A Week to Remember

The Story of Jesus' days on earth is retold

The Holy Week marks the climax of the Lenten observance for the Christian. These are days of solemnity and seriousness as believers in Jesus return to the source of their faith. This annual commemoration is aimed at rekindling our amazement in the God of love who sent us his son to be our savior.

The focus of the week is the re-telling of the story of Jesu's last days on earth. Many have already wrttien the story of Jesus starting from the Gospels. Others have tried to reinterpret His life and times to suit the modern audience through films like Franco Zefferelli's Jesus of Nazareth and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. These documents simply show that the Christian faith is founded on historical facts that ,became a life-changing experience for those who witnessed them. Much emphasis is given to the aspect of remembering and r-living those events that have shaped our Christian identity.

PALM SUNDAY

The week opens with Palm Sunday. It recalls Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem . The atmosphere that day was festive and favorable when Jesus was welcomed warmly

like a king in the holy city amidst the thunderous hosannas and hurrahs of the crowd as they were waving wildly their palms as a sign of recognition. Matthew viewed it as the fulfillment of the old prophecy that Jesus is the expected king of Zion . This popular reception by the people naturally aroused the alarm of the authorities their plot to destroy him hinted that this triump woll be short lioved. The Temple cleansing episode further aggravated the conflict. Jesus drove out the money changes and the traders from the Temple precints because He wanted it to be “a house of prayer.”

LAST MEAL 

The next scene leads us to the Cenacle or Upper Room where Jesus and his discipline would eat their Last Supper on Holy Thursday. This was a large hall furnished as the dining room and probably owned by the mother of John Mark (author of Mark's Gospel). In this Upper Room Jesus ate his last meal in fellowship with his apostles on the evening of preparation for the Jewish Passover, a very holy time for the Jewish nation in remembrance of that time when God spared them from the plagued of death on every firstborn child in Egypt. This last meal would become one of the major events in the life of Christ and continues to be a significant event in the life of Christians.

During the meal Jesus did several unforgettable things. First, He shocked them by washing their feet teaching them servant-leadership. Second, he instituted the Eucharist and the Gift of the Priesthood by transforming the bread and the wine into his Body and Blood saying “do this in memory of me!” Third, he gave them the commandment: “love one another.”

After the meal, we find Jesus praying at the Garden of Gethsemani located at the foot of Mount of Olives . Here, Christ would experience the enormous struggle of giving up his mission from the Father because of fear. But in the spirit of obedience and total surrender to the Father's will he would finally declare: “not my will by your will be done!” At this point Judas arrived to betray him with a kiss. He is then led to be tried by Pilate and later sentenced with crucifixion under the cruelty of the Roman soldiers on Good Friday.

Jesus had to endure terrible torture and harassment before giving up his spirit most probably on April 3 AD 33 . He was also 33 years old when he died.

Few events have changed the course of human history. Among them is the life and death of this man, Jesus Christ. In the course of his short life, he taught us how to live as children of God. He taught us compassion, forgiveness, service and love. His death also taught us endurance, sacrifice and selflessness in bearing the pain for doing right. But more than these, his resurrection gave us hope that one day evil will cease and goodness will triumph.