It all began that Sunday afternoon almost comically. Thousands of pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the yearly Passover festival jumping, shouting, waving palm branches all because an itinerant preacher from Galilee was making his way into Jerusalem on a donkey!
The next day that same preacher was like a bull in a China shop as he berated moneychangers in the Temple. Throughout that day and the next, he became increasingly more confrontational towards the religious powerbrokers of the nation of Israel. To those who followed him, the preacher spoke of difficult, dangerous times ahead.
On Thursday, there was a calm before the storm. A meal with his students. Fellowship, teaching, and new rituals. Strange but powerful rituals. After dinner, the group went out to a well-known garden to pray. That’s when the pace picked up. Not long into the night soldiers led by one of the preacher’s disciples came to the garden and arrested him, taking the tightly bound prisoner to the High Priest to go on trial.
Several trials were held that night and into the next day, leading to a final condemnation by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. The charge? Claiming to be the Son of God and a potential threat to Roman law and order. The sentence? Death by crucifixion.
The sentence was carried out effectively but not before a series of surreal and wonderful events took place. By three in the afternoon on Friday, the preacher known as Jesus of Nazareth was dead. All that was left to complete his story was his burial, carried out by two of his followers.
It seemed to be the end of the story. But on the following Sunday morning, the script would be re-written in a way which would change history. Dead people don’t come back to life, no matter how they died. But Jesus did. And that changed not only history, it changed forever.
The week we are beginning this Sunday, known as Palm Sunday, is called Holy Week. During the next seven days we will study, consider, and stand in awe of events which have changed the lives of millions throughout the centuries.
Join us for one of our weekend worship services. What happened during this week more than 2000 years ago is too important to let pass by unnoticed.
Weekend worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm
& Sunday: 10:00 am
