM.
